OPEN: A woman wrote in Reader's Digest about the time when she 10 ten years old and she found a wallet. There wasn’t any money in it, just a paper with a phone number and address on it. But she knew how these things worked. She’d return the wallet to its owner and THEN she’d get a reward! She called the number she’d found in the wallet all day long but nobody answered. So, she pestered her dad until he finally gave up and drove her to the owner's address. When they got there, was obvious the family that lived there wasn’t well off. It was a modest military housing unit with a torn screen door.
She wrote: “As I rang the bell, my dad took three $20 bills and tucked them into the wallet.” (Ann Douglas Vaughan, Newport News, VA in Reader's Digest 7/14, p. 22)
APPLY: Now, what was she expecting when she returned the wallet? MONEY! To her 10 year old mind, she deserved a financial reward for helping someone else – and you really can’t blame her. She was only 10 years old. But there are adults who think that very same way.
The idea of giving money away just doesn’t make sense to a lot of people. I NEED that money. I have bills to pay, I have improvements I need to make on my house and car, etc., I have to entertain myself and satisfy my basic human desires, I have vacations I want to take, and… well, I have WANTS. There are things that I want to buy that would make me feel good about myself.
Now did you notice what that little girl’s father taught her that day? He taught her that sometimes other people need money more than we do. Sometimes it’s the right thing to help out the poor and the needy. Sometimes it’s more blessed to give than to receive.
More blessed to give than to receive? Where have I heard that before? Does anybody remember who said that? That’s right – it was Jesus. In Acts 20:35 Paul reminded the Elders from Ephesus: “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Notice that Paul said the purpose of “giving” was to help the weak. We’re not talking about TITHING here. We’re not talking about what you put in the plate on Sundays. We’re talking about us personally helping the poor and needy outside of church.
Now, giving to the poor was NOT what Sodom was doing. Our passage tells us “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: … pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” Ezekiel 16:49
Did you see that? Sodom had the time (they had prosperous ease). They had an excess of food (they had more food than they could eat). They had more time and food than they knew what to do with… they just didn’t want to share any of that with anybody else.
ILLUS: There’s a true story of a wealthy man who went for counseling for an anxiety disorder. He admitted that one of the reasons he was so anxious was because he worried all the time about his money. The psychologist tried to get the man to see that this wasn’t helpful and asked the rich man “Do you get ANY pleasure when you worry about your money?” The man replied: “No, but I get such terror when I think of giving some of it to somebody else.”
Folks like that wealthy man have money to give, they just hate the idea of doing it. And, in the same way, the Sodomites had time and food to give - they just hated being bothered.
It’s kind of like the story of the Rich man and Lazarus that Jesus told: “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house — for I have five brothers — so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’" Luke 16:19-31
ILLUS: Anthony Campolo makes this interesting observation about this story:
The rich man, at least, was worried about his brothers. He may not have been all that bad, in the way we view "badness." His sin was not that he broke any of the Ten Commandments. He wasn't sleeping around, he wasn’t a thief, he hadn't killed anyone. And in all probability, he came by his money through hard work. He hadn’t done anything “bad” by the understanding of “badness” in our culture. The sin of the rich man was that he enjoyed the "Good life", while being unconcerned about those around him who desperately needed help.
You see, this is a highly important issue for God. The Old Testament law is filled with requirements of how Israel was to protect the poor "If… one of your brothers should become poor… you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother.” Deuteronomy 15:7
And the book of Proverbs is filled with PROMISES to those who help the poor. Proverbs 14:21 says “… blessed is he who is generous to the poor.” Proverbs 28:27 promises “Whoever gives to the poor will not want…” And Proverbs 31:20 tells us a righteous woman “…opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.”
But my favorite verse is Proverbs 19:17 “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.”
ILLUS: Now, let’s say that I go down to the bank and I borrow some money. Once I’ve borrowed that money, what are they going to expect me to do? That’s right, they’re going to expect me to pay it back. So… if I borrow $100 will they be satisfied if I just pay them back $100. Noooo. What else are they going to want? That’s right, they’re going to want their money back PLUS interest.
So, here is God telling us that when we help the poor we LEND to Him. What’s He’s saying is that when we do that, He expects to pay us back… PLUS interest. Now that may not be a financial return, but God plans on repaying us. It’s obvious God has a high regard for those who reach out to the needy and poor and He has every intention of rewarding us when we do just that.
