Sermon for Sunday, May 16, 2004  

GENEROSITY AND UNSELFISHNESS
Second in a series on Building Your Life On a Solid Foundation

By

Rev. Dr. Harvey C. Martz

Scripture: Luke 12:13-21

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." ¹⁴ But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" ¹⁵ And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." ¹⁶ Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷ And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' ¹⁸ Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' ²⁰ But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' ²¹ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

How many of you know who Pat Tillman is?

Pat Tillman played safety for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals from 1998 to 2002. He almost didn't make it into the NFL because, at 5'11" and 200 pounds, he was considered too small. He was a seventh round draft pick; number 226 out of 241 players picked that year. He had a very good college football career at Arizona State and was also an outstanding student, graduating with a 3.8 average and a marketing and business major. He was admired and looked up to the campus and one observer called him a deep and clear thinker who didn't worship material things.

He knew he would have to prove himself as an NFL player and he did that. In the year 2000 he established a team record of 224 tackles in a single season. In 2001 he turned down a five year, $9 million contract with the St. Louis Rams out of loyalty to the underachieving Cardinals.

But after September 11, 2001, his direction in life changed because his life had been based on the solid foundations we are focusing on in this sermon series. He believed that we are not put on earth just to grab and grub for ourselves but that there are some higher loyalties beyond our own comfort and security.

So, in 2002 he enlisted in the US Army as a ranger. He enlisted here in Denver in the hopes that he could do so quietly without attracting much media attention because he did not want to draw attention to himself - that was his philosophy of life - it's not all about me, he believed. There is a higher loyalty than just a loyalty to oneself. He left his last offer from the Cardinals of a $3.6 million contract to serve in the military at $18,000 a year.

At Fort Benning, Georgia he spent the second half of 2002 being trained as an army Ranger, an elite school where only one third of those who start the training actually graduate. After he graduated, he was sent to Iraq sometime last year where he served bravely and honorably. Then last month, Tillman was sent to Iraq where in late April, he was on patrol with some Afghan militia and Pat Tillman was killed in an ambush. He was 27 years old.

Senator John McCain was one of those who spoke at Tillman's funeral three weeks ago. He praised his courage and his lack of self-centeredness and his loyalty to values and ideals larger than just himself.

We need desperately to hear about Pat Tillman this morning after a horrendous week of seeing American soldiers abusing and mistreating prisoners. We need to hear about honorable actions over dishonorable ones that have given our enemies material to use in recruiting future terrorists.

And we need to hear about Pat Tillman for other reasons. He is a shining example of a life built on foundations that are solid and eternal - loyalty to God, to country, to responsibility and even sacrifice when that is necessary for the common good. Unlike many others, including it seems, some of the soldiers already facing court martial because of alleged abuse of prisoners, he did have a moral compass, a solid ethical foundation that was given to him by his family and spiritual sources.

And Pat Tillman is a dramatic counter weight to the man in the story Jesus tells us today, about a man who was also very successful but who chose to use his success only for himself. The story we heard, sometimes titled the wealthy fool, appears only in Luke's gospel and is told by Jesus in response to a question about dividing up an inheritance. Jesus tells it to show the folly of building life on what we possess and what we can accumulate if we also forget that God has given our talents and abilities to us and that God expects us to use them for more than just ourselves.

The man in the story has had a very successful year and he congratulates himself and feels smug and makes plans to use his money only for himself. He alone is the focus of his life. He is self indulgent and self absorbed. The more he has, the more self centered he becomes. His notion of his calling is just the opposite of the calling that Pat Tillman felt.

And in the end, he dies and Jesus says this is how it is with those who are wealthy in things but are not wealthy in what is most important to God.

There are more people in the world like this man than who are like Pat Tillman; more people who believe the world should revolve around them than those who believe that God has put us here to make a difference for others.

There are more people who believe that they are entitled to all they have and more than who live out of gratitude for each day of life and who do not want to be seen as self centered and self absorbed.

