Rich Enough to be Generous

A sermon preached by Dr Harold Henderson at First United Methodist Church
Gainesville, Florida, on Sunday, October 17, 2010, as part of the Church’s Annual
Stewardship Program

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The task assigned to me this morning is to provide the biblical basis for Stewardship, and I want to begin at an unlikely place - the Gospel lection for today, Pentecost XXI, the Parable of the Unjust Judge and the Persistent Widow in Luke 18:1-8.

The traditional interpretation of this parable, suggested even by Luke’s introduction, is that the judge is God and we are the widow. The message is that we need to be persistent in our praying if we expect any adequate response. I have to confess that I have never felt entirely comfortable with this interpretation because of what it seems to say about God.

A God who is ultimately responsive to our needs only or even mainly to stop us from being a nuisance doesn’t sound like the God whom Isaiah has saying: “before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (65:24). A judge who acts capriciously in response to our cries of need does not sound like the God revealed in Jesus who is said to be “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

There is another way to think about the Parable, an example of which is the following by Father Thomas Keating, a much-published Catholic scholar:

“The parables are mirrors in which we are invited to look at ourselves. We are the unjust judge. The widow represents the kingdom of God – grace that is constantly banging on our door, morning, noon and night, pleading, “do me justice.” Or more specifically… “Be compassionate as your heavenly Father is compassionate.”

“The divine widow keeps pounding on the door of our hearts, day after day as, like the unjust judge, we try to put her off…

“We accept the kingdom finally, not because we are just or deserve it, but because at some point, we cannot withstand the importunities of grace anymore and are forced to give in, saying, “Okay, Lord, take my life. I am in your hands.”

This interpretation of the parable sets the stage for us to think about Stewardship – as a response to the persistent overtures of God’s grace.

Another similar way of setting the stage is in terms of Psalm 24:1: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it; the world and those who live in it” (NRSV). The Old Testament one-tenth tithe, required of God’s ancient people, was given as a grateful symbolic acknowledgement of the accepted reality that everything belongs to God.

It is interesting, and surprising to some, that the Old Testament tithe is nowhere taught in the New Testament. It is mentioned but usually in terms critical of the attitudes of the giver.

Some people are relieved that the giving of a tenth is not demanded by New Testament teaching, assuming that this allows something less, but the emphasis in the New Testament might better be understood as suggesting that the law’s requirement is a starting point for people who are “not under the law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
 
Then what does the New Testament teach?
 
As you might expect, the New Testament has a lot to say that is relevant to giving, to stewardship. Perhaps the most focused treatment of the subject is in Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians. The context is an appeal he is making for his Gentile churches to contribute generously to help meet the needs of the (Jewish) Mother Church in Jerusalem, where hard economic times and discrimination against Christians were combining to create real hardship.
 
Paul’s teaching can be summarized as follows:

+ Give regularly (1 Cor. 16:1). If you read through the chapter division (which didn’t exist in the original) between chapters 15 and 16, you get this interesting flow of ideas: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?…thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Now concerning the collection…”

For, Paul, stewardship was right up there with the confident celebration of the joy and hope of the resurrection! Gifts were to be set aside on the first day of the week, the Christians’ day of worship, and were to be commensurate with income.

+ Give intentionally (11 Cor. 9:7a). “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind…” Digging in your pocket or purse for whatever loose change you happen to have because the usher passes the offering plate along doesn’t measure up to Paul’s understanding of stewardship. Our stewardship program with its pledge card provides both encouragement and opportunity to be intentional about what we will give, as we think and pray about it.

+ Give cheerfully (11 Cor. 9:7b). We must decide what we will give “not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.” Doesn’t God love everyone? Yes, but it is especially pleasing to him when we give cheerfully because it suggests that we are embracing the truth that “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

To miss the joy of giving cheerfully is to miss the essence of true stewardship.
I am reminded of a wonderful saying attributed, I think, to Hudson Taylor, an early
missionary to China. “Give until it hurts, and then go on giving until it doesn’t hurt.”

+ Give generously (11 Cor. 9:6). “…the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” and “you will be enriched in every way by your great generosity”(9:11). Generous giving is not a way to try to attract God’s generosity. It works the other way. Our generosity is an enriching experience precisely because it is in response to God’s greater and prior generosity to us.

The proper question to ask about our stewardship pledge is not whether it is the correct proportion of our income, or whether it is before or after tax. It is whether what we pledge is generous, and the measure might well be in terms of what we retain and what we do with it.

+ Give thankfully (11 Cor. 9:11,12). “…your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us…not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.” The beneficiaries of our giving, through the ministry of the church, are thankful, often say so and, in turn, make us thankful for the privilege of giving and partnering with God in the work of his kingdom.

One modern version of the New Testament beautifully paraphrases 11 Corinthians 9:8 as “you will always be rich enough to be generous.” Let’s be thankful for the privilege and the opportunity to give.

+ Give yourself (11 Cor. 8:5). “…they gave themselves first to the Lord.” The hauntingly familiar words of Frances Ridley Havergal’s Consecration Hymn (UMH # 399) capture this over-arching concept of commitment:


Take my life ,and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee…
Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine…
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for thee.

The idea of giving our gifts without the giving of ourselves represents a dangerous disconnect that threatens to rob our gifts of their true value and our stewardship of its richest meaning.

Stewardship is not primarily a matter of mathematical calculations. It is not primarily a matter of balancing the church budget. It is not primarily a matter of being rich or poor or squeezed somewhere in between. It is not primarily a matter of bank balances, or stock portfolios, or real estate holdings. It’s an attitude – an attitude of gratitude – a generous response to the extravagant generosity of God.
 
Benediction: Go forth into the world to love and serve the Lord. Live generously and give generously. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
 

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