The church #3: called to grow in Christ Reinbeck UMC

The church #3: called to grow in Christ

Reinbeck UMC

The great preacher and professor of religion Tony Campolo, says that one day he was on his way to work, walking down the sidewalk in winter, dressed in his suit and overcoat, when he was approached by a filthy bum. The guy was covered in soot from head to toe, and he had a huge beard. In the beard, we remnants of his last several meals. The bum was holding a cup of McDonald’s coffee and mumbling to himself. He spotted Dr. Campolo and said, “Hey, Mister. You want some of my coffee?"

Campolo took the cup and drank a bit, just to be nice. He handed the cup back and said, "You're being pretty generous giving away your coffee this morning. What's gotten into you that you're giving away your coffee all of a sudden?" The bum said, “"Well, the coffee was especially delicious this morning, and I figured if God gives you something good you ought to share it with people."[1]

There is more to the story, but I want to stop right there. “If God gives you something good you ought to share it with people.” Do you believe that? That is sure counter-cultural. “If God gives you something good you ought to share it with people."

Think about all that God has given you. Now don’t be too quick. Remember that everything we have comes from God. God is the source of all good things. God has given you everything from this wonderful, beautiful, fruitful world that surrounds you; to the cotton that was grown to make the cloth that was used to make your underwear; to the knowledge and skills you use to make your money. It all belongs to God and everything in between.

Bishop Schnase who wrote 5 PRACTICE OF FRUITFUL CONGREGATIONS starts with RADICAL HOSPITALITY, continues to PASSIONATE WORSHIP, adds on INTENTIONAL DISCIPLEMAKING. That is as far as we have gotten in the last two weeks. Then some would say bishop Schnase starts to meddle. He begins to talk about EXTRAVAGANT GENEROSITY.

Generosity is a key measure to our growth in discipleship. Think about your giving habits over the last 10 years. Do they show evidence of generous discipleship? Or are you just squeaking by, hoping God doesn’t notice.

Generosity is both …

·        A disciple’s grateful response to a  EXTRAVAGANTLY generous God

·        And the disciple’s offer of themselves to God’s work and God’s kingdom.

In other words, generosity can be either the cause of growth in discipleship, or the fruit of growth in discipleship. OR BOTH.

I want you to notice something… I am talking about EXTRAVAGANT generosity and it has nothing to do with the church budget. We are not talking about funding ministry. We aren’t talking about paying the light bill or the pastor’s salary. We aren’t talking about paying apportionments or fundraisers.

I am talking about EXTRAVAGANT GENEROSITY growing out of faithful discipleship. The fundamental question there is

·        Are we giving to pay the bills, or are we giving to grow in our faith?

·        Are we giving to get by, or giving to grow closer to Jesus.

Let me say something shocking…. If you are just giving to the church to keep the doors open and pay the bills. Just stop. We don’t need that money. What we need are disciples who out of thanksgiving and a true desire to grow closer to Jesus, give EXTRAVAGANTLY to God’s work in this place.

The question for the fruitful congregation is, what are we teaching? Are we living in a world of scarcity where we are competing with Wal-Mart for a limited number of dollars? Or are we teaching people to be EXTRAVAGANTLY generous because God has been EXTRAVAGANTLY generous to us.

·        Fruitful churches teach that EXTRAVAGANT generosity a PRIORITY as they train disciples. Do we? Or do we soft pedal stewardship because we are afraid of scaring them away?

·        Fruitful churches teach PROPORTIONAL giving. The Biblical proportion is the tithe or 10% of our income. We know that American churches only see 2-3% on average. That’s great if that is EXTRAVAGANT generous FOR YOU. If that is not EXTRAVAGANTLY generous for your family then it ought to be our goal to move that 3% to 4, and that 4% to 5 until we reach EXTRAVAGANT generosity. The Biblical guide is 10%. However, to be honest just as there are some who hit EXTRAVAGANT at 5%, there are also those who don’t hit EXTRAVAGANT unto 20%. Where is EXTRAVAGANTLY generous to you… and how close are you in your giving today?

·        Fruitful churches teach REGULAR giving: that giving needs to be consistent, regular, weekly, monthly, or quarterly (whatever works best for you). I know that December might be more convenient for you so you don’t have to think about it again, but if EXTRAVAGANT generosity is an important part of our growth as disciples, we need to be doing it regularly, not just conveniently. We should be reading the Bible regularly, not just once a year, and we ought to be giving EXTRAVAGANTLY regularly. Not just once a year.

·        Fruitful churches teach JOYFUL giving. There is no greater miracle than seeing a fundamentally self-interested person, open their heart and their treasure chest to give EXTRAVAGANTLY because God has filled them with the joy of giving.

 The fundamental truth is that we can never out give God. Growing disciples know that, and therefore practice EXTRAVAGANT generosity in thanksgiving for God’s EXTRAVAGANT love. As part of our discipleship system, the deeper we grow the more generous we can become.

We can never out give God, but for those who have received God’s  EXTRAVAGANT love and grace, the only appropriate response is to give with the same extreme love with which God gives:  EXTRAVAGANTLY.

