“The Christian Wallet: Work to Live or Live to Work?” Matthew 5: 13-16 Ecc 3:22

If I asked you why you work, what would you say? I think for most people the answer is going to be something along the lines of “because I have to” or “to make money”. But is that God’s view of work?

Somewhere along the way, we have arrived at a very unhealthy view of work. We look to Genesis 3 and say that if not for Adam and Eve’s sin then we wouldn’t have to work. And yes, part of Adam’s punishment was God saying that he would have to toil the land. That by the sweat of his face you shall eat bread. But that’s not the first mention of work in the Bible. No, that came in Genesis 2, prior to the fall at all. Here we find that God put Adam in the garden in order to till it and keep it. In other words, work is not punishment. Work is part of a gift from God.

But if we are honest with ourselves, it doesn’t always feel like a gift, does it? Work can end up feeling like something we just have to do. Perhaps, we need to reframe the purpose of work in terms of scripture in order to help us grasp what God is calling us to do. 

The first question when it comes to our work that we need to ask is does it honor God? That means two connected and important things. First, are we living into our call? Your call is the purpose God has created you for. The gifts that you have been blessed with. We hear stories in church about folks who are called to do big things for God. Abram who was called to leave his people and his land to go to the place that God had prepared for him and to live in covenant with God. Moses who led his people out of Egypt. Joshua who took the people into the promise land. Paul who brought the Good News to the gentiles. The list goes on and on. 

When we get so focused on the largeness of what God called these folks to do, we can forget that God calls you and me as well. It’s not about how vast the thing is that God calls us to do, its about whether we are listening and being obedient, saying yes and following where God leads. 

I have a friend named Karen. Karen has been called to do many things with her extradoniary life, but right now, God is calling Karen to organize collection drives in her community each year for school supplies. She starts collecting months before the school year starts and through that call folks are abundantly blessed. This is Karen’s work for this season of her life and through it she honors God. 

Which leads us to the second part of God honoring work - it will bear fruit. We often talk about work in terms of what we put into it, but God is also looking at what comes from it, what the outcomes are. But God’s outcomes are not the same as those of the world around us. God isn’t looking for how much money we make or if others deem us to be a success. For God, outcomes are people whose hearts and lives are touched by what we do, by how we live into our calling. 

The second question we need to ask is does our work bless others? Today’s Gospel text is found in Jesus’s teaching on the sermon on the mount, shortly after the Beatitudes. Here, Jesus continues his sermon beyond flipping blessings on their head by talking about our very purpose on this earth. To be salt and light. 

I used to teach at a mini-camp for students in the northern part of the annual conference. One year, we were learning about the sermon on the mount and for one of the lessons I gave the students flashlight. We talked about this passage about being salt and light and what it means to share our light with the world. And those kids - starting in fourth grade got it, they got it church! They understood that that Jesus was using us, all of us, as vessels to shine forth the light of God. A light that had already changed some of their lives! 

  In the ancient world people under stood how important salt and light were. Salt was the chief way of perceiving food. It was used in worship. It was a small thing of great worth. Light was also important. It dictated when people could work. Illuminated what they could see. Both salt and light were ordinary things that had extraordinary importance. 

Sometimes we forget just how important the gift we have to share as the church is. Does this gift take work? Absolutely. But it also bears much fruit because we have the light and love of Jesus Christ. We have a message that cannot be contained. 

Sometimes though, we don’t want to do the work. We are afraid that we will be rejected or it seems too hard, so we stop looking for opportunities to share the love of Jesus and start looking for ways that we can be just as successful as everyone else. We stop trying to reach out to new people to share Christ’s love with and start thinking that we are good enough as we are. The result, church, is us hiding our light and losing our flavor. 

I love the word choice of Jesus in this section of his teaching. He isn’t saying we should be salt and light, or that we will be salt in light, rather that we are. We are salt and light. By virtue of our faith in Christ we are sent forth to share the message with the world. Because we have been adopted into the family of God, we have a task to share the life-giving love of Jesus with others! Salt and light both are the gift and enhance the fruit of blessing others for the kingdom. 

