True Spirituality Series
Freedom for Your Soul
Matthew 6:1-4
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
A couple of months ago, the AARP magazine carried an interesting interview with Katie Couric. You know her as the host of the NBC Today Show. In 1998 Katie lost her 42-year old husband to a six-month battle with colon cancer. Four years later her sister died. The reporter asked her how these two losses affected her. Katie replied, “I’m very interested in exploring a more spiritual side of me, and I’m in the process of doing that, both formally and informally. I really envy those who have a steadfast, unwavering faith, because I think it’s probably so comforting and helpful during difficult times." (Cable Neuhaus, "Whatever Katie Wants," AARP (November/December 2005).
Katie speaks for a lot of Americans. We live in the freest, most prosperous nation on the earth. Even the poorest of us are better off than most of the world. We are far better off than our ancestors. We have unbelievable modern conveniences. Unlimited opportunities abound. Yet a spiritual vacuum lurks beneath that façade of prosperity. Many are looking for something more.
For a growing number of folk, that “something more” falls under the heading of “spirituality.” Spirituality can be a pretty slippery label. By spirituality, some folk mean any kind of emotional experience. The more bizarre the better. Others think of elaborate rituals and ceremonies involving lots of incense and chanting. For some, spirituality comes through self-denial. It requires a rejection of all the creature comforts that come with normal life. Spirituality is discovered by becoming a vegetarian or moving to a mountain top retreat. Almost always, spirituality means something totally apart from normal, daily life. There lies the problem! We are left wondering if spirituality can be experienced by regular folk.
That’s our theme for the first couple of months of the New Year. We are looking at True Spirituality: Finding the Life You’ve Always Wanted. We are searching for the path to that “steadfast, unwavering faith” that Katie says she yearns for.
I start with two assumptions. First, you want to be more spiritual. There is not a one of you that doesn’t want a deeper, closer relationship with God. Secondly, I am convinced this (Bible) is our starting place. The Lord hasn’t left us on our own. He provided a road map that points the way to a treasure of spiritual blessing.
Today our roadmap takes us back to the Sermon on the Mount. This is Jesus’ classic instructions about living a life that pleases God. At the beginning of Matthew 6, Jesus outlines three important activities that are proven paths to a truly spiritual life—charity, praying, and fasting.
A lot of modern folk are surprised that Jesus even takes up these topics. For them, spirituality is private, internal, or emotional. In these paragraphs, Jesus moves spirituality into the realm of observable behavior. Jesus uses the Jewish term “acts of righteousness.” Everyone in his day understood that these were things that anyone interested in knowing God did. Jesus doesn’t question that.
If that weren’t enough, some of us are even more puzzled by what he includes in the list. Prayer we can understand. But we wonder about the other two. We will tackle “fasting” in a couple of weeks. That’s an almost unheard of topic in our day. Diets we understand. That’s about weight loss. But fasting for spiritual purposes leaves a lot of us scratching our heads.
Most disturbing of all, Jesus starts with money. A lot of folk think two topics should be off limits at church—money and politics. Politics is too controversial. Money is too personal. I would agree with the first, if you mean partisan politics. But the second is another matter.
If you have been around here for a while, you know that I don’t shy away from addressing financial matters. I preach about related topics at least a half-dozen times a year. We devoted three sermons to debt-free living in November.
A true story that illustrates what we talked about in that series. Rose’s mother recently sent us a clipping from the Bloomington, Illinois newspaper. It seems that Todd Parmenter of the Lincoln (IL) Christian Church recently spoke on that same theme of debt-free living. Rose and I used to attend that church when we at Lincoln Christian College. I suspect the church was probably using that same book we distributed in November. In his sermon, Parmenter noted a news item. The average American household spends 18 percent of its total income just servicing its credit card debt.
Parmenter suggested that if people paid off their debt, they would have 18 percent more income. They could give ten percent to the church and still have 8 percent left to give themselves a “raise.” He asked rhetorically, “How many of you got an 8 percent raise last year.”
To his surprise, after the service, one member came up and whispered a secret. He, in fact, did get an 8 percent raise last year. His employer—a credit card company!
I don’t preach on money because the church needs money or because we are trying to underwrite the budget, or any similar purpose. I preach about money because Jesus did. Any church committed to preaching and teaching the whole counsel of God has to talk about money. We have no choice. That’s God’s call not ours!
But the big question might be how do money and spirituality relate? Jesus answers that question a bit later in the same chapter. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (21-24).
In another place, Jesus said that “the deceitfulness of riches and cares of this world” choke out our spiritual life. Money is a spiritual matter!
You don’t have to read the Bible to know that. Psychotherapist Jessie H. O’Neill claims that the big affliction of our time is not influenza but “affluenza.” O’Neil calls it a spiritual disorder. She lists the symptoms of this over accumulation of stuff: loss of personal productivity and motivation, an inability to delay gratification or tolerate frustration, a false sense of entitlement and a loss of self-confidence. If not checked, “affluenza” leads to a preoccupation with externals, depression, self-centeredness, and assorted addictions and compulsive behaviors. The more an afflicted person has the more he wants and the less satisfied he is. Translation: money is a spiritual matter.
