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ACTS M7 Sermon Notes DRAFT October 4, 2009
TEXT: Acts 4:32-37
TITLE: Soaring with Grace
BIG IDEA: When we are generous, we experience the soaring grace of God.
Beth Allinger (tribute )
Moses Pulei is a man I know who is from the Maasai people of Kenya, Africa. When he first visited North America’s Deep South, he went to a restaurant for breakfast. He didn’t know what to order, so the waitress suggested bacon and eggs. When his breakfast came, there were bacon and eggs and some pale mushy stuff on the side of the plate. He pointed to the mushy stuff and asked, “What is this?” The waitress said, “Them grits.” Moses asks, “What are grits?” She says, “They just come.”
That’s the way it is with the grace of God. Like grits, grace “just comes.”
The early church spread like wildfire in its world because it experienced much grace… or much favour from God.
And grace “just comes.”
We see that this grace of God manifesting itself in the lives of the early church as they were radically generously, and as they were generous… they experienced more of God--the grace that “just comes,” or in the words Eugene Petersen more of “soaring grace.”
We see this upward cycle of grace played out in Acts 4:32-37.
If you have your Bibles, please turn to Acts 4:32.
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement"), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.
In verse 32 we read “all the believers were one in heart and mind.” This seems like a simple statement, but it is remarkable when you think that in Acts 4 we read the church now numbered at least 5000 men (and when you add women and children, that number grows to 15 or 20 thousand), but it is an international community composed of people from around the world. God’s grace is evident as the early church lived as a united community.
We also read in our text how shockingly generous the early church was. “No one claimed any of their possessions as their own, but they shared everything they had.” (These words that describe the radically generous sharing of the early church first appear in Acts 2:44 and 45, and we read again in Acts 4:32)
And then in verses 33-35 we read: “33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”
Some people have read these words about how the early church held everything in common with a sense of alarm. Some people are so afraid that this radical sharing might encourage us to adopt a communist (or a socialist) agenda that they actually dismiss these verses by saying that the early church made a mistake in not claiming that their possessions were their own.
But Luke makes it very clear in the Book of Acts that this radical lifestyle of generosity was simply the supernatural result of the Holy Spirit being poured out in a person’s life.
The early church acknowledged that Christ owned them, as well as their possessions.
Tertullian the early church father in the second century wrote:
Though we have our offerings, it is not made up of purchase-money, as of a religion that has its price. These gifts are . . . not spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the needs of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; or are shut up in the prisons… But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another
God’s grace was powerfully at work in the life of the early church and they freely gave to one another. And, as they gave, more grace was poured out to them.
The church fathers tell this story… of two brothers who shared a field and a mill, and at the end of each day they divided the grain they had ground together during the day exactly in half. One brother was single; the other had a wife and a large family.
Now, the single brother thought to himself one day, “It isn't fair that we divide the grain evenly. I have only myself to care for, but my brother has children to feed. I will give him a gift of grain, but if I do so his face will fall in shame.” So each night he secretly took some of his grain to his brother's granary to see that he was never without.
But the married brother said to himself one day, "It isn't really fair that we divide the grain evenly, because I have children to provide for me in my old age, but my brother has no one who will care for him in his old age. I will give him a gift of grain, but his face will fall in shame.” So every night he secretly took some of his grain to his brother's granary.
Then one night under the light of a full moon they met each other halfway between their two houses. They suddenly realized what had been happening and embraced each other in love.
God witnessed their meeting and proclaimed, "This is a holy place and I am pleased to dwell here.
As we receive God’s grace, we give, and as we give we experience more of God’s soaring grace because God is pleased to dwell in a community where people give selflessly.
Even when we are not intending to give, even when we fall into giving by accident, we can experience God’s blessing and grace.
A story a little closer to home Robin Shope shares how she was at garage sale, and she found under a pile of old bedspreads a shiny saxophone. It was vintage, in pristine condition, and selling for $20.
Not being a musician and unfamiliar with the going rate for instruments, she was a little worried, $20 poorer, and the proud owner of a shiny saxophone that might not sell. As she was leaving, an elderly man stopped her. "Can I buy that saxophone from you?" he asked hopefully. "I'll give you $20 more than whatever you paid."
She was thrilled. She thought, “I'd not only recoup my 20 dollars, I'd make 20 more—and within minutes of my purchase.”
[Later that day she said] I sat at the computer, pulled up the eBay homepage, and entered the type of saxophone I'd owned for less than five minutes. To my horror, three exact matches popped up, all selling for over $500.
