Dr. Scott McKee: Happy New Year, everybody. Happy New Year. After Christmas, as I walked around my house, I became painfully aware of this fact, we have a lot of stuff. Anybody ever wish they had a larger house just because you need more place to put stuff? Like, because your stuff has outgrown the stuff capacity of your house?
Anybody ever wish they had a larger garage, not because you want an additional car, but because you need more place for your stuff? You're not even sure what happened to yourself. The garage was quite adequate for quite some time, but somehow the stuff multiplied. I've been thinking about this as I reflect over my lifetime. The first time that I moved, all my earthly belongings fit in the back of my Chevy Cavalier as I drove off to seminary in Princeton, New Jersey.
Second time I moved, I had to borrow a friend's pickup truck. Third time I moved, I had to rent a small U Haul. The last time I moved, I hired professional movers who came in a flatbed semi truck. Paul Pearsall writes about how we find it difficult to give stuff away. He says many people can't bring themselves to get rid of any of their stuff.
You may require a closet exorcist to help you. A trusted friend can help prevent the restuffing phenomenon. Restuffing happens when in the process of cleaning out closets and drawers, we are somehow stimulated to acquire new stuff. Beware of stuffed co addicts who may see closet cleaning as a chance to acquire stuff for themselves from your stuff supply. Such friends are likely to go with you on a restuffing expedition.
Some people have kind of a spiritual gift of acquiring stuff. This morning, we're gonna talk about stuff. We see stuff, we want stuff, we buy stuff, we insure it, we compare our stuff with other people's stuff, and the Bible actually has quite a lot to say about stuff, how we think about it, and who really owns it after all. Even though stuff is inanimate, there there's kind of a power to it, the Bible says. Stuff has a way of getting a hold of us.
You see, it's very early in life of a human being. When a human being reaches about the age of two, they generally have two favorite words. The first word is no, and the second favorite word of a two year old is Mine. Mine. Mine, which is kind of ironic for an adult because who gave them all that stuff, a two year old?
They don't really have anything. Their ownership is an illusion, but it's a very powerful one. Two year olds are funny like that, and so are we. I'd like you to consider this morning that ownership is really an illusion. You may think you own some stuff, but one day, all your stuff will go to somebody else.
You don't get to keep any of it. You get to use it for a little while, and then it goes to somebody else. And that person gets to use it for a while, and then it goes on to somebody else. And so it goes generation after generation after generation. People come and people go.
Stuff. Nations go to war over it. Families are split apart because of it. Friendships sometimes end because of it. Success and identity are measured by it.
People spend their whole lives worrying about it. Am I gonna have enough stuff? Husbands and wives argue more about this than any other subject or single issue. Prisons are full of people who committed crimes to acquire it, and it's just stuff. So this morning, we're starting a two part series called stuff.
Jesus spent more time teaching about stuff than he did any other topic except for the kingdom of God. That was his favorite subject to teach about of all time. He understood the hole that stuff has in the human heart and how it taps into all of our big issues: worry, fear, envy, pride, comparison, identity, importance, success. This condition is just fundamental to human identity. So what we're going do in this message is focus on one question, whose stuff is it?
Who is the owner? I want to go back to one of the great stories of the Old Testament and look at a time where a bunch of people got freed up in terms of their stuff. And this comes from the Old Testament book of first Chronicles. So background here, this takes place when David is the king over Israel. Now remember David started as a shepherd boy, which means he probably didn't have a lot of stuff to begin with.
He had a slingshot, a harp, a couple of sheep, It all fit in the back of his car. But now this is being written at a time where he's king over Israel at a time during unprecedented prosperity, and that means now he's got a lot of stuff. And one day he's thinking about how he lives in a great house made of marble and gold. It's been remodeled. It's in a great neighborhood, but there's not really any appropriate place where Israel can go to worship.
At that time, God's presence is represented by what's known as the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is a box into which they place objects to remind them of God's presence, the manna that God had given in the wilderness. The 10 commandments were placed inside that box. And they stored this Ark of the Covenant in a tent called the Tabernacle. And one day David's thinking about this.
Oh, he lives in a great house, great palace, and God is living in a box in a tent. And this really bothers him. And he gets an idea, what if I were to use my stuff, my resources to serve and honor God? And what if I could build a temple in which people would walk and they would say, wow. Not because of any human ingenuity, but it would be a reminder of God's presence, and God's power, and God's glory.
It will be a reminder of the God who gives manna in the wilderness and meets their needs. So David prays, and he says, God, I would like to build you a house. And God says, no, David. No. You've been a warrior your whole life long.
