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DEFYING GRAVITY: When We Get it RightRev. Dr. Patti Agnew Luke 9:23-25 NRSV

Nov. 12, 2017 Covenant / Nov. 19, 2019 St. Paul’s

INTRODUCTIONFinancial gravity. Do you feel it? Do you feel that pull to be active consumers? To spend your money? To get more stuff? Financial gravity refers to those forces in our life that lure us into the kingdom of self and away from the kingdom of God.How do we defy this financial gravity? By seeing ourselves as stewards of all we have. By walking the path of generosity. This takes intention, it takes planning, and it takes a leap of faith.

VIDEO: Blob

Now, what in the world does this video have to do with financial gravity? With generosity?Well, generosity is a lot like this blob. It launches others and brings about joy! Rather than just gathering our resources for ourselves, Jesus wants us to use our resources to be a launch pad of blessing for other people.This video took place at a camp called Summer’s Best Two Weeks. The inflated raft is called the “blob.” First you have to jump onto the blob, which is fun, if not a little scary. Even a little boring. But once you jump onto it, you climb to the other end and that’s when the real fun begins! A second person jumps onto the blob and launches the first person into the air! Woo Hoo!

Did you notice Tony at the end of the video. He was scared to jump. It was too high for him. He was up there a long time, contemplating his situation. Should he jump or not? Just like a lot of people with generosity. He gets the concept, but he doesn’t want to take the risk. He finally mustered up the courage. He jumped reluctantly. Tony took the risk. Then he crawled to the other end. He still looks a little worried. Then he is launched, and his face is suddenly filled with joy! Woo Hoo!!! When we are generous, we launch people into joy. We bless others.

I want to share the story Tom Berlin, the author of this book, Defying Gravity. Tom shares that he was raised going to church. When he was a small boy, his parents gave him allowance and then taught him and his brother to put a portion into the offering plate on Sunday. So each week, he counted his pennies and decided how many to put in the offering plate. One Sunday he put in a whole nickel! He was so proud of himself. Then he got a paper route. Now he was flush! He made a lot of money for a boy his age. He talks about buying his own candy, movie tickets, and whoopee cushions. He had power. He had money. He had independence! Then one day his parents asked him how much he was going to give to the church. Give? Just give away? That sounded like a poor business decision. Of course, he liked buying things, it felt like a gain. He got stuff he wanted. And he felt good about saving, because then someday he would get a big item, like a baseball mitt. But giving away money? That felt like losing to him. He did not feel any joy in giving, only loss and sacrifice.

Financial gravity exposes our resistance to giving, it reveals areas we are stingy. We all have areas we are generous and areas we hold on tight. To grow as a follower of Jesus is to be generous in more and more ways. For me, I am stingy with the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins I make. Living alone, I am used to making a batch and having them last a few weeks. But this summer when my kids were home, I made a batch and they were gone in two days! And I only got to eat 2! I put rations on the muffins. We each could only eat 2 each day. We had to make them last! I’m generous with a lot of things…but not my baked goods!

Tom knew he should put money in the offering plate, that he should give it away to the church, but he had trouble letting go of his money. He was like Tony, standing on the platform, reluctant to jump off. Tom continues telling his story. Years

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later he met a wonderful woman. They started dating. She told him that if he wanted to marry her, he had to tithe. He was in love. Plus they didn’t have much; they were both in college. He agreed. Then they got married, she finished school, and she got a job. And that first Sunday at church, she got out their checkbook. She wrote a check for 10% of what she would get paid that month. She handed him the check to put in the offering plate. He looked at it. He couldn’t believe how much it was for! He was shocked. They couldn’t afford that. They couldn’t just give it away to the church. They needed it. She had a big smile on her face. She was so filled with joy to be able to make a significant contribution. She knew she was launching people. Her gift would help support worship so others could come and be inspired and comforted like her. Her gift would help fund the children’s and youth ministry, so young people could learn about God. Her gift would support all the missions the church did; collectively they made a big difference in the community. She knew her church was a launching pad of blessing. Her heart was filled with joy. His heart was filled with fear. The offering plate came by, and he couldn’t let go of the check. She gave him a look. Finally, he let it go. Reluctantly. He says that he still felt like giving was losing. He continued to give reluctantly for 5 years before he began to feel any joy in it. 5 years! It is hard to break free from financial gravity. It takes time. Sometimes we have to do the right thing for a while before we feel the joy in it!Eventually, he too, discovered the joy in giving. The joy of launching others. The joy of generosity.