It was done. Finished. No chance for a do-over. Yet I couldn't let it go. Late at night I sat sleepless, angry with myself… My brain kept replaying the moment I sold the sax, while a bitter little voice whispered that the old man had probably pawned it off.
A few months later as I was perusing a garage sale, I spied my sax buyer hunched over a box, sifting through old sheet music. Feeling the old twinge of regret, I pretended not to see him. But he recognized me and cheerfully called out, "Hello there! Have you found any treasures today?"
"No." …
[And] as I turned to walk away, he caught hold of my arm. "I want you to know that because of you, I rekindled my old passion for the saxophone. Being retired, I now volunteer my time to teach kids how to play." He wiggled his fingers over the keys of an invisible sax. It was then I noticed his frailty, his worn clothes, and his scuffed shoes.
And suddenly I understood. I thought he'd stolen my blessing, when in fact he was my blessing.”
It is a blessing to give, even to fall into giving by accident.
A few weeks ago, I shared stories from our own group community here at Tenth who have experienced the blessing of giving and receiving: stories of small group members helping each other move, bringing food to people who were out of work, comforting each other as members lost a baby or a loved one.
A few weeks ago we looked at what it means to give to each other in our local context. (I hope and pray you experience the joy and grace of giving to people who are right around you. We have a ministry fair right after this service in the Upper East Hall with some amazing ministries many of which are focused on local needs and opportunities).
But, in today’s message, I want to make the shift and explore what it would look to live generously with our global context in mind.
In the book of Acts we see how the early church was generous to people locally as people sold their property and gave to those in need and generous globally and received offerings to support needy people in distant places.
In Acts 13 we read about the church in Antioch. It was an urban, multi-ethnic church (As some of you would know, the church in Antioch has been a model at Tenth.) During one of the gatherings at the church in Antioch, according to Acts 11: 28-30:
28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the believers living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
So we see here members of the early church, as each one was able, providing help for their sisters and brothers living in another part of their world.
As we experience the “soaring grace of God,” like the early church we give generously to those around us, and as we are able, to needy people in some distant place even more of …
I mentioned earlier, in Acts 4 we read that no-one in the early church regarded their possessions as their own. In Acts 11 we read that the followers of Christ in Antioch, each according to their ability, provided help for their destitute brother and sisters living in Judea.
How do we become this generous?
We become this generous by recognizing first, through the help of God’s Spirit working in us, that we do not belong to ourselves, but to God, and that all we possess belongs not to ourselves, but to God. This radical perspective (in a capitalist society) can only be inspired in us as the Spirit of God works in us.
According to the scriptures, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50). A poetic way of saying God owns everything. According to Psalm 24, “The earth and everything in it belongs to God.” God simply entrusts us with resources and gifts, in the same way we might entrust our money to a stockbroker. Now this is a radical idea because it means we do not rightfully own what we have—it is God’s. Therefore, we are called, like a stockbroker, to use our gifts, our money, and our resources, in ways that would honour the owner.
A second way we can become this generous is by becoming aware of the significant resources each of us has been entrusted with.
In the early church many were destitute, but people gave generously based on their ability to do so. In Acts 4 we read that there were no needy persons among them because from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales and put them at the apostles’ feet. This was distributed to anyone who had need. In Acts 11we read that the believers in the church at Antioch gave to the impoverished brothers and sisters in Judea, according to their ability.
Most of us in Canada and most of here would not describe ourselves as wealthy, but here’s the good news…. by world standards we are wealthy. The bad news: four out of ten people in the world (2.6 billion) live on less than $2.00 a day (PROP: Toonie)
If you earn $25, 000 a year, you are wealthier than 90% of the people in the world. (top 10%)
If you make $50,000 a year, you are wealthier than 99% of the world. (top 1%)
You are in the top 1%. If you own a car, even if it is an old rusted out clunker (Pinto?), you may not feel rich but 93% of the world’s people doesn’t even own a car. If you have access to a computer with the internet, you are ahead of 93% of the world.
So most of us here by world standards are doing pretty well. And even if you are earning less than $2 a day, let’s say you are a student, the difference between you and the truly poor of the world is that you have choices. Most of us here have some kind of potential to generate income. But many of the poor in the developing world don’t have that option. For most of the poorest people in the world their hard work doesn’t make a difference as it does for us because they are trapped in a web of social and economic system that does not reward their labor.
Many people—NOT all (some people in North America are also trapped in a cycle of poverty)—but for many people in North America can be successful if they have gifts and are prepared to work hard. The people in the developing world often don’t have that opportunity.
