[31]Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. [32]He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. [33]But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
[34]He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. [35]For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. [36]For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? [37]Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? [38]Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
(New Revised Standard Version)
Have you heard about the mother who was very concerned when her five year old son swallowed a quarter. She was so worried she told her husband to send for the doctor!"
He replied, "No, I think we ought to call the preacher."
Mom got scared and said, "The preacher? You don't think he is going to die, do you?"
Dad laughed and said "No, but you know our preacher, he can get money out of anybody!" (1)
We're all concerned about money and finances aren't we? Sometimes there's just too much month for our paycheck. Inflation seems to have hit everything. Nowadays it takes twice as much money to live beyond your means as it used to. (2)
I got a piece of e-mail from my little brother, Scott, the other day. He's the one who is in the heating and cooling construction business. He said that business is great. In fact, he said that business is so good that he now has enough money to last him the rest of his life, as long as God calls him home by next Thursday.
We laugh but money is an important issue in our Christian life and in our daily walk with God. For the past month we have been in a Stewardship Campaign. We've talked about the ministries of our Church. We've talked about our needs and our dreams. We've emphasized the various aspects of our children's ministries, our youth ministries, our missions and evangelism. Last week we saw some of the results of the efforts of our Evangelism work and celebrated with 22 new members.
Over the past year we have heard God's call numerous times. And we've responded: graciously and gratefully. For the last year we have been slowly working toward this day of celebration through both our successful Building Campaign and through our faithfulness in giving.
This Sunday, according to our stewardship plan, is supposed to be that bring it home, bring it all together Sunday and we have a lot to bring together. This is also supposed to be the Sunday we talk about giving and money.
I'm always amazed at how God works through the discipline of the Lectionary. I say that because I can't think of a much better passage of Scripture to use as that bring it all home passage. For Jesus sums up the life of faith and faithfulness in the words we find on these beautiful Lenten banners. Jesus told the crowds: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." So, what does that mean?
A. The first part is easy. Well, easy to understand but not always easy to do. We know what Jesus means when he says, "deny yourself," we're just not that comfortable with it. It means saying, "No!" to ourselves. Not just to be saying "NO" but in order to grow closer to God and have a deeper faith relationship with Christ. Denying ourselves means taking the "I" and "me" of ourselves out of first place and putting God there and putting others there. That's hard to do. But that's one of the basic requirements of our faith.
Tithing, Proportional Giving and Stewardship are some of the ways that we deny ourselves and follow Jesus. Tithing is the great equalizer. It's not about equal giving, it's about equal sacrifice. No one is asked to give more than anyone else. We're all asked to tithe, to give ten percent to God through the work of the Church. The person who only has $10 to give is giving in the same proportion and the same percentage as the person who has $1,000 to give. It's not equal giving, but it IS equal sacrifice.
When we tithe, not only are we honoring and obeying God but we are leveling the playing field. You see, when everyone tithes there is no room for self-righteous attitudes or judgment about giving because all are making equal sacrifices. Tithing is humbling.
B. Most of you know about our dog, Midnight the Wonder Dog. We call her that because sometimes we wonder why we have her. She's half Labrador retriever and half coon hound. She's a weird sort of mix. She has that Labrador smartness and friendliness but that coon dog laziness and coon dog howl. Every now and then God uses Midnight to teach me something.
This past week as I was thinking about stewardship, ground breaking, thankfulness, and everything else, Midnight made me stop and think. You see, she has this really peculiar habit. None of our other dogs have ever done this. Midnight is thankful. Whenever I feed her, she wiggles and wags her tail and licks my hand, saying "Thank you." I have never had a dog do that before. It has to be the Lab in her. But even as thankful as she is, she's still a dog. Because once she gets her food, the coon dog takes over. You don't mess with her. If you try to take her food, she growls.
Midnight acts like a lot of us. God gives us so much. God blesses us with so much in life but when someone suggests that we should give thanks by giving to the Church, we start growling. We're thankful and we wiggle all over when we receive those gifts, but we're not about to turn loose for anybody. Even God.
