St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church
Laytonsville, Maryland

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When David asked me to help Herb Grabau and Rand Golletz on the Stewardship committee, then shortly afterward asked me to give this Stewardship message, I thought maybe David had put one over on me. But I really don't mind, because I find the concept exciting that Almighty God, Creator of the universe, Author of the master plan has a part for me to play, tasks that he has for me to carry out, with resources that he uniquely provides. I love it. It's awesome. That's what Stewardship means to me - it's how I use and treat everything God has given to me. And He has given me everything I have and am. This is true for you as well. Everything you have comes from God.

I'll share with you a little of how I came to this understanding, and then why I think it is so important. I hope you'll be able to understand and share the excitement with me.

To start, I am a cradle Episcopalian. I have been baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal Church. I have been to church practically every Sunday since I was born. The number of Sunday's I can remember missing is less than 10. I thank God that my parents took us children to church. I said my prayers, studied hard; tried to be good. The offertory plate was for my parents. During college, I put in something mainly to appease the ushers. My participation was sincere, but minimal.

Then I moved out here, and at the age of 23 actually became a Christian. Until then, I thought I was a Christian, I went to church, I believed there was a God, I tried to be good. But I had not really accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, which is oddly not explicitly restated in the Confirmation vows. Once I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior a lot things really changed.

Shortly after this event, I was asked to be on the stewardship committee at Ascension Gaithersburg. I guess they were looking for warm bodies, because I knew like one person and nothing about stewardship. Our tasks on the stewardship committee were to go to some meetings, fill out our pledges first, to show leadership, and then call people in the church to remind them to fill out their pledge cards and talk about stewardship.

Never having pledged before, I looked at my budget, picked a reasonable number; filled out my pledge card. Done. On to the calls. Before making the calls we were suppose to read some Bible verses on stewardship to get pumped up. I'm reading along and I come to Malachi chapter 3. Malachi is the last book of the old Testament. Let me start in the middle of verse 7 and read through verse 12.

Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty
"But you ask, 'How are we to return?'
"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
"But you ask,' How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me."
Here's the kicker.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
(Malachi 3:7-12 NIV)

The only floodgate of heaven I knew of was when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. I got to wondering how close am I? I wasn't concerned about tithing. I was working towards it. That's what you did. Got a plan, I'll get there. But I was curious. So I did the math, and for ballpark $5-10 more a week, I could be tithing. I could have the flood gates of heaven open on me.

I was going to get there eventually, why not start now? It was a no brainer. I tore up my pledge cards, wrote new ones, and made my calls. That simple. That exciting.

have never regretted that decision to give away 1/10th of my gross income to further God's kingdom through the church. Never. Not once.

Why is that? You see I am a greedy man. I'm thrifty, frugal, cheap. I love a bargain. I like to see my bank balances go up and up, growing in the bank. I like saving.

Of all my many sins to work on first, I would have picked lust, anger, pride. I would not have picked greed, because I didn't have a problem with that. That wasn't a sin I was guilty of. Thankfully God disagreed.

By giving away a meaningful portion of my income, the hold that greed had on me was broken. That idolatrous tendency, that altar of greed was defiled, crushed into bits, burned with fire, thrown in the garbage. I tell you that idol requires continual beating down as my income rises and financial situation changes.

This principal works for you as well as for me. It works in other areas of our lives. Whatever grips you, what ever you're bowing down to besides the LORD you can be free of by giving it away. You have a problem with selfishness, give your time. You have a problem with anger, you need to for-give people. You have a problem with pride; you need to give up control. You think you don't have a problem, you have a problem. Remember it takes one to know one.

See giving as a discipline draws us closer to God. We're not bribing God to be good to us. He already loves us more than we deserve. Plus, it's all His anyways. What are we going to give Him as a bribe?

Rather we are yielding a part of our lives to His will. I want my heart to always be open to God. I don't want to hold back from Him, though I do. Giving is one of the ways I can reconnect with God.

That's nice and good. But I started with those floodgates of heaven. Wondering how all that worked out? Really, really well thank you. Though, let me tell you when God opens the floodgates of heaven on us and pours our so much blessing, we may get to keep it in our storehouse, but it's not for us to build our houses, our kingdoms. The blessings are to build His house, His kingdom. No doubt about that.

We are renters, not landlords. We are tenants, not owners. We are servants, not masters. We are here to carry out His plan.

I've heard it described as being a hose, as opposed to a bucket. As a hose, we're spreading out God's resources, making things grow, helping things along. As a bucket, we're hording it for ourselves. What are we afraid of? God's going to cut off the water; He's not going to give us any more; we won't have enough. That's what scares me.

That's not what the Bible says. The paraphrase the parable of the talents, use it or lose it. The guy who buried his talent in the backyard got nothing. The guys who put their talents to work were rewarded.

God's plans for us also have a corporate, or community dimension. The Apostle Paul, in first Corinthians, Chapter 12, describes spiritual gifts given to the saints, that's us. It's a rather long list. In verse 7, he said we have them for the common good. Certainly, some of the abilities and resources the Lord provides us can be used for our benefit. However, if we stop at the individual level, we mis-use God's resources and miss the chance to participate in God's bigger plan.

No surprise that His plan includes the church. David may actually say God's plan is the church. I see the Church as easy way, an easy place for me to get plugged into God's plan. A place were I can do my part. I want to be a member of a church that is actively worshipping and serving the Lord.

That's why stewardship excites me. Stewardship is a means to draw closer to God by continually yielding my will to His will. Stewardship is a means to be an active participant in His plan for the universe. I hope I have conveyed my enthusiasm for this subject, because when you put it like this everyday should be Stewardship Sunday.