Part of the way we can experience the soaring grace of generosity like the early church is by recognizing that we are stockbrokers for God; second, by being aware of our relative wealth; and, third, by responding to God’s call for us to give. According to scriptures in texts like Malachi, the starting point for giving for those who of us follow God is the tithe (i.e., to offer the first tenth of our income to God). When we tithe, we are saying in this symbolic act that we believe that all of our income belongs to God.
One of the most helpful things that I was taught as a new follower of Christ was to offer the first tenth of my income to God. It wasn’t hard for me to do as a teenager because I hardly made any money. When my wife Sakiko became a new believer in her twenties, working as an editor at Newsweek magazine, she was making a very good salary. When she heard her pastor speak on Bible tithing, the idea came as a jolt to her at first, but then she learned the joy of giving.
When I have spoken on giving, some of you asked me (usually in hushed tones) what my giving practice is. Let me just share that with you. Since becoming a follower of Christ, I’ve been committed to tithing to my local church. When we were doing our building campaign, Sakiko and I were committed to tithing to this church (offering the first tenth), and then to giving above and beyond our tithe so that part could help replace the original sanctuary with a new East Hall which had become deteriorated to the point that we had to shut it down. God enabled us to fulfill our pledge. Since we at Tenth have completed the building and paid it down, Sakiko and I will continue to tithe here. We are also committed to giving over and above our tithe to another Christian organization that works with poor children around the world. It is our joy to do that.
Tithing is the starting point and it simply means we give the first Tenth to the work of God, whether it’s through local church, mission, or to the poor...
For many in the world their philosophy, when it comes to money, is “make all you can, can all you get, and sit on the can.” John Wesley was a very prominent minister in the 18th century. He was the founder of the Methodist Church and his motto was “make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can…” he truly lived this out. He figured out what he needed to live on modestly… lived on it and gave the rest away. John Wesley back in the 18th century had rock star status--he made a good living from his speaking and books, but he gave it nearly all away. He donated nearly all of the 30,000 pounds he earned in his lifetime (which was a fortune back in his day). He once wrote, "If I leave behind me ten pounds you and all mankind [can] bear witness against me, that I have lived and died a thief and a robber."
If Christians in North America raised their level of giving to a simple a tithe which is 10 percent (John Wesley had a habit of giving 80% of his income away. He was married, but no kids), which is the standard starting point for believers in Scripture, it could make an enormous difference in the world.
Richard Stearns, one of the World Vision presidents, made the observation that if Christians in North America (the US and Canada) simply tithed, then we would have almost an EXTRA $200 billion dollars available for God’s work around the world.
(To put that in perspective, we spend about 800 billion dollars in the US and Canada on entertainment and recreation). (Can the powerpoint slides on the following… come out progressively point by point, but so that ONE slide is “filled out” with this data in the end?)
If Christians in North America (the US and Canada) simply tithed, then we would have an EXTRA $200 billion dollars available for God’s work around the world.
* we could bring an end to world hunger;
* solve the clean water crises;
* provide universal access to medical care for millions suffering from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis;
* virtually eliminate more the 26,000 daily child deaths (Bono—where a child is born should not determine IF a child lives);
* guarantee education for all the world’s children;
* provide a safety net for the world’s tens of millions of orphans.
If you are here and you still exploring the possibility of belief in God, tithing is not something that you are obligated to do. God calls his followers to tithe. You are not under that particular call, but it’s good for you to hear this because tithing of part of what God will call you to do once you give your life to him. But, living a life of compassion and generosity, as the Dali Lama has noted, is a great gift, so if you do not believe in God, why not consider giving to some organization that does good in the world. It may not be a Christian organization, but some movement that helps to alleviate the poverty and suffering of people somewhere in the world.
Something else we might consider as we seek to become people whose generosity reflects God’s grace to the world is to consider sponsoring a child.
In the movie About Schmidt, Jack Nicholson plays the role of a man named Warren Schmidt (show slide). He retires from a vice president's job at an insurance company, he’s wealthy, but looks back on a meaningless life, and ahead to a meaningless retirement.
One day, while watching television, Warren sees an opportunity to sponsor an underprivileged child in Tanzania. Warren responds to the appeal, and throughout the movie he faithfully sends the $22 a month.
On one occasion after a long road trip, Warren comes home to an empty house. He reluctantly walks in with an armload of impersonal junk mail.
