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Sermon - November19th, 2006
Things That Matter
Rev. Gwen Drake
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:1-13 & Mark 12:41-44
There’s an old story about an Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scottsman. They were in a restaurant together and they each ordered soup. The Englishman found a fly in his soup. So he took his soup spon and discreetly lifted the fly out of the soup and put it on the saucer. The Irishman also found a fly in his soup. He lifted the soup bowl up to his mouth, and blew the fly out--along with a subtantial amount of his soup which was now dripping down the opposite wall. The Scottsman found a fly in his soup. He reached into the soup bowl with two fingers, picked the fly up, held it at about an inch over the soup, and said, “Now, spit it out, all of it!”
This is the Sunday you have been asked to bring your Financial Commitment card to worship, and place them in the offering plate all filled out, unless you are a visitor, of course. Now, maybe some of you are actually hoping or fearing that I may stand up here and try to squeeze as much money out of you as I can.
I happen to believe John Buchanan who is the editor/publisher of Christian Century. He wrote recently, “It is conventional wisdom that ministers hate stewardship season and dislike talking about money.” According to a September issue of Time magazine, there is a stunning ommission of sermons about money in American religion while the Bible mentions money several thousand times.
But when I channel-surf the few channels I get on my television, the televangelists are talking about money all the time. The health and wealth gospel, or name-it-and-claim-it theology, or the prosperity gospel that suggests God who loves you does not want you to be broke.
John Buchanan’s favorite stewardship chairperson was a very successful business and fund-raiser and was NOT without a sense of humor asked John once, “Couldn’t you just imply that they’re going to hell if they don’t raise their pledge?”
Someone shared with me that the brochure that we sent out suggested that our youth were going to go to hell if we didn’t raise our pledging enough to hire a youth pastor. Remember that rather devilish looking photo of the youth?
At my very first appointment, Myrtle Point United Methodist Church, the congregation watched me very closely with suspicion. I had come from Berkeley, California, after all. We owned a volkswagon bus. I had a one year old and a husband who had decided to go from being a engineer of a huge firm in Walnut Creek to a stay-at-home Dad. I was very suspect and they let me know right away that they didn’t want me talking about money from the pulpit. Whew!!! I was relieved! They were sure that they had lost members the last time someone had talked about money from the pulpit--some 30 years ago. And there wasn’t a class in seminary on “How to talk about money from the pulpit.”
Then there was this other man I had heard about in another church who came to raise money for a big project. It was remembered that he had his arm in a cast. He ended up offending some of the long-time members so they referred to him as Captain Hook.
We can get offended very easily when it comes to money. So, lots of money is spent to do it right. Many organizations have great causes, thank you gifts, heart-wrenching stories, beautiful brochures. They know exactly how to touch our hearts and souls and pocket books.
The church is different, very different. Here are some characteristics that make us different from a charitable organization. A charitable organization asks for support FROM the community; the church is here to TRANSFORM the community. A charitable organization talks about how much IT needs; a church talks about how much THE WORLD needs. A charitable organization asks for your money; the church asks for your life. A charitable organization talks about its budget; the church talks about stewardship.
In the Second Letter to the Corinthians, Paul was working on an important project. It occupied much of his time and attention during this mission. The project was a financial drive for the purpose of helping the poor in Jerusalem. Paul appealed to the Corinthian church to participate in what he called “the collection.”
First, he talk to them about the Macedonian churches. They had given generously even though they were in no position to do so financially. They had given beyond their capacity, much to Paul’s surprise. Why did they give so generously? They gave because of their commitment to Christ. Paul wrote, “First, they gave themselves to the Lord.” They pledged themselves to God’s Kingdom. Then, they gave generously to the poor. It goes hand in glove, according to Paul. We give ouselves tot he Lord, we try to live a Christian life, and the next thing we know, we are going to start giving something back as well as taking.
Christians are called to be good stewards of all we have. When we join the church we affirm that Christ is the Lord of our life and we pledge our allegiance the Christ’s Kingdom. And that allegiance makes a different in the way we live every aspect of our lives. It makes a difference in how we evaluate the things that really matter in our lives. It makes a difference in what we do with our money and how we use our resources.
First Peter says, “They are surprised that you do not now join them in the same wild profligacy....” Profligacy is “wasteful living.” They are surprised that you don’t do that anymore. Christians don’t. Christians don’t live wasteful lives. They don’t just consume things. Christians are not “born to shop.” Dare I say, Christians are NOT capitalists. They have a higher purpose in this life. They are part of someting that is bigger than themselves--something called the Kingdom of God. They are members of a body that is trying to transform the whole world-- nothing less than that. And, they give themselves to that purpose, that high purpose of making this world a better place to live, of working for the common good.
