Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost/Veteran's Day Sunday - 11/08/15 Sermon - “two small copper coins worth a penny"

Sunday 11/08/15 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “two small copper coins worth a penny”

                            

Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 127

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Hebrews 9:24-28

Gospel Lesson: Mark 12:38-44

          Friends, brothers and sisters, I want to welcome you once again, on this the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, and this Veteran’s Day Sunday. Twenty-Four Sundays after the first Christians and the Apostles went forth proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, to a broken and a hurting world. Today, nearly two-thousand years later, we continue that mission of preaching the Good News of healing, of loving, and of building God’s Kingdom here on earth, as we await the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ.

          Today is also a day that we honor our Veteran’s. Specifically, today we honor not just the men and the women who have or are serving in one of the five branches of the armed forces, but we also honor all men and women who protect our rights and freedoms. Today, we honor fire fighters, police officers, first responders, EMT’s, 911 dispatchers, soldiers, and all of the men and women who keep us safe. For without them, we would not be here today. May we be immensely grateful for their service and their labors to our country.

          The call to protect and serve others, is a mighty call indeed. A call that urges us to defend the innocent, to defend the weak, and to defend the helpless. As a church, Jesus Christ has called us to serve the innocent, the weak, and the helpless.

          This means that while there are some places in the world where people are torn down and rejected, that the church must be a place of refuge, a place of peace, a place of Jesus Christ, and a place of healing. In a world that so often seems like that it is a sinking ship, the church must be the life boat.

          Yet the reality is that in order for the church to function, we have to give of our time, our talents, and our resources. Some people might say, “well pastor, the church just wants our money. They don’t care about us.” Yet there are others that may say, “my church is an extension of my family. They are here for me when my world is dark. I give, because when I do, I support the mission of my family.”

          If the Christian Church is a family, then we give of our time, of our talents, and of our resources, so that we, and all of our brothers and sisters may grow in faith. We give so that the church can fulfill its mission of “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

          I like to think of it like this, I give not just because the bible tells me to tithe, but I also give in addition to that, because I believe in the church and in its mission. My hope then, is for people to not only give to the church, because of the biblical call to tithe, but it is my hope that people also give to the church, because they say, “in my church, lives are changed.” They say, “in my church, the suffering are comforted.” They say, “my church was there for me when all was lost.”

          You see Melissa and I give to this church and the other church that I serve, as well as to many other ministries, not just only because it’s biblical, but also because I believe in our mission. I give because I see what happens when I do. As I am getting older, I am also finding that I want less possessions, and instead I want to give more away to others.

          Some might challenge this and say, “well pastor what are the dividends that you draw from your giving?” They might say, “well what good has ever come from your giving?” Well I will answer my question by quoting something that my father said to me. He said, “Paul some people invest in stocks, some people invest in land and real-estate, but you Paul, you invest in people.” I give because the world changes when we come together. I give because I love my family, and I support them. I give, because I have seen lives changed in here, and because God is so good.

          So often, many of us see church giving as merely another bill that we have to account for. For some of us, when we pay bills like our car insurance bill, we might ask, “what do we get back in return for this?” Well when I give to the church, I get the love and blessings of God, I get to know that Malaria in Africa is being abolished. I get the joy of being there for you, for your family, for your children, and for your grandchildren. I get to be there when things are hard. I get to be there when things are impossible. I get to be there to see how God changes us. How we go from sinners to saints. Other than just the bible then, this is why I give. I give to God, because when I do, things happen. I give and trust him with everything that I am and everything that I have, because he is good all the time.

I remember when I was first a pastor in the Adirondack District of this United Methodist Church Conference. One Sunday morning, I almost tripped walking to the altar with the collection plates during a worship service. I did this because I didn’t want to look at the money. I didn’t want to know what people gave. The reason for this, was largely due to the gospel of Mark reading that we have from this morning. This story, also in the gospel of Luke, is the story of the poor widow who gives “two small copper coins worth a penny” as offering to God in the temple (Mk. 12:42b, CEB). In this story that I will get into a little more in a few minutes, a poor woman gave all that she had to God, while wealthy folks gave some of their excess. Yet she gave generously.

Giving then, of our time, our talents, and our resources can be a hard and a stressful thing. Further, whose gifts to God are worth the most? Giving as much as we can to God, is what we are called to do.

