One Sunday morning during worship, after preaching on Jesus'
parable of the talents where the king gives 3 slaves different talents to
invest, a pastor called forward volunteers to come up to the front of the
sanctuary. The pastor handed crisp $100
bills to 100 church members. Their task was to glorify God by investing in the
needy. The pastor said: “God
helped our little church to grow, it's the least we can do to thank Him.” The results surprised everyone.
One member decorated a Christmas tree with cards requesting
holiday gifts for destitute families.
Some 90 donors matched their gift of $100 with $9,000 worth of toys and
grocery certificates. Another member
told friends at a party about the pastor's challenge and left the party with
$1,700. That sum helped a single mother of three who had recently moved out of
a homeless shelter to buy groceries and pay the rent. Another member had emailed old school friends
for matching funds and received over $5,000 to help a poor family pay funeral
expenses. The congregation was amazed at how God had blessed this act of
investing in others in Christ's name.
We are all familiar with the concept of investing. We take out school loans to invest in our
future education. We exercise today not
only to stay in shape, but because we know it will pay dividends toward our
future health. We invest in the stock
market or in real estate or in gold or silver to build up our financial worth
for later years. Going to Las Vegas and putting it
all on number 29 on the roulette wheel is probably not a very sound investment
approach.
Today we are focusing on investing in something that
outlives you, that outlasts you, on giving today for tomorrow. We are speaking about creating a legacy for
the next generation. Now there are many
inspiring legacies which we can pass on to the next generation. The question is – do you desire to leave a
legacy that will live on after you die?
We pass on our legacy through financial gifts to schools,
colleges, hospitals, libraries, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, the YMCA, AYSO and
Little League. Joan Kroc, in memory of
Ray Krock, who were long time members of the Salvation Army congregation,
donated 87 million in 1998 to build the Ray and Joan
Krock Community
Center in San Diego . It offers programs for children, youth,
families, and older adults. It includes
day camps, sports programs, personal development, a theater, an acquatic
center, an education center, a gym, an ice arena, a skateboard park and a
church. Legacies vary tremendously. People bequeath books, art, songs, movies,
money, property, inventions, programs, buildings, teachings and examples for
the next generation.
We invest in our children's future. A mother writes: “I have 3 children, ages 9, 7 and 1. They are so lucky to receive $1000
each year from their grandparents. I am
planning to invest this for their future education.” Another mother writes: “Our
family sponsors a child in the third world for $25.00 a month through the
Christian Children’s Fund.” I recall
a bumper sticker which read: “My daughter
and my money go to UCLA.” Of course some people have a different idea,
like the bumper sticker on the back of a beautiful RV, which read: “I'm driving my children's inheritance."
One article stated: “Apart from the necessity of encouraging our
children to read on their own and reading to them, modeling good reading habits
is also very important. Studies show parents
who read are more likely to have children who read. If you’re not a parent, you can still serve
as a good role model to nieces, nephews and other special children in your
life. Investing in literacy for future
generations is an invaluable legacy.”
In our N.T. lesson from the Gospel of Matthew Jesus’ summons
us to look toward the future. We hear
Jesus’ warning about one’s attitude toward earthly possessions and money. It is the caution against the sin of
idolatry. He warns us to not store up
treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and
steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Why-because
where your treasure is there your heart will be also. Jesus bids us to invest today for tomorrow,
to invest in the present for the future, to invest in earthly enterprises that
have heavenly benefits.
Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven! That idea sounds strange for us today. But the Jews of Jesus' day were quite
familiar with this notion. For example,
they identified treasures, with acts of kindness, acts of mercy, which you
carried out on earth and which became your treasure in heaven. A story circulated in Jesus day about a king
who converted to Judaism. He
distributed his wealth to the poor in a year of famine. The king's brothers chastised the king for
this generous act. He replied: “You
have gathered treasures for this world, I have gathered treasures for the world
to come.”
