The Legacy of the Tenth

Here we are, week four of money month 2016, you still doing alright?  We having fun? 

For those who are visiting with us or new to Cornerstone this is an annual event.  Each April I take the opportunity to teach the theology of stewardship, which is a fancy way of saying we look at what the Bible says about money, what got, how we get it and what we do with it after we get it.  Nice thing is that means I won’t ambush you about money throughout the year. 

And we culminate Money Month with an event we call Step Up Cornerstone which happens today and we will be talking more about that later in the service. 

This year our theme has been “Your Legacy, Your Life.”    In week one we looked at the fact that everyone of us will leave some type of legacy, for good or for bad.  We leave a legacy in the way we spend our lives and the way we spend our money.  And the type of legacy we leave will be determined by the choices we make.

In week two I spoke on the legacy of work. And we looked at how work is something that we were designed for, and that work is something that is expected of us, and it is through work that we leave a legacy with our giving. 

Last week we looked at the length of the legacy we leave with our giving.  And some giving has a relatively short shelf life.  When Jesus feed thousands of people on the shores of Galilee with five loaves and two fish, it met an immediate need, it was important, but the next day those folks were hungry again.  So some gifts last a day. 

Other gifts will last for a lifetime.  When Cornerstone provides sources of clean water in West and Central Africa those gifts are life changing.  We have impacted the lives of thousands of people in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and that legacy will last a lifetime.

But the most important gifts we give are the one that lead people to God, we often say that our purpose at Cornerstone is help de-populate hell.  Those gifts last for Eternity.

Which bring us here today, so let’s jump into our scripture which is the “go to” scriptures for preachers and tithing. 

Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

There are times that I think “God why did you have to put this scripture where you put it?  Just another page, just another 13 verses and it would have been in the New Testament and I wouldn’t have had to listen to people say ‘but that’s in the Old Testament that doesn’t count’”

And then I realize that I’m not God and he put it exactly where it belongs.  So what about the argument that it’s in the Old Testament and it doesn’t count, or the “I’m not under the law I’m under grace” statement?

What people fail to recognize with this argument is that grace always goes further than the law.  It’s throughout the Gospels.  The law says don’t murder, grace says don’t hate.  The law says don’t commit adultery, grace says don’t lust after someone you aren’t married to.  The law says love your neighbor, grace says love your enemy.  So why would Jesus change that with tithing? He wouldn’t and he didn’t.  In Luke chapter 11 Jesus confronts the Pharisees about the hypocrisy and he tells them: Luke 11:42 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God.  They were tithing the smallest of things in their lives, they were tithing their winning Roll Up the Rim Cups, but they weren’t nice people.  But Jesus doesn’t tell them they should stop tithing.  Let’s keep reading, You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

 

So with that out of the way, let’s go back to where we started from Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

In particular I want to look at the portion that says “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! This is the word of God, speaking to God’s people and it says that God will pour His blessings on His people.  And not just any blessing, this passage says He will pour out a blessing so great that we won’t be able to take it in.  Would you like to be blessed? Would you like your life to be characterized as being blessed of God?  Sure you would, so here’s the secret. 

It begins with one very small very important word, just two letters and yet this entire promise hinges on that word.  And the word is “if”.  God is waiting and willing to bless His people, but, there’s another small yet important word, the choice is always up to us if we want to be blessed.  In this case the word of God says “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do, . . .”  What will happen?  God will open the windows of heaven and not only that but out of those windows a blessing will be poured. 

And we aren’t always comfortable with that, it seems. . .selfish.  We want to think that the blessing for giving is simply the warm feeling we get from giving.  But the concept of the tithe is that we are simply returning to God a portion of what he gives to us and throughout the bible we are taught that when we are faithful with what God has blessed us with then he blesses us with more. 

So what does it mean when God promises to pour out a blessing on those who are faithful?  The short and simple answer here is that God promised to bless the Israelites if they paid their tithe.  So what is the tithe?  Tithe simply means tenth and throughout the word of God the concept is reiterated that all that we have comes from God but he requires a tenth of it back. 

For the people of God this does not mean that we give God ten percent of what is ours, it means that He allows us to keep ninety percent of what is His.  And in this case God tells his people, “If you tithe, if you return to me ten percent of what I have given to you then I will bless you”  You see when we give to God, we are just taking our hands off what already belongs to Him.

And that is the short answer, and if that was the entire answer then we’d be finished.  We could sing a song to close and we could go home but you would have received only a portion of what you need in order to achieve God’s blessings today.

Here then is the long answer the answer that is contained in the short answer.

You Leave a Legacy in Your Obedience.  The fact that the Israelites had not been paying their tithe was only evidence of a much great problem and that was their obedience or their disobedience in this case. The concept of the tithe goes back to Genesis, the first book in the Bible, when Abraham gave King Melchizedek, who was also a priest, ten percent of his belongings as an act of worship to God. 

