Updates and Such

Tiff and I have written an update letter that we're sending out in the next few days to over 100 "lucky" recipients. These letters basically sum up all that has happened during the last 7 months of our lives. They're nothing special, but people have been asking and so we're letting them know. We're also working on our support letters which will go out in late August or early September regarding our trip to Zambia. All that just to say that I am in the process of adding Tiffany to this blog so that she can write on here, too. I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep up with her, as I get this feeling that she's going to end up posting more than me. But, allowing her to write might inspire me to write more, and when I do write to actually make it meaningful (though the more random, stupid ones are sometimes more fun).

Let's get ready for some changes around here...

The Heat Is On...and On...and On

It is hot. Still. Day number 18 or something of over 100. We're looking forward to a few days from now when the cold front moves through and takes us down to about 99 or so. Woohoo!

That said, when it's this hot I don't want to do anything. So I'm not. I have the week off, so I don't have to worry about dealing with a bunch of people when I'm in a bad mood. And that's a good thing.

I have, however, gotten out the game cube that I've had since college, and it looks like I may actually beat The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time...finally. Three years later. But even this is done in short spurts, since sitting in one place for extended periods of time makes me sweat profusely in the sauna that is our living room. All this to say that I am really, really good at wasting my time. I'm even better at wasting my time when it's like 8 billion degrees outside. I say I'm gonna read, but I don't. I say I'm gonna get ahead in my homework, but I don't. I say I'm gonna go to the gym and workout, but the idea of willingly making myself sweat even more makes me almost sick to my stomach.

Midwest, I miss you.

Burning and Barfing

Sometimes it's nice to have a day off from work. With the final swim meet of the summer happening last night, I actually got to sleep in this morning. I also didn't have to teach swimming lessons today, so I had a full day off with nothing planned. That said, I've had a number of errands I've been meaning to run for the past few weeks. One of these errands was to take Yoda in for her yearly vaccinations.

Taking Yoda to the vet is always a fun and exciting event. Today was definitely no exception. There's nothing quite like braving the 102 degree heat of July in Dallas to drive a crying cat to somebody who is going to stick her with sharp objects. So I got her there, and she got the shots, and all was good. Or so we thought. I get her home, and about an hour later I hear a deep meow followed by the undeniable sound of barfing. I go and find her next to a mound of cat chunks. I went to clean that up, and she barfed again. The next 45 minutes were spent cleaning up no less than 10 barfs in 4 rooms in our apartment. And all this before lunch. Yummy.

So, I call the vet and he has me bring her back in for the afternoon so he could give her some more medicine and keep an eye on her. Lucky for me, Yoda was more passive as I tried to get her in her carrier, so that was easier, which was good, since my car's interior was probably close to 200 degrees. So, I went back into the crazy heat of Dallas and got Yoda back to the vet. And there goes the excitement of the day. Yoda is now back home and perfectly fine. Life is back to normal. And I'm watching "Wipeout" and laughing up a storm. There's something about people completely busting themselves that makes me laugh. I am so glad God gave us all the gift of laughter.

Randomness of life

Sometimes things happen in life that we just can't make up. Like when I was watching the news this morning and they kept showing a video of a guy who drove his truck (which was pulling some huge trailer behind it) in to a drive-thru banking area and hit the awning, and the whole cement awning fell on the trailer and the truck. The guy was fine, but they showed this video at least 15 times in 5 minutes. Crazy. And that was just the start of the day.

I normally show up at the UP Pool at 6:30 in the morning on days where we have practice. We use this time to set up and wake up before the kids show up at 7. Well today Alex and I walk on the deck and there are nasty Dallas birds everywhere. Hundreds of them. More than I have ever seen at this pool before. Then we look in the water and see something floating. Our hearts initially dropped into our stomachs as we thought maybe, somehow, a small child had gotten in the pool overnight. To our surprise, it was not a baby (woohoo!), but a dead armadillo. That's right. An armadillo. In the middle of Dallas. Dead. In a pool. Floating. Needless to say we canceled practice. But the question of the hour is, How did it get there? Armadillos aren't really known for being terribly flexible, and there aren't really any openings in the fence big enough for this thing to crawl through. It also seemed to be missing its head, but that could be from the birds. Furthermore, I never thought armadillos to be indigenous to the Dallas area. So I think we came to the conclusion that somebody must have thrown it over the fence as some sort of joke. But however it got there, we found a dead armadillo in the UP Pool. I am SO glad the season is basically over and I don't have to get in that pool ever again.


