Creekside Church Sermon of November 23, 2003 "The Giving Life" Matthew 6:19-21	Rev. David Bibbee
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I want to show you a coat I found in the back of my van. It belongs to a guy named Joe. He overlooked it when we unpacked from our October fishing trip. As you can tell, it has seen better days-- it is rather ragged and ripped, the insulation is falling out, the elastic is stretched out, and the coat is worn out. But Joe doesn't mind. With duct tape he'll probably get another three years out of it.

Joe isn't a slave to fad and fashion. He isn't concerned with the width of neckties. He hasn't worn a tie for years. He doesn't care if his pants are plain or pleated. I doubt if he knows what a pleat is. Joe and his wife Kathy live in quaint, old farmhouse with modest appointments-- nothing in it by Ethan Allen or Broyhill. The style of the furnishings isn't French Provincial or Early American. Is there a style called, "Garage Sale Gothic," or "Lived In?" They don't sleep in a bed, but on a thin mattress on the bedroom floor. You won't see an SUV or a sleek import in the driveway. They drive transportation cars.... the pre-pre-owned variety.

Joe and Kathy "could" dress in Armani and Gucci fashions. They "could" live in an over-sized, ostentatious estate. They "could" own a Hummer and a BMW. They have the means since Kathy is an emergency room physician. They "could" surround themselves with the latest and finest, but they choose not to. They are content with what they have, and not concerned with what they don't have. They give away more money than they keep because they know that ultimately, nothing belongs to them. For a time it has been "entrusted" to them by God. Joe and Kathy intentionally decided to live simply because they are disciples of Jesus, and their treasure isn't vested in material things.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving is a time when churches focus upon gratitude. Its appropriate, given all the Christmas decorations heralding the coming of Thanksgiving. It is important to pause and reflect upon the blessings little and large we have received, and be thankful. This is also the last Sunday of the church year, and the last of my "Marks of Discipleship" messages. Did someone just say, "Amen!"? Given this convergence, I will talk about the sixth discipline of discipleship. The disciple's life is grounded in prayer, worship, Bible study, service, and faithful friendship. Together, these disciplines necessarily result in a life of GIVING.

At Thanksgiving we consider the things we are thankful for. But then what? Gratitude isn't the end of the loop. Receiving leads to responding.Its great to be grateful, but in taking inventory of their treasury, Christians understand that GETTING is a prelude to GIVING. Some of you are probably already asking, "Didn't we pass the budget at last Sunday's business meeting? Isn't stewardship sermon season over?" "NO!" The church budget isn't a ceiling above which we don't have to give. There is no closed season on giving.

Students of scripture pay attention to what Jesus said. They also pay attention to what he DIDN'T SAY. The scriptures of other religions deal with topics Jesus never mentioned. For instance, in the scripture of Islam, the Koran, twenty-some pages are devoted to rules governing women's menstrual cycles. Jesus didn't say anything about that. He didn't mention abortion, the ethics of genetic engineering, or homosexuality. Mark Twain got it right when he said, "Its not the the things about the Bible I don't understand that bother me. Its the things I DO understand." Jesus talked A LOT about money. In fact, he spoke more about money and issues surrounding it than anything other subject.... how we use it and it uses us; how it can be used for selfless or selfish purposes; how it can serve God, or take the place of God.

Our lesson from the Sermon on the Mount, the subject is treasure-- OUR treasure, our assets, our resources, our investments, our time and abilities, OUR ALL. "Don't hoard treasures down here on earth where it gets eaten by moths, corroded by rust, or worse, stolen by burglars from Enron and Arthur Anderson. Keep it where no one can lay a hand on it-- in heaven. Where your treasure is will be the place you will most want to be, and will end up being."

C. S. Lewis said we live the Christian life by beginning again every day. Each morning we start from scratch, facing the question, "For whom will I live?" Given the kind of world we are in, choosing isn't easy. Everyday the media preaches the message: "You are how you look. You are what you wear, and drive, and desire. The sermon is clearer than those delivered from most pulpits-- "You are not a precious person gifted by God to live a purposeful life. Your goal is to be a beneficiary, released from the burden of others. You are consumer, and monuments have been built as a testimony to our consumption... mountains of trash like the one at the corner of C.R. 9 and 26.

We are citizens of the most prosperous nation ever known. But despite bulging bank accounts, lives are bankrupt. The wealthiest nation is an empty nation.... rich in things and poor in soul, and growing poorer.

Gerald Straub was a successful network television producer who abandoned his prosperous career. He said:

The joys I've experienced in life have all been lined with sadness. All around me, I see people fighting to suppress the sadness by searching for joy in a wide array of ways: sex, power, fame, fortune, drugs. We crowd into gigantic malls and gobble up all the goodies on display. We consume more than we need because we think we need more than we have.... But the sadness remains.

