Rev. Ron Sumners
October 27, 1996
In an issue of ''The Alabama Baptist" in 1979, John Wiley wrote about a visit with his grandchildren. Four-year-old Ethan attracted his attention by saying, "I've got a quarter." John asked, "What are you going to do with your quarter?" Ethan replied, "I'm going to spend it at church tomorrow."
The phrase stuck in John's mind. He usually thought in terms of giving money to the church rather than spending money at church. What's the difference between giving and spending?
When money is spent you get something in return. What do you get when you spend money at church? John began to count the things. He said, "I get a building in which to meet and worship. I get a pastor and a staff of concerned, interested, qualified people. I receive an opportunity for a fellowship of love which is meaningful. The possibility of growing and learning through study because the church is there. Money that I spend at church involves me in world missions and in service to people here at home. The sense of belonging comes with the money I spend at church. I concluded that I get a fair return on my money."
John concluded that Ethan's idea of 'spending' was a better concept of what happens at church that just giving. There was no pride, no sense of importance. He was simply going to spend his money at church.
Ethan was too young to know that gifts to the church are sometimes used to satisfy personal desires. People may refuse to give because they don't like the way their money is used. They may stop giving because they don't like the Pastor. In reality they are spending their money. not giving it.
What we need to do is move to true giving. And this church needs your gifts.
The church needs your gifts because it is doing a great work. Part of that work is calling men and women to live close to Jesus Christ. Think about what happens when people do this. Think about the quality of life that results! For one thing, living close to Jesus helps keep things in their proper proportions. That makes for sanity. The absence of proportions makes for insanity, and some of the things masquerading today as Christianity arc sheer insanity.
Some things are important, and some are not. Whether Alabama or Auburn wins the Iron Bowl is not of ultimate importance, although some people act like it is! The only thing of ultimate importance is our relationship with Christ - the very thing that we often give the least attention.
Living close to Jesus means that there is a large space in your schedule for prayer. When you learn to pray, you will be wise enough to say to God, “Thy will be done.”
Living close to Jesus means a relationship of love with others that is constant. Christian love is a strenuous spiritual exercise. It is spiritual aerobics! It demands every muscle and nerve as you love and develop your heart. You can have a heart to love the unlovable. You can love in spite of insult and injury. You can love when you are not loved in return. The only way that kind of love develops is by living close to Jesus.
This church is trying to help you live close to Jesus. And that means a better, safer, happier, healthier world for everyone.
This church is helping people to know that it is more blessed to give than to receive. That is a hard battle. The whole emphasis of this world is to get not give. Many of us must, in all honesty say, "I am not a cheerful giver. I make my offering, but when I do I think of the words from the song "Blest Be the Tie", ''When we asunder part, it gives me inward pain." The only thing we give freely is advice.
Only God's grace can help us give generously and cheerfully. What do I mean by that? Simply this, there is no way to right things with God through our own efforts. God did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. For our sakes He became poor that we through His poverty might become rich. What kind of riches? Peace with God. Love for mankind. Life with meaning. Victory over death. Ephesians 2:8 tells us, "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith - and it is not of yourselves - it is the gift of God." Generous giving is the Christians’ response to this grace. Jesus said, "Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew l0:8)
This church is in need of many things that have gone unpurchased and undone because of lack of funds. But that day is over for Meadow Brook. We are growing up joyful victorious givers here because we can never outgive God!
February 10, 1977, Marjorie Jackson died. She was found in a house filled with trash and filth. She froze to death because she was too stingy to use her heat. The police found more than $5,000,000 stuffed in trash cam, boxes and drawers. She was the widow of the founder of a national grocery chain. She often called to report imaginary burglars. Three padlocks had to be cut from the driveway gate to get to the house. Think of all the joy she missed because she did not learn the joy of giving.
Ken Chafin tells the story of a couple in Fort Worth, Texas. They bought a shell home with nothing inside but plumbing. With their own bands, and with materials they could haul in their car, they finished the inside of the house. They gave the amount they saved by doing that to buy a new van for the church! His salary was small. The wife worked too, but even together their income was modest.
They were tithing people, but they gave even more. They gave an especially large Lottie Moon gift by saving their pocket change for 365 days. When asked about their giving, they said, ''We tithe not just because God commanded giving, but because Jesus loved us and died for us. We were born again. Our lives have been different, and we belong to Him, and everything we have belongs to Him."
This is a primary work of the church - helping people find the true joy of a right relationship with God. That joy spills over into every area of life. When joy is there, giving comes naturally.
Twenty-four hours a day every day your generous giving carries on the Lord's work. Your gifts coupled with the gifts of a farmer in Arkansas and an oilfield worker in Texas and an executive in Atlanta and a retired person in St. Petersburg and millions of others mean that the sun never sets on the proclamation of the Gospel.
Meadow Brook Baptist Church needs your gifts because we are doing a great work. The greatest work in all the world!
God calls us to this work. Paul voices this call for all of us in Philippians 3:14, "I have not yet arrived. I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
There is a witness within ourselves generated by our gifts. When you share Christ happily a deep assurance comes into your own heart. We need that kind of assurance!
Our sinful, selfish nature says: ''Get, take, keep." The Holy Spirit working in our hearts says, ''Give, share, love." The more generously and joyfully you give, the more assurance you have that God is working through you.
The challenge before us is to cause others to praise God. In a money-oriented world, where the price of gold makes the news every day, our giving is a tremendous witness.
I was looking for a Christmas present for Prissy once and I went into an exclusive women's shop in the mall. I quickly learned that I didn't belong there, but at Penny's. But I browsed a bit, not to make it too obvious that I couldn't afford anything there. I noticed a well-dressed lady browsing through a rack of expensive coats. You could tell she shopped there often. She projected an image of affluence. The clerk was doing her best to help her, but nothing seemed to please her. Then, without any warning, this woman dropped a coat on the floor and began to berate the clerk for the outrageous prices. She raved about the store's interest charges, about lousy designers. For several minutes she browbeat the poor girl and then stormed out of the store.
Why this rage? Do you think that perhaps what she could buy was no longer satisfying, that her money could no longer please and comfort her?
Generous giving can be the catalyst to make our money continue to bring us pleasure. What you have left after the experience of joyful giving will bring you so much more satisfaction. When others see this, they praise God.
God is calling us individually and as a church to achieve our potential. We are just beginning to do that. Can you imagine the impact this church would make on this city if we became a church of tithers? Do a little dreaming!
John Bishop writes about a man passing along the shore of a lake when he heard a boy screaming for help. The man jumped into the water and swam out to the boy. He brought him back to the shore and for ten minutes and gave him artificial respiration. When the boy revived, he looked into the face of his rescuer and said, ''Thank you for saving my life." "That's all right," said the man, "Just prove your life was worth saving."
Let's prove to God that we were worth saving. Let's accept the call God has given us to minister to this community!
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