11/22/64

Scripture: II Corinthians 9: 1-15.

Text: II Corinthians 9: 15; “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”

This day crowds a lot upon our attention! The cover of our Sunday bulletin reminds us that we approach Thanksgiving Day and that today is Thanksgiving Sunday. It is a time for gratitude for the harvest of food and materials and the receiving of great heaped-up, measures of mental and spiritual blessings. Let our thanks be genuine, and let it be expressed in the generosity of giving as well as of receiving.

Today, the calendar reminds us that just a year ago today a president of the United States met his death by assassination. The nation remembers, and hopes that such may never happen again. Once we have chosen a president, or any other leader of the body politic, we expect to have him in office until his term expires and his successor is chosen in free and open elections. Hosts of people are bowing today in remembrance and respect and tribute on this anniversary of a tragedy. And the finest tribute we can offer is our own rededication to the great ideals of this nation.

Our own local church has matters of importance to attend to and decide upon today. The business meeting at the end of the second service calls for a significant decision by our church. We are sharing with many others in the special offering of today. And we launch our Christian Enlistment of support for the year 1965, of our church program here and our Christian World Mission abroad. So today is a multi-significant day in our lives!

Each year, sometime in the month of November, we really talk “giving” in this church. We do not harp on it throughout the year, though we do give thought through the year to our dedication of life and our stewardship of all that is entrusted to our care. This past week, we received in our homes a mailing from this year’s Christian Enlistment Committee. It came to us in a form somewhat different from that of some other years. An attractive and instructive brochure pictured, in graphic form, the needs for supporting our church program here and abroad. It explained the sources of support in our giving to support the church. It explained the budget for 1965 as it evolved in the Church Council. It is the work of competent lay thinking and experience.

With the brochure, there was enclosed a copy of the proposed budget for 1965, as compared to the operations of our church in 1964. This year’s committee is to be commended for the form in which it is presented. Because of change in our buildings and equipment in the coming year, and because of the necessity of making an estimate in regard to staff, our committee had to rely on a careful estimate of some items rather than the proven experiences of past years.

One thing is certain. The program in our new church building calls for more giving and expenditure. And we are challenged to increase our pledge amounts, as a congregation, by $6500 over our 1964 giving! Can we do it?

I remember hearing a member say, this past week, that he had always understood that this church could afford to do what it really set its mind to do. I think he is right! And our Christian Enlistment Committee knows that that is right. If we will take our church membership seriously, and exercise our stewardship gladly and thoughtfully, we can underwrite -- even oversubscribe -- a budget like that which is proposed to us.

Last spring, when we launched our campaign for support of the church building project, our Fund Raising Council told us in kindly, but bluntly frank, terms that we have been what is called a “law-giving” church in the support of our local program. Our pledges to the Building Fund are one answer to that observation. The answer will be strengthened if there be other gifts and pledges yet to come toward the fine new church home we are building. Another effective answer to the observation that we have been a “law-giving” church can be our responsible underwriting of the 1965 budget. Let’s raise our sights to the point where our giving is exciting fun!

Now let us think, for a bit, about our stewardship of the gifts of life, of time, of ability, of substance that are entrusted to us by God. Among our membership are some 50 or 60 men who have been asked by the Christian Enlistment Committee to serve again this year to make calls as members of the Enlistment Committee. It is an invitation to take part in a high service. Dr. Warren Dennison, one of the truly grand old men of our fellowship until his death in 1956, used to congratulate the so-called canvassers of any church upon their chance to participate in this visitation. Said he: “It is a high honor, a gracious, challenging, spiritual privilege, a life time opportunity.” And Dennison meant it!

This is no “begging job.” This is a challenge to have a part in the development of the life of the giver. It is an assist in the enriching of the contributor’s spirit. And all of those who are approached can make it a mutually beneficial and inspiring experience by the spirit of approval and generosity and out-going interest in which each responds. This service is not alone a matter of underwriting a budget for local expenses and Our Christian World Mission, important as they are. It is a step in the continued development of good character, and in persuading men, women and youth to be good stewards of their possessions and abilities.

Stewardship is something bigger than money-raising, important as that is. It is something bigger than supporting causes, important as they are. It is the Christian philosophy of handling possessions and abilities that God entrusts to us. When it comes to our money, how do we evaluate, subordinate, acquire, use, spend, save, give our money, and dispose of its residue at the end of life? There are right ways and wrong ways to do all these things; Christian and un-Christian ways. Stewardship is a way of life.

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Occasionally I see the news letters of churches other than our own. One which I see quite regularly comes from a church in our nation’s newest state. In a recent issue of that church’s news letter there appeared a real thoughtful paragraph on stewardship in these words: “Stewardship involves all our time, all our abilities, and all our material possessions, for God gave us all these gifts and we are grateful to Him for them. Our gifts to God should not be spasmodic. Neither should they be as a tax or a duty, as in the traditional conception of the tithe. Instead, our gifts to God should be offered as a grateful and regular response of our love for Him. The true Christian steward regards the tithe not as a rule but as a standard by which he may gauge whether he should give more, or less, to the church, as he is able.” I found that analysis rather thought-provoking and so I share it with you.

