Date:  November 7th, 2010

Speaker:  Pastor Kevin Snyder

Title:  How Much is too Much?

Text: Joshua 19:9

 

Introduction 

Have you ever wrestled with the question: “How much is too much?”

I sometimes waffle between discontent and guilt. 

 

Discontent - When I the rich in our world and all that they have and wishing “I had more of what they have…”

i.e.

Manivan – caller – for Jaguar – minimum wage – “How much do you make $5- 10 million?”

“I wish”

What do you make?

“1 – 5 million”

We look up the financial scale and feel discontent.

 

And then I down the financial scale in our world and feel guilty for what I do have.

Guilt– When I look at the people living in the 3rd world who face hardship after hardship and who struggle just to live and look how easy my life is and how much I have.

 

I don’t think I am alone.  Many North America socially conscious Christians struggle with that question:

 “How much is too much?”

 

Question:

Is there any way of measuring biblically: “How much is too much?”

 

There have been some who have tried:

• Ron Sider: Rich Christians in a Hungry World” likened North America to the rich young ruler in Scripture. Jesus saw riches as an idol in his life and told him to “Go and sell everything and give to the poor and come follow me.”

Scripture says the man went away sad because he had great wealth and didn’t want to do that.

Sider says: “In North America, we do the same.  The problem of poverty in our world isn’t a resource problem it is a distribution problem.  In over-simplified fashion we are unwilling to share.” 

• A few years later a reaction to his book came out entitled something like “Compassionate Christians in an world of Guilt Manipulators”  and showed the other side

 

The other side is basically expressed in a newspaper article I clipped a few years ago.

Let me read some of it to you:

“Recent research suggests that the world can be divided into two types of people, those who give and those who do not.  In spite of the myth of the generous Canadian public, the fact is that many give next to nothing to charity.

In 1985, for example, barely half of the people with a taxable income of $50,000 or more - who presumably had access to tax advisors who would point out the advantages of declaring any charitable gifts they made on their income tax returns – reported having given anything to charity.

The same statistics suggest that the lower down the economic scale you go and the higher up the ages scale the higher percentage of one’s income is given to charity.  That is, poor people give more of their money away than do rich people, and older people give more than younger people.…But what about the givers?  Whatever their age group or economic status , one thing unites nearly all people who give to charity: they are religious.  Secular people rarely give to any cause.  Perhaps that is what they think taxes are for.

But 95% or more of what is given – to secular as well as to religious causes - comes from Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, or others who are actively involved in their church, synagogue or temple….

So the people who support the local church or synagogue, foreign missions, religious schools, magazines like ChristianWeek and so forth are the same people who support hospitals, the United Way, the Cancer Society, the Heart Fund and the like…They are people who are by nature givers…” 

 

So depending where you are in the 2 types of people – givers or non-givers - this message may release you from some guilt, and for others it may challenge you.

 

How do we answer that question “How much is too much?”

Over the years I have wrestled with that question and the most definitive biblical answer I have found to date came from a very unlikely place.  It came from a little phrase we find in Joshua 19:9.

 

Most people have never even read this verse…because Joshua 13 – 22 is not the most exciting chapters you will read in Scripture.  It covers the dividing up of the land.  Israel has moved in and now Joshua is apportioning out the land to the 12 respective tribes that make up Israel.  Ch 13 – 22 reads like a surveyor’s certificate or a letter to land titles.

But in the midst of this apportioning of the land, we read this curious phrase:

 

“The inheritance of the Simeonites was taken from the share of Judah because Judah’s portion was more than they needed.”

 

It was wrong for them to have it just because they could, when their brothers didn’t have enough. 

It wasn’t a question of how much they could have, but a question of how much they could use.

 

When I read that it was an “ah-ha” experience, the lights went on…

 

You see, so often when trying to answer the question how much is too much we look at “What can I/We afford?”

 

i.e.

When shopping for a house what is the most frequent answer “It was what we could afford.”  If we could afford more typically we would buy more.  That’s the materialistic ratrace we are in.

 

But here we get a different measure…usage.

Maybe the question isn’t “How much can I afford?” but maybe the question is “How much can I use?”

I don’t mean we ask that in a selfish, self-indulgent way (all of us could use more , right?)….but I mean in a responsible , God-glorifying way that takes into account my place in the global community.

 

i.e.

Williamson – Calgary church

•   Wealthy oil guy
•   Use to have the youth over every Sunday night for a pool party and fed them
•   Bought an furnished an old barn as a youth center – hardwood floors and basketball court upstairs,   kitchen, fireplace lounge place downstairs. One man basically did what we as a whole church & community are doing with Dooly’s building.

• Did he have too much?  At times was criticized that way.  How does that criticism usually go “How could they possibly use all that?”
• Well they found a way.
• They learned to use “the much” in a responsible, God-glorifying way.  In fact, if I could be blunt they used their much in a more glorifying way than many used their little.  They used their house and pool, and resources to reach people where many of the critics couldn’t even use their kitchen table?  They never once invited a young person to lunch and yet they criticized this man…..because he had too much….how could he possibly use it.

 

Perhaps the question we need to ask ourselves is :

• Why should God bless me with more? 
• What are my plans and vision for it?
• Is the picture of just me living a more luxurious self-indulgent lifestyle or is the picture of greater opportunities to bless others?  If it’s not the latter , don’t ask for more because listen to what Jesus  said,

Luke 12:48 (New International Version © 2010)

48….From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

•  “He who has more will be accountable for more.”
•   If you aren’t using what you have, why exact even heavier judgment on yourself by asking for more? 