You've been a soldier. You've led too violent a life to build a temple for me. You can't do that. Your son, Solomon, can do it, but you can't. I don't know about you, but if I were David, and I volunteered all my personal resources to build God a house, and God said no, I might be upset about that.
I might pout a little bit. I might just go home and have a pity party. But David doesn't do that. He's got an extraordinary response. David says, maybe I can't lead the way in building, but I could lead the way in giving.
I could lead a capital campaign to build the temple that my son Solomon will lead. And so David gives massive resources to fund a project he will never lead, to build a temple in which he will never worship. And he gets so excited about this happening, he calls all the people together, and there's a huge assembly, and he tells the people what he's been up to, and he says, With all my resources, I have provided for the temple of my God. Gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron, and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stones and marble, all of these in large quantities. He has fabulous dreams for this place that people will go to meet with and worship God.
He says, with all of my resources, sometimes I should say, with all of my abilities. In other words, God, how can I max out everything I have for your glory and for your purposes? It's a great question, and it's one that's been keeping David awake at night. He's not just giving him the national treasury that he controls as king. He goes on to say to the people, besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God, I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver.
I'm taking this out of my own wallet. And then he issues a challenge that's quite striking given the way the ancient world worked. He says to the people, now who is willing to consecrate himself today to the Lord? In other words, I have given, now who is willing to give also? Now, I want point out how unusual this would have been in the ancient world for a king to do this.
In Egypt, the pharaoh never said, who among you is willing to to help build these pyramids? The pharaoh never said that. The pharaoh said, you're willing, and you're willing, and you're willing, and I will conscript your conscript your belongings and your labor, and you will build these pyramids. In those days, if you were a king, you didn't ask, you took. But David does not take, he asks.
Because David understands that God's plan is for a new kind of community, a community of another kind, that stuff only means something if it's given with a willing heart. It's really about the heart. It's the kind of community that they're going to be. And this is a very vulnerable moment because David could have said, Who else is willing to give? And no one could have responded.
It could have been cricket, cricket, cricket. Then somebody steps forward and says, I'll give, and someone else says, I'll give, and somebody else. And the text says, then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king's work gave willingly. There's this explosion of generosity on a part of the leaders of the kingdom. And notice the attitude in which they gave.
It says in verse nine, The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly. Later on in the same chapter, David describes the process. He says, To God, I know my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent.
And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you, Lord. O Lord God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. Notice the word that describes the spirit of their giving, willingly. They gave freely. They gave with their whole heart.
They actually wanted to do this. Now, lot of you know that in Israel, they practiced the discipline of tithing, giving the first 10% of their income back to God. And a lot of us assume this is a very legalistic practice, but it was never intended to be. It was intended to be a training exercise so that people could learn to give to God with joy. It was a spiritual discipline.
On occasions like this, even in the Old Testament, people would often go way beyond the tithe. Now I mentioned this because I've moved in church circles for a long time, and whenever the topic of tithing comes up, there's one question that's asked more frequently than any others, and it's this question, do I have to tithe on the gross or the net? That's the number one question when it comes to tithing. Underlying this question, how little can I give and not have God mad at me? How much of my stuff can I keep and not get into trouble?
What's the rule? What do I have to do? Someone tell me what I have to do so I can know that God's not mad at me. Next month is Valentine's month. That's a little public service announcement today.
How many of you would say to your Valentine, honey, what's the least amount I can do for you on Valentine's Day and not get in trouble with you? What's the least amount I can spend and still be okay? That would kind of dampen the mood of the day. This is why Paul writes what he does to the church at Corinth. It's a very risky thing to write this to a church.
Paul says when it comes to giving, says, each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And the word that Paul uses here for cheerful is the Greek word, hilarion. You want to guess what English word we get from the Greek word, Hilarion? Hilarious. Hilarious.
There ought be a hilarity in our giving. When I was a graduate student, we were assigned to visit a wide variety of churches. And one church I visited was very unusual. It an outdoor church, a lot of unusual things about it. When they got to the offering, the pastor said, and now it's time for the offering.
And people burst into applause for the offering time. It was obviously something that this church valued and had been conditioned for. Another church I visited had a different approach. The minister said, if you're here for the first time and you don't know God, you can't be a cheerful giver, just let the offering plate pass on by you. And if it's your second time here and you're not a follower of Jesus, you can't be a cheerful giver, just let the plate pass right on by you.
