Why We Give!

Sermon Notes:  Saturday, November 10, 2007 & Sunday, November 11, 2007  -  Rev. Jim O’Neal, Sr. Pastor

Sun Lakes United Methodist Church, 9248 E. Riggs Road, Sun Lakes, Arizona 85248 - (480) 895-8766

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 NRSV

1When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, 2you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.   3You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, “Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.”  4When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God, 5you shall make this response before the LORD your God:  “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.  6When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, 7we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.  8The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  10So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me.”  You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God.  11Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.

 

A.  Introduction

    1.  Brother Jedidiah and the Chicken Thief

        a.  Most pastors are rather passive when it comes to asking for money.  Some parsons are just plain timid about tithing.  However, this was not the case for Brother Jedidiah of the old Arizona Circuit.  There was nothing shy about Brother Jed’s approach, and he didn’t mind being a little creative to fill the Church coffers!  Neither did Jedidiah have any problem with using a gallon or two of guilt, and a large ladle of legerdemain.  Jedidiah’s Church was behind on their mortgage payments.  He began the week by bragging that he could get every one who attended his worship service to give.  In fact he challenged his Baptist colleague with this bet:  “If I can get every person in worship this Sunday to give, you will personally pay me whatever amount your Church takes in.  If I don’t get them all to give, I’ll pay you whatever we take in.”  Now the Baptist preacher knew he shouldn’t be gambling, but he took Jedidiah’s bet. 

        b.  That Sunday Pastor Jedidiah stood up and said, “Before we pass the collection plate, I would like to make a request.  Some low life varmint stole a chicken from widow Marley’s hen house.  And I demand that the person who stole the chicken refrain from giving any money to the Lord.  God doesn’t want money from a thief!”  That Sunday everybody gave including the Baptist Deacon who was there spying for his preacher!

    2.  Brother Jedidiah and the Flirting Man

        a.  Another time in worship Brother Jedidiah stood up and said, “I want you to know that I am shocked!  This week in our town I saw a man flirting with a woman that wasn’t his wife.   Now unless the guilty party drops a $20 gold piece in the plate, I’m gonna name names next Sunday.  The offering was taken and the counters found nineteen $20 gold pieces, two notes from men saying, ‘Don’t tell, I’ll pay you this week,’ and a note from a woman volunteering to feed the pastor for a month and teach Sunday School if he’d keep quiet!”

        b.  Yes, Brother Jedidiah had a way of raising money for his Church.  Of course, I’m pretty well convinced that the Lord would not approve of Jed’s methods and ways of motivating people.  This Loyalty Sunday morning I’d like to suggest three positive reasons for giving.

 

B.  Give in response to all that God has done and will do for you!

    1.  Three’s Company

        a.  When the TV show “Three’s Company” first débuted, a lot of pastor’s did not like it, because the show was filled with numerous sexual innuendoes.  Suzanne Somer’s played the part of Chrissy a not so bright, but sincere and innocent blonde.  In one show she was in the hospital and telling her friends and a doctor to be thankful.  “Aren’t you glad that God gave us elbows!” she said.  “Why?” the doctor asked.  Chrissy said, “Because if we didn’t have elbows, we couldn’t bend our arms to feed ourselves.”  Another time she explained how it was good that God put our noses on the right way.  “If they were upside down,” she said, “we would drown when it rained!”

        b.  Now we can laugh at the character of Chrissy, and her goofy perspective on life.  But if we think about it, she was right that we ought to be thankful to God for the many blessings of life.  Some may seem trivial, like having your nose on right side up, but other blessings are pretty significant.  We are thankful for families and friends.  We are grateful for homes to live in and food to eat.  We are thankful for freedom, and to those sacrificed for it.  And above all we are forever grateful for the gift of Jesus Christ.