 

Think of it this way:

John Maxwell can be credited with this….

 

4 TYPES OF STEWARDS IN SCRIPTURE

 

1. ONE WHO HAD MUCH WHO DID MUCH

Several examples:

• Abraham, - gave a 10th to Melchizadek
• Joseph – made Egypt wealthy so could feed nation and surrounding people’s for 7 drought-filled years;
• Joseph of Arimathea – called a wealthy man who gave up a tomb for Jesus burial.
• Zaccheus – who when he came to Christ gave up to ½ his wealth away.  Not many of us could give ½ without some pretty serious ramifications….like to give ½ my debt away.

Stories of people who had much, but did much with it. 

Had much but did much. 

2.  ONE WHO HAD LITTLE AND DID MUCH

Luke 21:1

While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. 2 Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.?*?

3 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. 4 For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”  

• Feeding of 5000 – boy with small lunch “What is this among so many?”

Gave his little and with God’s blessing it accomplished much.

 

i.e.

Eye-opener in ministry

Had access to see what people gave but in 20 years only did it once.

It messed with me.

One of largest givers – widow lady who managed a Senior’s block.  If I had asked who were biggest givers ?”  wouldn’t have fallen in top 40 in people’s minds.

Another disturbing thing – some that gave me most grief gave  the least….

So decided not do that anymore because I didn’t want to treat people on that basis.

 

i.e.

Funeral yesterday for Ruth smith’s Mom. As we talked they spoke of a woman whose “heart exceeded her resources”  Like Corinthian Christians in 2 Cor 8 “gave out of their poverty….gave more than they were able…”

Different than the person who’s resources exceed their heart.  …leads to next type of steward.

 

The next 2 are not seen as a good stewards… 

3.  ONE WHO HAS MUCH BUT DOES LITTLE.

Luke 12

The Parable of the Rich Fool

 13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

 14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

   18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

   20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

   21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

 

What was this man’s approach? 

Looked at life through lens of what he could afford not what he could use.  Self- indulgent.

 

What happened?

God struck him down. God called him a fool.

Why?

• Because he never saw beyond himself
• He never saw beyond this life.

 

i.e.

Tony Campolo – Haiti – waiter saw what was happening and pulled down blinds “Don’t let them bother you.”

That’s what many people do.  They pull down the blind on the needs of the global community and try not to  let that bother them.

 

One who has much but does  little…. 

4.  ONE WHO HAS LITTLE AND DOES LITTLE

Biblical example:

• The one talent guy in the parable of the talents.  As opposed to the other two who get 10, & 5 talents , he only gets one.  And in contrast to the other two he does nothing with it.  He goes and buries it.  Master chastises him and takes his talent and gives it one of the other two. 

Matthew 24: (The Message)

26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those whouse well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.  

 

Application

• Which of these pictures reflects your soul?
• Which steward are you?

 

You see, the fundamental question  when it comes to time, talents, and money isn’t:

• “How much you have” 
• It’s not even how much can you afford?

The critical question is:

• “How much can you use?” 
• What are you doing with what you have? 
• Are you…. bettering others lives? …… Making this world a better place?

 

Some have the capacity to use much – great examples right now

Rick Warren – talked about stewardship of affluence

• Paid back 20 some years of salary to church
• set up foundation – give 90% to help fight AIDs in Africa and  another cause

 

How much is too much?

• When it chokes off generosity. 
• When it closes our hearts to others.

1 Tim 6:17 -19 says

17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. 19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life

 

Close with this:

Wise man went to ruler of a nation whose heart had changed -   Wealth no longer benefitting people but himself.

Wise man took him to window in palace and asked :

What do you see?

“People in the city”

Wise man took him to mirror

What do you see?

Me                

Wise Man: “The only difference and the mirror is a little bit of silver.”

 

It is too much when it closes off our heart to others and all we see in the mirror is ourselves and our self-indulgent ambitions.

Practical Exercise

 

Challenge us to do something with this….

Kirkegaard story – ducks waddled into church, pastor preached this good sermon, “You can fly’  ….everyone inspired and then they all waddled home.

We can do that….Challenge you  - Don’t want you to say “good sermon pastor” (well, I do)

Challenge you to do something.  Send me an email that tells me what you and God did.

 

Here’s the exercise:

Think of an amount that you are willing to part with….amount big enough to perhaps break our self-indulgent thoughts.

$2, $5, $20, $100, $1000, $10,000

If you have it – want you to take out of wallet.

 

Give that amount to God. You don’t own that anymore.  It’s God’s.  You are just his steward messenger.

Pray that God would bring across your path some need where you hear the whisper of God – “Give this” – remember no battle anymore because it’s not yours.  Watch & pray, and look for where God  leads you to give that.

• Church need
• person need
• Shoebox need 

Email me and tell me what God did with that.

 

Encourage you don’t just do that once. But perhaps every cheque – take an amount and put it in a cup or pocket – God’s money.  You will use to in some way.

 

It’s an exercise to build and maintain a generous heart.

 

Told you I don’t like playing church…East Side Church of God is not about just coming and being entertained and having my needs met.

It’s about becoming a sold-out, active follower of Jesus Christ.  It’s about living it.

5 years – over 250 sermons – applied one thing  = 250x better than we were 5 years ago.

Has that happened?

Reason not: Beacuse  we fail to “do” anything with it.

Today, challenge you to do something to build a generous heart.  To cultivate that virtue.

 

Prayer

Click here to return to sermon page 

 

* Greek two lepta [the smallest of Jewish coins].

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Lk 21:1-4

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Mt 25:26-29

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. 1 Ti 6:17-19