Warren ambles up the stairs and looks disappointedly at the disheveled state of his bedroom. Throughout this scene, the audience hears Warren's voice-over narration of a letter he recently composed to 6 year old boy Ndugu he sponsors. He pours out his intense feeling of emptiness in this letter:
“I know we're all pretty small in the scheme of things, and I guess the best you can hope for is to make some kind of difference, but what difference have I made? What in the world is better because of me? I am a failure. There's just no getting around it. Real soon I will die. Maybe 20 years—maybe tomorrow—it doesn't matter. Once I am dead and everyone who knew me dies, it is as though I never existed. What difference has my life made to anyone? None that I can think of. Hope things are fine with you.
Yours Truly, Warren Schmidt.”
At the end of the scene, the depression on Warren's face gives way to wonder as he stares down at a letter from Tanzania. It is a letter from a nun who works in the orphanage where 6-year-old Ndugu lives. She tells Warren that Ndugu thinks of him every day and hopes he is happy. Enclosed is a picture drawn by Ndugu for Warren—two stick people smiling and holding hands under blue sky and the sun. Warren is overcome by the realization that he has made a difference. He lifts his hands to his tired face and cries…
He makes a difference and experiences gratitude and joy.
Something else we might do if we are able, if we want to become people whose generosity reflects God’s grace to the world, is to serve as part of some kind of mission local or global mission (consider visiting the ministry booths). Kevin Knight, a plumber in our community, recently shared about how next year he intends to live among the poorest in Phnom Pen, Cambodia as he serves with Servants for Asia’s Poor (and they will have a table in the back).
Again, you don’t need to be a billionaire to participate in serving the world. A couple of week ago, I shared how Leon a person who works as the shoeshine guy in a tall office building in Seattle provides water filtration systems that make clean water in places like Bolivia massive flooding (and perhaps now in the Philippines?) where the water has been contaminated because of flooding. How does he do it? As he shines shoes and posts pictures on the wall of places in the world that need clean water. Then when the business people, lawyers, and bankers whose shoes he is shining ask about the photos he says, “I’m raising money for a water filtration machines—would you like to help?
A few years ago Raul Hernandez, one of World Vision’s representatives in Florida, responded to a phone call from an elderly woman in Miami who asked if he could come to her apartment to discuss a gift. He wrote this email afterwards:
The apartment complex was located in a poor Latino neighbourhood of Miami. As I knocked at the door, I noticed the humble surroundings. She opened the door. Ana is a wonderful 91-year-young Colombian lady.
“Come in. You are the person who was sent to receive my gift?” She invited me into her humble one-bedroom apartment. No air conditioning.
I was told about her coming to North America in 1954 with her husband, her struggle to raise up her three children, her long working hours to meet the family basic needs... Then she told me about her terrible time of sickness, almost totally paralyzed, strangled by pain, limited by the mercy of others to move her around. Until she met the Lord and his healing power that sustains her until today.
After sharing more stories, she stood up and said, “Let me bring my gift to the children that World Vision is serving.”She went to the night table and brought an envelope to the table where we were seated. She opened the envelope with care as if it was a ceremony of love. She passed me five clipped lumps of twenty-dollar bills. “Count them. Please. I want to be sure I counted correctly.”
I counted them, and it was one thousand dollars. She then said, “I have been saving this for a long time with the intention to give it to for the poor children in the world. Every time someone gave me a gift for my birthday, or for Christmas, or for New Year, I saved it for the poor children. I am so blessed by the Lord that I want to bless those who are less fortunate than me. I sponsor a girl in Columbia. But I was thinking I will soon start my travel to my Celestial Home, to my Father; I need to do something soon on behalf of those suffering children. My prayer I that as Jesus took two fish and five loaves of bread and multiplied them to fed the thousands, that he will do the same with this, my gift. It’s not much, but it is everything I have.”
I was crying inside, such generosity is only possible by the work of the Holy Spirit. I felt I was blessed beyond my imagination. The humid heat of Miami, in this small apartment without air-conditioning, was totally forgotten under the refreshing breeze I felt coming from above as I enjoyed this visit with Ana. I was wondering, as I drove back home, how maybe she is not a “major donor” she is a heavenly donor.
Jesus said (in Matthew 25), “When you gave to the least of my brothers or sisters you gave to me.”
God’s grace came to the early church and they lived a life of generosity locally and globally, and experienced more of God’s soaring grace, and the work of God grew in their world. When we live this way so will we will experience soaring grace and God will say “this is a holy place and I am pleased to dwell here”… and the Kingdom of God will grow in our world.
