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Sermon - The Generous Christian - 22nd October 2006
St Aidan's West Epping 8:30am
Readings: Job 38.1-7; Psalm 104:1-10, 26; Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45
I’m going to begin with a confession. Not long after I was invited to preach at this service, I received an email from the Rector. Would preachers on the last two Sundays in October consider speaking about stewardship? The offertory envelopes for the coming year are available, he said, and the subject of giving has not been preached about for quite some time.
Well, I am quite happy to speak on this subject. People seem to easily get the feeling that their Rector is just out for more money from them when he preaches on giving. (He may be – and rightly so!) And clergy can feel a bit vulnerable when they raise the subject. But it is an important subject, and certainly the scriptures have a great deal to say about money and possessions, and what we do with them.
But when I looked at the readings set for today, I felt a bit concerned. For none of them is about stewardship or giving or money.
When I looked more closely, however, I realized that they do indeed have things to say which are very relevant to the subject of stewardship and giving. I want us then to think about the subject of generosity, and why it is important for us to be generous givers. And our readings actually give us three significant reasons to be generous givers.
One reason to be generous is that all things come from God. Our Old Testament readings bring that out. Psalm 104 is a great hymn of praise to our Creator. In fact, if you read through the whole Psalm, you can see that the Psalmist virtually runs through the story of creation from Genesis 1, to acknowledge the wonder of all that God has made. We were made by him. Everything we have ultimately comes from him.
And in our reading from Job, this poor suffering man finally gets the answer to his prayer. He does not understand why he is suffering the way he is. God seems to have abandoned him, and he does not feel this is fair, especially when all his friends are insisting that God is punishing him for some terrible thing he must have done.
But when God reveals himself to Job in this reading, he comes in overwhelming power. He doesn’t give Job any explanation for his suffering. He basically asserts in very strong terms that he is God, and Job is not. He puts Job in his place by reminding him that he isn’t the Creator. Job wasn’t there when creation took place. Job really understands very little about the world and its creatures that God has made. Surprisingly enough, that tough answer will actually meet Job’s deepest needs, for what Job needs more than anything else is to know that God has not abandoned him, that God is on his side, that God is with him and for him, not against him.
And so in this passage we are reminded that we too are creatures made by God, dependent on God for life and for everything. All that we have comes from God, and we can say that what we have is given for a purpose. God’s gifts are truly gifts: we can use them or misuse them or ignore them as we choose. But there is an appropriate way to use God’s gifts: and that is to use them not simply for our own ends, but for his glory, and for the good of others. That is where the terminology of stewardship comes from. In a real way we are responsible to God for how we use all that he has given us. We are stewards of his generous provision. And in response to God’s generosity to us, he wants us to be generous to those who need our generosity. After all, everything we have comes from God.
A second reason to be generous givers is because of what Christ has done for us. The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews focuses our attention on Jesus, our great High Priest. God is God, and we are not. God is righteous and we are not. There is a great barrier, the barrier of sin, between us and God. But Jesus bridges that gap. As our great High Priest, he bridges the gap in himself, because in him God has come in person to share our humanity. But more than that, he has bridged the gap through his death on the cross, expressing God’s righteous judgement on human sin, but then bearing the penalty in himself.
In Jesus God has shown his love and generosity, not only in great acts of creative power, but in sacrificial love beyond our understanding. As John says in his letter, “If God loved us like that, we too should love one another.” If God has been so generous to us, of course we must be generous to those who need our help.
As Jesus said to his disciples, who were going out on mission for him: “Freely you have received. Freely give.” We give in response to God’s love in Christ.
The third reason for us to be generous in our giving is because Jesus calls us to be servants of others. In our Gospel reading from Mark 10, James and John thought that they would find significance in position, prestige and power. It’s a common human idea. Politicians whose priorities are guided by the desire to win the next election, rather than by what is right, what is most beneficial for their people, and for the world. Workers who bully those below them, and bosses who use their employees but fail to reward them properly. Church people who jockey for positions of power in parishes and synods.
But Jesus calls us to find our human significance in serving others, not in power and position. And of course, Jesus, the servant king, sets the pattern. He let go of the glory of God’s kingdom to share our humanity, to serve even the lowest of people, and to go through hell for our salvation. If we are to follow him, it will be not simply as his servants, but as servants of others.
And while there are many ways we can serve - through practical service, and through the giving of our time and effort, our care and attention - we also serve by our giving to the church and its mission, and our giving to assist people in need. And if our giving is to be in the spirit of Jesus, that giving will be generous.
So we have three particular reasons for being generous givers:
1. the fact that all that we have comes from God
2. the generosity of all that Christ has done for us, and
3. the call of Jesus to be servants of others.
Of course, the call to be generous can seem terribly vague. Aren’t there rules and regulations about how much to give, and about which causes to give to? I don’t believe there are such neat and tidy rules. Many Christians, in America in particular, are brought up on the Old Testament principle of tithing. They are expected to give 10% of their income to their church. Only when they get past that do they believe you are really beginning to give.
I don’t think you can find such a rule based on New Testament teaching. But I have to say that American churches are financially vastly better off than Australian or British churches because of that strong teaching. And I also note that America has a strongly established tradition of philanthropy by the wealthy, far more than Australia seems to have.
But how do we define generosity in our own circumstances? That’s up to each of us, our thinking and our praying. For many people, that 10% can be a useful reference point. One thing I have sometimes done is to think about what Sarah and I spend on things like holidays, entertainment, meals out, things we like to have, but certainly don’t need, and so on. How does that spending compare with our giving? It can be a useful reality check!
And what do we give to? Well, the Parish is a good starting point. It’s our particular Christian community, it has substantial financial needs, and we who are members have a particular responsibility to it. And as we think about taking and using a new set of envelopes, it’s a good time to review what we have been giving, and considering whether this is the time to increase our regular giving to the Parish.
Beyond that, we might to choose to support particular ministries and outreaches of the church: it might be Diocesan Appeals, the Christmas Bowl, Anglicare, ABM or CMS, BCA or the Bible Society, the Parish Mission of the Month, and so on. Most of us will have particular ministries that we are especially interested in, means by which we can serve a wider range of people in need, causes to which we can give our support. And then beyond that, there may be a wider range of causes and appeals in which we are interested, as well as emergency appeals. They may or may not be specifically Christian, but they are causes we personally regard as important, and worthy of our support.
So we have good reason to be generous in our giving. We have the challenge to think about what that might mean in our case, remembering that most of us have a good deal more than the bare necessities of life. And we have the opportunity to consider whom we might serve by our generous giving. God loves us to be cheerful givers. As one minister I know used to say: “Don’t give till it hurts: give till it makes you feel good!” Amen.