Now, let’s go back to Acts 20, where Paul talked to the Eldership about helping the poor and then quotes Jesus: “It’s more blessed to give than receive.” Is God expecting us to give to the poor? Of course, that’s what that verse implies. But it’s more than a command – it’s a promise. If we give to the poor, we WILL be blessed.
ILLUS: The March 21, 2008 issue of Science magazine, told of a research by the Harvard Business School and the University of British Columbia that indicated that money can actually buy happiness. Did you know that? Did you know money can buy happiness? It’s true. But your money Only Buys Happiness when you spend it on someone else. Dr. Michael Norton explains: “Our findings suggest that very minor alterations in spending allocations -- as little as $5 in our final study -- may be sufficient to produce non-trivial gains in happiness on a given day”. In other words, it isn't having more money that makes people happier, it’s how you choose to spend your money. Spending on educating young people, or sending kids to summer camp produces greater happiness than, buying a flat-screen TV or a fancy computer. (Rubel Shelly, Heartlight.org 8/1/08)
ILLUS: Just spending $5 on someone else can cause you to feel happy and blessed. I tried that yesterday and found that it is true. I went to Kokomo (an Indiana city 30 miles SE of us) and I had a great time. I bought some books at Books a Million and got a $5 discount. I bought gas down at a BP gas station and used the last of a gift card I’d received for Christmas and I saved an additional 40 cents a gallon (over the prices here) and paid about $3 less than I would have otherwise. And I was feeling pretty generous.
So I stopped and ate at the “Choo Choo Magoo” Restaurant. It’s a great little restaurant, with decent food, a nice atmosphere, and a really pleasant staff. As I was sitting there, I remembered the words of friend of mine who’d been a cook at another restaurant years ago. She told me that everybody tips the waitress, but nobody ever tipped the cook. So, after I ate I went up to the cash register and asked them to break a $10 bill. I gave $2 to the waitress and then I asked who had cooked my food. They pointed to a man who’d just gone on break and was sitting at one of the tables. I explained I wanted to give him a tip as well, and as I made my over to his table I heard the staff behind me oohing and ahhing their approval. And as I gave the man his tip he was all smiles and gratitude.
And I felt REALLY good all the way back home. I gave, and I was blessed.
Now, why? Why should we fell blessed if we give? Well, because God designed us that way. We were designed to be a giving people because we serve a giving God. When we give to the poor we reflect the glory of our Father. That’s why Jesus said: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Now, how do we know - when we’re helping someone – whether they’re taking advantage of us or not? It does happen you know. People will take advantage of us now and again.
ILLUS: Jonathan told me about when he lived in Indy and he and his friends would be driving downtown. A lot of times they’d see people by the side of the road begging for money. He said that they watched as one of these men was on crutches as he pan-handled by the roadside. So they pulled over to the side of the road one time to watch him. As they watched, the man eventually hobbled away on his crutches and - when he thought he was out of sight of the crowds – he stuck his crutches under his arm and got into a fairly nice car.
Now, not every pan handler does that… but this one did.
ILLUS: When I was a boy of about 12 – man came to church one Sunday who was obviously down on his luck. He approached me about money and gave me a sob story of how he needed financial help. So I went over and talked with dad (I’m afraid I literally shamed him into helping). Dad didn’t complain, he just gave the man some money. But once we were off by ourselves, dad explained that this man most likely was going to use that money for alcohol.
It happens. So, what do we do about it?
Well, one solution is to become cynical. Turn our back on EVERYONE who looks like they might be even a little dishonest. We become fruit inspectors. And that’s not a bad thing. All the money you and I have in our wallets belongs to God (He owns us and all that we have), so we don’t want to be wasteful with what belongs to Him. However… we’ve got to be a little careful about that.
Do you remember the story of the Rich man and Lazarus? We’re not told why Lazarus is poor. Maybe he’d drank too much alcohol. Or maybe he’d gambled all of his possessions away. Or maybe he had made some bad business decisions. Or maybe he’d hung out with the wrong crowd and got “what he deserved”. OR maybe… that’s what the rich man THOUGHT Lazarus had done.
But all we’re told about Lazarus was that he was poor, he was covered with sores, and that the dogs would come and lick his wounds. We’re not told how he got there. We’re not told WHY he was poor and so miserable. All we’re told is that he was hanging around for table scraps. It doesn’t even appear that he’s begging – he’s just waiting for the food that falls off the tables.
