St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church
3800 East Third Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47401
(812) 332-5252
Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent (February 24, 2008)
Liturgical Color: Purple
Reverend Doctor Lyle E. McKee
God's Fields of Harvest
Grace to you and peace from our loving God, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
It is my privilege this morning to do the bidding of our Stewardship Committee. For a second year, we have chosen to take time during Lent to call upon our members and friends to consider the deeply spiritual matter of how we will steward the resources God provides to us. And that seems quite appropriate. Lent is traditionally a season of reflection and self-denial focused on spiritual growth-not a bad summary of what stewardship invites.
A helpful biblical way to frame the question posed by good stewards is "What percentage of my income is God calling me to give to the Lord's work?" Consecration Sunday is next Sunday, and I ask you to listen carefully to this call and to our efforts to put it squarely into a scriptural context. I know that there is resistance to this kind of appeal, but I hope you will lower any walls of resistance and do your best to listen.
You may have heard such things before, but let me begin with a scriptural reminder. The word "believe" occurs in the Bible 273 times, "pray" 371 times, and "love" 714 times. But the word "give" appears 2,172 times. That is how important Holy Scripture considers the spiritual practice of stewardship.
That said, I turn to the readings for today. And as I discovered last year when preaching on stewardship, the texts for the day lend themselves to the topic.
Look at the Old Testament lesson. Moses, pressed by the impatient people of Israel during their wilderness wanderings, appeals in exasperation to God for help with a thirsty people. God's response is to tell Moses to strike the rock of the mountain. When he does so, water comes forth.
It is a story about the tendency of human beings to test God—to quarrel with God about our circumstances, our needs, and our desires. But it is perhaps more about God's provision for us.
When we talk about our use of God's resources in the church—about what we have come to call stewardship after the biblical word for those who care for animals (in a sty)—we inevitably call to mind and heart how abundant is the provision of God. God provides. God cares. God gives us all that we are and possess as a trust for the sake of our selves and the world.
This Old Testament story from Exodus emphasizes for us that God is the source. Despite the messages that are drilled into us that our money and resources are ours and that we should use them solely for our personal benefit, the truth lies here. God is the origin and source of all that is, including the talents and abilities that make it possible for us to make money through doing, one hopes, something of useful service to others.
And here is the root of stewardship's essence. Gratitude. We give because God has given to us. We love because God loves us. We serve because our Lord lived a life of service, sacrifice, and giving for the sake of our very souls.
We give because we are endlessly grateful to God. We do not give to budgets. We do not ask "How much is the budget this year, and what is my fair share of that given how my income compares to the income of others in the congregation?" Our motivation to give is not so that the church has enough money to keep the doors open.
We ask rather, "How much have I been blessed by God, and how many of those blessings will I return to God in gratitude and soul-deep appreciation for the grace of God in my life and the lives of my loved ones?" Or, simply put, "What portion of my income is God calling me to return in gratitude?" Asked over and over again, this question and our response help us grow both in giving and in our spiritual relationship with God.
And when I said at the outset that talking about this is a privilege, I meant it. It is always a privilege to serve the mission of God, and my personal giving, my living, and my words are all ways of serving. Like most of the folks I know, I really enjoy feeling useful. At grocery stores, folks often ask me to reach items from the top shelf; I don't mind at all. And sometimes I'll even be asked, when I'm visiting an older member, to wipe off the top of the refrigerator. I enjoy doing such things. I like being called upon to do what I know is helpful and right and good. And I thoroughly enjoy opportunities to serve God. Because I love God and I owe God everything.
So I don't get too far away from my purpose, let me move to the gospel for today. It is also very relevant to stewardship.
Like the Old Testament lesson, the gospel concerns water. A Samaritan woman comes to a well in order to draw water to use for her needs, and Jesus engages her in a conversation. He begins with the request that preoccupied those thirsty folks of ancient Israel who bugged Moses: "Give me a drink."
A simple request, to be sure, but it becomes the occasion for some long and complex discourse. Surprising claims get made. There is playful and confusing banter. And insights into life and faith are suggested.
"Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life."
"But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth."
Then later:
"I have food to eat that you do not know about...My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work."
And: "I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor."
What an incredibly rich passage for the message that we are caretakers only of what God provides. The spiritual water that we drink when we listen to Jesus gushes up to eternal life. What a splendid metaphor of abundance! This wellspring does not ever run dry; indeed, it gushes forth, for the opening available is never wide enough to handle effectively the incredible riches of water. Such is the fullness of God's giving, of God's creation, of God's free giving. Many folks want to "put a cap" on God's goodness, doling it out slowly, thinking to increase its value by limiting its distribution. But God's love cannot be so contained, constricted, or tamed. It always finds a way—even out of solid rock and hardened heart.
The water-based exchange in the story flows into talk of proper worship. Again, how apt! This water that gushes forth with more than enough for all—for eternity—leads us to worship in spirit and truth. This flood of grace cannot be contained on a holy mountain; it is as far-flung as are the waters of the earth, and any place is a place worthy for worship. Any life is amply graced that it may overflow into the gratitude of spirit and truth that is true worship. Any useful and remunerative employment of our gifts is adequate cause for our thanks and praise—and giving back—to our gracious God. For our Lord's food is that we do God's will and complete God's mission in this world.
And then that crowning reminder. One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor.
How prideful we tend to become. "Look what I've done with my life," we might boast. "See how much I make." "See the affluence and good taste expressed in the multitude of my possessions."
It is all so much useless wind. For our Lord snaps us to attention with this no-nonsense affirmation of the truth. It is God who sowed the seeds of our talents, of the earth's resources, of every good thing that abides in and on and above the earth that presents itself for our use in creative employment. We have created nothing. We are merely stewards of what God has made. We reap that for which we did not labor.
Is there any more thorough way to put us in our proper place with regard to our riches? Is there any better set of reminders of where we stand in relation to God? Is there any better way to affirm who is Creator and who is Creature?
And most to the point: Is there any more effective way to make us fully mindful of the limitless gratitude that we feel for this all-good, all-creating, all-providing, all-gracious, all-loving God?
This is the God we come here to worship.
This is the God to whom we offer our best in our responses of gratitude. There is no guilt here. No guile. No hard-sell. No reason whatsoever, in my mind and heart, to avoid such forthright affirmation. God is good, abundantly and eternally good; and knowing this, there is nothing but generosity in our hearts. We reap God's fields of harvest and are called upon to offer in gratitude a portion thereof.
What percentage of my income is God calling me to give to the work of the Lord? May God grant us hearts of gratitude and generosity in the face of all that God has wrought. Amen.
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, unto eternal life. Amen.
