The Generous Hearted Church

The Generous Church (2 Corinthians 8:7-15)

Rob Tennant, HillSong Church, Chapel Hill, NC

Sunday, June 28, 2015

            A Christian who lives in Carrboro, NC reads his paper and finds himself horrified by the actions of the ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq. 

A church-going family feels themselves filled with joy and warmth as all five of them, Mom, Dad, and the kids gather round to read the letter from the child they sponsor in Ethiopia. 

We as a family of believers last week wept for a church in another states, South Carolina where there was a shooting. 

In a one of our church small group’s prayer meetings, there is mention of a friend known to only one of the group’s members, yet everyone in the group prays with deep feeling and genuine passion for that request.

            Why?  That Carrboro disciple of Jesus does not know a soul in Syria or Iraq.  He has never been out of the United States.  Why is in any way affected by what is happening in that part of the world?

            That church family has never met the Ethiopian child they help go to school with their monthly sponsorship dollars.  Why do they care so much about her?  They don’t know her.  So why do they act, seriously, as if Hyatt is a member of their family?

            I don’t know anyone in Emmanuel Church in Charleston and before June 17, I did not of the church’s existence.  What made it so natural for me to ask our church to pray for them and grieve with them? What ties us to them?

            In the prayer group, someone says, “Could we pray for my friend’s boss.  His marriage is falling apart.  His name is Chris.”  No one in the group knows Chris.  Yet the group prays.  What is going on?

            Much of the New Testament is made up of letters written by early leaders to encourage congregations that existed throughout the Mediterranean world.  Most of these letters, called epistles, were written by Paul who made several long journeys, planting churches as went from Jerusalem, through Turkey and Greece and finally all the way to Rome.  One of the churches he struggled with the most was the church in Achaia, which was in Corinth. He wrote two letters to the Corinthians.

In 1^st Corinthians 16, Paul writes, “Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia. ² On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come. ³ And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem.”

Time passes, Paul’s relationship with the Corinthian church grows tense, and he eventually writes other letters including the material we find in 2^nd Corinthians.  He wants the believers there to give money weekly.  He will pick it up and take it to provide for the needs of the poor Christians in Jerusalem.

I can imagine one or two Corinthians asking, why should we care about Jerusalem?  What is that to us?  Indeed, what is it that drives the people who find their identity in Christ to acts of kindness, prayer, and financial generosity?

In 2^nd Corinthians 8:7-8, Paul names several of the themes he’s identified previously.  He tells the Corinthians, “Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you^[d]—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.”  He mentioned faith, hope and love in 1^st Corinthians, and here again, love is of highest importance.  This time love is seen in generosity. 

On more than one occasion Jesus was asked, “What is the top commandment?”  He always gave the same answer.  , “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor, your fellow human beings as you love yourself.”  All the law and the prophets, in other words, every holy word every written in scripture hangs on how we love God and love people.

Paul builds on this foundation in Romans 12, 1^st Corinthians 13, Galatians 5 where it is the first of the fruit of the Spirit, and here.  Paul wants the Corinthians to give money – a lot of money.  The Jewish Christ followers in Jerusalem desperately need this.  But for Paul it is not just a matter of accomplishing the goal.  It is also about the growth of the Corinthians as disciples.  He wants them to be filled with joy as they give the gift.  He says in 8:8, “I am testing the genuineness of your love.”

Does Paul have the right do that?  I think this feels presumptuous and needlessly blunt.  Who does he think is?  But then, we proceed to verse 9 where we find ourselves at the heart of the matter.

 “You know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul reminds the church, “that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”

Jesus was rich.  Before he was born in that Bethlehem stable, Jesus existed in the joy of the trinity as God the Son, the eternal one.  He basked in the glory of God and he left that glory and took on humanity.  In Philippians Paul writes Jesus emptied himself.  He was rich – as rich as words can describe.  And he left that behind to enter the feeble poverty of human life.  This is the incarnation – God with us when God did not have to do it and we did not earn it.  This is grace.  This is the gospel story – what God has done for us in Christ.

Paul emphasizes that his action, taking poverty of sinful humanity upon himself was effective.  By his poverty – specifically meaning his death on the cross – the Corinthians and all Jesus’ followers became rich.  That is, when we are in Christ, we anticipate the abundance of Heaven.  Whatever our lives are like on earth, we know we will live in God’s luxury.  We have the promise of eternity.

Moreover, today, as we live in service to God and in the joy of God, we have the richness of relationships.  We live in the love of God and the love of neighbor.  It all comes to us by Jesus’ sacrificial acts of leaving Heaven to walk as a human and then dying on the cross to take our place in death. 

To collect money and give it to believers they had never met was not something the Corinthians did as a kind of a great spiritual accomplishment.  Nor is it so for us.  We do not sponsor children from impoverished places so we can earn Heavenly street-cred.  We do not give our money or invest our time or shed our tears or pour out our prayers to God on behalf of strangers because we want accolades.  We do not strive for goodness and righteousness so that in the eyes of God and men we are highly.  At least we not live Godly lives for those reasons, not if they followed Paul’s reasoning.

