by Dave Wilkinson

Malachi 3:1-12, Matthew 13:44-45

October 27, 2002

Some years ago, Israel's chief rabbi, Mordechai Elihu declared that people should keep dollars in their pockets when they're in a restroom or an unclean place. An American Jew raised the question because our bills say: "In God We Trust." The Rabbi's religious ruling said that because of the motto, dollars must be treated the same way as holy documents and must not be exposed to filth.

We don't tend to be quite that precise about money. That's not the kind of question we would be likely to ask. But we do have other questions. Money is a place of deep ambivalence for many believers. And Jesus makes it clear that learning to handle money is central to our faith and our happiness in life. In fact, Jesus says more about the use and abuse of money than He says about so-called Amore religious topics" like prayer, heaven, and eternal life. When we get our heads straight about money, a lot of other things fall into place much more easily.

"Consider Michael, a typical American child," writes Bill Hybels of the Willow Creek church. "During the most impressionable years of his life, he hears a steady stream of dinner table conversations centered almost exclusively on money and the things it can buy. It becomes clear to him at a young age that what mom and dad really value is money. Over the next years, the family moves several times because of promotions and salary increases. That convinces the perceptive child that monetary increases are more important than establishing stable relational or spiritual roots. Later on, conversation turn to college, and the dialogue focuses on what professions pay the most rather than what would best suit the young person's motivated abilities. The apparent message is that financial remuneration will make up for lack of job fulfillment.

Michael eventually enters the job market, taking the position with the highest earning potential, yet always watching for an even better opportunity. On and on it goes, each major life decision being made on the basis of the bottom line. In time our typical American learns to

equate his self-worth with his net worth; he judges others by the same standard. He eventually reaches old age, totally unaware that he's been led through life on a leash.@

God offers us a great alternative to life on the leash. He offers us Himself and a relationship with Him that is the door to a life that is both abundant and eternal.

In Matthew 13 Jesus says that "the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he finds one pearl of great price he sells everything he has that he might have it." Isn't that a neat little parable? It's only one sentence long. But in that one little sentence is incredible truth about what it means to be a part of the family of God.

We are always seeking pearls of one kind or another. We are seeking security or peace or comfort or health or hope or love or pleasure or wealth or fame -- or maybe just a little stability or peace and quiet.

Sometimes we seek in all the wrong places. But we are all seekers. We are all looking for something to meet our needs. And in the midst of the pursuit of the pearls of life, whatever they are for us, Jesus says that we are confronted with one pearl of great price -- the kingdom of God. It is the fulfillment of everything we have been looking for -- eternal life and love, peace and security, harmony for now and forevermore.

Can you imagine the Kingdom of God represented by a pearl of such incredible size and amazing beauty that its price would exceed the value of everything the whole world could provide? Can you imagine the owner of that pearl coming to you and offering it to you? I can imagine that. As a matter of fact, I can imagine it so clearly that I can almost hear it right now. And I can see a seeker walking down the aisle -- just getting ready to be confronted by that pearl of great price.

Dialogue: O: Owner of Pearl M: Merchant

M: Hello

O: Hi.

M: Do you own that pearl?

O: Yes, it's really unique isn't it?

M: It's unbelievable. I've seen pearls in my life but never anything like that.

O: Yes, it's really beautiful, unique in all the world.

M: Ahhh, there could only be one like that. It is bigger than any pearl I thought could ever be.

O: Say, do you know anything about pearls?

M: Well, I'm a merchant. I sell pearls. I collect them. But gosh, The pearls that I have I can hold in my hands. That almost fills the whole room.

O: Yes, it is a very expensive pearl. Very expensive.

M: Oh, it must be priceless.

O: Yes. But would you like to buy it?

M: Buy it? But how could I possibly buy that: there is no way that I could have enough to buy that pearl.

O: Oh yes, you could buy it. Everyone has the price to buy this pearl.

M: Everyone can buy this pearl: how?

O: Well, even though it is very, very expensive, it is still something that you can buy because the price is everything that you have. If you have 20 million dollars and nothing more that is

what it costs; or if you have $20 and that is all that you have, then that is what it costs.

M: Now wait a minute. Let me understand what you are saying. You're saying that I can afford to buy that pearl but all it takes is what I have.

