Reflections on "A Future Commitment" Mark 4: 26-29; Malachi 3: 1-16

Following the sermon, the gathered congregation turned in their pledge cards.  In a sense, this was the final plea before commitment, but the reality is most people had already filled out their pledge cards.  I had picked the Mark text a few weeks earlier due to time constraints this past week.  When I arrived at sermon preparation time, I wondered what I was thinking when I picked the text!  But, as is often the case, when I dug into the text I found some great insights.  I ended up glad to have preached the Mark text.

Another year, I might preach the Malachi text and focus more on the idea of testing God with our giving.  In fact, that might be an effective theme for a whole stewardship series.  I did not explore that topic enough in the sermon.

“A Future Commitment” October 21, 2018, SAPC, Denton;  Richard B. Culp; Mark 4: 26-29; Malachi 3: 8-16

26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Introduction:  Finished with the four Gs - grace, gratitude, generosity, and giving.

In a little while, we will place our pledges, our commitments for the future, into the offering plates and dedicate them to God.

A few more thoughts on giving.

Move 1: First of all, giving is what we do.

a.  Jesus says, “the kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground.”

1. the parable assumes the sower scatters the seed; it assumes that someone is going to give something, in this case, seed, as an investment in the future.

2.  This parable calls to mind another, more memorable parable about scattering seed.  

3.  Go back to the first part of this chapter in Mark if you want to read that parable with its focus on the seed and what happens to the seed - some falls on the path and birds eat it; some falls on rocky ground

4. But the parable we read this morning emphasizes the role of the sower, the one who gives the seed.

5.  Giving is foundation to the parable; giving is foundational to who we are as followers of Christ.

6.  Our DNA as Christians makes us givers, sowers of the seed.

b. We are not told how much seed the sowers sows.

1.  Likewise, no one will tell you what you should give.  

2. You get to figure out your motives and your amounts.

3.  We have received email with great information about how our gifts are used for God’s work here in our midst and beyond.

4.  We have heard lots of reasons to give from our members who have shared their reasons for giving in our Moments for Missions the last few weeks.

5. the specifics of our giving matter, of course, but not so much as our commitment to giving 

c.  Giving is what we do as followers of Christ.

1.  Donald miller tells the story of a friend who tithed by putting money in a jar.  His friend said he’d been tithing since he was a kid.  He would put the money in a jar, and then would give it at some point.  The issue was not the church getting the money, but his giving the tithe to God.  Blue Like Jazz,  Donald Miller, 195 FPC, Troy, Stewardship, 2009

2.  We are called to be sower of seeds.  

3.  I might add that giving is not limited to just financial giving.

3.  Giving back to God includes our time and our talents.

4. God’s claim on us is for all we are.

5. Our call to respond in giving includes all we have.

Move 2:  Secondly, we give to be part of what God is doing now and into the future.

a.  On the one hand, we could read this parable and have a sense of apathy.

1. the one who sows does not know how the seed grows.

2.  the sower “would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

3.  it almost seems as if the sower is discoed and has nothing to do with the growth of the seed or the harvest.  (reading David Lose’s comments on this passage let me to this point - http://www.davidlose.net/2015/06/pentecost-3-b-preach-the-truth-slant/)

3.  A reminder -  we are called to sow the seeds, but the future is God’s future.

b.  God will be at work 

1. the seed will grow.

2. the harvest will come because God is a God who promises a future.

3.  Our giving joins us with God in that future.

Move 3: As the time approaches to to make our commitments, let’s take a look at the Malachi passage.

a.  Malachi passage

1.  We know Malachi as the last book of the Old Testament.

2. that is a thematic placement because of the way Malachi announces the one who will come.

3.  In terms of actual history, however, Malachi was likely a contemporary of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is the one who re-built Jerusalem after the Israelites returned to Judah following their seventy years as prisoners in Babylon. In some ways, that was a rather happy time for the Israelites.” (Scott, Hoezee, http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermon-starters/advent-2c/?type=old_testament_lectionary)

2.  The Israelites in exile had dreamed of a future when they would return to Jersualem.

3.  The future arrived.

4. they had lived into the future they had prayed to God would come.

5. A reminder that we give for the future with the assurance that God will be with us, leading and guiding us into that future.

b.  In that moment, God says to the Israelites, “put me to a test.”