At least I learned that armadillos can float. Whoda thunk it with all that armor and stuff? Interesting.

My sermon from 6/29/08

In case you haven't already heard, I had the opportunity to give the sermon at our church on Sunday, June 29th. Since our pastor was in the middle of a series on giving, he asked me to speak in that area so as to continue the series while he was out of town for a week. So I thought, great, I get to give one of my first sermons, and I get to speak on the topic most pastors hate to talk about. Woohoo.

But, God gave me the words and the focus to put together a sermon that in all lasted about 45 minutes. Those who know me know I can be long-winded. This just proves it.

Tiffany has requested that I post the notes for my sermon on this blog. Really I don't know why, since she is the only one who reads it, and she heard the sermon, but hey, honor your wife. So, here's what I got (I've deleted the last story because I don't have the reference cited).

I. Introduction

A. Joke about the millionaire and the old woman

A church was having a time where the members were given the opportunity to give a testimony of how giving has affected their lives. One particular man, a millionaire, got up and spoke about the first time he gave to a ministry. “It was right after I earned my first dollar ever. We had a visiting missionary speak at our church and at the end he asked for donations for his ministry. Knowing that my choice was to either give my dollar to the missionary or keep it for myself, I knew that God wanted me to give the dollar. So I did, and it has changed my life.” The congregation applauded the man as he returned to his seat. Shortly after sitting, an elderly woman sitting behind him leaned forward and whispered to him. She said, “That was a very impressive story. I dare you to do it again.”

B. Comments on speaking about giving and speaking in general

I said this when I spoke here on Good Friday, and I’ll say it again today: two years of seminary has probably made me more nervous about speaking than no training at all would. It doesn’t help that I’m supposed to be talking on giving, a topic that most American pastors do not enjoy speaking about. Nonetheless, I am honored to have this opportunity and I pray that God will use this time.

I will say that I have learned a great deal in preparing for today, and much of what I will say here has been extremely convicting in my own life. Giving is not something that comes easily for many of us, especially when we consider that Christian giving includes so much more than just money. When we realize that we are to give of our time, talents, and treasures, we realize how little we truly give back to our Lord who provides for us.

Our text for today will be Philippians 4:10-20. This passage is the most extensive exhortation for giving in the New Testament.

C. Reading of Philippians 4:10-20

D. Presentation of topic

As I said, this is a long exhortation in which Paul expresses his gratitude for the gifts he received from the church in Philippi. This church, likely composed of both wealthy and poor believers, faced many difficulties of its own, as Paul encourages them to find joy in the face of opposition throughout this letter. Despite these difficulties, they made every effort to give to Paul’s ministry as he sought to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. We can learn a great deal from the Philippian church as they serve as a model of giving without asking any questions.

II. The Philippians gave without asking, “Why should I give?”

A. The Philippians had previous plans to give

The Philippians did not wait until they received a support letter from Paul or until he came and plead with them to give to his growing need. Rather, they had a history of giving to his ministry, as is indicated by his comments in verses 10 and 15-16. Instead of asking why they should give, as would be the reaction of so many today, they asked when they could give. They were more concerned about getting the opportunity to give than they were about whether or not to give. They had already decided to give, but they apparently had to wait for a period of time before sending their most recent gift. It seems that they already had a proper motivation for giving.

B. Why we should give

1. We should give because we belong to God

The next time we face the question “Why should I give,” we should take into consideration our position before God. First Corinthians 6:19-20 says “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” As believers, we are not even our own possessions, but we belong entirely to God. By extension, if we cannot even lay claim to our own lives, how could we rightly cling tightly to any possession we may claim to have? That is, anything that we have actually belongs to God since we belong to Him. In fact, we are told numerous times in the Bible that everything that we have has been given to us by God, further indicating that it all belongs to Him.