Why do we care about people we don’t know?  Why do people we will never meet in person burden our hearts and inspire to give and pray and act?  It is because of Jesus.  Generosity is a response to the riches we have received.   

The generous church is the body of Christ-followers who know that they are who they are because of what Jesus did.  We are alive, joy-filled, and bound for eternity because God loves us, Jesus died for us, and the Spirit lives in us.  We know we are a created people – a people re-created as we realize what the cross and resurrection means.

It strips away any arrogance we might conjure up.  Some in the church have done a lot in the eyes of men in terms of income, education, and social status.  But we all stand on equal footing – no matter our jobs, our titles, or other measures of status.  We join hands as people who realize our dependence on God and our love for one another. 

In verses 13-14, Paul tells his readers, “it is a question of a fair balance between ¹⁴ your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance.”  In the Kingdom of God, no one goes hungry because everyone cares about everyone else.  Knowing we have been saved by grace, we strive for this mutual caring on this side of Heaven.  While waiting for the Lord’s return, in dependence on the Holy Spirit, we live into the Kingdom reality that will be ultimately fulfilled When Jesus comes.

By involving the Gentiles with the Jewish Christ-followers in Jerusalem, Paul may have imagined a fulfillment of the prophecy, Isaiah 55:5, which says, “Nations that do not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel.”

For Paul Corinth was the nation that did now know.  In giving their offering to relieve the poverty of the Jerusalem church, they were “running to” Israel to be joined to God’s people.  They did this because of the Holy One of Israel, Jesus.  In Isaiah 60:5, the prophet says the wealth of the nations shall come to Israel, the home of the people of God.  Paul envisioned the embodiment of this prophecy in the action of the Greek-speaking churches donating money to feed the hungry Jerusalem Christians.  He saw the grand narrative of God’s story playing itself out. 

Can we see at Paul saw?  Can we commit to generosity as a gratitude response to the grace we’ve been given by God in Christ?

We’re going to take communion this morning.  We’re going to take Communion by coming forward and taking the bread, Christ’s body, and the cup, his blood.  As you stand in the line, moving forward, consider Paul’s joy as he carried the collection to Jerusalem.  Ponder the hearts of the Corinthian believers as they put their contributions in for brothers in Christ they’d never meet.  Imagine this movement of money to the city as if it were the Nations streaming to Jerusalem, to God, to Christ.

Now think about that Ethiopian child who is sponsored; and the Syrian believers huddled in a refugee camp; and believers in African American churches across America, and white churches joining with them, reaching for unity in Christ.  Imagine all these in the line walking up to receive the bread and cup, the body and blood. 

See yourself, one forgiven, made new, called in Christ.  As you walk up and see your friends who have worshipped with you today, realize the hospitality of Christ who is the one that invites you to this table.  In eating and drinking, open your heart to His Spirit.  As you do this and we do this, He makes us the generous church, filled with gratitude, ready to give because we know doing so announces the grace of God.

AMEN

Satan, Get Behind Us (Mark 8:31-39)

Satan, Get Behind Us (Mark 8:31-39)

Sunday, March 1, 2014 - 2nd Sunday Lent

            Jesus, in a private session with his disciples, explained that he, their teacher, the one they had watched calm storms at sea and conquer demons, must suffer.  The religious leaders and legal experts would reject him.  He would be killed.  It was coming.  It was inevitable.  Mark says in verse 32 that Jesus said this openly.  Throughout Mark’s gospel people heard Jesus but did not know what he was saying.  Misunderstanding was a consistent theme, but not here.  This was not cryptic.  Nothing was left for interpretation.  They would have no trouble getting the message, just difficulty swallowing it.

            Especially Peter.  It was too much.  He heard Jesus say, “the son of man must undergo great suffering … and be killed,” and that is all Peter heard.  Jesus said more, but Peter could not hear any more.  I imagine he grabbed Jesus by the arm and pulled him off to the side for a one-on-one session.

            Lord, you can’t say stuff like this.  You can’t lose your nerve, not now.  You’re scaring the other disciples.  I just stood up among everyone and put myself out there.  I have thrown my lot in with you.  I declared you the Messiah.  The Messiah restores Israel.  Don’t you know the stories, Jesus?  The Messiah makes things right.  The Messiah does not die.  We’ve followed you this far.  Now don’t lose the message.  No more talk about suffering.  You are Israel’s Messiah.  You can’t die. 

            Peter missed a key part of what Jesus said.  He mentioned being rejected, suffering, and being killed.  Right after that he said the Son of Man, which is how Jesus refers to himself in Mark, would rise from death.  But none of them expected the Messiah to be resurrected prior to the last day.  So novel was the idea of the Messiah’s resurrection preceding the general resurrection of all people the disciples simply did not hear it when Jesus said it.

