Extravagent Generosity

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 9/25/16

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Note: As I often do, my audio sermon deviates from the printed sermon in several areas. I recommend that you listen to the sermon as well as read, but either way, hear what God has to offer us when we become fruitful people. Also note the great visuals. 

^NRS Luke 10:30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" ³⁷ He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

We have to come to the end of a journey on Discipleship this morning. We began that journey with a focus on what it means to be United Methodist then strolled through Doing all the Good you can, not harming anyone and being in a deep relationship with God to being part of the Body, becoming more like Jesus and Joining Jesus where Jesus is already working. We have reflected on being intentional about our faith development, about being passionate about worship both in our own preparation and our churches praise and worship service. We have discussed risk taking mission about getting out of our comfort zones and putting our hands and feet in action. And we talked about being radically hospitable in our treatment of people every day. This morning we are going to look at the concept of generosity. What does it mean to be generous, in particular, being generous to God? I remember the story of Cain and Abel and God favored Abel’s offering over Cain’s. But that is not the whole story and we often get our understanding messed up when we fail to get the whole story. Truth is we never see in the story that God favored Abel more than Cain. It simply says that Cain brought an offering to the Lord, but Abel brought the best of what he had as an offering to the Lord and the Lord had regard for Abel’s offering but not Cain’s. We glean from this that when we bring the best we have to offer to God that God acknowledges that offering. And God shows favor to those who offer God the best of what they have. What does it mean to offer the best? That is the subject of this sermon today.  

I heard a story of a church that one Sunday asked the congregation if there was anyone who wanted to witness to their faith and the blessing that God provided. An old man, the wealthiest man in town, got up from his pew and slowly made his way down to the front. He said that when he was young, he had accumulated some wealth but one day had a health issue. So he asked God to help him out with a health issue he had. He said he told God that he would give God everything he had if God would resolve his issue. Well God did and he did and he wanted to tell the congregation that life has been good and God had blessed him greatly in his life. Slowly he made his way back down the aisle to his pew. When he had sat down a little lady sitting behind him leaned in and whispered, "Well I double dog dare you to do it again."

This morning we are going to explore what does generosity really mean when it comes to the life of a Christian and the life of a vibrant fruitful church? A young struggling actor had an appointment for an opportunity. He was down to his last dollar. He prayed to God, “God if you give me this job, I will give you this dollar and then 10% of everything I make. I just need this job.” Well he got the job and he gave God the dollar. And then the rest of his life his gave his 10%. In fact, because of his efforts we now have St. Jude’s hospital. And the young man was none other than Danny Thomas.

Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables of Jesus deal with money. One out of ten verses in the New Testament deals with that subject. Scripture offers about five hundred verses on prayer, fewer than five hundred on faith, and over two thousand on money. So obviously God thinks that we think about money a lot. When we come to this type of sermon, most pastors would rather walk on hot coals with bare feet. I wonder if we looked at scripture, what we would see. Why did God favor Abel rather than Cain? Was it because God liked Abel better than Cain? No, the scripture tells us it was because Abel gave the best of his crop while Cain gave a portion. What that tells us is that God doesn’t want a percentage of your income; he wants the best you can give. Just like Danny Thomas, God wants us to give the best of what we have in order to get more of what we need. In fact, if we give God all that we can, God will give us all that we need.

Extravagant Generosity describes practices of sharing and giving that exceed all expectations and extend to unexpected measures. It describes lavish sharing, sacrifice, and giving in service to God and neighbor. Every scriptural example of giving is extravagant, and churches that practice Extravagant Generosity teach, preach, and practice personal tithe. The focus is on the Christian's need to give because of the giving nature of God whom we worship. Scripture continues to tell us that we shall give as we are able, according to the blessing of God. God asked Abraham to go and Abraham went and God blessed Abraham beyond his deepest understanding. God asked David to face Goliath and he did and God blessed David beyond his deepest understanding. The New Testament reminds us in Corinthians that we will be enriched in every way for our generosity. Jesus told the story of the widow who had nothing but two coins to her name and she gave them to the Lord, giving all she had. Jesus reminds us that we can not serve two masters and yet most of us try to serve two, worrying more about what we will get coming in than we do about giving back to God. Paul in Timothy reminds us that we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it, but if we have food and clothing we need to be content with these. So if we listen to God through the scriptures, the answer to the age old question is clear. Give all that you can and God will bless you in ways beyond your deepest understanding. In fact, if we give God all that we can, God will give us all that we need.

