What Do Christians Do? - Living in God’S Flow? - We Give!

What Do Christians Do? - Living In God’s Flow? - We Give!

5 – Sermon on the Mount

2 Chronicles 31:2-11 Psalm 107 Matthew 5:38-42, 6:1-4, 19-24

October 9, 2016 Twenty First Sunday After Pentecost Dr. Edwin Gray Hurley

We all long for treasure. Living in God’s flow is simply a matter of focus and orientation of that treasure. Are we focused on earthly treasure, which we continually grasp and gather and store away, treasure which rusts and returns to dust and ashes, and we never feel we have enough? Or are we focused on heavenly treasure, a larger view, an eternal perspective, which frees us to give the good things God sends our way along to bless others, and further the heavenly kingdom here on earth, and along the way discover our daily provision provided? Are we “Living In God’s Flow?”

Jesus says,

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”i

John Steinbeck has a poignant little novel, The Pearl that vividly illustrates how earthly treasure can turn us away from things that really matter. A poor fisherman named Kino one day comes upon the greatest pearl in the world. Suddenly everyone becomes interested in Kino.

“The news came early to the beggars in front of the church, and it made them giggle a little with pleasure, for they knew that there is no almsgiver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky… All manner of people grew interested – people with things to sell and people with favors to ask. Kino had found the Pearl of the World. The essence of pearl mixed with essence of men and a curious dark residue was precipitated. Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl, and Kino’s pearl went into the dreams, the speculations, the schemes, the plans, the futures, the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers, of everyone, and only one person stood in the way and that was Kino, so that he became curiously everyman’s enemy.”ii

As the story moves along, between people who come looking to get that pearl from Kino, and what Kino dreams everyone is trying to do to get it from him, the pearl nearly destroys him, so that, (and sorry to give away the ending), he hurls it back into the deep green water of the sea. This is what happens to all earthly treasure eventually. This year’s beautiful new car becomes, in a few years, scrap metal being pressed for resale.

Jesus says, the wrong sort of treasure will destroy us when we do not have an overarching Master who is directing us in what to do with the treasure that passes through our hands. Jesus says, give. Do not hoard and hold, give and bless. Become a channel of blessing. Recognize we are floating in an ocean of God’s generosity. Live in God’s Flow!

Maybe Columbus Day Weekend is a good time to bring up giving, since Columbus was a Christian explorer, seeking treasure, seeking to serve his Lord, yes, as well as Spain’s Ferdinand and Isabella. He went out in 1492 to search for one thing and found another. He sailed West in the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, seeking a route through the sea to India and China and fabulous treasure those ancient lands offered. Instead he found the New World, the Americas. He sought one sort of treasure, the world of his and the Spanish Sovereigns’ dreams; he found a New World, altogether more wonderful.

Jesus is calling his disciples to embrace that new world, that heavenly kingdom world, look beyond your ordinary earthly horizons to the new kingdom God is bringing. Keep your focus on heaven, and you will have the right perspective to handle whatever comes your way on earth.

As we have seen already in this great Sermon, Jesus is not calling his disciples to turn away from what God has previously given the Jewish People in the Law and instructed his chosen people to do, but Jesus urges us to carry it further.

Our Old Testament Lesson from 2 Chronicles points us to a memorable scene of call and response where King Hezekiah gave from what he possessed so that God’s work in the place of worship might be restored and renewed. Then he commanded the people to give.

The Call - “He commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give... As soon as the word spread the people of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.”

And then this response -

“Since they began to bring the contributions into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and have plenty to spare; for the Lord has blessed his people, so that we have this great supply left over.”iii

Jesus has not called us away from such giving of the 10% tithe. Jesus has called us to even more generous giving. Jesus has called us to give from the heart. Go beyond what’s required. If someone hits you, turn the other cheek. If someone demands your coat don’t refuse but give another. Give to everyone who begs from you.

Now we know if we take every single phrase literally, we will be left with nothing. There is a lot of metaphor here. Yet, if we take every phrase lightly we will not experience the movement of God’s power and his heavenly Kingdom in this old world. We will be turned in on ourselves, like Kino worrying about his pearl. If we take Jesus’ teaching seriously, if we open 3

ourselves to receive the Father’s Kingdom, then he will show us amazing new things as our hearts are changed.

Let’s not be oblique. This is Stewardship Season, and this is a message about giving; specifically giving our money. We are all called to give. What does God call us to give? How will we respond to the One who has given us everything? Martin Luther said, we need three conversions; conversion of the heart, conversion of the mind, and conversion of the purse.

Let’s get God’s expectation here. In Luke’s version of the sermon, Jesus says,

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Because life is a balanced equation!

I First, giving starts with the fact that God has given us everything. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” God the creator made everything and called everything he had made good. God said to man and woman, “You are made in my image. I put my mark on you.” God has given you life, breath, opportunity. Your life is a gift.

