Mark 12:38-44
Gratitude
Sunday
Elizabeth M. Deibert
November 11, 2012
2
Corinthians 9:7-9 says Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or
under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able
to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having
enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. My job is not to help us meet the budget, whatever that
might be for next year, but to encourage you to live as faithful, generous
disciples of Jesus Christ. Living with
generosity of spirit and resources is a fruitful and joyful way to live. Hands and hearts open, not clutched tight. A funny illustration of the tight-fisted man:
A husband went
into a department store to buy an anniversary gift for his wife. He asked the store clerk, "How much
does this perfume cost?" “$50” she
answered. He was shocked. “Fifty dollars for that small bottle!” he
said. “Can you show me something
cheap?” The clerk reached down under
the cabinet and pulled out a mirror and held it up to his face.
(slide) I
have observed that money attitudes are tied up with depth of faith. How much do I really trust God and others, or
do I just rely on myself? Faith in God
vs. Fear that it’s all on me. Also the
issue of control vs. surrender– is God in charge of my life or am I? And the issue of gratitude vs.
dissatisfaction. Do I count my blessings,
giving thanks to God, or am I never satisfied with what I have? And
finally, the issue of humility vs pride.
Can I be content to give God whatever I am capable of giving, without
worry of comparison with others – others higher or lower.
Trust vs.
Fear. Commitment vs. Control. Gratitude vs Grumbling. Humility vs. Pride.
Today’s
story from Mark’s Gospel will help us see some of these issues played out. NRS Mark 12:38 As he taught, he said,
"Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be
greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the best
seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40 They
devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They
will receive the greater condemnation." 41 He sat down opposite
the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42
A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43
Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this
poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.
44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she
out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."
Beware of pride,
Jesus says. The pride of having so much
that one loses compassion for the one who has very little. The pride of expectation – that I deserve a
better life than this other person. I
deserve the respect and the comforts of a life of prominence and prestige. I think it is interesting that Jesus sits to
watch what people are putting in the temple treasury. He is interested in what we give and with
what attitude we give it. Our commitment
and trust in God matters. But clearly what doesn’t matter is the amount,
in comparison to others. What matters
is the amount we give in comparison to what we actually have in our bank
accounts. What matters is giving
sacrificially. That’s what the widow
did. She actually gave all she had to
live on. She was “all in.” Now that’s extravagant, especially for a
widow or orphans, who in Biblical times were the most vulnerable and weak, with
little opportunity to improve their lot.
Jesus tells his
disciples that the poor widow who gave the two mites, which would be the spending
equivalent of two dollars for us, gave more than all the wealthy people putting
in large sums because she gave all she had to live on.
In other words,
the widow gave so much that she was forced to trust God. Now perhaps she had to go without food for a
day until she got paid the next day, assuming she was earning daily wages. Perhaps she knew she had family she could
rely on for food that day. But the
point is, she put her last dollar in.
Helen, a woman
living in subsidized housing in the church where I grew up was like this
widow. Helen was single, poor, and in
the end, homebound at the end, but she would get her social security check and
immediately take the ten percent and say in her unpolished accent, “Dis here
belongs to God, not me. Take it to
church, will you?” Helen put me to shame
with her top priority giving.
Often times, we
figure out what we need for our lifestyle before considering what belongs to
God. Sometimes we consider what will
help us with taxes. Do we ever consider
lifestyle adjustments? In fact, giving
is one area of life in which we can make measurable growth in faithfulness. I can try to live up to the high standards
of maintaining love, patience, kindness, forgiveness, and so forth. But I will always fail and it is difficult
to measure, especially if you ask me, versus asking my family and friends. With pledging, I can make measurable growth
in trusting God. I remember in our
early marriage when it was hard for Richard and me to put $20 a week in the
plate. But every year of our marriage,
we have tried to increase our giving, and decrease our wasteful discretionary
spending. Every year I share with you
our pledge, because if I’m asking boldly for yours, it seems only right that I
should be accountable for mine. This coming year we are giving $200 weekly to
the operating fund, and we anticipate pledging $100/week to the special fund
for future building expenses beginning in the first quarter of next year. This is what we will put on our pledge card
for next Sunday.
This total of
$300/week next year will really stretch us, even though we have two comfortable
5 figure incomes. But we have three in
college, and very little saved for retirement, which makes me nervous. I often want to retract out of fear, but I
keep reminding myself that God can be trusted to provide. I can let go of trying to control the
future. I can be generous in thanking
God, but never prideful enough to think that I’ve really reached the goal, or
achieved more than others in giving.
