The Blessedness of Sharing                                               11/13/49

 

Scripture:  John 6: 3-12.

 

The verses of Scripture which were read this morning cover a story that is often described as one of the miracles of Jesus.  It is better than that.  It is a good lesson in trust and sharing.  Feeling some responsibility for the well-being of a host of people who had come out to the mountainside to hear Jesus, the Master’s disciples, according to the accounts of the story in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, thought that Jesus should send the people away to get their own meals in nearby towns or back in their homes.  They may even have felt some panic about it.  Whether they had brought along a lunch for themselves, or not, the account does not say.  But all they could think of to feed the multitude of people was the contents of a boy’s basket - five barley loaves and a couple of fish.  How he happened to have that food along, we are not told.

 

But the Master was not anxious.  He received the loaves and the two fish, gave thanks for them, and started to distribute them, as he usually did the food at meal time.  One explanation given by students for what followed is that other people saw what was happening, took out the food which they had brought along (wouldn’t you have carried a lunch if you had gone on a mountain hike to hear some speaker?) ate of it, and shared with neighbors who had little or none.  According to this explanation it at least seems possible that the most important part of the “miracle of the feeding of the five thousand” is the miracle of sharing.  First, the lad must have been willing to share.  Jesus received his contribution and started sharing with others, and so on until everyone was satisfied -- and still there was food left.

 

I suspect that Christians everywhere, and in all times, need to re-learn that lesson repeatedly, and to practice it constantly and positively.  I think it is a tremendously heartening thing that there has been as much disposition to share as has been seen during these recent years.  And I am confident that this spirit will continue so long as the needs are so great as they certainly continue to be.

 

This sharing is a blessed experience when it is done as a matter of faith and positive purpose.  This morning we have read, responsively, selections from the 12th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans.  He speaks of overcoming evil.  Interestingly enough, he does not harp on resisting evil or hating evil.  He calls repeated attention to it, but his main emphasis is on a positive kind of goodness - an aggressive espousal of what is right.

 

Paul says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice” - that is, a loving, living gift - for it “is your reasonable service.”  “Let love be without pretending.”  He does say “Abhor that which is evil.”  But then he says, “Cleave to that which is good.”  “Be kindly affectioned,” “fervent in spirit,” “rejoicing in hope,” “Distributing to the necessity of saints,” “given to hospitality;” even “bless them that persecute you,” “Provide things honest,” “live peaceably [as much as you can] with other” “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”  [Romans 12].

 

This positive, voluntary, aggressive effort to promote the right by word, thought and deed is what characterizes true Christian stewardship.  And it is the only true course of hope for a world of Christian freedom.

 

Last Tuesday evening, at the close of the union leadership training school, there was a short worship service in which a local pastor gave a terse and penetrating talk on stewardship.  He pointed to the repeated emphasis in the Old Testament on the giving of tithes and offerings.  He reminded us that the New Testament did not abrogate, but underlined such giving.  It is an exceedingly important part of blessed living in Christ that we lay aside, at the first of the week, a worthy portion of what has come to us, as our offering of thanks for the concrete blessings that have come to us.  After God’s portion is set aside for channeling into His service, we may enjoy the fruit of our labors.

 

Our giving of that portion set aside to God should represent some of the sweat and toil of the week.  “Ye shall not appear before the Lord empty, every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee.”  [Deuteronomy 16: 16,17].  The pastor said, “There is no such thing as a stingy Christian; that would be a contradiction in terms.”

 

Christian churches are sometimes put in the position of appearing to beg.  That appearance vanishes entirely when the church’s members are truly Christian in their giving.

 

We are sometimes told that its members must “sell” the church to the community, to prospective members, to people in general.  In the sense of “making the church known” that is true.  But in the sense of “getting an order,” which is the goal of most commercial salesmen, the term “sell” is quite unsatisfactory.  Mr. Christian businessman, the Church of Jesus Christ has nothing to sell you.  Mrs. Christian housewife, there is nothing you can buy at her counter.  The church is your great opportunity to give in fellowship and worship and service; to give of your time and talent and substance.  You can only give effectively as God gave his Son, and as God gives his sunshine, lovingly and thankfully; and as freely as you give, so shall you freely receive.  As freely as you give toward the cause of sending out into the world ambassadors like the missionaries of our church, and as freely as you give toward the kind of service that the church exalts in the name of Jesus in our communities, so shall you freely receive the kind of Christian world and community which our Christ has planted in our hearts.

