TO
GIVE IS TO LIVE
MATTHEW
16.24-26
OCTOBER
5, 2008
WESLEY
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Douglas
Norris
Up
is down. Down is up. The high cost is cheap. The cheap cost is high.
First will be last. Last will be first. The least will be greatest.
Jesus preached an upside down value system, opposite of conventional
wisdom. Jesus taught a wisdom that calls us to surrender our lives
to God, live for him, and serve others. It is in giving that we truly
find life. To give is to live; and, turn it around, to live is to
give.
In
1920 a Methodist layman gave $100,000, which was a great deal of
money then, to start a Methodist college in Liberia, Africa. By
1940, 20 years later, the Liberian college had grown and was meeting
the educational and spiritual needs of many Africans. The college
decided to hold a special 20th Anniversary celebration and thought it
would be appropriate to thank the benefactor. But, the Board of
Missions had difficulty finding him. When they did, he refused to see
the representative. He was now broke. He had lost everything in the
depression of 1929.
But,
the school insisted he come, and he was flown to Africa for the gala
event. As the benefactor, now bankrupt, walked through the campus,
admiring the buildings, meeting the happy, hopeful students, his
heart swelled with joy, and he said to the college president, "The
only thing I have is what I gave away.”
To
Give is to Live is the theme of our finance campaign as we seek
pledges to do God’s work through Wesley Church in 2009. Today, the
Pony Express takes off. You will be given a packet in the next
several days, or it will be mailed to you.
Jesus
said, Matthew 16.25, “For those who want to save their life will
lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
The world calls Jesus ridiculous. How can you find by losing? Don’t
you find by keeping, by holding on to what you have? Someone has
said, “Getting the best out of this world is a little like holding
a wet bar of soap: it will slip away from us if we hold on too
tightly!
Losing
your life for Jesus, to give is to live doesn’t mean living without
money, goods, recognition or any of the things that bring pleasure
and satisfaction. What “to give is to live” means is that these
things can’t be your goal.
If you put wealth or security or happiness as goals, you will lose
life. Happiness is too elusive. It slips out of your hand like a
wet bar of soap. Joy is a gift from God. To give is to receive
God’s gift of joy.
Nor
does “to give is to live” mean putting yourself down or disliking
yourself. Jesus said, “Take up your cross.” Taking up your cross
means refusing to be your own central concern. It means living for
Jesus, finding your place in God’s unfolding plan and playing your
role well. Taking up your cross means giving your life to others for
Christ.
We
get the full meaning and enjoyment out of this life only when we
cease to make it our ultimate pursuit. By de-emphasizing the
temporal, we get not less of it, but more. One of life's ironies is
that we gain some things by giving them up.
I
learned the wisdom of “to give is to live” years ago. While
attending college, when I was 18-years-old, I was appointed pastor of
two rural churches. A few months after I started, I encouraged
Sunday School teachers to participate in a teacher training class in
the next town. To further encourage them, I offered to transport
some of them. So, I would leave the campus on a Wednesday afternoon,
drive out into the country, pick up several teachers, take them to
the class, and then return. One Wednesday I saw that the car needed
gas. I checked my wallet and discovered that if I put gas in the
car, I wouldn’t have money for food, until I went home on Friday
evening where my mother would feed me! Two days without food, and
you know me and food!
I
deliberated and decided that I had given my word, I had taken
responsibility to see that my Sunday School teachers received
training. I decided I would give my money to God’s work and
purchase gas. That evening as I delivered the teachers back to their
homes, the last one out of the car, the one with the most children,
the one whose husband bought day-old bread to save money, handed me a
dollar! I stretched that dollar into food for two days. And, I
learned an incredible lesson—to give is to live, to lose your life
is to find it, to do God’s work ahead of your needs, trusting in
God, leads to the assurance that God will take care of you, and bless
you with indescribable joy .
We
now have the opportunity to underwrite our church’s ministry with
our pledges. To give is to live. Perhaps you are asking, how much
do I give? What does God expect? We are not in the dark. The Bible
has a plan, a simple plan, a plan that works. God lets us keep 90%
of what we have to meet our needs, and give 10% to do God’s work.
Simple, practical, hard to do? Perhaps, but the reward is life, life
in Christ, joy.
The
biblical tithe is giving 10% back to God. I have often been asked by
those considering tithing, does tithing mean 10% of my income before
or after taxes? 10% of gross or 10% of net? I don’t answer the
question, because it is an individual decision. I am not concerned
with legalism. Our United Methodist understanding of the gospel is
not legalistic. We are not under law, but under grace. As Christians
seeking to grow ifrom spectator to disciple, our response to Jesus is
love, not duty; gratitude, not "oughts". Legalism asks:
what is my duty? Love asks: what is the need? Legalism asks: how
little can I give and still get by? Love asks: how much can I give?
To
give is to live! Saddle up! The Pony Express rides again.
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