| Hilarious Giving |
“Hilarious Giving”
2 Corinthians 9:5-8
November 18, 2007
An evangelist tells of the time he was in Canada on a preaching tour and
stopped at the home of one of his supporters. The man happened to
operate a large grain farm which included some twenty-five hundred
acres. The evangelist asked the farmer how he planted the seed. The
man reached into the bin and pulled out an ear of corn. Then he
proceeded to pop out the kernels one by one as he walked along,
demonstrating the planting process...
Do you believe that?
Of course not. That’s not what he said or did. Instead he showed the
evangelist a planter that was some sixty feet wide. “We take that double
tandem truck, fill it with certified seed, back it up to the planter, open the
slots and pour in the seed.” He went on to say, “If you’re ever going to be
cheap. Don’t be cheap with the seed.”
The planting rate in Iowa is approximately 30,000 kernels of corn per
acre. About a third of a bushel of corn seed invested yields 166 bushels
of grain harvested in a good year, a return of almost 500 to one. Not a
bad return, if you are ready to believe and willing to invest.
God says, “Believe Me, trust Me, try My plan, prove My ways, and see
the kind of harvest I will give.” The Apostle Paul, in writing to the church
at Corinth, guarantees this principle of truth with the promise: “And God
is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times,
having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Cor 9:8
NIV)
All grace, in all things, at all times, all you need! Four promises in one
sentence all focused on God’s desire for you to flourish. It is indeed a
God of “wonder” we celebrate today.
At the heart of what it means to be a Christian is the grace of generosity.
The Incarnation - Jesus being rich, yet becoming poor - is the model of
the Christian life. As Paul puts it, “For you know how generous our Lord
Jesus Christ has been: he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,
so that through his poverty you might become rich.”
Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth is written for some very
pointed reasons. One of the reasons can be found in chapters 8 & 9. He
is raising mission funds to relieve the financial burden of the Christians
in Jerusalem, who are struggling in poverty. Paul wants to be sure that
he is not embarrassed by the amount Corinth gives, indeed, they were
the ones who started the fund drive while Titus was their spiritual leader.
Now however, they had lost the vision of their mission. So Paul writes to
remind them. The letter to the church at Corinth is a reminder to finish
what they had started.
But at a deeper level, Paul doesn’t want the church to miss out on an
opportunity to celebrate the grace that is at the heart of our faith... and
the joy that is a result of participating in grace-filled actions.
In chapters 8 & 9 the word grace appears 10 times suggesting that it is
a rather significant utterance. Grace is our word for the New Testament
expression charis (khar' ece) , which refers to God’s graciousness
towards mankind. Grace is not a thing, but is the transformation of
human life. Or as the Greek Fathers, Irenaeus and Athanasius,
proclaimed “It is the deification of human life.” Grace is the act of
becoming like God. All that we have and all that we are is a free gift from
God. And all that we do in response to that gift is also a grace.
Paul is writing to let the church at Corinth know about the grace that God
has given the Macedonian churches. In the act of grace-filled giving, the
Macedonian Christians were transformed and out of their joy they did
what they could to transform others. The church at Corinth had lost sight
of that joy, so, Paul was writing to remind them of the transformation
through giving the Macedonians were experiencing and… of the
transformation the Corinthians could also experience.
It is that transformational joy that comes out of that giving that I want to
focus in on today.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “It is one of the most beautiful
compensations of this life that no [person] can sincerely try to help
another without helping [themselves].”
I want to suggest that in the act of giving we are compensated far more
than what it costs us. Author Thomas Carlyle tells how, when he was a
boy, a beggar came to the door. His parents were gone for the moment
and he was alone in the house. On a boyish impulse, he broke into his
own savings bank and gave the beggar all that was in it. He writes that
never before or since did he know such sheer happiness as came to
him in that moment.
There is transformational joy in giving. In fact, Paul suggests to us that in
choosing when and how to give, without buying into any feeling of
compulsion or guilt, there occurs a state of being that is hard for most of
us to believe. One can become a “cheerful” giver. That’s right, a cheerful
giver.
Although... I think the word cheerful doesn’t do justice to what the Greek
really means... Or, do justice to what Paul intended.
