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+In the Name…
“Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised” (Hebrews 10:35-36).
The letter to the Hebrews (which many believe was written by St. Paul, with an equal number thinking differently) was written to Christians sometime at the end of the first century or in the beginning of the second century.
It basically addresses Christians who had been converted from Judaism, who were beginning to face and fear the possibility of martyrdom.
We read in chapter twelve of the letter, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (verses 1-4).
This powerful and clarifying teaching for Christians of all centuries reminds me of St. Paul’s words in his first letter to the Church in Corinth: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (15:58).
Now, what does all this have to do with stewardship?- which is what this sermon is to address, because it’s that time of year again; the time when you will receive in the mail a letter and a pledge card for your careful and prayerful reading and your cheerful response. Because prayer brings God into the equation, and because as we read in scripture, “Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (II Corinthians 9:7). And then St. Paul continues to write, “And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work” (vs. 8).
It is a fact that throughout the Gospels, Jesus speaks and teaches more about material possessions more than any other subject or matter. Why? It is because He, as the Incarnate Son of God, who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, who says that He speaks nor does anything outside the will of the Father, does this because He knows what either frees us or enslaves us largely consists of things material. He says in the Gospel of St. John speaking of His followers as the sheep of His pasture, He, the Good Shepherd, “…came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (10:10).
Abundant living, holy living, living with the peace that the world cannot give requires that we, if we claim to be the disciples of Jesus, do things that are difficult and that we do things that stretch us. You and I know well that mothers, fathers, students, athletes, artists, and teachers (to name a few vocations most of us can relate to some fashion with some past and present experience) are called to do things which are difficult, in which they are stretched in order that they get to a new place, to greater influence, and to greater success.
What we return to God from all that He provides for us is to be an act of thanksgiving, rather than a duty. Our generous giving to God for the work of the Church in and from this place where He has led us, and where we are fed by Him in Word and Sacrament, is a privilege; and more so, a form of communication to Him – a declaration from us to Him as to what we believe about Him - Who He is and where He is in our lives.
King David asked the question in Psalm 116: “What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me?” (vs. 11). And then he answers his own question four verses later in the same Psalm: “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the Name of the Lord” (vs. 15).
The word “sacrifice” usually refers to some form of physical or material offering to a deity as an act of homage or for the propitiation of sin. But it also can mean according to Webster, “the surrender of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.”
We are to surrender, which means lifting up our hearts in thanksgiving in heartfelt thanksgiving for “all the benefits that He hath done:” our faith (which is a gift of the Holy Spirit), the supernatural graces we receive from God, the privilege of being used by Him for the sake of His Kingdom, and the never-ceasing blessings and challenges that come our way for which we can draw close to Him as children of His ever-constant love and guidance.
We need to be reminded of the words of Jesus; and more so, claim them as truth: “…give and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (St. Luke 6:38).
We give to Him not to the point that it hurts, but to and at the point that it feels good; but more so, to and at the point that we know it is good. This is why we all must let the living God into our decision making in prayer. Christians are only to make serious decisions when they have been prayed through and over. No solo pilots and no “I know best” attitude leaving God out – the God who is the giver of all good things.
Let us all allow the question of St. David to echo in our hearts as we pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our vocation of stewards of the Lord’s bounty – “What reward should I give unto the Lord for all the benefits that He hath done unto me?”
+In the Name… |
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