Tithing

 

  How often do we tune out when we hear the pastor talk about tithing? Or do we think it’s someone else’s turn to fine because pitched in $20 last week and I help with kids ministry twice a month. I think we treat sermons on tithing like telemarketers, we don’t pick up the phone or we hang up before their sales pitch is over. Tithing is so much more than just keeping the church doors open, the pastors paid and ministry programs running. According to church statitition Carey Nieuwhof, only about five to ten percent of regular church attenders tithed ten percent in 2022. I am not surprised by this but it also makes me realize that not only does the people church have a money problem but a spiritual problem also. 

   Here are some things that I am wresting with. The first one is that we have a priority or vale problem. We spend money and give of our time to what we value and hold important. As the end of the year is fast approaching, sit down another not only write out where you spend your time and what you are doing with it, but also pull out a couple months worth of bank/credit card statements. When we go through these things it can be eye opening to where we spend our time and money and it is also where we find out if we actually value what we say we value. I would encourage people who either are engaged or married to do this together so that the both of you are on the same page. I’ve been told by my drs that when I hit a plateau with my weight, to keep a daily food journal for a week of portion size and what I am eating to see if that is contributing to my plateau or weight gain. What we think on or desire the most is usually what we end up doing. What we value our heart will be there also. So what are those things that we desire or even crave the most?

  The second thing I am wresting with is why are we stealing from God? Psalms 50:10 states that the beast of the forrest and the cattle on a thousand hills belongs to God. God owns everything and He gives it to us expecting us to be good caretakers of what He has entrusted us with. We become toddlers and call everything mine and we beg, borrow and steal the things we wand and don’t have. God gives us things because He is good and so we can use them to declare His glory and to serve others and not for self promotion, or over indulgence, or to impress people we don’t even like. Often those things replace God and they become our Golden Calf. How often do we desire things because of how they make us look or feel instead of turning to God?

  The third thing I am wresting with is that tithing is a discipleship issue. Discipleship is the process of growing closer to God and becoming more like Jesus. When we tithe, we are declaring that all of it is Gods and I am giving not only a portion of it back to Him, but the best of it. In the Old Testament, the Jewish people didn’t give their worst cattle or produce, but they gave God their best because He deserves it. Shouldn’t we do the same. Also when we tithe, we are trusting God to come through and provide for our needs. He can do that and wants to do that, butbwe also have to allow Him to do it. Also, when we buy stuff, we do it out of need and not necessarily out of want. To quote Dave Ramsey are we willing to live like no one else now so we can live like no one else later. Are we willing to skip having the credit cards, not eating out so often and driving that older vehicle so that we aren’t strapped WTH stress, debt and we are freer to tithe and to give money to worthy causes. In essence tithing is a heart issue and whether we try and to control our lives and to get everything we can and be disappointed. Or we can submit to God and have joy even when it is tough. I will close with this. To paraphrase a 1990s quote “those who die with the most toys still dies.” Let’s not be like the rich young ruler found in Mark 10:17-27, who walked away from Jesus sad and depressed because he couldn’t or didn’t want to sell his stuff and dive the proceeds to the poor so he couldn’t follow Jesus. One last question, what are those things that prevent us from tithing and hinders our relationship with Jesus?

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead

Invitation

   

  One of the takeaways I got from Pastor Fred’s sermon this weekend is that how much of life especially our Christian faith is an invitation to a journey. The Apostle Paul put it this way in I Corinthians 11:1 of of follow follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. Paul is pointing to Christ as the example we should live up to and not what he does because he is being transformed by Christ. Paul is inviting others to join him as he makes it a priority to live a transformed life. So what does this look like. 

  The first one is that we can not do it alone. We are not designed to live on an island by ourselves or to keep people at arms length. I think this is one of the reasons we struggle with anxiety and depression because we keep people at arms length for various reasons. What would it be like if we did life with each other. This could mean sharing a meal together, being honest about our victories and our struggles. When we journey with people, the sole focus should not be what I can get out of it, but how can I walk with people during the highs and lows. It also means that we do not think we are better than others but we are all in need of each other and Gods grace. How this works for me is that I meet with a group of guys on Monday mornings to talk and to share life with each other.  Who are those people in your life?

