“Faithfulness Throughout the Generations:                            October 25, 2009
You Make a Life By What You Give”
I Timothy 6: 11–19                                                             The Rev. Dr. Beth Braxton

Let me ask you - What do you want said about you at your funeral or memorial service? When I meet with a family to plan a memorial service, I ask them to share characteristics and stories about their loved one. What are the traits that really define them? I remember about twenty years ago now when Ed Margburg died at 92; he was then the oldest member of our church. He had taken up painting in the last ten to fifteen years of his life and he did some marvelous paintings–all of which he gave away. We have some here at the church. He gave of his time to teach Bible; I think he was probably the father of the Present Word class. When I got together with the family to talk about his life, they talked about–

How much he gave to them and to others. Generosity was one of the defining characteristics.

Generosity is one of the characteristics I would like others to say about me. How about you?

Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” At least I thought he said it. Yet I remember a number of years ago when I kept looking in the gospels for where Jesus made that statement. I was beginning to wonder if it was one of those Ben Franklin statements that people often think is in the Bible–like “God helps those who help themselves.”–not in the bible! Finally I turned to a concordance and found that it was in the Bible in Acts. Luke is recording where Paul is talking to the leaders at the church at Ephesus and commending them to God’s message of grace and not to covet one another’s gold or silver or clothing and to support the weak, “remembering the words of our Lord Jesus, for he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)

Although Jesus taught of about the importance of receiving too–the hospitality of others, the gift of having his feet being washed, provisions for his journeying, it was with his whole life, that he taught us generosity, constantly giving of himself teaching, a fulfillment of the law and the prophets through love, healing, the bent over woman, blind Bartemaus, Jairus daughter and so many more, giving the freedom of forgiveness to the woman caught in adultery (who by law should have been stoned to death) and to all of us with the sacrifice of his life on the cross. This overwhelming gift of his generosity is the transformative gift. It calls forth the joy of giving. Giving is transformative for the giver and the receiver.

We make a life by what we give! Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”

The obituary headline said “Edward E. Houghton, 91: Carpenter and Machinist” After describing a very humble beginning with a single parent, his growing up years and service in World War II and some volunteer work, you came to the part where he “made a life.” The article read, “Until recent years, (which means up through his eighties) he put in a half-acre garden every spring…Everything he raised he gave away to friends and family, or he climbed aboard his tractor and drove through his Clinton neighborhood, handing our the bounty of his garden. “He had the garden to give it away,” said his daughter. What a beautiful testimony–“He had the garden to give it away.” Do you know how hard it is to tend a garden, hours of planting, watering, dealing with pests, weeding, etc? Yet he did that work because generosity was a joy. He did all the work of gardening to give away sustenance for others! He had a garden to give it away!

An appropriate quote here on this Reformation Sunday from John Calvin (1509-64), the French theologian and reformer in the 500th year of his birth:

“There cannot be a surer rule, nor a stronger exhortation to the observance of it, than when we are taught that all the endowments which we possess are divine deposits entrusted to us for the very purpose of being distributed for the good of our neighbour.”

Since it is a joy to give, and indeed I do think it is the way God created us; giving is in our genes, then why are we tempted to keep and hoard? I think there are three reasons we have difficulty when it comes to giving to the church.

One reason–a BIG reason is fear. We just plain fear there will not be enough. There are bills to pay; college tuition due, mortgages, music lessons, medical costs, aging parents to help, and all the incidentals–the washing machine breaks, the vacuum cleaner dies, the car engine gives out, etc. We fear that there will just not be enough money for everything. This idea of scarcity, that there is not enough goes hand in hand with the misplaced idea that our security is in our possessions and what money can buy, rather then God who created the heavens and the earth and this fantastic autumn day!

The second reason that we are tempted to keep and hoard rather than give our money away is self-gratification. We are persons who have gotten deep into our creature comforts, and we don’t want to give away what we want to spend on ourselves for all those pleasurable things we just know will make us happy. It is particularly difficult to think about tithing, as I was sharing with the children. We do the math and realize that ten percent of our income could buy a new car or a re-do of the bathrooms or add sun porch on the house–that is what I want!

The third reason we hold back in our giving or just give God the left-overs after we have paid for all the things–quote–“we need” is because we have not really received. I think this is the most important reason. If in faith we have received the gift of God’s magnanimous forgiving love on the cross, if we received Jesus Christ into our hearts, our lives are free and we WANT to give back. When we receive Jesus as Lord of our lives, the Holy Spirit begins changing us from the inside and our fears dissipate and our purpose in life shifts from personal pleasure to pleasing God and caring for others. We have found what Paul is telling Timothy, “the life that is really life,” (I Timothy 6:19)–that gives us the joy we so desire! It is a life that that “does not set its hope on the uncertainty of riches, but is generous, rich in good works and ready to share,” as the scripture for today tells us.

