Virtue #5 – Giving Generously – 10 Short Scripture Readings
/Lectionary Readings for Feb. 13, 2022 6th Sunday After The Epiphany, Year C
Jeremiah 17:5-10 v7 Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord alone; the Eternal will be his confidence.
Psalm 1 v2 For you, the Lord’s Word is your happiness. It is your focus – from dusk to dawn.
1 Corinthians 15:12-20 v20 But the Anointed One was raised from death’s slumber and is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death.
Luke 6:17-26 4 blessings and 4 woes (compare to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1–12)
But this week, we’re looking at numerous verses from the Old and New Testaments as we continue an eight-part series looking at the virtues of flourishing churches.
Weekly Meditative Exercise
Christianity includes a long and rich tradition of embracing meditative practices as a way of keeping us connected with God, ourselves, and each other. I encourage you to spend some time each week (ideally 10-30 minutes) trying each weekly exercise. You will naturally find some more appealing and effective than others. You’ll like some but not others, and after 6-12 months you’ll better understand what’s available and what helps you.
This week’s exercise focuses on Stewardship (pages 224-227)
From Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun. InterVarsity Press, 2005.
Desire: to live as a generous manager of God’s resources in all areas of life; to live realizing that nothing we have is our own
Definition: voluntarily and generously offering our resources, time, talents, and treasures to benefit and share God’s love with others.
Scripture: “Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.” ~ Matthew 6:19-20
As you engage with this exercise, I encourage you to ask…
What do I need to have to be content?
Am I willing to share?
Will I live on less so that I can generously and joyfully give to others so that they might have what they need?
Peace through Leadership Quotes
“Greed is not a financial issue. It’s a heart issue.” ~ Andy Stanley
“Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life.” ~ John Wooden
“Money will buy a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the wag of his tail.” ~ Josh Billings
We can be greedy with our time, our talents, and our treasures. But when we follow Jesus’ model and build our lives around compassionately and generously severing others as God leads us, the people we serve will be able to find love, hope, and peace. That is when our investments pay tremendous dividends and we’re able to enjoy an overflowing sense of peace and joy in our own lives – a sense of interconnection with the Divine.
Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me. God loves me. God has plans for me.
Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading
We’re now six weeks into our eight-part series based on the book Eight Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches by Matt Miofsky and Jason Byassee. As I’ve mentioned, I prefer the term “flourishing” to “rapidly growing.”
To recap, flourishing churches share common virtues. First… they believe that God has worked and will continue working in the life of their church in miraculous ways. Second… they quickly integrate new people into the life of the church. Third… they love where they are and, more importantly, the people who live in their community. Fourth… they relentlessly work to connect with and welcome others into their church families, not to benefit themselves, but as an effort to love God by loving others. Sixth… they work as teams.
The fifth virtue is that flourishing churches elevate the practice of giving. Traditionally, this has been referred to as stewardship. But as soon as I say those two words (giving and stewardship), nearly everyone immediately assumes I’m talking about money – which is partially true – and that I’m going to spend today asking you to give more money to our church – which may or may not be true.
Churches flourish when their members embrace two key concepts:
1) everything we have is a gift from God including the skills we have to earn what we have and
2) God blesses us so that we can bless others. I think of this as “the cycle of blessings.”
Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts as we hear numerous snippets about giving from the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament) and the New Testament.
Read Genesis 14:19–20; Numbers 18:26; Deuteronomy 12:6; Proverbs 3:9–10 as well as Matthew 6:2–4, 19–21; Matthew 23:23; Mark 12:41–44; 1 Timothy 6:18–19; Hebrews 13:16
You know what elevates the practice of giving? Babies. When someone has a baby, the priorities of everyone connected to that baby change, almost overnight. Sometimes the changes are made out of necessity, “Sorry friends, I can’t hang out after work; I need to go home and take care of the baby.” But often, the changes are made as a reflection of a change within us.
How many of you changed your schedules and spending habits when your first grandchild (or child) was born? Instead of eating at nice restaurants, you chose to buy baby furniture or plane tickets. Instead of buying a sedan, you bought a minivan. Instead of buying something for yourself, you made sure that grandchild had toys, clothes, and years later musical instruments or sports equipment. And if that sweet little child looks at you and says, “Memaw, will you take me to Disneyland and get me the hat with ears?” By golly, you will find a way to make that happen.
Why? Because you’re excited to invest all you are and all you have into that new life filled with potential. You’re excited to offer you time, your talents, and your treasures for someone that you suddenly care more about than yourself. Someone who can give you only unspoken love in return. And that is a beautiful way of elevating the meaning and the impact of your life.
Earlier today, we celebrated people becoming members of our church family. Part of that welcoming… that birthing, was ALL of us reaffirming our commitment to “faithfully participate in the ministries of the Church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness, that in everything God may be glorified.”
Those are all ways we can and should give. These are not meant to be, “pick your favorite one and you can ignore the rest.” Not at all. As Christians, (at our best) we commit to a holistic understanding and expression of our faith. Our commitment should include giving in all of those ways in our effort to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our homes, our workplaces, and our community.
In the Methodist tradition, we believe that God does not want anyone to suffer – including ourselves. We also believe that God enables and urges each of us to play active rolls in helping others overcome whatever suffering prevents them from understanding and experiencing God’s love and peace.
Elevating the practice of giving means we live into the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1–12) we read last week: We will give our time, our talents, and our treasures so that the hungry will have food, the naked will have clothes, the homeless will have shelter, the lonely will have friends, the sick will have care, and so on.
When we empathetically connect with the experiences of others and we want to compassionately respond to their needs, that stirring we feel inside us is our souls moving in unison with the Holy Spirit. That stirring is the moment when the God in us connects with the God in others.
I think we could learn something from fine dining restaurants. They’re not interested in simply providing nutrition; they want to offer people the best food and an elevated experience people will forever connect with the meal. The chefs and staff earn their Michelin stars not by asking, “How little do we have to do?” but rather, “How much can we do? What’s possible? How can we surprise and delight people?”
In the coming days and weeks, I would like for each of you to think about how we – individually and collectively – can help others have an elevated experience of the Christian faith. How can we be more prayerful for others? More present with others? More giving to others? More serving toward others? And more witnessing with others?
Maybe “more” means just 40 more seconds with someone. Maybe “more” means an additional percentage of time or money. And maybe “more” means you simply begin the spiritual practice of engaging with your faith in one or more of these ways.
For two years, we’ve seen this happen as a cycle with our HOPE Food Pantry. We started with a modest amount of food and a small group of volunteers who generously gave more of their time, talents, and treasures than they had in the past. We quickly grew in every way imaginable because of the amazing generosity from all of you and many others.
When our community saw what we were doing and how we were doing it – they saw the evidence of our faith. And the God in them connected with the God in us and with the God in our weekly guests. As a result, people (including people we’ve never met) elevated their giving – their time, their talents, and their treasures. Consequently, hundreds of people are directly or indirectly blessed each week. And we have more blessings coming!
Let’s never stop seeking God’s leading and God’s wisdom. And as we co-labor with God to love and serve others, let’s keep asking, “How can we elevate our giving – in all its many forms – so that more people can experience the joy, the peace, and the excitement of God’s Kingdom?”
Amen? Amen!