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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