There is, however, a third question that we need to ask ourselves as well - does our work bring us joy? In our Old Testament reading today, we heard these wise words from Ecclesiastes - there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work. In other words, work should also be life giving to us. It should be something we are passionate about that brings us a sense of satisfaction and joy. 

For some of us, however, we aren’t going to be able to answer all of these questions affirmatively when we consider our job. That place we go for a bulk of our week or the thing that we do in order to earn a paycheck. If that’s a case, where are the other places in our lives where we can honor God, bless others, and find joy? Maybe its like my friend Karen, in your volunteer work. Maybe its something you do for the church, or in the community. Whatever it is, that is work too, because it is something that we are doing for the glory of God!

Pastor Mike Slaughter in his book bearing the same title as this sermon series spoke of his District Superintendent who once preached at Ginghamsburg on moving from a TGIF mindset to a TGIM mindset. Where we see our work as holy. See our work as bearing salt and light into a world in need. See our work as something that flows out of us.

Friends, whatever you may consider your work, whether its the place where you earn a paycheck or where you pour your heart out in volunteer service, may it be a place where we are at work for the Kingdom, shining forth the very light of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

“The Christian Wallet: Those to Whom We Give” Ps 41: 1 Matthew 14: 13-21

I think most folks would agree that Christians should be using that which God has blessed us with in order to bless others. But the tricky part we get caught up in is the how. What the mechanics of our giving? How much? To whom? And once we get sucked into the details of the questions we can honestly become so paralyzed that we end up not giving at all.

It would be hard to argue that God does not have a heart for the poor using Scripture. In fact, there are 2,003 scriptures between the Old and New Testaments about the poor. In the light of that overwhelming collection of text, is it possible for us, as the people of God, not to have a heart for the poor as well? If we are to be about representing the heart of the Kingdom of God as well? 

Another way to phrase this question is as people of faith how can we live our lives so we are attuned to other people’s needs and suffering?

The story of the feeding of the 5,000 is a story that we may have heard before. In the Gospel of Matthew, shortly before this act of ministry, Jesus has heard that his cousin, John, has died at the hands of Herod. After hearing this news, Jesus needed to get away and grieve. But in the process of going to this desert place, the crowds heard that was going and they started to follow him to the point where he got to this place that was supposed to be empty but instead was greeted by the multitudes.

Think about a time in your life when you just needed space. Maybe it had been a hard week at home or at work, and you were yearning for that space for your soul to breathe. But instead of having time for silence and renewal, the phone won’t stop ringing, people keep knocking on the door, and your soul feels more constrained. How would you react?

For Jesus, he looked at the crowds and he had compassion for them. He started to cure their sick. He met their needs right where they were at. 

But the disciples are starting to get a little nervous. It’s nearing dinner time, and they don’t know where they are going to get food for themselves, let alone a crowd this large. Remember its supposed to be a deserted place - not a bustling town with different shops. So looking up at the sky and maybe feeling the rumbling in their bellies, they try to pull Jesus aside and tell him that the people need to get a move on if they are going to make it to the nearest village that serves food. 

But Jesus looks at the crowds, looks back at his disciples and says that they don’t need to go away. The disciples should feed them. 

They looked around and realized all they had was two fish and five loaves of bread. That wasn’t going to make it very far amongst themselves, let alone a crowd this size. But Jesus took what was offered, had the crowds sit down, and blessed and broke the bread. All all ate until they were filled. All ate and there were still left overs. 

We often don’t think of the story of the feeding of the 5,000 as a stewardship lesson, but is it not at its very core? Jesus took what was offered and multiplied it in order to meet the needs around him. Even if the face of doubt from his very followers. 

If we were faced with the same situation today - a crowd of folks who are hungry - how would we react? Would we start by asking who they were and if they were worthy of being fed? Would we worry that we wouldn’t be taken care of if we fed them? Would we offer what we have, or would we keep for ourselves?

Jesus looked out on the crowds that day and saw in an unmistakable way that they needed to be fed. Fed with food in order to be fed by the very Word of God. And in feeding their human bodies, he was also able to touch their spirits as they were part of this absolute miracle that takes place. 

