“The Antidote and Remedy” 2014
Luke 16:10-15 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Luke 16:10-15
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.

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. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 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. As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” 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. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 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, while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

In 1953, President Eisenhower appointed
Clare Boothe Luce to serve as our ambassador to Italy.
Shortly after she arrived, she began to feel sick,
and as her health declined, medical tests revealed
that her illness was due to arsenic poisoning.

This was during the height of the Cold War,
so at first they thought it must be a secret Russian or KGB plot,
but when they ran more thorough security checks on all her staff
there wasn’t any evidence that anyone was trying to poison her.

As it turned out, it was nothing so nefarious, but that the paint
in the bedroom of her 17th century villa contained arsenic lead,
and she was slowly being poisoned by paint dust and flakes.
She was unaware
of the environmental toxins surrounding and affecting her.

* So too we can be unware and distracted,
and even seduced by this world’s values and ways…
… and be as oblivious to that spiritual danger and threat
as the ambassador was about being gradually poisoned.

There are any number of areas of life
in which we will struggle for all the days of our life;
areas where victory is not won all at once for all time,
but will require recommitment and renewed effort.

For example, to be a person of honor and absolute integrity,
is not just a one-time thing or just one solitary decision
but must be sustained over the course of a lifetime.

Each and every time we are tempted to compromise with truth,
we make a decision, and we will
either live up to the high ideals to which we aspire,
--- or we will not.

In the same way, we decide how we will use our lives and resources:
focused primarily on acquiring more wealth and possessions,
or choose to live responsible and faithful stewardship
that makes a difference by sharing God’s blessings.
And for most of us,
our attitude and behavior concerning wealth and resources
can be area where we are vulnerable to envy and greed.

In all four Gospels,
Jesus often preaches about materialism and selfishness…
… as in the stark warnings of the Luke text, vs. 13
No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Our faithful stewardship, the way we relate to money and wealth,
both reflects, and it also influences our spiritual health,
and will either draw us closer or lure us away from
walking in faithful obedience guided by the Spirit.

If I am truly walking in a real and growing relationship with God,
then I will naturally be faithful and generous with my stuff,
and if I am practicing faithful & generous stewardship,
then I will be drawn ever closer in my walk with God --
- whereas to be stingy & greedy reflects a fear and lack of trust
that will distort the life of grace that God intends for us.

Used appropriately and wisely,
our life’s resources can serve to honor and glorify God.
They can be used to accomplish good & incredible things in this world.
Generous giving can also restrain our materialistic longings
and overcome our tendency toward selfish greed,
a cruel & terrible mast that is never fully satisfied.

For even after I do decide to be a godly and generous giver,
that doesn't mean faithful stewardship will come easily…
… or that the things of this world won't still catch my eye
and like toxic dust or paint chips falling into our lives.

More than any other topic, Jesus warns against that danger
as a serious and significant threat and risk
to our faith and our ongoing relationship with God…

… and the antidote and hope against selfishness and greed
is to trust God’s grace and promises, which may mean,
giving away something I want, something I desire & value,
to consciously choose to forgo in favor of sacrifice.

I know that most of us really do want to be faithful stewards,
and that we do want Jesus to be our Lord and Master
even over our money, our time and all our resources;
but the stark reality and difficult truth is,
the attractive glitter that this world has to offer,
is a spiritual struggle we'll battle so long as we live.

However generous we were in our giving offerings last year,
we still have to confront our worldly desires again this year.

And whatever level of sacrifice we decide on for this year,
we will still have to confront our base and worldly desires
of selfish, greed and avarice all over again next year.

So is there any hope? Is there any help?
Yes, I find that the Apostle Paul's letter
to the Christians living in Corinth most hopeful & helpful
in thinking through my attitude toward generous giving.

Paul was addressing a most difficult and very critical situation.
In those days, when a Jew of Jerusalem converted to Christ,
other Jews saw them as enemies and betrayers of Judaism.

The Jewish community would be shun and cut them off economically.
No one would hire them or be willing to do business with them,
and so they faced financial ruin & impoverished suffering.

So the Apostle Paul urged other Christians from other areas,
especially gentiles of the missionary churches that he had founded,
to take up special offerings in order to support
their fellow believers of Jerusalem, so much in need.