The commandment to God’s people to return ten percent of what God had given them is first recorded in Leviticus 27:30 “One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy.” It is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 14:22 “You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year.  Throughout the Old Testament we see God’s people responding to the command of the Tithe, when they were living in obedience to God’s will and commandments.  However when they were living in disobedience it is often evidenced by the fact that they were not giving to God’s work.

In fact God often uses our giving as a spiritual barometer, because if we are finding it difficult to give something as paltry as money how much more difficult will it be to give important things like our time, our will and our future?

So when we are obedient to God then he blesses us.  Now some of you might be thinking “That’s blackmail or bribery.” No, that is reality.  When our children are disobedient do we rush out immediately to buy them a gift or take them to a special restaurant?  “I am so glad that you wrote on the living room wall with crayons and didn’t do your homework, let me buy you something special.”  No, that happens when they do what we want them to do.

Tithing is only a small part of who and what we are as Christians, but is a part it can’t be ignored.  But neither can it be a bribe to excuse our disobedience in other areas.  If people could just pay their tithe and then do whatever they liked with immunity the church wouldn’t be able to spend the money they had.

God is still looking for our obedience to His word and He will bless us when we obey Him. 

Jesus tells us that unless we obey him we don’t really love him John 14:15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.  When we were children and we disobeyed our parents we felt guilty, and that wasn’t a fun feeling was it?  As believers when we do what we shouldn’t  do or we when we don’t do what we should we feel guilty as well, sometimes we call that conviction and that isn’t a great feeling is it?  By the way, when we stop feeling guilty about our disobedience it’s not that the action has become all right it’s that our hearts have become hardened.

You Leave a Legacy in Your Faithfulness.  This goes back to the concept of all we have as coming from God, he has entrusted us with our material possessions to make an impact on this world.  And we can choose to do that or choose not to do that and that is entirely up to us.  But if we choose to spend what was meant for the sacred on the secular then God is not going to bless us.  The concept is laid out in Luke 16:10 When Jesus said “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.

The New International Version says it this way Luke 16:10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with very much. 

If we go back into the Old Testament we discover that when Israel was faithful to God, then God blessed them.  When he could trust them with what they had then he was willing to trust them with even more, and the converse was also true.  When God’s people could not be trusted then the blessings of God were removed.

If your boss can’t trust you do you think you will be promoted?  If you’re spouse can’t trust you to be faithful with your love and your emotions do you think the relationship will grow.  I truly believe that God blesses us based on our past performance with his blessings.  When we aren’t faithful, when we can’t be trusted how do we feel?  Not good huh?

You Leave a Legacy in Your Honesty.  When you take something that doesn’t belong to you but belongs to somebody else it is called stealing.  When you take what doesn’t belong to you but belongs to God it’s still called stealing.  If we look back into the book of Malachi this is what God says Malachi 3:8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.”  In other words you cheat God when you keep what is his. 

So it’s not just a matter of obedience and faithfulness it is a matter of honesty.  Many people who would never take a penny that belonged to somebody else have no problem taking and keeping what rightfully belongs to God.

But honesty doesn’t just have to do with money.  We can steal the affections of someone who isn’t our spouse, that’s called adultery, we can steal somebody’s good name that’s called slander, we can steal the honour that is due God and that is called idolatry.  To take something that doesn’t belong to us is a sin, by whatever name you call it.  And God will not bless us in our sin.

So if those are some of the Legacies we leave what are the results of those legacies?

Let’s start with the least important thing, Your Legacy Will Have a Momentary Component

Throughout the scriptures this concept has been taught, if you are faithful to God with your finances then God will reward you.  The word “give” is used over 1100 times in the Bible and we see this concept taught, again and again.  Listen to Ecclesiastes 11:1 Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later.  Or Proverbs 11:24 Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. You understand the concept, that if God provides for his work and his Kingdom through his people then it is in the best interest of His work and his Kingdom for those who are faithful to prosper.

If I was going away for a while and told some of my staff “Each month I’m going to send you $10,000.00 (remember this is only an illustration) and you can use that however you want but you need to give $1,000.00 a month to Angela.  It would seem like a pretty good deal right? 

And say after four months Angela and I were talking and I asked her how she was doing financially and she said “you know staff person “A” send me a thousand dollars a month, every month I can expect it on the first day.  Staff person “B” has been sending me $2,000.00 a month, don’t know why, I was only expecting $1,000.00 but it is a blessing.  That’s cool, so I ask, “What about staff person “C”?”  “Well” she says “the first month I got $1000.00 the second month I got $700.00 and then $400.00 this month nothing.” 

What do you think I’m going to do?  I’m going to stop sending money to Staff person C and start sending it to Staff person B. 

Which is why Jesus tells us in Luke 19:26 “and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.”

The bible tells us that the church is the bride of Christ and he provides for us so we can provide for his bride.