Tithing helps us to keep it all in proper perspective. Tithing keeps us from growling about giving and growling at God. Everything we have and everything we are comes from God. We don't really own or earn anything, they are God's first. We are stewards, managers of everything with which God has blessed us. Tithing is a way of denying ourselves, acknowledging our dependence upon God, being thankful, and putting God first.
A. Jesus said if we would follow him we should deny ourselves and take up our cross. It's exciting to be the people of the resurrection, the people of the empty tomb. That's not hard, because the Good News is so easy to share. But there is more to it than merely agreeing with the resurrection. Jesus calls us to a life of discipleship; a life that begins with the empty tomb and responds to the Good News of our salvation by asking us to take up the cross and become the people of the bruised shoulder.
In Medieval Europe it was common for devout Christians to pray for the marks of the crucifixion of Jesus to appear on their hands and feet, known as the stigmata. It was seen as a sign of deep spirituality and special favor from God. One night while praying for such marks, a certain monk had a vision of Christ with another mark on his body, a bruise on his shoulder; a bruise from carrying the cross. The monk realized that this was the mark which counted. The shoulder bruised from carrying the cross.
B. The cost of our discipleship involves cross bearing. Bearing the cross means voluntarily taking on the burdens of others. It means choosing to endure pain and problems for the sake of others and the sake of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes it even means suffering for the sake of Christ, for the Gospel and for the Church.
The Christian faith always leads to the cross. The cross reminds us WHOSE we are: we belong to Christ. And the cross reminds us WHO we are: we are sinners saved by grace. The cross reminds us that on our own, things will never be perfect. On our own, we will never be whole. On our own, we will never find peace. On our own, we can never know forgiveness, reconciliation or redemption. The cross reminds us that no matter how hard we try, we just can't do it on our own. But through the grace and the love of God in Christ, as seen in the cross, we CAN know these things. The cross is a powerful symbol of our salvation and of our relationship with Christ.
C. There is another powerful symbol as well. The pledge card or Commitment Card. The Commitment Card is just a piece of paper until we pray, fill it out, sign it and lay it on the altar. Then it becomes the physical representation of our love and commitment to God. And as we give each week, that commitment gets translated into physical activities and ministries.
Right now, our commitments to the Building have only taken form in drawings and plans and hours spent in meetings but in a few minutes and in just a few short weeks those commitments will begin to take form in the shape of the building we have dreamed about and sacrificed for, for so long. It all began with our dreams. They started becoming a reality when we signed that Commitment Card.
We signed that Commitment Card because we responded to the call to follow Jesus. Jesus continues to call us. He calls us to continue in our faithfulness and our service. He calls us to give wings to the ministry of the Church through our giving. He calls us to trust God, to build and to reach out. He calls us to follow Him.
We live in a world that says "Look out for number one". But Jesus calls us to "deny ourselves". We live in a world that says, "Grab all the gusto you can". Jesus says, "take up your cross". We live in a world that says, "you deserve a break today". Jesus calls us and says, "follow me".
The world offers outward gratification. But Jesus offers salvation, inner peace and satisfaction. Just by being here, we've already indicated at least a portion of our choice. We've indicated whose side we're on. (3)
But we're called to do more than just choose sides, we're called to follow Jesus and to give wings to the ministry of this Church by denying ourselves, taking up our cross and becoming the people of the bruised shoulder. And one of the ways we can do that is through tithing and supporting the budget for the ministries of our Church. Another is, if you haven't already done so, by going that extra distance through supporting the building program. By committing to both, you give wings to the ministry and work of this Church and give them the Freedom to Soar.
Jesus told the crowds: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." We're not called to bear the scars and pain of the nails of the cross but we are called to become the people of the bruised shoulder. Don't be so concerned about money, except in how it relates to your relationship with God. Does your spending and your giving strengthen that relationship? Does it express your willingness to follow Jesus? Does it adequately express your thankfulness to God?
1. INFOsearch
2. INFOsearch
3. Idea sparked from The Clergy Journal, November / December 1996, pp. 51-52.