Fearless Giving

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Joshua 3:1-7; Matthew 23:1-12

All of you who have been here any or all of the last three weeks know that we are in the midst of the congregation’s stewardship season. We will be dedicating our commitments for 2015 later in the worship liturgy. The theme for this year has been “Fearless Generosity.” It is as much about God’s generous grace to us as it is about you and me penciling in time for God-work in our busy calendar boxes; or about recognizing God as the creator and giver of the special talents that help define who we are; or about putting our hands in our pocketbooks and returning to God a portion of the bounty God has enabled us to gather and be blessed us by.

Stewardship season is not a barbarian’s cudgel swung at us to separate us from our wherewithal. Rather these weeks of reflection remind us how blessed we truly are, not just in terms of bank balances, as important as they are, but more importantly in the blessing of a gracious and loving God who desires to bring us to our full adoption into the realm of God’s rule.

When we look at this week’s sub-theme, “Fearless Giving,” we are quick to hear it as an encouragement, an urging, even a plea to give to the church. But if we step back, we see that aspect as the veneer on the surface of our faith. The apostle John wrote, “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19). It could similarly be said, “We give because God first gave to us.” The foundation for the veneer of our giving is that God gave to us first.

Paul already had told the believers in Thessalonica, and here he reminded them, that God alone calls them into God’s kingdom and glory. God’s kingdom began when God himself entered human history as a man. “The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood,” as Eugene Peterson so wonderfully expresses a key verse from the opening chapter of John’s gospel (John 1:14). Today that neighborhood is the hearts of believers. That’s where Jesus Christ reigns, but the kingdom will not be fully realized until all evil in the world is judged and removed. Then God will reveal both his kingdom and his glory to those who have been called to join it. All who have accepted Christ as Savior have been called by God to be part of his family.

We give because God has fearlessly given Jesus Christ to us. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Christ interprets creation to us in ways that the Law and Prophets could only point at. Christ is the one teacher. God is the one Father by whom we are all brothers and sisters in a way that no biology or no genealogy can explain. We are servants because Christ was a servant, “not considering being equal with God something to exploit ... emptied himself by taking the form of a slave” (Philippians 2:6).

When we think of slave, we quickly access the image of someone, if not in physical chains, then certainly in psychological and economic chains, the property of someone else, under the governance of someone else, beholden to someone else for the necessities in life.

The image that Paul and Jesus construct is very different. The word that comes to my mind is “acolyte.” You are probably thinking of the youngster in the surplice who comes to light the candles in the front of the church. That is a very narrow usage of the word. Yes, an acolyte does assist priests and ministers. But there is a broader use of the word: an acolyte is a follower or a devotee. The image that Paul uses suggests that the individual seeks out the master and throws herself into the service of the person not because she has to or is forced to, not because she is owned by the master, but because she earnestly desires to offer her skills and talents to the master just so she can be in the master’s presence.

As Paul applies this to believers, they recognize the fearless gift – the Gospel – of God and desire earnestly to be associated with it so as to live their whole being in the light and warmth of the Good News. You will remember that the gospel writer John told the story of two of John the Baptizer’s disciples who followed Jesus and desired to be with him, “Where are you staying?” to which Jesus responded, “Come and see.” And they did.

Paul wrote that he and Silas had “preached God’s good news” to the Thessalonians and appealed, encouraged, and pleaded with them “to live lives worthy of the God who is calling you into his own kingdom and glory.” Paul and Silas were not idle in their proclamation of God’s gospel. Those three verbs – appealed, encouraged, and pleaded – all support the same idea that Paul and Silas were deeply involved in the lives of the Thessalonians, not as outsiders, but as partners, not as spectators but as coaches, not as overseers but as fellow laborers in God’s work set in motion by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

This was particularly important as the believers who converted to the gospel of God in Christ – either from Judaism or from the worship of the Greek deities – faced terrible difficulties and needed extra support. Paul did not water down the Gospel to make it easy for them to blend back into their context. All believers are urged to live lives worthy of God. Paul had reminded the Thessalonian disciples that he and Silas had led “holy, just, and blameless” lives. They set that example as a guide for how the Thessalonians were to live out their acceptance of the Gospel of God. Paul used those words to describe conduct that was above reproach.

The word “holy” refers to being set apart by God, devoted to his service, and acting responsibly before God. “Just” (or righteous) focuses on obedience to God’s law, coming up to God’s standard, being upright in dealings with people. “Blameless” points to their conduct toward the people, being without reproach.

This consistent example of right living surely affected the Thessalonians. If Paul and Silas had shared the gospel message but had lived carelessly, their message would have had little impact. But they preached through both their words and their lives. And then they urged the Thessalonians to live in the same way, above reproach, holy, just, blameless.

None of us ever achieves the full measure of holiness, justness, or blamelessness as we live out the servanthood which the Gospel of God calls us to. The generosity of God is that we aren’t swept away, aren’t written off, aren’t sacked as disciples. The ever-forgiving grace of God creates in us a resilience that allows us to pick ourselves up every time we fall, and renew our service. As the liturgy says every week, “In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.”

God knows that we can’t follow Christ all on our own. God knows that we time and again short circuit our attempts to be obedient. Yet God never takes back the gift of the Gospel, never pulls the plug on the grace which gives us life. We may fearlessly give back to God because even when we think God has ceased giving to us, God continues to lavish us with life now and life in the kingdom.

Shortly we will remember our brother and sister believers – God’s children – who died in the last twelve months and who now are fully present in the kingdom. Our remembrance is not just a reminder about them. It is also a reminder about the joy to which we have been called, the joy God waits to hand out. The saints join Paul in urging us to live lives worthy of God.

Paul’s last word in this section is one of thanksgiving that his readers had accepted God’s word and welcomed it, not as a human message but as God’s message. And he is further thankful that God’s message continued to work in them.

God’s message is at work in us, as we think about ways to extend God’s message to our neighbors in Waverly, as we consider how to make our worship more meaningful to God as well as to ourselves; as we strengthen the core of our faith through study and prayer; as we engage in fearless giving in the year ahead.

We give to God because God has first given to us. Thanks be to God.

Unless noted otherwise, all scripture references are from The Common English Bible, © 2011 www.commonenglishbible.com. 
Copyright 2014 First Presbyterian Church of Waverly, Ohio. Reprinted by permission.