I heard a story once of a priest and his parishioners. A priest once asked one of his parishioners to serve as financial chairman of his parish. The man, manager of a grain elevator, agreed on two conditions: No report would be due for a year, and no one would ask any questions during the year. At the end of the year he made his report. He had paid off the church debt of $200,000. He had redecorated the church. He had sent $1,000 to missions. He had $5,000 in the bank. "How did you do all this?" asked the priest and the shocked congregation. Quietly he answered, "You people bring your grain to my elevator. As you did business with me, I simply withheld 10 percent and gave it to the church. You never missed it." Dr. Blomberg writes, “If every American Christian simply tithed, the additional amount of money that would be raised above and beyond current giving levels would be enough to eradicate world poverty in our lifetime.” Think about that a minute. If every American who calls themselves a Christian increased their giving to the tithe of 10%, world poverty could be eradicated. Do you realize how significant that is? Imagine for a moment that every person gave as much as they could so that the church could offer the best ministry to the community that was available. The elderly would have health care, the young food and those who have lost their jobs the opportunity to gain the skills to secure new ones. The church could again become the center of the community and the community would prosper beyond its understanding. How do I know? Because in every case that we see in the Old and New Testament of those who God called, God blessed those who answered that call. It’s not about how much you give; it is about being willing to give and then giving of your money and your time as much as you can. In fact, if we give God all that we can, God will give us all that we need.

God even goes so far as to challenge us to test God concerning this important matter. God wants us to test his ability to provide all of our needs and many of our desires. How do I know? Because in the third chapter of Malachi God asks the faithful people why are they robbing God. And they ask why God would say such a thing. And God replies that they are robbing him in their tithes and offerings. And then God challenges us to bring the full tithe into the storehouse so that there will be food for the hungry, clothing for the cold and medicine for the sick. And God says that he will open up the windows of heaven and pour down an offering that will overflow anything we can ever imagine. Can you imagine what that would look like? Maybe we here at Sydenstricker we can never eradicate world poverty, but think what we can do about the poverty in our area. In fact, if we give God all that we can, God will give us all that we need.

John Wesley in his sermon on giving said that we should make all that we can, save all that we can and give all that we can. I know of a church that down on its financial ability to pay, decided to show a willingness to do God’s bidding and now is secure for a while in its financial coffers. At that moment they had $ 1.42 in their checking account and they paid their bills by the treasurer’s monthly donation that she thought no one knew about. That church had not paid its conference obligations ever in the history of the church. So they began to fund raise to try and achieve their goal of paying their obligations. At the end of that first year, attendance had near doubled and they ended the year having paid all of their obligations with $ 9,000 in the bank to start the New Year. So what does all this mean for you and me? What God is asking us to do over and over again is to be willing to answer God’s call on us individually and as a church. If there are people hungry in our community, are we willing to reach out and feed them even when we cannot see a way to do so? If there are people cold and in need of medical supplies, do we find a way to take care of them? The scripture today is of the Good Samaritan. Not only did he take care of the immediate needs of the man who had been beaten and left for dead, but he offered to come back and pay whatever the costs were after the fact. Though he did not know the man, he was willing to go the extra mile in his generosity to assure that the man was restored to health and given a renewal on life. That is the one of the best examples of extravagant generosity that the bible offers to us. Generosity means nothing if we are giving something that means nothing to us. In fact, if we give God all that we can, God will give us all that we need. What will you give to God? 

Random thoughts

This week I have been working on projects to create and maintain the infrastructure of the church administration. It is difficult work at times because it changes things and people for the most part struggle with change. But as I reflect I realize that we are in constant change in the world. How can we not be - the physical world around us is in constant flux, weather changing, people moving from place to place, etc. So it creates a bit of choas if you allow it. The one beauty of working for the church and being in the service of Christ is that the message of Christ does not change. It may feel different if you are sitting in a children's moment and hear some of those old old stories in a different way. Or you may hear a different perspective on one of the Biblical parables or Old Testament stories. But the underlying truth that God is love and we are made to love one another never changes. When we act in that love we can bring great change and transformation to the people around us. Just a random thought.