R.G. LeTourneau was an American Inventor and committed Christian.  What did he invent?  Heavy earth moving equipment, much of what they use in excavation and road work today was originally the brain child of Robert LeTourneau.  And he became very wealthy doing what he did, and as his income grew so did his giving but he wasn’t content with simply giving a tithe and by the end of his life he was giving back ninety percent and living on the other ten percent. And this is what R.G. LeTourneau said “I shovel money out, and God shovels it back ... but God has a bigger shovel”

Most of us have either read the book, seen the movie, watched the play or at least heard of The Diary of Anne Frank, and Anne Frank said “No one has ever become poor by giving.”

I’ve used this before but in the book  “The 10 Secrets Revenue Canada Doesn’t Want You to Know”  The author David M. Voth writes in his chapter on Charitable Giving.  “Ask people who tithe faithfully and they will tell you of the ten, hundred and thousand times returns they have received by giving.  Universally, tithers will also tell you that if you tithe you’ll live better on the 90% than you ever did before on the 100%.  The prosperity benefits of tithing are so significant that it would be worth it even if it came without any tax benefits.  However, there are also tax benefits to tithing.” 

I came across a neat saying that kind of sums up this point, You should give according to your income, lest God make your income according to your giving.  So here’s a question, could you live on 10 times what you give to the church each week?

But the momentary blessings are the least important.  Your Legacy Will Have an Emotional Component When we aren’t doing what we are supposed to be doing we feel guilty or under conviction.  And I know some of you think that I’m the one that tries to make you feel guilty.  Not so, I simply present the word of God, if you are feeling guilty that’s your doing not mine.  If I did a poll right now, some of you would feel guilty and wish I would change my sermon right now to something pointed like Apple Pie, Motherhood and Lower Taxes while others wouldn’t be feeling the least bit convicted. 

If I were to preach on adultery or lust who would feel guilty?  If I was to preach on lying or stealing who would feel guilty? If I was to preach on unforgiveness who would feel guilty?  And guilt will tie you up in emotional knots.  Ask the person who is having an affair how they feel around their spouse, as the person who is stealing from the company how they feel around their boss, ask the person who cheats on their income tax how they feel when a letter arrives from the tax department.

And so the legacy of our obedience is emotional freedom, a clear conscience makes a soft pillow.  Listen to God’s word in Romans 4:7 “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.

Have felt the Joy of knowing that your sins are forgiven?   Which lead us to the last point Your Legacy Will Have a Spiritual Component When we are disobedient to God, in whatever area of our lives it puts up a road block between us and Him.  You see disobedience is simply a big word that describes a little word and that word is sin.  The bible, the word of God says in James 4:17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

And the result of sin?  We are told in Isaiah 59:2  It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

But when you are walking as you are supposed to be walking, talking as you are supposed to be talking and doing as you are supposed to be doing then you are in fellowship with God, the doors of communication are open and you are right where you are supposed to be with your God and creator.  Is that where you are this morning?  If not then it can be.  The blessing that God has in store for his believers are for those who are obedient in all areas of their lives.  For those who are walking in the light that he has given them.  If you are not a believer then those blessings aren’t even on the menu yet but they can be, and in either case the choice is yours, do you obey or do you disobey? 

The promise that is here for you is found in the last part of Malachi 3:10 . . .Try it! Put me to the test! Do you want to be blessed, then try it and let Him prove it to you. 

The Length of Your Legacy

Length of Your Legacy

How long will you be remembered?  I remember my Grandfather Guptill, we called him Da.  He passed away when I was 11.  I vaguely remember my mother’s grandfather, he passed away when I was seven, but we had moved overseas when I was five so those were my last recollections of Grampy Peter.  I never met my mother’s father, he was killed in an industrial accident when I was just a month old.

Often we live on in the memory of our children and grandchildren, but for most of us that will be it.  I don’t expect strangers to be talking about Denn Guptill seventy-five years from now, but there is a chance that my grand-daughters will remember me and their children. 

And I’m not sure if that is depressing or not.  It was Benjamin Franklin who said if you wanted to be remembered you would need to “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”  And while I am published it’s doubtful that the Penn of Denn will ever be remembered as great literature.  Mark Twain defined a classic book as “Classic: a book which people praise and don't read.”  So maybe the Penn is a classic.

This is week three of Money Month here at Cornerstone.  If you are new to Cornerstone this month is really for those who call Cornerstone their church home.  We do finances a little different at Cornerstone then most churches do, but it hasn’t always been that way.

For the first seven years of our life we struggled with our finances and really didn’t have a financial plan at Cornerstone.  We did write a budget each year, but it was more of a wish list then an actual budget.  As a leadership team we would sit down at the beginning of the new church year and draft our budget.  These are the things we need to spend money on, and here are the things that we’d like to spend money on.  And we felt that we were being fiscally responsible, but the budgets weren’t really based on solid data.  We didn’t actually know how much money we would receive and estimates were really guesses. 