We begin making a life by what we give.

I hope each of you, as part of your discipleship will hear the invitation to begin to give God a portion of your income for the work of the Body of Christ in this place. Start wherever you can with a prayer to do God’s will. I realize that it is challenging to tithe and that it might simply not be possible for you right now. But take a step in that direction–1%, 4%, 7%. God will help you make adjustments wherever you might be in giving. And above all remember God loves a cheerful giver! Bob and I are happy to give our tithe to the church this year, particularly in light of the difficulty many are having–we can even give a little more. And particularly because we want to see our great youth program be funded at a stronger level; in a moment you will hear Kate Lee, one of our students tell you about the many opportunities that youth have to grow in faith. I believe the church should be funding the conferences and retreats that provide transforming experiences for our young people because these experiences will set them on a journey of faith that will last a life time!

I think of our giving like breathing–if you keep taking in and taking in and taking in for yourself–you will black out! You need to give out. We inhale God’s love in all God’s gifts of grace to us and we exhale in our gifts of income and service to God. It is a beautiful rhythm–breathing in and breathing out. You can’t just keep taking in; you will die.

You know the actual goal of our Stewardship Campaign is not $893,000, but it is rather the opportunity to express our gratitude to God for all that God has blessed us with! The only reason for giving is gratitude (one of our principles here at Burke–Amen? Amen!) Our discipleship begins with our gratitude, gratitude for God’s amazing, all encompassing grace! It is fueled by our increasing experience of God’s abundance and follows the ebb and flow of our understanding of God’s ownership of everything and the strong desire to give back.

I was impressed by Adam Hamilton’s study of the practice of worship in the Bible. Wish I had done the research myself. He searched 1,600 years of biblical history, and was surprised by what he found “From the earliest biblical times, the primary way people worshipped God was not by singing songs of praise or listening to sermons. The central act of worship was building an altar and offering the fruit of one’s labors upon it to God…they would burn the sacrifice of an animal or grain as a way of expressing their gratitude, devotion, and desire to honor God. The scent of the offering was said to be pleasing to God. It wasn’t that God loved the smell of burnt meat and grain. Rather, God saw that people were giving a gift that expressed love, faith and the desire to please and honor God, and this moved God’s heart.”  Our offerings of self and income here at Burke Presbyterian Church are the way we say thank you to God and the way we honor God–the giver of all gifts!

Let me close with this story from a pastor I know. He shared about a camping trip to the Grand Tetons that he took with his family. He said, we arrived on my birthday and set-up our little pop-up camper. After the family settled in this pastor told each of his two daughters that they could have $20 spending money for the three days they would be in and around Jackson Hole. We then went to the gift shop before heading out on a walk around a small lake. We had no sooner walked into the gift shop than Rebecca stated looking at ball caps. She found one, tried it on, and said, “Dad, what do your think of this hat?” I said, “Becca, it’s really cool, but all you have is $20, and that hat will take all of your money. Why don’t you wait and make your money last for the next few days.” But she said, “Dad, you told me it was my money and I could get whatever I want. And I really want this hat!!” As hard as I tried to talk her out of it, and to convince her that she would have other opportunities to buy a cap in town, she would have no part in waiting. Finally exasperated, I said, Okay, Becca–but this is it. You’re not getting any more money the next three days.” I gave her  $20 and she bought the hat.

We went for a walk around the lake, and then came back to l watch the sun set from a park bench. That’s when Becca handed me the hat and said, “Daddy, I bought this for you, I love you, Happy Birthday.” I sat on the bench, took her in my arms, and started to cry. That hat is among my most treasured possessions, my most often worn hat to this day because every tine I wear it, I think of Becca’s sacrifice for me. All these years later it still touches me to think about how my little girl gave up all her spending money because she wanted to tell her daddy that she loved him.

Yes, I think that is how God looks at your offerings. They are not financial transactions or business deals. Your offerings are a way of saying, “God, I’m returning to you a portion of what I have and what I’ve earned to say “thank you “ and “I love you.” I hope you will use this to make a difference in the lives of others in this world.

I don’t believe Becca gave her father that hat to receive something in return from her Dad. There was something in her heart that prompted her to give up her spending money for her father and that something was pure, selfless love. Would that our offerings be given in this same spirit for I know they will bless God and others!

Giving touches others and changes us. Will generosity be one of the defining characteristics at your memorial service? We DO make a life by what we give!

Amen? Amen!