Professor Tom Long, who teaches preaching in Atlanta, told a story of a letter written to Dear Abby not too long ago. It was from a young woman who wrote: “Dear Abby, I think my boyfriend should share the cost of my birth control pills, but I don’t know him well enough to talk about money.”
In a society that will talk about anything at the drop of a hat, or some other article of clothing, we remain strangely silent about money. Next time you are standing with a group of friends sometime, in a lull in the conversation ask “So, how much money do you make?” And watch the eyebrows rise. And the silence descend. It’s too revealing, too personal. We can talk about any of a number of issues that used to be private and personal, but we don’t know you “well enough to talk about money.”
Which means that when the church begins to bring up the issue of money, people begin to squirm. Sometimes when people come from other churches they will want me to know why they left. "Because they were always asking for money," they would say in a disapproving manner, as though the pastor had been telling dirty jokes from the pulpit. The church has a reputation, mostly undeserved I feel, for always asking for money. Or worse - "they are only interested in my money!" That is why many clergy avoid the subject completely. They want everyone to know that it isn't all about money. That money is the least of their concerns. At least that is what they want everyone to believe.
Because they don't want to be lumped with those guys who are always asking for money. You know who I mean, those guys, those TV guys who keep the donation line phone numbers superimposed on the bottom of the screen all the time they are on. Which means that even when they aren't talking about money, they are talking about money. They make us all feel a little unclean. And little creeped out by the intimacy, talking about stuff that we wouldn’t talk about with our closest friends.
Their approach is a little bit different, however. They aren't just asking for your money. They are offering something in exchange. Give a little, they tell us, to get a lot. God has money just sitting around and it could be coming to you, if you pray right, if you donate right, if you send in a love gift, a faith gift, a seed gift.... on and on and on. It is amazing to me the many and various ways they have of convincing you that money given to them is not really lost, it will come back increased. God wants you to be rich. God want you to have more. That is different, more ok, because it isn’t really about money, per se. It is a transaction. It is buying and selling, giving and getting. And that fits.
On the one hand it works because it plays on our greed for more. We live in a consumer culture, so there needs to be bang for our buck, something for our investment. We can't just give away. We've got to see something in return. That's the unfortunate part - our sinful nature. Or is it? Aren’t we always about the transaction? Isn’t that what Paul is talking about getting good return for our investment?
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 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. 9 As it is written, "He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." 10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; 12 for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13 Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
"The one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." What does that sound like? "You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity." Sound familiar? It isn't hard to see where the ideas come from. But as always our question must be, what did Paul mean when he wrote these words? We can't really tell what kind of enrichment Paul references here. It could be material, or it could be spiritual. Unless you look at verse 9, which is a quote from the Psalms and is a reference not to material goods, but to righteousness. Which means that the emphasis is on the abundance of the life of faith, or the abundance of the sacrifice of love. Righteousness is about relationship, about being faithful to a wider community. About generosity, sacrifice, surrender.
When we add in the words that Jesus speaks about the dangers of riches, it would be hard to take a materialistic interpretation from this passage. Jesus does say something similar to those words from Paul: "give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back." Luke 6:38 Yet we are reluctant, given what else he does say about riches, to interpret this as meaning the receipt of more material goods.
When Jesus commends the widow for her donation of two copper coins he says "she gave more." (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. 43Then 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. 44For 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." Mark 12:41-44) The only interpretation here is that Jesus has a different mathematical scale than we do. How could she have given more? Hers was minute compared to the others who gave. Jesus doesn't say she gave better, she gave more sacrificially, or she gave in a better spirit, or even she gave to a better effect. He said she gave more.
It doesn't add up. Unless we change the frame of reference. The transaction language makes sense in a world of commerce and consumerism. Giving to get more makes sense in the everyday world. But what if we switch to the Kingdom of God? There, according to Jesus more doesn't mean more as we understand it. More means something different. More means meaningful, perhaps. Or more means significance. More means closer to the values of the Kingdom, more means closer to living like Christ. More means less stuff and deeper relationships. More means less measuring and more living. She gave the more that we get when we give, which cannot be measured in the world's terms. And we lose something when we try to make it fit that mind set.
The taboo about money stems from the fact that in the world's terms our value is calculated in dollars and cents. But, the value that we are offered, the blessing, the good measure, the bounty that comes from faith in Christ, from generosity, has less to do with things and everything to do with life. One of the secrets to living a Christ-like life is to be able to give away so that you can hold onto what really matters.
