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FALL 2007 STEWARDSHIP EMPHASIS
"STEWARDSHIP IS LORDSHIP"
MESSAGE #4 OF 4
"A SENSIBLE STEWARD"

GOSPEL SCRIPTURE TEXT: LUKE 12:13-48
DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 11, 2007

SCRIPTURE TEXT: 13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." 20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." 22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. 32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 35"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. 39But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." 41Peter asked, "Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?" 42The Lord answered, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45But suppose the servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47"That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." - Luke 12:13-48 (New International Version)

MESSAGE: During three fall Sundays prior to today, one each in September, October, and November, I've been preaching and teaching to you a series of messages on Christian stewardship. Their overall theme is "Stewardship is Lordship." In the first message, I introduced you to Lordship "Law" #1, which succinctly states, "Jesus is either Lord of all or not Lord at all." Jesus is either Lord of all or not Lord at all. In the second message, I presented to you Lordship Law #2. That "Law" says this: "If Christ is the center of my life, the circumference will take care of itself." If Christ is the center of my life, the circumference will take care of itself. Through that message and the third one, we carefully examined four issues which many people consider very important, but which are, in relation to Christ, merely peripheral - the position issue, the permission issue, the profession issue, and the possession issue. When Christ is truly Lord of our lives -- when He is in the center thereof -- He easily solves every one of them.

Now that we've reviewed, let's enter new territory. Today I want to briefly present to you what I call the four characteristics of a "sensible steward." As a memory aid, they all begin with the letter "r." A sensible steward is responsible, relaxed, ready, and ultimately, rewarded. All these characteristics can easily be gleaned from our admittedly lengthy scripture text of today, Jesus' words as recorded in Luke 12, verses 13 through 48.

A sensible steward is, first and foremost, responsible. In Luke 12:13 through 21, we have what is often termed "the parable of the rich fool." This is the story of a farmer who produced so much grain that he had to build extra barns to store it up - not taking into account that he wouldn't live to enjoy any of it. This parable teaches by counter-example. Everything this man did - is what a sensible steward shouldn't do. This farmer was completely irresponsible. He was irresponsible to himself in that he thought life consisted only of material things. He was irresponsible to humanity in that he didn't realize that God's blessings meant he could and should help others. And he was irresponsible to God in that he didn't acknowledge the uncertainty of life and the certainty of judgment. The rich fool was irresponsible - the very opposite of a sensible steward. A sensible steward is responsible.

Second, a sensible steward is relaxed. In Luke 12:22 to 34, Jesus teaches about worry - mainly regarding the stupidity of worry. Everything comes from God, says Jesus. So trust God to provide for you. When you've settled the Lordship issue, you know that. And therefore, although you're going to have problems in this life - no one is exempt from problems - you understand that those are God's problems to solve. If Christ is really your Lord, when the problems come, you have the sense to say, "Lord, you've got a problem."

Fair's fair, after all. If you haven't trusted Christ to be your Lord, when the problems come and you cry out, "Lord, help!" the Lord has every right to say, "Sorry. You never trusted me with that. You wanted to stay in control, so suck it up. Help yourself." But if you have fully trusted Christ to take care of you, then your problems have become His responsibility. Thus, a sensible steward has no reason to worry. He or she really can stay permanently relaxed.

Third, a sensible steward is ready. The next section of Luke 12, verses 35 through 40, begins with these words: "Be dressed, ready for service, and keep your lamps burning." A sensible steward is always prepared. A lot of folks say to me, "I wish I knew when the Lord is going to come back," or, alternatively, "I wish I knew how much longer I have to live." That sort of question usually says to me that those folks really aren't ready. They've got issues and problems unresolved between them and God. They understand neither Lordship nor stewardship. A sensible steward doesn't require the answer to either of those queries. Because he or she is ready - whenever.

I'm 60 years of age. I may live another 25 years or today may be my last day on this earth. Either possibility is equally OK with me - because I'm ready. If I have to give account to God tonight for my life, I don't have any "unfinished business" - or at least none with Him. Jesus is my Lord. I'm ready. And so is every sensible Christian steward.

Fourth, a sensible steward is - ultimately - rewarded. Verses 41 through 48 of Luke 12 complete our text for today. In that section, Jesus talks about what will happen to "the faithful and wise manager" when the "master" returns to settle accounts with him. "It will be good for that servant…I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions." There are many promised rewards for good stewardship. One of the earliest disciples of Jesus, Peter, is recorded in Luke 18:28 as saying, "We have left all we had to follow you, Lord." Jesus immediately replied to him, "I tell you the truth - no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."

A sensible steward is, in the long run, rewarded - both in this world and in the Kingdom beyond this earth. That doesn't imply that if you write a check to the church today you'll win the lottery tomorrow. A sensible steward is rewarded - and that same sensible steward realizes that Kingdom rewards aren't always printed on slips of paper with greenish inks.

Now, it's time to move beyond talking about Lordship - and about stewardship - and to do something about them. Via U. S. mail during the past two weeks most of you should have received a stewardship mailing from our church. Included therein was a green "Response Card," which, assuming you read the letter written by Alice Carter and contained in the same envelope, you were asked to bring with you to church today, November 11th. If you don't have a Response Card with you, there are extras in the back. I can easily ask an usher to bring one to you - just lift your hand.

You're capable of reading, but let me quickly review the few words printed on that card: "My/Our Response to God's Grace is to give (in four ways): prayers, presence at worship, time and talents as I/we serve Christ, and monetary gifts in this way - weekly, monthly, and/or annually. " And at the bottom there's a blank in which to print your name.
/
Prayers and presence, time and money. These are four basic ways by which every Christian is expected to be a sensible steward of the blessings of God. It's not multiple choice - coming to worship but refusing to serve Christ isn't sensible stewardship. Fervent prayer is good, but prayer doesn't substitute for regular monetary giving. No, when Christ is our Lord, He expects stewardship from us in all four categories.

A couple of years ago, Area Bishop Max Whitfield admonished his pastors in both Northwest Texas and New Mexico that they must lead the way in Christian stewardship. He told us that pastors should never ask of laity what they themselves aren't willing to do. And he further said that pastors need to make their stewardship commitments public.

I wholeheartedly agree with our bishop. Therefore I make you aware of this both personal and pertinent information: As I consider this Response Card, I'm prepared to check all four boxes - I'm going to commit to being a sensible Christian steward by my prayers, presence, time and talents, and money. And in the blank under the monetary category which says "annually," I'm going to write in the figure $5,000. The pastor's salary paid by this church is public information - it's printed in every monthly report of our Committee on Finance. For those of you who are into math, my planned giving for 2008 will be approximately 13% of that salary. But that doesn't mean that $5,000 is all that I'll give to First United Methodist Church's ministries. Whenever a "special appeal" is made, Fran and I always try to give more, above and beyond our basic financial commitment to the church's operating budget.

My purpose in telling you all this is not to be ostentatious, but rather to make you aware that your preacher tithes - and beyond. And therefore, I'm personally not a bit shy about asking you to do the same. I believe that tithing is God's basic standard for Christian stewardship; if I were to ask you to do less, I'd be giving you permission to rob God.

If you've not already done so, I invite you to complete your card at this time. Then, during the singing of our hymn of dedication, I further invite you to bring it forward and deposit it at the chancel rail. If you'd like to remain at that rail for prayer, please feel free to do so. Stewardship is Lordship. Be a sensible Christian steward. Amen.

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