"God's Grace Is All About Being Rich, Poor, and Rich"
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. [Amen.]
"He leaves His heav'nly Father's throne,
Is born an infant small,
And in a manger, poor and lone,
Lies in a humble stall, Lies in a humble stall
"He undertakes a great exchange,
Puts on our human frame,
And in return gives us His realm,
His glory, and His name, His glory and His name."
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
389:2 & 4)
Epistle Reading............................. 2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-15
(esp. 9)
9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become
rich.
Prologue: Rudolph F. Norden stated in a devotion he wrote based on today's
sermon text: "When all goes well with people, they are said to be 'in
clover.' Clover, the state flower of Vermont, is a symbol of prosperity, of
good fortune. According to popular superstition, a four-leaf clover brings
good luck.
"Clover also has an association with religion. Early missionaries used
the trefoil, the clover's triple leaf, as a symbol of the Holy Trinity. Not
sheer luck, but he who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-three persons in one
divine being-is the source of all blessings. Therefore, at the urging of
the Common Doxology, let all creatures here below join the heavenly host in
praising God.
"Your life may not seem to be a field of luscious red clover, but make
no mistake about it: If the love of God in Christ has entered your life so
that you are both beloved and loving, you are immeasurably rich-you are in
the clover." (Rudolph F. Norden in Each Day with Jesus: Daily Devotions
through the Year. Copyright © 1994 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis,
MO. Page 264.)
The fact is that seemingly-poor Americans are richer than
much-even most-of the world's population. The fact is that our congregation
is very rich even in these economically-depressed times. In that context I
highly compliment with grateful appreciation and all glory to God alone the
members of our congregation and others who give a sanctified example of
faithful financial support of the Lord's work here with priority,
percentage, and joyful offerings. I also highly compliment with grateful
appreciation and all glory to God alone the fine financial support that
members of our congregation and others provide for the School Building Fund,
Radio Broadcast Fund, various other special funds, and the organizations
outside our congregation that make themselves known to us on our Missions
Emphasis Weekends.
Sadly, however, many of our members shortchange God and our
congregation by not joyfully returning to Him a priority, percentage-portion
of the monetary income that He provides them. Some people try to hide
behind the so-called "fixed income" claim to justify their meager financial
support of the Lord's work in this local setting. The fact is, almost all
people are on a "fixed income"-admittedly some larger and others
smaller-unless they work in a setting where their hours fluctuate or their
pay depends on some sort of a commission.
The real problem is a heart-attitude that must be examined by
the following questions. Do you believe God Himself really owns everything,
including your money? Do you ignore that He expects you to joyfully return
a percentage-portion of your income (10% of your gross income is a truly
God-pleasing starting amount) to support His work in this local congregation
and beyond? Do you expect His kingdom workers to subsidize the congregation's
financial shortfalls by not paying all of them an appropriate salary for the
responsibilities and expectations laid upon them? Do you determine how much
to contribute to support the Lord's work here by whether or not you "like"
or "feel good about" or "agree with" decisions that are made, what is done,
and the way things are done here?
You see, the all-important ingredient is faith in Jesus that the
Holy Spirit gave us in Holy Baptism and renews and strengthens through
reading and hearing God's Holy Word as well as properly partaking of the
Lord's Supper. It's what we read about in today's Gospel Reading, "And
[Jesus] said to [the woman whose twelve-year hemorrhage was healed when she
touched his garment], 'Daughter, your faith has [saved you]; go in peace,
and be healed of your disease.' . Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue
[whose son was deathly ill], 'Do not fear, only believe.'" (Mark 5:34 & 36
ESV) That faith is based on the reality and reliability of Yahweh Himself,
about whom today's Old Testament Reading testified that "The steadfast love
of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new
every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lam 3:22-23 ESV) We then
respond with confident pleading to God that we expressed in today's Collect,
"By the healing medicine of the Word and Sacraments pour into our hearts
such love toward You that we may live eternally."
The veiled truth is that our congregation really does not have a
financial problem . except for the sad situation that many (maybe most) of
our members neglect to practice joyful, priority, proportionate giving to
our loving Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself fully and
completely as the atoning sacrifice for all our sins. In fact, God's Holy
Word teaches that, among other things, "we should maintain and extend God's
church by telling others about Jesus Christ, by personal service, and by
prayer and financial support." (Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation.
