Once upon a time a certain church was in an uproar. Some said that the pastor was not performing according to expectations. And so complaints were brought to the deacons, who met to consider the issue, and asked those who were grumbling, “What is the problem with the pastor?” One disaffected member voiced it very clearly. Said he, “The problem is that our pastor is invisible during the week and inscrutable on Sundays!’
I plead guilty. Invisible during the week because of other involvements. And no doubt sometimes inscrutable on Sundays. Take today, for example. Today I shall attempt to describe the indescribable. Today I will take my stand along side the apostle Paul who, after trying to speak his heart, ended his message with an exclamation, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” On this Thanksgiving Sunday, when we reflect on all that our Creator has given, we may count our many blessings and name them one by one, but it will be indescribable what the Lord has done.
So bear with me today as I struggle to describe the indescribable and to unscrew the inscrutable! Language fails for such a task. Ordinary logic will not do it. Mere rhetoric will not turn us from obligation to opportunity. No amount of preachment will drive us from pessimism to optimism. I can only point to what our God is doing, and hope that in the depths of our souls we will receive to see us energized out of anxiety and into obedience.
And all that I shall say will be based on one constant premise, one ongoing thread. You have heard it before, but hear it again: that we serve a God of abundance and not a God of scarcity. That ours is not a dilettante deity with nothing in His hands. No, ours is the God who possesses the cattle on a thousand hills, who flung the stars into space, and who has made all things. All things are made by Him and all things are at His disposal. He gives His gifts in abundance to His people, and asks only that we place these gifts into the service of His will. He asks us to trust Him to provide us with an abundant life, and out of faith then to give back for His work. He is an abundant Lord, giving us an abundant life, and He wants from us an abundant church. We serve a God of abundance and not a God of scarcity.
I
How then, shall I point to God’s indescribable and abundant goodness? How shall I make your heart sing and be thankful about what a God of abundance has given?
Shall I point to the vastness of space, and remind you that He has flung into the void thousands upon thousands of stars, far beyond our Milky Way galaxy? Shall I point to the immensity of even our own solar system, with the planets in their orbits, each one a witness to His providence? Or shall I come down and focus on this earth, this third rock from the sun, and ask you to think of its abundance? Here life abounds; the place teems with every form of life imaginable. Would you be thankful if I were to list the flora and fauna of earth? Or would you just find that inscrutable?
Then shall I point to our place on the planet? Shall I take in you in your mind’s eye to the gracious homes in which many of us live, to the bounteous tables at which we expect to sit on Thursday – as if we did not do so every day? Shall I ask you to count up all your stuff, from high-tech toys to comfortable cars? Will that generate gratitude? The other day someone asked me how many books there were in my house; the answer is about eight thousand. Did counting those up make me feel grateful? Or did it just seem like another burden to carry?
Oh, can I describe anything that makes us thank our God of abundance? What if I were to point to our life together in this community called church? Can we see right here God’s indescribable gifts, gifts that make us know that God is in this place? I have been working with you for only a little more than a year, but I see here some who are eager to be about the business of serving God. I see here some who are full of ideas about what their church might become. I see others who are on fire for anything God may call us to do. I see here a church which is just like the way Paul described the church at Corinth, “ready since last year, and your zeal … stirred up …”
And so, if I could do justice to God’s indescribable gift, I would focus on this church. I would tell your remarkable history. I would speak of your determination to move forward. I would recount all that you have accomplished. If I could describe it, I would lay out for you how less than two years ago you were not sure you could even pay the light bill, much less the salaries and the missions gifts and the mortgage. But you went to work – no, I take that back: first you went to prayer and then you went to work. You prayed the mortgage payments down; you prayed a tenant into the building to provide some income; you prayed your way into correcting the deficits that were on the books. Most of all, you prayed your way back to keeping your promises about missions giving; and today you are solvent. Today you are not in danger of sinking. Today you have tapped into God’s indescribable gifts, and so be thankful! Be thankful!
Be thankful for the abundance of a God who tends to a thousand thousand galaxies, who shepherds six billion people on Planet Earth, but who knows you by name. Be thankful for a God who cares profoundly about who you are as the First Baptist Church of Gaithersburg.