If I took a pair of scissors to the gospels and cut out every reference to money, the dangers of wealth, social justice, the plight of the poor, and giving, there wouldn't be much left. We don't cut out the parts of the Bible we do not like. We ignore them, or hand them over to preachers who skillfully disarm the hard sayings and calm our anxieties by saying: "When Jesus said we must sell all our possessions and give them to the poor, he didn't mean to do so literally. If we gave away everything, what would we have to give? He was speaking poetically, appealing to a general ethic of giving that says, 'Do the best you can.'"

G.K. Chester ton said, "It may be possible to have a good debate over whether or not Jesus believed in fairies, but it is impossible to have any sort of debate over whether or not Jesus believed that rich people were in big trouble-- there is too much evidence on the subject and it is overwhelming." It isn't that rich people are in trouble because they are rich. It isn't because money is bad in and of itself. When dedicated to the service of God, money is a tremendous power for good. The trouble comes when we equate money with security and well-being, which turns us away from God and the needs of others.

In Luke 12, Jesus tells the parable of the rich farmer whose crops produced a bumper harvest. He had a gift for agronomy and business. He studied corn and soybean futures before he planted. He did all the right things to be successful... and rich. The huge harvest was icing on the cake. As the saying goes, "Them that has, gets." Jesus did not condemn the farmer for his wealth. The problem was what the surplus did to him. He already had more grain than he needed, but instead of giving the crop away, or resolving not to plant as much next year, he kept it all, tore down his barns and built bigger ones to hold the grain. He said to his soul, "Soul, you've got it made. Now you can kick off your shoes and enjoy a fine retirement with winters in Arizona." But God didn't care for his plans. "You fool! Tonight you die. Now who gets your crops?" I love Eugene Peterson's translation of God's final words-- "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not with God."

Jim Elliot was a missionary who, along with four colleagues was killed while attempting to bring Christianity to the Auca Indians in Ecuador. Jim had a balancing principle in his life which closely mirrors Jesus' instruction. "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Here is where an enlarged heart is a good diagnosis. Jesus teaches us that giving leads to growth. Marva Dawn says this text is really a promise: the more we give away, the more our hearts will expand.

I have a confession to make. I did a cruel thing to my sister when she was four or five years old. My deed wasn't an original. Brothers and sisters have done it to their younger siblings for years. I told Ann that she was adopted. It worked. She started crying and ran to my mother. "I'm not adopted.... am I? We need to know we are loved, cherished, important, and that we BELONG to someone.

Remember this-- your treasure is not what you have, what you do, or even what you give away. Your treasure is not your work, your accomplishments, or your ambitions. Your treasure is this-- you belong to God. You are not alone. You have not been left to your own devices to make it through life. You belong to God. The world didn't give God to you, and it can't take God away. Neither trial nor trouble can cancel it. You belong to God. Someone said that, "The one who cultivates this treasure with all the effort that other people use to cultivate earthly goods is the one who is truly rich."

When we know and believe the love God has for us; when we believe that we belong to him, we have found our greatest treasure, and our heart for giving will grow.

You may think I'm going to spell out what a disciple the giving life should give. I could suggest numbers and percentages, but instead let me suggest a starting point-- GIVE EVERYTHING.... EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT! Jesus gave his all. All Jesus wants is our all.... that's all.

The thing I love about my buddy, Joe, is that he knows who he is. There is nothing pretentious about him. He doesn't need "things" to ghave a satisfied mind. Joe knows who he is because he knows "whose" he is. His treasure is in God, and knowing that all he needs comes from beyond, he is free to lead a giving life.

God doesn't ask me to live like Joe, but as a recipient of God's blessings, I am called to be generous and never lose sight of where true Treasure is found. When we know where our treasure is, its easier to sort out our priorities and we keep things in perspective.

After our vote on the church budget last Sunday a hymn text came to mind. I recommend that before we make decisions concerning the allocation of money, that we first sing Isaac Watts', "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," especially the verse that says... "love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all."

Maybe then our giving to God and the church won't be based upon percentages, projections, accounting procedures, and rushing to conclusions about what we don't have. Deciding what to return to God isn't just crunching numbers. Giving begins with an inventory of all God has given with no asking or deserving on our part. "Where you treasure is, there will your heart be also."

The Apostle Paul was taking an offering for the Jerusalem church. In appealing to the Corinthians, he lifted up the generosity of the Macedonian church. Though the Macedonians were going through hard times, Paul said they gave whatever they could... even more than they could afford! Why? How? God was at work in their lives. Paul's counsel to the Corinthians is applicable to all Jesus' disciples who follow their words with their giving:

Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. The heart regulates the hands. This isn't so others can take it easy while your sweat it out. No, you're shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit.

In the end you come out even.

"Where your treasure is....."

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