Stewardship Sunday
October 13, 2019
“A Good Return”
Rev. John R. Larson
Ascension Lutheran Church
Littleton, Colorado
I am amazed at what some people can do to another.
A couple of weeks ago a Dallas, Texas police officer, Tammy Guyger, was given a 10-year sentence for mistakenly killing her neighbor. She thought he was an intruder in her apartment and she mistakenly shot and killed him. She was wrong, he was not an intruder – she caused the death of an innocent man.
But what was amazing was what happened following her sentence. The younger brother of the man who was killed asked if he could embrace the tearful Guyger, to forgive her and tell her of God’s love. Her request was not only granted, but the presiding judge, Tammy Kemp, even joined in embracing the tearful Officer and even gave her a Bible to read.
I am amazed at what some people can do to another.
Do you remember in 2006 when five Pennsylvania Amish schoolgirls were gunned down by a deranged man? The Amish community chose to forgive him and show mercy to his family rather than curse him and hold grudges against his family. The Amish community attended the shooter’s funeral and they set up a charitable fund to help his widow and family.
I am amazed at what some people can do to another.
Today is the day when we ask for your commitment to Ascension Lutheran Church by the time you will spend involved in the areas of service and ministry that happen through this congregation. I have asked you, and will always ask you, to support, financially, what we do together through this congregation. I hope that what I say brings you joy by having a gracious heart in making a good return to our great God.
At our Wednesday evening Bible Study I came across a passage that will direct my message today. From I Thessalonians 4 Paul writes, “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord to do this more and more.” (Verse 1) Years ago, a man named Francis Shaeffer wrote a study titled, “How Then Shall We Live?” with that verse in mind. On this Stewardship Sunday, in relation to how we reach decisions concerning life together I’d like to ask that question, “How then shall we live?” “How then shall we give?”
Do you know how we are to live? We live different than if we didn’t have God in our lives. Our lives, our heart, even our sacrifice and giving are different – the way that that brother of the man who was killed acted differently than we would have thought. He came with forgiveness and love to a broken Tammy Guyger. The Amish community decided to show love and generosity to a family who lamented the actions that their husband and father had taken.
We live in a different way because we know Jesus and His love. Here’s a verse you know, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” (II Corinthians 5:17) That is how we are to live, as a new creation. We live new toward other people, we live new because of Jesus Christ and we live new in service to God and through our gifts given to Him.
Paul gave an example of people who lived in a different way by gifts of their service and gifts to others when he wrote of them in the Book of Corinthians. He is writing a letter to southern Greece (Corinth) and he is boasting about the Christians in northern Greece. “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in their service to the saints.” (II Corinthians 8:2-4) He looked at them and was amazed at what they wanted to do for others. They gave beyond their ability. They pleaded for the privilege of sharing with others.
That is what stewardship is. This is what commitment or sharing is. This is what is supposed to happen when the offering plate is placed before you. It is a privilege of being able to share what we have been given with others. It is a gift given with joy. These are gifts given not with resentment but with anticipation.
In this same chapter Paul continues, “But just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” (II Corinthians 8:7)
I am amazed at what some people can do to another. Like right here, at Ascension. Two weeks ago a door offering for Angel Tree, a ministry that provides Christmas gifts for children whose parents are in prison, received over $2,000.00. Lots of kids will celebrate Christmas because of us. When Pastor Mike Paulison, who heads up the ministry for orphan kids in Haiti, Mission Experience, came to me and to our Foundation because his source of funds for his own salary would not be available in August, the Council allocated $2,000.00 from our funds and the Foundation gave $2,500.00 from theirs. It wasn’t done with an “Aw, shucks, I guess we have to do it”, but with a heart for him and a joy that we could give that gift.
I think that we are going to need each other over these next number of years as we try to carry out the work of God through this place. In previous years we have run substantial positive balances in our treasury. But not this year. Attendance has been down and financial giving has been down. I want to challenge you to be in church regularly, to receive God’s gifts to you with joy, and to have a heart that takes pleasure in giving gifts, even financial ones, to God and our congregation.
The reason for the gifts? It must come out of response to everything that God has done for us. When Paul is telling the Corinthians to “excel in this grace of giving” he says that the motive is the work of Jesus. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (II Corinthians 8:9) The word from Psalm 116 connects a giving heart from us to a giving heart from God. “How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.” (Psalm 116:12-14)
Are you amazed at what Jesus Christ has done for you? Are you amazed that He would willingly and humbly come from heaven to earth all because of divine love? Amazed that He would carry every sin that dirties our soul and ruins life to the cross so that you could be forgiven and brought a new life? Amazed that He would stand against death and render it harmless by His powerful resurrection? Are you amazed that you have been given the name Christian and that you are counted among the children of God? If you are not amazed by this then you don’t understand how amazing grace really is!!
It is only because of this that God can ask for a good return from us. It is in light of this that those words, “How then shall we live?” is asked. How do we live? We live asking for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. We live so that others will know the deep, deep love shown them through Jesus, and us.
God has gifted us, even to overflowing. Make a good return to Him with all of your life, and to others by your genuine love.
I am amazed at what some people can do to another. They give their best. They give their all. Amen!!