Radical Hospitality

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 9/11/16

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^NRS  Hebrews 9:9 This is a symbol of the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, ¹⁰ but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things right. ¹¹ But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), ¹² he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God! ¹⁵ For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.

Some years back my Dad was visiting churches in an effort to find a new church. One Sunday he attended a church in the Richmond area, came in, no-one talked to him or my step-mom as they made their way down the aisle and they sat down in an open pew. A short time later a woman came and stood by the pew without saying a word. Dad said hello to her at which point she said to him, “You are sitting in my seat.” He stood up expecting her to move past him to open places in the pew. However, she remained standing there and again said to him, “You are sitting in my seat.” Needless to say, Dad and Marie, my step-mom, never returned to that church again even though Dad said he enjoyed the message that morning. I know of another story where a young couple came to the church one morning for the very first time. People were friendly enough and welcomed them to the church. However there were no signs to tell them that a nursery existed and no-one said to them there is a nursery if they wanted to use it. They never came back. Some statistics have shown that within the first 5 minutes of a person arriving at your church for the first time, they have already decided whether or not they are coming back.  

The word radical means “drastically different from ordinary practice, outside the normal.” Churches that practice radical hospitality are not just friendly and courteous, passively receiving visitors warmly. Instead, they exhibit restlessness because they realize that so many people do not have a relationship with Jesus! Do we have a spirit of restlessness? Let’s face it! We live in an un-hospitable world. People do not simply go out of their way for one another. There has to be a place where people are made to feel welcome, loved, respected, wanted and needed. What if that place were here? What if the youth of our town had a place where they could come in, relax, enjoy a place where they could talk with one another and enjoy a place of peace? Would they come? They have told me that they would.

I often share that the church should strive to be like that popular TV show from the last decade called, "Cheers", sometimes you want to go...where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came...that is radical...NORM! It describes a genuine love for others who are not yet a part of the faith community; an outward focus, a reaching out to those not yet known, a love that motivates church members to openness and adaptability, willingness to change behaviors in order to accommodate the needs and receive the talents of newcomers. Beyond intention, hospitality practices the gracious love of Christ, respects the dignity of others, and expresses God's invitation to others, not our own. Many years ago I had a boss who was less than friendly in his every day approach to people. In fact, he was downright mean. When he held a meeting, he would always close and lock the door. That way, if you were late, not only did you have to open the door, but you had to knock on it so that everyone knew that you were late. I had someone tell me one time that when they enter into a new church they always feel uncomfortable, especially if no-one else is around. Which door do I go in? Where is the sanctuary? Where are the rest-rooms? The doors are closed to the sanctuary; does that mean no one is supposed to come in? These are the questions our visitors will ask.

So what does a radical hospitable church look like and act like? They go beyond the norm in everything that they do. They have made a conscious decision that life for them is sharing love with everyone they encounter no matter where you came from, what your current life is and how you made it to their door. By the way, the door for radically hospitable churches is the world around them as you often find them outside the doors as much as you find them inside the doors. Radical hospitality means that where most people would give you a map and signs when you enter the church for the first time, radical hospitable churches greet you with a handshake or a hug, tell you how fortunate we are to have you with us this morning (note the language there) and to share with you that we will assist you however we can this morning. I am grateful that we are doing a great job at this every Sunday morning. But it extends even further than that. As we welcome folks to service we invite them to our hospitality center, we invite them to lunch following the service and we give them something to take home with them to remember us by. Radical hospitable churches pay attention to details. Like the toilet paper. We’re two ply or maybe even three ply people. Ever gone in one of those restrooms and used the single ply stuff and you think, they’re cheap and don’t really care about me. But when you enter a clean warm and friendly bathroom with two ply toilet paper and nice decorations and so on, you think to yourself, these people really care about each other and me. They have gone the extra mile. People have told me that there is something going on here that is new. That’s a statement that I love to hear, that we are brand new.