Now it must be
said that $20/week is a stretch for some people, especially if you are single,
or if this is a new discipline. If
you’re trying to get into better shape physically, you don’t just go out and
run ten miles the first day. You would
collapse. You might have a heart attack
or a stroke. No, you start small and
build. The same is true with financial
giving. Start with something
manageable. Budget it off the top, not
bottom of your budget. If you’re like
me, you have to think first about where you waste money or where your primary
fears lie.
We give to Peace
Church, first and foremost, because we are thankful for all God has given us. (click)
Everything we have is a gift from God, so we can at least give a portion
back in gratitude. Secondly, we give to
Peace Church, because giving is a spiritual discipline and we need to grow
spiritually and have not matured. (click)
The commitment we make now in pledging helps guide our discretionary spending
next year. We give to Peace, thirdly,
because we believe in Peace’s mission and want Peace to thrive. (click)
A growing church has a growing budget.
In the last year at Peace one of
every 10 dollars has gone to missions, to benevolences beyond Peace. Six out of every 10 dollars given at Peace
goes to personnel, and 2 dollars out of ten go to pay the rent and bills, so
there’s only 1 dollar out of every ten that we can actually choose to spend on
advertising, youth conferences or curriculum or coffee for Sunday
mornings. It is a tight budget.
I invite you to
consider what we might be able to do as a church if most of us were able to continue
or increase our giving to Peace for operations, but adding a commitment in
February to a special fund for building costs.
Would you be able to give half of your pledge again to help Peace secure
a permanent location for ministry? $100
to operating and $50 to building each week?
$20 to operating and $10 to building each week? You
may not have noticed but the Manatee Association of Realtors have not taken
these buildings off the market, even after we assured them we would happy to
continue renting for the next three years.
We had a plan. God laughed. We’re still working and praying. We’ll keep you posted. We have come way too far for God not to
complete what was started seven plus years ago. We can trust God to carry Peace forward,
with your sacrificial and generous support.
Join us in giving as you are
able. Whatever it is, make it your
joyful sacrifice of praise. Don’t give ‘til
it hurts, give ‘til it feels good.
(slide) I want to
end with some gratitude for our Veterans on this day of remembrance, because
their sacrifice is a good witness like that of the extravagantly generous
widow. Think about it. All of us value the freedom, opportunity,
comforts and the protection we enjoy in this country. I suppose all of us have a role to play in
the preservation of those values, but the veterans have, like the widow, been
willing to put their very lives on the line for these privileges which we all
enjoy. What a debt of gratitude to we
owe to them for their sacrifices.
Similarly, we owe a debt of gratitude to all people at Peace who are
sacrificing to preserve the values of this church through generous giving.
(slide) A missionary
once asked a new convert, “Pablo, if you had a hundred sheep, would you give
fifty of them to the Lord’s work?” He
answered, “You know I would gladly give them.”
“Pablo, if you had fifty cows, would you give twenty-five to the Lord’s
work?” “Yes, you know I would be more
than happy to do that.” Again the
missionary asked, “Pablo, if you had two pigs, would you give one of them to
the Lord’s work?” “That’s not fair,”
Pablo replied. “You know I have two pigs.”
Many people are extremely generous in theory but not in practice. They
say, “If I only had a million dollars, I would give half of it away.” This is
simply not true. If we aren’t
faithfully giving five or ten percent of our money right now, we likely wouldn’t
give away half a million dollars if we had it. (Kent Crockett, Making Today Count for Eternity, p.
151-152)
So start with
where you are, not where you’d like to be, in terms of financial security. Give what you can with a grateful heart and that
nerve-wracking leap of faith. Trust in
God to get you to the other side of the week, month, year, or the other side of
life. Fear not.
Let God control your future by
making a commitment to put God first. Spend more time in gratitude than in
grumbling. And in humility, refuse to
compare yourselves with others. Extravagant generosity begins with trust in
an extravagantly generous God who gives us 1000 gifts every day, if only we
would open our eyes. As Ann Voskamp
said in her book 1000 Gifts,
“Slapping a sloppy brush of gratitude over everything leaves me deeply thankful
for nothing.” So join us for lunch
today as we continue counting our blessings, one by one, seeing more clearly all God has done.
