“The Church is always asking for money!” You hear that complaint from time to time. That was not my approach in ministry. Very seldom was the subject even brought up. I tried to speak about being good stewards throughout the year. And when I spoke about Stewardship it was in the context of using everything that God has given you for Him. Stewardship is recognizing that everything you are and have is a gift from a loving God, and trying to use what He has given you in a way that will be pleasing to Him.

I was not uncomfortable preaching about money or afraid it might make folks uncomfortable. I just took the approach that by emphasizing the giving of yourself and your time and your talents to the Lord, the giving of your offerings would naturally follow. Of course, giving of your wealth to God is a part of Stewardship. In fact, it may be the easiest part. It is much easier to put a check in the offering plate than it is to give of your time, or to use your abilities in service for God. Or at least a lot of folks seem to think that way.

I love giving of my time and talents for mission work, disaster response and Habitat for Humanity. In a way, it is selfish. I love the way I feel when I see the difference my actions make in another person’s life. And I try to make sure they know I am doing it for Jesus. I serve my Savior by serving others.

Getting back to financial stewardship: Satan tries to make it difficult when the subject of money comes up in the church. He tells you to get defensive, that the preacher is going to lay a guilt trip on you. He tells you that “your” money is an intensely personal subject and none of the church’s business. People develop the attitude that no one – not even God – has a right to know what’s in my checkbook or wallet.

Martin Luther is credited with writing: we need to be converted, brought to faith, three times by the Holy Spirit.

The first conversion is of the heart.  Your heart needs to be touched by the love of God, and this often happens when the Holy Spirit works through another Christian. You are touched by God’s love when other people show it to you. You realize that there is something  bigger than you, and you want to be a part of it. When you experience the love of God in your lives, you become like children who cannot remember a time when they did not know and love mom and dad. Love of God is the conversion, the bringing to faith, of the heart.

The second conversion that needs to take place is the conversion of the head. Luther was talking about knowledge, growing in what you know about God. That is why we c offer Sunday School, Bible Class, Vacation Bible School, Confirmation, Adult Instruction, Small Group Bible Studies, and the like. You need to know God’s will for you so that you can respond in love to the ways He has blessed us. You grow in your knowledge of God as you learn more of His Word. As you grow in knowing God, you will want to live for Him more and more.

The third conversion Luther wrote about, the one he called the most difficult, is the need to have our purses (or wallets, or checkbooks, or debit cards, or Zelle accounts) converted. The reason this is so difficult is because the amount of money or stocks or bonds or property we have is intensely personal. Most people don’t want others to know about their finances. Having your wallet or purse converted is more than just putting something in the offering plate when it is passed. It means viewing your finances as something God has given and using them in ways that please Him.

There were some warriors in Europe 1500 years ago whose tribes were converted to Christianity. When it was time for the warriors to be baptized, they did so. But they held their sword arm out of the water. They thought that meant they could go on slashing and cutting and killing, because the sword arm had not been baptized, it had not been turned over to the control of Jesus. How many today are walking around with unbaptized and unconverted wallets? Many give God nothing more than leftovers, which is ironic, since God has given it all to us in the first place.

2 Corinthians 8:9,12   9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. … 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

Paul was speaking of giving earthly treasure, but he points to even better riches. Jesus became part of our world so that we could receive His riches. When he spoke of poverty, Paul was not talking about how poor Mary and Joseph were. They were poor, but that is not his point. The poverty of Jesus was that He laid aside the glory and power and majesty of heaven in order share human weakness and experience death for us.

Money can come and go. Ask those who ran and invested in “dot coms.” Ask those who lived through the Great Depression. Ask those who watched their stocks fall. Money is fleeting. But Jesus became poor by giving up His power as God for a time. The one who was present at Creation, the one who brought the universe into being, the one without whom nothing was made that has been made was willing to lay all that aside for you. He was willing to experience the opposite of divinity. He was willing to live a perfect life under the same harsh circumstances we all face. He was willing to die on a cross. Jesus did that for the sins of all people. That includes the sin of holding back a part of your life from him. If you act as though your purse of wallet or some other part of your life belongs to you and not to God, you miss the point.

Jesus became one of us that so that everything could change. Because He was charged and condemned for your sins, you are forgiven. Through His death on the cross, you receive Easter life. You have been enriched in ways the IRS can’t touch. Jesus made Himself poor so that you through His poverty might become rich.

The problem most of us have is our definition of what it means to be rich. How many times have people prayed or thought that if they only had a little more money, they would be happy. It just doesn’t work that way. Even having more money than you will ever need will not make you happy. There are too many stories about lottery winners having nothing but problems after they win. There are billionaires searching for happiness. Riches are not found in the things of this world. Our riches are found at an empty tomb. Our riches begin with forgiveness and new life, gifts from a loving Father. Riches are found in letting the Holy Spirit use you to make a difference for someone else.

If you are not already doing so, you need to live as though your wallets and checkbooks and purses have been baptized, too. Everything you have is from God. He has given you salvation free of charge. He wants you to use your time, your abilities, and your money, your life to help other people know the love that you have experienced.

God’s grace is available to you freely. When you respond by giving back to God from what He has given, you can make sure His love and grace is offered to still others free of charge.