CHRISTIANITY 101: THE LORD HELPS THOSE…
Leighton Farrell was the senior minister of the Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas from 1972 until 1995. He tells the story of a man in his church who made a covenant with a former minister to tithe 10% of his income to the church every year. When the man initially made this covenant, he was young and didn’t have a whole lot of money. Thus, he gladly gave the church a check for $1000.00 when he was only making about $10,000.00 a year.
Things quickly changed, however. It was a little more difficult for him to write out a $10,000.00 check to the church the year he made $100,000.00. It was a little more difficult still for him to write out a $100,000.00 check to the church the year he made a million dollars. Then one year, his income topped out at six million dollars. He simply could not bring himself to write out a check to the church for $600,000.00. That’s when he went to see the Rev. Dr. Leighton Farrell.
“Dr. Farrell,” he said, “this tithing business has got to stop. It was fine when my tithe was only about a thousand dollars a year, but…I can’t afford to give the church six hundred thousand dollars! Dr. Farrell, I want you to let me out of the covenant I made with that old minister.” At that, Dr. Farrell knelt on the floor and began to pray. A few minutes later, the man interrupted him. “Dr. Farrell,” he said, “what are you doing? Are you praying that God will let me out of my covenant to tithe?” Dr. Farrell replied, “No. So you won’t feel so bad about tithing, I’m praying that God will reduce your income back down to $10,000.00 a year!” Needless to say, that was not exactly what that man wanted Dr. Farrell to do. Generosity can certainly be a challenge, and sometimes it seems as though the more we have the more difficult it becomes. Keep that thought in mind as we move on.
Several months ago, we postulated that our spiritual lives are shaped by three basic things: our narratives, our practices, and our communities. Our narratives frame our understanding of God and of ourselves. Our practices are the things we do on a regular basis that help to form who and what we are. Our communities are the places we go where we are surrounded by, and influenced by, other people…for better or for worse.
Then we worked hard to establish a few new narratives about God. Looking at God through the lens of Jesus Christ, we determined that God is good, God is trustworthy, God is generous, God is love, God is holy, God is self-sacrificing, and God transforms. Then we wrestled in turn with overcoming anger, lust, lying and the law of reciprocity. We took a stab at defeating vainglory, avarice, worry and judgmentalism.
The theory behind such an endeavor is that abiding in the kingdom of God is different than abiding in the kingdom of this world. Those who abide in this world ask, “How can I get more?” Those who abide in the kingdom ask, “How can I give more?” Those who abide in this world ask, “How can I find myself?” Those who abide in the kingdom ask, “How can I lose myself?” Those who abide in this world ask, “How can I win friends and influence people?” Those who abide in the kingdom ask, “How can I truly serve God?” Ladies and gentlemen, there is a profound difference between abiding in the kingdom of this world…and abiding in the kingdom of God. Our goal in this series of sermons is learning to abide in the kingdom of God.
Today we continue the process of considering the communities that are meant to influence us from a spiritual standpoint. Obviously, the community we’re talking about here is the church. The issue we’ll be dealing with today is how the church becomes a generous community. More specifically, the issue we’ll be dealing with today is this: How do I become generous myself?
Perhaps in order to consider what it takes for us to become generous, we ought first to consider what it is that keeps us from being generous. In this series of sermons, we’ve talked a lot about our narratives. As I mentioned a moment ago, our narratives frame our understanding of God and of ourselves. Thus, what might be the narrative that keeps us from being generous? I suspect there are three, actually. They are: a judgmental narrative, an entitlement narrative, and a scarcity narrative…a judgmental narrative, an entitlement narrative, and a scarcity narrative.
Let’s consider our judgmental narrative first. Perhaps we come by our judgmental narrative naturally because we think it’s really quite biblical. Most of us are pretty sure that somewhere in the Bible it says, “The Lord helps those,” – say it with me now because I know you know it – “the Lord helps those…who help themselves.” Do you know where it says that in the Bible? It doesn’t say that in the Bible. That phrase is actually found in a 1757 edition of Poor Richard’s Almanac, written by Benjamin Franklin. Now, Benjamin Franklin said a lot of brilliant things, but this may not have been one of them. Because the fact of the matter is, the Lord does not help those who help themselves. The Lord helps those…who can’t help themselves.
The Old Testament is full of stories where God intervened in people’s lives when they had exhausted all of their other options. Case in point: Abraham when he longed for an heir; the Israelites when they were in bondage in Egypt; Elijah when Queen Jezebel vowed to put him to death. The list goes on and on. And truth be told, aren’t we more likely to turn to God for help when our own resources are exhausted…when we have nowhere left to turn? The Lord doesn’t help those who help themselves. The Lord helps those who can’t help themselves.
Then there’s our entitlement narrative. An entitlement narrative teaches us that the things we possess – be they time, talent or money – are ours to use as we see fit. They are ours; we have earned them; we are entitled to them. I think Scripture teaches us a slightly different narrative. As I often say, “All that we have – and all that we are – are but products of God’s benevolence.” Thus, nothing is necessarily ours. We are stewards of God’s creation, not owners of God’s creation. We may have worked hard to get where we are, but it was God who gave us the talent, it was God who gave us the drive, and it was God who provided the end result.