          In looking at our reading from Psalm 127 from this morning, it begins by saying, “Unless it is the Lord who builds the house, the builder’s work is pointless” (Ps. 127:1, CEB). For some of us though, we seem to think that this church building and all of this just magically appeared. Further, do we realized what this church has survived through? I mean this church has existed through the Great Depression, World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Disco, and every social and political movement that has occurred in the last one-hundred years. When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969, this church was here.

          Do we think that this church is here just because of our hard work only to keep it going? Don’t get me wrong, our work is a strong part of it, but has God been present in this place from day one? Did God’s love so change people in this place, that they in turn changed others? When these people’s lives and hearts were changed here, did those people not then become part of this church?

          You see we are capable of keeping the church surviving, but do we trust God enough to have a church that goes from surviving to thriving? When we do that, when we love each other like that, the church then becomes strong, we have all that we need, and we continue our mission. I mean how else is it logically possible that the church can still be here? This church has been through so much. I believe that this church is here, because people were loved, they were cared for, they met Jesus Christ as there Lord and savior, and they were changed here. This then unlocked something in them, and they became part of the church. They pursued God, and then God used them to bring others to Christ. These people in turn gave generously to the church, because the church became their family. They might not have had much to give, but they gave generously of what they had. You see God uses us to bring people from the sinking ship of this world, to the life boat of the church. That’s why we give. That’s why we do what we do.

          In looking more closely at the gospel lesson from Mark for this morning, we once again have the story of the “poor widow” who gave “two small copper coins worth a penny” as offering to God in the temple (Mk. 12:42b, CEB).

          Well first off, Jesus talks to us about fakers. In fact he said, “What out for the legal experts. They like to walk around in long robes. They want to be greeted with honor in the markets” (Mk. 12:38, CEB). Jesus then says, “They long for places of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. They are the one who cheat widows out of their homes, and to show off they say long prayers. They will judged most harshly.” (Mk. 12:39-40, CEB).  

          I sometimes joke that people like this are “playing church.” People that “play church, go to church so that it will make them look good. They give, so that they will praised by others. Yet the church continues because we are faithful to God. It continues because people come to know Jesus Christ

           Then the gospel says that, “Jesus sat across form the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crown gave their money. Many rich people were throwing in lots of money” (Mk. 12:41, CEB). After this, the gospel says, “One poor widow came forward and put in tow small copper coins worth a penny” (Mk. 12:42, CEB).

          Now I can guess that people who were in the synagogue or the temple to bring glory to themselves, may have looked down on this poor widow woman. They may have seen her as insignificant.  Yet the gospel then says, “Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I assure you that poor widow has put more that everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury. All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on” (Mk. 12:43-44, CEB).

          Now I don’t think that Jesus is calling us to give away the rent money, our gas money, and etc., but what he is saying is this, give because you want to give. Give because you love God, and give because you believe in the mission of the church. We are biblically supposed to give, but we should want to give.

Imagine a church then, where we gave because we are so in love with God, the church, and its mission. Imagine a church where we give because we are excited, we are blessed, and because we believe that God is doing great things in us and through us.

This is why I give. This is why, when Melissa and I finally sell our house this week, we will be planning to give even more next year. We give because God is good, and because he has blessed so much. The more we get, to more we give.

          So the next time that we walk into this church, the next time we fellowship with our Christian brothers and sisters, let’s remember that it has been prayer and faith in God that has brought us this far. For if we put our trust in the Lord, then the church cannot fail. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Mt. 16:18, NKJV). To me then, this is why the church can be stronger than ever before, this is why we give, and this is why chose to be the church together. For God is good, and we give so that we can honor God, so that we can bring people to Jesus Christ, and so that we can bless others.

          I want to share a story with you about giving called, “Good Corn.” This story was reported in reported in James Bender How to Talk Well (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1994). Here is how it goes:

“There was once a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won first prize. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned the farmer’s strategy for growing winning corn. What was it? Simply this: the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.”

“Why” said the farmer, “don’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”                                               

The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.

I believe my brothers and sisters that when we give to God, we all benefit from the giving. We all benefit from our salvation in Jesus Christ. I believe that we when give, we all become more blessed, that we are all feed, and that we are all cared for. So as we are in the midst of another stewardship season, I would ask us all to pray about and think about our giving to God. For God is so good. Amen.