Delivered on October 16, 2005, Melana

talks about "Paying Dues to God"  We hope you enjoy

reading her sermons and wish you would

join us each Sunday to hear the

new one in person.

 

Paying Dues to God                      Matthew 22:15-22

 

        At the church in Enid, Oklahoma, where I was the associate pastor for two years, we had a financial secretary.  Robin took care of all the business and financial matters of the church.  That meant it was her job to send out the quarterly statements of giving to pledges.

 

        Every quarter she said she felt like she was sending everyone a bill from God.  We always laughed at the joke - because we know that God does not send out bills - we would never be able to repay the debt that we owe to God for all the grace and forgiveness and love that God has shown to us.  The only thing we can hope to do is live our lives in response to God's love and grace given to us.

 

        Most clubs and organizations require that their members pay     dues to keep their membership current.  Many service clubs also charge fines when people miss meetings.  The church of Jesus Christ has no such dues or fine system. Because we believe that the membership dues have been paid for us by Jesus' death and resurrection.  We can never repay - but that does not mean that we just say "Thanks God" and go on with our lives in whatever manner we like.  We cannot repay what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  We can live lives of love and grace and caring because of what God has done for us - We live in response to all that God has given us.

 

        Oh, no, you might be saying to yourself, we must be in stewardship season again.  We tend to think of stewardship as a once a year thing that we just have to get through in order to get enough pledges to make it through another year.  That may be what you learned stewardship was when you were growing up, but stewardship is really an opportunity to enhance our own spiritual journey with God.  Stewardship is something we need, not something God needs.  We need to be able to respond to God's love through our actions, our giving, our caring, our creativity.  

 

        Stewardship is not a program that is run in November every year so that we can meet a budget for the church.  Stewardship is an all-year commitment to God's work in the world.  Stewardship is about more than giving money - it is about giving of ourselves - our talents and resources - our special abilities - our lives.

 

        The Pharisees, in today's text, try to trick Jesus by asking him a question about whether it was right to pay the tax.  Jesus, of course, could not be tricked.  He replied by asking them if they had a coin - a Roman coin, a denarius, that would be used to pay the tax.  They produce one - falling right into Jesus' trap.  The Pharisees, who are supposed to be tremendously precise in keeping the law, should not be handling Roman money - for it clearly breaks the law about graven images - it has Caesar's picture on it.  Jesus uses this image to prove his point - he tells the Pharisees to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's - and give to God the things that are God's.  Jesus tells the Pharisees, in essence, that all that bears God's image and likeness, belongs to God.

 

        Jesus let the disciples know that those who follow Christ, bear the image and likeness of God.  So we find that "what belongs to God" is our entire self.

        Stewardship is about returning ourselves to God. Stewardship means giving to God because we can and because we know it will change us - not because we can repay what has been given - but because we know we are loved - and want to respond.  The only way to pay our dues to God is to return our whole selves to God, not out of repayment of debt, but because we live in response to God's love - we share ourselves with others through our actions, our words, our money.

 

        In the epistle lesson we read this morning, Paul praises the church in Thessalonika for their living example.  People know what they have done in the name of Jesus Christ and are noticing that these people are different.  That is stewardship, living in a way that others come to know God's grace and love in Christ.  That is what has happened to this church through Angel Food Ministries and LOGOS - you have become imitators of Christ, examples to others of God's grace.  Right now we have over 650 orders for October and another order day to go.  People are excited about being part of God's work and are coming to help with orders and distribution and phone calls.  We have become such imitators of Christ that we have had to get volunteers to come answer the phones during the week so that Gail can get her work done.

 

        Last week you allowed me to exchange pulpits with Sarcoxie so that they could hear about Angel Food Ministries and the work that God could do through them, if they will allow it.  You have passed on the mission to another church -How much better can you be as imitators of Christ?  The Sarcoxie church will have over 50 orders on their first month!  That is stewardship, sharing with others so that they can also learn to respond to God's love and grace.  God has blessed this church and now you are sharing it with another church - The repercussions of that sharing are only just starting.

 

        This past Wednesday, at LOGOS, we had over fifty children in attendance.  During the worship skills class for 3rd-5th graders, we were working on learning the Apostles' Creed and the children started asking me some questions that I usually don't get asked before youth are in junior or senior high.  We talked about those issues of understanding Scripture and what it means to be a Christian for the whole forty minutes and then the 5th graders continued during their Bible class.  Another teacher told me she also had some difficult questions asked of her during her class time.

 

        LOGOS is good stewardship - people sharing their time and talents and resources so that we can teach children the faith - not simply a rote faith in which we tell them the "right" answers, but a faith in which they think for themselves and learn what Scripture says and how to begin to interpret that for their own lives.  Children can tell what is most important to adults by how they spend their time - Even more than by how they spend their money.

 

        The children of this church can see that you have made a decision to be good stewards and good imitators of Christ, sharing yourselves through LOGOS and Angel Food Ministries - by seeing, they begin to understand what it means to be a Christian and to be witnesses in the midst of this community.  The focus of this church has changed over the last few months and we now see a broader vision of what stewardship calls us to do and be.  We hear our call to reach out to others in a time when many feel no one cares for them at all.  We understand that we are to share our faith and our message of hope and love and grace with people from all over the community and in other communities as well.  Our children are catching a glimpse of the excitement that is building in this congregation for something so much bigger than ourselves.  You have passed on this vision and message to another congregation and so God's mission is even broader.

 

        This year, as we each consider our own stewardship and giving to God's work, we have a brand new vision before us.  Our spiritual lives have been challenged and have grown because we stepped out in faith on a new venture.  In the coming weeks, we will hear from people in our own congregation about their own faith journeys and growth in spirituality.  It is an exciting time to be part of this congregation.  A time when all of us consider our own call to God's work and mission through the giving of our time and talents and money.

We cannot ever repay what God has done for us, but we can share the message by being imitators of Christ's love.

 

Stewardship is a grand opportunity.

 

Stewardship is a lifetime commitment and challenge - this week, prayerfully consider all the ways you will respond to God in the coming year.

 

 

© Melana Scruggs 2005

 

 

  

     

    

 

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