My friend and colleague, Jerry Herships, and his church After Hours, feeds hungry people a sack lunch every day in Civic Park in Denver. There are days that the 100 lunches they make are not enough. On those days, he has countless stories of men in the front of the line sharing their lunch with those in the back of the line who didn’t get any. They never fight over the lunches—they share. They who have little are generous with what they do have. In fact, it has been my experience that the less people have, the more likely they are to be generous with it.

When I was in seminary, I joined a group of students on a mission trip to Costa Rica. We stayed at a retreat center amongst many little villages. This camp was in the mountains, on the side of a volcano in fact, which grumbled the whole time we were there. We led vacation bible school. The first day we walked into the villages to invite the children. The homes were simple huts with dirt floors. The people were very poor, but they were happy. When the kids came, they came with huge smiles on their faces. For snack time, McDonald’s had donated gallons of orange punch and wax paper cups with Ronald McDonald on them. The kids loved the cups! When snack time was over, we were gathering up the trash but these kids would not throw away their cups. The cups were now prized possessions to take home and share. I came away from Costa Rica with two main impressions. I personally hadn’t encountered such poverty before. But I also had not encountered so much joy before from a group of people! They were genuinely happy, even though they had so little. I have always remembered their joy.

In fact, Patricia Greenfield has done a study on families in in Chiapas, Mexico over the course of 40 years (Defying Gravity, p. 99-100). Though many families were experiencing subsistence poverty when she began the study 40 years ago, over the years they grew in their financial security. Greenfield discovered an important correlation. The more wealth people enjoyed, the more individualistic and self-oriented they became. The pull of financial gravity is real. Generosity doesn’t come naturally. Hoarding does. Being stingy is natural. Keeping stuff for ourselves. Generosity is a reminder that we are God’s stewards. The focus of our life is no longer what brings us quick satisfaction. Through the practice of generosity, we launch others and discover lasting joy. Sometimes we are like Tony; we have to muster up the courage to jump. We are reluctant to give. But when we do, we discover joy.

Sometimes when we talk about stewardship in the church, we get the feeling God is after our money. But the reality is, God wants so much more than just our money. God wants us. Listen to this teaching in Luke 9:23-25 NRSV: ““23 Then Jesus said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. 25 What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?”

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There is a cost to following Jesus. This is not self-denial for suffering’s sake. This is self-denial in order to follow Jesus. Jesus addresses the great paradox of discipleship…as we give up life we will find it. As we give stuff away, we find joy. As we lose our life, we save it. Financial gravity teaches us to amass wealth to preserve our happiness and security. Jesus teaches us to give it away. And this is done daily. Every day we stand on the platform with an opportunity to jump into a blob and launch another person into joy. Every day we make choices about being generous. How can we use our resources to honor God? To fulfill God’s purposes for our lives and for the world? To launch people?

There are many practicing of giving lifted up in scripture. There are many models for generosity. I encourage you to pick one that seems meaningful and challenging to you. Then take a leap of faith into generosity and launch others. You may find life! In Scripture we find these practices:

➢ First fruits: this is the practice of giving God our first fruits. It was most common in agricultural societies. The

first cut of alfalfa, the first harvest, the first calf that is born. This is planned giving, a practice of giving first, before it all comes in—not waiting until we see how big the harvest is, then deciding how much to give. It is acting on faith, taking a risk, and giving first.

➢ Proportional giving: this is the practice of predetermining a certain portion to give. Choose what portion you will

give and do that. It is determining an amount before you get your paycheck and giving that. It’s always harder to decide how much to give away when it is in your hand.

