As we begin our stewardship campaign… You should have received your letter and pledge card in the mail already. Each week starting last week we have bulletin inserts to further challenge each of us in our relationship with God and our giving. We basically have two things to give-our money and our time. When I say stewardship I am referring to both.
This year on the message side of things, I want to focus on our attitudes. And I want to do that by lifting up the example of Jonah. How are you like Jonah when it comes to giving? Do you feel entitled or entrusted?
We are all familiar with the story of Jonah-Veggie Tales, heard it, studied, know it pretty much by heart-but I want to focus on the attitude of Jonah. Our attitude towards giving can parallel that of Jonah’s-let’s take a look.
Jonah 1: 1-17
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
Nineveh was one of the oldest and largest cities in Mesopotamia and arguably the most important city in Assyria. It was a rising world power of Jonah’s day and within 50 years Nineveh would become the capital of the vast Assyrian empire.
3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
To make his escape Jonah was willing not only to leave his home but even to pay for his journey. This fare must have been high, given the duration of a journey from one end of the Mediterranean to the other. In Roman times the journey to Spain could take a full year.
But Jonah’s attitude is not unusual for his day. It is representative of Israel’s reluctance to share God’s love and mercy with others, even though this was their God-given mission. They, like Jonah, did not want non-Jews to obtain God’s favor.
Which leads to our attitudes. How do we respond to that which we see every day? We have the same message as Jonah did. Do we do what we want to do-go where we want to go-essentially that everything is about us? Or do we look at the world through God’s eyes?
In the story God believes God has a chance. God believes in the Ninevites. Jonah becomes the judgmental one…
As Christians we should be cultivating a mindset and an eye for what God hopes can happen in the world.
Jonah was entrusted with a message, but felt entitled to something different.
Are you entrusted or entitled?
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
Is Jonah remorseful? He’s asleep below. Sometimes using our conscience as a guide isn’t always the best practice. Our giving is between us and God, but we should be striving to give as much as we are called to give. 10% is a good starting place, but as we have been blessed with much, we should give more. If you make more than $24000 you are wealthier than 90% of the world.
7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
Notice here, when does Jonah finally admit it’s his fault? After the lots are cast. Jonah is being so stubborn, so defiant to what God has called him to do that he does not speak up. How stubborn are you when it comes to listening to what God is calling you to do or give?
The mindset of a giver like Jonah would say-That $ could be used for something else
Instead of forging our path-I’m not going to buy another tv, or a nicer car, but rather one that will suffice and use the other money resources for God’s plan
Giving time-mowing the lawn for someone else
Entitled or entrusted?
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD, "O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
So again Jonah trying to escape his call from God and this time through passive suicide.
Jonah is willing to give his life to save the sailors, but not the Ninevites. Giving can be that way too. We give to things that are easy to give to, or even we give money so we don’t have to give our time.
It’s interesting the sailors do not want to be responsible for the death of God’s prophet. But Jonah sees death as an escape from God’s mission. Do we hate to give so much that we would rather die and have it go to our loved ones?
We should have the eyes of God-like Jonah should have had the eyes of God-to see our gifts, to see other people as God sees them. Unfortunately, we can be like Jonah-they don’t deserve it, they aren’t worthy, they’ll just waste it, I can use it, I really need it…
As Richard Stearns points out in “The Hole in the Gospel”-The American Dream often promotes this view of money: “I worked hard, I earned it, and it’s mine to do with as I please.” This suggests that we are entitled to any income that comes to us because we worked for it. But that’s not what the Bible tells us about our money and possessions. In fact, the biblical view of our resources is just the opposite. It teaches that all we have or receive comes from God; God has simply entrusted it to us. There’s a big difference between entitled and entrusted.
Example of stock broker-entrust them with your money. What if they went out and bought a brand new sports car with your money instead of investing. Their reply is simply-I earned it. I’m entitled to it. As a steward of your money you expect to pay them a commission, which he could spend on his needs, but you would have expected him to invest your money on your behalf. That’s exactly what God expects of us. He wants us to invest His money on His behalf by undertaking His kingdom work.
How do you view your money, time, possessions? Are you entitled or entrusted?