Warren Dennison used to remind his hearers and readers that “a gift always does something to the giver. It makes him better or worse.” “Must I give again?” or “I just must give again!” Emphasis is not primarily on the amount, but on (1) the proportion, (2) the spirit, (3) the method. There are right ways and wrong ways to give. We are satisfied from our giving by what we put into it. If our giving is niggardly, unsympathetic, thoughtless, forced, too small a share, our lives will portray similar characteristics. But if our gift is from gratitude, devoted hearts, sacrificial spirits, we grow characters of strength and purity and dependability. More than the gift, the accomplishments of the giving depend upon the giver. Now today is a day of decision for us. How much shall we give? How much is enough?

This morning’s Scripture lesson was from a letter which Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth. Paul ended this chapter in the letter by exclaiming: “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!” This declaration reveals Paul’s gratitude to God for His supreme gift in Christ. Out of this awareness he wrote the brethren at Corinth concerning their responsibility to give offerings for the needy Christians in Jerusalem. In his letter, the apostle reminded the Christians at Corinth that if they sowed sparingly, they would reap sparingly; if they sowed bountifully, they might reap bountifully. He maintained that liberality is an indication of one’s acceptance of the gospel. As he contemplated the great, generous, good giving of God to mankind, Paul found it redundant for him to be involved in stimulating Christians to give. It was only necessary for him to remind them of the channels through which they might express their live in giving.

A. How much life is enough? There is a preciousness about life that makes most folk anxious to have more of it -- to see another sunrise, another day; to have another chance to make good on a promise; another day for experimenting with an idea. And this life which we have, and want to have, is most significant when it is spent in effort, in love, in service. How much of it is to be offered in sacrifice -- in giving? Jesus loved life -- and he gave all of it!

B. How much restitution is enough? Zacchaeus is a study in restitution. Being a short man, he was up a tree where he could see Jesus passing by. Jesus asked him to come down and take him home to dinner. Zacchaeus was so impressed and so overwhelmed with this expression of confidence in him --- he had been an exacting, and perhaps grafting, tax collector --- that he volunteered himself to accept a new way of life. He would give half of his goods to the poor and, he said, “If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” [Luke 19: 1-8].

There was a man some 19 centuries after Zacchaeus who made public confession of his faith in Christ and joined a church at a rather advanced age. He became exceedingly generous with his time, his personality, his skills, and his money. When his pastor commended him for his generosity, he just replied quietly, “I have a lot of catching up to do.”

C. How much service is enough? We frequently hear it said, “They have made their contribution; they should be left alone.” Well, some need to be left alone and should not be urged further. And yet the committed Christian is constantly aware of opportunities to serve regardless of age or circumstance.

Albert Schweitzer has stayed at it with no thought at all of sacrifice. Bishop Polycarp spent out his life at the age of 86 when he was dragged into a Roman arena and ordered to renounce his faith or be destroyed. Whoever heard of a man at 86 making any trouble for a community! Polycarp did. He went to his death by burning at the stake rather than speak one word in denial of his Christ.

D. How much money is enough? An Old Testament standard was the giving of one tenth of one’s possessions acquired. The New Testament standard of stewardship is the total dedication and commitment of one’s resources. I would not want to tell a man what he must give to the church. But it is a part of the quest of Christian living to discover a standard of giving and serving that will distinguish one as a mature and thankful Christian.

E. How much love is enough? Unless a deed is motivated by love, it soon deteriorates. Paul, in the 13th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians had written, “If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all that I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

A few years ago, a little girl was present in her church when the members were underwriting the needs of the church, making their pledges in the sanctuary as a significant part of their worship. The little girl took a card and wrote on the back of it: “Dear God, I love you. Do you love me? Answer ‘yes’.”

Starting today, we are asked to write God a message on a pledge card. And whatever the amount, we pray it will communicate our genuine faith in Jesus Christ and will visibly demonstrate our love. “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift.”

Now what shall you pledge? You alone can decide.

I have never done this before; but I am moved to “testify in meeting” today, partly to let you know that I mean what I say when I preach on this subject. For some years now, it has been our family effort to pledge approximately 5% of my anticipated salary as our gift in support of our church’s budget. This we expect to do in 1965. Approximately another 5% will go to other causes -- most especially our annual payment on our Church Building pledge, our community hospital pledge, and numerous other benevolent enterprises. I have not been a consistent tither through all of the years, but our giving now approximates a tithe of my gross income before taxes.

I offer this as a testimony, and not as a standard for any of you. There are some of you who will not feel it possible to adopt this proportion. There may be some of you who will want to give more than a tithe of net income. You are the judge of that, and God is your confidant and your conscience.

But I give this further testimony. I do not want to regard giving as an expense to be met by as small a payment as possible. It is immeasurably more gratifying to regard giving as an investment in worth-while, life-giving enterprise, to be met with as generous undergirding as possible.

Whatever our pledges for 1965 are to be, let all of us make them with a full understanding of the challenge offered us in the proposed budget of this church. Let’s subscribe it! And let us give in thanks to God for His inexpressible gift to us.

End.

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, November 22, 1964.