So we would prepare a budget and present it to our annual meeting and it would be approved because. . .  it was the budget.

And then at some point in the year we would realize that we were under budget, usually on the income side, not the expense side.  So there would be suggestions, perhaps we should put our finances in the bulletin so people could see what was needed. But that usually was just depressing and wasn’t really the message you wanted to send to guests.

Then someone would suggest that maybe letters be sent out to everyone in the church and that Denn should preach on stewardship. And I have copies of those letters and those sermons, and the message always came across as a little desperate because no matter how you worded it the message was the same. . . “We need your money”.  And people just tuned out.  Those who were giving would dig a little deeper because it was a priority for them, and those who weren’t giving, very seldom started.

So in 2002 we made two major changes in how we would present and deal with our finances.  The first is that I would teach on stewardship and the theology of giving in April each year.  It is the end of our church year so it seemed like the best time.  Easter often falls in April so a lot of years that limits us to three Sundays, some years like this year you get four Sundays and when you are really lucky Easter falls in March and there are five Sundays in April.

So I’m not preaching on money because we are desperate or because there is a problem, but because it’s April.  And there are some folks who don’t come in April because they know what I’ll be preaching on, and that is their choice.

The second thing we do is to ask those who make Cornerstone their church home to estimate what they think they can give that year.  The last Sunday of April we hand out estimate of giving cards and ask, not tell, you to fill them out.  It is completely voluntary.  But you get to have a say in the budget, when you are filling out a card, or not filling out a card you are saying “This is the type of church I want Cornerstone to be. 

And we use that figure to determine our budget for the upcoming year.  And we feel that is the responsible way to do it.

This year our theme is “Your Legacy, Your Choice!”  And in week one I spoke about how Everybody leaves a legacy and that we leave a legacy with both our lives and our money.

Last week I spoke about how we have a legacy in the work that we do and what the bible had to say about our work.

This week my focus will be the length of your legacy, because while we understand that we all leave a legacy with our money, not all of those legacies have the same life span.

So let's look at a couple of different stories in the New Testament where giving actually impacted the lives of others.

One of my favourite stories in the gospels happened on the edge of the sea of Galilee.  The story is told in Matthew and Mark’s gospels.  A crowd has gathered to hear Jesus preach and the time has gotten away from them and suddenly the apostles realize that it is getting close to supper time and that people are starting to get hungry.  So they go to Jesus and tell him that it’s probably time to call it a day, that the people are going to have to head home to get something to eat. 

Jesus simply responds by saying “You feed them.”  Seriously?  Feed them what?  We pick up the story in Mark 6:37  But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”  

And so Jesus tells them to go into the crowd and see what they can rustle up for supper.  And they come back with a boy who offers up five rolls and two fish.  The story is one of those one taught to us in Sunday School and VBS, Jesus takes this gift and uses it to feed the thousands of people who have come to hear him teach.

And there are all kinds of lessons wrapped up in the story.  The generosity of the little boy, God using this small gift in a miraculous way, the faith of the apostles as they began to pass out the food.  And 2000 years people are still talking about what happened that day. 

But here is the reality, as miraculous as that was the people were hungry again the next day.  So we discover that Some Gifts Last for a Day: 

And that does not negate what happened that day, people were hungry and Jesus met a need. 

But the need that was met was very base and very temporal.  It filled their bellies but that was it.   

We leave this type of legacy all the time, at least I hope we do.   We leave it when we give a homeless person a handout on the street or at a set of lights in the city.  And I know the arguments, that you are simply enabling them, or they will probably use your loonie to buy cigarettes or booze.  Maybe, and if they do that is a choice that they make, but whether I give them sometime or not is a choice I make.

When you bring your cans of chunky soup and evaporated milk on the first Sunday of the month and we donate that to feed Nova Scotia, that is making an impact and leaving a legacy, but only a very temporary one. 

But for the person whose food for that meal is a can of chunky soup that you went out and bought and then remembered to bring in on a Sunday, it is important.  As important as the tuna fish sandwiches were to the folks that Jesus fed.

This type of giving is so important that Jesus used it as an example when he spoke about what the day of judgment would be like. You might recall, or not, that in the last days Jesus says that humanity will be divided into two groups, a group on the right and a group on the left.  And to the group on his right he says Matthew 25:34-36  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.  I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

And when they asked “When did this happen, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or naked or sick?”  He replies in Matthew 25:40  And the King will say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

If you google Loaves and Fishes before you get an entry about Christ’s miracle, you get hits about food banks with that name.

And it really doesn’t hurt us much to spend 5.00 to help someone, Jack London wrote “A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.”

Twice a month when we provide the Monday meal at Ronald McDonald House, we are leaving a legacy for a day.  When families return to RMH from the Children’s hospital and there is a hot meal waiting that they didn’t have to cook or buy, that means something.  It may just be filling a temporary need but it is filling a need and making an impact.

