Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7; Luke 17:11-19
October 13, 2013
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Like most churches started
more than 40 or 50 years ago, 1st Christian Church, Odessa can
identify with the exiles who received Jeremiah’s letter. They had been taken
from the comfortable security of Judah to unfamiliar, unsettling Babylon. They
wished they could go back to a world they understood as quickly as possible. Older
congregations in decline are both jealous and critical of mega-churches and
baffled by the increasingly secular society in which church, religion and God
are pushed to the margins if not rejected.
Judah’s Babylonian captors
treated them as a zoo exhibit. “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” They
responded, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4)
Their discouragement was aggravated by unrealized, unrealistic expectations.
Similarly today, talking about how churches used to prosper when the world was
different only contributes to discouragement.
Instead of pandering to a
false hope of a quick return to the familiarity of Judah, Jeremiah instructed
them to settle down for the long haul in foreign territory. Seek the welfare of
the city where you are, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For
today’s congregations, I think that means letting go of the booming church
years of the 50s and 60s and settling into the 21st century as
foreign as it feels. Our welfare is tied to the time and place where God has
put us now, not where God put our parents then.
Jeremiah offered the exiles
in Babylon a practical plan: build, plant, grow and pray. Houses and gardens
set down roots that nourish. Don’t wait for a better time; have children now.
And above all, pray! Not just for yourselves but for the very people who
carried you into exile. I think Jeremiah would tell us not just to pray for 1st
Christian Church, Odessa. He’d say to pray that the other churches in town will
prosper too. There are plenty of people who don’t know Jesus to go around.
Evangelism is not about competition between churches. Instead, pray for the
people of Odessa who are not connected to Christ.
Congregations who struggle
to keep up when they no longer feel comfortable in their world are tempted to
view stewardship in terms of survival. How can we raise the money to pay the
bills? This can lead to a discouraging downward spiral. Conversely,
congregations who catch the vision of the spiritual welfare of the unchurched
people around them find that stewardship is about mission. How can we develop
the resources to introduce spiritually hungry people to Jesus? A focus on
outward mission motivates compelling passion.
We are talking about a
vision for mission in the Leadership Conversations, Prayer Triads, Merger
Committee, Stewardship Committee, the Elders and the Board. As your interim
pastor my job is to help you discern the mission to which God is calling you,
not to define your mission for you. But my prayer is that this congregation
will become a hospitable community who welcomes its neighbors into faith
relationships with Jesus.
When stewardship is integral
to a congregation’s vision for mission, it ceases to be a necessary function
for responsible planning and budgeting and becomes an act of faith in God’s
long-range purpose for the church. Making a pledge for the coming year is a
commitment to what Eugene Peterson calls “a long obedience in the same
direction.” It expresses confidence in God’s purpose regardless of short-term
results. It is what Jim Collins in his book Good
to Great imagines as turning a flywheel, not stopping too soon but building
long-term momentum.
Like every stewardship
campaign, you are being asked to prayerfully consider what God wants you to
pledge for the mission of 1st Christian Church, Odessa in 2014. I suggest
you ask God what size of pledge would stretch your faith. Also ask God how your
giving for the rest of 2013 could stretch your faith?
Many pastors are
understandably reticent to say too much about money for fear of sounding like
they want a bigger pay check. As an interim pastor I can be forthright about
the importance of stewardship on the interim journey between pastors because my
pay is already settled.
First, building stewardship
momentum during the interim journey is important to maintain and build ministry
momentum. We are not marking time and waiting. We are accelerating into God’s
future for this church. Many churches slump on the interim journey by adopting
a “wait and see what the new pastor is like” attitude. Don’t!
Second, the interim journey
is the time to amass a generous start-up reserve so that when the new pastor
comes with proposals for new ministries, you can get started right away and not
lose time as you seek the resources to start new ministries. Instead you can
capitalize on the enthusiasm of having a new pastor.
Third, good stewardship is
essential for attracting top pastoral candidates. When they look at your
congregational profile, they want to see that you are in good financial shape
in the present and are financially prepared for the future. Solid stewardship
in 2013 and 2014 will give your Search and Call Committee the confidence to
offer a package to a top candidate that says, “We want you!” and not “We hope
we can afford you.”
Stewardship expresses and
nourishes our personal spiritual well-being. Last week we listened to Jesus say
that faith as small as a mustard seed accomplishes great things. When our
giving stretches our faith, we also trust God to set our priorities on the rest
of our resources. When our giving stretches our faith, we get to trust God to
meet our needs with what’s left. Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers in Luke
17:11-19 is a window into the practical spirituality of stewardship.
On the
way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and
Galilee. 12As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping
their distance, 13they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14When he
saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they
went, they were made clean.
15Then
one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a
loud voice. 16He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was
a Samaritan.
17Then
Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18Was
none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he
said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
Gratitude is the highest
spiritual motivation. When we appreciate all God has done for us in Christ, we
switch from asking “How much should I give?” to “How can I find a way to give
more to express my thanks?”
A healthy sense of
responsibility is also a spiritual motivation if it doesn’t get distorted into
guilt. All ten lepers were healed, and nothing suggests that Jesus took back
that healing when they didn’t express gratitude.
That one out of ten
expressed gratitude, echoes the truism that 10% of the people do 90% of the
church’s work. I’ve heard it compared to a football game: 22 people desperately
in need of rest and 50,000 people desperately in need of exercise.
You may know that in a
Jewish synagogue certain prayers cannot be said without a minion of 10 heads of
households (men in conservative and orthodox synagogues). This reflects a
practical application of tithing and full community participation. If a small Jewish
community in the diaspora wanted to start a synagogue and hire a rabbi, they
needed ten heads of households who would commit to tithing. That way the rabbi
could be paid what was average for them and the rabbi’s tithe paid synagogue
expenses.
Personal involvement in
mission is also spiritually motivating. Jesus was motivated to heal the lepers
who were outcasts and very needy. The one who returned to thank him was a
Samaritan, making him a double outcast. When Jesus told him his faith had made him
well, he went beyond physical healing to spiritual wholeness. One of life’s
greatest satisfactions is participating when Christ transforms people. That
requires having personal relationships with the lepers and Samaritans around
us. Mission driven stewardship provides the resources for such opportunities.
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