The writer of Psalm 24 sings out: "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it."

Would you say that with me? "THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S AND ALL THAT IS IN IT..." (repeat) "THE WORLD AND THOSE WHO LIVE IN IT." (repeat)

Very good! Now, remember that. We'll come back to it later.

The Gospel writer Matthew tells us that Jesus is confronted one day by some of his Jewish detractors. They ask him whether it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not. Jesus recognizes immediately that this is a trick question, designed to entrap him. If he says, "No, it is not lawful," the Romans will consider him a political agitator and have him arrested. If he says, "Yes, it is lawful," he will quickly lose credibility with the Jewish religious right who despise paying taxes to a Gentile oppressor, particularly one who claims to be a god.

As he had with other trick questions, Jesus cleverly avoids the snare. He asks them for a coin. When they produce it, he asks them whose image is on it. And when they answer, "the emperor's," he says, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."

Now, forgetting for a moment that these detractors were out to trick Jesus, you've got to give them credit. They ask a very important question. For though the immediate issue was a head tax, what they really want is for Jesus to decide between competing claims. They want to know what to do with the competing claims of their earthly ruler, Caesar, and their heavenly ruler, God. In other words, they want Jesus to tell them how to handle the many, many demands on their allegiance.

My hunch is we'd like the same ... because one of the most difficult things about being a Christian in this day and age is the challenge of managing so many competing claims. We live in tension over how much time and energy to give to our work and how much to give to our families; over how much to devote to our friends and how much to commit to volunteer, civic and church work; over how much to do for others and how much to do just for us; and of course, this time of year, over how much money to give away and how much to keep for ourselves.

Trouble is Jesus doesn't resolve it. The Pharisees and Herodians want him to draw clear boundaries — the part belonging to the emperor and the part belonging to God. It sure would make it easier on us if he would just tell us what belongs to our family and what belongs to our boss and what belongs to our community and what part we can just keep for ourselves. But he didn't do that then. He can't do that now. Why? Because it all belongs to God.

Remember our memory verse? "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it; the world and those who live in it." It's all God's ... and what Jesus is trying to say is that every decision, every priority, every competing claim must be looked at in this context. In other words, what he's saying is that when you make decisions about how to use your time, remember who created you and gives you time. When you set priorities for how to use your talents, remember where they came from. And when you allocate your financial resources and spend your money, remember who it ultimately belongs to.

Well, it's in this context that I want to talk with you this morning about money, and particularly about the money you give to this church. This is not a comfortable subject for many of us. I realize that. But I also realize that if we are to follow Jesus here, we must know it's important. The only other subject Jesus talked more about in the gospels than money is the kingdom of God. He talks about money five times as often as he does about prayer. It's important.

I'm going to talk about myself some this morning ... I hope that doesn't offend any of you. I could talk about other folks ... tell you some of the stories of good and generous stewards that I've collected over the years. But this morning I've decided to share some things about me and my relationship to money ... about my particular stewardship journey...about how much Kris and I give to this church ... and finally, about why we give to this church. I don't do this so you'll feel sorry for me...or envy me...or look up to me as some kind of example. I simply share some of my story in hopes that you'll hear some gospel in it.

The first thing I need to say is that I probably like money as much as the next person. I like the security I feel when I have enough money. I don't like the insecurity I feel when I don't. Though I have always tried to live a relatively simple lifestyle, I like the freedom money gives me to buy the things I want to buy and do the things I want to do ... even if I choose not to buy and do them.

I remember precisely when, in my career, I went from living paycheck to paycheck to having a little to spare each month. I remember precisely when I no longer had to ask the Financial Secretary of the church to slip me my check early so I could cover the checks I'd written. I remember precisely when I was able not only to pay the bills, but start a 403-b account. And I remember, most of all, how good it felt.

Bottom line? A feeling of great security and freedom came my way that year ... something money obviously provided for me ... and I liked it. Though I'm not particularly proud of it, and often feel guilty about it, the truth is I like money as much as the next person. But ... being a person of faith, I also have a need to feel good about what I do with my money, and particularly about what I give away. My love of money and the security and freedom it brings me is always competing inside me with my desire to do the right thing when it comes being generous with what I've been given.

So it was during that same year I really began to think more seriously about my financial responsibility to the church. Prior to that, there just didn't seem to be enough money to give. Working three jobs; as a pastor, chaplain, and handyman; my family was still going into debt. I rationalized my minimal giving to the church by telling myself I was working very hard for a church that was paying me very little money. But once I got to the place where there seemed to be enough, I started to pledge.

At first, my pledge was small ... very small. I don't remember exactly but it was probably somewhere around two percent of my income. And because at the time I didn't trust myself to set the money aside, I asked the Financial Secretary to take it out of my check so I'd never see it. And that helped ... it helped to get me started. And from there my goal has been simply to increase the percentage of my income given to the church each year.