Copyright © 1986/2008 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 163.)
Further, in the context of the Seventh Commandment we realize that "We steal
from God Himself when we neglect to return to Him through our monetary
offerings a generous portion of the income with which He has blessed us."
(Thomas V. Handrick, Sr. in "Lutheran Catechism Review Worksheet #06, LSC
1991/2005, Pages 081-087, Questions 055-060.")
With those thoughts in mind we focus today on the reality that .
"God's Grace Is All About Being Rich, Poor, and Rich."
Okay, enough about money for now, although I'll come back to it in
a little while. Some weeks ago I explained in my children's talk that the
liturgical church year is divided into two parts, the "Festival Portion" and
"Non-Festival Portion." The "Festival Portion" focuses on the person and
work of Jesus Christ-His birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and
ascension whereby He gained forgiveness of sins, spiritual healing (that's
what "salvation" means), and eternal life . for us!
The "Non-Festival Portion" is the present green Pentecost season.
It extends throughout the summer and deep into autumn. Its impact is that
"The Sundays during the Pentecost cycle develop three great themes. The
first is Baptism and its graces. The second theme is preparation for the
second advent of the Lord. The remaining theme, the burden of the Sundays
midway after Pentecost, may be summarized as the conflict between the two
camps [of God and Satan, of heaven and hell]."
"By these three great themes the liturgy covers the whole range of
Christian life. In Baptism the precious treasure of the Spirit was
conferred.
"The Church serves as both the heroine, who teaches us the art of
warfare, and our strong fortress and shield in the conflict. Courage and
strength and perseverance flow from the Word of God in the Service of the
Word, and they flow in even fuller measure from Holy Communion. . in Holy
Communion . Christ's battle becomes our battle and His triumph our triumph,
and His wondrous strength renders us invincible." (Treasury of Daily Prayer.
Scott A. Kinnaman, Gen. Ed. Copyright © 2008 Concordia Publishing House,
St. Louis, MO. Pages 433f.)
So, today's Epistle Reading reminds us and emphasizes that .
I. God's Grace Enables Us to Replace Self-Centered Attitudes that
Separate with Self-Sacrificial Love That Unites. (1-8)
1We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given
among the churches of Macedonia, 2for in a severe test of affliction, their
abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of
generosity on their part. 3For they gave according to their means, as I can
testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, 4begging us
earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints-5and
this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and
then by the will of God to us. 6Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had
started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. 7But as you
excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness,
and in our love for you-see that you excel in this act of grace also.
8I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that
your love also is genuine.
We are surrounded and plagued by "Prosperity Theology" that can be
explained this way, ". many people who call themselves children of God are
setting their hearts on the wealth that does not save, that moth and rust
corrupts, inflation eats away, and recessions devour. This has been
fueled . especially by the success and prosperity preaching of American
television preachers. Joel Osteen's 'Lakewood Church' has become a popular
tourist Mecca for guests visiting Houston from other countries. This desire
for economic prosperity, while not an evil in itself, becomes a positive
heresy when it crowds out the gospel of Christ's blood shed for the
forgiveness of sins." ("All We Need." Thursday in Epiphany 3, 29 January
2009. Copyright © 2008 Scott R. Murray.)
Furthermore, ". if we did not have Jesus in His Word, no matter
how much money we might have, we would be the poorest of the poor. For if
we do not have Jesus, we really have nothing.
"If we look at ourselves without the Lord Jesus-what are we? . we are
like the chicken where the head has been chopped off. He might move and
flop around for a few seconds, but as fast as he goes, he has no head, he is
lost, and he is dying.
"Even when we think we have everything, without Jesus, we really have
nothing.
"When we act on our own. When we do not care what God says or wants.
When we push ourselves in front of others, we may think that is the way to
go. But like Adam and Eve's fig leaves, it all comes to nothing . and may
even throw away the gifts of God.
"Our temptation as churches is often to think of ourselves as poor,
that because we don't have enough money, we are weak, that we are poor and
have little or nothing to give. But our Lord calls us to see today that we
have, together, the greatest treasure in all the world, in Jesus Christ.