The famous psychiatrist Karl Menninger observed, “One sign of mental health is the ability to release money – to give it away.” That’s why generosity is an important milepost on the journey to true spirituality. That’s why I call this step—freedom for the soul. We either master our possessions or they master us. Generosity, freedom of the soul, leads down the path to true spirituality.
From Jesus’ words in our text we learn two valuable lessons. He teaches us to give and how to give.
We should give. Note Jesus’ words in verse three. “When you give . . . !” He takes generosity for granted. Followers of Jesus have always known that. Remember James’ description of “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless.” It “looks after orphans and widows in their distress” (1:27). John also connected the dots between charity and conversion. He wrote, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 Jn 3:16-18).
Anyone familiar with the Old Testament already knew the priority God placed on charity. Proverbs 19:17 says, "He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and He will pay back what he has given." Or Proverbs 29:7, "The righteous considers the cause of the poor, but the wicked man does not understand such knowledge". Psalm 41 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor; the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble” (v 1). In Deuteronomy 15:11, the law of God said, "For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ’You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land."
The early followers of Jesus took these commands seriously. The believers in Acts opened their lives to one another in radical ways. Some sold property to feed the poor. Others held their possessions in common with others in the church. “What’s mine is yours,” they said, “If you need it, you take it.” The result—no one among them went without (Acts 2:44-47; 4:32-36).
One Greek writer, a non-Christian, writes early in the second century about what he had observed among the Christians, “He who has gives to him who has not without grudging. When one of their poor passes away from the world, and any of them sees him, then he provides for his burial according to his ability. If they hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of them provide for his needs, and if it is possible that he may be delivered, they will deliver him. If there is among them a man that is poor or needy and they have not an abundance of necessities, they fast two or three days, that they may supply the needy with their necessary food.”
The Old Testament taught it. Jesus endorsed it. The rest of the New Testament commands it. The earliest Christians practiced it. We should do the same. We should be people with open hearts, open hands, and open pockets to those in need. That’s what Christians do.
Few would have found anything surprising in what Jesus said if he had stopped there. He didn’t. He went beyond saying his followers should give. He also says we should give for the right reasons.
He starts with how we shouldn’t do it. “Don’t be like the hypocrites,” Jesus said, “who sounded trumpets to announce their contributions.” This is probably a hyperbole or exaggeration. I doubt if anyone ever hired a brass band to lead their parade to the collection boxes at the temple. Jesus pokes fun at the self-serving, arrogant behavior of some. The Pharisees and other well known religious types gave alright. But they also wanted to make sure everyone knew they did.
What’s the point of giving if nobody knows about it? As Mark Twain observed, “A man only needs so much money. The rest is for showing off!” The two-faced hypocrites were more interested in advancing their own reputations than in helping the poor.
Thankfully that never happens anymore or does it? I probably shouldn’t pick on poor ol’ Ted Turner. The Mouth of the South has enough problems of his own. Turner just makes things so obvious. A few years ago Ted sold CNN to Time Warner. In the process, he pocketed several billion dollars in stock profits. Turner decided to donate a billion dollars to the United Nations. He designated the money to help the extremely poor with food, clothing, and shelter. But before making the donation, he called talk-show host Larry King so he could start circulating the news. Turner made his formal announcement in a New York ballroom filled with tuxedos, evening gowns, and lots of reporters. That’s one way to give.
Here’s another. Radio preacher Chuck Swindoll tells about a new type of collection box. He was probably just joking, but I think we’ll check it out just in case. Here’s how it works.
We would do away with the offering. Instead we would install collection boxes at each entrance. The boxes would have special laser scanners to read the contribution as soon as they drop in. When a person puts in $10 or more nothing happens. If anything less than that goes in, a little bell rings. Only a dollar and a gong sounds. Mere pocket change triggers a siren. If you walk past without putting anything in, a camera pops-up and takes your picture. A signal goes to the balcony. Your picture immediately pops up on the big screen under a banner reading “skin flint.”
Just in case—I am just kidding!
Giving is about sharing, helping and meeting needs. It is not about making ourselves look good. If that’s what we’re after, that’s all we’ll get. People may be impressed. God isn’t!
How should we give? Jesus says give quietly. We do what we do for the applause of one, the Father of Heaven. What others think or even if they know matters little. He says to not even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. I suspect that’s a figure of speech ruling out giving to make ourselves feel good. Self-pride can be a pretty potent force as well. It is still pride.
Does all of this mean it is wrong to put something in a public collection where others might see? Or what about the treasurers keeping track of giving so that we have a record of our contributions for tax purposes? If that’s what we concentrate on, we’re missing the main point. The more we worry about the details and the mechanics of giving the more prone we are to do exactly what Jesus said not to do.
Our goal is to be God-pleasers, not people-pleasers. Jesus said we can’t do both.
Conclusion: Here’s the lesson. You will never be truly in tune with God; you will never fill that spiritual vacuum in your soul, until you practice generosity. Without a generous heart, you will forever live a life of spiritual slavery.
What you own will own your soul!
Freedom of the soul only comes to the person who can let go of his possessions—freely, generously, and selflessly.
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
