Reflections on “Stewardship Questions: Will Giving Make Me Feel Better; Luke 18: 9-14

this is the first of three sermons on stewardship this fall.  We also had two baptisms in our worship service.  I struggled to prepare this sermon, but it ended up being an okay sermon, at least to me.   Not a whole lot of feedback or reaction from the congregation.

“Stewardship Questions: Will Giving Make Me Feel Better; Luke 18: 9-14  October 8, 2023; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp

⁹He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ ¹³But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Introduction:  We take a four week break from sermons on OT sidekicks and will spend three weeks on stewardship and one week,  October 22, having our  glorious Fall Festival of Faith worship.

Each week of the stewardship sermons, we will reflect on questions people often ask about stewardship.

Within the context of St. Andrew, our reflections on stewardship are tied to making pledges for our giving back to God for 2024.

But, the stewardship questions, the giving back to God reflections, speak to all of us as questions for how we live our lives, not just if we are members of St.Andrew.

Move 1: Question this morning - will giving make me feel better?

a.  I have been asked this question directly - although maybe they were just kidding when they asked it;

1.  but I have also heard this question discussed indirectly in various classes, committee meetings, or just in conversations.

2.  It is something of a cost/benefit question - will I benefit by feeling better if I give of my resources.

3.  Sort of the feelings part of the prosperity gospel mantra - give back to God and you will prosper by feeling better about yourself!

b.  To begin analysis of that, let’s look at the story Jesus tells us about two people.

a.  First, the Pharisee 

1. We know he is someone who has succeeded in his life, been recognized as a leader in his religious circles, and has a position of authority and responsibility.

2.  Been doing everything correctly.

2.  He fasts twice a week;

3. He tithes, which means 10% of what he makes, he gives back to God.

4. he knows the rules of giving and meets the expectations of giving.

b. then, there is the tax collector.

1. By his job, we expect him to be sort of shady.

2. We are not told how much he gives, but we do know that his daily life is not about giving to others, but taking from others.

3. the more he takes, the more he makes.

c.  who ought to feel better about his giving?

1. If it were not for the way Jesus finishes the story, the easy answer would be the Pharisee.

choose the tither to feel good because of his giving.

he is intentional and meets the letter of the law.

Every church institution needs and appreciates a tither, an intentional, patterned giver.

and the Pharisee’s comments suggest his giving makes him feel better, 

at least better than everyone!

2. The tax collector?

not so much

as he beats his breast, he does not seem to feel too good about anything in his life, much less his giving.

d.  As we look at how we might perceive these two people and how Jesus describes them, we suddenly realize - the question is not whether giving makes us feel better, but will our giving transform us.

1. Jesus shifts the perspective - instead of do we feel good or not, the question becomes how are we being transformed.

2. The Pharisee may feel better about himself, including his giving pattern, but he is unchanged.

3. The tax collector is being transformed.

If the goal of our giving is to feel better about ourselves we are led astray like the Pharisee;

if we give as part of our ongoing transformation as disciples of Christ, our giving opens us up to all sorts of possibilities.

Move 2:  God calls us to give as part our what it means to be connected to others beyond ourselves.

a.  Giving can give us the opportunity to live into our connectedness.

1. I read a study a few years ago put out by Warwick Business School in England.

The report sought to figure out what made countries happier.

They discovered that a happy country had less to do with the wealth of the people and more to do with the people being big givers.

this tied to some other experiments they had been conducting that showed "small-scale laboratory experiments which have shown that when people are asked to spend money on others they feel happier than people who are asked to spend money on themselves. This goes against conventional economic wisdom, and indeed human intuition, that says that spending money on ourselves will make us happier.”

Maybe counter-intuitive to what we might expect. ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/08/good-samaritan-charitable-giving)

2.  I suppose I could stop there and say, “See, giving will make you feel better!”

b.  But why does giving to help others make us feel better?

1. Because giving changes our lives and calls us to recognize our connections beyond ourselves.

2. Because giving calls us to reimagine ourselves as more than just selfish people only interested in ourselves;

to reimagine ourselves and commit ourselves to joining with Christ in transforming the world.

Move 3:  Giving ought to make demands on us.

a.   I saw a cartoon with two cars at a stoplight.

One car was a Rolls Royce - obviously a sign of affluence, whose driver was doing quite well be earthly standards  

the Rolls Royce had a bumper sticker on it: "If You Love Jesus, Honk." 

Next to it was a much older mid-sized car - not a junker by any means, but next to the Rolls Royce it seemed a step or two down the ladder of monetary success.  

this car had the bumper stick: "If you love Jesus, tithe. Anyone can honk." 

Honk or tithe?

1.  A Rolls Royce might make us feel better for the moment;

2. intentional discipleship creates those opportunities to engage in Christ’s work; 

b. Will giving make you feel better?

1. the invitation to reflect on our giving patterns invites us to consider how our giving shapes our lives.

2.  Are we giving in intentional ways to shape our lives?

3. As noted, the Pharisee was a tither.  

But, it appears he was tithing just to check off the list of things he was supposed to do.

4.  Tithing is not about a checklist, but about setting goals for our giving that will remind us every time we give our gifts that we are called to be intentional in our discipleship.

5. Making commitments to give back to God calls us to focus on living our lives of discipleship and growing into the new creations God desires of us.

Conclusion:  God asks us to give back not because God needs what we have to give, but because we need to give.

 Do we need to give to feel better?  I don’t know.  

But I do know that God calls us to give in ways that transform us, 

in ways that connect us beyond ourselves

in ways that help us grow in our discipleship.

Amen.

Reflections on “OT Sidekicks: “Nathan”; 2 Samuel 12;

Sunday was World Communion Sunday.  I had never preached this text before, but it is a powerful text.  I hope the sermon revealed some of the power!