"You see, the true treasure of the church is the forgiveness of sins in
the Lord Jesus, the life of Christ given to us. These riches are the
possession of every believer in Jesus. For the true riches of Christ's
Church are not measured in dollars, but are measured in people who know the
Lord Jesus Christ, who are baptized into His name, and are living in His
forgiveness." (Rev. Herbert Mueller in "In His Riches, We Serve." A sermon
based on 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 preached on October 28, 2011 in St. Paul's
Lutheran Church, Arcadia, Tshwane (Pretoria), South Africa.)
The joyful fact is that, only by grace (a favorite word and
concept that Saint Paul used 18 times in 2 Corinthians and four times in
these verses alone) God shows us "underserved kindness" (Luther's Small
Catechism with Explanation. Page 107.) through His forgiving heart. The
very words "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34 ESV) that Christ spoke from
Calvary's cross are the words of absolution that Pastor Marks declared to us
earlier in this divine service. The very water that flowed from Christ's
spear-pierced side was splashed on us in Holy Baptism, washed away our sins,
united us with His death and resurrection. The very blood that flowed from
Christ's spear-pierced side, nail-punctured hands and feet, and whip-ripped
back, along with His crucified and resurrected flesh now come to us in the
wine and bread of Holy Communion to give us certain assurance of the
forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life that He gained for us and fortify
our faith in Him. The very words of Holy Scripture that we read and hear in
these divine services and, hopefully, in our personal and family daily
devotions are sweet reminders and reassurances of God's limitless mercy and
grace.
That grace of God both reveals to us and motivates us to
incorporate into our own lives the truth that .
II. Divine Fairness Consists of Both Helping Others and Being Helped by
Others. (13-15)
13I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a
matter of fairness 14your abundance at the present time should supply their
need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be
fairness. 15As it is written, "Whoever gathered much had nothing left over,
and whoever gathered little had no lack."
Saint Paul is teaching us in these verses that "At times
Christians may be on the giving end and at other times the receiving end of
Christian charity." In fact, his "point is that when Christians give from
what God has given them, they need never fear that they will be the poorer
for doing so. God will always make things come out right." After all, "One
person has much money; the other doesn't have enough to maintain his life.
One person has been blessed with an abundance of the gospel of Jesus Christ;
the other person doesn't know Christ or is just a spiritual infant. In both
cases Christian love dictates that the first will use his plenty to help
supply what the second lacks. In that way, there is [fairness]." (David J.
Valleskey in People's Bible Commentary: 2 Corinthians. Copyright ©1992
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 141f.)
In conclusion, therefore, "God blesses His people in many ways,
wanting them to be a blessing to others, as in the case of Abraham, whom God
blessed with material wealth. He does not promise riches to everyone, but
He does expect each of us to whom He has given some ability or gift or
treasure to share it. God expects His people to be faithful stewards, or
managers, over everything he has entrusted to them: treasure, talents, time.
"As Christians we make our contributions in response to the love of
Jesus Christ, who gave all for us when He died on the cross and rose again.
The love of Christ constrains us to be faithful stewards of all that God has
entrusted to us." (Rudolph F. Norden. Page 25.)
It all boils down to knowing, acknowledging, and taking to heart
the fact that .
"God's Grace Is All About Being Rich, Poor, and Rich."
After all, "our Lord also says, 'Come to Me, all you who are weary
and burdened, and I will give you rest . . My yoke is easy and My burden is
light' (Matt. 11:28, 30). Discipleship is most satisfying and pleasant to
those who know that Christ for their sake became poor, so that by His
poverty they might become rich. Their love to Him takes the edge off
self-denial for His sake." (Ibid. Page 296.) That is, .
I. God's Grace Enables Us to Replace Self-Centered Attitudes that
Separate with Self-Sacrificial Love That Unites. (1-8) We do so with
praise-filled hearts knowing that, as today's Gradual proclaimed, "from him
and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever." (Rom
11:36 ESV)
In addition, it reminds us and motivates us to practice .
II. Divine Fairness [That] Consists of Both Helping Others and Being
Helped by Others. (13-15) We strive for that knowing that the source of our
help is none other than what we declared in the antiphon of today's Introit,
"I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help
comes from [Yahweh], who made heaven and earth." (Ps 121:1-2 ESV)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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