And there is something particularly interesting about all this,
in that Paul wants them to see their generosity as an investment
or as Paul put it, in agricultural terms: vs. 6
The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

His hope was that in sharing with those other Christians in need,
it would serve to build up the unity of the Church,
and view their giving generosity, as planting seeds
that would geminate, growing the Church into one body.

The generosity of the gentile Christians to Jewish Christians
would help demonstrate the genuineness of their shared faith,
as the money symbolized their common faith & mutual love.
In a very concrete way, they demonstrated the unity of the Church.

Now, as we strive toward spiritual health in our giving,
and in our relationship to the material things of this world,
Paul offers some helpful principles to keep in mind.

1st – our giving is a decision for which we make plans.
vs. 7a
Each of you must give as you have made up your mind

That means, it’s not just throwing in a few bucks from whatever
is still left in our wallet or checkbook at the end of the week.

It’s not giving the leftover after all the bills are paid,
but it’s a prayerful response paid as first priority
to God's blessings and loving presence in our lives.
It’s a planned priority in how we use our total resources.

The first check, not the last, ought to be given for the glory of God
as we plan what we spend, our purchasing and consumption,
only after first making provision for our offering to God.

2nd
We are not to be driven by guilt, or fear of, what if we don't,
but we give in joyful response to what God has first given to us.
We give from gratitude not guilt --- vs. 7b
not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
God wants us to know the joy and delight of generous gratitude.

What a blessing to see something good and wonderful
come to fruit from our gifts & generosity, making a difference.

The point it, that just as we are called to forgive others,
echoing the way God has forgiven us,
so too we give, we share our prosperity and blessings with others
we are echoing the way that God has prospered and blessed us.

3rd
since we entrust to Jesus our lives, our immortal souls
surely we can also trust
God to provide in abundance all that we need in life.
As Paul wrote, vs. 8, 11
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. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity.

Jesus said in our Luke reading: vs. 10-11
Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with worldly wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

In the grand scheme of things, money is really just a little thing
in relation to the true treasures of heaven
which are so much greater and that do truly matter.
Yet Jesus declares that our handling of money now, 'a little thing'
will in some way determine our greater treasures of heaven.

So the truth is, the handling of our wealth is a spiritual matter –
for in defeating and conquering our selfishness and greed,
as it demonstrates our trustworthiness
for the true, the priceless and eternal riches of God.

Now that does not mean that the amount
of our contributions equate to our commitment to Christ;
but rather,
to some degree our giving reflects our grateful response
to what we have first received as a gift from God –
and our desire to grow in our faith-walk with God.

Nelson is an old friend, a pastor I know serving in Ghana,
who has taught me a lot about materialism and spirituality,
and occasionally I've sent money in support of his ministry.

But in all the years of our friendship, he’s never written back,
"Thanks Norm, your such a generous giving guy,
thanks for your generously in sending me your money."
But rather, he writes,
“I thank God for giving you that money to give,
for entrusting that money, for you to send to me.”

My generosity & kindness doesn’t seem to impress or come up at all,
but rather, it’s all just thanks to God … glory to God alone,
because as he sees it, I’m just the middleman, God's conduit,
for Nelson knows that whatever money I do send him,
that it’s really first provision & gift from God.

He figures that God gives me a little extra, more than I need,
so that I can send it on to Nelson
and thereby share & participate in his ministry.

Theologically, that is the reality of stewardship.
We are God's conduits, pipe for carrying God’s blessings
as God provides us a little extra, so that we can send it on.
Therefore, Christian stewardship is just passing along
that little extra that God graciously entrusts to us.

If we hold back because of selfishness and greed,
then our avarice will grow as will our desire always for more,
and so our spiritual walk with God will stagnate & weaken.
Human greed can never be cured by acquiring more stuff,
but can only be restrained by godly and generous giving.

Jesus taught stewardship, not because God needs the money,
but because we in our culture, so desperately need to give
just to hold back and restrain our greed and affluence,
so that God’s love and blessing can flow through us
and bring hope and healing into this broken world.

As Paul wrote, vs. 10-11, 15
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. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!