The Generous God RUMC 11/14/2010

The Generous God

RUMC

11/14/2010

What do you see here?  What about here? 

This story from Matthew  is a little bit of a Rorschach test

A lot of people cringe at this story.  The landowner paid the laborers who worked all day their customary day’s wages.  Then we see that those slugs who were hired at the last hour- get paid the same full days wage.  That just stings the sensibility of many people.  That’s not right!  Those who worked a full day should receive 12 times as much as those who worked only an hour.  Those who labored through the hottest part of the day- in the dirtiest parts of the vineyard deserve more than the others do.  If this happened in Carpenters local 4 to which I belonged they would have been on strike against that contractor faster than you could say “unfair labor practices.”

But is that the only way to see it:?  Is it really a story about how unfair God seems?  I don’t think so.  I think the way this parable gnaws at our craw is like that ink blot test.  It reveals whether we see ourselves as deserving or blessed.  

If we consider ourselves deserving we align ourselves with the men who worked all day and got “Cheated” because someone who worked less got paid as much as we did.

Would  you complain if you were one of the short times? Would you complain when he handed you a full day’s wages?  Of course not.  You would rejoice and be glad- for the children will eat, the lights will stay on.  What a radical, wonderful, unexpected thing to do!  What a generous man!!  Suddenly instead of being Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch and the IRS all rolled in to one ugly monster; the landowner is the most generous man we have ever met.  Suddenly he is better than the tooth fairy and better than Santa Clause.

It seems that when we look at the story, through deserving eyes  we believe we are being cheated. 

If we look at the story from the other side as though we are among the blessed, this story is no longer about injustice.  It is about generosity.  It is about God’s wild and extravagant generosity!  For God so loved the world that he gave.

·                  God spent 6 days creating the earth in order to  place his wonderful Adam and Eve in the garden.  The beautiful lush garden of Eden.  More beautiful than we can imagine, with every kind of plant and bush and tree flowering and bearing beautiful fruit.  Every animal there just for the enjoyment and for the eating.  Every stream, every hill, every rock and every valley more beautiful than anything before.  Of course there had been nothing before.

We aren’t in Eden.  We are sinners to the nth degree.  Constantly refusing God.  Constantly flaunting our unfaithfulness.  Constantly breaking God’s heart.    We don’t even deserve 3 hots and a cot.  But have you seen the sunsets this month?  Did you stop to notice how long the colors lasted this fall?  Have you ever stopped to think about how much food there really is on this planet.    Thank God that God is not fair.  God is more generous than we could ever deserve. .  For God so loved the world that he gave.

·                  God freed the people from slavery in Egypt.  There was no way they could have escaped themselves.  What a wonderful thing.  Revealing himself to scare Pharaoh and leading them out through the red sea.

Then it happened.  They started to whine.  It would  be better to be back in Egypt- were going to starve to death- we’re going to die of thirst- we need a golden calf to worship.  We want- we need- you know the story.  If I were God I would have picked them up by their ungrateful scruffs and dropped them right back in Egypt.  Fortunately, God is ultra generous and instead of given them back to Egypt, he lead them to the promise land. God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.

·                  The people of Nineveh weren’t even among God’s chosen people.  They were foreigners and they were wicked, and cruel and hateful and sinful and full of every other bad thing you can imagine.

Did God destroy them?  Did God wipe them of f the face of the earth as they deserved?  No, he sent Jonah.  And even though Jonah didn’t want to go.  He said the word and the people repented.  Jonah thought they should still be destroyed.  Not God.  God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.

·                  You know people have always sinned.  They tried to build a tower o heaven so they could become God.  They killed, and warred, and stole and raped and every other filthy thing you can imagine and you know we deserved to be wiped off the face of the earth 10 times over again.  But instead, God sent his son, Jesus Christ to teach, to heal and to show us the way to God. . .  the way to salvation. We didn’t deserve it by any means, but thank God that God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.

·                  Even when Jesus came and lived among us we did our worst.  We rejected him. We mocked him. We beat him. We denied him. We destroyed him; executing him on a cross. Do you really want to be judged by a fair God?  Thank God, that God is generous rather than fair.  For God so loved the world that he gave.

God is a supremely, wildly, outrageously generous God.  And God calls us to be the same.

