Sermon for Sunday, October 5, 2003
October 5, 2003
Consecration Sunday Gen. 1:26-31
TO LIVE IS TO GIVE
Acts 20:35; Mt. 6:24
South Roanoke United Methodist Church
William G. Davidson
Do you remember what
it was like? Do you remember when life was such a gift that you simply
received it with joy? Do you remember when you were so confident of this
gift of life that you knew you were in very good hands, held safely,
securely in the arms of God? Do you remember? You trusted God
then, you really did—your life was such a calm, confident trust that
nothing rattled you; you knew there always was enough for you and
everybody else. Do you remember? Try to remember! Or have you
forgotten? If you have forgotten, God wants you to try to remember
because your life and my life now is so full of worry, anxiety, and
wondering if there will be enough for us, for our children, and four our
grandchildren for tomorrow. You have to try to remember because you don’t
live your life like that anymore—you don’t receive it as a gift but you
take it wherever you can get it.
Why are we so
overtaken by worry and anxiety for tomorrow? It’s an old, old story—one
with which we are very familiar though sometimes it’s hard to remember.
You see, life didn’t always used to be like this. This is not the way it
was originally created. This is just not the way God made it. Do you
remember? God wants you to remember.
In the beginning God
gave life. That’s the story in the book of Genesis, isn’t it? In the
beginning God gave life. Life was the first great gift. So the first
point to be made today is God gives and we are. We are the
result of God’s giving. In that gift of life God provided abundant
provision. God made a world with plenty for everybody. God made a world
of love, justice, and grace. What a marvelous gift this is. And God is
so giving, generous, and trusting that God gave to us the ability to
create along with God. God invited us to the edge of creation in order
for us together to make a world. But then that snake came along and said,
“You will not die (if you eat of the fruit of that forbidden tree); for
God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you
will be like God.” And so we ate of the fruit that was forbidden us.
We chose then to provide for ourselves. We chose to possess, own and
control creation and be masters of our own destiny and make a life for
ourselves. We were afraid not to—we better keep for ourselves or there
won’t be enough, or so we feared.
At that moment
humanity centered life no longer on God but sought fulfillment among the
penultimate and unsatisfying elements of the created order. In this
tragic fall of creation, a life of abundance, sharing, and joy became an
existence of struggle, worry, anxiety, mistrust, greed, hardship, pain,
and injustice. And all so that we could be like God!
We forgot, and we
forget, that God gives and we are.
To be like God is not to possess, own, and
control
To be like God is to be giving, generous, and trusting
Furthermore we don’t have to make anything of ourselves to be like
God for that’s the way we were created—to be giving, generous, and
trusting people—people created in the very image of God. That image of
God is still in us. It is shoved aside, off-center, but it is still
there. We are never really home until we are at home in God. We are
never really at peace until we ultimately trust this God and become the
giving, generous people we are. That leads us to the second point this
morning: Giving is living—that’s the way we’re made.
Giving is living.
Life is not found in how much we receive, accumulate, or possess. You
know, it is not only true that “it is more blessed to give than to
receive,” it feels right. It is of the very essence of what it means to
be human. The relationships that define and enrich our lives are formed
and sustained in how much we give of ourselves to these trusted
friends and loving family members. The joy these relationships gives us
is pure grace—the abundant fruit of the gift of our life in that
relationship that produces for both far beyond that which is ever given to
the other.
God gives and we are
Giving is living
From the time of the
fall of creation God kept right on giving. Even though we turned our back
on
God, God, who knows that life is made not by the taking
but by the giving, kept right on giving.
God gave a name and a promise to a man named Abram.
God called one named Moses to lead the people out of
Egyptian slavery.
God gave a land flowing with milk and honey.
God sent prophets to warn, encourage, and correct.
God returned the people to the land following a period
of exile in a foreign country.
God, time and again stepping into the midst of human history
delivering, restoring, loving, saving humanity from itself and from their
own desperate pursuit of meaning, value, and worth in life everywhere else
except in God.
The Christian story
in this regard is the most moving of all to us, is it not? God has an
only Son and God gives him, too! What more evidence do we need
that the very essence of life in all its wholeness and purpose and
fulfillment is in giving than the gift of God’s Son for our
salvation? Jesus did not come to take, own, possess, and control
creation—indeed, it was already his to do with what he wished. No! He
gave it all, gave it all even to his own death on the cross. God
gives and we are. Giving is living.
And on the third day
in the resurrection from the dead is there any doubt at all that a life of
giving is forever? God never stops giving and we never stop living. A
life of giving is forever.
You want to live no
longer in fear, anxiety, and worry? GIVE
You want to touch the secret to the power of a fulfilled and meaningful
life? GIVE
You want to taste the very essence of eternity? GIVE
Stop living your life thinking you have to possess, own, control, and
somehow make a life for
yourself. GIVE
Give your life more fully to God, in love to your family and friends, in
service to others, on behalf of the poor, downtrodden, and the victims of
injustice. GIVE
About this time of year every year your church shares with you a real
secret, a real key to unlocking the power of this truth in your life.
About this time of year South Roanoke Church provides you a wonderful
opportunity to focus this truth in one particularly important aspect of
your life. It is one that Jesus considered essential if you are ever to
take up this spiritual discipline of giving in a truly life-transforming
way. There is not any greater rival for our allegiance in this culture
than money. It vied for human allegiance so strongly in Jesus’ day that
he called it mammon, meaning wealth or money, an Aramaic word for
one of the principalities and powers of this world that rivals God. “You
cannot serve two masters: God and wealth.” In Jesus’ day and in our day
it is the way to our heart. Nothing worries us more, motivates us,
controls us, or manages our very lives more than money. In our affluent
culture if we can learn how to handle this one we take a significant step
in our own spirituality—a step closer in our relationship to God. Through
the years, as humanity sought to “try out” this life of giving that God
created, people of God began to make an offering to God as a systematic,
regular and meaningful expression of thanksgiving. The practice
eventually developed with the tithe (10%) becoming the minimal customary
measure of relational response offered by the community. The people
responded generously because they believed they were uniquely gifted by a
generous God.
In this regard we
become the benefactors of the wisdom of the ages as we center upon the
tithe (10%) as a model, a minimal standard or goal for us in our day. The
first priority of our financial planning ought to be the prayerful
commitment of a specific proportion of our money for God. It is true that
an essential first step in our spiritual growth is the very exercise
itself of first realizing what we give and then committing a regular,
systematic, and consistent financial offering. Set aside a proportion of
what God has given you. For some of us the tithe will be a goal we shall
grow toward. For others, whose resources are greater, the tithe will be
an insufficient spiritual teaching—for generosity and sacrifice will lead
them to a higher goal. But pray about it, have family discussions about
it, and make a commitment of a gift. For giving is living.
As you make your
pledge next Sunday, I trust this will not simply be an exercise for the
church’s Finance Committee to estimate a church budget for 2004. I trust
this will not be an exercise by which you seek to affirm or discourage or
otherwise influence the mission and program of South Roanoke Church. The
focus today is not the need of the Church to receive, but the need
of the giver to give. I urge you, I challenge you to make this a
significant step in your own spiritual journey
—to grow one
step toward the tithe
—to give
generously and sacrificially
—to be free
of the allegiance to money so prevalent in our culture
--to no
longer be overtaken by worry and anxiety about tomorrow
--to live the
truth deep in your heart
God gives and we are
Giving is living
A life of giving is forever
