abundance: pennies in the fountain

from my sermon on 1/29/12 from II Cor. 9:6-15

God loves a cheerful giver. My prayer is this: God send me a church full of cheerful givers. This is the 4th wk of a 6 week series on the Treasures of the Transformed Life. We are going over the vows we United Methodists make: prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Today it is on gifts, being generous, tossing pennies in the fountain to do Christ's work upon this earth. I hope you laugh a lot. I hope you are cheerful.

Do you know the Greek word for cheerful here? I know that you love it when I become Mr. Language Person, and that it has been several weeks since I have inflicted language on you, so here goes. The Greek word for cheerful is hilaros. Do you get it...we get our English word hilarious straight from the Greek. Our children's ministry director is named, Hilary. She is literally cheerful. This is only the first of 3 Greek words you are going to get today. Isn't this fun?

I have a hilarious story about giving for you that comes from former speaker of the house Tip O'neill. Henry Ford was visiting a Catholic hospital in Ireland. Three priests cornered him and invited him to support the work of healing. Henry Ford said that he would give 2,000 pounds (this was a number of years ago when that was a lot of money). The next day the newspaper came out with a headline that read, Henry Ford pledges to give 20,000 pounds to local hospital. Henry went to the priests and said, "there's been a mistake. I was going to give 2,000 pounds." "We're sorry," said the priests, "we will print a retraction, saying you are now only going to give 2,000." (pause for gasps) "No, no, no, I'll give 20,000, but on one condition, and that is you put an inscription above one of the doors to the hospital." Tip O'Neill says that above one of the doors is the following: I was a stranger, and you took me in. (laughter)

You may have felt this way about the church and giving....mislead, used, manipulated. So let me be clear, upfront, honest with you: in 2 weeks on Feb. 12, we will have a commitment Sunday, at which time you get to make a pledge to continue Christ's work through this congregation. If you can't be there then, we will have a second chance on Feb. 19. (laughter)

Paul says that God loves a cheerful giver. We don't give reluctantly or under compulsion. The motivation for our giving is the important thing. It is a heart matter.

You may find it hilarious that we are talking about giving at the first of the year. For the past 3 years, we have been trying something different in this church to teach about stewardship.
Instead of making it about giving money.....we are trying to make a spiritual exercise
instead of making it about only giving....we are trying to make it about prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness
instead of making it about the budget....we are trying to make it about a relationship with Christ
instead of making it about what the church needs....we are trying to make it about our need to give
instead of making it a "have-to"....we are trying to make it about a "get-to"
instead of making it about law....we are trying to make it about love
It's funny how things change when you change the motivation. Paul says that each of you much decide in your own mind what you are going to give.

Paul is in his first stewardship campaign. Read all of the 8th & 9th chapters here to get the full impact. Paul is inviting Gentile Christians in Corinth to support Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. If you are getting this, he is saying that the offering is for others.

Four plus years ago, I challenged this church to become a 50/50 church, that is, we would spend 50% on ministries here and 50% on ministries outside of us. It has never been adopted as official policy. No vote has ever been taken. But it has become part of the vocabulary of this church. At meetings from time to time someone will ask, How does this fit in with 50/50. Before I came, we had a missions committee, but no missions budget. It has grown tremendously. Our service committee which does local missions has doubled and tripled its budget items. I am so proud of you for the ways you have embraced giving for others. Even when we bought Bldg M some 3 years ago, 50/50 came into play. We have rented space to 2 non-profits there at less than 1/2 of the going rental rate. One of those is Mobile Loaves & Fishes which feed the homeless who live on the streets. Hear an email from Bruk who had successful knee surgery last week. "Working for ML &F is perfect for me because I strongly feel that I need to give something back. Being homeless myself fof a period of time, I ate from the food trucks as matter of necessity, and it was there that I got the only dignity I knew at the time. I want to freely give the gifts of food, clothing, shelter, and most importantly the promotion of dignity to our brothers and sisters in need. I feel that the most effective, efficient way to do this is by bringing my gifts to the table as a staff member at ML & F." We are a part of that ministry in our giving.

All of this generosity, sharing of abundance is in the language of Paul, the rendering of our service. Now comes the 2nd Greek word. I know you have been waiting for it. The word service is the Greek word liturgy. It is what we do in worship, the work of the people, honoring God, praising God. Our motivation for giving does not come simply from doing good; it comes from connecting with God. We find our motivation by praying, reading the Bible, singing, hearing good news in worship.

What's that worth to you? I hope you find this a bit funny. How much is your baptism worth? $100, $1000, maybe $100,000? Can we buy baptism? Can we buy our identity in Christ? How about prayer? What's that worth, to be able to talk with God, anytime, anywhere, about anything? How about Christian friends, what's that worth? When you go to the hospital and there's someone to visit you, pray with you, encourage you? Or when you have a birthday or an anniversary, someone with which to celebrate? How about the ability to earn money, did you manufacture that or is it a God-given gift?

How about doing good in the world, being a part of God's eternal purposes? I have a hilarious story to tell you. Thursday evening, Cathy and I are debriefing the day, walking in the park behind our house. It is beautiful winter's day, bright sunshine, pleasant temperature. I asked Cathy about her day. She said, "I had this one girl in my English class that was going, 'ewww'. We were doing an exercise on what our names meant or where they came from, and this girl kept going, 'ewww." I went over to her and said, 'what's the matter.' 'I don't like my name,'she said, 'it means ewww.' Cathy looked over her shoulder at the computer screen. The girl's name is Rachel. The website said her name means 'ewe.' Your name means 'ewe,' a female sheep." Isn't this the holy work we have been given, to help people find that their real name doesn't mean 'ewww", but that they are a sheep in the fold of God their shepherd.

What is salvation worth? You know you can't buy your way into heaven. But how much is forgiveness of sins, or having peace in your heart, or being able to sleep at night, or having the assurance of faith that you can live abundant life starting right now?

We now come to the 3rd Greek term. I will keep you in suspense no longer. Paul says to sow bountifully so that you may reap bountifully. It can be translated as to sow for a blessing so you may reap for a blessing. The Greek word is literally eulogy. It means good word. It is what is hopefully said at your funeral, a good word. It is funny how we try to hang onto money and possessions, and we wont be able to take any of it with us. What do we take? All the love you've shown, all the generosity you've shown, all that you have given away cheerfully. This life of giving is practice for eternity. May you hear God say a good word about you.

The good news I have to share is that God loves cheerful givers.