In researching the Bible verses, to help in my attempts to write a
sermon, I usually go to a computer program that gives the full English
translation for the Hebrew or Greek expression used. When I looked up
the word “cheerful,” I found that the Greek phrase is hilaros (hil ar os');
meaning encouraging or "hilarious." Hilarious. God loves a hilarious
giver.
Paul doesn’t write that God prefers someone who has studied the return
possible by giving to someone or some project… Paul doesn’t write that
God appreciates the budgeting process and weeks or months of debate
on just how one’s income should be dispersed. Paul writes… that God
loves a hilarious giver.
Consider what the transformation of your feelings toward money might
be if you approached giving as a hilarious act, rather than as a
compulsion... a burden... or a liability. Consider the fun of sharing your
resources... as opposed to the tedium of protecting your assets.
Consider the new experience of God you can engage in… if you share
the gifts that God has blessed you with in a hilarious fashion.
What’s that you say?
How can I be a hilarious giver when I’m not sure that I have anything to
give? Let me suggest it’s not the amount. It’s the attitude. God will take
care of the amount.
Leonard Sweet, Professor of Evangelism at Drew University writes in
his book Postmodern Pilgrims: “Cognitive theorists tell us that you and I
generate at least sixty thousand thoughts a day. That amounts to one
thought every 1.44 seconds. That thought may be true or false, noble or
debased, just or unjust, pure or impure, loveable or spiteful, gracious or
offensive, excellent or cheap, admirable or shameful. Since every
thought reverberates bio-chemically throughout the body, our thoughts
shape our souls in ways we have only begun to imagine. That is why the
Scriptures say that whatsoever things are “true,” “noble,” “just,” “pure,”
“loveable,” “gracious,” “excellent,” and “admirable,” - “fill your thoughts
with these things” (Phil. 4:8).
How can I be a hilarious giver when I’m not sure that I have anything to
give? Again, let me suggest it’s not the amount. It’s the attitude. God will
take care of the amount.
Tony Campolo, a sociology professor and a popular speaker, told of his
experience one year at a Women’s Conference where he was making a
major address. At the point in the program when the women were being
challenged with a several thousand dollar goal for their mission projects,
the chairperson for the day turned to Dr. Campolo and asked him if he
would pray for God’s blessing upon the women as they considered what
they might do to achieve the goal.
To her utter surprise, Dr, Campolo came to the podium and graciously
declined her invitation. “You already have the resources necessary to
complete this mission project right here within this room,” he continued.
“It would be inappropriate to ask for God’s blessing, when God has
already blessed you with abundance and the means to achieve this
goal. The necessary gifts are in your hands. As soon as we take the
offering and underwrite this mission project, we will thank God for
freeing us to be the generous, responsible and accountable stewards
that we are called to be as Christian disciples.” When the offering was
taken, the giving was larger than the challenge, and Dr. Campolo led a
joyous prayer of Thanksgiving for God’s abundant blessings and for the
faithful stewardship of God’s people.
That is an act of hilarious giving. It’s not the amount. It’s the attitude. God
will take care of the amount.
You are being invited to respond next week to the gift of grace that has
touched your lives. During worship next week you will be invited to come
forward… invited to place your estimate of giving card on the altar...
invited to be a hilarious giver. You are not being invited to respond out of
compulsion or out of guilt or out of a sense of duty. You are not being
invited to give to the church budget.
You are, however, being invited to give as a response to God’s grace in
your life. You are being invited to explore the joy of giving with an attitude
of hilarity. The apostle Paul and I both guarantee that your life will be
transformed. If you become a hilarious giver you will be doing the
unexpected by the world’s standards… but not God’s – you will begin to
live your life according to what you have. You will begin living your life out
of your abundance… not out of a sense of scarcity. You will be living your
life with the joy of one who is becoming like God.
Paul writes, and we read it in verse 10: “Here is my advice about what is
best for you in this matter: last year you were the first not only to give but
also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager
willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it according
to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable
according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.”
You have accomplished much in your faith journey… now finish the work
that was started. There is much to be done as we reach out together in
Christ. What a joyful, hilarious time we can have in ministry together.