Oh, I cannot describe God’s abundant goodness to you, but I can cry out with Paul, when I think of this past year, “your zeal stirred up,” “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” Just join me in that exclamation: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.”
II
But when I have done that, then I must also wonder how I can describe for you the abundant needs of the place where we are planted. How can I speak adequately about neighborhoods in which we all live and about communities in which we have placed ourselves?
Shall I attempt to describe for you the sheer human despair that is around us? Would it be helpful if I were to regale you with statistics about how many people in our community live below the poverty line? Would it excite you if I were to count up the issues our police departments deal with? What if I were to say something about hungry children or confused teens, about alienated young adults or fragile marriages? Would it generate feelings if I were to lay out the entire range of human concerns that can be found in just a short radius around this church building?
Probably not. No, we are all too familiar with these things. We support charities for some of that. We pay taxes so that government can bail out others! But I must tell you that there is nothing like the church of the living God for dealing with total human need. There is nothing like the Gospel for redeeming and remaking lives. Brothers and sisters, we have in our possession, in this very room, the ultimate answer for the most basic needs of the human heart. We possess the good news of the redeeming power of Jesus Christ, and no agency, no charity, no government can bring that to bear. To us God has given the ministry of reconciliation and redemption, so that because of what the church offers, people can become new creations, old things passed away and everything made new.
I don’t know about you, but I get excited about that. I find tremendous joy in knowing that because we are here, a person caught up in a destructive habit found Christ and is being reshaped. I find excitement in the awareness that because this church has taught its faith, a young person clearly headed for trouble found Christ and is now going in an entirely different direction. I find an authentic thrill out of knowing that because someone was trained in this church how to share his faith, there is an immigrant family that has been lifted out of despair into hope. The one thing we are here to do, and no one else can or will do it, is to proclaim the good news of salvation. Paul says, “You glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the Gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing … with all others.”
So why are we here? Why do we have a church anyway? Why all this real estate, this building, these musicians, this staff, these programs? Oh, remember that we are not here just to build a comfort zone for ourselves. We are not here just to nibble cookies and sip tea and do our genteel thing. No, we are here to confront the very gates of hell and to do battle with the things that destroy lives! We are about nothing less than saving people from the devastation that overtakes them. That will take work, that will take money, that will take time and effort, but it is against such a church that Christ has promised that the very gates of hell will not prevail.
Yes, brothers and sisters, human needs abound. I do not need to describe the indescribable depth of despair. But where despair abounds, so also does grace. Where human sin abounds, so also does the redemptive power of Christ. And where God’s church takes seriously the task of witness, there also God’s Spirit abounds. I may not be able to describe for you how much this community needs what you have to give, but this one thing I know: you can and must do the work of witness. You can and must share your faith successfully, because we serve a God of abundance and not of scarcity, and He will support with His power a faithful work of witness. Oh, I cannot describe this wonderful truth; I just cry out with Paul, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” How about you? Shout it out, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.”
III
But I have failed, I suppose, to excite you by pointing to the abundant goodness of God. And I have failed, I suspect, to challenge you by pointing to the abundant needs of humanity. These things are indescribable and maybe I have been inscrutable. So may I try one more time? May I attempt, just once more, to touch you at the very core by pointing to the abundant opportunities that lie ahead? For I am persuaded that the future for this congregation is replete with abundant opportunities. There is so very much that could happen right here.
A few examples:
A
You have the opportunity to create a truly multicultural, truly inclusive fellowship. A few Sundays ago when our African members led in worship with their bodies and their feet, dancing down this aisle, my heart sang. And when some who were not African joined in the dance, I wanted to shout. I should have come down and danced along; I felt like it. Because it said to me that we are beginning to understand that diversity is God’s gift to His church, and that we have an opportunity here to let all God’s children worship Him in spirit and in truth. Oh, what an opportunity to create truly inclusive worship! You may not develop the style of worship known in the megachurches; but that does not matter. Let them do what they do. You be who you are, you be what God has made you to be. Include the heart languages of all peoples, and you will find the world flocking to your doors. An opportunity in abundance.