AND the story Jesus tells implies that the rich man could have shared SOMETHING, but he didn’t. He could have done something, but instead he did NOTHING. He didn’t even TRY to do ANYTHING.
Now, with all due respect we can actually understand the rich man’s behavior. It’s NATURAL. None of us like to be taken advantage of. None of us like to have someone disrupt the flow of our lives, and we tend to get irritated when others impose on our “space”.
But we need to be careful that we don’t give way to cynicism.
So what do we do to avoid cynicism?
Well 1st, we need to realize we can’t fix everything. Cynicism often comes about because we get discouraged with too many problems and too little resources to even help. Churches run into this same problem when they are faced with the vast number of worthy missions that are out there (1000s upon 1000s). If we weren’t careful we’d end up giving $5 or $10 a month to several and not really helping any of them significantly. So we have to realize we can’t fund them all, so we fund a few that we trust, and feel kind of bad about not being able to help the others.
ILLUS: The stories told of the little boy who was down at the beach. An the old man came walking down the beach and asked him why he was doing this. The boy answered that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun. "But the beach goes on for miles, and there are millions of starfish," countered the old man, "how can your effort make a difference?"
The boy smiled and said “well, it makes a difference for this one” and he flung it out to sea.
2nd, we need to realize we do have some resources we can share. Even the poorest of us can help others. I’ve often mentioned fasting as a way to do this. You’re going to spend a certain amount of money on food, and if you don’t eat a meal or 2 (which most of us could easily do) you’d have 3 or 4 dollars to give away. You miss enough meals, and you give a sizable gift to someone in need… and it hasn’t cost you anything – since you’d have spent that money anyway on the food you didn’t eat.
I saw something interesting in the book of Isaiah this week.
In Isaiah 1:10 God says “Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!” Now the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were long dead when God made this statement. But they were the example of the type of people in Israel that had displeased God by their sins. A few verses later (Isaiah 1:16-17) God tells them “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; REMOVE the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; CEASE to do evil, LEARN to do good; SEEK justice, CORRECT oppression; BRING justice to the fatherless, PLEAD the widow’s cause.”
Notice the words I emphasized: REMOVE/ CEASE/ LEARN/ SEEK/ CORRECT/ BRING/ PLEAD. They’re active (not passive) words. It’s like God is declaring – don’t wait for these folks to come to you. Go and find a way to help. Actively fix what is broken in their lives.
ILLUS: We have a sister church that has something they call the “Gang Of Ten”. There are 10 men in that congregation who commit to putting $10 a month into a kitty. Ten men, $10 each… that’s $100 each month in the kitty. Then each month ONE OF THEM receives that $100 and is expected to go and bless someone in need. There’s no micromanaging. No report back expected. Each man is given the money and expected to go LOOKING for someone in need. They are ACTIVELY seeking a way to help someone.
Why? Because God’s people are designed to be a giving people.
CLOSE: This kind of behavior has always captured God’s attention. One time Jesus he sat down opposite the treasury (in the Temple) and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.
And he called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44
Did you see that? Jesus paid more attention to a poor widow’s offering than to the wealth of the mighty. According to one of my resources, this box was likely one of about 4 placed in a special part of the Temple grounds. It appears there were trumpets (or hollow metal horns) protruding from each one of them so that, when a worshipper put their coins in the trumpets, the coins would make a racket as they made their way into the box. The more coins, the more noise, the more honor each worshipper would receive. But this widow only had 2 coins. Many scholars believe the box she put her offering in was for the poor. So, picture this – this poor widow put all she had in a box dedicated to helping… the poor.
Jesus noticed this and was so impressed He called His disciples to Him and pointed it out.
ILLUS: A Sunday School teacher was teaching about this to her pre-school class and decided to do an “object lesson”. Each of the kids in the class was given several paper “dollars” (probably monopoly money)… but little Susie was given only 2 coins. The teacher explained about how people gave money to God back then – and how the rich gave a portion of their wealth. But this widow gave everything she had. Then she had Susie put her two coins in the box and explained that this was all the money she had. She had nothing left for food or clothing or shelter. As the teacher was explaining this, there a boy in the class named Billy who looked he was going to cry. He quietly approached Susie and handed her half of his paper money.
You see, even little children understand this concept of giving to the poor. Something we adults sometimes forget. But in his action, little Billy reflected the glory of our Father who promises to reward us for giving to the poor ourselves.
INVITATION