 “OT Sidekicks:  “Nathan”; 2 Samuel 12;  October 1, 2023; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp

¹and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, ‘There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had very many flocks and herds; ³but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meagre fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴Now there came a traveller to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.’ ⁵Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; ⁶he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’

7 Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; ⁸I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. ⁹Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. ¹¹Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbour, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. ¹²For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’ ¹³David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan said to David, ‘Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.

Introduction:   another week of OT sidekicks.  This fall, when we are not doing stewardship, we are reading some wonderful narratives from the Old Testament and looking particularly at how the sidekick impacts the story.

Not the main character, but the sidekick, the person whose presence makes the story happen.

As we reflect on these stories, you might consider what sidekicks you have in your life;  

or maybe how you live into the role of sidekick for someone else’s life.

Move 1:  King David has so much power he does not need anyone (or so he thinks).

a.  David is the king of Israel.

1. Powerful military leader.

2. Made Israel a power in the Middle East.

3.  David Can basically do whatever he wants.

b.  Proof of his power? The first part of the story we read this morning reveals his power.

1.  King David is so powerful he can take Bathsheba for himself, even though she is married, and then he orchestrates the death of her husband Uriah.

2. Literally, no one is in a position to challenge 

King David 

or hold him accountable for his actions.

or even notice that his actions seem contrary to how things ought to be done.

3.  King David is a king with unchecked power.  he says do, and they do it.

no one wanted to tell King David anything but what David might want to hear.

c.  Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. 

1.  The museum houses a giant Swedish warship from the early 1600s.

2.   The ship was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus as part of the military expansion he initiated

Gustavus Adolphus (1594–1632) has been considered one of the most successful Swedish kings in terms of success in warfare. When Vasa was built, he had been in power for more than a decade. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)

4.  Design - The king wanted more cannons - he was an artillery guy;  he had approved the design that included two decks of cannons and portholes for them to shoot.

3. the Vasa was built -  Richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself, the most powerfully armed ship in the world.

4.  But, there was a problem, the Vasa was dangerously unstable, with too much weight in the upper structure of the hull.  too many cannons; too many portholes

In fact, a few days before the ship was to sail for the first time, an admiral from the navy onboard to witness a stability test.  thirty men ran back and forth over the upper deck to make the ship roll. After just a few trips, the ship was tipping from side to side so badly there was great fear it might capsize in dock.

But no one wanted to tell the king.

it set sail just as the king ordered. 

made it about a 1/4 of a mile, faced a strong breeze, and keeled over.

and sank.

3.  no one had dared to tell the king the truth about his design and the shortcomings of his beloved ship.

He needed a Nathan. 

Move 2:  David had Nathan.

a. Nathan had little power, except he had access to speak to the king.

1. In this case, speak an important truth to King David about David’s actions.

1. Notice he does not come right out and say, “David, you have sinned.  

Or, David you have abused your power.”

2. Nathan is more subtle.  

He tells David a story about an unjust person in power.

David identifies the injustice and demands the man be held accountable.

then, Nathan offers the surprise - King David, you are that man!

3.  A subtle, sly approach, (Perhaps we might remember that approach when we feel compelled to speak the truth to power), but an approach that grabs David’s attention and calls him to change.  

b.  King David needs Nathan.

1.   Did you notice that the story begins with the comment that the Lord sent Nathan to confront King David.

2.  David needs Nathan because David cannot continue as a faithful servant of God if he cannot escape his own sinfulness.

3. God desires that David move forward and get his life on track.

4.  I am reminded of a comment Norman Pritchard as told by Dennis Piermont:  God loves you as you are, but God loves you too much to let you stay the way you are.

5. God wants all of us, whether we have unbridled power like King David, or not, to confront that which keeps us from growing in our discipleship.

from becoming new creations as the Apostle Paul would describe it.

that which keeps us from moving beyond our sinfulness to new life.

6.  we need people to point us in the right direction.

We all need a Nathan in our lives.

c.  World Communion Sunday sometimes brings out my cynicism - we gather around our Lord’s Table, speak part of the liturgy in different languages, and make grand statements about how we are united around our Lord’s Table

and then we leave our worship and go into a world that is still so divided.

1.  but in a way, World Communion Sunday serves as our Nathan,

pointing out how far we fall short of unity in Christ

holding us accountable for what we are doing that feeds division instead of creating unity.

calling us to new ways of living that promote unity.

2. We all need Nathan, or someone or something that calls us to get back on track, to call us to the new life desires of us.

Move 3:  Final thought - the story is about more than Nathan

a.  yes, Nathan is the invaluable sidekick who calls King David out for his actions.

b.  But, David recognizes his faults and repents.

1.  How hard it is sometimes to acknowledge where we have erred or gone wrong, but David did so.

2.  and he not only recognized his shortcomings but willingly repented.

3.  David recognized the gap between the life he was living and the decisions he was making and the life God desired of him.

and he repented.

c. Nathan and David together offer us a powerful reminder of our calling.

1. sometimes, we need to speak truth to power,  to live into our role of calling out injustice and holding people accountable.

2. Sometimes we need to listen as others call out our sinfulness and then repent.

3. Wouldn’t it be nice if all we had to do was be Nathan and point out the flaws and sins of others?

4. But that is not true to who we are  - sometimes we are the sinner in need of repentance; sometimes we are the ones who recognize the sins of others.

All of the time, we need to wisdom and insight to know the difference!

Conclusion: if we read a couple of more verses in the story, we would read that  “Nathan went back to his house.”

The story begins with the lord sending Nathan and ends with Nathan simply returning to his house.

A sidekick simply doing the job God sent him to do.

May we all be that willing.