B
More than that, you have the opportunity to expand something that is all too rare in our time. You have the opportunity to develop a community of honest learning, where no question is out of bounds, and where a dose of doubt is healthy. I have taught enough Adult Journey classes by now to know that there is a hunger for knowledge, and not just for propaganda. You want truth, real truth. You have an opportunity to be a church where asking questions is accepted, embraced, and honored. Yes, it is true that the largest churches around are those where the pastor is a dictator and the doctrine is hard-line. I know that. But let them do what they do. You be who you are, you be what God has made you to be, and you will find questing minds flocking to your doors. An opportunity in abundance.
C
And, again, you have an opportunity to bring the artistic life into the service of God. Your splendid musicians, the people who can create things of beauty on canvas or on photographic paper, those who shape wood into lovely things, those who can write words of insight – what an opportunity to speak to the hearts of those who see with the eyes of the soul! Not every church can do that. Not every church even wants to do that. Most churches use nothing but talk, talk, talk, sound and fury, signifying something. But you, brothers and sisters, but you – you have the opportunity to speak, artist to artist, heart to heart, and to claim that magnificent territory for Christ. You have opportunities in abundance.
And so, without apology, today I invite you to participate in seizing such opportunities. I invite you to the threshold of joy. I invite you to commit yourself and your financial resources to the life of this church, this indescribably gifted church. Paul makes the appeal very clear, “The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” What more can I say? This church is worthy; the needs abound, as do the opportunities. And we are at the very threshold of joy.
When I came here, I decided to tithe back to you the stipend you pay me; it is something I find joy in doing. But that was nothing new; my wife and I have been cheerful tithers all of our forty-seven years of married life, even when there was more month than money. But we saw what God was doing, we knew what God wanted to do, and so we tithed. We do not regret – I repeat, we do not regret – one dime of that. We found that God was able to keep His promises toward us.
This week I had a conversation with a friend who has made millions in real estate development. He thought he was about to retire and while away his senior years in the warm Florida sun. But an opportunity for one more development came along, and he plunged in, borrowing heavily in order to finance construction. Then came the credit crunch. Now, as you might guess, he is in trouble. He cannot sell his properties; the banks are pressing for repayment. And my friend, once worth millions, is facing the loss of everything he has built up over the years. Everything, that is, but one thing: a few years back he set up a personal foundation and placed half his assets in it. From that foundation he is able to give generously to Baptist causes. He said to me, “Whatever happens to me now does not matter. All that matters is that I have been able to give for the things I hold dear.”
Yes, I know we are in uncertain times. I know that there is Wall Street and the market plunge. Yes, there is a new administration with lots of questions unanswered. Yes, there are an abundance of issues for us to face in our personal finances. But I tell you, we are the people who, in Christ, look at every challenge and see an opportunity. We are the people who, in Christ, look at every hurdle and cheerfully ask, “How high can I jump?” Brothers and sisters, we are the people who, in Christ, even stare death itself in the face and are not destroyed, for His life is in every pore of our bodies! We are cheerful givers.
And cheerful givers never complain, for our God is able! “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.” Oh, dismiss your worry. God is able. Cancel your anxiety. God is able. The same God who, through the hands of Jesus, took five loaves and two fish and fed a hungry throng. A God of abundance. The same God who, through the voice of Jesus, commanded Peter to cast his nets into the deep, and thus brought up a great catch of fish. A God of abundance. The same God who, at the wish of Jesus, turned ordinary insipid water into rich piquant wine. A God of abundance and not of scarcity.
And most of all, the same God who hovered over a green hill far away without a city wall, where they had crucified His only begotten. Those who had followed Him were devastated; they thought they had lost everything. There was nothing to live for.
But on the third day He burst forth, this One who was dead, and now alive forevermore, for our God is a God of life. Our God is a God of abundant life. Our God gives us abundant life and calls for an abundant church. Just one more time: our God is a God of abundance and not of scarcity.
I can say no more; I cannot describe anything else. It is time to do something, something definite, bold, and real. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.”
One more time, with me? “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.”