Peter’s worldview demanded that he see everything in existence as it related to God’s selection of Israel as of his special people.  Sure, Peter wanted God to heal the sick, bring justice, and make the world right.  But that would happen when God set things right in Israel through the Messiah.  The world would be redeemed after Israel was established as the center of all human activity.  The Messiah would do this.  Peter believed Jesus was that Messiah.

            In fact Jesus was going to make the world right, but not in the way that Peter and most people in first century Israel anticipated.  The crucifixion was absolutely necessary.  Jesus had to die for us so we would not be eternally separated from God by our sins.  The resurrection was absolutely necessary because it was the signal that the death of our bodies would be a prelude to our resurrection.  Jesus gave the disciples the entire plan so that after he rose, they could understand the gospel and carry it throughout the earth.

           

            By sharing the plan with the disciples, Jesus was giving them a part in it.  Satan could not prevent this, but Satan could distract the disciples so that they failed to receive the invitation they had been given. 

Oh, you have been invited to follow this guy and to tell everyone that their sins can be forgiven when they turn to Him, give their hearts to Him, and follow Him.  Don’t believe it.  That’s the lie the enemy, the devil, whispered in the disciples’ ears.  He’s telling you the Messiah has to suffer and die at the hands of the religious leaders?  Whoever heard such nonsense?  That’s Satan.  He can’t hurt Jesus or those under Jesus’ protection.  But the disciples still had free will and could freely walk away from Jesus or impede Jesus’ progress in carrying out God’s design.  Satan could not get to Jesus, but could he derail Jesus’ followers?

Can he do so today?

We live as Christ followers in a family, a church family.  We don’t just come here because we like coming.  We come because we are invited by God.  God has purposes for us that are the same as those he gave the disciples.  We continue the work begun in them.  Our mission is to announce that Jesus is Lord and to help people become His followers.  We are to follow Him and help others join us as His disciples.  We are commissioned by the same Holy Spirit that formed the church in Acts chapter 2.

Our focus has to stay on who we are in Christ and who He is calling us to be and what He is calling us to think, say, and do.  Satan can’t stop us, but can put other thoughts in our minds.  We have to say to whatever distraction arises, “Get behind us, Satan!  For you are drawing our minds not to divine things, but to Human things.”  We need to keep our minds on the divine work God has given and the holy lives to which God has called us in Christ.Satan is right now trying to seduce HillSong into ignoring God’s word for us and instead focusing on human things.  We have to agree to say together, “Get behind us Satan.”

An example of Satan’s tactics can be seen in our church’s finances.  The report is in the bulletin each month and if you read that then you know we are way behind for January and February.  HillSong’s receipts are made up your tithes and we also have income from students who rent parking spaces, and outside groups that use our facility.  From these receipts we pay salaries, fund missions, pay the light bill, and any other costs that arise.  Currently our receipts are behind our costs.

The leaders of our church need to know this and pay attention to it and we are.  Satan wants our leaders to obsess about it.  Satan tells the truth, but manipulates it.  You know, since the beginning of last summer, eight families have left the church and they are all faithful tithers. [i]  That is true.  And our giving is down and it is quite simple to put the two together and say, we can’t hire a youth pastor right now.  We can’t fund a mission trip or expand our ministries right now.  We need to focus on belt-tightening. That’s what the enemy wants.

Yes, focus on the finances.  And the enemy wins. 

Our focus is on our mission to help people to become disciples of Jesus.  That’s our focus.  That is our mission.  It involves doing what we need to do to have a high quality youth ministry because we know that most people who make a decision to follow Jesus make that decision between the ages of 11 and 25. 

Part of doing our work is taking care of our money.  So, we stand before God and name the concern – our receipts and tithes are low.  We ask you, the church family to join the church leaders on our knees before God in prayer.  Together we ask Him to provide and to lift the anxiety we feel.  Number 1, we pray. 

Second, we make short term decisions without compromising our big-picture calling.  Heather and I are going to meet and discuss how we can tinker with the missions and ministry budgets.  We’re not going to change anything but we might put off spending until later in the year, after we have prayed and involved you, the church family in the process.  First is prayer.  Second is the leadership acknowledging the issue and keeping our eye on our calling – to make disciples.

Third we appeal to membership.  If you have given 10% of your income to church budget, could you give 12 or 13% this year?  If you can give more, we ask you to do so.  If you cannot, OK.  We want every member to join us in earnestly asking God to bring in new people who will participate in ministry and help us in our work of making disciples.

Prayer, leadership making short term decisions and keeping the focus on the big picture, and an appeal to members to pray and to give; this all leads us to the biggest step, number 4.  We believe.  We believe God can provide and will.  We believe God has given us a picture of our church, a safe space where people come to Jesus, are made new by Him, and sent into the world on mission for him.  We believe this is who God wants us to be.  We believe and we tell Satan to get behind us because our mission is the product of what Jesus did when he suffered and died.

We and churches like us around the world exist because Jesus was able to put Satan’s temptations behind Him and behind his disciples.  Those fishermen and tax collectors who are cowards and bumblers in the gospel become heroic in their witness in the book of Acts.  Jesus did not just defeat Satan.  He taught his followers how to put Satan behind them. 