  Another small aspect to this journey process is that we actually grow up and mature. We all grow and mature at different paces but are we doing it? When we grow and mature, we can share what we have learned with other people and we can be that example. Most if not all of us have had a mentor in our lives that not only spoke truth, but gave it to us when it was something difficult or hard to hear. We need that mentor in our lives along with being able to mentor someone. Who are these people in your life?

  My final observation comes in a song. The Christian artist Shawn Groves has a song called Should I Tell Them and the song contemplates of should the singer tell the world what Christ has done for them even though he is afraid.  Not only is the answer yes, but I think the world is begging us to tell them and to give them not only a different option, but true hope because everything else they have done or tried has failed miserably. When we tell or even invite them, we can’t have an attitude that we are better than them or that we have all of the answers. Journeying together means that we don’t have all the answers but are committed to finding them out. Journeying together means that it’s a commitment to grow even if we gave to pus or drag each other to do so. When we do this, life will get messy and there will be difficulties. Are we willing to experience growth even when it gets hard? Human nature tells us no because we would rather be comfortable even though we may be living in a mud pit. This is where accountability and Gods grace comes in. Gods race is what makes the change possible and when we do it with others it makes it easier. So who are those people that God is calling you to invite and to journey with?

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead 

Get Involved

  Pastor Ben continued the series this weekend of what is the church and the focus of his message was about getting involved. There are more than one way to get involved in church and here are some initial thoughts. 

  The first way is realizing that church is not a spectator sport or activity. How often do we consume worship and treat it like a concert. We have talented worship teams, but their goal is not to put on a show, but lead us into the presence of God so we can worship God together as a family. We also have pastors who are great men of God and who preach His Word so not that we can have more head knowledge, but so  we can take that knowledge and put it into practice. How we can move church from a spectator event to being fully engaged is taking what we do in church and do it all week long. How we worship is more than singing a few songs and hearing a m sage, but it is how we treat people especially those we don’t like. Or it’s working diligently and to the best of our ability at work or raising children to mowing the lawn. In his song When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Isaac Watts finally line is that the cross demands my soul, my life, my all. The same could be said about our worship because we all worship and it might as well be the Creator of the Universe. Can you you worship God even in the mundane things? Also p, is worship something we do to get noticed be others or do we do it for an audience of one which is God?

Another concept is that at one time, attending church on a regular basis ment going twice a month. Are we making church a priority.  Church has to be more than crossing something off of our list and just showing up so we can collect a participation trophy. Anything worth doing is going to cost us something and it is often something great. Church is no different.  We often get out of it what we put into it. Church is also a place where we can grow and to lay our hurts down. How often have you had a rough week at work or with family and the pastors message is what you needed to hear or getting a bear hug from a trusted friend along with shedding some tears and hearing some encouraging words and prayer. It’s also doing the same for others. I attend the Saturday night service and one of the things that I look forward to is Al coming up to me and shaking my hand and asking how I am doing. If you know him, you know his smile and laugh is infectious. It’s our way of checking in on each other and that is being the church. I could go on, but how are you not only getting involved, but investing in others? Is it getting involved in kids ministry and talking about superhero’s, or is it getting involved the youth and wadding through relational drama, or getting up close and personal by leading a small group and diving into people’s lives?

  The last thought is that being committed to church or a cause means we see the big picture, and we participate in the mission, even when things are tough.  Being committed is wanting to grow and to invest in others and actually do it. We have to be willing and actively finding ways to get out of our comfort zone. A part of doing church is inviting others to join us so they might find the joy we have in Christ. Or it’s being committed to either having tough conversations with others or hearing and understanding those tough conversations when people have them with us. Being committed is taking the time to grow and mature personally and it invest in others to do the same. 