To continue with the story about Rev. Campolo, and the homeless man.

Tony could feel the set-up coming, but he walked right into it. He asked, "Is there anything I can give you in return?" He was expecting to be hit up for money. Unfortunately, it wasn’t money the bum wanted. The bum said, “Yeah, you can give me a hug.” Rev. Campolo thought Five bucks would have been better. But there on the Philadelphia sidewalk, Tony Campolo put his arms around this filthy man, trying to avoid the pieces of rotted food in his beard, and the man hugged him. And kept hugging him. He would not let go.

People were staring at the professional in the overcoat and the homeless bum embracing on the street. Tony was embarrassed, until suddenly his embarrassment turned to awe. He said, “I heard a voice echoing down the corridors of time saying, I was hungry. Did you feed me? I was naked. Did you clothe me? I was sick. Did you care for me? I was the bum you met on Chestnut Street. Did you hug me? For if you did it unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did it to me. And if you failed to do it unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you failed to do it unto me.”[2]

Bishop Robert Schnase, in Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, says, “RISK-TAKING MISSION AND SERVICE is the last of the fundamental activities of church life that is so critical that failure to practice it in some form results in a deterioration of the church’s vitality and ability to make disciples of Jesus Christ. When churches turn inward, using all resources for their own survival and caring only for their own people, then spiritual vitality wanes.”[3]

First, RISK-TAKING mission and service transforms the life of the recipient.

·        People we really help are changed forever. It makes a difference in their lives. They are better for it. And when the help comes from somebody who loves Jesus, the people who receive the help know that Jesus loves them, too. RISK-TAKING mission and service transforms the lives of those we help.

·        But secondly, RISK-TAKING mission and service transforms the life of the servant. There is no way you can step out of the box and risk yourself to help someone else without being changed. Becoming a conduit for the love of God to one of his children will strengthen your own relationship to God. It will deepen your spirit. It will open up wellsprings of compassion that you never knew you had. It will energize you to serve even more.

In RISK-TAKING mission and service, both the servant and the served are transformed. There’s a reason for that. It’s because in RISK-TAKING mission and service, the one we touch is Jesus Christ.

The simple but highly profound truth is this: when we serve others, we serve Jesus Christ. We say that all the time, but think of it. The face of that unruly child in Sunday School, the face of that teenager with an attitude, the face of that old person with Alzheimer’s, the face of that homeless person, the face of that immigrant who doesn’t speak English, the face of that drug addict, the face of our spouse or our grandparent or a complete stranger is the face of Jesus Christ. How can we not love them?

So to get to the heart of the issue there is one key question. “What have we done in the last six months to make a positive difference in the lives of others that we would not have done if it were not for our relationship to Christ?”[4]

Youth mission trip, backpacks for refugees on the border, we have the ramp project we are working on.

The punch line of the entire ministry of Jesus. And the point is this passage is: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” And the converse is also true: “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

I heard Rev. Andrew Young speak a few years ago. He has served in Congress, as the Ambassador to the United Nations in the Carter Administration, and as mayor of Atlanta in the 1980’s.

None of that prepared him for the time in 1985 when his youngest daughter surprised him by announcing that she was going to Uganda to work for Habitat for Humanity. He couldn’t believe she would go to a country so far away and to an area that was still very dangerous after the civil wars and the terror of Idi Amin. He feared for her safety. But she was a young adult, and her mind was made up. She felt God calling her to make a difference by building houses in a devastated country. So Andrew Young found himself standing in the Atlanta airport on January 7, 1985, with tears streaming down his face as he said good-bye to his daughter. He stood at the window and watched as the plane took off, taking his little girl—now grown up—to Uganda. As the plane lifted out of sight, he turned away from the window and his aides heard him mutter under his breath, “I always wanted her to be a respectable Christian…but not a real one!”[5]

Real Christians and real churches have PASSIONATE worship. Are we a real church?

Real Christians and real churches exercise RADICAL hospitality. Are we a real church?

Real Christians in real churches are INTENTIONAL about growing in discipleship. Are we a real church?

Real Christians and real churches practice EXTRAVAGANT generosity. Are we a real church?

Real Christians and real churches engage in risk-taking mission and service. Are we a real church?

Are we a real church? Absolutely. Are we a perfect church? By no means. Are we the best church we can be? I don’t think so. But with God’s help, we can get better.

PASSIONATE worship. RADICAL Hospitality. INTENTIONAL disciple making. EXTRAVAGANT generosity. RISK TAKING mission and service.

Let us be about God’s work. PASSIONATELY, RADICALLY, INTENTIONALLY, EXTRAVAGANTLY taking risks for the love of God and God’s people

Let do something.

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[1]  Tony Campolo, "Year of Jubilee," Preaching Today Sermon Tape #212.

[2] Tony Campolo, "Year of Jubilee," Preaching Today Sermon Tape #212.

[3] Robert Schnase, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (Nashville:

Abingdon, 2007), 83

[4] Robert Schnase, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (Nashville:

Abingdon, 2007), 88

[5] 8 From a sermon by Dr. Norman Neaves.