Being reminded of who Peter becomes helps us keep our focus.  He moved past his initial difficulties and we can.  We have. 

Recall the years, 2008-2012.  The United States went through a recession and millions were hit financially.  Someone recently told me of a church they know where the members were so devastated by loss of income that they could not tithe as much and the church had to sell its building.  Now that church did not lose its focus.  It is a church called to lead people to Jesus and still does, but it had to carry on holding services in rented space at a fitness club.  They made changes and did what they needed to go to continue answering God’s call.

Now think about HillSong and how God has been at work here.  For the other church, it may be that God’s best for them in the recession years was to close the building but the keep the congregation alive.   

Our focus is on what God has done here and continues to do among us.  Since the recession of 2008, one way Satan has tried to get churches off track is to get us to obsess about belt-tightening.  In that period time, we hired an associate pastor and added expenses, and increased our mission giving.  Then we hired a youth pastor and began doing annual youth mission trips.  Along the way, we had to make cuts, but we never sacrificed.  The ministry work has only grown. 

Since the 2008 recession, we have increased the number of local mission projects we do.  We raised well over 1000 dollars for relief after the Haiti Earthquake, and our members went there on medical teams and construction teams.  We also saw over 40 of our members become sponsors for kids in Kombolcha Ethiopia, and we are about to make our 4^th trip there. 

More pastoral staff, new mission trips, annual youth group mission trips, expanded ministries, and new local missions, all in a time of financial crisis; why could this happen?  It happened because God enabled us to say, “Get behind us Satan.  We don’t want to look at the temptations you’re dangling before us.  We won’t give in to the anxiety you’re suggesting.  Get behind us. We want to see what Jesus has for us, so get out of the way.”

Our deacons and our treasurer Kent Stone are key leaders and their work of raising concerns is vital to our church life.  I appreciate them and our deacons, pastors, and elders are going to take this information, pray over it, and pour our hearts out to God for His protection, and provision.  We’re going to make responsible choices. What drives us is what God has called us to do.  We are called and we are sent to make disciples.  Nothing is going to stop that work or even slow it down. 

Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel,^[i] will save it. ³⁶ For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”

Is there some distraction in your life? If that distraction were moved out of the way, would you be free to follow Jesus wherever leads? 

You are invited to a time of silent prayer.  Ask God what it means in your life to take up your cross and follow Jesus.  Ask God what it means for you to deny yourself and to lose your life for the sake of the Gospel.  And ask God to help you say, “Get behind me Satan,” so that you can see and embrace God’s plan for redeeming the world and to live your part in that plan. 

We will pray and sing.  At any point, you are invited to come for prayer.  We will have people at the front and back to pray with you.

AMEN

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[i] Ginger Burkes, The Driggers, Matthew Lawrence, The Neumans, The Mooneys, The Parkers, The Sodens, and Sarah Stanley have all left the church.

Faith that Matters

Sunday, November 17, 2013

          I heard about a woman last week who wanted to get her husband tickets to the game between the Denver Broncos and her husband’s beloved Kansas City Chiefs.  NFL tickets can be pricey, so she put up her Wedding ring on sale, on EBay.  A sacrifice?  Yeah but, the Chiefs are 9-0, and they will beat the 8-1 Broncos.  She wants her beloved husband to be able to see it.  It is worth the sacrifice.

          I later discovered, the wedding ring she wanted to sell was from her husband!  Not the one who for whom she was going to buy tickets.  When the radio talk show hosts discussed this woman’s gesture, they thought it she was selling the ring from her current husband.  One of the hosts’ wives called the show.  She was so touched that football mattered this much to this family, she offered to pay for their game tickets so the woman could keep the ring and the man could see the game.  This wife of the talk show, herself a football wife, understands how important football is and how much people are willing to give up for their team.

          Young Mormons sacrifice two years of their lives to travel the world and spread their faith.  Shawn Bradley was a top basketball prospect and after his freshman year at Brigham Young University, he was sure to be a first round NBA draft pick, a guaranteed millionaire.  He put it off for two years.  He traveled and evangelized.  His gospel, the Latter Day Saint faith, is one I reject.  But, clearly it was important to him.

          Young Muslims who get swayed by promises of the most radical sects of their faith give up even more.  Mostly poor people, they are lured by promises of Heaven.  They believe with such intensity that they tape bombs to themselves and detonate right in the middle of crowds of people they have deemed the enemy.  I think this is evil.  Absolute evil.  But clearly, the person willing to be a suicide bomber takes his faith seriously.

          Do we?  I don’t think we need to put our lives on hold for a two-year door-to-door stint.  God does not call everyone to that.  But, do we take the call God does place on us as seriously as Mormons take their faith? 

I reject suicide bombings completely.  I see nothing in that expression of faith that is good or worth emulating.  Do we who follow and worship the Prince of Peace have the same zeal for our God, the true God that extremists and suicide bombers have for their distorted vision of God? 