If you have any doubt as to whether or not what I’m saying is true, think of this. God and an atheist were having a debate. God said, “Look at the world I have created. Isn’t it marvelous?” The atheist said, “I could do the very same thing. Science has provided me with incredible capabilities.” So God said, “Go ahead. Let’s see you make a man out of the dust of the earth.” At that, the atheist bent down and scooped up a handful of dirt. And God said, “No, no. You have to make your own dirt.” It’s all about perspective. Like I said, God is the source of all that we have and all that we are. We are merely stewards of God’s creation, we are not the owners.
Yet perhaps the greatest narrative that hinders generosity is what some authors have termed the myth of scarcity. We have this deep-seated, irrational fear that there may not be enough to go around. When it comes to the issue of generosity, the theory is that whatever I give away is lost. Whatever I provide for the needs of others contributes to my own potential lack of resources.
Gordon Bloomendaal was a minister friend of mine in the Dutch Reformed Church in Luverne, Minnesota. Gordon’s motto was: If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much! He reminded me of it often. When Gordon was in seminary, he was serving a little church in rural Minnesota. Now this was back in the 1950s, so – as you might suspect – his salary was exceedingly small. What’s more, he had a wife and two children at the time. Providing for his family and paying for seminary was an extremely difficult proposition for him.
One Sunday morning, it came time for the offering. He opened his wallet and all he found was a single one-dollar bill. As he pulled that single one-dollar bill out of his wallet and placed it in the offering plate, he said a little prayer. He said, “Lord, this is all that I have and we’re out of groceries. I am trusting that – somehow – you will take care of things.” That very afternoon – I kid you not – three families from the church each brought a carload of groceries to Gordon Bloomendaal’s house. We may think that that which we give away is lost and that it contributes to our own potential lack of resources. Yet when it comes to God, there’s no such thing as a myth of scarcity. In fact, when it comes to God…there’s no such thing as scarcity at all.
We’ve tried to shoot a few holes in that which keeps us from being generous. Perhaps now it’s time to consider what it is that helps us become generous. In the passage Dan read a moment ago from the book of Exodus, Moses had just led the Hebrew people out of bondage in Egypt. There they were in the wilderness, and they found they had nothing to eat. When Moses beseeched the Lord, God sent manna from heaven. I can’t tell you exactly what that manna was. The word “manna” itself is a Hebrew word that means, “What is it?” In any case, the people found themselves to be in want and God provided...because the Lord helps those who can’t help themselves.
Note also, however, that God instructed the people as to just how much they should gather. “Gather as much of it as each of you needs,” God said, “an omer to a person.” How much is an omer? Well, an omer is one-tenth of an ephah. Does that help? Actually, an omer would work out to be just a little less than a gallon. In God’s mind, that was all that a person would need. Thus, the lesson here is clear. In order for a person to actually become generous, that person must only take what he or she needs.
Perhaps the word we’re looking for here is frugality. Frugality means being careful about our resources. It’s not the same as being stingy. It does not mean that we have to be cheap. Frugality means that we take what we need, but not necessarily everything we want. As spiritual writer Dallas Willard once put it, “Practicing frugality means we stay within the bounds of what general good judgment would designate as necessary for the kind of life to which God has led us to live.” Note that he says, “…for the kind of life to which God has led us to live,” not to the kind of life we may have fancied for ourselves. The key to generosity is frugality, and the key to frugality…is discerning the kind of life we believe God is calling us to live. What thus remains for us, I suspect, is discerning just exactly what kind of life we believe God is calling us to live. That, my friends, you must do for yourselves.
Yet one more thing still needs to be said. Consider the passage I read a moment ago from the gospel according to Luke. There once was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen, and who feasted sumptuously every day. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus – covered with sores – who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table. Apparently, however, the rich man would not even give Lazarus that.
It came to pass that both men died. As a wise man once said, “No one gets out of here alive.” The poor man was carried away by angels to be with Abraham. The rich man found that he was in not quite so pleasant a place. He begged Abraham to dispatch Lazarus to bring him some water, yet Abraham would not do so. “During your lifetime,” he said to the rich man, “you received your good things, and Lazarus – in like manner – evil things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us, a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so…and no one can cross from there to here either.” Where do you suppose it was that the rich man found himself?
Lest we think our generosity does not matter, Jesus provides us with a stern warning. Greediness, or stinginess, or even a lack of generosity…can have eternal consequences. We have but one lifetime to get it right. Jesus means to imply that generosity is important, but I think he also means to imply a bit of importunity. Put another way, Jesus seems to be saying, “Live your life as you should…and you’d best be starting right now!”
Erma Bombeck was a newspaper columnist who achieved fame in the 70s and 80s for writing down-to-earth books on humor in life. She died of cancer in 1996. Shortly after she was diagnosed with her disease, she wrote an essay entitled, “If I Had My Life to Live Over.” I think it pertains to that about which we have been speaking. Listen closely to her words.
· If I had my life to live over, I would have talked less and listened more.
· I would have invited friends over to dinner, even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.
· I would have eaten the popcorn in the good living room, and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
· I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
· I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
· I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
· I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
· I would have cried and laughed less while watching television – and more while watching life.
· Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
· There would have been more, “I love you’s,” and more, “I’m sorry’s.”
· I would perhaps have had more actual troubles, but I’d have had fewer imaginary ones.
· If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and stay that way later in the fall.
· If I had it to do over again, I would travel lighter next time. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies. I would try to give so much more than I ever received.
We need to discern what it is that we really need in life, and what it is that we can do without. And as Jesus seems to indicate, we’d best be doing so as soon as possible. The Lord helps those who can’t help themselves. Thus, we have the opportunity to assist God in that process…and we have the assurance that God will be there for us when we need him, as well. Amen.
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