1.  Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 

2.   In other words, respond with giving and see what else awaits.

3.  The future God has in store for Israel joining with the commitment of the Israelites to the future.

4.  A commitment marked by their giving.

c.  So we hear the call to put God to the test — commit to the future with our giving and wait and see what God is going to do.

Conclusion:  The harvest will come.  Give and be a  part of it. 

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Reflections on “A Generous Spirit” 2 Chronicles 31: 1-10; I Timothy 6: 17-19

If I preached these texts again, I would focus on the Israelites giving abundantly, which is then defined as the tithes and the offering for the Levites, and the fact that there was "plenty to spare."   In fact, I did not notice the "plenty to spare" until I was reading it in my final run through to the sermon.  Some Sundays, I could have reworked the sermon a bit to include more about that, but this particular Sunday morning I had other things to do before worship, so I could not make the revisions.  I did include a comment about having an abundance left over, but I am not sure where in the sermon, so it is not reflected in the text below.

I had in mind a sermon that pushed more the generous spirit, instead of giving generously, but I did not seem to find that part of the sermon.

“A Generous Spirit” October 14, 2018, SAPC, Denton; 

Richard B. Culp; 2 Chronicles 31: 1-10; I Timothy 6: 17-19

2 Chronicles 31: 1-10 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke down the pillars, hewed down the sacred poles,[a] and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities, all to their individual properties.

2 Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, everyone according to his service, the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and offerings of well-being, to minister in the gates of the camp of the Lord and to give thanks and praise. 3 The contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt offerings: the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed festivals, as it is written in the law of the Lord. 4 He commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, so that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord. 5 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. 6 The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep, and the tithe of the dedicated things that had been consecrated to the Lord their God, and laid them in heaps. 7 In the third month they began to pile up the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. 8 When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. 9 Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. 10 The chief priest Azariah, who was of the house of Zadok, answered him, “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.”

Introduction:   Final G - grace, gratitude, giving, and today generosity.  

To be clear, all four Gs speak to a  way of life, not just to sermon themes for a stewardship season.

Move 1: Generosity as a way of life. 

a. Both of our Scripture lessons today have something in common, although they are separated by hundreds of years.

b.  Passage from 2 Chronicles depicts a pivotal time in Israel’s life.

1.  Long got are the eras of King David and Solomon when Israel was a world economic power and strong spiritual leadership.

2. Kings have come and gone - some good, some bad; most mixed.

3.  King Ahaz was one of the bad kings, and he has just been replaced with King Hezekiah, who will institute reforms meant to restore Israel as a faithful servant to God.

4. King Hezekiah brings back memories of the days of King David and Solomon.

6. He begins with the tearing down of the altars where the Israelites worshipped false gods.

7.  He issues instruction for how the Israelites are to act to get them living well - the new beginning is marked by giving with abundance. 

8.  Or as  Eugene Peterson translates it in The Message, “as soon as Hezekiah gave out his orders, the Israelites gave generously….”

9.  their new life which is intended to reflect their faithfulness is marked by generosity.

b.  Similarly, the letter to timothy shares Paul’s exhortation to the early Christians (note, many biblical scholars believe letters to Timothy were not written by Paul).

1.  “they are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19 thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”

2.  the hallmark of someone who believes in the resurrected Christ is generosity.

move 2:  Generosity is an approach to life.

a. Mind-set to give.

1. Give beyond what is expected.

2. Give beyond what is considered reasonable.

3. In truth, when King Hezekiah calls the people back to being generous, they respond by giving a tithe and giving to support the Levite priests, all of which was part of the historic expectation of God’s people.

4. But too often is had been the unmet expectation because they did not have generous hearts.  

5. They could not give in the generous ways God called them to because they their outlook on life lacked generosity.

b.   Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay "Compensation", wrote: "In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom. But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent, to somebody.”

1.  Christian context - we cannot repay God, so we give generously to others.

2.  not just cent for cent in monetary giving, but deed for deed.

3. Generosity is an approach to life, not a financial giving method.

c. two stories of generosity, from both ends fo the economic spectrum.

1.  Leland Stanford made his money in the railroad business in CA in the 19^th century.  While he, his wife Jane and only son Leland, Jr. were in Florence, Italy, Leland, Jr. died of typhoid fever, just before his 16^th birthday.