Sometimes today we look out and see the needs of our neighbors and we want to make a check list for them to complete in order to receive what we have to give. We want to test their intentions before giving from our pockets. And that is somewhat understandable. We only have so much to give. 

But every time I think about that - I think back to a friend of mine who gives without asking. When people ask for food he gives food. When people ask him for money he gives money. One time he gave and it became apparent that the person didn’t use the money in the way that they said they needed. I asked him how that made him feel and he responded in this profound way that it was his job to give not to judge the one receiving the gift.

We also have another struggle when it comes to giving, however. Sometimes we don’t know what folks need. In the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus could see the need, hunger, and the need was met. But what about the invisible needs of our neighbors? Do we know people’s stories and struggles enough to reach out to end an ear in a time of need? Or to be present when they are going through a hard time?

In the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus collected what was present - in that particular story, loaves and fishes. But we have so many other things to offer as well. God does not put needs in front of us that we cannot meet with the help of God. If there aren’t a few feeding of the 5,000 type moments in our churches, is it because we aren’t looking to God to provide? Or because we are simply unwilling to give?

While Jesus used his disciples to feed the multitudes, the work of God was certainly not finished that day. Jesus is still reaching out to the world through us. 

The Charities Aid Foundation does an annual document called the World Giving Index. Essentially they compile ways of giving through different criteria, like helping the stranger, donating money, and donating time. Based off of their criteria, the Untied States is tied for the spot as the most generous country. Guess who we tied with? Burma - also known as Myanmar. Guess which area we were behind Burma on? The percentage of people who donate money. In fact, the US is 9th in the world in the amount of people who donate money - while Burma has 91 percent of its residents donating to others.

Friends, as the Church, do we have a connection in our heart with those in need? Do we give and give abundantly? Do we trust Christ to take what we offer and multiple it for the sake the of the Kingdom? In Psalm we find the words, “happy are those who consider the poor” maybe it is time for us to have our eyes and hearts wide open again. Amen. 

“The Christian Wallet: Generosity” Proverbs 11: 24-25 Luke 6: 27-28

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and savior and make a commitment to follow him, what changes? If we are honest, everything should change, right? Our mission statements as United Methodists is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Jesus can transform the world. Jesus can transform us. In fact, Jesus can transform all of us. 

But here’s the thing. We have to be willing to let Jesus transform us. We have to be willing to surrender. And yet, for a lot of folks who have given their hearts to Jesus, they haven’t given their lives to him yet. There are things that the hold back. Things that they cannot surrender yet.

John Wesley understood how difficult it was for folks to surrender their all to Christ, so he penned something known as the Wesley covenant prayer. Usually we pray it once a year, near the beginning of the new calendar year, but it was really meant to be used so much more often than that. I would dare to say it was intended to be prayed daily. Here are some of its words, "I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt…Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.”

Powerful words. 

We are now in the season of stewardship in many local churches. A time of harvest and bounty. A time of reflection. But even though this stewardship sermon series is entitled The Christian Wallet, its about so much more than that. It’s about asking Jesus anew to be lord of our lives. Everything. Including our wallet. Including any other areas that we aren’t quite comfortable yielding to God. 

The dictionary defines generosity in a lot of different ways, but two definitions in particular stick out to me. One of which we probably think about. One of which we may not. The first way that generosity is defined is as a readiness or liberality in giving. In other words do we want to give? Are we ready to give? And do we give?

At first blush we may think they are the same questions, but they really aren’t. Do we want to give? This is a matter of the heart. Do we desire to give everything to Jesus, including our time? Or our money? Or what we hold on to the most? Just as we once had to make the decision to give our hearts to Jesus - to ask him to be our savior - we also have to make the choice about whether we want to give. Jesus is not going to come and take it from us. He wants us to freely offer it for his use and his Kingdom. 

Think back to the story of the Rich Young ruler. This story is told in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In the 19th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, this young man comes to Jesus and asks what he needs to do in order to have eternal life. Jesus starts by telling him that he needs to follow the commandments, but then when the young man starts to get excited because he has been able to keep the rules, Jesus tells him that he needs to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor, and then come and follow Jesus. 

