Stocks, Bonds, And Petty Cash
Sermon
MONEY AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Can The Rich Be Righteous; Can The Righteous Be Rich?
The Christian Faith owes a great deal to sailors on the seas. Although Jesus himself confined his seafaring to the Lake of Galilee, which was only twelve miles long and seven miles wide, Jesus' followers were far more venturesome in their seafaring exploits. And if Jesus and the twelve apostles centered their work largely in the small villages and towns and agrarian communities of Palestine, Jesus' later disciples made their way across the Great Sea, the Mediterranean, to visit the leading cities of the first century Graeco--Roman world.
Such was the case with Saint Paul, the illustrious apostle. Though a tentmaker by trade, Paul hitched a ride on the various sailing vessels making their way to the major ports of the Mediterranean. Whether it was to Ephesus, in present--day western Turkey, or to Rome, or to Athens and back to Jerusalem, Paul often went by ship to the urban, commercial cities of his time to spread the gospel.
He could have sailed to Corinth either from the east on the Aegean Sea, or from the west on the Adriatic. Corinth was built on the isthmus between the two and was thus a popular and prosperous port city with trade flowing east and west across the three and one--half mile wide isthmus. The ships were actually hauled between the Aegean and Adriatic on large wagons whose ruts in the stone path can be seen to this day. The famous Corinthian Canal was not built until the late nineteenth century, although the Emperor Nero began the task in the first century.
Corinth boasted not only a prosperous economy and offices and courts of the Roman Empire; it was proud to have a grand Temple to Apollo and a large Temple to the fertility goddess, Aphrodite, built on the mountain overlooking the city. That Temple, with its 1,000 or so sacred prostitutes, along with the wide--open immorality of the city, gained it a notorious reputation in the first century. In that time the saying, "To Corinthianize," meant to go on a wild fling of immoral debauchery.
Nevertheless, it was in this important city that Paul helped establish a Christian church. And it was to this often--troubled church he wrote at least two, if not four letters, addressing their various theological, ethical, and political problems.
However, in our text his focus is on giving - financial giving - for the poor Christians in Jerusalem, in Judea, where the Christian Faith had its beginnings. Paul had been visiting some of the churches in the Graeco--Roman, Gentile world, taking up a collection for the famine--stricken, impoverished Jewish Christians of Judea. This part of the letter is his earnest appeal to them to have their financial contributions ready for him when he arrives. And this appeal has been both inspiration and guide for the Christian Church ever since.
It has been my good fortune, like Paul, to have experienced sailing - sailing the several waters of our land, especially the Long Island Sound and Lake Michigan. I remember well pulling into a port off Lake Michigan some years ago to see a huge motor yacht tied up at the dock. It was a beautiful boat, but it was the name of the boat which intrigued me. It was called Stocks and Bonds. But up on the deck was a small runabout with the name Petty Cash.
There it was, I thought. The sum of it all - stocks and bonds and petty cash. And the Christian faith has a lot to say about how we handle each, especially stocks and bonds.
I.
Consider first the petty cash.
In comparison to the cost of that motor yacht, the cost of the small runabout on its deck was indeed "petty cash." Petty cash represents pocket change to most of us, "mad money," the nickels and dimes of life - the amounts left over when the major bills are paid.
Petty cash symbolizes the money we can spend on whim without accountability to anyone. Few of us keep records of our petty cash, although I knew one attorney who threw all his petty cash in a drawer at the end of the day and at the end of the month bought stock with it. For all I know, he may now be sailing a huge yacht named Stocks and Bonds bought with petty cash!
Regrettably, in many people, charity giving, especially giving to churches, falls into the petty cash category. Not programmed into the monthly scheme of expenditures, giving to the Church is often an afterthought, a reach into the petty cash drawer to find something for the offering envelope or collection plate.
The petty cash mentality is probably at work when we give to the beggar on the street or to the Salvation Army bucket at Christ--mastime or to the wonderful people selling poppies on Veteran's Day. We give out--of--pocket change and ready cash.