His father, who had remained at Lelands' bedside continuously, fell into a troubled sleep the morning the boy died. When he awakened he turned to his wife and said,

"The children of California shall be our children."

On their way back to CA from Italy, the Stanfords stopped  and visited These words were the real beginning of Stanford University. Cornell, Yale, Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They talked with President Eliot of Harvard about three ideas: a university at Palo Alto, a large institution in San Francisco combining a lecture hall and a museum, and a technical school. They asked him which of these seemed most desirable and President Eliot answered, a university. Mrs. Stanford then asked him how much the endowment should be, in addition to land and buildings, and he replied, not less than $5 million. A silence followed and Mrs. Stanford looked grave. Finally, Mr. Stanford said with a smile, "Well, Jane, we could manage that, couldn't we?" and Mrs. Stanford nodded her head.  (https://web.archive.org/web/19970113162511/http://www.stanford.edu/home/stanford/history/begin.html; you can read the fictionalized version at snopes.com)

a gift that today still witnesses to the love parents had for their son and their desire to benefit the children of CA. 

2.  Dobri Dobrev - you may have seen his photo - old man, with long white beard and hair; looks a little bit like Santa claus, although more  little more worn, and a lot more beggarly looking;  the iconic photo shows him stooped over with a little blond haired boy.  you may have read about him after his death this past February.

He would be on  the streets of Sofia, Bulgaria.  A constant figure, who would tell stories to those who listened, had a wooden box in which people could give donations,  and would offer to kiss the hand of the person giving the coins, or euro, or dollars.

Those  who saw him as  a beggar missed out on who he really was.  He was a generous man who lived off his meager $100 monthly pension and gave all the donations he received in his little wooden box to support Bulgarian churches and orphanages;  his giving estimated to be over $50,000 through the years. 

A man with a mission to live generously.

(https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dobri-dobrev/)

Conclusion:  as we live out our baptismal vows, the vows we make again today, we would be well-served to remember to teach generosity to Jacob and the others growing up in our midst.  

If we teach them to be generous, if we are generous, then we will reveal the risen Christ through our generosity.

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Reflections on "Giving Reminders" I Chronicles 29: 14-22

The liturgy and the presence of the Lord's Table with different varieties of bread were a visible reminder that the sermon was being preached on  World Communion Sunday, although the sermon was the third of four stewardship sermons.  I went the story route to put stewardship in the context of living our stories of giving and to broaden the concept of giving beyond the gift itself.

“Giving Reminders” October 7, 2018, SAPC, Denton; I Chronicles 29: 14-22 Richard B. Culp

14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. 15 For we are aliens and transients before you, as were all our ancestors; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. 16 O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. 17 I know, my God, that you search the heart, and take pleasure in uprightness; in the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. 18 O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. 19 Grant to my son Solomon that with single mind he may keep your commandments, your decrees, and your statutes, performing all of them, and that he may build the temple[b] for which I have made provision.”

20 Then David said to the whole assembly, “Bless the Lord your God.” And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the Lord and the king. 21 On the next day they offered sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord, a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their libations, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel; 22 and they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great joy.

Introduction:   We continue moving through the G’s the Stewardship committee gave us.

As you remember, we began with grace, then last week gratitude, this week giving.

We heard from the first Scripture lesson about Paul’s collection for the saints in Jerusalem.  He asked all the early churches to participate in this offering, both because the Christians in Jerusalem needed the funds, but also as a reminder to the church in Jerusalem that the other churches supported them. 

A giving reminder. This morning I want to reflect on fur stories of giving reminders.

Move 1: First story, straight from I Chronicles and a part of King David’s blessing for God. 

a. King David is making a free will offering for the building of the Temple and exhorting the Israelites to do the same.

1. Remember, he is not going to build the Temple.

2.  God has denied David that opportunity.

3.  But David will make his gift anyway - for a future project that he may or may not live to see.

4.  But, King David wanted to give back to God in response for all that God had given him.

b.  Giving reminder - the power of giving is found in the act of giving itself.

move 2:  Second story straight from novelist Nicolas Sparks’ book  The Longest Ride:

a. Spoiler alert:  you are going to hear important parts of the story.  I am probably going to ruin it for you if you have not read it. But, Sparks has written many, many novels, that some critics suggest are all about the same, so go read another of his!

