Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church

Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,

This weekend I want to speak about giving. If you do not want to hear what God has to say about giving, then you have a problem in your relationship with him. If you want to hear about his love for you and you do not want to address the issues of your love for him, could you be selfish and self centered? If I don’t want to preach to you about giving, then you have a problem with your pastor because he is to faithfully proclaim the whole message of God. Am I only to preach on issues people want to hear? Am I to preach on “God loves you,” but not “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind?”

When you look at our gospel lesson today you see Jesus had no reservations about pointing out what a lady had given at the temple.I started to think back to the early days in the history of Salem. How many members remember the days when how much you gave was printed out at the end of the year for everyone to see? The only problem with that was never was it printed out how much someone earned. Here is the difference with Jesus. He could tell what percentage that lady given and also the very heart that gave it. Not one of us can read the heart of another. The Apostle Paul however was not afraid to hold up examples like the people of Greece who Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. In our text he writes to the Corinthians he wanted to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. Today I would like to have you test your own sincerity of love with thought of the Comparison of Giving.

When Paul stated he wanted to test them, he continued: “For You Know the Grace (undeserved love)...” That is where I want to begin this discussion on giving. The Psalmist recalls, “forget not all his benefits.”

When you rolled out of bed this morning did you reflect on being given another day? Did you reflect on how many days you already have had in life? When you rolled out of bed did you reflect on the fact that you could get out of bed? Did you get on your knees by the side of your bed and thank the Lord for your arms and legs, fingers and toes? Did you just expect that when you opened your eyes you would be able to see the light of day? Or hear the TV when you turned it on? Or taste the morning cup of coffee or the breakfast of eggs and bacon? Did you see the guardian angel watch over you on your way to church? Did you reflect as you were lying in bed how many years God’s angels have watched over you? What did you pay the Lord so that he owed it to you that you would be given this day, the time you have lived, the senses you have enjoyed, the abilities of body and mind? What did the Lord charge you for all this? What is your outstanding debt in heaven for body, soul, mind, abilities, time and talents plus the preserving and protection you have experienced? Didn’t Luther capture it well when he wrote, “All this purely out of Fatherly divine goodness and mercy?” “Forget Not All His Benefits.”

When you got up this morning were you planning to donate both of your kidneys to people in need? I purposefully raised the question of both, because people are willing to give up one, but not sacrifice both. This week there was an article about Prince Harry. On Good Morning America show it was stated that Prince Harry has been fighting over in Afghanistan because he is expendable. Yes, “He is expendable.” His father Charles and older brother William are the next in line, so Prince Harry is number three. So he is expendable. The person who stated that didn’t back down. In contrast to Prince Harry I now have a greater appreciation of the words in the Bible, “God gave his one and only son.” He didn’t offer an expendable son, as though he had an extra son. No he gave his one and only son for our salvation. When it came for our salvation, Jesus didn’t just give an offering, he made a sacrifice. He gave both hands, not one, both kidneys, both eyes, both ears, both feet, summed up, he gave his all. “Forget Not All His Benefits.”

What will we give? In his book Written in Blood, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a blood transfusion. The doctor had explained that she had the same disease the boy had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor. "Would you give your blood to Mary?" the doctor asked. Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister." Soon the two children were wheeled into the hospital room--Mary, pale and thin; Johnny, robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. He watched the blood flow through the tube.With the ordeal almost over, his voice slightly shaky, broke the silence. "Doctor, when do I die?" Only then did the doctor realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had trembled when he'd agreed to donate his blood. He'd thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up his life. In that brief moment, he'd made his great decision. Johnny, fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister. Thomas Lindberg, Stevens Point Wisconsin. Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 1.

When you got up this morning what made you decide to go to church? Is your lip quivering when the offering plate is coming down the aisle? Is your voice trembling, wonder if your offering, your donation will include your very life? We know better. Yet why do we get up in the morning and make plans to worship Jesus? Why do we look at the cross and see love and salvation? Why do we know that all of our sins were forgiven and it didn’t cost us a cent! Why do we know that salvation is free, but not cheap because it cost our Savior his life? Why is it that we can leave the table of the altar with joy and peace? Why is it we can bring our prayers to the very throne of God and know He hears them all and will answer according to his gracious will? Why is it that we know we are the children of the heavenly Father? It was not because we were so intelligent, so bright, nor so righteous, so good that we deserved to know this. Rather totally outside of ourselves the Holy Spirit called us by the Gospel enlightened us with his gifts and has kept us in the faith by word and sacrament. Wonders of wonders God’s Spirit dwells inside of us, we are the temple of God, child of God and heir of Salvation. “Forget Not All His Benefits.”

Now when you take out your offering envelope and figure out the amount to put in, what is Jesus seeing. Is it simply the amount? Is he looking at the figuring that is going on in your head? Or is he looking at something else? In the next chapter of 2 Corinthians we are given the insight, (2 Cor 9:7 NIV)Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Notice that the Lord would have us make the decision not in our heads, but in our hearts. Not shamed, not reluctantly, not under compulsion, but as a reflection of our love for the Lord. In addition the Lord has a promise. God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

God’s gifts to you are not to your check book, not to your 401K, but to you personally. His gifts are to your heart. And so he does not speak about giving to a budget or to pay bills, our gifts from our hearts are to him. He receives them from our hearts to his. As he has been faithful to us, he calls us to be faithful unto death and we will receive the crown of life.

Amen.