"What God’s people want to do"

Epiphany 3

Albertville

back

Rev. Michael Trask

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. 1Cor. 1:18

Many years ago, before I was married, I took a trip to Germany to see many of the old Lutheran sites and other historical areas. I’m also half German and I wanted to see the old stomping grounds of my ancestors. Along the way, I stayed in the house of A pastor of the State Church of Germany. The State Church of Germany is Lutheran. I knew some german and he knew some more english. So we were able to communicate.

And guess what we talked about for a goodly amount of time as we drank some rather powerful German Coffee? Church Finances! Yeah, I know, its strange. I wanted to talk about Luther or perhaps some stuff that I should be sure to see, but this guy was entirely mystified by the way the churches in America supported themselves. With an almost urgent look on his face he asked “Is it true? Is it true that your church is run entirely on the offerings of the people in your congregation?” And I said “Yes, completely!” “Might I ask how many people you have your congregation.” At that time, I was in a different church, and it was a total of about 250 people and when I related the number, his eyes just about bugged out of his head! For you see, at that time the State Church in Germany was funded by tax dollars and the concept of funding it by offerings was quite foreign to him.

“Then I suppose you have to tell the people what they want to hear to keep the money coming in!” “No”, said I “I tell them what the bible says, whether they like it or not.” Again, with the look of surprise. “How do you do it!” “How do you get enough money to run a church on offerings given freely? It was hard for me to know what to say. He was asking me to step back and look at something I had always taken for granted and explain it to him in a precise way. About all I could manage was “ well, It’s just what God’s people want to do.”

You ever wish that you had said something different or better in a given situation? That’s how I felt. What I said was correct, just not enough.

So why is this just what God’s people want to do? Why do you give offerings to support the work of God in this locale? Is it because I always tell you what you want to hear? No.

Is it some advanced form of clever mind control where you have been programmed to open your check books and give? No.

Is it the cult of personality? Clearly no.

Is it out of guilt and fear? Are you hoping that if you give more that God will like you better and be more willing to help you. I hope not! If that’s why your giving, you need to cut it out. Because that’s not God. Remember? God is Gracious he helps us and saves us for all eternity, not because we have paid him to, but simply because he loves us. Our giving, therefore is a direct result of God first giving to us. We love, because he first loved us, we give because he first gave himself to us and keeps on giving himself to us.

Mind you, this is the part that the world doesn’t typically get. They don’t get how it all started. They don’t get how Jesus would willingly give himself to us. They don’t get how he said “I lay down my life for the sheep.” They don’t get how he “set his face toward Jerusalem” and made himself available to the high priest, and Pilate and the rest. They don’t get how we Christians could worship and talk about someone so covered with sweat and blood and death. As Paul so clearly put it in the text “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” They don’t get it. But we get it! Because we understand that he did it for us; we understand that his sweat; his blood; his death was really ours to begin with. We understand that he stepped in to take what our sins deserved. We understand and we fall on our knees in worship of this one who sacrificed himself for us. Paul says, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

We understand the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice and in response to it, we cannot help but ask “What can I Render to the Lord! for all his benefits to me, I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving!” He sacrificed for us, and now in praise of him, we joyfully and willingly make sacrifices to him. Now this might sound strange to you, to use this sacrificial terminology for our offerings, but it’s actually Biblical. The Philippians helped support the work of the apostle with money, in talking about it. He referred to their gift as “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God.”

We love because he first loved us; we give because he first gave to us; we sacrifice, because he first sacrificed for us. That’s how it is. That’s what I should have said to my German Pastor friend to explain how our churches support themselves. That might have taken the mystery out of it for him. It only took 17 years for me to come with an answer. Your lucky. You didn’t have to wait that long.

It would be most proper for you to think of your offerings as sacrifices made to the Lord. What you put in the envelope for offering is not a business transaction, It’s not payment for services rendered. It’s an act of worship, a grateful sacrifice to the one who sacrificed himself for you. That’s what’s going on, when you give an offering.

But maybe giving money doesn’t seem like a sacrifice to you. Some people believe that money has a certain stigma attached to it and that it’s wrong for a church to talk about it or even accept it. But in truth, the money you give can mean whatever you want it to mean and God will get your meaning. For example, Let’s say you’ve been saving up for something, something you really want like some special vacation. To you, that money means vacation. Now if you take and give that money to the Lord’s work instead, you are giving something that is a very real part of your life. It’s a sacrifice. You’re giving something up for the sake of this one who gave himself for you. And even if you don’t attach such a specific meaning to your offering, by giving to him, you are giving up something. And God is happy to receive such an offering. It’s a “fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God.” Giving is a sacrifice.

And this is nothing new. What’d we learn in the Gospel lesson for today, Peter and Andrew left their nets at once. James and John would do the same thing. Far too many people think that the disciples were where wayfaring hippies that didn’t have anything better to do than follow Jesus. Not true. They were businessmen. They gave up their businesses to follow Jesus. They made rather big sacrifices to follow Jesus. Peter, speaking for all the disciples once asked: “Lord we’ve given up everything to follow you.” This is nothing new. I guess you could say, this is just what God’s people do. AMEN