    2.  Ladder Company 6

        a.  Do you remember the story of Ladder Company 6?  They were some of the many firefighters who rushed into one of The World Trade Center towers to save people.  They directed many people down to safety.  Then it became apparent that they were in danger themselves and had to get out.  On the way down they came upon Josephine Harris, an older woman who was having a tough time.  She needed their help to get out.  They promised not to leave her and helped her down the stairs.  She got tired at the fourth floor and asked them to let her catch her breath.  Then they heard a terrible sound.  Everything above and just about everything below collapsed.  They were trapped in the one small part of the building that still stood!  And after many hours they were found and rescued.

        b.  Repeatedly on TV, Josephine thanked the seven men who she said saved her life.  The firefighters called her their angel.  By stopping them at the fourth floor, she saved their lives.  It’s probably easy for us to imagine a strong firefighter saving a life.  It might make us think as to how an elderly woman might save seven big firefighters.  Josephine Harris did just that.  All of these people are thankful.  In an even bigger cataclysm, Jesus saved our lives.  In a battle against Evil, Jesus defeated sin and death.  He offers His victory to you and me.  Are you grateful for His sacrifice by which you are saved?

    3.  Today’s Scripture

        a.  In today’s scripture lesson Moses speaks to the Hebrew people.  He tells them that God is going to give them the “Promised Land”, and that once they settle in they should have a worship service.  To this service they should bring the first fruits and then recite a liturgy of remembrance.  They are to remember how they were nomads with no home.  They are to remember how they went down to Egypt and became a great nation.  However, the Egyptians made them slaves.  They cried out to God, and by

 

 

God’s power alone were they freed.  And then God led them to and gave them the “Promised Land!”

        b.  The Hebrew people were called to remember all that God had done for them, and then to make an offering of the first harvest.  Today, we are called to remember what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  In Jesus God gave us the very best!  We are called to give our best in time, talents, and money to say thank you!

 

C.  Give as a remedy to the enslaving power of wealth!

    1.  Eagle on a log!

        a.  From the wilderness of Alaska comes this wintry tale as told by a hunter.  An eagle alighted on an ice-encrusted limb of a log floating down a river toward a thundering waterfall.  At any moment the great bird could have and should have turned loose and soared into the sky.  But it did not turn loose and lingered too long.  The eagle’s talons became frozen to the log.  The bird squawked and flapped its wings to no avail and perished in the waterfall.

        b.  At first the bird had the log, but then the log had the bird.  There is a point in our drive for a better life that we have to make a decision about the role of money in our lives.  Do we have our money, or does our money have us?

    2.  USA Today:  Survey

        a.  Some years ago, the newspaper USA Today did a survey.  The study indicated that the more a person earns, the less they give proportionally to help others.  It ought to work the other way.  The more you earn, the more discretionary money you have and therefore you ought to give more.  But it doesn’t work that way.  The survey showed that people with incomes below $10,000 give three times more proportionally than people with higher incomes!  And people with incomes below $50,000 give almost twice as much as people who make over $100,000!

        b.  Why is this so?  We know the answer.  The eagle once had the log, but now the log has the eagle!  When you choose to give, you break the enslaving power of wealth.

    3.  Karl Marx

        a.  Many years ago, there was a Jewish boy growing up in Germany.  This boy admired his father.  The life of the family revolved around the religious practices of their faith.  This father regularly took them to the Synagogue.  In the boys teen years the family was forced to move to another town in Germany.  This town did not have an active Synagogue, only a Lutheran Church.  Suddenly the father announced that they were all going to abandon their Jewish traditions and join the Lutheran Church.  The life of this community revolved around the Lutheran Church and all the “best people” belonged to it.  When the stunned family asked, “Why?”  The father explained that this would be good for his business.  The boy was bewildered and confused.  His deep disappointment soon gave way to anger and an intense bitterness that plagued him for the rest of his life.

        b.  Later when this boy had become a man he left Germany and went to England to study.  He sat daily at the British Museum formulating his ideas and composing a book.  In that book he introduced a whole new worldview of things and conceived a movement to change the world.  In his book he called religion the “opiate of the masses.”  He urged people to follow a life without God.  His ideas during the 20th Century became the norm for about half of the people of the world.  His name was, of course, Karl Marx, the founder of the communist movement.  Many nations and peoples have suffered because of communism.  And all this can be traced back to one father who let his values become distorted.  Money became his god.  This father held on to the log too long, and the log got hold of him.  However, when we give to God and others, we break this enslaving power of money.