Shortly after World War II came to a close, Europe began picking up the pieces. Perhaps the saddest sight of all was that of little orphaned children starving in the streets. Early on chilly morning an American soldier was making his way back to the barracks in London. As he turned the corner in his jeep, he spotted a little lad with his nose pressed to the window of a pastry shop. Inside the cook was kneading dough for a fresh batch of doughnuts. The hungry boy stared in silence, watching every move. The soldier pulled his jeep to the curb, stopped, got out and walked quietly over to where the little fellow was standing. The boy salivated and released a slight groan as he watched the cook place them onto the glass-enclosed counter ever so carefully. The soldier’s heart went out to the nameless orphan and he asked. “Son...would you like some of those?” The boy was suprised. “Oh, yeah...I would!” The American stepped inside and bought a dozed, put them in a bag, and walked back to where the lad was standing in the foggy cold of the London morning. He smiled, held out the bag, and said simply: “Here you are.” As he turned to walk away, he felt a tug on his coat. He looked back and heard the child ask quietly: “Mister ... are you God?” We are never more like God than when we generous. “God so loved the world, that he gave ...”21

·                  How about a story close to home   Like most churches our Sunday school program had been declining for 15-20 years.  Not our fault, just the way it was.  One day we got an idea and started a Wednesday night program that we call  LIGHT.  There was nothing particularly special about us.  They are ordinary farmers and construction workers and employees and retirees of various kinds.  The pastor was just your average pastor.  The families in their town average families.  The town is an average town.  There was no particular reason why this program should be any different than many other  flash in the pan programs that have failed in small churches across America a thousand times.  But you know what is happening.  Lives changed, families worshipping together, volunteers serving faithfully.  Why?  Because they were extraordinary?   NO   but because, God is extraordinarily generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously of ourselves.

·                  Little ideas seemed to explode into great witnesses to God’s generosity like this week’s  veterans day dinner that touched so many lives and families. God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously of ourselves.

·                  Or take  the 14 year old who insisted that we needed  a Sunday morning program for children so she started it herself and now 10-15 children learn about and sing about Jesus every week because of her faithfulness and generosity.  God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously of ourselves..

·                  You are a generous congregation.  You are so generous that you often exceeded anyone’s wildest imaginations in mission giving,  $1000 to Bidwell, 107 Christmas boxes, dozens of health kits.  $17,000 in one year.  When the roof needed to be fixed it was.  When a parsonage needed to be built it was.  When the church burned it was rebuilt and paid for.  It was not unusual to have a $400 special offering for Ricks house of hope or mosquito nets.  God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously.

·                  This is my 4^th year here.  I have noticed that as generous as you are, we  struggle year after year with meeting our regular budget.  Every year is the same story.  We start out strong but then summer hits and by the end of the year we are 7,000- 8,000- 10,000 dollars short.  Some years you did not meet the goal.   Most years you have.  I don’t know how this year will turn out but I know that  God is generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously.

·                  And today we think not only about finishing this year, but what will happen next year?  I don’t want to frame the question in terms of  percent ages and numbers.  I struggled with all kinds of statistics to share with you, and you know what? A person can make statistics say just about anything they want.

I this it is much more important  for us to  take stock of  how wildly, excessively, passionately, outrageously generous God has been to our church and your family.  Think about the wonderful year we have had!  Even if it doesn’t mean much to you personally think about how much is means to those 60 children who attend light and the 24 families who have been touched by LIGHT who never had anything to do with our church before.   Think about the generosity experienced by the families of the active duty service men.  Think about what God ‘s generosity and your generosity means to women being released in Mitchellville.   Think about what God’s generosity and your generosity means to the mother who can put her child under one of our mosquito nets to sleep safely tonight.  Think about how God’s generosity is experienced by those who come to share in the witness of the spring choir concert.  Think about the experience of God’s generosity – that your generosity makes available to lonely, sick, tired, poor, and ashamed neighbors and friends.  Think about how you experience God’s generosity.  And ask yourself how you will share that generosity this coming year.

I do have to share one number with you.  10%.  That is the amount of the tithe.  For all of my adult life  I have been in debt and lived paycheck to paycheck.   I have grown in my generosity since I came here to the point that this year I became a thither for the first time.  When we made the decision to tithe we were still in debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Since we became tithers, we are now completely out of debt and have a little money in the bank.  Now we don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck.  I can’t explain it, but I’m grateful.  Grateful every time I experience the outrageous generosity of our wonderful God.

God is wildly, excessively, tremendously generous.  For God so loved the world that he gave.  And we are never more like God then when we take a chance and give generously.  How will you respond to God’s generosity this year?