So, we need to ask again. What will you give? To your church, to your Lord? What will you give away so that you can have all that God intends for you to have? It is time to dedicate ourselves to giving, to commit to giving. With cheerfulness, it is time to give.
Shalom,
Derek
In a society that will talk about anything at the drop of a hat, or some other article of clothing, we remain strangely silent about money. Next time you are standing with a group of friends sometime, in a lull in the conversation ask “So, how much money do you make?” And watch the eyebrows rise. And the silence descend. It’s too revealing, too personal. We can talk about any of a number of issues that used to be private and personal, but we don’t know you “well enough to talk about money.”
Which means that when the church begins to bring up the issue of money, people begin to squirm. Sometimes when people come from other churches they will want me to know why they left. "Because they were always asking for money," they would say in a disapproving manner, as though the pastor had been telling dirty jokes from the pulpit. The church has a reputation, mostly undeserved I feel, for always asking for money. Or worse - "they are only interested in my money!" That is why many clergy avoid the subject completely. They want everyone to know that it isn't all about money. That money is the least of their concerns. At least that is what they want everyone to believe.
Because they don't want to be lumped with those guys who are always asking for money. You know who I mean, those guys, those TV guys who keep the donation line phone numbers superimposed on the bottom of the screen all the time they are on. Which means that even when they aren't talking about money, they are talking about money. They make us all feel a little unclean. And little creeped out by the intimacy, talking about stuff that we wouldn’t talk about with our closest friends.
Their approach is a little bit different, however. They aren't just asking for your money. They are offering something in exchange. Give a little, they tell us, to get a lot. God has money just sitting around and it could be coming to you, if you pray right, if you donate right, if you send in a love gift, a faith gift, a seed gift.... on and on and on. It is amazing to me the many and various ways they have of convincing you that money given to them is not really lost, it will come back increased. God wants you to be rich. God want you to have more. That is different, more ok, because it isn’t really about money, per se. It is a transaction. It is buying and selling, giving and getting. And that fits.
On the one hand it works because it plays on our greed for more. We live in a consumer culture, so there needs to be bang for our buck, something for our investment. We can't just give away. We've got to see something in return. That's the unfortunate part - our sinful nature. Or is it? Aren’t we always about the transaction? Isn’t that what Paul is talking about getting good return for our investment?
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 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. 9 As it is written, "He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." 10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; 12 for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13 Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
"The one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." What does that sound like? "You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity." Sound familiar? It isn't hard to see where the ideas come from. But as always our question must be, what did Paul mean when he wrote these words? We can't really tell what kind of enrichment Paul references here. It could be material, or it could be spiritual. Unless you look at verse 9, which is a quote from the Psalms and is a reference not to material goods, but to righteousness. Which means that the emphasis is on the abundance of the life of faith, or the abundance of the sacrifice of love. Righteousness is about relationship, about being faithful to a wider community. About generosity, sacrifice, surrender.
When we add in the words that Jesus speaks about the dangers of riches, it would be hard to take a materialistic interpretation from this passage. Jesus does say something similar to those words from Paul: "give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back." Luke 6:38 Yet we are reluctant, given what else he does say about riches, to interpret this as meaning the receipt of more material goods.
When Jesus commends the widow for her donation of two copper coins he says "she gave more." (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. 43Then 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. 44For 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." Mark 12:41-44) The only interpretation here is that Jesus has a different mathematical scale than we do. How could she have given more? Hers was minute compared to the others who gave. Jesus doesn't say she gave better, she gave more sacrificially, or she gave in a better spirit, or even she gave to a better effect. He said she gave more.
It doesn't add up. Unless we change the frame of reference. The transaction language makes sense in a world of commerce and consumerism. Giving to get more makes sense in the everyday world. But what if we switch to the Kingdom of God? There, according to Jesus more doesn't mean more as we understand it. More means something different. More means meaningful, perhaps. Or more means significance. More means closer to the values of the Kingdom, more means closer to living like Christ. More means less stuff and deeper relationships. More means less measuring and more living. She gave the more that we get when we give, which cannot be measured in the world's terms. And we lose something when we try to make it fit that mind set.
The taboo about money stems from the fact that in the world's terms our value is calculated in dollars and cents. But, the value that we are offered, the blessing, the good measure, the bounty that comes from faith in Christ, from generosity, has less to do with things and everything to do with life. One of the secrets to living a Christ-like life is to be able to give away so that you can hold onto what really matters.
So, we need to ask again. What will you give? To your church, to your Lord? What will you give away so that you can have all that God intends for you to have? It is time to dedicate ourselves to giving, to commit to giving. With cheerfulness, it is time to give.
Shalom,
Derek
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