Sermon for
September 26. 2004
17th Sunday after Pentecost
“Giving is Living”
1 Timothy 6:6-19
In a newspaper article
last Wednesday the headline read: “Study: Walking is good
exercise for the aging brain.” Roanoke
Times, September 22, 2004,
p. 6A
A friend wrote another
friend a letter the other day. His friend needed some encouragement.
They were close friends and knew one another very well. Some time
ago they made a pact with one another. Back then they did not feel
very well. They were both overweight, felt tired all the time,
didn’t eat right, had some bad habits, and otherwise knew they had to
change. So they made a pact with each other. They vowed to see
their doctors, get a full checkup, and follow the doctor’s
recommendations on a healthy diet, exercise regimen, and lifestyle.
They promised to hold each other accountable to the task and even exercise
together when possible. Why did they do this? Obviously they
wanted to encourage health for themselves. But most of all they did
it for their loved ones who were concerned about them. They both
have children who love them.
So they saw their
doctors, got the full report on their current state of healthiness, and
received clear, explicit instructions on diet, exercise, and lifestyle.
And they started out together. Together they faithfully followed
that healthy discipline. Now they knew they were not on the same
level with one another—one would always be able to walk farther or
exercise longer or tolerate differing diets because of their differences
in age and physical ability. But they both knew they needed each
other’s encouragement and company to keep their commitment to themselves
and their loved ones. And so they started out together. But as
they went along, for whatever reason the second friend was not keeping to
the discipline. He was finding the challenge to great—the food
just didn’t taste good; he really didn’t like walking all that much;
and it was just easier to do what he had always been doing.
Out of concern for his
friend, a friend wrote a friend a letter. In his letter he sought to
encourage him. He told his friend how much better he himself was
feeling now that he had followed the doctor’s instructions for a while.
He had lost weight; he had so much more energy and just felt better about
himself. He wanted so much for his friend to have that same joy.
Have you ever had a
friend who shared concern and love for you like that? Have you ever
found encouragement and new commitment by the witness of a friend of
yours?
It is no mistake, I
believe, that most of our New Testament is made up of letters of friends
written to encourage other friends to take hold of the life that is
intended for all through Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact you
receive just such a letter today from the Apostle Paul through his servant
Timothy. Now the subject of this letter writer’s concern is not
your heart rate or cholesterol level or your weight or your physical
stamina. The subject of this letter writer’s concern is your soul.
The writer’s issue is the ordering of the community of God’s people,
the church. The point of this letter is the right and sound teaching
of the way of life that is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just like our two
friends who began their journey together when they made a pact with one
another, we all started in the same place at our baptism. In our
baptism God claimed us as God’s own. In baptism God’s love for
you and God’s acceptance of you was affirmed before the community of
faith. In baptism you enter into the pact of the community of the
church to learn together what it means to live life the way it’s meant
to be. In baptism you begin to take hold of the promise and
experience the life that God has always intended for children of God.
In the community of the church we learn from one another the disciplines,
lifestyle, behaviors, and practices of the kingdom of God. We follow
these guides to our lives and find encouragement, models, mentors, and
spiritual friends for our own life journeys right here in the community of
the church. That’s what the church is for. Isn’t that why
you’re here today? Don’t you want to know more about this life
that God says will bring health and wholeness not just to you and your
family but to all the world? That’s why this letter was written to
Timothy and that’s why it is written to you.
The letter instructs those who are
entrusted with wealth how to manage that wealth for the fulfillment of
their lives and the good of the kingdom of God. Now you and I and
all who live in the so-called “first world” are a part of that 5% of
the world’s population that has 80% of the world’s resources, so there
is no question to whom this letter is written in our day. By the
grace of God or the accident of birth we find ourselves today among the
wealthy of world. It is to us the letter sends the following
encouragement:
Do good…be
rich in good works, generous, and ready to share.
(v. 18)
Those who do these things, the letter says, (store) up for themselves
the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take
hold of the life that really is life. (v.
19)
Good
works…generosity…ready to share—in other words: giving.
We all started in the same place at our baptism. Blessed by the
grace of God we all took hold of the vital instructions for life.
And, just like our two friends who agreed together at first to take up a
faithful discipline that leads to a healthy body, we, of course, find
ourselves now in different places of the health of our spiritual lives.
Friends need other friends to get healthy. Friends need other
friends to stay healthy.
Tomorrow members of our
congregation will find a letter in the mail. Tomorrow you will
receive a personal letter from a friend. It’s a letter of
encouragement to you to keep up “the good fight,” as Paul’s letter
to Timothy encourages, and to “take hold of the eternal life, to which
you were called.” It is a personal letter from a spiritual friend
who has found fulfillment and joy in giving. It is a letter to
encourage you to grow in your own desire to follow more deeply the holy
discipline of giving.
Just like the
discipline that leads to a healthy body, the discipline of giving leads to
a healthy soul. Just as regular exercise increases muscle strength
and expands lung capacity so regular giving exercises your spiritual
vitality and expands your soul capacity. A dietary discipline makes
for a healthy body and regular, systematic giving makes for a healthy
spirit. Once you take up the discipline that leads to physical
health you begin to feel so much better and build a foundation that leads
to a long and healthy life. Once you take up the discipline of
giving, well, it just feels so good to experience right now the essence of
eternal life.
Sisters and brothers,
we all started in the same place in our baptism. Now we all need
each other to show us the way. So a friend in Christ has written a
personal letter to you. Let us learn from one another. Let us
encourage one another. Let us be the people who know the way to
life. Let us be healthy, whole, joyous people so full of the life of
God that the church may bring that same life to this community and the
whole world.
Last Wed article is
right: “Walking is good exercise for the aging brain.” The
letter is also right “Giving is good exercise for the aching soul.”
Make no mistake about it, giving is living.