ACTS M7 Sermon Notes DRAFT October 4, 2009
TEXT: Acts 4:32-37
TITLE: Soaring with Grace
BIG IDEA: When we are generous, we experience the soaring grace of God.
Beth Allinger (tribute )
Moses Pulei is a man I know who is from the Maasai people of Kenya, Africa. When he first visited North America’s Deep South, he went to a restaurant for breakfast. He didn’t know what to order, so the waitress suggested bacon and eggs. When his breakfast came, there were bacon and eggs and some pale mushy stuff on the side of the plate. He pointed to the mushy stuff and asked, “What is this?” The waitress said, “Them grits.” Moses asks, “What are grits?” She says, “They just come.”
That’s the way it is with the grace of God. Like grits, grace “just comes.”
The early church spread like wildfire in its world because it experienced much grace… or much favour from God.
And grace “just comes.”
We see that this grace of God manifesting itself in the lives of the early church as they were radically generously, and as they were generous… they experienced more of God--the grace that “just comes,” or in the words Eugene Petersen more of “soaring grace.”
We see this upward cycle of grace played out in Acts 4:32-37.
If you have your Bibles, please turn to Acts 4:32.
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement"), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.
In verse 32 we read “all the believers were one in heart and mind.” This seems like a simple statement, but it is remarkable when you think that in Acts 4 we read the church now numbered at least 5000 men (and when you add women and children, that number grows to 15 or 20 thousand), but it is an international community composed of people from around the world. God’s grace is evident as the early church lived as a united community.
We also read in our text how shockingly generous the early church was. “No one claimed any of their possessions as their own, but they shared everything they had.” (These words that describe the radically generous sharing of the early church first appear in Acts 2:44 and 45, and we read again in Acts 4:32)
And then in verses 33-35 we read: “33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.”
Some people have read these words about how the early church held everything in common with a sense of alarm. Some people are so afraid that this radical sharing might encourage us to adopt a communist (or a socialist) agenda that they actually dismiss these verses by saying that the early church made a mistake in not claiming that their possessions were their own.
But Luke makes it very clear in the Book of Acts that this radical lifestyle of generosity was simply the supernatural result of the Holy Spirit being poured out in a person’s life.
The early church acknowledged that Christ owned them, as well as their possessions.
Tertullian the early church father in the second century wrote:
Though we have our offerings, it is not made up of purchase-money, as of a religion that has its price. These gifts are . . . not spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the needs of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; or are shut up in the prisons… But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another
God’s grace was powerfully at work in the life of the early church and they freely gave to one another. And, as they gave, more grace was poured out to them.
The church fathers tell this story… of two brothers who shared a field and a mill, and at the end of each day they divided the grain they had ground together during the day exactly in half. One brother was single; the other had a wife and a large family.
Now, the single brother thought to himself one day, “It isn't fair that we divide the grain evenly. I have only myself to care for, but my brother has children to feed. I will give him a gift of grain, but if I do so his face will fall in shame.” So each night he secretly took some of his grain to his brother's granary to see that he was never without.
But the married brother said to himself one day, "It isn't really fair that we divide the grain evenly, because I have children to provide for me in my old age, but my brother has no one who will care for him in his old age. I will give him a gift of grain, but his face will fall in shame.” So every night he secretly took some of his grain to his brother's granary.
Then one night under the light of a full moon they met each other halfway between their two houses. They suddenly realized what had been happening and embraced each other in love.
God witnessed their meeting and proclaimed, "This is a holy place and I am pleased to dwell here.
As we receive God’s grace, we give, and as we give we experience more of God’s soaring grace because God is pleased to dwell in a community where people give selflessly.
Even when we are not intending to give, even when we fall into giving by accident, we can experience God’s blessing and grace.
A story a little closer to home Robin Shope shares how she was at garage sale, and she found under a pile of old bedspreads a shiny saxophone. It was vintage, in pristine condition, and selling for $20.
Not being a musician and unfamiliar with the going rate for instruments, she was a little worried, $20 poorer, and the proud owner of a shiny saxophone that might not sell. As she was leaving, an elderly man stopped her. "Can I buy that saxophone from you?" he asked hopefully. "I'll give you $20 more than whatever you paid."
She was thrilled. She thought, “I'd not only recoup my 20 dollars, I'd make 20 more—and within minutes of my purchase.”
[Later that day she said] I sat at the computer, pulled up the eBay homepage, and entered the type of saxophone I'd owned for less than five minutes. To my horror, three exact matches popped up, all selling for over $500.