Tim Russert, the host of NBC news Meet the Press tells in his new book about the lessons he learned from his father. His father is a World War II vet and his father gave Tim some of the solid foundation principles for living fully and faithfully as a Christian. He taught Tim Russert to avoid the sin of arrogance and entitlement and smugness that we see in this story, to live with humility and grace.

And this story is just one example of the many stories and teachings from Jesus about the dangers of self-centeredness and arrogance, and of God's expectation that we are blessed to be a blessing to others and that we cannot be attached to our stuff and our wealth and still be faithful to God.  Jesus says that - we cannot worship money and God. We can see our money and our wealth as a tool to do good, but if we become too attached to it, we are lost.

And as Jesus saw it, the more we have, the more attached we are likely to become and the more stingy and self-absorbed we are likely to be. This still bears out today. There is research telling us that the larger the net worth of individuals, the less charitable giving they tend to do. One of our financial planners at St. Andrew told me that recently - that she sees people with fewer assets who are likely to be much more generous than those with the most assets, and that she feels called to do some consciousness raising with people who are selfish and to ask them about what organizations they are passionate about and could use their money to help - perhaps even to offer a life or death boost to.

It is so easy to be seduced by our affluence, so subtle. That is why Jesus urges the spiritual discipline of tithing, giving back to God ten per cent of our possessions and to see that as a basic spiritual practice just like the practice of prayer and Bible study. Judy and I have been doing that for 33 years and we have found it to be an important part of our spiritual life. Many more conservative churches see the tithe as a starting point and they don't make it a choice for new members but a requirement and then ask people to grow beyond that baseline.

I mentioned at the funeral last Sunday for retired Methodist Minister Jim Barnes that Jim and Mary began tithing when they were first married and he was the pastor of some rural churches in Georgia and making just $200 a month. They continued that practice as they moved forward in ministry and during the time Jim was senior minister at Trinity Church in downtown Denver they were at that time giving almost twenty per cent of their income to help do God's work. They were setting the example of being God-Centered instead of living the style of life that believes "It's all about me."

Mary said that early on in their ministry, when they were serving a little church in Georgia and were making $200 a month, she happened to comment about that to a church member who was much more affluent. The other woman told her, "Well, with as little as you make, it is easy for you to tithe. If you made as much as we do, it would be much harder for you to tithe." In other words, we make too much money to tithe!! Can you figure that out?? I think it goes back to whether you think the world should revolve around you and your stuff or whether you think God has put you here to make a difference and that there is a higher loyalty than just your comfort and security. And that's what the story of Pat Tillman is about, and that is what the opposite story that Jesus tells of the smug and arrogant fool is about.

Jesus says there is a great danger in living only for yourself and your own pleasure. Jesus says that when we put God at the center of our life - not ourselves - and build our lives on the foundation of generosity and unselfishness, that we will be able to find life at its best.

Jesus says that you are not the center of the universe, that God is, and that we are put here for a while to make a difference, and that we are blessed with abilities and talents and intelligence so we can use them for more than just ourselves.

That's the solid rock that we can build our lives on.

Will you repeat some of those foundation beliefs after me?

I HAVE BEEN BLESSED BY GOD WITH TALENTS AND GIFTS AND INTELLECT.

GOD CALLS ME TO USE THOSE FOR OTHERS AS WELL AS FOR MYSELF AND MY FAMILY.

I HAVE BEEN BLESSED NOT SO I CAN BE SMUG AND SELF ABSORBED. I HAVE BEEN BLESSED SO I CAN BE A BLESSING.

GOD HAS PUT ME HERE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND NOT JUST TO MAKE A LIVING.

PEOPLE ALL WRAPPED UP IN THEMSELVES MAKE VERY SMALL PACKAGES.

IT'S NOT ABOUT ME. IT'S ABOUT WHAT I CAN DO WITH THE BLESSINGS GOD HAS ENTRUSTED TO ME FOR A WHILE.

AMEN.

  Sermon Library