Reflections on "What If I Didn't Give...." 2 Corinthians 9: 6-11; Psalm 25: 4-5

I often consult different translations when working on a text, and this week chose to read from The Message because I thought his translation was really helpful in hearing a familiar text in a new way.

At the Sanctuary service before the sermon, a member shared her reflections as we lit the Peace Candle.  Her comments included the fact that she had been baptized and confirmed in this church.  As I preached about the baptismal vows in the Sanctuary service, I referenced her comments (not included in this text).  It was a wonderful illustration of how congregation's live out their baptismal vows.

I really liked this sermon.  Perhaps I should have developed any one of the points into a full sermon and not had three points, but that is an ongoing issue for my preaching -- I tend toward breadth, not depth.

If you want to know what my core values are on the subject of giving, this sermons gets to the heart of my theological underpinnings for giving.

"What If I Didn't Give...” October 12, 2014; FPC, Troy; Stewardship series; 2014 2 Corinthians 9: 6-11

Eugene Peterson's the Message translation

2 Corinthians 9: 6-11: Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.

8-11 God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,

He throws caution to the winds,
giving to the needy in reckless abandon.
His right-living, right-giving ways
never run out, never wear out.

This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

Introduction: As you may remember, the Interpretation and Stewardship committee has invited us this fall to reflect on the question “What if I didn't give....?” We are doing so from a variety of different vantage points.

Last week, we began with the asking that question of God: “What if God didn't give us life? What if God didn't give us Jesus Christ?”

This week we ask, “What if I didn't give?” in broad terms. In the coming weeks, we will sharpen our focus a bit.

Please understand that when I refer to giving, I am referring to our gifts of time, talents, and money. Not one to the exclusion of the others, but all that we have.

Move 1: In part, the answer to the question, “If I didn't give” is “I would not be living into God's image”

a. As we noted last week, God gives

1. God gives us life.

2. God gives us Jesus Christ and all that comes with that: forgiveness; salvation; hope of eternal life.

3. God gives us the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us, to shape us into the new creations God calls us to be.

4. If we look to the core of who God is, we see a giver.

b. We are made in God's image – that's who we are.

1. We spend our lives trying to live into that image. Never quite achieving it fully, but growing into who God calls us to be.

2. Since giving is a foundational part of who God is, we need to grow in our giving as part of what it means to grow into God's image.

3. We do not give our time because God needs it; we do not give of our talents because God needs it; we do not give of our money because God needs the money.
   4. Sure God wants us to give; God will use our gifts; but I imagine the God who created the world out of nothing can make out OK if we opt out of giving.

4. Likewise, we do not give to the church our time, talents, or money because the church needs it. Yes, there are numerous ministries that will benefit from our gifts, but the church has made it for the past 2000 years, and probably will make a year or two more whether I give or not.
5. I give because I need to be a giver; you give because you need to be a giver.

6. We give because we need to be givers – its who we are as people created in God's image.

If I didn't give, I would not be living into God's image.

Move 2: Another part of the answer to the question, “If I didn't give,” is “I would not learn how to live as an asset manager for God.”

a. Dave Ramsay, who writes and teaches about how we should manage our finances from a Christian perspective, suggests that we no longer understand what it means to be a “steward” because the word has lost its meaning for us (Ramsay discussed this on CD 6, The Great Misunderstanding: Unleashing the Power of Generous Giving, as part of his Financial Peace University).

1. He reminds us that the word steward comes from Old English and a time when a few lords owned all the land and all the resources.

2. at the bottom of the economic ladder were serfs, who worked the fields for the lord.

3. Stewards were the middle managers, if you will, who were responsible for overseeing the and managing all the lords resources – money, fields, and serfs.

4. the stewards did not own any resources, the lord did; but the stewards managed the resources for the lord.

5. Ramsay likens that role to an asset manager in today's language. Someone who does not own the assets, but manages them.

6. We do not own the resources, god the creator does. But we manage the resources for God.

b. Being an asset manager is life long job, not a one-time transaction.

1. As many of you may know, this year has seen an incredible development in fund raising – the ALS ice bucket challenge.

4. As of the end of August, $100 million had been raised for ALS through people pouring a bucket of ice cold water on themselves and challenging others to do, all of whom make a donation to ALS (See www.forbbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2014/08/29/the-als-ice-bucket-challenge-has-raised-100m-but-its-finally-cooling-off/)

5. I suspect many of us have participated in an ice bucket challenge, know someone who has, or have donated

6. Lots of non-profits are not trying to figure out what they can do that will be the next ice bucket challenge.

7. The unknown about this fund raising effort is One of the questions that is yet to be answered whether it is a one-time phenomenon, or will it lead to a change in people's patterns of giving to ALS?

8. when we talk about being an asset manager or being a steward of God's resources, we are not talking about a one-time transaction.

9. We are describing what God calls us to be – people who generously manage the gifts God has given to us.

If I didn't give, I would not learn how to live as an asset manager for God.

Move 3: The third part of the answer to the question, “if I didn't give” is “I would not be teaching my children about giving.”

a. Baptismal vows.

1. When we baptize infants, this congregation takes vows on behalf of the church universal to nurture and teach the child to grow into the faith.

2. We live out those vows by guiding the children who grow up in this congregation to discover and claim for themselves what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

3. They learn in lots of ways, but a very important way is how we model what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
4. Likewise, they will learn best how to be givers like God is if we teach them to be givers by our example.

b. as a parent, I know that my children have learned a little bit about giving from attending Church school and listening to the sermons and Minute for missions in worship.

5. but the most effective learning takes place when my wife Leslie and I sit down with our kids and explain what a tithe is – literally looking at paycheck they receive and doing the math – and when we describe our own giving patterns.

6. Long after they've forgotten their father's sermons, I suspect they will remember the conversations about giving, the challenge of giving we have shared with them, and the example of our own giving.

If I didn't give, I would not be teaching giving to my children.

Conclusion: In the Scripture lesson this morning we heard Paul teaching the Corinthians about giving. He warns them not to give because of some sob story or arm-twisting.

Paul is not after an impulsive one-time gift.

Instead, he is teaching them about giving. How much God has given to them and how they can give back to God.

How they can grow as givers as part of their calling, as part of who God made them to be.