Radically hospitable churches care about their communities so much that they find ways to reach out and to be the center. I often hear that we Methodists are tooting our own horns again and doing all kinds of stuff at the church. Hooray and Praise God! They noticed. But rather than gloat about what we are doing, we need to invite them in. Invite them to be a part, to be a partner, to be a member of our family. Radical hospitality churches spend time in the community asking the important questions like, what can we do to assist you, what can we provide to make your life better, and how can we change the world around us to be a better place. For those of us that grew up in the 60’s it sounds vaguely familiar and yet it is something that resonates across generations. If you want the church to grow, become church. What that means is that instead of worrying about financial deficits and declining membership, we focus on giving youth a place to congregate, adults a place to socialize and a community the activities it needs. Maybe we need an “I’m Divorced but I still matter don’t I” class or a class on how to get out of debt or how can I get a job. Radical hospitable churches focus not on what makes them stronger but what makes the community better. Interestingly enough, what makes the community better also makes the church stronger. There is something about the love of God acted out in life that makes the message of God so much sweeter.

Radical hospitality means that as a church we need to open our doors to all of God’s creation, regardless of background, regardless of culture, regardless of race and regardless of our own past. It means being radical about reaching out to others in ways that show love and compassion for every living human being. Anything less is a profanity to God because we are supposed to be the image of God to the world. If you shun a fellow human being by not putting up signs to find ways to your doors, by not welcoming strangers when they come and by not creating an environment that is hospitable to all, then you have cursed God! What it means to be hospitable is to reach out to the world like Jesus did. Jesus turned no-one away, not a single one. Galatians tells us that the whole law is summed up in a single commandment; you shall love your neighbor as yourself. If however you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another and subjected to the fires of damnation forever and ever. Those are Paul’s words to the church. What we have to decide is who we want people to believe we are. It starts with one hello, one shake of the hands, one smile and one thank you for coming, please come again.

We are continuing on a long journey. A journey that ends, or should I say begins, when we are in the presence of Jesus face to face. I believe that the question he is going to ask us in that moment is what did we do to further the Kingdom of God? In other words, how did we share the love of God with the world around us? Sharing the love of God is the one thing that radically hospitable churches do well. Are you with me?  

Risk Taking Mission

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 9/4/16

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^NRS Matthew 25: 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' ⁴¹ Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Have you ever met God? Maybe it was while you were at the grocery store? Maybe you were at the park? Maybe you are sitting here this morning telling me that you have never met God, what a silly thing to say. People don’t meet God face to face. This morning we are going to talk about meeting God face to face by placing our lives in the path of God. Have you ever watched the face of someone when they received a gift from someone? Remember the joy and in some cases, shock as they realized that someone cared enough to give them something? It is possible that you have been the one who put money in the collection plate that we used to pay an electric bill or water bill. All of these are opportunities to meet God. How can I say that? The scripture this morning tells me that. When we gave clothing to the naked, gave food to the hungry or provided comfort to the anxious, that person may well have been the personification of God in the world. When we love one another as the Bible tells us to, we share in an experience that brings joy to others and joy to us as well. I have never (and never is a big word) met anyone who has not shared with me that they felt blessed to be the blessing to someone else. Jesus is reminding us through this passage that we encounter Jesus in endless possibilities of people along the way. And we never know whether we have just met Jesus in the face of the homeless person or the poor person looking for food or clothing or the stranger in the business suit who said good morning. What we do know is that we have an obligation to encounter these people as if we were face to face with Jesus. What would you say or do if you found yourself face to face with Jesus? How would you react? Would you feed him or offer him a coat if it were cold outside? Would you visit him at his home if you knew that it was Jesus you were visiting? Well the good Christians among you today would certainly say, absolutely. But would you? Have you visited the homebound in the last six months? Have you reached out to the poor in our community since Christmas? Have you offered food to a homeless person that you encountered in our surrounding area? If the answer is no to any of these, then we have not reached out to the least of these among the community we call home. Jesus loved the least lovable and the most vulnerable and he offered the same grace to the greatest sinner that he does to the saint. What that means for you or me is that we have no choice but to extend the invitation to join us at the table to the person in our community who we would prefer stay as far from us as possible. What can we gather of the Good Samaritan story except that we are to extend ourselves beyond our comfort zones. That is what risk taking mission and service are. If we don’t have to think about the gift, the work or doing something for the person we encounter then we are probably not involved in risk taking mission and service. Risk taking means stretching beyond our comfort zone and reach out to those who you are not into relationship with and probably would never be. Jesus said that to love those who love you is no credit to you, since all sinners do that. Rather we are to love our enemies, the poor, the untouchables, the downtrodden, the alcoholics, the homeless and those who are not like us and not likely to ever be like us.