Over the centuries, the Christian Church has been supported in varieties of ways. In the early years of American Christianity, it was popular for church members to buy a permanent pew, which often would be passed on in the estate, much like the prized season tickets for favorite athletic teams in today's world. And, believe it or not, the best seats in the church, the most expensive pews, were in the front, not in the back! The balcony was reserved for visitors and teenagers who managed to slip away from the ever--watchful eye of parents.
In later years, pews were not sold, but rented to provide income for the church. And, believe it or not, prior to the American Revolution and the new Constitution, many churches, including the Congregational Church, were tax supported. In New England, the Congregational minister was an officer of the town as well as pastor of the church.
However, time passed and churches began to be supported by voluntary contributions. And the church--giving mentality was shaped a lot by the Great Depression, when people got in the habit of giving a dollar a week, which for most people at that time, was quite a lot. But as people grew wealthier in the post World War II economy, giving patterns tended to remain unchanged. The norm was still a dollar a week. While the nation grew to a stocks and bonds economy, the church suffered from a petty cash mentality.
And it still does. Many people tend to give out of their petty cash drawer rather than out of their stocks and bonds portfolio. We have members who still pledge only one dollar a week, 52 dollars a year, the same as they gave in the Depression, although they are fabulously more wealthy than in Depression times. We have people who spend more on pizza in a year than they give to the Church. And alas, we have some people who give nothing at all.
I am reminded of the man in the divorce court for the final settlement judgment from the court regarding alimony. The judge leaned over the bench and said, "I'm going to give your ex--wife $3,000 a month." The man said, "That's mighty nice of you, Judge. I'll try to give her something myself from time to time." He reminds me of some people's giving to the Church.
Of 23 different American denominations, many give what could be called petty cash. The Unitarians, Christian Scientists, and Roman Catholics are at the bottom of the list, giving slightly less or slightly more than one percent of family income to the Church. By contrast, the Mormons are at the top of the list, giving almost seven and one--half percent of income, with the Assemblies of God second at five and one--half percent, and the Adventists third at almost four and one--half percent of income.
My denomination, the United Church of Christ, ranks fifteenth out of 23 by giving only about two percent of family income. Interestingly, my congregation, located in one of the more affluent areas of the country, gives below our national denominational average. We give only about one and one--half percent of average household income. The Mormons might legitimately say to us that as far as giving to the Church is concerned, we may well be in the petty cash category.
II.
Let's take a look at the stocks and bonds category where the Mormons seem to be, along with the Assemblies of God (the Pentecostalists) and the Adventists.
If petty cash symbolizes whimsical, discretionary money, so--called "mad money" for which there is no accountability, stocks and bonds symbolize something quite different. Stocks and bonds usually are serious matters. Many of us employ brokers or financial advisors or accountants to aid us in the management of our serious money. Or we may spend hours ourselves becoming expert in the management of our investment portfolio. Stocks and bonds are not only our past hard--earned or inherited money. Stocks and bonds are our present and future.
Paul was advising the Corinthian Christians to move beyond a petty cash mentality to a stocks and bonds mentality in their giving. The devastating Judean famine would take more than a few petty cash coins for alleviation. Just as the starvation was serious, so the charitable help would need to be serious. Petty cash wouldn't do it. He was appealing to them to be generous in a stocks and bonds kind of way.
However, in his first letter to the Christians at Corinth, written two years earlier, Paul appealed to them to adapt a stocks and bonds mentality for support of the local church. The ministers and leaders of the church needed to be supported just as the priests and Levites of the Jerusalem Temple were supported. And how was that? you might ask. The people were to give ten percent of their income. There was no petty cash mentality there. It was strictly stocks and bonds.
We have already seen that members of my church give on average about one and one--half percent of average household income to the church. However, the same household will pay upwards, on average, of forty percent of income to federal, state, local, sales, and other taxes. Government entities are deadly serious in their financial claims upon us. And while serious, Saint Paul asks not forty percent, but the ideal ten percent. He asks us to adopt a stocks and bonds mentality when it comes to giving to the church.