Because God owns everything, He alone has the prerogative to determine how it should be distributed and used. Suppose, for example, that a friend allows you to borrow their car. It still belongs to them, but they have entrusted it to you and understand that you may use it for whatever you choose. The friend, however, can rightly put some restrictions on this use, such as requiring proper maintenance of the vehicle while it is in your possession. Furthermore, the friend can ask for you to return the car to them for whatever reason and you should do so. Likewise God has entrusted all that we have to us for our personal use and enjoyment, but He has every right to ask us to return these gifts to Him at any time. Sometime this can be extremely difficult to do, as we have become so attached to these gifts that we feel that we could not possibly live without them. Yet we must remember that God’s purposes can be summed up in one word: LOVE. This being true we can safely assume that He intends His wealth to be applied to the task of blessing other people.

2. We should give because we have received much

We can easily see God’s generosity toward us if we simply take the time to take stock of all of the blessings in our lives. Even if we have little or no money, those who have realized their sinfulness, understood that Christ died in our place so that our sins may be forgiven, and in turn placed their trust in Christ have become heirs of the Kingdom of God. This gift of eternal life with God is a greater blessing than anything we can accrue while alive on earth. Even if we may have little to show physically, our blessing and our treasures are in heaven and these alone are more than enough to be thankful for.

We have probably all heard that giving is the responsibility of the Christian. Our church is currently doing this series on giving to remind you of this, as difficult or enjoyable as it may be to listen to these messages. Yet we must realize that our responsibility is primarily as response. These two words are actually related, as “responsibility” is based off of “response.” Therefore, our responsibility to give should actually be a response to all that God has given us. Our giving should be an expression of joy and gratitude for the bounty of God’s goodness that He has poured out on our lives.

3. We should give because money matters to God

Money matters to God, but not in the sense that He needs it. God does not need money for His will to be done. But since God has chosen to work with man using human systems, money must be a consideration of His. About 15% of everything that Christ says in the Bible relates to money or possessions, more than His teachings on heaven and hell combined. Most of these teachings involve letting go of earthly possessions and using what we have to help others. When we minister, we must minister to the soul but also to the body. James 2:15-16 says, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” The most important thing we can do with what we have, then, is to give it away for the benefit of those in need. This brings us to our second point.

III. The Philippians gave without asking, “What’s in it for me?

A. The Philippians did not seek personal recognition

We see it all the time nowadays. In an effort to show how much celebrities care, many are calling in the press to tell their stories as they give millions to various charities. Oprah had a television show this spring where she used her own money and told the contestants to give it away, all the while making her come off as some great hero. Yet this giving is not as honorable as the giving we see from the Philippians. Whereas modern celebrities give and expect to have their name attached to their gifts, the Philippians gave generously to Paul but did not seek recognition. As mentioned earlier, the church at Philippi most likely consisted of both rich and poor, yet their gift came from the church as a whole, and Paul wrote a letter specifically to them to thank them for this gift. This letter would have been originally delivered specifically to the church, so there would not have been the widespread recognition of their giving.

My mom served on a fundraising board for her church up in Illinois. This board had called in a professional fundraising consultant to help them determine the best way to raise money for a project they were planning to undergo. This consultant strongly encouraged the church to provide levels of recognition to correspond with the size of the gift given. Smaller gifts would be “bronze level,” medium gifts would be “silver level,” large gifts would be “gold level,” and huge gifts of thousands of dollars would be “platinum level.” To the frustration of my mom, many of the people on the board, including the pastors, thought this to be the best possible option. My mom, however, stood up and gave a speech that reminded the board that God blesses those who give sacrificially and without recognition. If they would encourage people to give with the promise of being recognized for their gifts, they would be encouraging them to give for the wrong reasons.