I’m sure you are all familiar with the statement “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”,   it’s been attributed to many different people over the years including Maimoides who was a 12^th century philosopher, but we really don’t know who actually said it the first time. 

Maimonides wrote about eight degrees in the duty of charity.  And he wrote this “ Lastly, the eighth and the most meritorious of all, is to anticipate charity by preventing poverty.”  I guess that is like teaching them to fish. 

But some of our giving leaves a legacy that goes beyond a day.  The passage that was read this morning ends with these words, 2 Corinthians 8:14-15  Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal.  As the Scriptures say, “Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough.”  

And it’s here we discover that Some Gifts Last for a Lifetime:  I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago.  Paul is addressing a serious problem in the early church.  Persecution had become a reality for the believers, especially in Jerusalem where it had been fanned into flames by the same religious leaders who had Christ crucified.  But more than that, the Roman authorities were starting to see Christians as a threat because of the growth of the church and their refusal to swear allegiance to Caesar.

Rome was fairly open to the various religions of the day, it really was live and let live.  But there was one condition that everybody had to live by, once a year they had to swear allegiance to the Emperor with words “Caesar is Lord.”  The only problem Christians refused to say that because to them it was blasphemy because for them only Jesus was Lord.

And believers in Jerusalem, because that was perceived to be the birthplace of the church, were suffering the most.  They were losing their jobs and their property,  sometimes being put in prison, sometimes losing their lives.  For many it wasn’t a matter of being unwilling to work it was being unable to work and the only reason they were able to survive was through the giving of other believers. 

We see that reflected in what we do with our Clean Water Project each Christmas where Cornerstone has provided clean water for over a dozen villages in Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In some ways it serves the same purpose as giving food but it goes so much further than that.  I am so passionate about clean water because of my teaching in West Africa and you can’t even comprehend the impact that clean water can make on the lives of people.

 Most people are now familiar with the Canadian charity “Me to We”  or “Free the Children”  when brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger first began their project they were funding education in Africa and they discovered that very few girls came to school.  Not because they weren’t permitted but because they were too busy carrying water.  And so they began providing clean sources of water along with schools and the difference was incredible.

Water provides so many life changing benefits, health, economic and educational.  It has a lifelong legacy.   By the way this is a picture of a well that we helped provided for a 175 bed hospital in Tandala in the DRC, and long after the sign is gone your giving will still be providing a legacy.

The present emphasis on refugee sponsorship in Canada has a similar legacy.  The difference in the lives of the families who come to Canada with the help of community groups like our own Kingswood Refugee Project will last for a lifetime. 

And I have mentioned before, that because people through the years have sacrificially given so that Cornerstone can exist we have had a life changing impact on individuals and families in our community.  Stories that you will never know about marriages that have been saved and children and teens who have been nudged away from bad decisions, addictions that have been overcome.  Those legacies go well beyond today, they last for a lifetime.

In the Gospels we often read accounts of Jesus healing people, and the ministry of healing continues into the book of Acts and beyond.  And I believe that even today that God heals people, but for all those who say that God always heals and all you need is enough faith let me share this with you: You are wrong!  And death proves that.

But for the person who has experienced a physical healing their life and their quality of life has been changed and they would often say it was a change for the best.  

But here is the reality of this point, people’s lives can be changed for the better.  They can be educated and healthy but still be far from God.  And while I truly believe that Jesus came so we could have better lives, abundant lives.  That’s not the main reason he came.  Because there are all kinds of organizations that help people have better lives but don’t prepare them for eternity.

Schools and service organizations help Feed Nova Scotia, other community groups assist with meals at Ronald McDonald House.  There are any number of well intentioned organizations who help provide clean water in the developing world and sponsor refugees.

But if we truly believe the word of Jesus than there is a legacy that lasts beyond our lifetime.  John 14:6  Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.    You understand what Jesus is saying there right, he’s not saying he is “a” way to God, he is saying he is “The” way to God.

And John 11:25-26  Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.  Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

Another story from the Gospels, this one more toward the middle.  Often when we picture Christ and his disciples we see them making their way from town to town, teaching and healing those they came in contact with.  Some kind of care free existence somewhere between Peter Pan and the Lost Boys and Robin Hood and his Merry Men.    You almost expect them to break into song as they make their way through the country side. 

But from a practical stand point, how did they survive?  Think about it, thirteen guys walk everywhere they went they had to be hungry at the end of the day.  But we don’t see them working part time, or sitting on the corner with a sign, or doing the squeegee kid thing with Chariots stopping at the lights.  Oh I know every once in a while you see them fishing, or picking some grain as they walked along the road and that was fine when they were around Capernaum where Peter and Andrews fishing boat was, and the picking grain that was a snack not a meal. 

But in order for Jesus and his happy little band of followers to have ministered for three years around Israel someone had to be footing the bill, and there’s just one little mention in the bible to give us a clue as to what was happening.   Luke 8:1-3 Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.