It was done. Finished. No chance for a do-over. Yet I couldn't let it go. Late at night I sat sleepless, angry with myself… My brain kept replaying the moment I sold the sax, while a bitter little voice whispered that the old man had probably pawned it off.
A few months later as I was perusing a garage sale, I spied my sax buyer hunched over a box, sifting through old sheet music. Feeling the old twinge of regret, I pretended not to see him. But he recognized me and cheerfully called out, "Hello there! Have you found any treasures today?"
"No." …
[And] as I turned to walk away, he caught hold of my arm. "I want you to know that because of you, I rekindled my old passion for the saxophone. Being retired, I now volunteer my time to teach kids how to play." He wiggled his fingers over the keys of an invisible sax. It was then I noticed his frailty, his worn clothes, and his scuffed shoes.
And suddenly I understood. I thought he'd stolen my blessing, when in fact he was my blessing.”
It is a blessing to give, even to fall into giving by accident.
A few weeks ago, I shared stories from our own group community here at Tenth who have experienced the blessing of giving and receiving: stories of small group members helping each other move, bringing food to people who were out of work, comforting each other as members lost a baby or a loved one.
A few weeks ago we looked at what it means to give to each other in our local context. (I hope and pray you experience the joy and grace of giving to people who are right around you. We have a ministry fair right after this service in the Upper East Hall with some amazing ministries many of which are focused on local needs and opportunities).
But, in today’s message, I want to make the shift and explore what it would look to live generously with our global context in mind.
In the book of Acts we see how the early church was generous to people locally as people sold their property and gave to those in need and generous globally and received offerings to support needy people in distant places.
In Acts 13 we read about the church in Antioch. It was an urban, multi-ethnic church (As some of you would know, the church in Antioch has been a model at Tenth.) During one of the gatherings at the church in Antioch, according to Acts 11: 28-30:
28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the believers living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
So we see here members of the early church, as each one was able, providing help for their sisters and brothers living in another part of their world.
As we experience the “soaring grace of God,” like the early church we give generously to those around us, and as we are able, to needy people in some distant place even more of …
I mentioned earlier, in Acts 4 we read that no-one in the early church regarded their possessions as their own. In Acts 11 we read that the followers of Christ in Antioch, each according to their ability, provided help for their destitute brother and sisters living in Judea.
How do we become this generous?
We become this generous by recognizing first, through the help of God’s Spirit working in us, that we do not belong to ourselves, but to God, and that all we possess belongs not to ourselves, but to God. This radical perspective (in a capitalist society) can only be inspired in us as the Spirit of God works in us.
According to the scriptures, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50). A poetic way of saying God owns everything. According to Psalm 24, “The earth and everything in it belongs to God.” God simply entrusts us with resources and gifts, in the same way we might entrust our money to a stockbroker. Now this is a radical idea because it means we do not rightfully own what we have—it is God’s. Therefore, we are called, like a stockbroker, to use our gifts, our money, and our resources, in ways that would honour the owner.
A second way we can become this generous is by becoming aware of the significant resources each of us has been entrusted with.
In the early church many were destitute, but people gave generously based on their ability to do so. In Acts 4 we read that there were no needy persons among them because from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales and put them at the apostles’ feet. This was distributed to anyone who had need. In Acts 11we read that the believers in the church at Antioch gave to the impoverished brothers and sisters in Judea, according to their ability.
Most of us in Canada and most of here would not describe ourselves as wealthy, but here’s the good news…. by world standards we are wealthy. The bad news: four out of ten people in the world (2.6 billion) live on less than $2.00 a day (PROP: Toonie)
If you earn $25, 000 a year, you are wealthier than 90% of the people in the world. (top 10%)
If you make $50,000 a year, you are wealthier than 99% of the world. (top 1%)
You are in the top 1%. If you own a car, even if it is an old rusted out clunker (Pinto?), you may not feel rich but 93% of the world’s people doesn’t even own a car. If you have access to a computer with the internet, you are ahead of 93% of the world.
So most of us here by world standards are doing pretty well. And even if you are earning less than $2 a day, let’s say you are a student, the difference between you and the truly poor of the world is that you have choices. Most of us here have some kind of potential to generate income. But many of the poor in the developing world don’t have that option. For most of the poorest people in the world their hard work doesn’t make a difference as it does for us because they are trapped in a web of social and economic system that does not reward their labor.
Many people—NOT all (some people in North America are also trapped in a cycle of poverty)—but for many people in North America can be successful if they have gifts and are prepared to work hard. The people in the developing world often don’t have that opportunity.