Daniel Killilea and I visited Jon Thomas Black in Children’s Hospital last week, after he had yet another of many surgeries on his brain. This is one incredible young man. He happens to be an Auburn fanatic, but he is also a fanatic on life! Despite all he has gone through, the numerous surgeries, the partial limitations, he has this incredibly positive attitude, deeply trusting in the Lord. Jon Thomas knows he has been given everything from God. Daniel and I both left that room last week inspired to be a little better and do a little more because of how Jon Thomas recognizes gratefully all that God has given him. Learning to give starts with recognizing first that God has given us everything.

II Second, when we recognize this, when we acknowledge this, we develop the capacity to give back. We learn to say thank you. We begin to give in response to all God has given to us. Jesus instructs let this giving be deep and genuine not showy and splashy; He says, let your giving be done in secret so that God may then reward.

Now, some of us take this secret giving like Donald Trump takes his tax returns - my business, no one else’s. Our giving is not to be secret whereby we remain unaccountable for what we give, not secret like the whole discussion of money is in many families. Not secret because what I give is all my own personal business; nobody tells me what I am going to give. Not secret the way people in America treat money as the big unmentionable, the way we used to - but no longer treat sex.

Rather secret giving is to keep us humble. Secret giving is to keep us giving for God’s sake not for human recognition. “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your 4

right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your heavenly Father who sees in secret,” note that “your heavenly father DOES SEE IN SECRET, will reward you.”

I have been here nearly fifteen years now, lived in Birmingham longer than I have lived anywhere, and I am continually amazed at the secret giving that goes on here and how it blesses and multiplies. People in this congregation see needs and see opportunities and respond, and things happen. Yes, budgets are funded and bills are paid, but that is the least of it. Do you know that besides funding the annual budget each year of over a million dollars, you continue to give to worldwide and neighborhood missions, and to capital needs? You have over these last fifteen years given and are still giving through Restore, Respond, Renew, and predecessor campaigns, the Living River Presbytery Camp - over Five Million Dollars beyond the normal annual budget. And most of this giving is done in secret.

III First, recognize God has given us everything. Second, learn to give, and third, become a generous giver. South Highland’s giving overall is incredibly generous. Many people here in this congregation are becoming more and more generous because we know we serve a generous gracious God. Jesus used that image of the eye. The eye is the portal through which our body receives and processes the sights around us. If our eye is open in wonder and belief, our body fills up with light. If we live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, our body is a dark cellar.”iv

There is an old Japanese proverb where some young boys from the village decide to play a joke on the wise old sage and discredit his special abilities to see to the heart of things. One boy grasps a little bird, cups it tightly between his palms and asks, “Old man, old man, tell me, is the bird alive or is it dead?” The wise old man looks at the boy and says, “The bird is as you choose it.”

When we have a heart set on heaven and not merely on earth we begin to give generously. We give life, not death. It is as you choose it. We begin to invest in things that matter eternally. Psalm 37 says, “The righteous give generously… they are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing.” As we said at the outset, we all want and need treasure. It is simply a matter of focus and orientation of that treasure. Our treasure follows our heart. If we have a heart set on God and God’s kingdom – treasure will flow, as we are living in God’s flow.

When do we start to give generously? This very moment. It is never too early. It is never too late, and we must never delay, because patterns take time to form. It takes many years for a seed to grow into a big tree. A pattern of generous giving, because of a generous God, grows and blooms over many years. This is why we teach our children, from youngest years on, to give back. We begin by beginning. Lord I am going to trust you to provide. I am going to look to you and not to the passing world for who I am, what I am to do, and where I am ultimately going.

Ruth Hobson was a dear, wise saint of the Lord in this congregation. She was the very first person Gayle and I met in the pews on the first Sunday we were here in 2001 on a stealth mission visiting with your Pastoral Search Committee. We attended worship undercover to 5

experience what we were told was a very warm and welcoming people. You know who sat us in the pew next to Ruth that day? Thank you, Bob Hunter. Ruth embodied the South Highland warmth and welcome that day. Well this past week I ran across a note from 2003 that she wrote to our then church administrator, Charles Rountree. Only because she has now entered the fullness of life in the Father’s House, and because what she wrote will also inspire you, am I going to share with you her message that would otherwise have remained secret.

“Dear Charles,

I have been grieved this year about feeling a tithe was not possible; HOWEVER, yesterday the LORD brought to my hand a book my grandfather (a godly lawyer and judge and Bible Student) wrote back in the early 1920’s. His long chapter (23 pages) on tithing smote my heart and I realized I must in spite of greater expenses and limited income the last year and a half. This check is a small step back up the ladder and hopefully the LORD’s blessing will enable me to increase it in the near future.

Sincerely, Ruth Hobson

First, we have all received God’s gift. Our life itself is a gift from God. Second, we are all called to give back. Third, we are called to give generously, and this promise - God will bless us and those people and causes he places on our hearts.

“See the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love, Well supply thy sons and daughters and all fear of want remove. Who can faint while such a river ever flows their thirst to assuage? Grace, which like the Lord the giver, never fails from age to age.”vi

i Mt. 6:19 ii John Steinbeck, The Pearl, p. 22, 23 iii 2 Chronicles 31:5, 10 iv Eugene Peterson, The Message, Matthew 6:22 v 2 Chronicles 31:10 vi The Presbyterian Hymnal, “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken”, 446