Some Gifts Last for an Eternity: 

Plain and simple if these folks hadn’t been kicking in then Jesus and the 12 would not have been able to do what they did.  They were not only feeding 13 men their gifts were establishing a movement and leaving a legacy.

The gifts that were given by those folks 2000 years ago are directly responsible for your salvation.  Their legacy is you.

22 years ago this summer we moved back from Australia with the vision of a new church that we would be starting in Bedford.  We were partially funded by the district and denomination, but a significant portion of our funding came from individuals.  And that happened as I travelled across the district speaking wherever I could wangle an invitation.

And when I cast the vision for this church 22 years ago at Beulah Camp and around the churches on our district it wasn’t a vision to have another Wesleyan Church it was a vision to establish a church to help depopulate Hell.  And when people gave to that vision they weren’t giving so we could have another Wesleyan Church on the district, they were giving to a church that they’d probably never visit because they believed the vision, they gave so that people would meet Jesus.

And over the past 22 years marriages have been saved, and wells have been drilled and cans of soup have been collected, and that is fine and good.  But there will be people who will be in heaven and not in hell because this church was started.  And that is an eternal legacy.

And when we cast the vision for this building 12 years ago it wasn’t a vision to have a comfortable place to worship, it was a vision to help depopulate hell.  And because people sacrificially gave we have this building.

And there are people who started attending who would never have attended at the LeBrun centre who have stepped over the line of faith and there will be people who will be in heaven and not in hell because this church was built.

Three weeks ago a grade six student accepted Christ as their saviour and because of the teaching that happens in Jr. Church and Children’s church children embrace the reality of Christ and his grace and that is because folks at Cornerstone give so that we can have a pastors who focus on children and youth. And that is an eternal legacy.

We don’t give at Cornerstone simply to keep the lights on and the doors open we give to to help depopulate hell.  And that is an eternal legacy.

Next week at the end of the service we will distribute estimate of giving cards, they look like this.  And we will ask that each family who makes Cornerstone their church home prayerfully consider what they will be able to give in the upcoming year.  And you will have the opportunity to say, “This is the kind of church we’d like Cornerstone to be.”  And each of you will have a hand in shaping our legacy.

The Legacy of Work

Legacy of Work

Can you remember your first paying job?  I can I was. 14 and got a job as a pile it.   You might think that is a strange first job for a 14 year old but it is what it is. 

We lived in Hammond River just outside of Saint John New Brunswick and the Jr. High School I attended was overcrowded and so we did split shifts.  You either went to school from 8:00 until noon or from 12:15 until 4:15. 

Because of that I had a lot of free time.  The farmer down the road from us, Murray Crowley owned a team of horses and in the winter he worked in the woods.  And so he hired me to help, he would cut the wood and I’d pile it.  What were you thinking?  I mean, who in their right mind would let a 14 year old fly a plane? 

Any way that was the beginning of my employment history, and I discovered that I liked stuff and the money that I got from working would buy stuff and so I’ve worked pretty much continually for the past 41 years.   And during that time I have pumped gas, sold clothes, sold vacuum cleaners, for about a week, sold cars, worked as a bell hop and front desk clerk at the Admiral Beatty Hotel in Saint John.  I’ve worked on tug boats, fishing boats and oil tankers, served in the Military Police in the reserves while I was in college, have been an assistant pastor, a solo pastor and a lead pastor.  Technically we were missionaries during our four years in Australia, and during time we have been at Cornerstone I sold clothes at Tip Top Tailors and worked as a freelance writer for six different magazines and taught at Kingswood University.

For most of us work, is something we do, and for some of us work is something that defines us.  You don’t just work as a policeman you are a policeman, you don’t just work as a nurse or doctor or teacher, that’s what you are. Perhaps not in your eyes but certainly in the eyes of others. 

This is week two of Money Month at Cornerstone.  Just to highlight, since 2002 we have taken the month of April to focus on the theology of our money.  How we make it and what we do with it after we have it.  And what that means for us as Christians. 

I realized that for the first seven years that our church existed that the only time I spoke about money was when things were tight.  And then there was always an air of desperation about it. 

And it really came across as scolding people or trying to guilt them into giving.   What usually happened was that those who were giving gave more and those who weren’t giving just became resentful.

So in 2002 we adopted a new model where I take the month of April to discuss the biblical view of money and giving.  And at the end of the month, we offer those who call Cornerstone their church home an opportunity to let us know what they estimate they will be able to give in the year ahead and that figure is what we will use to create our budget for the new year. 

Our theme this year is “Your Legacy, Your Choice”  and last week we started looking at how we each shape the legacy that we leave.  And I mentioned that Everybody Leaves a Legacy, it might not be apparent but it is there, and it is far reaching.  And then I spoke about how We Leave a Legacy By How We Spend Our Lives, and talked about choices that we make and how the choices we made yesterday have shaped our today, which means the choices that we make today will shape our tomorrows. I guess that means, “Choose carefully”.  And then I spoke about how We Leave A Legacy By How We Spend Our Money.  And my main point there was that We will all choose to spend our money somewhere. 