And what is a stocks and bonds mentality? It is an investment mentality. It is a mentality that is looking for a good, solid return on the dollar. It is a mentality that takes risks, that believes in the future more than the past. It avoids the miserly Silas Marner mentality, which buries the money in the backyard or stashes it in low--earning, but extremely safe, financial instruments. The stocks and bonds mentality usually invests in quality, in that which is substantial and has the promise of growth. We might throw petty cash at ephemeral things, but not stocks and bonds. Stocks and bonds are serious business.
That's why the church needs our stocks and bonds, not just our petty cash, because we are building the future. Not only do we work to preserve the high spiritual and ethical values of the past; we seek to apply them today and to inculcate them in our children for the future. When Christians adopt a stocks and bonds mentality toward the church, you know they realize there are bottom lines in life that are other than financial.
When the well--known author, David Halberstam, was in Japan doing research for his book, The Reckoning, he interviewed a high government official. At that time the Japanese economy was extremely strong and successful. But the high official, Naohiro Amaya, complained that Japan was "producing workers rather than full citizens." He then added that "it was a great deal easier to produce a good car than it was to produce a good human being" (quoted in David Halberstam, The Next Century, pp. 116--117).
Serious Christians know that. It is one thing to produce money; it is quite another to produce a good human being. It is one thing to turn out a good material product; it is quite another to turn out a good spiritual, ethical human being of integrity. But that is what we are trying to do, and we can't do it on petty cash. It has to be stocks and bonds.
It has to be stocks and bonds because churches are not supported by taxes, as in some countries. Nor do they usually qualify for corporate contributions or foundation grants as do many charities. America has flourished with hundreds of voluntary associations and charities. And we have come to depend on them - the American Red Cross, the various cancer societies, and the agencies represented by Community Chests and United Way.
But they are there because people gave and give, and the church is here because people gave and give. When the bride comes to be married, or the son comes to bury his mother, or when the couple comes for counseling, or when the children show up for Sunday school, or when the spiritual appetite grows for inspiring music and stimulating sermons and lectures, the church is there. It is there because people gave, and gave generously.
My friend, the Reverend Dr. Ernest Campbell, onetime minister of Riverside Church, once said the task of the Church is to hold on to its sacred truths until we are ready to believe them. That is precisely what previous generations have done for us. They not only have held on to the sacred truths - they have institutionalized them in buildings and professional clergy and musicians and other leaders and helpers. They know the government cannot do it and most businesses won't do it. It's up to church members to do it voluntarily, cheerfully, and generously, says Paul. Its our stocks and bonds responsibility.
It is strange, but when it comes to the church, many erstwhile capitalists adopt a welfare mentality. They, in essence, want a free ride. They want someone else to pay the freight, to let George do it. But Paul suggested it was each Christian's responsibility to be generous.
And here is the beautiful promise - our investment in the minds and hearts of children, youth, and adults really pays off in ways beyond counting. Many young people have come back to say how important the church was to them in their spiritual and ethical formation. Who can tell the extent of the influence of the men and women ordained to the ministry in our sanctuary? We have planted seeds, invested in human life, and it is multiplying into an ongoing and magnificent harvest.
In my previous church we had a devoted churchman, a wealthy, leading industrialist of the city. He said he and his wife saw themselves as channels of God's work. The more money they gave, the more they seemed to make. "What Paul promised came true for us," he said. "More than that, we intend to set up our estate so that its income continues our pledge to the church after we are gone," he told me.
He and his wife definitely had a stocks and bonds mentality toward the Church. And now it is up to each of us to stop thinking of Christ's Church in a petty cash sort of way, but instead to think of it as an investment portfolio for the future. For as Jesus said, "The measure you give will be the measure you get" (Mark 4:24). "Give and it shall be given unto you" (Luke 6:38).
Make a good investment for the Church's future and yours. Move from petty cash investments to stocks and bonds.
Prayer
Almighty God, who brought space and time into being, and who chose to express yourself in all order and design, and to impart your life to all living things, shaping humanity in your very image, praise be to you and thanks for all the splendor and majesty of the world. We participate in mysteries beyond our comprehension, and benefit from your life and powers more than we know. We thank you.
As it has been your nature to give from the beginning, first in creation and then in re--creation, so awaken in us the heart of gratitude and the spirit of generosity. Help us not to harden our hearts against the sacrifices and hard work of previous generations whose creative and faithful toil led to the harvest of good things we enjoy.