1.  Two love stories intertwined:  a young couple, Luke and Sophia, and an older couple, as shared by the husband Ira, whose wife Ruth has died previously.

2. ruth and Ira could not have children, but their love overcame their disappointment, and they poured their energy and money into building an art collection, which was one of Ruth’s great loves.

3.  After Ruth’s death and as Ira contemplates his own death, he asks the question: how can I make people understand how much I loved my wife Ruth.   he puts the question in the context of their art collection when he says:  “More than anything, I want you to understand this simple truth: though the art is beautiful and valuable almost beyond measure, I would have traded it all for just one more day with eh wife I always adored.  how can I make all of you believe that I would have done such a thing?  How can i convince youth I cared nothing about the commercial value of the art? how can i prove to you how special Ruth really was to me?  how will you never forget that my love for her was at the heart of every piece we ever purchased?”  

4.  he finds a way to answer his question.  

at his death his entire collection of paintings is auctioned. the first painting is not one fo the expensive, highly valued by the art critics painting, but a crude portrait of his wife painted by a  young man whom she had taught and really cared for earlier in life.

5.  no one wants to bid on this less than memorable piece, except for Luke, the young man, who sees in the crude portrait the love Ira had for his wife Ruth and wanted to honor that love.

He buys the portrait for $400.   A pittance compared to the value of any other painting.

But, then the auction is interrupted with Ira’s final instructions. 

Whoever bought the portrait of his wife, least valuable piece, but the one of the woman he loved beyond measure, that person would receive the entire collection.

6. His gift to give value to what he loved.

b. Giving reminder - we give to show others what we value.

Move 2:  Third story comes from a young couple in the congregation I served in OH.

a.  I had just shared my brilliance with the Stewardship committee.

1. WE did not need to waste money giving new members offering envelopes since offering envelops were fast becoming a thing of the past.

2.  particularly for the younger families.

3. Then in came on of the new members:

“i have not received any offering envelopes yet.  When will I get them?”

“why do you want them?  Don’t feel obligated.  We know that our generation doesn’t really use envelopes.”

“My parents used offering envelopes.  I grew up watching them each week put a check in an offering envelope and take it to church.  I want my kids to see me filling an offering envelope and bringing it to church so they can learn to give just like I did.”

“So can I get some more offering envelopes?”

b.  Giving reminder - we give to model and teach others the importance of giving.

Move 3:  Fourth story - Lord’s Table - God’s giving reminder to us.

a. come to the Lord’s Table this morning and be reminded of the gift-giving God who invites us to the table to receive the gift of hope and promise given to us by God’s very own son, Jesus Christ.

1.  Eat and drink and remember the gift given for you.

2. Recognize in the variety of breads the God whose giving is not bound by our Table or our sanctuary, but whose gifts are for all creation.

b. Giving reminder — our giving begins with our gift-giving God.

Conclusion:  OK, a fourth story.  

Your story of giving reminders.

What does your giving say about you?

Reflections on "Giving Thanks" Luke 22: 14-20; Leviticus 7: 11-18

I cannot remember ever preaching on Leviticus, so it was probably time (after 25 years of ordained ministry).  I had a great time digging through the information on the thank offering as mentioned in the Leviticus text.  I discovered multiple stewardship themes, so I will probably be back in Leviticus in a future year.

The sermon might have worked better on a communion Sunday, but I really wanted to make the point about Jesus being grateful to God and what that means for us.

“Giving Thanks” September 30, 2018, SAPC, Denton; Leviticus 7; Luke 22 Richard B. Culp

 Luke 22: 14-20    When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it[c] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Introduction: Frederick Buechner:  “A Christian is one who is on the way, though not necessarily very far along it, and who has at least some dim and half-baked notion of whom to thank.”

Last with Lisa kicked off the this year’s stewardship sermon series reflecting on God’s grace as one of the foundations of our stewardship response.

4 Gs - grace, gratitude, giving, and generosity

This week we reflect on gratitude as one of the foundation of stewardship.

Giving back to God is not about buying God off or giving to create some future opportunity or reward for ourselves.

Giving back to God is not about superstition, as in we could ward off bad things from happening by giving.

Fundamentally, giving back to God is a thankful response — that “half-baked notion we know whom to thank,” so we respond by giving.

This morning, we are going to look at a passage about the thank offering in Leviticus and then see how Jesus gives thanks at an important moment in his story.

