Declarations of your heart

from my message on Feb. 10, the last of the Extravagant Generosity series, from John 3:16 and II Cor. 8:1-7,24

We pastors are always trying new ways to get people to give generously.  So this one preacher said to his congregation that whoever gave the most in the offering that morning would get to pick out 3 hymns.  The ushers took the offering.  They brought it to the preacher.  He lifted it up and placed it on the altar table.  As he looked down (and I never do this), he noticed a $1000 bill in the plate.  He was so excited, and he began thanking God.  He said he would like to thank also the giver.  Who gave this extraordinary gift?  The congregation looked around.  A little old lady, a saintly one, shyly raised her hand.  The preacher asked her to come up front.  She slowly made her way there.  "Now you may pick out 3 hymns."  She saw a handsome man in the front pew and others in side sections.  "I pick him and him and him."

That's not quite the way we do stewardship in this congregation!  But I do like the fact that the woman felt invested in her church.  Maybe you do too in this church.  You feel that you have a stake, a say, a voice in what happens here.  The last 3 weeks you have had the opportunity to make your feelings known as you have filled out cards in worship.  The first week you answered the question:  What do you love most about our church?  The second week you addressed:  Who in this church has had the most spiritual impact in your life?  Last week you answered:  What are your hopes and visions for this church?  Today you make declarations of your heart.  I am asking you to fill out that commitment card and bring it here to the altar.

You will be saying thank you to God.  What has God given?  For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever should believe in him should not perish but have eternal life.  We give because we have been given to.  It is called the law of reciprocity. 

I listen to NPR as I drive around town, 90.5 on the FM dial, KUT here in Austin.  I heard a report about the law of reciprocity that I have tried to find in print and could not.  So what I report is from my memory.  The story was about a sociologist who chose some 200 random families in towns around his college city.  He didn't know them at all.  He sent them a Christmas card.  He got back more than 50% Christmas cards from these total strangers.  Here's what is really interesting.  He continued to get cards for years, 15 years and more! 

We give because we have been given to.  Paul employs the law of reciprocity in his letter to the Corinthians.  He cites the example of the Macedonians.  Who do we know from Macedonia?  We have the Petreski family with us this morning.  We have gotten to know each other over these 2 years.  Paul says that the Macedonians have given generously.  They have given voluntarily.  They have given in good times and hard times.  Paul doesn't say to the Corinthians, "Why can't you be like the Macedonians?"  Boys and girls, how does that work when your parents say to you, "Why can't you be like your brother or sister?"  Not too well.  Paul doesn't do that here.  What Paul does is this:  Corinthians, look at the Macedonians and how they have responded to God's grace.  The Macedonians gave themselves first to the Lord.  They participated in the offering for the saints back in Jerusalem.  Now Corinthians, how have you responded to God's grace?  Corinthians, you excel in everything else.  Why not excel in giving? 

It is interesting the way Paul uses the word charis in this section.  It is the word we usually translate as grace, God's love for us.  But 3 other times in these few verses, it is translated as privilege of sharing and genererous undertaking.  Paul doesn't call it giving; he calls it grace.

I ask you:  what has God done for you?  How have you been graced?  We give because we have been given to.  Our hurdle is sometimes we think we have earned all this, and that it hasn't been given to us.  Think about it: even our ability to earn, to be productive is a gift from God.  And what is forgiveness worth?  Where would you buy that?  How about eternal life?  What is a meal brought by a friend while you are sick worth?  What is a listening ear while you are depressed worth?  What is a prayer for you worth? 

How have you been graced?  While you fill out your commitment cards, I will tell you a story of grace this past week.  On Monday afternoon, I got a phone call from a man I will call Sam.  Sam was a member of my former church.  "Do you know why I called?"  "If it is like other times, your marriage is in trouble."  You see Sam had asked me to pray for him because he had an addiction to on-line pornography.  He had lost several jobs over the years.  He had almost lost his marriage.  He had asked me to pray for him, and I have over thess last 6 years.  I have tried to find him help, a pastor, a church, a counselor,  in the far West Texas town where he now lives, a since I can no longer be his pastor.  So he said, "No the marriage is going well.  We are about to celebrate our 18th anniversary.  I am calling to ask about the best places in northern New Mexico to take our kids tubing."  Grace!  He further told me that he had found a way to use his recovery in his addiction to coach other men with similiar problems.  God had provided him with a ministry out of his addiction. Grace!  I was believing that his God and Jesus, Bible and prayer thing might really be real.

How have you been graced?  How will you respond with the declarations of your heart?  I did some more research on the law of reciprocity. In essence, it is saying, "Thank you."  The Japanese word for thank you is literally, "This will not end!"  Our thank you to God's grace goes on and on.  From another culture, we get another perspective.  Uche who recently joined our church from Nigeria said that in his church the offering takes as long as it takes.  (show the video clip)

God has graced our lives.  May our thank you take the rest of our lives.