By the way, this is how Kris and I figure our pledge. We add what I make in salary and housing allowance to what she makes in her part-time job, and then we apply whatever percentage we've decided on. Starting about a dozen years ago at two percent, right now we give eight percent of our before-tax income to this church. We probably give another one percent away to other recipients. Though we're giving more than we ever have, we're still not where we want to be. Our minimum goal is the Biblical tithe, or a minimum of 10 percent.

I've heard discussion over the years about whether you should use a before-tax or after-tax figure when computing one's pledge. We use before tax income ... but others calculate after-taxes. Some also ask about including the value of fringe benefits as income. When figuring our pledge we do not count our medical and pension benefits, but I know others who do.

What I want you to remember is that, other than the Biblical tithe and the figure of 10 percent, which according to the scriptures truly is meant to be a minimum (what is expected), there is no formula. In today's story, Jesus didn't give the Pharisees and Herodians any set formula to resolve their competing claims ... and neither does he give us one. The point is to start somewhere. Sit down and honestly figure out what percentage of your money you are devoting to God and the church. And then, simply commit to increasing it ... little by little if you're like me and that's the only way you can do it. Commit to making financial stewardship a priority in your life.

Now, having said that, I want now to take a couple of minutes to have a little "family chat" ... to talk with you about "us" and the way "we" give in this congregation. You've heard me often describe this congregation as one which likes to be together, which cares for each other in times of crisis, one which makes reaching out in mission a priority. But you've never heard me talk about the way we give our money. I want to do that today.

First, it may surprise you to know that we do not receive any extraordinarily large pledges in this church; and by that I mean pledges of over $10,000 a year. Compared to some other churches I've been in who may have a handful of very wealthy "go-to" persons, Springdale does not have folks who have stepped forward with extraordinarily large pledges.

But, we are like other churches in that a small part of the congregation gives a large part of our budget ... a minority funds the majority of our ministry. In analyzing the latest numbers for 1999, our Gold Committee found that one-third of our members give two-thirds of our budget ... which, of course, means that two-thirds of us are making up only one-third of the budget.

Finally, the average pledge to this congregation is about $1,500 a year. Though there's no way to know, because only you know what your income is, I'm guessing that an average pledge of $1,500 a year is about par for the Presbyterian course ... which means it's in the two to three percent range.

But probably more enlightening than that is the fact that the median pledge in this church is right at $1,000. The statisticians among us know that means that half of our 175 pledging units give $1,000 or less a year. Half of our pledges are $1,000 a year or less.

Here's the thing. In looking at these figures your Stewardship Committee realized something amazing: that if the two-thirds of us who right now are supporting one-third of our budget would find a way to increase their pledge just $5 or $10 a week — between $260 and $520 a year — we could accomplish what we have set before us in the year 2000. That's where the talk about the value of fast-food meals, video rentals and newsstand magazines comes from. Because your Stewardship Committee realized that for an amount of money that many of us take for granted in any given week, for that amount of money ($5 to $10), this church could accomplish its goals for the next year. It comes down to prioritizing the many competing claims on our lives and our finances.

Finally this. Speaking of competing claims, I'd like to share with you why Kris and I give to this church rather than to Metro United Way or the WHAS Crusade for Children or Doctors Without Borders. Well, it's certainly not because these are not worthy charities ... they clearly are. But we give the lion's share of what we give away to the church for three reasons.

First, we realize that we would not be the man and woman we are today had it not been for the church ... and for faithful, generous Christians giving of their money so that there might be a church in which we were brought up...a pastor to preach...a Sunday school to learn in ... a choir to sing in ... a youth program to take us on mission trips. We know that we have been given a great gift being raised in the Christian community, and my hope is this is true for you as well.

Second, we give to the church because for us, the church represents the beliefs and values that we hold to and want our children to grow up knowing. Despite all its warts ... despite all its problems ... the church is the only place in this world where Kris, Maggie, Emma and I can be where we think God wants us to be.

Third, and you already know the final reason we give "relatively generously" to the church: because we love money. We give not because we love money less ... we give because we love it so much. And it's because God knows we love money so much, that God commands us to give away a goodly portion of what we've been blessed with. We give, in part, out of obedience ... as a discipline ... because it helps us keep straight, among all the competing claims in our lives, just who we are and whose we are.

Earlier I shared with you that having enough money gives me a feeling of security and freedom. I'm sure you all know what I mean. What you might not know ... and what I'm still in the process of learning ... is that giving money away also brings me a feeling of security and freedom. There's a kind of security in knowing that who I am and what I'm about is more lasting than money. There's a kind of freedom in knowing there are some very important things in this life that money simply can't buy. My hope and my goal is that as I grow in faith, I'll grow to depend more and more on this second kind of security ... that I'll grow to enjoy more and more this second kind of freedom. May it be so for you as well. Amen.