In
1979 the police in Rome uncovered a remarkable crime. Father Guido Antonelli, a
humble parish priest, was discovered in the crypt of his church printing 1,000
lire banknotes! In his defence, he pleaded that he had to resort to forgery
because his parishioners weren’t putting enough in the plate at Mass! I hasten
to add that we have no plans to take such a creative approach to the finances
here.
Well,
today’s talk is the first in a series of three on the subject of giving and I’m
going to speak primarily about financial giving today, though I will touch on
other aspects of generosity as well.
We
have all heard that money can’t buy happiness and every comic has had their bit
to say on the subject; Spike Milligan put it this way; “Money can't buy
happiness, but it can get you a more pleasant form of misery!” Bo Derek gave another
perspective on the issue when she said, “Whoever said money can't buy happiness
simply didn't know where to go shopping!”
But
the Apostle Paul in the Bible was able to say, “I know what it is to be in
need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of
being content in any
and every situation.”
And
in the letter to the Hebrews it says to enjoy what you do have instead of
dwelling on what you don’t have. “Keep your lives free from the love of money”
it says, “and be content with
what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I
forsake you.’”
One
of the ways to be free from the love of money is to give more of it away. The
people of Israel, from the time of Moses onwards, had to give a tithe, that is
to say 10% of their income.
Brian
will speak in detail about this next Sunday but I’ll just say a few words on it
today as it’s what our first reading in Deuteronomy 14 is about.
It
was a compulsory tax and it was levied for three reasons;
·
firstly
to celebrate the abundance of God’s provision;
·
secondly,
to give an income to the Levites who were the clergy if you like and had no
other way of earning a living;
·
thirdly,
to assist those who had fallen on hard times; in particular, migrants arriving
destitute from other countries, as well as orphans and widows who had no one to
provide for them.
These
tithes and offerings funded the world’s very first welfare state. Everyone who
worked had to give 10% of their wages so that everyone who couldn’t work would
not starve or have to beg. And the Bible says this; the people were to provide
in this way “so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your
hands.”
But
our theme today is not just generous giving, it’s sacrificial giving: that is to say, intentionally offering something that is precious, costly or barely
affordable as an act of worship and devotion to God.
Sacrificial
giving may be seen more in times of scarcity than in times plenty. Sacrificial
giving can involve giving my time, my talents,
as well as my treasure. Sacrificial giving can mean surrendering something I love dearly; it may be to give up my
dreams, or even my life. Sacrificial giving is often marked by acts of
apparent recklessness.
Dennis
Bakke is a successful American businessman, and a Christian believer, who puts well
over 95% of his salary into a trust called the Mustard Seed Foundation to support
church growth and humanitarian relief projects around the world. Some might
say, “Well it’s alright for him, he can afford it.” Maybe he can, but how many
people on his income would live in a modest two-bedroom house and drive a
second hand Ford like he does?
At
the other end of the earning scale, a friend of mine, when she was a student in
Paris, felt that she should put all her last banknotes in the offering one Sunday,
knowing that she would have nothing –
and I mean nothing but a few groceries at home - to live on for the next ten
days. She thought, “I’m only young once. This will be exciting. Let’s see what
God does now.” The following evening she arrived home to find an unexpected
cheque in the post for the same amount she had given away.
Research
done a few years ago revealed that, in evangelical churches, 20% of the people
cover 80% of the budget. 30% of the people pay for the rest and 50% give
nothing.
Lewis
tells me that in 2013 at Saint Mary’s 70% of the people did 80% of the giving
which is a lot healthier. The remaining 30% of the people covered all the rest
of the giving. So no-one gave nothing.
But
40% of our giving comes from 7% of the people at Saint Mary’s which would leave
us in a precarious position if they were to move on. I don’t know who they are
as, to avoid favouritism, I make it a point of principle to not have access to information
about who gives what.
Our
gospel reading from Mark 12 contrasts two very different attitudes.
Firstly,
the teachers of the law, or scribes, in v38-40 where Jesus speaks severely and
disturbingly about being religious for what you can get out of it.
Watch
out, says Jesus, for religious people who love prestige. The scribes liked to
wear long robes. Why was that? Because you can’t do manual work in them or move
about quickly in them. They were the attire of a life of ease.
They
liked the deference of special greetings as well. From Matthew’s gospel we know
they liked to be called “Father” and “Master.” Why? Because those titles imply
a status above others. “Don’t confer those titles,” Jesus said, “because you’re
all equal and only God is above you all.” Religion loves to give titles like “Father”,
Padre (which means father), Pope, (which also means father) and Most Reverend
Lord Bishop. What’s the matter with us? Jesus said, “Don’t do that.” It’s not a
particularly difficult teaching to obey and yet it’s all over the church.
They
loved status symbols; they wanted the best places where they could be seen and
esteemed by people. Their handbook called the
Mishnah states that they expected people to stand as they passed by. Jesus
said to beware that kind of religious celebrity culture and avoid it.
Apart
from a few Temple-based teachers of the law, most scribes were forbidden from
being paid so people were encouraged to show respect their learning by offering
them hospitality. But it seems they took advantage of this and sponged off
vulnerable people with limited means. They ate widows out of house and home,
impressing them with their false piety. That is what Jesus criticises here when
he says, “They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers.”
At
the temple treasury there was a large trumpet shaped funnel over the money box
at the gate and people lined up to throw their money in to it. It made a
ringing sound as the coins went in so the bigger the sum, the louder the ring.
How did Jesus know that the widow only put two mites in? Because it would have only
made two small distinctive pings as it went into the trumpet.
But
how much did she give? “Everything she had to live on”, says Jesus, who
commended her for it. All the others gave from what they had left over. She
kept absolutely nothing back. He didn’t say, “How stupid! How irresponsible! How
is she going to pay the rent now?”
C.
S. Lewis wrote: “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I
am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.”
When
Jesus looks at the collection he doesn’t ask “What can this buy?” He asks “What
did it cost?” How much was left in the wallet and the purse?
Kathie
and I know a couple who are planting a secret house church in the Muslim world.
I’ll call them Marie and Hassan. One day, they needed a sudden cash injection
of $1,000 for their ministry. So they contacted some Christian friends in the
USA, Bill and Sue, asking them to consider loaning them that sum.
The
reply was “Yes,” but it came with a condition. The condition was that they
would not pay the money back when they had the means to do so but instead pass
it on to someone else who needed it, stipulating the same condition; that the
money be moved on somewhere else in the kingdom of God instead of reimbursed.
A
few months later, Hassan received an unexpected productivity bonus from the
bank he worked for. When he calculated the exchange value from local currency
it came to... $1,000.
So
they passed on that money to someone else in need, who in turn blessed someone
else when they had the means to do so, and so it went on. The gift kept on bringing
blessing as God multiplied the spirit of generosity in his people with
overflowing blessing and many surprises.
God’s
economy does not work like the world’s. The world’s economy booms and then
busts in cycles that usually last about 12 years. The world’s economy is
affected by interest rates and fiscal policy.
The
boom and bust of God’s economy is expansion through faith and love, and
contraction through unbelief and selfishness. You stimulate growth in God’s
economy through joyful trust in God’s provision and sacrificial generosity.
What
might God do if every person here would seek ways of sacrificial giving?
Let’s
be ambitious in asking God to pour out a spirit of grace and sacrificial generosity
upon us at Saint Mary’s.’
“It
is better to give than to receive” said Jesus. “It’s better” said the one who gave absolutely everything, pouring
himself out in the greatest sacrifice of all, which we celebrate once again
this morning as guests at his table.
Sermon preached at Saint Mary's Long Newton, 6th September 2015
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