AMEN.
2 Corinthians 9:5-8
November 18, 2007
An evangelist tells of the time he was in Canada on a preaching tour and
stopped at the home of one of his supporters. The man happened to
operate a large grain farm which included some twenty-five hundred
acres. The evangelist asked the farmer how he planted the seed. The
man reached into the bin and pulled out an ear of corn. Then he
proceeded to pop out the kernels one by one as he walked along,
demonstrating the planting process...
Do you believe that?
Of course not. That’s not what he said or did. Instead he showed the
evangelist a planter that was some sixty feet wide. “We take that double
tandem truck, fill it with certified seed, back it up to the planter, open the
slots and pour in the seed.” He went on to say, “If you’re ever going to be
cheap. Don’t be cheap with the seed.”
The planting rate in Iowa is approximately 30,000 kernels of corn per
acre. About a third of a bushel of corn seed invested yields 166 bushels
of grain harvested in a good year, a return of almost 500 to one. Not a
bad return, if you are ready to believe and willing to invest.
God says, “Believe Me, trust Me, try My plan, prove My ways, and see
the kind of harvest I will give.” The Apostle Paul, in writing to the church
at Corinth, guarantees this principle of truth with the promise: “And God
is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times,
having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Cor 9:8
NIV)
All grace, in all things, at all times, all you need! Four promises in one
sentence all focused on God’s desire for you to flourish. It is indeed a
God of “wonder” we celebrate today.
At the heart of what it means to be a Christian is the grace of generosity.
The Incarnation - Jesus being rich, yet becoming poor - is the model of
the Christian life. As Paul puts it, “For you know how generous our Lord
Jesus Christ has been: he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,
so that through his poverty you might become rich.”
Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth is written for some very
pointed reasons. One of the reasons can be found in chapters 8 & 9. He
is raising mission funds to relieve the financial burden of the Christians
in Jerusalem, who are struggling in poverty. Paul wants to be sure that
he is not embarrassed by the amount Corinth gives, indeed, they were
the ones who started the fund drive while Titus was their spiritual leader.
Now however, they had lost the vision of their mission. So Paul writes to
remind them. The letter to the church at Corinth is a reminder to finish
what they had started.
But at a deeper level, Paul doesn’t want the church to miss out on an
opportunity to celebrate the grace that is at the heart of our faith... and
the joy that is a result of participating in grace-filled actions.
In chapters 8 & 9 the word grace appears 10 times suggesting that it is
a rather significant utterance. Grace is our word for the New Testament
expression charis (khar' ece) , which refers to God’s graciousness
towards mankind. Grace is not a thing, but is the transformation of
human life. Or as the Greek Fathers, Irenaeus and Athanasius,
proclaimed “It is the deification of human life.” Grace is the act of
becoming like God. All that we have and all that we are is a free gift from
God. And all that we do in response to that gift is also a grace.
Paul is writing to let the church at Corinth know about the grace that God
has given the Macedonian churches. In the act of grace-filled giving, the
Macedonian Christians were transformed and out of their joy they did
what they could to transform others. The church at Corinth had lost sight
of that joy, so, Paul was writing to remind them of the transformation
through giving the Macedonians were experiencing and… of the
transformation the Corinthians could also experience.
It is that transformational joy that comes out of that giving that I want to
focus in on today.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “It is one of the most beautiful
compensations of this life that no [person] can sincerely try to help
another without helping [themselves].”
I want to suggest that in the act of giving we are compensated far more
than what it costs us. Author Thomas Carlyle tells how, when he was a
boy, a beggar came to the door. His parents were gone for the moment
and he was alone in the house. On a boyish impulse, he broke into his
own savings bank and gave the beggar all that was in it. He writes that
never before or since did he know such sheer happiness as came to
him in that moment.
There is transformational joy in giving. In fact, Paul suggests to us that in
choosing when and how to give, without buying into any feeling of
compulsion or guilt, there occurs a state of being that is hard for most of
us to believe. One can become a “cheerful” giver. That’s right, a cheerful
giver.
Although... I think the word cheerful doesn’t do justice to what the Greek
really means... Or, do justice to what Paul intended.
