“Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can”, this is the motto which John Wesley had lived by. Many of us have parents or grandparents who lived through the Great Depression, and grew up about saving up because you never know when you will need it. Author C.S. Lewis was known for only living on 10% of his income, while giving the remaining 90% to charities in London. Today we live in a society that sometimes seems to live with a new motto. “Earn all you can, spend all you can even money you don’t have, give only what you can spare.”
Our Gospel reading puts us with Jesus as he prepares to tell us the parable of rich man and the storehouse. We have a man who has been blessed by God with a bumper crop. He has such a good harvest that all of his grain bins are clear full. In fact, he cannot fit it all in his bins. So what does he want to do? He wants to build bigger to store it up.
The question to be asked is, does he really need the excess grain? He already knows he will have plenty to feed himself and his family with the bins he has, so why build bigger and better? What could he do with the excess instead?
What was that motto that John Wesley lived by? “Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can”. For the people gathered listening to Jesus would have been familiar with Leviticus 19:9-10 which states;
When you reap the harvest of your land, you will not reap to the very edges of the field, nor will you gather the gleanings of the harvest; nor will you strip your vineyard bare, nor pick up the fallen grapes. You will leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am Yahweh your God. (Leviticus 19:9-10 NJB)
When God gave these laws to Moses and the Israelites, the point was to share with all members of the community. By leaving the outside edges of the field this would allow those traveling to collect with enough food from the edges of the fields. While at the same time, it was allowing the farmer to keep the rich part of his harvest.
You see God not only provided this man with a blessing, moreover he provided the man the opportunity to share with the less fortunate his blessing from God. However, instead of relying on God this man planned to keep the whole harvest to himself. He did not allow his faith to stretch and keep him. Nor was he willing to share his bounty with others.
How about us today? I can remember back home in Selma, planting a huge garden at my grandparents house. We had set out some 30 tomato plants. Of course, we shared them with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle. However, still these plants produced way more then we needed. Much to our regret, many rotted on the vine and the ground. For Luann and I we often regret the fact we did not let others know or provide others with access to our garden and its harvest.
On the other hand, how many people do you reckon would actually be willing to go out into your fields, and pick up missed ears of corn, pods of soybeans, or separate missed oats and wheat? Not many, there seem to be many among the less fortunate in our country who feel they are entitled to have it hand delivered rather than get it themselves.
However I digress. The point that Jesus is making is, when God blesses us, the blessing is not for our keeping. We become stewards of the blessing and it becomes our responsibility to share with others, not to guard over it like some sort of treasure. The real treasure that Jesus points out is the one that allows others to experience the glory of God in the reception of the blessing.
We are all blessed gifts from God, Paul says in Romans 12
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. (Romans 12:4-6 NIV)
In other words God gives us these gifts to us, so that we share with them with others. Why? Because they perform an important function with in the whole body of Christ.
For us today many people within our church communities have many talents whether it is music, organizing, cooking, etc… However if we are unwilling to use those talents, we become just like the man who wastes his time building bigger silos instead of sharing with all.
Now this doesn’t just go out to individuals with in the church, it goes out to nominations committees, pastors, and laity whole fail to recognize or call on those whom they have recognized a particular gift with in.
My point was not to take us on a guilt trip. I know this church is a very loving and a very giving church, and more importantly, God knows this. My intention was to open our eyes that this parable is not really a rally cry for socialism or communism, but a call to stewardship and evangelism.
We as Christians are stewards of our communities, no matter if we make up a small percentage of the community or are the only church in town. The day we took up Christ as our savior we agreed to do all we could to support all His Children.
Too many churches these days have become more like clubs instead of places where people can experience the gifts God bestows on its members. Today, I had the physical symbols of the office bestowed on me. From the Lord’s Supper, the Bible, to my scapular, each brought with it a different outward symbol of the authority placed upon me. Each came with a promise and in none of these promises did it say keep these too your self.
In fact it was just the opposite, with each symbol I am given the order to carry this into the community. Likewise we are to do the same, not keep the gift God has given us within these walls. The salvation of our souls and the redeeming power of his Grace and Mercy upon our lives needs to be shared. We are to share this gift with everyone through action and the Word. This means, letting our gifts be our lead and draw to this House of God.
My challenge to you for this week is to look at the gifts not being used. Consider looking at people who are not regular attendees and how they can be allowed to use their gifts to glorify God. Look to ourselves and consider how we might better use the gifts we have been blessed with to better glorify God with.
I pray that we will all be opened to all the gifts that God has so richly blessed us with. Amen.
