Observing Lent the Lord's Way #5: Help the Needy

 

Almsgiving, generous giving for the needs of others, was expected among the people Jesus spoke to that day.
It is expected for us as well.

But, Jesus carries the act of giving a step further.
You are expected to give generously,
but when you do,
do it quietly,
without fanfare,
so no one will know what you did.

This Jesus stuff seems so far out of synch with the rest of the world around us, that sometimes for some people, it is just easier to drop out.
If you don’t hear about it, and don’t read it, life is easier.


Deuteronomy 15:7-11
Matthew 6:2-4, 21-24

So, this is the fifth Sunday in Lent - the season the church sets aside to encourage folks to prepare for Easter. 
Remembering that Jesus reportedly took 40 days to prepare himself for his ministry, all believers are encouraged to spend 40 days to get ready to experience Easter.

In preparation for this time here at Christ Church I began with the question we should probably always begin with: “What would Jesus do?”
How would Jesus observe Lent?
And, wouldn’t you know it, Jesus left us some specific instructions.
And, they are found right here in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (part of the Sermon on the Mount).
But, they are instructions virtually ignored as far as I can tell, by most folks who so piously observe Lent each year– or at least who start out intent on observing Lent each year on Ash Wednesday. 

And, so for a month now, we have dealing with these Lenten themes that, if followed, would radically change our way of doing things, and
might even change our life,
and certainly give us new reason for Easter hope and a basis to understand just what happened and why it is still celebrated after some 2000 years.

The first week, we talked about the importance of just taking time to take a time out each day for 40 days – as Jesus did.

The second week, we looked at what Jesus said about not making public displays of our faith – remembering he specifically admonished believers to keep your face washed and keep your hair combed so as not to reveal your private religious practices.

The third week, we saw how Jesus expected us to fast during this time. 
But, not fast like your grandfathers and grandmothers,
not fast like the rest of society,
no, Jesus notes that God completely redefines the concept and meaning of the word.

And, the fourth week we looked at Prayer – how it is so important to our life as believers – but, how it is to be kept private at all times.

(Remember, if you missed something, all the sermons are on-line on our church website.)

And today, we are looking at Jesus’ expectation that we would be generous in helping the needy, the troubled, the poor, the hurting.

There's a Dennis the Menace cartoon, which shows Dennis and Joey leaving the Wilson's front porch, each with a handful of cookies.
Joey has this surprised look on his face and Dennis says, "Mrs. Wilson gives us cookies not because we're nice, but because she's nice."

And, Dennis is right on target.
It's not what we do but what God does for us.
We love God because God loves us.

It is one of the very central messages of Jesus:
Our generosity is motivated by our reciprocal love for God.
This has been a part the faith we have been a part of from the very beginning.
In the passage we read from Deuteronomy a while ago, (part of Moses’ farewell address to the Hebrews), God reminds the believers to always open your purse, and open your hands,
and give generously to neighbors in trouble,
the poor, the hurting.

So almsgiving, generous giving for the needs of others, was expected among the people spoke to that day.
It is expected for us as well.

But, Jesus carries the act of giving a step further.
You are expected to give generously,
but when you do,
do it quietly,
without fanfare,
so no one will know what you did.

Jesus says here, "You do what you do in secret; no fanfare, not looking for the applause and glory of men, but only for the glory of God, and "your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

There is an apocryphal story that I have read in several places, perhaps you have read as well:
In the 19th Century, a member of the British Parliament travelled to Scotland to make a speech. His carriage became mired in a bad road and a Scottish farm boy came to his aid with a team of horses.
Even though he was already late getting home and he knew his dad would be greatly upset, the boy took the hour and a half necessary to get this man out of the mud.

The man said, "Son, how much do I owe you?"
The farm boy, who could have used the money, said, "Nothing, Sir, I was just glad to help you. I just fulfilled the Golden Rule."

The man said, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
He said, "I'd like to be a doctor."

The Parliamentarian got this boy's name and years later paid for this Scottish farm boy to go to the university to become a doctor.

Fifty years passed and a world leader lay deathly sick with an infection in the country of Morocco.
A wonder drug was administered,
a new drug called penicillin,
which was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming. 

Alexander Fleming was the young Scottish lad with the team of horses,
and the man who had sponsored his education was Lord Randolph Churchill, the father of Winston Churchill, who was the sick statesman who recovered.