Part of the way we can experience the soaring grace of generosity like the early church is by recognizing that we are stockbrokers for God; second, by being aware of our relative wealth; and, third, by responding to God’s call for us to give. According to scriptures in texts like Malachi, the starting point for giving for those who of us follow God is the tithe (i.e., to offer the first tenth of our income to God). When we tithe, we are saying in this symbolic act that we believe that all of our income belongs to God.
One of the most helpful things that I was taught as a new follower of Christ was to offer the first tenth of my income to God. It wasn’t hard for me to do as a teenager because I hardly made any money. When my wife Sakiko became a new believer in her twenties, working as an editor at Newsweek magazine, she was making a very good salary. When she heard her pastor speak on Bible tithing, the idea came as a jolt to her at first, but then she learned the joy of giving.
When I have spoken on giving, some of you asked me (usually in hushed tones) what my giving practice is. Let me just share that with you. Since becoming a follower of Christ, I’ve been committed to tithing to my local church. When we were doing our building campaign, Sakiko and I were committed to tithing to this church (offering the first tenth), and then to giving above and beyond our tithe so that part could help replace the original sanctuary with a new East Hall which had become deteriorated to the point that we had to shut it down. God enabled us to fulfill our pledge. Since we at Tenth have completed the building and paid it down, Sakiko and I will continue to tithe here. We are also committed to giving over and above our tithe to another Christian organization that works with poor children around the world. It is our joy to do that.
Tithing is the starting point and it simply means we give the first Tenth to the work of God, whether it’s through local church, mission, or to the poor...
For many in the world their philosophy, when it comes to money, is “make all you can, can all you get, and sit on the can.” John Wesley was a very prominent minister in the 18th century. He was the founder of the Methodist Church and his motto was “make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can…” he truly lived this out. He figured out what he needed to live on modestly… lived on it and gave the rest away. John Wesley back in the 18th century had rock star status--he made a good living from his speaking and books, but he gave it nearly all away. He donated nearly all of the 30,000 pounds he earned in his lifetime (which was a fortune back in his day). He once wrote, "If I leave behind me ten pounds you and all mankind [can] bear witness against me, that I have lived and died a thief and a robber."
If Christians in North America raised their level of giving to a simple a tithe which is 10 percent (John Wesley had a habit of giving 80% of his income away. He was married, but no kids), which is the standard starting point for believers in Scripture, it could make an enormous difference in the world.
Richard Stearns, one of the World Vision presidents, made the observation that if Christians in North America (the US and Canada) simply tithed, then we would have almost an EXTRA $200 billion dollars available for God’s work around the world.
(To put that in perspective, we spend about 800 billion dollars in the US and Canada on entertainment and recreation). (Can the powerpoint slides on the following… come out progressively point by point, but so that ONE slide is “filled out” with this data in the end?)
If Christians in North America (the US and Canada) simply tithed, then we would have an EXTRA $200 billion dollars available for God’s work around the world.
* we could bring an end to world hunger;
* solve the clean water crises;
* provide universal access to medical care for millions suffering from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis;
* virtually eliminate more the 26,000 daily child deaths (Bono—where a child is born should not determine IF a child lives);
* guarantee education for all the world’s children;
* provide a safety net for the world’s tens of millions of orphans.
If you are here and you still exploring the possibility of belief in God, tithing is not something that you are obligated to do. God calls his followers to tithe. You are not under that particular call, but it’s good for you to hear this because tithing of part of what God will call you to do once you give your life to him. But, living a life of compassion and generosity, as the Dali Lama has noted, is a great gift, so if you do not believe in God, why not consider giving to some organization that does good in the world. It may not be a Christian organization, but some movement that helps to alleviate the poverty and suffering of people somewhere in the world.
Something else we might consider as we seek to become people whose generosity reflects God’s grace to the world is to consider sponsoring a child.
In the movie About Schmidt, Jack Nicholson plays the role of a man named Warren Schmidt (show slide). He retires from a vice president's job at an insurance company, he’s wealthy, but looks back on a meaningless life, and ahead to a meaningless retirement.
One day, while watching television, Warren sees an opportunity to sponsor an underprivileged child in Tanzania. Warren responds to the appeal, and throughout the movie he faithfully sends the $22 a month.
On one occasion after a long road trip, Warren comes home to an empty house. He reluctantly walks in with an armload of impersonal junk mail.