As we would be awakened to the generosity of the past so we ask you to help us to be generous toward the future. Help us to be wise, to be faithful, and to share generously with your Church, that it might bring forth a rich harvest of faith, hope, and love to bless the world. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Such was the case with Saint Paul, the illustrious apostle. Though a tentmaker by trade, Paul hitched a ride on the various sailing vessels making their way to the major ports of the Mediterranean. Whether it was to Ephesus, in present--day western Turkey, or to Rome, or to Athens and back to Jerusalem, Paul often went by ship to the urban, commercial cities of his time to spread the gospel.
He could have sailed to Corinth either from the east on the Aegean Sea, or from the west on the Adriatic. Corinth was built on the isthmus between the two and was thus a popular and prosperous port city with trade flowing east and west across the three and one--half mile wide isthmus. The ships were actually hauled between the Aegean and Adriatic on large wagons whose ruts in the stone path can be seen to this day. The famous Corinthian Canal was not built until the late nineteenth century, although the Emperor Nero began the task in the first century.
Corinth boasted not only a prosperous economy and offices and courts of the Roman Empire; it was proud to have a grand Temple to Apollo and a large Temple to the fertility goddess, Aphrodite, built on the mountain overlooking the city. That Temple, with its 1,000 or so sacred prostitutes, along with the wide--open immorality of the city, gained it a notorious reputation in the first century. In that time the saying, "To Corinthianize," meant to go on a wild fling of immoral debauchery.
Nevertheless, it was in this important city that Paul helped establish a Christian church. And it was to this often--troubled church he wrote at least two, if not four letters, addressing their various theological, ethical, and political problems.
However, in our text his focus is on giving - financial giving - for the poor Christians in Jerusalem, in Judea, where the Christian Faith had its beginnings. Paul had been visiting some of the churches in the Graeco--Roman, Gentile world, taking up a collection for the famine--stricken, impoverished Jewish Christians of Judea. This part of the letter is his earnest appeal to them to have their financial contributions ready for him when he arrives. And this appeal has been both inspiration and guide for the Christian Church ever since.
It has been my good fortune, like Paul, to have experienced sailing - sailing the several waters of our land, especially the Long Island Sound and Lake Michigan. I remember well pulling into a port off Lake Michigan some years ago to see a huge motor yacht tied up at the dock. It was a beautiful boat, but it was the name of the boat which intrigued me. It was called Stocks and Bonds. But up on the deck was a small runabout with the name Petty Cash.
There it was, I thought. The sum of it all - stocks and bonds and petty cash. And the Christian faith has a lot to say about how we handle each, especially stocks and bonds.
I.
Consider first the petty cash.
In comparison to the cost of that motor yacht, the cost of the small runabout on its deck was indeed "petty cash." Petty cash represents pocket change to most of us, "mad money," the nickels and dimes of life - the amounts left over when the major bills are paid.
Petty cash symbolizes the money we can spend on whim without accountability to anyone. Few of us keep records of our petty cash, although I knew one attorney who threw all his petty cash in a drawer at the end of the day and at the end of the month bought stock with it. For all I know, he may now be sailing a huge yacht named Stocks and Bonds bought with petty cash!
Regrettably, in many people, charity giving, especially giving to churches, falls into the petty cash category. Not programmed into the monthly scheme of expenditures, giving to the Church is often an afterthought, a reach into the petty cash drawer to find something for the offering envelope or collection plate.
The petty cash mentality is probably at work when we give to the beggar on the street or to the Salvation Army bucket at Christ--mastime or to the wonderful people selling poppies on Veteran's Day. We give out--of--pocket change and ready cash.
Over the centuries, the Christian Church has been supported in varieties of ways. In the early years of American Christianity, it was popular for church members to buy a permanent pew, which often would be passed on in the estate, much like the prized season tickets for favorite athletic teams in today's world. And, believe it or not, the best seats in the church, the most expensive pews, were in the front, not in the back! The balcony was reserved for visitors and teenagers who managed to slip away from the ever--watchful eye of parents.