Move 1:  First of all, the thank offering in Leviticus

a.  Sometimes we think Leviticus is in the Bible to read when we have trouble sleeping (it works by the way)

1. Lots of rules.

2. Lots of situations in which we barely understand and find no corollary in our own context.

3. But the rules reflect important core values of God’s people.

b.  Thank offering

1. Part of the peace offerings.

2. Only offering in which the people who are not priests are allowed to eat.

3. Over time, the thank offering morphed into the traditional Jewish blessing prayed before each meal.

3.  Literally, the “give thanks” ritual.

4.  In the New Testament, when this ritual is described as “give thanks,” the Greek word used to describe this prayer is literally, “give thanks,” or in the Greek  “eucharisteo.” 

4.  As you hear that, you may recall that in some traditions the Lord’s Supper is called the eucharist, which is literally “give thanks.”

5. Back in the time of the Israelites, this pre-cursor to the eucharist was the thank offering, a ritual that reinforces the belief that we should be thankful to God in all things and in all places.

c.  Calls on the person to “remember from the past when God intervened and thus provided an opportunity for the offerer to be grateful and to rejoice in the goodness of the Lord”  and then give thanks(New INterpreter’s Bible, Vol. 1 1051).

1.  Not just thanks for blessings.

2.  Thanks for times God has intervened and showed God’s saving grace.

3.  Thanksgiving gatherings - in settings at church, peoples homes, among family, friends often take a moment to give thanks to God.

Mostly what is shared is a recitation of the blessings as we see them - family, food, the good things we have in our lives.

But every once in a while, the thanks takes on greater meaning.  I remember once standing in the circle as people lifted their usual thanks only to have a man share his poignant thanks for having survived a heart attack and giving thanks for the gift of his life.

That speaks to the heart of what the thank offering was.  Giving thanks for the God who had acted to intervene and save.

4.  As the thank offering great into a ritual practiced at meals, it grew to express gratitude for all that God provides.

d.  By making this moment of thankfulness into a sacrifice, the Israelites emphasized the importance of response in our gratitude.

1. Not enough to say thanks, must respond, in this case with a sacrifice.

2.  by being the only offering in which the people are allowed to eat, it also emphasizes that all of God’s people are called to respond.

3. Although not part of this sermon, I would also note that by making a rule that the offering must be eaten the same day it was sacrificed mean forced the one making the sacrifice to share with neighbors and those who might not be able to afford to make a sacrifice (gratitude to God that must be shared - pretty good stewardship sermon for another time!)  [New INterpreter’s Bible, Vol. 1 1051].

e.   the opposite of fear is not courage, but gratitude. We are most fully human when we are most deeply grateful. (Milton Brasher-Cunningham; Don’t Eat Alone blog; http://donteatalone.com/saying-thanks-in-the-dark/; 11/27/2008

Move 2:   Jesus at what we know is the Last Supper.

a.  Gathering with friends at Passover.

1. Does Jesus know that this is a moment that will be retold and laid claim to for generations to come?

2.  maybe.  he certainly sets it up as if he knows it will have a future context.

3.  But, he also acts in the moment, doing the ritual that has been part of his tradition for generations.

4.  He takes the cup and gives thanks to God for it, and then the bread and gives thanks to God for it.

2. “Give thanks” = eucharisteo, which is why it is called the eucharist.

3.  Stop and notice. Jesus filled with gratitude.

4.  There may be no greater point ever made about gratitude than this -  Jesus, the Son of God, responding by giving thanks to God.

Move 3:  But there is more - we also understand Jesus giving thanks for the bread and cup in a new way as we interpret his comments in light of his crucifixion and resurrection.

a.  Like Jesus, like our Israelite forebears, we turn to God and give thanks.

1. We give thanks to God for being our creator.

2. We give thanks to God for choosing to be in relationship with us.

3. we give thanks for all the blessings we have in our lives.

4. We give thanks for the times God has intervened with saving grace.

b.  In addition, we have the gift of Jesus Christ.

1.  We now add to the list of our thanks the gift of his sacrifice on the cross for our sake.

2.  We add to our list of thanks not only God’s power turn death into life, but God’s invitation for us to be new creations, to have new life and the hope of eternal life.

3.  Our thanks overflow.

Conclusion:   stewardship has many different aspects.

At the heart of stewardship is our gratitude to God and our grateful response.