It is so easy to forget that all life is a gift, like the man of whom it was said: He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple!
II
Two: We, therefore, are stewards, not owners, of what we have. We are stewards of God’s world. The Greek word is oikonomos, "home economists" economists, of God’s oikoumene, household of a world.
We’ve all been given a garden, "to dress and keep it," the garden of self and of that portion of the world given to us in trust. We can’t control the weather, the economy, or the winds of war. We’re called simply to do the best we know with what we’ve been given and leave the results to God.
III
Three. "The tithe is the Lord’s." Ten per cent is the biblical standard of what we give back to God and God’s purpose. It is a principle, not a legalism. I want no lambs at the time of the offering, or collard greens placed in the offering plates. In regard to the Torah Jesus often relaxed the legalism while deepening the demand. Tithe means giving sacrificially of yourself and what you have to God and for others.
What I ask you to consider today is to begin the adventure of generosity by: 1) quantifying what you give to the church as a percentage, so you have a reliable measure; and 2) starting to increase your giving one per cent a year toward a tithe.
IV
Four: The biblical pattern of giving is first fruits on the first day of the week. First Corinthians 16:2 says: "Upon the first day of the week let everyone lay up by him as God has prospered him." The first day means Sunday, as an act of worship. Giving is first an act of devotion to God; it is also a witness of your faith which encourages others.
A man in my previous church told me about the day in church when his young son saw him pass the offering plate by, once again without putting anything in. The man was one of the most faithful givers to the church but always mailed his check in. His son asked that day, "Dad, don’t you ever give anything to the church?"
Give as an act of worship. If you cannot give your pledge weekly, I remind you that every week our loose change offering goes to our ministry with the poor of our city. Every week everyone, young and old, can put something in the plate. The time of offering is more than liturgical symbol; it is a tangible self-giving.
And first fruits. We give what we give to God as the first check we write, off the top of our income, not as leftovers, from what we have left.
I once saw a cookbook with the title, Magic with Leftovers. I think that’s what we should call the church budget: Magic with leftovers. The church and the kingdom of God deserve first fruits, not leftovers. First fruits on the first day of the week.
V
Five: The New Testament church was built on 100 per cent of the members giving. They could not all give the same, but all gave:
In our early days, Myers Park emphasized and accomplished the goal: 100 per cent of its members pledging and giving. Let us recapture that spirit.
If you study the charts we’ve prepared in our mailings and in today’s order of worship, it is obvious how far we need to go to reach that ideal, and to be more serious about the tithe as a standard of giving.
We’ve had $50,000 in challenge gifts given to encourage two kinds of changes in giving patterns.
The first $25,000 will match the first $50,000 given by first-time pledgers. Think of it. If one hundred people pledge $500 for the first time, that would raise $50,000 plus the $25,000 challenge. That is $9.80 a week, or one movie ticket and a Coke, or three café lattes.
Another $25,000 will match the first $50,000 in increased pledges from last year’s pledgers. We are most aware that economic conditions will not let some of you increase your pledge. We do not want to heap more burden on you this day. A level pledge may be an act of faith for you. Any pledge. But many of you are blessed even in this economy to be able to increase your pledge. You can help those in our church who would love to give more but cannot.
VI
Six. The more you have the harder it is to give. I don’t know why this is, but statistics in charitable giving prove it is true. Jesus pointed to the same fact when he said:
The disciples got the point: Then it is impossible! And Jesus said, Yes, but what’s impossible with us is possible with God. That is, if you get your wallets wet.
VII
Seven. Make an investment in the things that matter, the things of God. Diversify your investments. Give some to what God is up to in this world -- where thieves can’t steal it, moths can’t eat it, and the Market can’t give it and take it, give it and take it, give it and take it and give it again.
The way Jesus put it was:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven . . . . Where your
treasure is, there is your heart.
Eight: God loves hilarious givers.
In II Corinthians Paul says:
Each one must do as they have determined in their minds, not reluctantly or under
compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
The Greek word for cheerful is hilaron, from which we get the word hilarious. God loves hilarious givers, those who give as lovers give to the one they love, not trying to see how little they can give, but how much.
IX
Nine. Giving is a gift of the Spirit, not a work of the flesh. These are Pauline terms. In all Paul’s lists of charismata, gifts of the Spirit, he includes the gift of giving, the grace of generosity. He said to the Corinthians: You’ve been given so many spiritual gifts. You are so good at so much. How about excelling at this gift too?
It is not a "work of the flesh." That is, it is not done to try to get God’s approval or others’ approval. It is not done in some way to bolster the self. It is a gift, a grace. Grace begets gratitude, which begets generosity.
X
Ten: Giving comes as part of your dedication to God. As Evelyn Underhill, British mystic, writes: Worship is summed up in sacrifice. The climax of worship is the offering and the doxology where we offer ourselves and our gifts to God.
It is this way we follow Jesus who emptied himself for others. As Paul wrote, perhaps quoting an early Christian hymn:
The implication is clear. Jesus has begun a contagion of generosity. Now we carry it on, giving of ourselves for others’ sake, who themselves will give. For two-thousand years it has been happening.
The Apostle Paul sought to encourage the grace of generosity at Corinth by pointing to the churches of Macedonia. They are much poorer than you, he said, but look how they have given! This is how they did it, he wrote: "First they gave themselves to the Lord."
"First they gave themselves to the Lord." Have we, have you, done that yet, taken that step? An important tradition of this church has been Dedication Sunday, where we take a few moments in worship for personal dedication. In a few minutes we will offer a time of prayer when you may come to the front and kneel, or stay in your seats if you are more comfortable, and offer yourself to God, and offer this church to God in prayer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I tell the story Fred Craddock tells about his own father. Craddock is one of America’s great preachers. He grew up in unlikely circumstances in Oklahoma. His father would never go to church. When preachers would come by to talk, he’d give them the standard line: "I know what you fellows down there at the church want. You want another name on the rolls, another pledge for the budget. Right? Isn’t that the business you’re in?"
Now the rest of the story. Something changed along the way. Dramatically so. The last time Fred saw his father alive was in a veterans’ hospital. He weighed seventy-four pounds. The breathing tube down his throat made it impossible for him to talk. Flowers and potted plants were all over the room. Even the table you swing across the bed to hold your food had flowers. Little cards were sprinkled throughout the flowers and stuck on the bulletin board. Every one of them was from the church: Men’s Bible Class, Women’s Fellowship, Children’s Division, Youth Group. Every church organization imaginable had sent flowers with notes assuring him of their love and prayers. Craddock’s father saw Fred looking at all the cards and remembered all those things he used to say about the church.
Unable to talk, his father picked up a pencil and wrote on the side of a Kleenex box this line from Hamlet:
Fred read the line and looked into his father’s eyes, asking him what story he wanted told. His father took back the box and wrote out this confession:
There is a risk in stewardship sermons. As someone has said, the billfold is the most sensitive part of the human body. But if we go out and touch people’s lives with God’s Spirit we could fill this room up with people who need to be offered another chance to believe, to come to church and come to Christ, and who would write as Fred Craddock’s father did on that Kleenex box: "I was wrong, I was wrong," their rooms filled with flowers, their lives filled with love from their church.