Do follow after the teachings of Jesus as ardently as football fans follow their favorite teams?  Does living as a disciple of Jesus matter as much to us as the Chiefs beating the Broncos matters to that fan in the Midwest?  If we say yes, it matters that much, then what is the sign that it matters.  If someone observed your life or my life, what would that observer see that would lead him to say “oh, that is obviously a follower of Jesus?”

For affluent people or people in a context where Christianity is the cultural norm faith can become lukewarm.  And this is deadly.  Affluent people see what their money can get for them.  They see how their privileged position in society gives advantages.  The benefits of worshiping God are not as obvious.  It is not clear why we should live in dependence on God and in obedience to God.  Faith is relegated to the margins of our lives.  We don’t stop believing.  We do stop thinking that faith matters very much.  We certainly would not give other things up for the sake of worship and ministry.

The 5^th century BC prophet Malachi faced such a state of affairs.  ‘Malachi’ literally means messenger and this ancient God-worshiper was commissioned with a pointed, confrontational message for the people God. 

Malachi does not primarily deal with politics.  He doesn’t talk about monarchy.  He lives after foreign invaders have toppled Israel and Judah’s kings.  The people have returned from exile and live under a governor who is appointed by Persia.  War and politics are not issues.  Malachi’s issue is a faith gone stale in a world where God’s people see the powers around them more than they trust in the power of God.

Are we prone to suffering from a similarly limited vision?  Do money, secularism, consumerism, entertainment, and a thirst for material things all cast shadows that prevent us from seeing God or seeing how import God is in life?

In Malachi, God is the speaker and God begins establishing what is at stake.  Verse 2 – “Israel, I, the Lord, have loved you.”  God recounts how Israel was chosen and protected.  “But,” God says, “You embarrass me by offering worthless food on my altar. … Isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are blind, crippled, or sick?  Just try giving those animals to your governor” (1:7a, 8).

Worship in ancient times involved a system of offering animal sacrifices as burnt offerings.  This was established by Moses and the animals were to be the best of the flock, the first born and unblemished.  Worship in Malachi’s day had degenerated to the point that if people bothered to offer anything at all, it was the runt of the litter, the lame of the flock. 

An analogy for today might be us saying in worship after we’ve paid our bills and after we’ve paid our taxes and after we’ve set aside money for retirement and for vacation, then, if there is anything left, we’ll put a little bit of it in the collect plate at church on Sunday.  Malachi called out the people and especially the priests.  They all knew they wouldn’t dare cheat the governor’s collection on taxes.  There would be painful consequences for that.

We would not think of holding back our taxes or skipping out on our bills.  We would suffer for doing so.  Do we see how holding back in our worship causes injury to our relationship with God?  Someone might respond, when I sing, I worship my heart out.  Malachi responds back, fine, sing your heart out.  When God gets the left overs of your money or your time or your energy, then God sees the place you are giving Him in your life. 

I heard the story about the woman who wanted to sell her wedding ring for football tickets on a sports talk radio show.  One of the hosts professes to be a Catholic.  Catholics, like Baptist, worship Jesus Christ.  He is Lord for Catholics, which means Jesus is master over every area of life. 

This radio show host, every once in a while, mentions he is Catholic and that it is important to him to be Catholic.  He never mentions Jesus.  His views on money do not suggest that he gives Jesus’ teaching any thought on that topic.  He often regales the audience with tales of heavy drinking, intoxication, and vile language.  He expresses his love for movies a Catholic priest would definitely not condone.  He is ignorant of the most basic Biblical stories, like wise men bringing gifts to Jesus.  In fact nothing in his speech or values would lead a listener to think that he follows Jesus.  Yet he would say being Catholic matter to him.  In what way?

If someone looked into my life or yours, would they think following Jesus matters to us?  I am not saying we have to have it all together.  We don’t.  I am not saying we must be perfect.  We can’t.  The leading saints in the Bible messed up.  I am not saying one major fail or epic relapse dooms us.  But I am asking, and I am asking this of myself and each of us.  If another person just examined our lives, would they conclude from our choices that following Jesus matters more to us than anything?

God’s response to a lackadaisical, half-hearted approach to worship comes in Malachi 1:10.  “I wish someone would lock the doors of my temple, so you would stop wasting time, building fires on my altar.  I am not pleased with you priests and I refuse to accept any more of your offerings.”  People who spend their lives studying the Old Testament will tell us that God’s highest purpose for humanity is worship.  It is in worship that we relate to God.  We are created for the purpose of relationship with God.  More than anything else, the reason you and I exist is to relate to God. 

Our relating to God begins when we gather as his people, his church, and together, we worship him.  What we do here on Sunday mornings matters more than anything else we can imagine.  It matters to God.  God knows where our hearts are in it.  God knows when we go through the motions.  God delights in our heart-felt worship.  God vomits out worship and offerings that are given begrudgingly.

I wish someone would lock the doors of my temple.  I refuse to accept any more of your offerings.