  To close out the Apostle Paul makes the bold claim that the church is one body filled with many parts (1 Corinthians 12) and that we all can’t be hands or feet. If we were, the church could not operate because everyone would be trying to do the same thing and some people don’t hand those gifting which makes the church operate not at full capacity and it make Che church dysfunctional at best. We all have particular gifts for a particular reason, so when we use those gifs as God designed, not only are we worshipping God but we are pointing others to God and His Grace. So, do you actually know what your gifts are and are you hands  trying to be eyes and see what is going on or do you realize that you are hands and are finding ways to serve? 

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead

Why go to church?

   

  To start things off, I have two questions. The first one is what is church?  The second one is, why do we go? To throw out an idea to the first question is church a building filled with things that people call holy and where God is. Or is it a building where people gather to be fed spiritually and to grow together. Here are a couple of ideas or possible answers to the second question is that it is a place where we go to drink coffee, sing a few songs, hear someone ramble on for twenty five minutes to get some sort if itch scratched and then leave so we can get on with our week. Or is church where we plug in our air pods so we can listen to our favorite pastor or theologian as we run errands or be in nature and call it good.  Here are some observations of what the church could be. 

  For those of you who are fans of country music, you might recognize the name Toby Keith. One of his more popular songs is called I Love This Bar and the song goes on about how he love a particular bar because of all the different people from different backgrounds come to this place to be with each other. Most of these people would come from the wrong side of the tracks. What if the church became that place where we dropped the country club mentality of having to look or dress a certain way to come into church. I work with the 13 to 30 year olds here at Wal Mart who are either coming back to church or who are searching for something with a little more substance. I can tell you that their hairstyle is a little weird for my taste, visible piercings and tattoos are a cultural norm and their language can be a little rough most of the time, but here is the one thing I do know.  God loves them so abundantly that Jesus died a death and was raised from the dead so that we could have a relationship with Him. What would it look like not only if they came into our community, but also felt welcomed and a belonging?  What would it take for this to happen? 

  Church has to be more than hearing a good sermon or podcast. There has to be some sort of life change. John Wesley would call it Entire Sanctification or Christian Perfection. Others would call it Christian maturity. The concept is are we growing in grace and are we putting away the hurts, habits and speech that is not glorify God and that prevents us from being Christ like. The church is a place where we can find accountability so that we can grow and allow the Holy Spirit to take control of us. The church is also a place to show Gods love to others whether things are going well or things have hit rock bottom. It’s knowing when it’s appropriate to celebrate and when it’s time to sit and grieve with others and to pray with them. How do we do this and not feel uncomfortable during the tough stuff? 

  Let’s wrap this up by closing with Pastor Fred’s preaching passage of Matthew 16:13-18. Jesus ask the disciples the all important question of “ who do you say that I am?” After the Disciples listed off a couple of suggestions, Peter answered that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Jesus admitted that He was who Peter claimed Him to be and that the church was going to be built on that. The church isn’t about the Pope and some Apostolic tradition or what program we can run to get people to come to church. Instead it is being transformed by the power and the grace of God so we can go out and serve other people, even the ones who don’t look, think or act like us. As much as we want church to be a building where we can meet God, it can happen anywhere. Some of the most memorable times I have met with God was not in a building and with people who I normally didn’t associate with. So here are two questions. The first one is what are some of the most memorable times you have had encountering God? Secondly, how can we serve others so they can experience the love and grace of God?

The wide and narrow road

   As Pastor Fred finished up the series The Impossible Gospel we dived into Matthew 7:13-14. The center of the discussion is the two paths that leads to two different gates. One gate is easy to find and allows for many to enter. The second gate is smaller and is designed for a smaller amount of traffic. Growing up on a farm we had the 12’ gates that allowed for tractors and multiple cows to enter at one time. Then we had the 4’ gate and that was often connected to a chute and it allowed only one cow to pass through at a time and the chute was about 3’ wide, so there was no room fir the cow to turn around and it kept the cows on the straight and narrow. The gates that Jesus was referring to was more about the way of salvation and not cattle handling. 

