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Sunday, October 26, 2008
Consecration Sunday
By Rev. Jerry Herships
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:7-8
6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.
Well, well, well… some of you are looking pretty cocky right about now. While I know none of you wish ill on our Senior Pastor, I am equally sure some of you are thinking, “You’ve got to be kidding me. It is stewardship month…and Harvey…can’t…preach!!?!? Cindy and Jerry are switching off and JERRY is preaching consecration Sunday?!?!? Thank you, God! Jerry doesn’t even like to ask for money to buy a coke! Maybe he will just try to be really funny and he won’t make me give ANYTHING! I know some of you are thinking that. And for those of you that are…Josh…roll the tape.
I have preached out of 2 Corinthians before. I focused on the cheerful giver verse. I don’t want to talk about that part again. I want to talk about the first part of that verse. “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion.” Have you made up your mind? Are you in a mind set that says, “You aren’t going to change MY mind. I am not listening to Jerry…” Paul tells us to give as we have made up our mind. For Paul it wasn’t enough for people to give. For Paul it was about their spirit, their attitude. Two weeks ago I talked about all the good things that your money was going towards. That was one reason to give. Last week, Cindy talked about being light for the world and about the cold hard facts that we need to keep the lights ON to be the light. So to recap: Money goes toward others, and money goes toward paying the rent. But in the scripture today, Paul doesn’t talk about any of that. Paul talks briefly about where the money would go, which is Jerusalem, but he seems to focus on the giver rather than the receiver. He goes on in verse 8 to say that, “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”
There is a lot of theology here. First, God is the source. First you have to trust that God is the source and that God will provide you with EVERY blessing in abundance. Do you feel like you have blessings in abundance? Notice Paul didn’t say that God will make you rich. That’s not it at all. But have you been blessed…in abundance? I think most of us would say yes. If that is the case, Paul is telling us there is a second half to this. The second half is that we may share abundantly. The REASON for our blessings is to share. The blessing happens for a reason… and it isn’t a second home, more land, nicer clothes, more expensive trips. The very reason God blesses us is to share abundantly. God gives to us SO that we can give to others. Paul is trying to tell us that God wants us to share out of our overflow.
Now I know a lot of people aren’t feeling the overflow thing. Or at least you are thinking, “There was a lot more overflowing last month!” Again, I will ask that we all remember to put our life in perspective. Most of the world doesn’t have small cap value funds. Roth IRAs are something that I guarantee are not being discussed in the poorest parts of Sub Sahara Africa. Now that isn’t a guilt trip. That just…is. God has given to us SO that we can give to others. According to Paul the very reason to HAVE… is to GIVE. And it isn’t just Corinthians. It is throughout the bible. It is in Isaiah, Numbers, Malachi and Ezekiel. It is in the Psalms and Galatians and Timothy and Acts. And it’s on the lips of Jesus.
Paul also tells us how to act about the giving. Not reluctantly or under compulsion. We say it right here in our sanctuary. “Free us for JOYFUL obedience.” For Paul, a huge piece of this is not just what happens to the receivers. The good we do is great, but it is also what happens to the givers. The act of giving IS the transformative act…not just out in the world…but in here, too.
I was talking to an old friend the other day who has been in ministry for a while. He said to me, “Jerry it doesn’t matter if they listen to you. The truth is they probably won’t.” (I said, “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”) He said, “Those that give will continue to give. Those that don’t want to give probably won’t. But they probably won’t change their mind listening to you. They don’t need to listen to you or Cindy or Harvey. They don’t need to. They need to listen to God.” Giving to “the church” (meaning the United Methodist Church) can get us pretty wound up if we are struggling with the stand the church takes on certain issues. Giving to St. Andrew can vary depending on if you “believe” in the specific projects that we are focusing on. But God doesn’t ask us that. God asks that we do the best we can to be faithful…to not be afraid…and to not give reluctantly or because we feel we have to.
Now I understand the very real reality of the fact that hey, I have a power bill to pay too. I would have us think about that power bill and think about it in a whole different way. Try to think about where we get our power. Where is our source? What is our source of light? I’ve got to tell you, Excel has nothing on the Holy Spirit. The difference is the power bill we get in the mail comes every month. The power bill you get here you don’t have to pay and it only comes once a year. I think this power bill is the best deal out there! Do you believe in the power that pays the power bill?
I am going to quit a minute early and let God finish the sermon. I am going to ask that we let all the noise and the chatter in our head fall away and to take just a minute or so to sit and simply ask God seven words; “What do you want me to do?” and then…listen. And right after you write that number on your pledge card, smile. Because I still believe that God does love a cheerful giver. Amen.
The world is in a bit of a bind right now. I went to Jerry Stead’s leadership workshop the past few weeks and he told us to watch Iceland. I must admit, I am not sure exactly why but Jerre is a smart man and I listen to smart men. So…I am watching Iceland. We are in a financial crisis. And I say…wow! What an opportunity. What a tremendous opportunity to put our money where our mouth is. Do you know when this country was most generous in the last 100 years? During the great depression. We, as a country, have yet to reach that level of giving per capita. We know we are a church that practices extravagant generosity. I also know that there are people in other churches and communities that say, “Well of course they are generous. They will never miss it.” In some cases that might be true. My dad said to me recently, “Jerry, it’s not what you give…it’s what you have left that matters.” I think that the real test of generosity is when we really feel it. And that doesn’t happen at a certain level…that can happen at all levels. That is what is meant by the phrase “not equal giving but equal sacrifice.” It is that giving, that sacrifice that is the transformative act that I think Paul was trying to get at in his letter to Corinth.
Is this stewardship campaign about paying salaries, keeping the lights on and buying paper for the copier, or is it about feeding those less fortunate than we are? The answer is yes. And while this is important, it is NOT what I am called to do by God. Now it IS what I am called to do by my job title. It is what I am called to do by my denomination. It is what I am called to do by my Bishop. But God calls me to not point out where the money is GOING. I believe God wants me to focus on where it is COMING FROM. As a spiritual practice, it is the act of saying, “This is my money and I am going to give it to someone else who needs it more. Not because they have guilted me into it. Not because they have begged for it. Not even because I believe in the cause I am giving to. It’s because it is one of the things…not the only thing…but one of the things God wants me to do.” It is sacrifice. It is sacred. It is special. It is a way to practice putting my trust in God.