Warren ambles up the stairs and looks disappointedly at the disheveled state of his bedroom. Throughout this scene, the audience hears Warren's voice-over narration of a letter he recently composed to 6 year old boy Ndugu he sponsors. He pours out his intense feeling of emptiness in this letter:
“I know we're all pretty small in the scheme of things, and I guess the best you can hope for is to make some kind of difference, but what difference have I made? What in the world is better because of me? I am a failure. There's just no getting around it. Real soon I will die. Maybe 20 years—maybe tomorrow—it doesn't matter. Once I am dead and everyone who knew me dies, it is as though I never existed. What difference has my life made to anyone? None that I can think of. Hope things are fine with you.
Yours Truly, Warren Schmidt.”
At the end of the scene, the depression on Warren's face gives way to wonder as he stares down at a letter from Tanzania. It is a letter from a nun who works in the orphanage where 6-year-old Ndugu lives. She tells Warren that Ndugu thinks of him every day and hopes he is happy. Enclosed is a picture drawn by Ndugu for Warren—two stick people smiling and holding hands under blue sky and the sun. Warren is overcome by the realization that he has made a difference. He lifts his hands to his tired face and cries…
He makes a difference and experiences gratitude and joy.
Something else we might do if we are able, if we want to become people whose generosity reflects God’s grace to the world, is to serve as part of some kind of mission local or global mission (consider visiting the ministry booths). Kevin Knight, a plumber in our community, recently shared about how next year he intends to live among the poorest in Phnom Pen, Cambodia as he serves with Servants for Asia’s Poor (and they will have a table in the back).
Again, you don’t need to be a billionaire to participate in serving the world. A couple of week ago, I shared how Leon a person who works as the shoeshine guy in a tall office building in Seattle provides water filtration systems that make clean water in places like Bolivia massive flooding (and perhaps now in the Philippines?) where the water has been contaminated because of flooding. How does he do it? As he shines shoes and posts pictures on the wall of places in the world that need clean water. Then when the business people, lawyers, and bankers whose shoes he is shining ask about the photos he says, “I’m raising money for a water filtration machines—would you like to help?
A few years ago Raul Hernandez, one of World Vision’s representatives in Florida, responded to a phone call from an elderly woman in Miami who asked if he could come to her apartment to discuss a gift. He wrote this email afterwards:
The apartment complex was located in a poor Latino neighbourhood of Miami. As I knocked at the door, I noticed the humble surroundings. She opened the door. Ana is a wonderful 91-year-young Colombian lady.
“Come in. You are the person who was sent to receive my gift?” She invited me into her humble one-bedroom apartment. No air conditioning.
I was told about her coming to North America in 1954 with her husband, her struggle to raise up her three children, her long working hours to meet the family basic needs... Then she told me about her terrible time of sickness, almost totally paralyzed, strangled by pain, limited by the mercy of others to move her around. Until she met the Lord and his healing power that sustains her until today.
After sharing more stories, she stood up and said, “Let me bring my gift to the children that World Vision is serving.”She went to the night table and brought an envelope to the table where we were seated. She opened the envelope with care as if it was a ceremony of love. She passed me five clipped lumps of twenty-dollar bills. “Count them. Please. I want to be sure I counted correctly.”
I counted them, and it was one thousand dollars. She then said, “I have been saving this for a long time with the intention to give it to for the poor children in the world. Every time someone gave me a gift for my birthday, or for Christmas, or for New Year, I saved it for the poor children. I am so blessed by the Lord that I want to bless those who are less fortunate than me. I sponsor a girl in Columbia. But I was thinking I will soon start my travel to my Celestial Home, to my Father; I need to do something soon on behalf of those suffering children. My prayer I that as Jesus took two fish and five loaves of bread and multiplied them to fed the thousands, that he will do the same with this, my gift. It’s not much, but it is everything I have.”
I was crying inside, such generosity is only possible by the work of the Holy Spirit. I felt I was blessed beyond my imagination. The humid heat of Miami, in this small apartment without air-conditioning, was totally forgotten under the refreshing breeze I felt coming from above as I enjoyed this visit with Ana. I was wondering, as I drove back home, how maybe she is not a “major donor” she is a heavenly donor.
Jesus said (in Matthew 25), “When you gave to the least of my brothers or sisters you gave to me.”
God’s grace came to the early church and they lived a life of generosity locally and globally, and experienced more of God’s soaring grace, and the work of God grew in their world. When we live this way so will we will experience soaring grace and God will say “this is a holy place and I am pleased to dwell here”… and the Kingdom of God will grow in our world.
posted by Shigematsu at 3:25 PM
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