The Bloody Cross of Jesus – Our Economic Standard

“If I want to respond to Jesus, it means I not only have to live out the cross of Jesus Christ in my relationships, I have to live out the cross of Jesus economically.  What does this mean?  It means I’ve got to give enough money away such that it sacrifices my lifestyle.  If I give money but it doesn’t make a difference in my lifestyle, then there’s no sacrifice and no cross and no following Jesus in my life.  The cross is our standard for economics.”

This quote comes from a sermon Tim Keller preached titled “Treasure vs. Money” on Matthew 6:19-34 from his series on “Stewardship” which is downloadable for free here.

It is for this reason that with every new member class, I have the privelege of teaching on stewardship.  Our goal with this section in the membership classes is to illustrate (in a very holistic way) that all of life is a gift from God and that we are to offer everything – time, talents, and resources – to Him for his glory and his purposes.

In my previous post updating you on the financial situation in 2009 I pointed out (and you may have missed it) that though we have been able to increase the budget and financially we have expanded, our people have not necessarily grown in their generosity.  In fact, the number of members within Sojourn that have given nothing since January 2009 has increased from 12% in 2008 to 23% at the end of this year!

Let’s remember that Jesus’ death on the cross represents the most generous gift ever given—when the King of Glory gave up everything in order to reconcile us to God. When we are generous with others, we are reminding one another of the great generosity of our good God.

Sojourners (those attending on Sunday):
44% have given $0 since January 2009
69% have given less than $1 a day in 2009
and 93% have given less than 10% of a Louisville average income for a family of 3 (avg income is $30,000)

Those that have covenanted with this church are better in percentage, but not by much…

Members:
23% have given $0 since January 2009
36% have given less than $1 a day in 2009
and 80% have given less than 10% of a Louisville average income for a family of 3 (avg income is $30,000)

One response to a lack of financial commitment that I often hear is  “I don’t make enough to give”…and my response is typically one of two things:

First, do you have a budget and know where your money is going (how can you manage/steward God’s resources if you don’t even know where it is all going in the first place?)

And secondly, do you go out to eat or get coffee every day (or once a week)? Often the thought is that “my small amount does not really matter”. And to that, I generally respond with this illustration:

I got my undergraduate degree in Economics and one thing I was taught that certainly applies to our giving is a principal called the Latte Factor® which is a euphemistic label for all that extra money we spend daily on nonessentials such as candy, bottled water, doughnuts, and yes, lattes. David Bach (author and financial advisor) coined the term to illustrate the crazy amount of money wasted on daily nonessentials.  You can google Latte Factor and several sites will pop up with info on how to calculate this.  David applied the principal to investments to show that the insignificant amounts we spend each day does have long-term implications (i.e. $5/day invested at an average return of 10% you will have saved an average of $950,000 over 40 years!).

If we apply that same principal to giving (just taking into consideration our members that have made a commitment to this church):

Sojourn’s End of Year Goals:

• make budget for the rest of 2009

• exceed 2008 year-end gifts of $150,000 to establish a firm financial foundation leading into 2010

• 25% of all revenue from December goes to missions

2010 Challenge:

• Increase average giving from $775 per adult to $1620 per adult (match National average given to charities)

• Increase average giving for members to $2200 (From $1920 per family in 2009)

• End 2010 in the black

• Every member that has given nothing is seeking help in financial coaching and is growing in generosity.

For the most part, at least here in North America, Christians give less than their ability. Some give according to their ability and very few give beyond their ability. For most of us, giving according to our means would stretch us.  We think that giving beyond our means would break us – but in the end it won’t, because God is faithful.