And what does the scripture say? The man went away grieving because he had many possessions.

The young man didn’t really want to give. It was too hard. Too much. Too radical. He didn’t have the desire to follow if that was the cost.

But the way of Jesus is always radical because it is always life changing. 

The second questions we need to ask is are we ready to give. In other words you may want to give, but are you in a position where you can give. Mike Slaughter in his book that bears the same title as this sermon series had some really interesting statistics when it comes to generosity. On average Americans give about 3.6 percent of their income to charities. Those who identify as Christians give about 2.5 percent of their income to the church. And only about 10-25 percent of the average congregation tithe, or give ten percent of their income. Which led Rev. Slaughter to ask why folks don’t tithe. And wouldn’t you know there are statistics on that as well. When Christians were asked why they don’t tithe the top three reasons given where: they couldn’t afford it, they had too much debt, or their spouse didn’t agree with tithing.

Reason one and two are what I call willing but not able. These folks want to be generous, but their money is tied up in ways that prohibit this from happening. 

But when are willing and able to give, do we give? Our scripture from Proverbs this morning says that some give freely and that others withhold, but a generous person will be enriched. I love how the Message paraphrases this: “The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped”

Now we certainly do not give because of what we get in return, but there is something about a generous person that does make others want to pour out their hearts to them as well. Folks who are generous with their time often find others that are willing to help them in an hour of need. There is something about them that shines forth the light.

Which brings us to our second, and perhaps even more radical definition of generosity, freedom from meanness or smallness of mind or character. Here’s the thing about generosity, friends, it says what we value without having to say a single thing. Why does generosity breed generosity, because it is a light that goes forth and cannot be hidden, attracting people unto it. 

Especially in a world where we seem to be taught from an early age that it is about me and mine first. Especially in a world that is caught up in the endless cycle of producing and consuming. The ways that we are generous say what is important to us. 

In the Gospel of Luke in the sixth chapter, we find this passage that calls us to this type of generosity. A generosity we may have never considered before. Jesus is teaching his disciples and says to them, I know that you have heard that you are to love the people who are easy to love, those who do good to you, and hate those who hate you. But that’s the old way of doing things. The new order says bless even those who hate you and pray for those who abuse you.

Does that give you chills, Church?

That as the people of God Jesus is calling us to a whole new way of living that is based on Kingdom values. God’s values. That say people matter. Even the people we have dismissed before. Even those who are really hard to love, let alone like. Even those who are cruel to us. We are still generous to them - giving of ourselves and of our prayers, because they matter to God.

That friends, is radical generosity.

But it’s also the type of generosity that can be hard to surrender to at times.

Here’s the thing church - there are a lot of folks who are fans of Jesus. Maybe even folks who have given their hearts to him. But what Biblical generosity calls us to be is more than a fan. It asks that we become followers of Jesus. That we give our very lives to him. Are you willing to go wherever Jesus may lead, even with what matters the most to you? Amen. 

“Listening: The Mystery of Miracles” 1 Kings 19: 11-21

Have you ever found yourself in a conversation that completely helped you change how you look at things? I often say that these are God-moment conversations, where God is blessing you with a moment to examine what you are thinking in a profound way. 

I found myself in one of these conversations a few months ago, by accident, as it often happens. I was attending a class about prayer. The teacher was talking about a very particular type of prayer, called centering prayer, and was explaining that in this type of prayer you simply pass by or put aside any thoughts you may be having so that God can speak to you.

And friends, it just wasn’t working for me.

As I was thinking about why I was struggling so much, it occurred to me that I was expecting God to show up in one way in this form of prayer, but often God would show up in my prayer life by bringing thoughts of people and things to mind, so I can pray about them. If I was putting those things to the side during prayer I felt like I was missing a holy opportunity. 

Here’s the truth - we are all different. As we look around this place, we all communicate in different ways. So why would we expect that God would communicate with each of, who God created to be so different, in the same way? 