What is interesting about this concept is what it does to the churches that do take risks. When churches turn outward they come alive with a sense of purpose and transform the lives of their members and the communities they serve. Churches that practice risk taking mission and service value engagement and long term relationships. They measure the impact of their work in lives changed rather than in money spent or buildings constructed. God places congregations in a world troubled by many challenges. Yes, we are placed right here for this moment and time not because of chance, but rather God is giving us the opportunity to step up and be a part of God’s plan in our world.

Churches that practice risk taking mission and service hear in the human need of their neighbors the distinct call of God. Against all odds, they figure out a response and offer themselves faithfully, even at some cost to themselves. God uses them to transform the world. So what have we done lately? Well some would say we have done alright. We have given to the needs of our community at Christmas. And I would suggest that not once in all of that did we reach a level of uncomfortably in what we did. We tossed a few bucks in the offering plate and felt good about that. But did we reach out to the homebound and visit them during Christmas? Did we take them, physically mind you, a little sampling of our love here so that their lives might be a little more cheerful? Did we create a food bank or clothing pantry and feed the hungry as we clothed the poor? Some did, many did not. What Bishop Schnase is saying to us is that risk taking mission involves stepping out beyond our boundaries, placing ourselves in uncomfortable situations in order to show others the love of Christ. Now mind you, he is not suggesting and neither am I that we should ever place ourselves in harm’s way in order to help those less fortunate. But what we can say is that we need to stretch ourselves beyond where we are. Hands on mission changes the lives of volunteers! It involves sending work teams to other places, soup kitchens in our own church staffed by members from all the church, after school programs, food banks, visiting and/ or volunteering at senior adult retirement homes, working with the incarcerated and standing for justice. We have a lot wrong with our country today including healthcare issues, and social injustice at all levels of culture and race. Risk-Taking Mission and Service includes the projects, the efforts, and the work people do to make a positive difference in the lives of others for the purposes of Christ, whether or not they will ever be part of the community of faith. Risk-Taking refers to the service we offer that stretches us out of our comfort zone and has us engaging people and offering ourselves to ministries that we would never have done if not for our desire to follow Christ.  Risk-taking steps into great uncertainty, a higher possibility of discomfort, resistance, or sacrifice. It pushes us beyond the circle of relationships that routinely define our church commitments. It changes the lives of the people who are served as well as the lives of those who serve.

Bishop Schnase tells us that there is uncertainty in what we do when we reach out to others. He says, “I can’t tell you how many times we go to great lengths…  to provide scholarships for people who then drop out. Or we build a home after a flood, just to see the home wiped away the next year by the next flood. Or we put ourselves on the line to work with somebody who’s on parole… to try to give this person some network of support and a better chance, and it goes well — until they walk off with the computer. Or we work with somebody who’s dealing with alcohol and drugs… and they’re making it… and then we get that call in the middle of the night that [tells us] we’ve got to start all over again. That’s part of the risk of risk-taking mission and service. And that is as biblical as you can get. It’s like the sower sowing seeds. There’s rocky ground, there [are] the birds that come and eat is all, there’s the hard soil — there’s all of that. But the promise of that parable is that, by the grace of God, a harvest comes forth a hundredfold…. Part of the “risk” is that this doesn’t work a lot of times, or that the difference [we make] is something that we don’t see. We don’t know. We can’t see the results sometimes. But… out of obedience to Christ, we’ve got to try. And we’ve just got to keep doing it. Risk taking mission and service is one of the fundamental activities of church life that is so critical that failure to practice it is some form results in a deterioration of the church’s vitality and ability to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We are admonished to be doers of the word and not merely hearers. We are commanded to love one another. Have you loved today?