B. The need of others should have a moral bearing on our finances.

When I was growing up my teachers would remind us of the starving children in China if they ever saw food remaining on our tray at the end of lunchtime. Although this reminder has become more of a cliché nowadays and has therefore lost much of its impact, there is great truth in what they said. When we have an abundance of something (such as food), we take it for granted and willingly waste what we have. This can also be seen as we spend large sums of money on ourselves for things that we don’t really need, such as an ever-increasing wardrobe when so many in the world go without clothing. All of you probably have a greater understanding of the worldwide need than I do, as you have lived in places notorious for being some of the poorest nations in the world. The realization of the need of others both here and abroad should have a moral bearing on our finances.

There is little doubt that many here in the US have received great financial fortune, especially in comparison to much of the rest of the world. Although recent economic issues have made us feel the pinch more than before, and the cost of living is higher here than in other parts of the world, the fact remains that we are extremely wealthy in comparison to the rest of the world. The great need of others should in some way affect how we live and how we spend our money, as we should consider helping our brother or sister without expecting anything in return.

· The need of others should encourage us to live a simpler life

We do not necessarily need to live a SIMPLE life, but a simpler life than what may be expected by our peers. Our peers have an expectation of how we should live in relation to our income. According to them, if we make more, we should have a bigger house, a nicer car (and more of them), and buy name brand clothing. For Christians, however, the realization of the need of others should encourage us to live a simpler life than what the world expects. Paul states in verses 12 and 13 that he has learned how to live in the most modest of situations and be content. The joy of the Lord is more than enough for him to enjoy life, regardless of his situation. An excess of wealth should not be hoarded or spent frivolously while there is this obvious and ongoing need of other Christians globally. We must consider that any increased earning power that we have may produce an increased giving potential, not an increased living standard.

C. God blesses the gracious giver

We hear all the time that God will bless us as we give, which is indeed a promise that He has made. Yet we must realize that this blessing may not be in finances. Many preachers try to encourage the congregation to give more by claiming that God will essentially reimburse them for everything they gave and then some. Yet this raises a couple of questions. First, what about the large number of Christians who give generously and never see that money again? And, more than that, doesn’t this change the motivation for giving from responding the goodness of God to seeking to gain personal profit? Following the example of the Philippians, we should give for the advancement of the Gospel as a response to what God has done for us without seeking any special reward for doing so.

God does indeed promise to bless those who give graciously, yet this blessing may not be what we expect. Most often people expect to basically get their money back, and sometimes this is the case. But it seems that when God blesses these people with more money it should be used to bless others. The money that He has provided is not some special reward for good behavior, but another opportunity to give to others. It seems more common, however, that the blessings we receive for giving are not tangible at all. As indicated by Paul’s comment in verse 17, the blessing could be in souls won for Christ through the use of your gift. The promise of a blessing in reaching souls for eternity should be a greater motivation than making more money.

Sometimes the best examples to follow are children. Brother Matthias passed this story on to me a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was very fitting for this series on giving. It tells of a little girl in Philadelphia. She sat, sobbing, near a small church she had just been turned away from because it was “too crowded.” “I can’t go to Sunday School,” she cried as the pastor walked by. Seeing her shabby appearance, the pastor had an idea why, took her by the hand, walked her into the Sunday School class, and sat her down in the front. She was so happy for this opportunity that she went home that night thinking of all the children in the world who have no place to worship Jesus. Two years passed and this little girl was found dead in one of the poor, run-down buildings in the neighborhood. Her parents called for the pastor to handle the arrangements, and as she was being moved he found a small, tattered red purse that she had been holding. Inside he found 57 cents and a note which read, “This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday School.” She had saved for two years to give this offering. At her funeral he told the story of this purse and the note, and word got out to the community. A local realtor donated a large plot of land on which to build a new church, and within five years donations had poured in to the sum of $250,000, which, in 1900, was a huge sum of money. The unselfish love of this girl had touched the lives of so many and has given innumerable people the opportunity to learn about and worship God. She gave because she realized the need, not expecting anything in return. And though her gift was small, it was great in the eyes of the Lord. Which brings us to our final point.