O: Exactly.

M: I can have that pearl.

O: Yes. And it can be all yours. Let me write down what you have to offer.

M: Great. Great.

O: Okay, what have you to offer?

M: Well, let me think. Let me see. In my checking account, let's see, I've just paid the bills so there's not much left - $274.34.

O: Okay, I'll take that.

M: $274.34 for that pearl.

O: And what else do you have?

M: Oh, well let's see. I have a savings account. Let's see here, Okay, $101.43.

O: Okay, I'll take that also. And what else?

M: That's it.

O: Do you have any cash on you?

M: Oh. Okay, yeah. Yeah, I've got a couple of bucks, let me count them. Let me see how much I have.

O: I'll just take your whole wallet. Everything that is in your wallet is mine now.

M: Everything?

O: Yes. Credit cards and all.

M: Oh boy.

O: What else have you?

M: That's it. Gosh, if it weren't for the paycheck I'm going to get next Friday, I wouldn't have any money to live on.

O: Oh, you're going to get a paycheck? Well, I think that your paychecks will become mine too, and also I'll take possession of your job.

M: You're taking my paycheck and my job?

O: Yes.

M: Good grief. How am I going to make my house payment?

O: You have a house?

M: You want my house?

O: Yes, that also becomes par of the price. One house.

M: Gosh, I'll have to live at the cabin at Big Bear.

O: Oh, a cabin. Very good. I'll take that also. What else?

M: What else? There isn't anything else. For crying out loud, I'm going to have to sleep in my car.

O: Ah. You have a car. Just one car?

M: No, two.

O: Okay, two cars. What else?

M: Are you kidding? You've got it. Everything.

O: Do you live alone?

M: No, I live with my.... wife.

O: Your wife also becomes part of the price. And, any children?

M: What?

O: Children?

M: Yes...mmmmmmmmmm

O: I beg your pardon?

M: Yes, I have four children.

O: Okay, four children. And what else?

M: What else? You've got all of my money, all of my possessions, all of my family. There isn't anything else. I'm all alone in the world now.

O: Oh yes, I'll also take you. You become part of the price. You and all that you are become part of the price. You and all that you are.

M: Oh.

O: So you are all mine now? Is that right?

M: Yeah. I think so.

O: But the pearl is yours. You have this pearl that is unique in all the world.

M: Yes, it is beautiful pearl.

O: And you are all mine. Right?

M: Yes.

O: However, since I have everything that belongs to you, or that belonged to you, I can do with it what I want, right?

M: It's yours now.

O: Okay, very good. Well then, I think because I can do with it what I will, that I will let your wife and children go on living with you.

M: Really? You mean that I can have the pearl and have them too?

O: Yes, exactly. As long as you remember who they belong to.

M: Okay, they belong to you. They are not mine.

O: Because I want you treat them with great love and care for all time because they are not yours, you are taking care of them for someone else. They actually belong to me. And, as I look over the list, an empty house isn't going to do much for me either, so I think that I will lend that back to you, and you and your family can live there.

M: You mean that we can even live in our own house?

O: Exactly.

M: Wonderful.

O: But I always want you to remember who it belongs to.

M: Okay, it's your house.

O: Yes. And if it is needed for meetings or to give a room to someone for awhile who is in great need, then it will be available because you will be doing it in my name.

M: Okay.

O: And as I look, I think that I will give you back all the things on this list: your money, your savings, your wallet, your cars, your cabin, everything to use. But, you must remember, I am lending them to you, and they actually belong to me.

M: So I get to use them but they're not mine anymore, they are yours.

O: Yes, because now you have the pearl. I have given you back all of these things to use, but they belong to me. Do you understand?

M: Now, what you are saying is that I can have all of the things that I have always had and the pearl of great price if I just remember that it all belongs to you.

O: That's right. You can use them but on my terms. You, and all you are and all you have belong to me. Do you understand?

M: Yes, I understand. Thank you.

Do you understand? Do you understand that everything that we have is from the Lord -- that it all belongs to Him? In the Kingdom of God He trusts us to be stewards on his behalf.

