The story is told about a man who was stingy and miserly. People looked at this person as a real skin-flint.
One day, one of the folks in the town was given the task of serving as the chairman of the community charity. He decided he was going to start with the town skin-flint. He was determined to get a contribution from him. After all, if he could get this man to give, he could get anyone to give to the fund-raiser.
So he knocked on the skin-flint’s door one day and when the stingy miser opened it, the fund-raiser said, “Look here, our records show that despite your wealth, you’ve never once given to our community charity.”
The man looked at the fund-raiser and became angry.
“Do your records show that I have an elderly mother who was left penniless when my father died? Do your records show that I have a disabled brother who is unable to work? Do your records show I have a widowed sister with three small children who can barely make ends meet?”
The embarrassed and humiliated fund raiser looked at his neighbor in a new light and simply said, “No. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
The man looked at the fund-raiser, still flushed with anger, and said, “Well, I don’t give to any of them, so why should I give anything to you?” (Landon Parvin in Leaders, Readers Digest, May 1996, pp. 67-68.)
Our elders have identified 7 marks of discipleship that we would like for all of our church members to embrace and demonstrate in our lives. One of these marks is the mark of generosity – Giving our time, talent and money.
Most of us would like to think that we are generous by nature, but the reality is that most of us are not as generous as we should be or could be.
I read an interesting story recently about a woman named Eunice Pike, who for several decades worked with the Mazatec Indians in Southwestern Mexico.
During this time she has discovered some interesting things about these people. For instance, these people seldom wish someone well. Not only that, they are hesitant to teach one another or to share the gospel with each other. If asked, “Who taught you to bake bread?” the village baker answers, “I just know,” meaning he has acquired the knowledge without anyone’s help.
Pike says this odd behavior stems from the Indian’s concept of “limited good.”
They believe there is only so much good, so much knowledge, so much love to go around. To teach another means you might drain yourself of knowledge. To love a second child means you have to love the first child less. To wish someone well—“Have a good day”—means you have just given away some of your own happiness, which cannot be reacquired. (Bernie May, “Learning to Trust,” Multnomah Press, 1985)
Contrast that with the Christian mandate to be generous. In our faith, whether we practice it or not, we affirm that the more you give, the more you receive.
In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, (Eccl 11:1), we read, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.”
The more you give, the fuller your life becomes.
Time and again in Scripture, we are told to be a generous people. Psalm 112:5 says, “Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.”
Proverbs 11:25 teaches us, “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”
When St. Paul was giving instructions to Timothy, he wrote the younger man (1 Tim 6:18), “Command (people) to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”
These actions of generosity should be joined with an attitude of generosity. Paul said in his second letter to the Corinthians, (2 Cor 9:7), “Each person should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
And yet, most of us are like the Mazatec. We act as if there is only so much good that can go around, so we are stingy with it.
A man had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. He could receive little company and was not to be excited. The doctors and family were literally afraid that if the man had too much excitement, he would drop dead.
While in the hospital a rich uncle died and left him a million dollars.
But the family was afraid to tell the man about his good fortune. After all, he might get so excited he could drop dead.
His family wondered how to break the news to him with the least amount of excitement so they decided to ask the family’s minister if he would go and break the news quietly to the man. Apparently, the family minister was not very exciting.
The preacher went, and gradually led up to the question. The preacher asked the patient what he would do if he inherited a million dollars. He said, “I think I would give half of it to the church.”
So the preacher dropped dead.
We are called to be generous, but we fall short of that calling.
Why should we be generous? It’s not because God needs our money, time, or talents. Rather, it is because God has been so very generous with us. And the proper response to the generosity of God is to become generous ourselves.
God has given much to us. Therefore we need to be generous to God and to his children.
Which brings us to the most dangerous time in a worship service. As the title of my sermon indicates, there is in our worship service a very dangerous moment.
Worship services are not usually regarded as being very dangerous.
We aren’t living in the early centuries of the church at a time when Christians were persecuted. No soldiers will come invading this place of worship. No secret police will arrest us for worshiping God.
And yet, there is a moment in this morning’s worship service that is filled with danger.
And no – I’m not referring to the Word for Children in the second worship service in which our darling little ones might say who-knows-what!!!
I’m talking about the offering -- when we are asked to be generous.
It may be odd to think of the offering as a particularly dangerous moment, but it is.