And some folks can’t understand how Angela and I can afford to tithe our incomes to Cornerstone, that is we give 10% of what we make back to God.  Notice that I said that we give it back, because it truly is our understanding that what we have we receive from God.   So I guess truthfully we all choose to spend God’s money somewhere.

In the same way that some people can’t understand how Angela and I can afford to tithe I can’t understand how some people can afford to drink, smoke, play the lottery or for that matter play golf.  Most of us can’t imagine how others can do what we don’t do, but they do, because they have chosen to.

This morning we are going to shift our gears a bit and look at “The Legacy of our Work”.

In the scripture that was read earlier Paul is addressing a problem in the Thessalonian church.  He is actually re-addressing a problem he had addressed in his previous letter to the same people.    In 1 Thessalonians we read; 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12  Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.  Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.

And apparently not everyone got it, because in his next letter Paul gets a little stronger,  for those who missed it the first time he reiterates.  2 Thessalonians 3:10  Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”   Wow, that does sound very biblely, “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”  To soften it a bit, he does not say those unable to work, he says those unwilling to work.  And there is a world of difference between the two.

Abraham Lincoln once received a letter from his step-brother asking for a loan of $80.00.  This is part of Lincoln’s response, “Now, this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether, since I saw you, you have done a good whole day's work in any one day. You do not very much dislike to work, and still you do not work much merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it. This habit of uselessly wasting time is the whole difficulty;”

It wasn’t that the folks in Thessalonica were lazy, but they were idlers. 

The back story here it seems is that there were those in the church who were waiting expectantly for Jesus to return and they felt that there was no need to spend that time doing something as unspiritual as earning a living.  So they were sponging off the rest of the church while they waited.  And that was causing problems in the church, resentments were building and because these people weren’t working they were using their free time stirring up unrest in the church.  Because while it’s not in the bible it is true, Idle Hands are the Devil’s hands

And so Paul tells them to get a job, but he’s also telling others in the church to stop enabling these folks.  The command that those who did not work should not eat was a warning for some and instruction to others. 

And I would expect that if you had of talked to those who weren’t working that they would have offered all kinds of “Spiritual” reasons for doing what they were doing.

That there were able to spend more time in prayer, or in studying the scriptures.  Perhaps they felt they were showing more faith by not being concerned about worldly things, after all Jesus had reminded the people that God took care of the birds of the air.  Or maybe they thought they were being obedient in putting aside the things of the world while waiting for Christ’s return. 

We really don’t know their rationale for why there were doing what they were doing. 

But I do know that sometimes we try and separate our secular work from our Christian walk.  People put work in one area of their lives and they put their Christianity in another area of their lives.  Never the twain to meet. 

And what Paul wrote next was not a hint or a suggestion, it was a command and it was coached in the strongest of terms.  2 Thessalonians 3:12  We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living.   Paul is so serious that he actually invokes the name of Christ, because he knew that these idlers weren’t just causing problems within the Christian community that they were giving Christianity a black eye. 

Because sitting around all day isn’t what God intended.

Work is a major theme through the story.  If we go back to the story of creation we read Genesis 2:15  The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.   We Were Created to Work  So when God created man, he created him to work tending the garden, I don’t know what that entailed but it seemed to require some effort.

And God knew that man needed something to do, that’s how we were created, in the image of God, the creator.  If we go back to the beginning of the story it begins with God working, he creates the heaven and the earth and everything in heaven and earth and then after six days we are told that he rested.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin wrote “Man is most in God’s image when he is creating things.”

And through the bible we see people working and being commended for the work they do.  They were farmers, shepherds, fishermen and administrators.  And God commended them for it and rewarded them for what they did.

And through the bible you will find admonitions to work.  Proverbs 13:4  Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.  And Proverbs 21:5  Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

Throughout this book of wisdom it is reiterated over and over again that the result of being lazy, or idle is poverty. And so the plan seems to include work.

Dave Ramsay, the financial guru wrote “Your greatest wealth-building tool is your income.”  He goes on to say that too many people get distracted by get rich quick schemes or high risk ventures because they want to get rich overnight.   But ultimately we are told in Proverbs 10:4  Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich.

And that doesn’t mean that we will never need help and never need to help people.  There are times that we hit a rough spot, perhaps we lose our job or illness or some other circumstance prevents us from working.  

I’ve told story before, I went to college with a guy named Mike Ward who was from Louisiana, and Mike wasn’t allowed to work in Canada.  So there were times that things would get tight for Mike and he’d pray, “Lord, you know that I’m going to run out of toothpaste and shampoo, and I need a new pair of jeans cause my old one have a hole in them”  And then two days later a package would arrive with a note saying “Mike I was praying the other day and the Lord impressed on my to send you this.”  And there’d be toothpaste, shampoo and a new pair of jeans and an American ten dollar bill.