So what is this Kingdom of God thing? What does it look like, how do we build it, who has the plans. We have to go back to the gospels to find out. And in the gospels we find that the most common image that Jesus used in describing the kingdom of God is “steward.” Look at the parables. Here’s a common theme: the owner goes away, the owner leaves the property in the care of a steward, the owner returns to find out what good the steward did with what he or she was given. That’s the guideline for Christian stewardship. We are suppose to do good with what has been given us.
Sound easy? Well, it is not. There was a man in a church in San Diego who tithed. He was audited by the IRS. They called him in, and asked, “What’s this?” The man replied. ”It’s a tithe.” ”What’s a tithe?” they asked. They honestly did not know what the word meant. The man explained that a tithe was giving 10% of his income to his church. They didn’t believe him.
Our calling as Christians is not easy. We are a revolutionary movement here to transform the whole world according to a plan. We believe that. And we believe that plan is given to us in the teachings of Jesus. The teachings of Jesus are very challenging. Words like “Those who want to save their life will lose it. And those who lose their life for my sake, and the sake of the gospel, will save it.” Not much prosperity theology there. We are called to use our lives, our resources, our talents, our gifts as a mean of bringing in a restored, renewed, redeemed world. We believe that’s God’s plan. It is a bold claim. It is an outrageous claim, that we actually know what the world should look like. That’s why the world is surprised that we no longer join in wild, wasteful living.
Do we know this? Do we know that we are suppose to be different when we become a Christian? That’s what Peter is saying, and Paul, and Jesus. The Church has always known that, by the way. The Church has spent two thousand years trying to define how we are different. There are many, many opinions about what makes us different. There are many doctrines that define who we are. There are many rules in some churches where the imperative to be different means to say “no” to everything the world says “yes” to. I don’t believe that that is necessary and neither does the United Methodist Church. God created this world and pronounced this creation as good. God created the world to be enjoyed. I believe we are suppose to enjoy the things that really matter.
But let me tell you one Christian characteristic about which there can be no debate. We are called to be good stewards. Peter says the opposite of profligacy is good stewardship. That, Peter says, is what makes us different as Christians. We are to be good stewards of the earth. The earth has been given to us for us to take care of responsibly.
The Scripture read today from Second Corinthians is known as the magna carta of Christian stewardship. Paul says, “Give what you are able to give and God will increase the harvest of your righteousness.” He says, “They who sow sparingly will also reap sparingly, and they who sow bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as they have made up their mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion...You will be enriched in every way for great generosity. Thanks be to God for God’s inexpressible gift!”
A college teacher of a Freshman English class assigned his students at the beginning of the term, an essay, only 500 words, on the question, why did they come to college. He told them to write as honestly as they could, express their real feelings, and to avoid cliches. He’d been teaching long enough to know what to expect and he got it. Most of the students wrote about going to college in order to prepare them to land good-paying jobs when they got out. All except two. There were two who didn’t say the usual.
These two papers were written in stumbling prose and contained more grammatical errors than the other papers, but neither paper spoke of landing a high paying job. Oddly, both of them began by defining wht it meant to be human. Both said something like: Humans are not animals. We don’t just eat and sleep, but we have imagination, and we can dream big dreams.
One of the students then went on to write that he wanted to become a medical doctor. The other a civil engineer. The doctor one wanted to help other people in need. The engineer one ended his essay with this sentence, “May God help me and strengthen me mentally, physically, and spiritually so as to become a fruitful citizen and a help to my country, and to the whole human race.”
The professor was delighted to get two essays out of his class that were about seeing life in terms of stewardship, having responsibility beyond themselves, the responsibility to build a better world. But he was saddened by this: The student who wanted to be a doctor was from Angola and the one who wanted to be an engineer was from Lebanon.
Good stewardship is not a common value in our American society. Wendell Berry concludes in his recent book of essays, The Way of Ignorance, that we “seem to be living now with the single expectation that there should and will always be more of everything, including Œlife expectancy.’ This insatiable desire for more is the result of an overwhelming sense of incompleteness, which is the result of the insatiable desire for more. This is the wheel of death.” But we, as Christian, believe in the wheel of life! Good stewardship is a big part of that wheel and it is absolutely essential to the Christian faith. We live in a wasteful society with an insatiable desire for more. Honestly, the world ought to know that we are Christians by the way we spend our money.
That’s what Peter says in his letter, “The world is surprised that we no longer join it in wild profligacy.”
And Jesus sat opposite of the treasury at the temple, watching what the people put in. There were those who gave a lot from their substance. And then there was the poor widow who gave all that she had. But there was also a group who was not mentioned at all. This group consisted of those who did not give anything at all. Most of them would compare themselves with the rich, and say, “I can’t give that much. These are rough times. I just can’t.” Therefore, they don’t do anything. But Jesus is not holding up the rich man as the example, he’s holding up the poor widow, to say this, the point is not the amount. the thing that really matters is to GIVE. If you follow me, Jesus said, start giving. And then see what God can do about transforming the world. The transformation starts with me and you and the church. The thing that really matters is to give.
Amen.