First Presbyterian Church
Ready to Share
Sermon for September 26, 2004
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Our unison Psalm reading is found on page 548 of your pew Bibles. Listen for the word of God as we read it together from Psalm 91.

1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 will say to the L ORD , "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust."
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence;
4 he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the L ORD your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14 Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name.
15 When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.
16 With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.

Listen to the choir interpret Psalm 91 for us.

Anthem

Jesus told parables about the dangers of riches, and gave the rich advice like “Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

Jesus said “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God ." (Matthew 19:24)

Mary sang “he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. ” (Luke 1:53)

Jesus said “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:24 ) and “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.” (Matthew 12:41)

These were hard words for the rich; how could a community of faith greet any rich member with anything but judgment and distrust? The letter to Timothy offers another approach for the rich. Although the letter is addressed to Timothy, it was a letter for a whole church, guiding them in how to organize their church and live in the Roman world. Our reading is found on page 210. Listen for the word of God as it is found in 1 Timothy 6:7-16.

Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which he will bring about at the right time— he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 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.

This ends our reading from God's word. In 1998, a youth from the Democratic Republic of the Congo came to Triennium. He talked about Psalm 91. Muleba Kasonga quoted from verse 7: “‘a thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.' He said he lived those verses in 1991. President Mobutu Sese Seko, the ex-dictator of Congo, had not paid his soldiers for six months. They became angry and vented their frustrations by breaking into an armory and stealing all of the weapons and ammunition. They then went out and raped and killed people and looted stores. Kasonga's family fell victim to the soldiers, who stormed into his home and took everything.

He said, ‘When my family and I left our ruined home and walked out into the street we could see bullets flying everywhere. The gunshots were literally falling around us, but no one in my family was hurt. The Lord protected us. That night, we had to stay in the military camp, as there was nowhere else to go. This was the same camp that housed the people who had destroyed our home, but even so, no one came near us or touched us or harmed us in any way.'

The next day, Kasonga said, his family found another house to live in while theirs was being rebuilt. He lived there six months and was very happy. Kasonga said he and his family had cause to celebrate because they were alive, their faith was made stronger, and they learned firsthand that God is ‘the Great Protector.'

‘Even though we had no money and very few clothes, we did have food and were clothed and provided for,' Kasonga said. ‘God loves us! God really loves us! And I love Jesus.' (1)

And so Kasonga followed the words from our 1 Timothy reading; he was ‘content with food and clothing,' and rejoiced .

Verse 12 says “Fight the good fight of faith.” It's not about battling, but about athletics; it could be translated “perform the good performance” or “contest the good contest.” Maintaining and living the faith takes the energy and discipline of an athlete. (2)

And so we have to exercise our faith muscles. Part of that exercise is learning to be generous. It's tempting to think that our worldly goods are blessings from God, and that we who have more worldly goods than others are more blessed. “Authored Loring reminds us of the biblical reality: If we have a lot more than we need, we are not blessed —we are in great danger. The more we believe that materialism is the answer, the more we crush the poor and the more alienated we become from ourselves, from God, and from one another.”(3)

Having a lot of money can make us generous or greedy, grateful or fearful. What should our attitude be?

Chaplain William Willimon remembers a discussion about that. “One evening, in a dormitory Bible study group with students, we were taking apart Matthew 22, the passage about Jesus and Caesar's coin.

‘Jesus, should we pay taxes to Caesar?' people ask.

Jesus says, ‘Who's got some of that coinage on him? My pockets are empty.'

A coin is produced .

‘Whose picture is on it?'

‘Er, uh, Caesar's,' the people say.

Jesus tells them, ‘Well, give it to him. But be careful. Don't give to Caesar that which belongs to God.'

End of the lesson.

A student asks, ‘Did I miss something? He didn't answer the question! Should we pay taxes or not?'

‘Yeah,' said another. ‘What's Caesar's and what's God's?'