So I thought I’d try it and so I prayed the same way, and I got a job. 

But the plan, is for us to work to earn our living whenever it is possible.  And sometimes that means working at jobs that you think are below you if that’s all you can find.   

And maybe you are thinking “I hate my job and there is nothing I can do about it.”  Well the first part of that statement might be a reality.  And if it is then it probably goes back to the choices that you made at various points in your life.  But the second part, the part that says “there is nothing I can do about it” is only a perceived reality.  History is full of people who have changed careers in midlife.  But it’s like changing canoes in mid-river, it can be done but it should be done carefully and it’s not without risk.

My father is my hero in many ways but in particular in this instance.  Dad quit school in grade six and went fishing with his dad.  When he was old enough he joined the army as a cook for 17 years and then he got out and then did whatever it took to provide for his family.  He cooked in and then managed restaurants, he drove cab and dump trucks, worked on fishing boats and operated heavy equipment. 

And then when he was 37 he decided to go navigation school.  With a grade six education he began to study and learn things like trigonometry and navigation.  And eventually he became Captain Guptill and sailed all over the world. 

You see, Dad knew the reality that you can’t start over but you can start again.  You can’t change the past but you can make choices that will change your future.

Colossians 3:22-23  Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord.  Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

The second thing that we need to discover is that Our Work is Our Witness Let me say, let’s don’t get hung up on the word “Slave” here, the word can mean servant as well.  For most of us, we spend most of our waking hours at work, or getting to work or back from work.  That’s just a reality and for most of us we do it for more than forty years. 

And there are some folks who begrudge that time, and they’ll say things  like “I wish I had more time to do things for God.”  Or “When I retire, that’s when I will be able to do ministry.”

But that is where God has put you, and it’s not separate from our Christian life it is a major part of our Christian life.  Sometimes I’ll be talking to someone and they’ll tell me how pagan their work place is, the language that is used and the crude stories that are told.  And they’ll say “You don’t know how dark it is, I wish I could find a Christian company to work for.” 

And I will remind them that we are called to be light, Jesus told his followers in Matthew 5:14  “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.”  And then I’ll ask them, “Where does a light do the most good?  Somewhere where it is already bright or somewhere where it is dark?”  And that’s a no brainer, the light from a single candle will chase away the darkness. 

Every one of us has the opportunity and the responsibility to be light and and to be the light where God has placed us.  It might be the hockey rink while your kids are playing, it might be the golf course while you are playing, and it while always be where you spend the majority of your time, and if that is your place of employment then shine as bright as you can, because Jesus went on to remind people in  Matthew 5:15-16  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

But it isn’t just about being a good Christian it’s about being a good worker.  You are there to represent Christ and how hard you work, the language you use, your demeanour and your attitude will ultimately reflect on Christianity and the church.

Through the years I have met unchurched folks who have worked with people from the church I was pastoring at the time.  And there were times that that made me proud to be there pastor and to be truthful there were times that made me cringe.  And you can only imagine how it make Jesus feel.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18  He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’  Remember the LORD your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.”

Work is From God and For God    God wants you to be successful.  Now I don’t mean that God necessarily wants you to drive a Maserati, live in a 50 room house and own a jet.  But he does want you to be able to support yourself and your family and to give back to Him. 

There is nothing spiritually edifying about being poor.

I talked about this last week, the bible is not opposed to money, but it consistently warns us to be careful about our priorities and the choices we make, which is why Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:24  “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.  That statement is not a warning about money, it is a warning about priorities and who or what we will serve.      

And I believe that God blesses those who are responsible with their money and are faithful with their money.  But he expects us to do our part. Even when miracles happen in the bible and a little becomes a lot, it starts with someone giving the little to start with.

From the beginning of the book God’s work has been supported by God’s people, whether it was building the temple, or operating the temple or ministry in the early church, the funds came from the people of God.  And it was seen as returning a portion of what God had allowed them to earn.  It was set as a percentage, and so it really benefited God’s work when folks who were faithful in their giving earned more. 

I can’t count the number of times over my ministry that someone has told me how they will start to give when they get that raise, or the better job or win the lottery.  But as one wit wrote, “It’s not what you’d do with millions if riches ere be your lot, but what you are doing at the present with the buck and a quarter you’ve got.”

So who will God bless?  The answer is given by Jesus in  Luke 16:10-11 Jesus said “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.  And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?”  When we are faithful, God trusts us with more.

When we stop viewing work as something we have achieved and see it as a gift from God and that we have it so that we can make a difference in our world the we begin to see it as a part of our legacy.

Let’s finish with a portion of the scripture we read last week where Paul told the believers in Corinth,  2 Corinthians 9:10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

He just wants you to trust him, so that he can produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

And so I leave you with these words of wisdom from Josh Billings, “Never work before breakfast. If you have to work before breakfast, get your breakfast first.”