“A true follower of Jesus never becomes accustomed to the sound of footsteps headed for hell.”
It’s late, or early, depending on how you look at it. I was roused from my sleep by a voice. Whether in a dream or another Source, I’m not sure. But my mind immediately began again to turn toward this opportunity to visit with you. Since Tuesday night, I have been thinking …praying…about what I would share with you. What, or how, could I write so as to touch your mind and heart?
One of the things we heard from our Presiding Elder, Darren Skinner, was that our Conference leadership has for the second year in a row decided to reducethe percentage of our Connectional Giving. When we joined the Global Methodist Church, we agreed to give the Conference an amount equal to 5% of our offerings. Last year at our Annual Conference Ralph Fenton, Beckie, & I heard the Financial Chair of the Conference announce that their request was being reduced to 4%. Why? Because with 5 months to go in the year, the giving had already met the amount for the full budget! Tuesday night, we heard that the request was, effective retroactively reduced to 3% because now halfway through the fiscal year, giving has already more than taken care of the financial demands of our Conference! Amazing! And that’s with a mid-year commitment made to enter covenant relationships with our Western States Conference and Thailand Conference brothers and sisters! How refreshing to be part of our new Conference that absolutely refuses to bank the extra funds for a “rainy day” recognizing that some local churches who faithfully send in their part of the Connectional giving sacrifice to do so. One of those churches is RiverStone.
That word – “SACRIFICE” – is resonating with me in the middle of this night. For I am moved to share some examples of such giving by some of our own.
- Having sat in on our Congregational Meeting Sunday before last, one person came up and with tears forming told Chris Parker, “I have to increase my offering to the church.” This one we know has already been giving sacrificially.
- I think of another who has sacrificed in another way. If you have an awareness of when you have not seen someone for a while in worship, you may have wondered where this person has been. She’s been in the building, just not in the sanctuary but rather the nursery. She has such a desire to have childcare for the wee ones, she has sacrificed her being with our church body in worship for many weeks! And, if we can find a suitable candidate, she has committed to increase her giving to help defray the expense. (We are working on that by the way.)
- Another household over a year ago decided to increase their already healthy having recognized our church’s financial struggles. I don’t know whether “sacrifice” is a term that can be used in their case, but I do know the decision meant that some other aspects of lives were affected.
A verse that came to mind shortly after awaking a while ago is Hebrews 12:4, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” What does that have to do with you & I today? I can think it does in two ways.
First, when read or hear about shed blood in the church many of our minds quickly go to an ugly hill where on a cross our Savior, Jesus Christ’s blood was shed. But Jesus actually began to shed blood in the night before in the garden. Scripture tells us he began to sweat blood, a condition called “hematidrosis”, as he struggled with the weight of our sin already being placed on his shoulders. Would he go to the cross and die for us or would He run and save Himself? He sacrificed Himself.
Second, for us who live in such an affluent, consumer driven culture, to present offerings to one’s church body is completely countercultural. To give turns the focus of our world on its head. To give is to declare that God is our God, not me, nor the things of this world. That was the reason God instructed His ancient people early on to bring in their “firstfruits” for offerings. Firstfruits was a declaration that one was thankful for the crop God had provided them, and second, that they loved God above all else.
At the top of our written household budget, Beckie and I have placed before anything else, our tithe. That’s the first check out of each receipt of income. This year it has taken on a different feeling in that while living expenses have been increasing, our income has been significantly reduced. I do not offer this out of pride, nor to elicit sympathy. It is rather to share an example of the practice of firstfruits in our day.
While we have taken steps to reduce some discretionary expense and reduce fulfillment of some of our desires, we are glad to declare with each rip of a leaf from the checkbook that God owns our hearts, not Satan and his worldly cravings. We certainly wouldn’t say we have resisted sin; we have not sacrificed to the point of shedding our blood! But we have noticed that, once again as many times before, God has been faithful in providing for us. Thanks be to God!
Friends, whether it’s in our bringing in our firstfruits or offering our spiritual gifts and abilities, it is a day in which we face the question, “Will I Love, Follow, and Serve Jesus? Even if it means some sacrifice. For, if we do, we will grow to thrive in ’25 in ways that God will surprise us.
Loving you in Jesus!
Pastor Brian
P.S. I hope that your reading of this longer article was worth your sacrifice of a few moments and that through it your mind and soul have been enriched.
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