Take God's word for it.
He has a way of rewarding even a cup of cold water given in His name.
So whatever you do, do it for His eyes only.
Do it for His glory only,
and your reward will be great,
both on earth and in Heaven.

Then Jesus went further with the ominous warning:
“No person can serve two masters.  Your heart will always be where your treasure it.”

A number of years ago Bob Dylan wrote a song you may remember.
It is about this point and
It goes like this:
You may be an Ambassador
to England or France,
You may like to gamble
you might like to dance;
You may be the heavyweight
champion of the world,
You might be a socialite
with a long string of pearls;
But you're gonna have to
serve somebody...

May be a construction worker,
working on a home
Might be living in a mansion
you might live in a dome;
You may own guns and you
may even own tanks;
You may be somebody's landlord
you may even own banks;
But you're gonna have to
serve somebody.

There are people who actually study this stuff and publish the results of their studies on an annual basis.
One of the findings is that Christians pay more in interest [on loans, credit cards, etc]
(9.8% of their income)
than they give to the church."
(Southern Baptists give 2.3% of their income.)

The fact is that overall, among church goers, over a third (nearly 40%), give absolutely nothing to their church.

One of the researchers reminds us what Jesus said here in the sermon on the mount.
The greatest threat to our faith is not gay marriage, is not contraception,
is not a woman’s right to choose,
is not drugs,
is not sex,
is not murder,
is not rape,
or is not even politicians;
the greatest threat is “materialism."
You can’t serve both God and mammon, Jesus said.

Now, here’s the thing.  It sometimes very hard for us to separate things out, isn’t it?
Sometimes we start out doing something for the right reason and somewhere along the line it becomes something else altogether.

For all of my ministry, I have had an interest in how church takes on many different forms – and especially how traditional churches become transformed into something they weren’t.
Our Presbyterian church is engaged in a project to enable and develop 1001 new worshiping communities all over the country.
Some of these worshiping communities meet in cafes,
some meet in taverns,
some meet in theaters.
Some established churches like ours, have decided that their mission is to be in mission and I have read about a few that have sold their buildings and purchased facilities with a kitchen to feed the hungry, some have razed their buildings and constructed affordable housing units, and some are installing free laundry facitilies in their buildings.

But, as you and I well know, it is very easy to get sidetracked sometimes from our primary purpose and mission.

There was this one church . . .
Well, this guy writes how he was looking for a place to eat while visiting Atlanta. And he
"I noticed in the Yellow Pages in the listing of restaurants, an entry for a place called Church of God Grill.
The peculiar name aroused my curiosity and I dialed the number.
A man answered with a cheery "Hello! Church of God Grill!"
I asked how his restaurant had been given such an unusual name, and he told me:
"Well, we had a little mission down here and we started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills.
Well, people liked the chicken and we did such a good business that eventually we cut back on the church service.
After awhile we just closed down the church altogether and kept on serving the chicken dinners and kept the name we started with Church of God Grill." 

No one can serve two masters, Jesus said.

Most of Jesus’ teaching challenges conventional wisdom, the sort of common sense everyone accepts, which means that to be his follower requires a great deal of un-teaching and un-learning and re-programming.
Life as a companion and understudy of Jesus is most often upside-down, inside-out, and bottom-side-up from the way the world operates under current management.

For sure, our first impulse is to domesticate the teaching and take away the edge.
And so, we skip over parts of the scripture that disturb us.
Or look for loop-holes.

But it is pretty hard to ignore certain things.
This Jesus stuff seems so far out of synch with the rest of the world around us, that sometimes for some people, it is just easier to drop out.
If you don’t hear about it, and don’t read it, life is easier.

But, believers have an edge.
Jesus talked about it a lot.
In fact, he said his whole reason for being was so you and I can know what real living is about.

As you and I get ready to observe the single most important event in our world’s history, let us remember that Jesus knew what Moses commanded the believers:
Be generous,
open your purse,
open your hands,
give to your neighbors in trouble,
give to the poor,
help the hurting.

But, don’t make a show of it, Jesus said. 
Do it quietly,
without fanfare,
so no one will know.

And, the truth of the matter is that your heart will always be with what matters most to you –
As we get ready for Easter this year, may this prayer guide you today and in the days ahead:

I bind myself to God's power to guide me,
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to shelter me,
God's host to secure me...
Against the snares of demons,
against the seductions of vices,
against the lusts of nature,
against everyone who meditates injury to me, whether far or near, few or many.
Amen.

This sermon was shared with the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 17, 2013.