In later years, pews were not sold, but rented to provide income for the church. And, believe it or not, prior to the American Revolution and the new Constitution, many churches, including the Congregational Church, were tax supported. In New England, the Congregational minister was an officer of the town as well as pastor of the church.
However, time passed and churches began to be supported by voluntary contributions. And the church--giving mentality was shaped a lot by the Great Depression, when people got in the habit of giving a dollar a week, which for most people at that time, was quite a lot. But as people grew wealthier in the post World War II economy, giving patterns tended to remain unchanged. The norm was still a dollar a week. While the nation grew to a stocks and bonds economy, the church suffered from a petty cash mentality.
And it still does. Many people tend to give out of their petty cash drawer rather than out of their stocks and bonds portfolio. We have members who still pledge only one dollar a week, 52 dollars a year, the same as they gave in the Depression, although they are fabulously more wealthy than in Depression times. We have people who spend more on pizza in a year than they give to the Church. And alas, we have some people who give nothing at all.
I am reminded of the man in the divorce court for the final settlement judgment from the court regarding alimony. The judge leaned over the bench and said, "I'm going to give your ex--wife $3,000 a month." The man said, "That's mighty nice of you, Judge. I'll try to give her something myself from time to time." He reminds me of some people's giving to the Church.
Of 23 different American denominations, many give what could be called petty cash. The Unitarians, Christian Scientists, and Roman Catholics are at the bottom of the list, giving slightly less or slightly more than one percent of family income to the Church. By contrast, the Mormons are at the top of the list, giving almost seven and one--half percent of income, with the Assemblies of God second at five and one--half percent, and the Adventists third at almost four and one--half percent of income.
My denomination, the United Church of Christ, ranks fifteenth out of 23 by giving only about two percent of family income. Interestingly, my congregation, located in one of the more affluent areas of the country, gives below our national denominational average. We give only about one and one--half percent of average household income. The Mormons might legitimately say to us that as far as giving to the Church is concerned, we may well be in the petty cash category.
II.
Let's take a look at the stocks and bonds category where the Mormons seem to be, along with the Assemblies of God (the Pentecostalists) and the Adventists.
If petty cash symbolizes whimsical, discretionary money, so--called "mad money" for which there is no accountability, stocks and bonds symbolize something quite different. Stocks and bonds usually are serious matters. Many of us employ brokers or financial advisors or accountants to aid us in the management of our serious money. Or we may spend hours ourselves becoming expert in the management of our investment portfolio. Stocks and bonds are not only our past hard--earned or inherited money. Stocks and bonds are our present and future.
Paul was advising the Corinthian Christians to move beyond a petty cash mentality to a stocks and bonds mentality in their giving. The devastating Judean famine would take more than a few petty cash coins for alleviation. Just as the starvation was serious, so the charitable help would need to be serious. Petty cash wouldn't do it. He was appealing to them to be generous in a stocks and bonds kind of way.
However, in his first letter to the Christians at Corinth, written two years earlier, Paul appealed to them to adapt a stocks and bonds mentality for support of the local church. The ministers and leaders of the church needed to be supported just as the priests and Levites of the Jerusalem Temple were supported. And how was that? you might ask. The people were to give ten percent of their income. There was no petty cash mentality there. It was strictly stocks and bonds.
We have already seen that members of my church give on average about one and one--half percent of average household income to the church. However, the same household will pay upwards, on average, of forty percent of income to federal, state, local, sales, and other taxes. Government entities are deadly serious in their financial claims upon us. And while serious, Saint Paul asks not forty percent, but the ideal ten percent. He asks us to adopt a stocks and bonds mentality when it comes to giving to the church.
And what is a stocks and bonds mentality? It is an investment mentality. It is a mentality that is looking for a good, solid return on the dollar. It is a mentality that takes risks, that believes in the future more than the past. It avoids the miserly Silas Marner mentality, which buries the money in the backyard or stashes it in low--earning, but extremely safe, financial instruments. The stocks and bonds mentality usually invests in quality, in that which is substantial and has the promise of growth. We might throw petty cash at ephemeral things, but not stocks and bonds. Stocks and bonds are serious business.