  This parable is talking more about how people are searching and gaining salvation. We live in a culture that claims that we should live our own truth and that there are more than one way into heaven. How. Often does this lifestyle tell us that as long as it makes us happy, we should do it, and this is how we find salvation or at least bliss. My first question is that what if our own happiness comes at the expense of someone else, should we still do it, especially if it someone we are close to and value? Happiness is often based on a feeling and is more me focused. Doing what makes happy is apart of the wide road because a lot of people are trying to be happy instead of content. 

  Another observation concerning the gates and salvation is that is Jesus the only way that we can be saved? Some would argue that Jesus is one of many options if Jesus is an option at all. Or we have people that say it’s Jesus pls something else. So here is my question, it Jesus isn’t the only option for salvation, why do we choose to be a Christian? It’s a lot of work, self denial and hardships. The rules also seem to be overbearing and exclusive. There are other religions that are more warm and fuzzy along with being inclusive that would seem to be better than Christianity if all roads lead to the same place. There is a bumper sticker that says coexist and it uses the symbols of the more popular world religions. As much as the people on the wide road want to believe this, at the end of the day they will become incompatible with each other because their core beliefs are all different. 

  The narrow road is filled with ups and downs along with heartbreak and joys. Is Christianity the narrow road because not everyone is willing to pick up their cross and follow Jesus? Or is it narrow because we are called to give up what makes us happy so that we can be content? In the book of James, he tells us that we are to consider it pure joy when we go through trials and temptations because it builds endurance, perseverance and is a refining process so they we become more like Christ. So I will leave you with these two things. The first one is what keeps you on the straight and narrow? Is it to become more Christ like or is our of fear or a sense of duty. The second thing is if it was easy everyone would do it

Grace and Peace 

Tom Boustead

Why do we Pray

   In this weeks preaching passage of Matthew 7:7-12 and among the many things Pastor Fred preached on is prayer. The message reminded me of a C.S. Lewis quote of “I don’t pray to change Gods mind, but for Him to change mine.” It got me pondering and I asked myself the question of why do we pray? Do we pray so that we can get what we want and we view God as a genie and His only purpose is to grant us our wishes. Or do we pray as an act of desperation, hoping God will hear us and grant us our wishes. I think our prayers can reveal our intentions and how our relationship with God is going. Is our prayers centered focused? What I mean by this is our prayers more about make us and others comfortable and even asking God to take away opportunities for us to grow? Or are we asking God to make us equal to Him? Instead of treating God like Santa Claus and our prayers being a wish list, how about we treat prayer as communicating with God. It is building a relationship with God and having a continuous conversation with Him through out the day. 17th century French Monk Brother Lawrence became famous (and later turned into a book) for his idea of practicing the presence of God.  It didn’t matter if he was doing dishes or other mundane task, he was in constant conversation with God. When we do this, we build a relationship with God and we see Him as a loving Father instead of someone who only gives us what we want or as a thug who will smite us if we don’t prat. So here are some questions to ponder

  What are some of the challenges to your prayer life?

  What would it look like for you to practice the presence of God through out the day?

  How often do we try and change Gods mind instead of Him changing ours?

Crap in Crap out

  Recently I had the opportunity to preach at youth group and my preaching passage was Proverbs 8. The  main thrust of my message was the idea of what goes in often comes out. The ideas we consume whether it is what we read, watch and who or what we listen to will shape our character. Another way to put it is crap in and crap out. If we consume questionable food, speech and or ideas, we end up living out those ideas. If we eat horrible, we will have weight gain and health problems related to it. We will also feel horrible. The same is said about the ideas we consume and continuously think on. If we consume horrible ideas, we will start speaking about them, believing them and living them out. The opposite is true also. If we continuously consume good ideas, that will affect how we speak and live our lives. The Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that we are to take every thought captive. It is more than just throwing out the bad thoughts, speech and actions, but it is filtering everything through Gods truth and aligning what we do, consume and say with Gods truth. I will close with Psalm 19:14 which is “May the words of my mouth and the meditation be pleasing to you God.”

 Questions to Ponder

Do you take inventory of what you consume on a daily basis?    

How do we take every thought, action and speech captive? 

What does it mean to meditate? 

How does what we meditate on shape our character?