In researching the Bible verses, to help in my attempts to write a
sermon, I usually go to a computer program that gives the full English
translation for the Hebrew or Greek expression used. When I looked up
the word “cheerful,” I found that the Greek phrase is hilaros (hil ar os');
meaning encouraging or "hilarious." Hilarious. God loves a hilarious
giver.
Paul doesn’t write that God prefers someone who has studied the return
possible by giving to someone or some project… Paul doesn’t write that
God appreciates the budgeting process and weeks or months of debate
on just how one’s income should be dispersed. Paul writes… that God
loves a hilarious giver.
Consider what the transformation of your feelings toward money might
be if you approached giving as a hilarious act, rather than as a
compulsion... a burden... or a liability. Consider the fun of sharing your
resources... as opposed to the tedium of protecting your assets.
Consider the new experience of God you can engage in… if you share
the gifts that God has blessed you with in a hilarious fashion.
What’s that you say?
How can I be a hilarious giver when I’m not sure that I have anything to
give? Let me suggest it’s not the amount. It’s the attitude. God will take
care of the amount.
Leonard Sweet, Professor of Evangelism at Drew University writes in
his book Postmodern Pilgrims: “Cognitive theorists tell us that you and I
generate at least sixty thousand thoughts a day. That amounts to one
thought every 1.44 seconds. That thought may be true or false, noble or
debased, just or unjust, pure or impure, loveable or spiteful, gracious or
offensive, excellent or cheap, admirable or shameful. Since every
thought reverberates bio-chemically throughout the body, our thoughts
shape our souls in ways we have only begun to imagine. That is why the
Scriptures say that whatsoever things are “true,” “noble,” “just,” “pure,”
“loveable,” “gracious,” “excellent,” and “admirable,” - “fill your thoughts
with these things” (Phil. 4:8).
How can I be a hilarious giver when I’m not sure that I have anything to
give? Again, let me suggest it’s not the amount. It’s the attitude. God will
take care of the amount.
Tony Campolo, a sociology professor and a popular speaker, told of his
experience one year at a Women’s Conference where he was making a
major address. At the point in the program when the women were being
challenged with a several thousand dollar goal for their mission projects,
the chairperson for the day turned to Dr. Campolo and asked him if he
would pray for God’s blessing upon the women as they considered what
they might do to achieve the goal.
To her utter surprise, Dr, Campolo came to the podium and graciously
declined her invitation. “You already have the resources necessary to
complete this mission project right here within this room,” he continued.
“It would be inappropriate to ask for God’s blessing, when God has
already blessed you with abundance and the means to achieve this
goal. The necessary gifts are in your hands. As soon as we take the
offering and underwrite this mission project, we will thank God for
freeing us to be the generous, responsible and accountable stewards
that we are called to be as Christian disciples.” When the offering was
taken, the giving was larger than the challenge, and Dr. Campolo led a
joyous prayer of Thanksgiving for God’s abundant blessings and for the
faithful stewardship of God’s people.
That is an act of hilarious giving. It’s not the amount. It’s the attitude. God
will take care of the amount.
You are being invited to respond next week to the gift of grace that has
touched your lives. During worship next week you will be invited to come
forward… invited to place your estimate of giving card on the altar...
invited to be a hilarious giver. You are not being invited to respond out of
compulsion or out of guilt or out of a sense of duty. You are not being
invited to give to the church budget.
You are, however, being invited to give as a response to God’s grace in
your life. You are being invited to explore the joy of giving with an attitude
of hilarity. The apostle Paul and I both guarantee that your life will be
transformed. If you become a hilarious giver you will be doing the
unexpected by the world’s standards… but not God’s – you will begin to
live your life according to what you have. You will begin living your life out
of your abundance… not out of a sense of scarcity. You will be living your
life with the joy of one who is becoming like God.
Paul writes, and we read it in verse 10: “Here is my advice about what is
best for you in this matter: last year you were the first not only to give but
also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager
willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it according
to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable
according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.”
You have accomplished much in your faith journey… now finish the work
that was started. There is much to be done as we reach out together in
Christ. What a joyful, hilarious time we can have in ministry together.
AMEN.
DeWitt United Methodist Church
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