That's why the church needs our stocks and bonds, not just our petty cash, because we are building the future. Not only do we work to preserve the high spiritual and ethical values of the past; we seek to apply them today and to inculcate them in our children for the future. When Christians adopt a stocks and bonds mentality toward the church, you know they realize there are bottom lines in life that are other than financial.
When the well--known author, David Halberstam, was in Japan doing research for his book, The Reckoning, he interviewed a high government official. At that time the Japanese economy was extremely strong and successful. But the high official, Naohiro Amaya, complained that Japan was "producing workers rather than full citizens." He then added that "it was a great deal easier to produce a good car than it was to produce a good human being" (quoted in David Halberstam, The Next Century, pp. 116--117).
Serious Christians know that. It is one thing to produce money; it is quite another to produce a good human being. It is one thing to turn out a good material product; it is quite another to turn out a good spiritual, ethical human being of integrity. But that is what we are trying to do, and we can't do it on petty cash. It has to be stocks and bonds.
It has to be stocks and bonds because churches are not supported by taxes, as in some countries. Nor do they usually qualify for corporate contributions or foundation grants as do many charities. America has flourished with hundreds of voluntary associations and charities. And we have come to depend on them - the American Red Cross, the various cancer societies, and the agencies represented by Community Chests and United Way.
But they are there because people gave and give, and the church is here because people gave and give. When the bride comes to be married, or the son comes to bury his mother, or when the couple comes for counseling, or when the children show up for Sunday school, or when the spiritual appetite grows for inspiring music and stimulating sermons and lectures, the church is there. It is there because people gave, and gave generously.
My friend, the Reverend Dr. Ernest Campbell, onetime minister of Riverside Church, once said the task of the Church is to hold on to its sacred truths until we are ready to believe them. That is precisely what previous generations have done for us. They not only have held on to the sacred truths - they have institutionalized them in buildings and professional clergy and musicians and other leaders and helpers. They know the government cannot do it and most businesses won't do it. It's up to church members to do it voluntarily, cheerfully, and generously, says Paul. Its our stocks and bonds responsibility.
It is strange, but when it comes to the church, many erstwhile capitalists adopt a welfare mentality. They, in essence, want a free ride. They want someone else to pay the freight, to let George do it. But Paul suggested it was each Christian's responsibility to be generous.
And here is the beautiful promise - our investment in the minds and hearts of children, youth, and adults really pays off in ways beyond counting. Many young people have come back to say how important the church was to them in their spiritual and ethical formation. Who can tell the extent of the influence of the men and women ordained to the ministry in our sanctuary? We have planted seeds, invested in human life, and it is multiplying into an ongoing and magnificent harvest.
In my previous church we had a devoted churchman, a wealthy, leading industrialist of the city. He said he and his wife saw themselves as channels of God's work. The more money they gave, the more they seemed to make. "What Paul promised came true for us," he said. "More than that, we intend to set up our estate so that its income continues our pledge to the church after we are gone," he told me.
He and his wife definitely had a stocks and bonds mentality toward the Church. And now it is up to each of us to stop thinking of Christ's Church in a petty cash sort of way, but instead to think of it as an investment portfolio for the future. For as Jesus said, "The measure you give will be the measure you get" (Mark 4:24). "Give and it shall be given unto you" (Luke 6:38).
Make a good investment for the Church's future and yours. Move from petty cash investments to stocks and bonds.
Prayer
Almighty God, who brought space and time into being, and who chose to express yourself in all order and design, and to impart your life to all living things, shaping humanity in your very image, praise be to you and thanks for all the splendor and majesty of the world. We participate in mysteries beyond our comprehension, and benefit from your life and powers more than we know. We thank you.
As it has been your nature to give from the beginning, first in creation and then in re--creation, so awaken in us the heart of gratitude and the spirit of generosity. Help us not to harden our hearts against the sacrifices and hard work of previous generations whose creative and faithful toil led to the harvest of good things we enjoy.
As we would be awakened to the generosity of the past so we ask you to help us to be generous toward the future. Help us to be wise, to be faithful, and to share generously with your Church, that it might bring forth a rich harvest of faith, hope, and love to bless the world. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