Yet that’s exactly how we pray, right?

We hear about someone else who had a profound experience with God in a particular place, so we go there as well. Or someone talks about how they listen to God in prayer, so we quickly go to try that as well. 

When really God meets us where we are at. 

Elijah has just been through the ringer. He is living a prophet in a land where the King and Queen think that they have the final word - not God. He has predicted hardship to come upon the land, in the form of a drought. Then in the third year of that drought, God sends Elijah the prophet to that hostile King, Ahab, promising rain. However, there were some hard words that were exchanged first - that Ahab has troubled Israel because he has forsaken the Lord in order to follow Baal. 

Which led to a showdown of sorts between the prophets of Baal and Elijah around fire and rain and sacrafices, which ultimately led to the killing of the prophets of Baal, and Elijah fleeing from the wrath of Queen Jezebel.

In today’s passage of scripture we find Elijah in hiding, absolutely distressed. Angels come to minister to him, and tell Elijah to go and stand on the mountain before the Lord because God is about to pass by. And all sorts of awesome things started to happen - a great wind that could split the mountain. An earthquake. A fire. 

These are all places where one would expect God to be, right? The prophet was told that God was going to show up and yet God wasn’t in any of these great acts of might. God wasn’t in the things that even God could do. God wasn’t where Elijah expected him to be.

And then God showed up in the sheer silence. 

When Elijah heard the silence - that is when he recognized that God was drawing near so he went out to be in the presence of God.

How many times have we been there, friends? How many times have we asked where God was in the midst of a situation only to realize later that God was there the entire time? How many times have we completely missed God’s presence because we expected God to show up the way we wanted or in our timing?

So often we let expectations, what we think or want or hope is going to happen, block us from seeing that which is right in front of us. Church, God is not beholden to our expectations. God is going to show up how God is going to show up and it is our responsibility to catch the movement of the Spirit and follow. 

More than a few times I have had folks tell me that they wish that God would just show up and speak like God did in the times of the Bible. But when we step back and look at the stories found in the Bible, time and again its about God showing up, not in the expected ways but in the unexpected ways. Moses was not expecting God to be in the burning bush. Noah did not expect God to tell him to build an ark. Abram didn’t expect to be told to leave everything behind and go to a land that God was going to reveal to him along the way. Sarah didn’t expect to be pregnant in her 90s. Joshua didn’t expect to be the leader tapped to take the Israelites into the promised land. And when you fast forward to the new testament, folks certainly didn’t expect the Messiah to show up as a tiny, helpless baby who was born in a stable.

We need to set aside our expectation in order to embrace what God is doing right, here right now.

Another expectation trap that we can fall into is thinking that what other folks made of their God moments, what came out of being in the presence of God, listening to the call of God, has to be our path as well. After Elijah’s experience on the mountain he set out and found Elisha and he passed on his mantle to Elisha.

One of the things we used to do at the celebration of ministry service at Annual Conference is pass on the mantle. Someone from the retiring class would do something to symbolize passing on their mantle of ministry to the incoming ordination class. Sometimes it was in the form o wisdom through spoken word. One year it was by the washing of feet. Another year was by a stole. 

And they would quote this piece of scripture of Elijah passing on his mantle to Elishia. 

But what sometimes failed to be said to that incoming ordination class and those present at Annual Conference is passing on the mantle does not mean that Elijah and Elishia had identical experiences. 

It was not Elijah finding Elishia and then saying - okay I experienced God in this way so it needs to be the same for you. Or these were my experiences as a prophet now you are going to have them as well.

Not at all.

Yet, how often do we act like that as churches? Say well the church down the street is doing this particular ministry so I guess we need to do something similar? Or we did this one thing before and it seemed to work so let’s just do that again? 

No. We also need set aside our expectations that we need to be like any other church in any other time. Instead, we need to be looking for the God who shows up in unexpected ways to call us to unexpected things. 

The question is are we really listening? Or is there something in our heart that is blocking us from hearing and responding to the call of God in this time and in this place? What does God want to do in and through us if we only set aside our own expectations and instead embrace the movement of God? Amen.