Sunday
11/19/17 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “When they say, “There is peace and
security”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 123
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Gospel Lesson:
Matthew 25:14-30
My friends, my sisters and brothers in Christ, welcome once
again on this our Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost.
This morning, on this Stewardship or Pledge Sunday, I am
tasked with discussing stewardship, giving, and sacrifice. I remember growing
up in various churches, sometimes hearing the preacher quote scriptures like
Genesis 14:19-20. What does Genesis 14:19-20 say? It says this, speaking of Abram,
who would then be called Abraham:
“He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by
God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has
delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him one-tenth of everything”
(Gen. 14:19-20).
I have heard preachers at churches that my family attended,
or in general, whether on stewardship or pledge Sundays, or other Sundays,
hammer home scriptures like this. Sometimes to me, it sounded like extortion! It
was like pay me now, or else! When I used to do “Walk to Emmaus” spiritual
retreat weekends, the cost for the weekend about $65 dollars per person. We would
have a sermon given to raise money for the weekend, which we jokingly called “The
Sermon on the Amount”. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t like talking
about money.
If we read the various scriptures on giving in both the Old
and New Testaments though, we will read that God is asking us to give one-tenth
of all that we have to him. We hear pastors and priests say often to us from 2 Corinthians
9:7b:
“for
God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7b, NRSV).
Yet I have read in
various places that the average American gives about 2-3% of their income to
the church that they belong to.
Why is this happening? Well, I have some very good thoughts
on this? Do you want to hear what they are?
Let me start by asking all of you this question: for those
of you that have kids, grandkids, and great grandkids, if it was an emergency,
how many of you by a show of hands would freely give 10-percent of everything
you had to them? For those who had their hands up, I ask you this question: why
would you do that? You are not obligated under any law to give your children,
grandchildren, or great grandchildren 10-percent of what you have. In fact, you
are not obligated under law to leave any inheritance to your children, if you do
not want to. Nor are you obligated under any civil law to give to your church.
Therefore, I could stand here this morning and tell you all
to give your children 10-percent of everything you have today after church. If
I asked you all to do that, which I am not literally doing, how many of you, by
a show of hands, would honestly go home and do that? How many of you would give
10-percent of everything you had to your children though, if you believed in
what they needed the 10-percent for? They were going to school. They were
getting married. They were buying a house. They were raising money for charity,
and etc. The point is, we give when we believe in what we are giving to.
If one of your children had a terrible disease, and the
money that you have could be used to save their life, would you spend it? All
of it? You are not required by law to do so, but you might because you love
your child, and believe in the healing that they need.
Giving, my brothers
and sisters, I believe, is between us and God. I don’t know much anyone in this
church gives, and I don’t ever want to know, because it is between you and God.
As I said though, I have heard preacher’s pound home to church congregations that
they must give 10-percent of everything that they have to the church.
Imagine
if one of your children came into your house today and just demanded that you
give them 10-percent of your money, how many of you would say “tough luck kid?”
Yet if your child really needed it, and you believed in what they needed it
for, wouldn’t you be much more likely to give it them?
On some level, this is the problem that I believe we are
facing in many churches in the United States. We do also have folks that have
hairline budgets, and they simply just don’t have a free 10-percent. Giving
though, isn’t just about money, it is also our time, our service, and using our
gifts and graces to glorify God, through his son Jesus Christ. God doesn’t need
our money, but we give, hopefully, because we believe in what we are giving to.
I give to our relief organization, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, or
UMCOR, because I believe in what it does and what it represents. If someone
told me however, that I had to give to UMCOR, I would probably say, “You can’t
make me!” You see how this works?
Further, I can be very stubborn sometimes. If a pastor for
example gets up to preach with a $2,000 dollar suit on, and then demands that I
give him 10-percent of my pay, well good luck with that! Yet there were times
that I had pastors in my life that were passionate about Jesus Christ and his
gospel. Pastors that served, loved, visited, and truly cared for and the
people. I have been in churches where the pastor and the people were there for
me, that loved me, and because of this, I gave freely. I didn’t give freely
because I was told to do so. Instead, I gave freely, because I believed in the
pastor, that they loved me and my family, that they loved Jesus, that the
church loved me and my family, and that they were making a difference in the world.
I was a cheerful giver.
In addition to all of this, we are also living in era where
we have some churches that are shrinking, or that are literally on the brink of
closure. People have asked me, “Pastor Paul, what if no one gives to the churches
that you are serving”? I usually say to them, “Then they will close.” They then
they often say, “Aren’t you worried about that?” My answer used to be yes, but
not anymore.
You see, the mission of the United Methodist Church, is “To
make disciples of Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the world”. Do I give
to support the two local churches that I serve? I do. I don’t give just to give
though. I give because believe in my churches, I believe in all of you, and I
believe in our mission. All of these reasons is why a church this day in age, I
believe, is growing and is not declining. People don’t just want to be part of
an institution, and they don’t just want to be told to give. People want to
believe in what they participating in, and giving to. This is exactly the
reason that so money of us hate paying taxes.