Another story which circulated pertained to the Romans. During Roman persecution of the church, the
emperor sent his soldiers to raid the churches of their treasures. A soldier demanded of a deacon of one of the
churches: “Show me your treasures at once.”
The deacon pointed to the widows and orphans
who were being fed, the sick who were being nursed to health, the poor whose
needs were being supplied. “There he said, are the treasures of the
church.”
Can you think of what it means to store up treasures in
heaven? Here are some things which come
to my mind. Serving and glorifying God
in such a way that lives are changed, that unbelievers confess Christ and
become believers, that souls are saved, that you are reaching people for the
kingdom of God, that you are developing and using the gifts and talents God has
imparted to you, that you are fulfilling God's will for your life by carrying
out God's plans and purposes, that you are helping by your faith and witness
and character to expand God's kingdom, that you are loving others, loving your neighbor,
through acts of kindness, justice, and encouragement, because in all these
things God is glorified.
Recall Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 6: “When you give to the needy, do not announce
it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to
be honored by men. I tell you the truth,
they have received their reward in full.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your
right hand is doing. So that your giving
may be in secret. Then your father, who sees what is done will reward you.”
Yes, there is a link between rewards and treasures. Do we enact deeds of kindness and mercy in
order to stockpile rewards in heaven?
No, not at all. Treasures in
heaven, rewards are God's serendipities.
We love others because God first
loved us. We love others because God has
brought us salvation in Jesus Christ. We
love others because Christ commands us to love our neighbor. We serve and love others to bring glory to
God. As someone said, “It's not about us, it's about Jesus, it’s
about God.”
Another opportunity to invest in something that will outlast
and outlive you is to give to our church's Endowment Fund. Why the church? First, its the body of Christ; Christ is head
of the church. Second, because for over 2,000 years, the church has
had a major impact for God and morality and social change in nations and
cultures around the world. Giving to the
church ensures that we shall pass on the Christian faith, the gospel of Jesus
Christ to the next generation.
What is an endowment?
It’s a gift given for the purpose of establishing a permanent fund to
benefit church programs and ministry. The principal remains intact and only the
earned interest is spent. As it grows,
it becomes a perpetual source of income for the ministry of the church in the
years ahead. Why endowments or other special gifts for the church: “They allow us to do things in the church‘s
ministry which we would not otherwise be able to do.”
Some churches endow their building maintenance costs, or their entire music
program or their youth program, or their giving to missions and missionaries. Each church prays for God’s guidance in using
the income from their endowments.
Endowments are a blessing because churches can do exciting things for
Jesus Christ and His church today and tomorrow. It’s a way of saying –“I thank God for the friends I made, the support I received, the things
I learned and the opportunities the church gave me and out of gratitude I want
to continue to support Christ’s work even after I’m in heaven.” That is the power of an endowment fund for
Christ’s work.
Investing today for tomorrow, is a way for you to express
your faith in God and your appreciation and gratitude to the people in the
church who came before you and who will come after you. It remembers that our ministry today is
built first on the grace of God and second on the heritage and faithfulness of
past believers here at PBPC since 1888.
It means we have the privilege to carry-on Christ’s ministry which they
began and which we will one day pass on to the next generation.
One author wrote: “I followed others who had gone before me;
they left a legacy for me. Now I am
making sure that those who come after me will have a trail to follow as
well. Think about those who left a
legacy for you to follow specifically: Your parents, Your grandparents, Your
aunts and uncles, Your schoolteachers, Your neighbors’ where you grew up. For those of us in America: The founding
fathers who had a dream of a nation ruled by self-government; Abraham Lincoln,
who freed the slaves; FDR, who saw us through the great depression; the many
men and woman who defended our liberties through the wars so we could live in
freedom; JFK, who called us to space exploration
and set us on course to have a man walk on the moon; Martin Luther King Jr. who
left us a legacy to pursue the dream of racial equality. We are stewards of this world, and we have a
calling on our lives to leave it better than how we found it, even if it seems
like such a small part. Ask yourself
this question: How will my life affect the next generation?” Amen!
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