I imagine the prophet day after day in the temple courts, debating with priests.  I can see the priests wanting to plug their ears.  They have to deal with the reality that they serve at the pleasure of a pagan foreigner, the emperor of Persia.  There are foreign powers all around, they are powerless, and now this annoying prophet badgers them to be more faithful to the God of Moses and the God of David.  Well, centuries have passed and whatever God did for Moses and David is not being done now.  So the prophet comes and argues and they argue back.  Or maybe they blow him off.  This happens for a time.

Someone is watching and writing it down.  A poet captures the spirit of these disputes.  Instead of the prophet’s name, the poet simply calls him “Messenger,” “Malachi.”  The poet writes it all down because he can see who truly believes in the power of God; not the priests, the ones who are supposed to testify to God’s reality.  It is this prophet.

Through him, God says, “From dawn until dusk, my name is praised by every nation on this earth, as they burn incense and offer proper sacrifices to me” (1:11).  People who are not the Chosen People; people who do not have the benefit of prophets and a heritage of Abraham and Moses; somehow people all over instinctively know to give their hearts to God.  Through Malachi God says, “I am the great King, the Lord All-Powerful, and I am worshiped by nations everywhere.”  But the priests arguing with Malachi, representing those who have received the revelation of God have now slipped into a ho-hum faith. 

I fear American Christians are constantly in danger of a ho-hum faith. 

But, I see signs that many in our church are motivated by a desire to worship and serve God.  Three recent examples stand out for me.  We had an event, the Fall Festival.  It was planned by our associate pastor Heather.  One of her great joys was that all the volunteer stations were filled pretty quickly.  Does that seem small, people volunteering to run a bounce house for two hours?  Is that really a sign that faith is alive?  There are many ways someone can spend a Saturday morning.  We had about 20 volunteers who decided they believed God was working through the Fall Festival and they valued God’s work enough that they wanted to be part of it.

A second sign is similar to the first.  Heather is planning a major Christmas event – the Bethlehem village.  On Thursday of this week, in her office, she let out a triumphant shout.  Why?  Again, people in our church are deeming that this event is God at work and they want to be part of it. 

Of course volunteering is not something to be done in place of worship but along with whole-hearted, fully-energized worship.  Worship is not done in place of tithing.  Tithing is one expression of worship and when worship matters to us, we give ourselves to all aspects of it.

A third encouraging sign for me came this week.  My wife Candy is leading a campaign for Children’s Hope Chest to raise funds for the medical care for the kids at the care point our church supports in Ethiopia.  Candy gasped as she was tracking the gifts that came in.  Someone made a 4-figure contribution.  I asked if that gift came from here and she said, “Yes.”  I said, “Don’t tell me anymore.” 

The generosity is greatly appreciated, but the point is not for me to know who did what.  All I need to know is I am a part of a church where there are people whose faith is seen in their actions.  Gifts given joyfully and sacrificially are received by God.  The relationship that worshiper has with God is deepened as that person, that volunteer, that singer, that tither trusts God and cares about worship more than anything else.  The reward is the very real sense of God’s presence every day of life. 

Is that reward enough?  Does God matter that much?

I am reading a book of essays by African American theologians.  One talks about the invisible institution – the church of the slaves in pre-civil war America.  Slaves either had to attend churches run by their white masters or they were not permitted to worship at all.  Teaching slaves to read was strictly forbidden.  So, no Bible reading.

And yet, secretly, a few slaves did learn to read.  They would sneak away from the slave quarters, late at night, and have church services, far back in the forests where the white people could not see or hear them.  What did they risk?  If they were caught, they could be whipped, sold, or even killed.  Worship mattered that much.  They realized that their life was in God and apart from God nothing mattered.  They were willing to risk everything just to worship Him in Jesus name and hear the stories of His salvation.[i]

I know some among us recognize how valuable our walk with God is.  Each of us this week should spend time wrestling with the question.  Does my faith matter?  If I say yes, what are the signs?  How would someone who takes note of my life know that Jesus is more to me than anything else?

Let this be the question that troubles each of us in the week ahead.

AMEN

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[i] Dwight n. Hopkins (2003), “Slave Theology in the Invisible Institution” in African American Religious Though: An Anthology (edited by Cornel West and Eddie S. Glaude Jr), Chapter 34.

Tithing - An Expression of Trust in God

The Tithe: A Statement of Trust (Malachi 3:8-18)

Rob Tennant, HillSong Church, Chapel Hill, NC

Sunday, October 27, 2013

            In 2008, Hurricane Ike traveled up the Gulf of Mexico and slammed the Texas coast.  Hundreds had to evacuate, many to the city of Austin.  The Austin Baptist Association called Brandon Hatmaker, pastor of Austin New Church.  The association learned of a pastor from Houston who had lost everything.  He and his family needed a place to stay.  Brandon and his wife agreed this displaced pastor could come and stay with them.