If you look at many of the scriptures on giving in the Old
and New Testament, often the giving was done out of gratitude and love. Did
everyone always feel this way, no probably not, but on this Stewardship or
Pledge Sunday, as you are considering your giving to this church, I would ask you
to do two things. One, pray, and discern what God would have you do. Two, I would
ask that you believe in this church, in the people in it, that you would believe
that your pastor loves you, loves your family, and prays for you. I hope and pray
that you know that you have a pastor and a church that are here for you, and we
have a mission that is helping to change this community and this world. I give,
because I believe in what we are doing, and I hope that you do to. We also have
good coffee to.
Last Sunday, we were given lectionary readings that were apocalyptic,
or “Eschatological” in nature. Once again, the word, “Eschatology,” is the
study of the “last things,” or the second coming of Christ, or heaven and hell,
or the final judgment, and etc.
In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s first epistle or
letter to the church in Thessalonica, or the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul
continues on writing with apocalyptic, or “Eschatological” themes about the
second coming of Jesus Christ to earth.
In this scripture, the Apostle Paul writes in 5:3a:
“When they say, “There is peace and
security” (1 Thess. 5:3a, NRSV).
This of course, is where I got my sermon title for this
morning. So, whether you are reading this scripture as Eschatology, as concerning
the second coming of Jesus Christ to earth, or if you are reading it some other
way, it seems obvious to me that the Apostle Paul is telling us to put our trust
in God.
In your pew bibles, this is all subtitled in 1
Thessalonians 5 under the subtitle: “The
coming of the Lord”. The Apostle Paul begins this reading by saying:
“Now
concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written
to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come
like a thief in the night. When they say, “There is peace and security,” then
sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant
woman, and there will be no escape!”
(1 Thess. 5:1-3,
NRSV).
Now
if we believe that the Apostle Paul is asserting Eschatological themes here,
meaning that he is talking about the return to earth of Jesus Christ, then it
is pretty clearly stated. It is also stating that the return of Christ will
happen suddenly, and perhaps when we don’t expect if. If any pastor ever tells
you that they know the day or the time of Christ’s return, run out of that
church. Scripture tells us that no one will know the day or the hour, except
that Father in heaven.
The apostle Paul then encourages us to stay
spiritually awake, to be ready, to be vigilant, to be prepared, and to trust in
Jesus.
The Apostle Paul ends this reading, by telling us”
“Therefore encourage one
another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11, NRSV).
This
final verse of this reading, to me, is about the nature of the church. That we
are supposed to love, encourage, build up, and serve each other, and the world.
In believing in our church, in our mission, and in putting our trust in Jesus
Christ, the church will be strong. When this happens, the church then becomes
funded, because of our faith, not because we are forced to give. The church is
strong when our faith in the mission is strong.
I
gave a sermon once that was a quote from the Rev. Billy Graham. The sermon
title was called “A U-Haul behind a hearse”. Billy Graham famously said, that
he never saw “A U-Haul behind a hearse”. This means that all of the things that
we accumulate on this earth, cannot come with us to heaven, to glory.
The
reality is, is that years from now, most people will never know that we even existed.
Yet our faith, our love, and what we do here on this earth will echo in
eternity with Jesus Christ. Most of us will be nameless to history, but
faithful to God for eternity. As United Methodists, we don’t just believe in
Jesus, and just have pot luck dinners, which are important. We also live our
faith. We help cure diseases, provide clean drinking water, feed the hungry,
serve the least of these, and etc.
My
brothers and sisters, I truly believe that this church can one day be a full
time pastorate again. I believe that this church can continue to grow and rise.
I believe that this church can continue living into our mission in new and a powerful
ways, and because of this, I am asking you to believe strongly in what we are
doing here. That we are glorifying God, bringing people to the saving grace of
Jesus Christ, watching them be filled with Holy Spirit, equipping them, and
them sending them out into the community and the world, to serve, love, heal,
and transform.
In
briefly mentioning our gospel of Matthew reading for this morning, we have a
pro-banking parable or story from Jesus. In this story, one servants is given
5-talents, which is a sum of money. One servant is given two-talents, and the
final servant is giving one talent. The servant with 5-talents doubles the
money, as does the servant with two talents. The servant with one talent though,
buried it in the ground, and the money did not grow like the other servants grew
the money that they were given. This servant or slave that buried the one
talent, was thrown out into the darkness, were “there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth” (Mt. 25:30b, NRSV).
In
this parable, God is asking us to serve him, asking us to use the gifts that he
has given us. We have all been given different gifts, and in different amounts,
but it up us to decide what do with them.
You
see my sisters and brothers, there is only one thing that we can give God that
God does not already have. That one thing, is our obedience and our love. We
have to choose to say yes to God, to Jesus, to the Holy Spirit.
I
don’t know about you, but I like to say yes, when I believe that my pastor is
the real deal, that my church is the real deal, that I am loved by my pastor and
my church, and when my church is actively pursuing its mission in transforming
the world. That’s the kind of church that I want to give to. That’s the kind of
church that I want to support. As one of my seminary professor’s book titles
says, that’s a “Church worth getting up for”.
Sisters
and brothers, on this day, I am asking you to believe anew, believe in what God
has called you and this church to. Believe that the Holy Spirit can continue to
lead us to brighter and brighter tomorrow. Amen.
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