Enough, Halfway Point

Dear friends,

We are halfway through our church wide emphasis Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity. Last Sunday, our topic was “Wisdom and Finance.” We looked closely at the biblical principles of money management and learned how they apply to our daily lives. We also reviewed some common pitfalls and cultural traps and discovered how we can avoid them. If you were unable to be with us, you can find the sermon message with two financial planning worksheets on our website, milfordunitedmethodistchurch.wordpress.com

This Sunday our topic will be “Cultivating Contentment.” If you ever feel a strong desire to have more, or if you ever look at your surroundings and feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things, then you don’t want to miss this message! We will address head-on our human tendency to accumulate possessions and wealth and learn how to consciously change our ways. We also will be handing out a special tool that will help us to re-focus daily on contentment and simplicity. I hope you will join us!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Dave Repenning

Enough I

ENOUGH 1

WHEN OUR DREAMS BECOME A NIGHTMARE

Genesis 2:15-25

Mark 4: 1-9, 13-20

 The American Dream

Last weekend I was in South Jersey and drove by the house in which I grew up.  The house is about three times bigger than when my family moved there.  Just to give me the full perspective I noticed the Brock’s house next door.  It is being rebuilt.  It was stripped down to the frame and not much else.  It seemed so tiny compared to our old house next to it.  The houses are all bigger and grander than when I was growing up.  Isn’t that the American dream?  It was the dream of my parents; to better our lot, obtain more. 

 We live in a world that encourages us to live beyond our means.  We are enticed to have it now and pay for it later, as opposed to saving and being good stewards of our God given gifts.  It is a dream built upon consuming, acquiring, and buying.  It is now turning into more of a nightmare than a dream.   Adam Hamilton speaks about it as a disease.  In fact two diseases.

 The first disease is AFFLUENZA.    The need for more and bigger stuff.  Our commercials keep telling us we need this, we can’t live without that and we need it now.

So the average house size has gone from 1,660 square feet in 1973 to 2,400 square feet in 2004.  There are also more and more self storage spaces.  Today there are about 1.9 Billion square feet of self storage space in America.

 Think about yourself.  What is the next purchase you plan to make?  How much extra room do you have in your house for stuff, or have you run out of room because you already have too much stuff?

 The other disease is CREDIT-IT-IS.  It comes from such things as 6 months same as cash, or save 20% on your next purchase if you buy on you store credit card, or perhaps 3% interest for the first year.  

 Credit-it-is leads us to believe we can get what ever we want right now.  Enjoy it today and pay for it tomorrow.  The average credit card debt in 1900 was $3,000.  in the last 20 years credit card companies have made it so easy to increase that debt that today the average American has $9,000 in debt.  And then there is the debt that has increased in second mortgages and other quick loans.  I find it interesting that I used to get personal mailings saying I am already approved to borrow against the value of my house.  Well, actually it’s your house, and they are saying they’ll lend me money on the church’s house.  

 Now all of this easy credit can be paid back with a minimum payment of what used to be 2% of the balance and has recently gone up to 4% of the balance.  Given the standard or below standard rate of 18% interest it will take you 240 years to pay it back.

 This leads us to the Spiritual Problem, which is sin.  Sin distorts the image of God in which we were created and God’s intent to be a blessing to us.   We were created to desire God and meant to find security in God.  Now we tend to desire possessions and seek our security in amassing wealth.    We come to a place where we sacrifice the good God created for us be for comfort, convenience, safety and pleasure.  Now these are not bad things in themselves until they become the central focus of our lives. 

 Our quest for things and wealth leads us to debt and bondage to the things we pursue.  Jesus asked the question “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”  (Mark 8:36)

 Paul reminds us in I Timothy 6:10b “Some people, eager for money have wandered from faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 

 The Biblical solution is to ask God to change our hearts.  There is a neat little story floating around the internet that describes this process.

It’s about a pumpkin.  Most pumpkins are not perfect.  They often have shapes that are not quite symmetrical and have little scars or blotches on their skins.  In the next week or so we will be buying these things and bringing them home to make Jack o Lanterns.  The first step is to cut a hole in the top and take out all of the slimy smelly junk inside.  Then we carve a face on the pumpkin and put a candle in it.

 This is like what God does in us.  He cleans out the yucky stuff, our sinfulness, puts a joyful face on us and then puts his light in us to shine in the darkness of our world. 

 What God does for us is replaces greed, envy, lust, and materialism with simplicity, restraint, generosity and joy.  Next week we will be looking at ways to move our life in that direction.  Today we need to focus most on asking God to begin changing our hearts; to give us hearts that once again thirst for God and not the material things of this world.

 Would you join in the following prayer:

 The Contentment Prayer

 Lord help me to be grateful for what I have,

To remember that I don’t need most of what I want,

And that joy is found in simplicity and generosity.   Amen

 Finally as you begin to pray sing the following song several times:

Change my heart, O God, make it ever true.

Change my heart O God, may I be like you.

Thou art the potter, I am the clay. 

Melt me and mold me, this  is what I say

Change my heart, O God, make it ever true.

Change my heart O God, may I be like you.

 This sermon is based on the book and accompanying materials from Adam Hamilton entitled Enough

ENOUGH:

Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity

Stress. Anxiety. Fear. These words capture well the state of mind of many of us in America today. We have witnessed dramatic market losses, the collapse of the world’s largest insurance company, and many bankruptcies and mergers. Every day seems to bring another piece of economic uncertainty.

A  recent survey by the American Psychological Association  found that over three in four Americans are stressed about the economy and their personal finances. Half were worried about providing for their family’s basic needs. Over half of respondents reported feeling angry and irritable, and reported lying awake at night worried about this. The report concludes that, “The declining state of the nation’s economy is taking a physical and emotional toll on people nationwide.”

 Join us in worship the next five weeks for a sermon series entitled Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity. Our nation is experiencing what many have described as the “American Nightmare.” Increasing consumer debt, declines in savings, lower income growth, and a volatile stock market are all a part of our economic insecurity. We have lived in a society that tells us “you deserve it now,” whether or not we can afford it or really even need it.

 All of us have struggled with these issues at one time or another. They are important issues that we cannot ignore. This is why, over the next five weeks, we will be having a church-wide study and worship emphasis called Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity. During this time we will explore what the Bible teaches us about financial management, through corporate worship and small group study.  Visit our  website, milfordunitedmethodistchurch.wordpress.com for details about small-group study opportunities.

 We’ll hear expert advice and stories about what others have learned by working through financial challenges. Each week we will provide you with some practical tools you can use to assess your financial situation and develop a financial plan with a biblical foundation.

 At the conclusion of the study series, we will have the opportunity to make personal commitments of our offerings to God through our church in the coming year. We will consecrate these commitments in the worship service on two consecutive Sundays (see the schedule that follows).

 I hope you will join us in the coming weeks as we look at how we can manage our financial resources and truly experience simplicity, generosity, and joy.

 Bob Fitch, Stewardship Chairman

Fall Festival 2009