 

D.  Give as a reminder that God is first in your life!

    1.  Divorce Court

        a.  Cowboy Curly Jack was in court suing his wife for divorce.  Curly said to the Judge, “Ever since we got married all she ever does is hound me for money, money, money!”  The Judge asked, “Curly, what does she do with all this money?”  Curly replied, “I don’t rightly know, Judge, I ain’t given her none yet.”

        b.  I’ve known men who proclaim great love for wife and family, but then not given them much.  They proclaim their love, but spend most of their money on themselves.  I’ve known divorced fellows who say they love their children, but fail to make child support payments.  We might ask these men, “Who do you really love?”  Likewise I’ve known people who claim they love the Lord, but then give little to either His Church or to help other people.  Jesus said this:  “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be, also.”  (Matthew 6:21 RSV & Luke 12:34 RSV)  Is God first in your life?

    2.  Diamondbacks

        a.  This year, a lot of people in the valley got excited about the Diamondbacks’ baseball team.  And many of us were sad that they did not make it to the World Series.  I remember back in 2001 when we did make it to the World Series.  We locals were sure swelled up with a lot of civic pride!  The TV ratings of those games set records for garnishing the largest State audience ever!  Team merchandise was so hot that stores were out of D-Back shirts.  Tickets for the games and possible games were sold out in a matter of hours!  No one seemed to mind the prices for World Series tickets.  And they were expensive.  Now I must confess that I did go to one game, but that’s about all that I could afford.  Bleacher seats in the outfield cost $20 during the regular season.  In the playoffs those seats cost $55 each.  For the World Series they cost $110 each!

        b.  We human beings are interesting creatures.  We want our sports team to be Number One!  And we will pay all sorts of money to support them and to be a part of the action!  Sporting events are wonderful entertainment, but we know that there are a number of more important matters in life.  One of these is, of course, your relationship with God.  And if God is truly Number One in your life, then what are you doing to support His Kingdom?  We humans have no trouble investing our time and money into a lot of different activities and things.  Some spend all sorts of money to go to or take part in some sporting event.  Some folks buy an expensive automobile, or spend money on a lavish vacation.  Some folks just have to have the right clothes.  The question for Christians is this:  “How much time and money do you invest in the things of God?”

    3.  Deuteronomy 14:22-23

        a.  God gave us a financial plan to help keep Him first in our lives.  In Deuteronomy 14:22-23 God tells us through Moses to set aside the tithe.  The Holy Bible instructed the Hebrews that a TENTH of all that their fields produce each year is to be brought to God’s sanctuary.  The Bible says, “Do this so that you may learn to have reverence for the Lord your God always.” (Deuteronomy 14:23b TEV)

        b.  The purpose of tithing is to teach you, and to continually help you, to always keep God first in your life.

 

E.  Conclusion:  Recap

    1.  Give in response to all that God has done and will do for you!

    2.  Give as a remedy to the enslaving power of wealth!

    3.  Give as a reminder that God is first in your life!

 

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 NRSV

1When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, 2you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.  3You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, “Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.”  4When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God, 5you shall make this response before the LORD your God:  “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.  6When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, 7we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.  8The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  10So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me.”  You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God.  11Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.

 

 “I Bring to the Lord

the first part of the harvest that He has given me.”

Deuteronomy 26:10a TEV

 

“Set aside the tithe ---

a TENTH of all that your fields produce each year.”

Deuteronomy 14:22 TEV

 

 

Why We Give!

 

1.  Give in response to all that God

                                              has done and will do for you!

 

2.  Give as a remedy

                              to the enslaving power of wealth!

 

3.  Give as a reminder that God

                                                                                      is first in your life!