IV. The Philippians gave without asking, “How much should I give?”

Size does not matter. Part of what makes the life of giving so exhilarating is the realization that, when we hand our meager resources over to God, they assume a power out of all proportion to their earthly size and value. Little becomes much when it is sacrificed on the altar of faith and service to others.

The Philippians gave to Paul’s ministry without asking how much they should give. In fact, they gave without Paul even asking them to. And their gift was well-received and positively affected Paul’s ministry. And this happened on numerous occasions. Likewise, we should realize the opportunity to live and not worry about how much is the right amount.

A. We should give according to what we have

Nowhere does the Bible set an exact amount that is “right” to give. We all have different incomes and different events in our life that may affect how much we are able to give, so setting an arbitrary number, no matter how high or low, should be avoided. Rather, each individual should give according to their circumstances. This amount should be a significant amount of their income, and nobody should feel bad if the amount they give is small in comparison to others. As I mentioned before, many celebrities give huge sums of money to charities and make sure everybody knows what they have done. Another thing to realize is that this large sum of money may be only a small portion of what they have. One million dollars for a celebrity with over 100 million dollars would be like a middle class individual making around 100,000 dollars giving 1000 to a charity, or a person who only has 1000 dollars giving 10 dollars to charity. Sure, the number is big, but it’s only 1% of what they have.

B. Giving should become a habitual part of our lives

The Philippians gave on numerous occasions, indicating that this was a normal part of their lives. Likewise we should develop a lifestyle that includes regular giving.

1. It’s never too late to start

We should begin to develop this habit now. Many of us wait to give until our lot in life improves. For example, when we are in school it is difficult to consider giving anything when we are paying so much, even going into debt, to pay for school. Yet developing a habit of giving even a small amount in the hard times makes us more likely to give when have more. Those who do not start giving when they have little to give and claim that they need to wait till their lot improves will always seem to only have little to give or to be in a situation that needs to be better before they are comfortable giving. It’s best represented in the American mindset for “more.” We work hard to get more stuff, but when we get that stuff it’s not enough and we long for more. If we go into giving with the mindset that we can’t give until we are comfortable, we will never be comfortable enough to give. We must, therefore, try to establish the habit regardless of our current situation.

2. Choose an amount that affects your lifestyle

As you seek to establish a habit of giving, determine an amount that will affect your lifestyle – that you can feel. It may be small, but God desires sacrificial giving. Paul acknowledges the sacrificial nature of the gift from the Philippians in verse 18 and alludes to the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. The Israelites gave a substantial portion of what they had in praise of God. They joyously gave the best of what they had and got by with what they had left. So, too, as we develop a habit of giving we should learn to give a portion of what we have that will affect how we live. Maybe this means we have to buy generic brand groceries instead of name brand, or that we only go out to eat once per week or even once per month. The point is that our giving to the Lord is a sacrificial response to Him and His gifts.

3. Incorporate your giving as a definite part of your budget

Our gifts to God should be taken off the top, just like our taxes. I’m not going to say that you have to give from your net income rather than your gross income, or vice versa, but rather that you should take out your gift to God before you start to spend the money. The government takes money from us before we are able to spend it, and this bothers many of us. I personally have a hard time in this area, as I think I deserve what little is left after the government takes out the taxes. We should budget our giving just as we would budget our rent, utilities, groceries, etc., instead of considering it part of our disposable income that could vary from week to week depending on how much we have left to spend. We should give to God from our first fruits, not our remains. If God is a priority in our life, giving to Him should also be a priority.

V. Conclusion

A. Example story from Joshua

B. God has called us to be good stewards of that which He has given us, whether it be riches, talents, or even our lives. We should therefore cling to nothing with a tight fist, but be willing to give any and all of it for the glory of God and the advancement of His Word. It should not be too much to ask, then, for us to give in times of need and in times of plenty, for we should willingly give back to the Lord who has provided us with the greatest gift of all – eternal life for all who believe in Him.

So, that's it. Please be nice.