 

Why are our homes the dearest spot on earth to each of us?  Why are our homes the most Christian part of our society?  Why does a business man find in his home that which he does not find in the whirr of machinery and the drive of trade?  The answer is so simple that we can easily miss it.  In our homes, a man is no longer buyer and seller, no longer the shrewd bargainer which he is often required by his vocation to be; at home a man is giver and receiver.  The basic condition for his having a home is the giving generously of his life, his time, his substance, and the receiving in great humility and joy the “pearl that is without price.”

 

Someone who has taken the trouble to count them, has discovered that there are in the Bible more than 500 references to giving; and that there are less than 40 references to paying.  Even these few references to paying are mostly concerned with paying a vow or a monetary debt.  As church members, we are not buyers and sellers, we are givers and receivers.

 

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”  [John 3: 16].  “Christ loved us and gave Himself for us.”  [Ephesians 5: 2].  “Freely ye have received, so freely shall ye give.”

 

Give freely, as you worship God; as you adore the splendid qualities of a loved one; as you believe in goodness among people.

 

Give thankfully, in gratitude for blessings too many to enumerate and too splendid for description.

 

Give joyously.  A prominent church ecclesiastic published a solemn list of arguments for monogamous marriage - the lasting union of one man and one woman to form one home - a union indissoluble except by death.  He solemnly cited the rules of his church on marriage, referred to the necessity of monogamy for a stable society, pointed to the moral implications involved.  A New York newspaper, reporting the pronouncement, remarked that the well-known ecclesiastic had omitted the best argument of all for monogamous marriage, namely, that it is fun!

 

The best reason for giving, willingly, generously, in worthy proportion, is that it is fun!  It is a joyful thing to come into the courts of the Lord with an offering regularly, freely, thankfully!  Now of course all of this has its special point in the fact that we have agreed to use this time of year, beginning with this Sunday, to indicate what we expect to do this coming year in giving through our church -- for Christian service here, over this state, in our nation, and out over the whole world.

 

Most of you have received in the mail this past week a letter from our committee, and a pink sheet outlining the probable expense of doing the things we want to do in this coming year.  Those figures were prepared by a group representing each department of our church’s activities, meeting with our committee on finance.  Then they were discussed and adopted as our tentative goal by the meeting of church members on November 3rd.

 

The figures include the same amount for next year that we are endeavoring to give this year for our Christian World Mission - the item we simply call “benevolence.”  The figures on the pink sheet explain that the very necessary completion of our heating system in this church, now nearly finished, is costing more than had been anticipated.  They give substance to our hope for a new kitchen, toward which the Women’s Association has already saved about $3,000, and for improved rest room facilities.  They include an advance in the maintenance item for regular cleaning and repairing next summer plus pointing of some of the masonry which is acutely needed.

 

To keep our church house in good, useable condition and to continue our service beyond ourselves, it is necessary that we advance our pledged giving by at least $2,000 over this past year.  This can be done if we will each raise our pledging an average of about 20%.  If there be a few who sincerely feel they can not advance that far, others will have to advance farther.  But let us see that this regular budget is fully underwritten quickly and cheerfully, each of us taking advanced ground which must average 20%.

 

Your pledge to your church is not regarded as an inflexible contract.  It is your expression of what you intend to give in 1950 through this church.  Should disaster or serious unforeseen reverses overtake you, it will not be pressed as a collection against you.  Should you find yourself able and willing to give more than you had anticipated the increase is welcome.  Your knowledge that the officers of the church depend on the regularity of your pledged giving will be part of your conscience in paying the amount you have specified.

 

Suppose some family tells a canvasser this week “Put us down for ten dollars this year.  We want to do our part to help the church pay its bills and meet its budget, and we’ve got to stop the communists.”  Multiply that figure by 400 and it is still not Christian stewardship.  There are some individuals, students, and children; even a few families in straightened circumstances, for whom that may well be sacrificial giving.  But for the average comfortable family --- in a prosperous community --- Well, it isn’t a case of “we’ve got to stop the communists--”  Rather, we Christians must “top the communists” vigorously and substantially -- and no trifling about it!

 

Should the figure of our giving to Christian enterprises be a tenth of our income, or even more --- still we can’t look in the eye the widow who gave her mite -- all that she had!

 

Let our giving be worthy in love, in thanksgiving, in joy!

 

To ease the work of the canvassers, we who are here this morning can fill our pledge cards now, before we leave this service.  Some of you have brought them along from the mail; others will want to take one from an usher.

 

Before we proceed to that, let us join together in the Stewardship prayer on page 3 of the calendar.

 

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, November 13, 1949.