            When Brandon, who is Caucasian, says “family,” he is referring to his wife and five kids.  The Houston pastor, a Hispanic man, showed up at the Hatmakers home with 82 “family” members in need of food and shelter.  Hatmaker writes:

It was the best thing that ever happened to [us].  Instantly the church became “the church.”  Without prompting, people from Austin New Church and the community began to call and email to offer their homes as refuge.  People cleaned out Wal-Mart of sleeping bags and dropped them off.  Food was every-where, grill-outs were planned, events for the kids fell into place … it was beautiful.

And it was fun.  Not once did I feel personally put out.  Not once that week did anyone complain about their plans being canceled to serve those in need.  No one sent an email about Bible study not being “deep enough.”  No one worried about the children’s ministry sign-in process.  No one complained that they had to give money to help.  They just gave.  All they could.  They gave without coercion or guilt.  Smiles everywhere.  Joy everywhere. … Everyone was thankful for what they had been able to give.

In a world where we are constantly asking what went wrong, I couldn’t help but ask: what went right?  What made [it] so sweet?[i]

            I felt the same as this pastor when our church responded to the earthquake in Haiti.  We collected offerings.  We sent doctors and nurses there on mission trips.  We brought doctors from there to here, to show our love and support.  Our church enthusiastically gave – gave money and time, but while practical needs, the money and time represented something more.  Our hearts were stirred to help people in Haiti just as the people of Brandon Hatmaker’s church wanted to help their fellow Texans after Hurricane Ike. 

            Money and time reveal what we value.  In the case the horror of the situation in Haiti after the earthquake, our money and time revealed our love and compassion. 

            Pastor Hatmaker said he never heard the complaints that sometimes find a home in a pastor’s in-box.  There are gripes about the children’s ministry or this small group or that work project.  There are complaints about a sermon or the pastor failed to visit so-and-so or the music was too loud or too long.  Each grievance feels important to the individual person who brings it to the pastor’s attention.  But in the big picture, these things seem small.  As these small things pile up, they feel petty.  In the face of crisis, like an earthquake or hurricane, we forget our pettiness.  We commit ourselves to something bigger – the work of God.

            Pastor Hatmaker’s remembrance of his church responding to Hurricane Ike and my own recollection of our church’s heart in the light of the Haiti earthquake reveals something else.  We trust that God will do something with what we give.  We trust that God is real and God is there and God hears our prayer.  We trust God to multiply our offerings according to God’s purposes.  The money we give is a sure sign of how much we trust God.

            In the 5^th century BC, trust in God was waning.  The people of God had returned from exile to a shattered country.  Israel was ruined by Assyria and then Babylon and from the West, ill-fated alliances with the new Egypt.  The country was increasingly becoming a door mat for ancient imperial powers.  After Babylon came Persia and then Alexander the Great and Greece.  He was followed by Antiochus and Ptolemy, and then Rome.  The great Exodus in which God mightily humbled Pharaoh and split open the Red Sea faded into distant memory.  The greatness of David and wealth of Solomon was gone. 

            Some in Israel fiercely held on to faith, but others fell into half-hearted religious practice.  A tithe, 10% of the farm’s produce, along with the fatted calf was expected as offering at the temple.  When people tithed, they stated their belief that God was the all-powerful Lord and only true God and they were his.  But in the 5^th century the meager tithes coming into the temple communicated something else.  People no longer trusted in the power of God.

            A prophet called ‘Messenger,’ the meaning of the title ‘Malachi,’ came to remind the people that though they saw themselves and their God as small and not worth complete loyalty, their God was still awake, still in Heaven and simultaneously still with Israel.  To short shrift God was to rob God. 

            God does not “fit into our lives.”  God is our life.  God does not have a part of us.  God gets all of us.  Anything less turns our faith into a farce.  God is an all-or-nothing God.  When we try to follow God half-way, God makes life uncomfortable.  There are no part-time Christians.  We ask “How are we robbing God?”  God responds, in your half-hearted giving of tithes and offerings.

            When we gave of ourselves after the Haiti earthquake, no one was robbing God.  With what we gave, including money, we joined with God on behalf of suffering people.  God blessed our offerings as God always does.  HillSong is a compassionate church.  In our work in Ethiopia, we have given money, prayer energy, talents, time, and the willingness to go.  More examples could be named.  I am not on the topic of money today because we in danger of robbing God as the Israelites did in the days of Malachi.

            The topic matters because most of our lives, we live between huge disasters and inspiring mission trips.  Normal time involves uneventful days and dry weeks.  Individuals within the church family experience crisis or joy, devastation or triumph.  But as a whole, as a body, it appears not much is happening.  If you didn’t participate in the project to build a ramp last weekend or the neighborhood clean-up this weekend, can you get excited about it?  You didn’t give your time, and even if you tithed to the church, there are several steps from when your tithe goes in the offering plate to when money is spent on materials needed to carry out the local mission.  It is not as immediately obvious to see how you are part of God at work in the community.  We as a community can feel too relaxed, like nothing is at stake.