Do you understand what Jesus is saying to us in this parable? He tells us that when we come and find that pearl of great price -- it's a pearl that we can afford. Everyone of us can afford it, because the price is just all that we have and all that we are. But where did what we have and what we are come from in the first place?

And when we surrender our ambition and our pride and our family and our finances and our future to the Lord, He is not some ogre who takes it and puts it in a vault. He gives back the things we give to Him -- but he tells us that they are to used on His terms.

He lets us have that relationship with our spouse. But he says "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her." And He says "wives, respect your husbands." He lets us stay together as families but He says "children, obey your parents in the Lord, for by doing so you will have a long life and many blessings." He returns all that we are and all that we have to our use. But we remember it is His. If he needs our home, it is His. If he needs our car it's His. If He says to give 10% it's His. If He says to give 50% it's His. It's all His -- isn't it?

The Bible instructs us to tithe so that=s what my family does. That's 10%. In addition to our tithe, we are to bring offerings to the Lord. A tithe is ten percent of our personal income.

I know that there is hardly any area of life more private, more personal than how we use money. I know that there are those who are here who are pained that they can't respond to God's call as they would like to because of the resistance of a spouse. Because I know these things, and because I like to be liked, I am tempted to water down the message. But to avoid talking about it is to be unfaithful to the scriptures. We all need God's instruction at this point.

The Bible instructs us to tithe. And I would challenge you, as God's minister to you, to head in that direction as you consider your pledge between this Sunday and next Sunday. You may not be able to tithe right away. Its difficult to run a spiritual marathon if you've been lying on the spiritual sofa eating spiritual Pringles. But I would urge you to look at your giving and to ratchet it up -- year by year, percentage point by percentage point, until you get where you want to be.

Have you ever met someone who has been in want because of their gift to the church? I don't think that any of us has. But I have met countless people who, as they increase their giving, find that God increases the enrichment of their lives.

Now I hesitate to bring this up because it had been abused by the so-called "name it and claim it@ or Agrab it and blab it@ churches." But it is also a part of the scriptural truth. God says to us in Malachi 3:10: "bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in My house, and thus put Me to the test says the Lord of Hosts; see if I will not open the windows for you and pour down upon you an overflowing blessing.

I realize that when we talk about giving, especially when we are talking about giving around stewardship time, everyone gets a little nervous. Because we have all heard so may of those appeals that try to drive us to give out of guilt or some other misguided motive.

I am not preaching today because there are financial problems in the church. We have a few needs. But we have a lot more opportunities -- both in the operating budget and in the building fund. We talked about these yesterday at our Session retreat in Montecito. There=s some exciting things coming up. I am not preaching today because this is what I am supposed to do once a year. I'm here because I believe God wants me to share about His Word. He wants me to share that in His word there are principles that if we live by them, will permit Him to give the full measure of blessings that He desires to give us.

When we express our gratitude to God in our giving, in our worship, in the attitudes of our hearts, a spiritual communion is struck that blesses us and strengthens our faith.

In 1975 Lisa Green was pulled to safety from flames that were engulfing her Brooklyn home. The three year old spent months in the hospital recovering from burns and injuries. Fourteen years later, at her high school graduation. Lisa determined to do what she had long wanted to do -- to locate the fire fighter who had saved her life and with whom she had felt a special closeness across the years, although they had never seen each other or been together since the night of the fire.

With the help of the New York City Fire Department, Lisa located Lt. Marvin Bunch at his retirement home in Las Vegas. Lisa telephoned him and invited him to her commencement -- telling him that she would not be alive and going through graduation if it were not for him saving her life. Moved by her sincerity and insistence, Lt. Bunch traveled to New York to share Lisa's happy moment and achievement. It was an emotional reunion for both of them, and when Lisa would introduce her special guest to her family, her teachers, her friends and fellow students, she would say, "He is the one who is responsible for my being here. He made it possible for me to graduate, to go to college, and to have a future. I can't thank him enough for what he did. I thank God for him every day."

Giving thanks enhances life. To let the many gifts and blessings of life remind us of God the giver, is to find a voice of praise and gratitude. Giving, quite simply, is gratitude. And when gratitude is our response to life we are truly blessed. As Albert Schweitzer observed, "Gratitude bonds us together and bonds us to God."