Now, to explain this, I have to go back to the Old Testament lesson for today.
In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, we read about a very ancient order of worship. Like any moment of worship, there is an opportunity for an offering.
In our reading from Deuteronomy, the people of God are about to enter the land God has promised to them. It has been a long time in coming – some 40 years to be exact. And now, after a generation has come and gone, the people are about to enter the land.
And Moses speaks to them and gives them some instructions for worship.
He says, “When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the first-fruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, "I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our forefathers to give us." The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God.”
And that, my friends, is the crucial moment. The danger filled moment. It was at that moment that the person worshipping God could come to his or her senses.
“Wait a minute. What am I doing giving God my first fruits? I’ll be back later when I have second or third fruits.”
Or it is at this moment that a person might say, “Wait, I think I’ll keep that nice red apple. Here’s a bruised one instead.”
It is here that a person might even rethink the offering completely. “Give me back my basket. God gave me this to enjoy, I think He wants me to keep it all to myself. I’m not about to share my first fruits. I’m not about to share my stuff. I’m not about to share anything God has given me!”
The offering is a dangerous time in the worship service, because it is here that one might forget where this offering comes from in the first place. It comes from the generosity of God himself.
Our Old Testament lesson for today comes from the book of Deuteronomy, toward the end of the book. But near the beginning, there is a wonderful passage.
In chapter six, verses 10 through 12, Moses gives some instructions on what to do when the people finally enter the Promised Land. He tells them, “When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—
a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build,
houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide,
wells you did not dig,
and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—
then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
It is so easy to forget the generosity of god.
It is easy to forget that all we have to present to the offering comes from God in the first place.
It is easy to forget that the homes we live in – God provided.
And the food we enjoy – God provided.
And the water we drink – none of these comes from our hands as much as from God’s handiwork.
And so, when we present these offerings, we are asked to stand and remember who we are, and who gave us these gifts. We are asked to say a creed.
“I believe in God the Father Almighty.”
The offering is a dangerous time in the worship service, because it is here at this moment that you are being asked to explain why you did what you just did – why you presented an offering to the Lord.
In the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy, something very interesting happens after the offering.
The people stand up and they say the Apostles’ Creed. Oh, it’s not really the Apostles’ Creed, but it is a creed. It is a statement of faith.
In the book of Deuteronomy, the worshipper presents an offering, and the priest takes it. Then Moses instructs the worshipper in this way…
“Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me."
It is a statement of faith that explains why the worshipper gives the offering.
The worshipper gives the offering because God has been so generous to the worshipper.
He has been given so much.
He has been given freedom.
He has been relieved from distress and oppression.
He has been taken from a land of slavery and brought into this land of milk and honey.
He has been given a land with large, flourishing cities he did not build,
given houses filled with all kinds of good things he did not provide,
wells he did not dig,
and vineyards and olive groves he did not plant.
Therefore, the worshipper brings these first fruits. Not the seconds or thirds. Not the left overs or the rotting fruit, but the best and first.
Of course you give an offering. God has been generous to you. Therefore you are generous to God.
This morning, you are being asked to give an offering. And at the moment you are about to make your offering, that is when you face a dangerous moment.
At that moment you are going to be asked to stand up and explain why you put that offering there.
At that moment you could think, “I’m not about to give all that money.”
Or you might think, “I’ll give this money to God as long as God does what I want Him to do, or as long as the church does what I want them to do.”
It is a dangerous time.
And as soon as you place that offering into god’s hands, you are asked not just to give something, like money. You are asked to be something – a Christian.
Like the worshipper in the day of Moses, you stand and proclaim your faith and explain why you give your offering.
In a few moments, stand up and proclaim to the world, “I make this offering because I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty,” who made the heaven and the earth. I make this offering because I believe in Jesus Christ, and that he came to earth, died, and rose again for me and my salvation. I make this offering because I believe that God has been generous to me!”
But of course, the offering is not the only time we are asked to be generous.
We have opportunities throughout the week.
Someone needs a helping hand.
Someone needs our time.
Someone needs our talents and skills.
Someone needs our generosity.
This is the first Sunday of Lent, and we often think of Lent as a time to give something up. Perhaps during this Lent, we should think of ADDING something to our lives -- generosity.
God has been SO generous to us. If we remember his generosity to us, we will be compelled to be generous in return.
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Written by Maynard Pittendreigh
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