There was widespread frustration with Jesus in the group. Finally, a student said something quite wise. ‘Perhaps,' she said, ‘when it comes to what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God, we never can be too sure. Maybe Jesus wants us to be permanently uneasy.'” (4)

Sometimes that unease translates into Christians having difficulty talking about money at all, despite the many Bible verse about money. Pastor Doug Oldenberg wrote about a time he learned about stewardship. He writes,

“I was asked by the chair of a community campaign to ask a man in my congregation who had substantial resources to make a leadership gift to their effort.” (I'm guessing a leadership gift is a large, substantial donation to kick off a campaign).

“I tried to beg off since I had just asked this individual for another leadership gift for a different community campaign a few months before, and he had responded with a very generous gift. But the chair insisted , and I finally and reluctantly acquiesced .

After [the man in my congregation and I] attended the campaign dinner, he drove me home and we stood in the dark outside our front door, engaging in conversation. I can remember the exact spot where this happened. I shared with him how awkward I felt asking him for another leadership gift, since he had been so generous with the other campaign a few months before. I will never forget what he said.

Looking me straight in the eye, he said, ‘Doug, never feel awkward asking me or anyone in our church for money. One of your jobs as our pastor is to challenge us to give to others, and to return to God what God has so graciously given to us. Besides, giving brings the greatest joy in the world, and if you don't challenge us to give, you will be depriving us of the greatest joy any human being can experience.' The next week, I received another leadership gift.” (5)

I appreciated Doug's story about how not to hesitate to ask a rich person for a donation to a community campaign. One of the reasons we find it hard to ask for money is that it means we are needy. But when we ask for something besides ourselves, it's a little easier—we're just giving them an opportunity to give.

I was a little surprised to hear the advice in First Timothy: “command the [rich] not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” What sort of power did Timothy have, that he could command people? So I checked on that verb ‘command' and it can also mean ‘instruct,' or ‘give directions.' It's a little softer, and seems more realistic in a church.

The author goes on to say “They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 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.”

It says the rich are to be generous, and ready to share. It doesn't say they have to fund the whole church where Timothy serves; it doesn't say they must bankrupt themselves. It says they have to be ready to share. We who are rich don't give some of our wealth away just because the church needs it; we give it away so we can take hold of the life that really is life; so that our wealth won't get in the way of our salvation.

I think it's important that the rich are a part of the church, so that no one has to ask them awkwardly for a ‘leadership gift.' If rich members are made to feel welcome and a part of the church, they will know to give the money, without being commanded to or even instructed .

I think of Mildred Rogers. Forty or so years ago, she knew the need of the church, and she gave a substantial amount of money for an endowment so the church could use the interest to finish paying all its bills. Carolyn Watkins did the same some years after. Decades later, their gifts are still helping us finish paying the bills, and allowing our tithes and offerings to do more than they could alone.

With the interest from our endowment, and the regular tithes and offerings people pledge, this church now finds itself in a position of being rich. And we need to hear the words from 1 Timothy: do good, be rich in good works, be generous, and ready to share. And so the questions we need to answer are ‘What good works should we do? In what way can we be generous? Who should we be ready to share with?' In short, ‘how can we be good stewards of the surplus we will have?' And so the session embarked on this Strategy of Stewardship plan. The papers are in Rogers Hall. Please read them and write your comments on them. The elders hope your comments will develop into a long-range plan for mission and service.

One elder told me “our church's mission used to be to get by as best we could, knowing that we could never get far ahead. But our mission is not so simple now. To whom much is given, much is expected.” The gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to be generous, not greedy, and grateful, rather than fearful. As individuals, we are asked to follow Jesus. As a church, we are committed to proclaiming the gospel of generosity and grace. Let us all be ready to share.

(1) Shipp, Julian, “1998 Presbyterian Youth Triennium is Largest Ever,” News Briefs, PC(USA). Aug.7, 1998, p. 5.

(2)New Interpreter's Bible, XI, p. 829 .

(3) Stroube, Nibs, Monday Morning, Dec. 4, 2000, p. 16.

(4) Willimon, William H. “The Sin of Smugness,” Christian Century, Aug 28-Sept. 10, 2002, p. 11.

(5) “Two Stewardship Stories,” The Presbytery Pages, vol. 23, no. 9, p. 1-2.