The Final Sermon in a series on the Vows of UMC
and the First in a series on Stewardship.
Today, we conclude the series on our vows of membership in the United Methodist Church, that is to support the Church with our Prayers, Presence, Gifts, Service, and Witness. In this series we have seen that these vows go beyond what it means to be Methodist. We find that these 5 statements are in fact statements of what it means to be Christian. They are rules by which we shape our life and align ourselves with Christ.
In this we have looked at how our Prayers aren't something that we start and stop, but they are a part of who we are. Our prayers are our connection to the source of our very power in God.
We have looked at how our Presence is more than just showing up on Sunday morning when it is convenient. Rather it is a part of living our lives in such a way that we are present with God and bring the very presence of God, Jesus in the flesh, into the lives of those around us.
We have looked at how our Witness is not just something that Paid-Professionals do, it is what we all do because we understand what God has done for us and we want to offer the abundant life offered in Christ to all who will receive it.
Last week we looked at Service and how we are to serve God in all aspects of our life and through all of us serving God, great things are accomplished. Our service isn't about us as individuals, it is what the people of God do collectively, thus doing more good. As an example we saw how the “Souper Bowl of Caring” started out as a few students taking a prayer seriously but now have raised some $80,000,000 since 1990, all of which has gone to local charities. That is the result of people saying yes to “justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.”
Now, today we come to the conclusion of this series and the start of the next. Today we talk about the 5th element of the vow of support. The vow to support the church with our Gifts. And yes, that is money. Let us read together a familiar scripture about giving, one that is read and rehashed over and over again as church after church enters building campaigns and capital campaigns, and anything for which they need to raise money. I hope that today we will see this passage, and another New Testament passage in a new light when we are done.
With it being Boy Scout Sunday and having our Webelos and Tiger Cub Scouts present, I find it fitting that we start today's sermon with a story of a young boy. So...
Once upon a time, in a land far far away... isn't that the way a story always to begin?
So, once their was this young boy, maybe 10 years old, let's call him Juan. One night Juan asked his mother for permission to take a long hike the next day through the countryside by the lake near their home. While Juan's mother was concerned about him being out on his own for the day, she trusted him and knew many of the people in the community, people that would be able to keep an eye on him as he traveled through the day. He got up the next morning and packed a lunch. It could have been any type of a lunch. Maybe it was a Lunchable. Maybe it was a tube of chicken and rice like what a child in Asia may carry. Maybe it was tortillas and tamales wrapped in foil like we would find in South Texas or Mexico. Maybe it is a pupusa revuelta like we would find in El Salvador. Maybe it's Kibbie wrapped in Grape Leaves like we would find in Syria and parts of the Meditaranian. Maybe it was fish and bread wrapped in reeds like we would find in the Middle East. Maybe it's just a PB&J.
Whatever it was, he packed just enough for himself and maybe a friend if he ran across someone, and he set out on his adventure for the day. Little did he know that his adventure would cost him his lunch.
As Juan wandered by the sea he began to hear a crowd. It wasn't an angry crowd – like what we have been hearing and seeing from the reports in Egypt. It wasn't even a jubilant crowd like we heard about Friday when the Egyptian President resigned. No, it was a crowd of thousands but it moved quietly, as though they were all following someone, trying to hear what was said.
People were whispering through the crowd, relating what those in the back had missed.
The crowd continued to follow a dozen or so who were at the front of these thousands of people until they were on a verdent green slope overlooking the sea.
Juan followed this crowd up onto the hillside and as he looked out from the top of the hill he was astonished at the beauty of what lay before him. Thousands of people, a literal sea of people with colors and textures sitting on this hillside as though the entire mass of them would ripple into the turquoise blue sea below them in the distance.
Juan couldn't hear what was being said so he began to make his way through this assembly of humanity, this sea of people from all places. As he approached the front he could hear what was happening, there was one at the front teaching. Once he could understand what was being said he found a patch of grass and sat to hear what could be so important that thousands of people would gather like this.
Juan had almost forgotten his lunch when he began to hear the grumblings of hungry stomachs around him. Others thought of it too because he overheard some of the men at the front discussing how they were to feed all these people. Hearing that, Juan decided he could share his food, maybe get a couple of bites of bread and give the rest away. The teacher looked at Juan and smiled as the helper, we'll call him a Andrew, took the little lunch packet to the teacher, maybe we could call him Jesus. Jesus took the fish and the loaves, the meager lunch of a young boy - all he had to offer, and with a prayer began to pass the offering of the boy out to the multitudes. Yet, the end of the time of sharing and eating, the Disciples gathered more scraps of food than the boy had even started with, 12 times as much as the boy had offered. Somehow, Jesus had taken what the boy offered and blessed it in such a way that all were filled and there was an abundance left over.
Now, you may ask what this story has to do with money. You may ask, “what does this story have to do with the Malachi passage on tithes and the storehouses? Well, I say they have everything to do with one another. You see, Jesus has all that the boy has to offer. He took the gift of the boy that others may eat and be filled with an abundance left. What is the tithe for in Malachi? That the storehouses may be filled and that there may be an abundance to care for the needs of the priests who worshiped God, lead others in the worship of God, and cared for the widows and orphans. When this was done there was blessing. Malachi states this by saying that God will “open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” We find the same promises in Proverbs 22:9 - “Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.” or 28:27, “Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing...”
So, What am I saying by juxtaposing the story of the boy offering his one basket of food and Jesus feeding the 5000 with the tithe passage from Malachi?
First, I am not saying that if you place 10% of your income in the offering plate each week you will get 12 times that amount back in financial blessing. Your tithe is not some financial investment scheme that you can compare to a Bernie Madoff scam. You do not give a tithe or an offering (which are different) because of what you are to get out of it. You do not feed the poor expecting them to give you something in return. No, you give out of generosity for what has already been done.
So, if I'm not trying to sell you on a spiritual monetary investment scheme what am I saying? That you, that we, will not be blessed unless we are obedient. Our blessing may or may not come financially, but when our gift is given with a generous heart, as was the gift of the boy in John's retelling of the feeding of the 5000, then God's blessings can flow.
We are to give to God what is God's, not just because we are told to. We are to give to God what is God's, not because we expect a blessing in return. We are to give to God what is God's because of our gratitude for what God has already done for us.
Gratitude that we are a forgiven people – though what we have done before God is unforgivable.
Gratitude that we are an accepted people – though we are unacceptable before a holy God.
Gratitude that we are a loved people – though we have failed to love as we were taught.
We give because of what Jesus has done for us on the Cross.
We give because we recognize that all we have and all we are is because of Jesus.
We give because we know that all we have and all we are belongs to God already.
That is why we as United Methodist specifically and we as Christians in general vow to support the Church – that is the Body of Christ – with our Prayers, Presence, Gifts, Service, and Witness. That is who we are in response to what Christ has already done for us.
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