➢ Tithe: this is the practice of giving 10% to God. 10% may feel like a lot. In that case, work your way up to it. And

don’t ask me if it is 10% gross or net. That is between you and God.

➢ Sacrificial Giving: this is a standard of giving that goes beyond. It is choosing to sacrifice something in order to

give more. Maybe you give up cable TV. Maybe you give up Starbucks on Mondays. The example Jesus lifted up was a poor widow who gave just 2 small coins. They represented a fortune to her. This practice teaches us to depend on God to provide.

In all these methods of giving, there is one foundational principle; stewardship. That is key, shifting our mindset from consumer to steward, viewing everything we have as a gift from God. God calls us to use our resources and our influence for good. The guiding principle is generosity, not stinginess, and not giving only the minimum you can get away with. But generous sacrificial giving—that is what Jesus did. And that is what he calls his followers to do.

MY STORYI grew up in a family like Tom’s. I was expected to give money to God every week. In Sunday school, we had a wooden church bank we put our money into. At first mom and dad gave me money. But when I had a job, I had to do it myself. It felt good to contribute to the larger church. To know that while my gift wasn’t large, it made a difference when paired with everyone else’s gifts. I tithed for years. But then life got more difficult. I found myself a single mother trying to support two children on a small income. I had to make careful choices about how I spent each penny. My giving went down. And I was OK with that because I was trying to provide the basics for my family and I couldn’t do it on my own. Others were helping us out. Just when I ran out of money, a grocery gift card would appear on my desk. It was amazing. I still don’t know how we made it through. My girls and I were launched by other’s giving. It was a blessing. But now I’ve gotten lazy. I’ve been convicted while reading this book and preparing these sermons. As my financial burden is not so severe and my income has increased, I do give more, but it is too easy. I’m committing to challenge myself in my giving, to take the next step into sacrificial giving.

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Where are you in your generosity? Where does your generosity reign and where does stinginess hold on? What is keeping you from jumping off the platform and launching someone?

Each of us can defy financial gravity. It does not take a lot of money, but it does take intention and sacrifice. As we grow into generosity, we discover joy—maybe not at first, but it will come. I can tell you that many a time I have regretted a purchase I have made. Never have I regretted giving money away. What about you? May we undertake practices of generosity that launch others. May we take up our resources daily and offer them to God.In a minute we are going to celebrate the Last Supper. When you come forward to receive the elements, we ask you to bring your commitment/pledge cards as an act of dedication to the Lord and to the church. We have baskets up here to collect them in.

● If you have already turned one in, thank you.● If you haven’t filled one out yet, and want to, they are available in the foyer. You can grab one and fill it out, then

bring it forward.● If you forgot and want to think about it more, that is fine to. Please turn them in sooner rather than later—it helps

us with our financial planning for the church.● If you aren’t ready to submit a pledge card, that is fine too.● As each of us comes forward with or without a pledge card, we each come ready to receive the gift of life in the

bread and juice, offering ourselves to God.

The Last SupperWhen Jesus was preparing for the cross, he knew this was the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. He had been physically present with his disciples, walking through the towns, teaching, healing, laughing, and eating. He wanted to prepare them for the next chapter when he would not be physically present with them. He wanted them to know that he was still with them. He wanted them to remember this time.

So he gathered them around the table and they shared a meal together. He took the bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat. This is my body broken for you.” He gave them physical nourishment that would sustain them spiritually as well. Then he took the cup. He gave thanks, gave it to his disciples saying, “Drink of this all of you. This is my blood for the new covenant. As you drink from this cup, remember me.” Again, a drink to nourish their bodies and their souls. And, they did remember. As the believers began gathering again after the resurrection, they regularly shared this meal to nourish their bodies and hearts. It launched them to live lives of blessing of others. And so we ask the Holy Spirit to come heal us, nourish us, empower us, and launch us. So that we might be able to launch others into joy and blessing. Come, Holy Spirit, come.