If it's your third time, fake it. Sometimes you got to prime the pump a little when it comes to giving. Because if I wait till I feel like I want to give, I can wait a very, very long time. So I might need to start by just being obedient, and I have to tell God, God, I want to want to give. I want to be a joyful giver, but I'm not quite there yet.
But I want that kind of heart. This is the community that wants to give around David. Their generosity leads to joy. It says the people rejoice, the leaders rejoice, David rejoices. Now, why do they do this?
And here's the key perspective, and here's the main point of this message, in case you're wondering what the point of this message was. Here it is. They understood the difference between stewardship and ownership. There's the difference between stewardship and ownership. This is David's prayer.
He says, praise be to you, o Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, o Lord, is the greatness, and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor and then these profound words, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Let's say those words together. For for everything in heaven and earth is yours. For everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Everything belongs to God. God is the owner. I am the steward. A steward manages something owned by somebody else. God has entrusted me with some stuff to use, to manage for him, to enjoy, but it's not my stuff.
Somebody had it before me, somebody's gonna have it after me. For a little while, I manage it. You and I are stewards, not owners. Look at this next great line in David's prayer that was read this morning. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this?
Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. This is so awesome. In other words, David's saying, I'm a shepherd boy. I'm a soldier. Who would have thought that someone like me would be able to give as generously as this?
This is not a moment of David's greatest sacrifice, this is a moment of David's greatest joy. Whoever would have thought that I could write a check like this one? I never thought that this could possibly come from somebody like me. He goes down to prayer, everything comes from you God, and we've given you only what comes from your hand. And part of what's striking about this is David is the king.
And when you're king and you've got a lot of stuff, it's tempting to think the reason I have a lot of stuff is I'm so smart, or I'm so such a hard worker, or I went through the trouble of getting a really good education. I kind of deserve all this stuff. David fought Goliath, he led his troops in battle, he had to learn how to master economics and politics and leadership, but he said, God, it's your kingdom, it's your majesty, it's your power, it's your glory. The the only reason I have a power and a throne is because of you. We live in the Midwest, hear the lot of self made working people.
It's really tempting to think the reason I have stuff is because I deserve it, and the reason other people do not have stuff is because they don't deserve it. But there's no such thing as a self made person. I love the story of the CEO of a large Fortune 500 company who's driving along with his wife. They stop at a gas station, and they're at one of those states that has full service gas stations. A service station attendant comes out to pump the gas, the man goes into the station for a few minutes, he comes out, and his wife and the service station attendant are engaged in conversation.
And he gets in the car, they begin to drive away, and he says, What was all that about? Turns out she actually knew this service station attendant. In fact, they actually dated at one point. He used to be her boyfriend. And the CEO was feeling kind of smug about this, and he says, I bet I know what you're thinking.
I bet you're thinking you're glad you married me, the Fortune five hundred CEO, and not a gas station service attendant. She said, well, no, actually, I was thinking that if I married him, he would have been the Fortune five hundred CEO, and you would have been the gas station service attendant. No such thing as a self made person. There's something about stuff that makes us think if we have it, we must deserve it. And I forget to think, where did I get my mind?
Where did I get my education? Where did I get my work ethic? All of that all of that comes from God. Every bit of it. Everything comes from God.
We live in a delusion when it comes to all of this. It's God's stuff, every bit of it. David says, the only reason that I'm sitting here, the only reason I'm wearing this crown, the only reason I'm living in this fine house, God, is because of you. You have blessed me, And now I want to do everything I can to maximize everything I have for your service. This is David's heart.
I want to do everything I can to maximize everything I have in order to serve you and to bless your world, and I want to use my stuff to build your kingdom, God, not to build a kingdom of my own. When my kids were young, at Christmas time, they would have a store, a Christmas store at their school. Now parents would fund an account, and then the kids would go in and choose Christmas presents they could purchase for their parents. So every year at Christmas, I would get gifts from my kids that I paid for. And how do you think I felt about receiving gifts from my kids that I paid for?
Fantastic. They chose these gifts. They gave out of love. Yes, it's all it's all mine anyway, but they gave willingly. They gave lovingly.
That'll touch the heart of any father. This is how God feels when we give. It's all His anyway. But we give out a love, we give out a willingness, and it touches the heart of our father. Next week, we're gonna look at what Jesus says will happen when we start giving.
Will you pray with me now? Everything belongs to you, father. Thanks for being a generous, giving God. May we become more like you. May we become cheerful givers who delight in giving and serve your purposes.
And may stuff never be our master. As we pray in Jesus' name, amen.