            Malachi accused Israel of robbing God by failing to tithe.  He accused the community of speaking harsh words against God when they envied the prosperity of the wicked.  We rob God when we don’t think our tithes are worth the effort, especially in normal times.  We speak evil against God when we fall into ignorance of His work through His church, and in our ignorance, we don’t participate.  We hold back our tithe or give only a part of it. 

            Questions naturally arise.

            What if the church does something I oppose or supports a group I don’t support?

            What if I am having a rough month financially and giving my tithe leaves me short?

            What does the church do with the money I give?

            I am sure you could think of a dozen equally important questions.  The last one, what does the church do with my tithe, is easiest for to summarize.  We pay the light and water bill; we give money to on-going mission works and fund mission projects led members of our own body later in the year; we pay our ministry and support staff; we fund ministries in our church – small group ministry, youth ministry, children’s ministry.  Anyone who wants to can sit down go through the budget line-by-line and track every penny. 

            The other questions are more complicated.  The church is the body of Christ, but sometimes we make mistakes.  We fail to carry out the mission God sets for us.  We overlook someone.  We fail to visit someone.  We support an organization you oppose.  That will happen from time to time until the final inauguration of the Kingdom of God.  Until Jesus returns, the Kingdom is emerging but not fully realized.  Until then, the Kingdom is lived out in well-intentioned, but imperfect institutions.  We are imperfect as the temple was in Malachi’s day. 

            From Malachi for 400 years, faith eroded and failed, so that in the days of Jesus, the religious leaders seemed to be dedicated to self-preservation instead of the proclamation of the word of God.  And yet, when Jesus and his disciples visited the temple, corrupt as it was, they witnessed someone who held nothing back.  She was not one of those who robbed God.

Mark 12:41-44:

⁴¹ He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴² A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. ⁴³ Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. ⁴⁴ For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

            The widow did not make a decision upon how much to give to the temple based upon her trust in the temple as an institution.  She did not decide to drop in those two coins because of her confidence in the priests.  She gave because she trusted God.  God would use her offering for God’s glory.  By giving, she was participating with God.  She may not have known what God was doing, but it did not matter. She was part of it.

            She also did not make her decision based on how much she could afford to give.  She gave it all.  She trusted God.  She believed to the point that her actions revealed her heart.  She believed God would take care of her.  She gave God what is God’s.  She gave God all she had.

            When we fail to do that, we rob God.  Malachi’s stinging prophecy might tempt us to search for a way to soften the blow but such an effort would be an affront to scripture.  To give less than all, we say to the Houston pastor, ‘we’ll handle you and four of your family members.  The other 77 are on their own.’  It is to say, ‘we’ll turn on the church’s lights and pay for the children’s ministry.  But staff salaries, water bill, and other ministries aren’t worth the effort.’  It is Malachi watching as the people cowed by the empires around them tithed sometimes, but just held back or only gave a partial tithe.  It is the difference between robbing God and living in His joy.

            Jesus did not say every follower had to drop every last cent into the temple treasury.  Turn to the end of the Gospels and read about Joseph of Arimathea.  He was a man of means who generously gave his own money so Jesus would have decent burial.  He gave much, but he was still affluent.  Turn to the opening of Luke 8.  There we learn that the disciples, fishermen by trade, along with Jesus, a professional carpenter, had given up their incomes completely so they could travel announcing that in Jesus, the kingdom had come.  They were financially supported by women who followed them and gave a lot.  These women did not give up all their money, but what they gave was enough.  They gave it because they trusted God to accomplish His purposes and take care of them.

            Where does it leave us?  I suggest church members give 10% of their income to the church.  Additionally I suggest that church members find other ways to participate in the announcement of the Kingdom of God by giving their time and their resources.  One can sponsor a child.  One can contribute to a Christian organization like Children’s Hope Chest or the Navigators.  One can go on mission trips or set aside time each month for local missions.  I could go on and on, but the key is to do both.  Make a regular, weekly or monthly gift trusting that God will work through the church, even through the church’s imperfections.  And, find special projects like mission trips or relief efforts.  Regular and special – give time and money generously to both because doing so puts you in the heart of God’s work. 

            Malachi speaks of those who revered the Lord.  After the prophet confronted the people, some took note and thought about things.  They weren’t defensive.  They did not attack the prophet or try to justify themselves.  They meditated upon the word and the Lord noticed them.

“¹⁷ They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my special possession on the day when I act, and I will spare them as parents spare their children who serve them. ¹⁸ Then once more you shall see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”

            When Brandon Hatmaker thinks on the time his church helped 82 members of the Houston pastor’s family who had been displaced by the hurricane, he remembers amazing worship and joy that can’t be measured.  I have the same feeling when I think about the times I have been part of this church as this church has demonstrated Christlike generosity through giving.  “Test me,” God says in Malachi.  He says it because they did not trust him.  Do we?  I urge the church this morning to demonstrate radical trust in God through a sustained commitment to the tithe and a prayerful belief that God will work in and through this church in His ongoing pronouncement that in Christ the Kingdom has come.

AMEN

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[i] Brandon Hatmaker (2011) The Barefoot Church, p.34.