"GIVING FROM LOVE = LOVING TO GIVE"

I almost made a terrible mistake this week. I said "yes" to something I really didn't want to do out of all the wrong motivations. Some wonderful people around me, however, who spoke to me out of all the right motivations, helped me decide to go back and say "no." And I am so grateful.

I don't feel free to give a great deal of detail, but I'll try to explain a little bit. Someone who is well-respected and "high up" in our denomination called me and asked me to chair a committee for a project that will take a great deal of time, energy, coordination and detail-management over the next 4-5 years.

When I heard the request, a hundred different thoughts went through my mind in an instant. At least 87 of them started with, "AAAHHHH!" But then some others leapt out. "Flattered to be asked." "Good political opportunity." "They need me." "Don't want to disappoint them." "Want them to like me." "If I don't, who will?"

So let's examine those motivations. Ego. Ambition. Co-dependency. Martyrdom. Hhhmmmm. I can't remember anywhere in Scripture where we are encouraged to act on anything for those reasons.

Fortunately, when I shared this decision with the some of the staff, my spouse and the Board of Directors, they responded out of love. They said, in essence, "Are you nuts?" (Yes, that can be a loving question!) Then they proceeded to remind me of all that I am already doing and giving of myself. They reminded me of the challenges that still await us. They reminded me that I am valuable and that my untimely demise due to exhaustion or stress will not achieve anything good for the dominion of God. Their words reminded me that doing things for the wrong reasons is not what God asks of me. Their words reminded me to give whatever I choose to give out of love...including love for myself.

And so I swallowed a little bit of "crow" and got myself out of a place I would have been extremely uncomfortable being in. And I am grateful. And "the project" will go on without me. And someone in California may be irked with me...but that will probably not have much of an effect on my life either way.

It's amazing what we do to ourselves, isn't it? We take on things and carry things around that weigh us down. We operate from the wrong motivations, live with bad attitudes...and then wonder why we are so unhappy!

There is an old legend about three people, each wearing two sacks tied around their necks, one hanging in front and the other hanging down in the back. When the first person was asked about the sacks, he said, "In the sack on my back are all the good things friends and family have done. That way they're hidden from view. In the front sack are all the bad things that have happened to me. Every now and then I stop, open the front sack, take the things out, examine them, and think about them." Of course, because he stopped so much to concentrate on all the bad stuff, he really didn't make much progress in life.

The second person was asked about her sacks. She said, "In the front sack are all the good things I've done. I like to see them, so quite often I take them out to show them off to people. The sack in the back? I keep all my mistakes in there and carry them all the time. Sure they're heavy. They slow me down, but you know, for some reason I can't put them down."

When the third person was asked about his sacks, he answered, "The sack in the front is great. There I keep all the positive thoughts I have about people, all the blessings I've experienced, all the great things other people have done for me. The weight isn't a problem. The sack is like the sails of a ship; it keeps me going forward. The sack on my back is empty. There's nothing in it. I cut a big hole in its bottom. In there I put all the bad things I think about myself or hear about others. They go in one end and out the other, so I'm not carrying around any extra weight at all."

The truth is, we're all carrying spiritual and emotional sacks around our necks. Whatever they're filled with, they will be the source of the things we do and the things we think and the things we say. This morning we need to be reminded that what God wants, for each of us, is to carry and think and speak and act out of...love.

Once a teacher of the law, who had seen Jesus easily answer tough questions by the Pharisees and Sadducees, decided to ask him a question: What was the most important of the 613 commands in the Jewish scriptures? Jesus' answer was this: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength...'" and "'...love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these," he said.

Jesus taught that love for God, others and ourselves was to always be the motivating factor for our choices...the source of our thoughts...the key influence in our lives. Bear in mind, Jesus wasn't talking about "love" as a romantic feeling or a happy little diversion. The love Jesus spoke of was a spiritual condition...a way of "being" as well as of "doing." Love seeks the ultimate good for God's dominion, people's welfare and our own well-being. Love is perfect balance in a distinctly unbalanced world.

We can do all kinds of things in our lives. We have among us a wide variety of gifts and abilities which we can use to help or to hurt...to build or to destroy...to make things better or to make things worse. St. Paul explained, in that very well-known Scripture we heard this morning from 1st Corinthians, that no matter what glorious things we try to do in this world, if we are not living and acting and thinking out of love...for God, others and ourselves...we accomplish nothing of any lasting value. The main thing that motivates us...the main thing we carry around with us at all times...should be love. Because love is the only thing that lasts.

This morning is the final Sunday in our month-long focus on Stewardship - a concept we understand as encompassing prayer, service and giving. Using as symbols the gifts which the Magi brought to the baby Jesus, we have associated frankincense with prayer, myhrr with service and, today, gold with giving.

For prayer, we have given out "prayer journals" for the year which we can all use as a guide to Scripture reading and personal, as well as corporate, prayer. For service, just this past week we delivered 275 bags and 10 boxes - that's 7 truckloads - of blankets and winter clothing to the St. Patrick Center. Today, we have 2 opportunities to examine and act on our stewardship of giving.

The first is one that I am so glad our Stewardship Team chose. Don't start fumbling around with your bulletin just yet - we'll do this in a few minutes. But there is a ½ page insert in there that says "My Commitment to God & Self." This is a "commitment card" - only its not a typical "pledge card." There is no place for your name. We are not basing our funding plan on what you sit here today and promise to do. This is an opportunity for you to love both God and yourself using your finances. We are all being invited and challenged to commit a certain percentage of our income for the coming year to God - through this church - and a certain percentage to savings for our own futures.

You know, love for self insists that we take care of ourselves as best we can. And making sure that we do save some of our money is one way of loving ourselves. I think this is a great idea because I don't know about you...but I haven't been a very good steward in that regard. I know I need to be better about loving and being responsible for myself. So in a few minutes, I'm going to fill that card out making a commitment to God and to myself that I will give 10% of my income to the church and 10% to savings. Whatever percentage you may decide on this morning, do it out of love for yourself and for God's work in this church.

The other opportunity we have today is to experience, perhaps for the first time, the freedom and joy of giving a "tithe" - 1/10th of our weekly gross income - when we receive today's offering. We have done this - what we call, in fun, "Super Tithe Sunday" for three years now -- asking everyone to consider, at least this one time, giving a full tithe to Christ's church here in M.C.C.

Now you might ask: isn't this really a "gimmick?" A way to bring in a bunch of money early in the year and a way to see just how much money is potentially sitting out here? ABSOLUTELY! You bet it is! If pumping an extra shot of funds to our ministry teams and discovering the potential of what this church can accomplish because of its financial resources is a "gimmick," then so be it. Money is a tool -- nothing more, nothing less. And it's very helpful, when you're doing a job, to know just what tools you have to work with!

You know, as Pastor of this church, I always wrestle some with just how best to preach about money and giving. I could try to convince you, with great passion, about the work this church does to help change people's lives for the better. But surely you can look around this room...and read about some of the projects and activities here...and listen to people whose lives have changed and see that clearly...without a song and dance from me.

I could also try to persuade you to give using an abundance of material from the Bible. There's a lot in there. The Bible devotes around 500 verses to prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but over 2,000 verse on money and possessions. Jesus talked about money in 16 out of 38 parables and about 1 out of 10 verses in the Gospels have to do with our attitudes about and use of material things.

I could spend a lot of time discussing biblical attitudes about giving. But I'm only going to share one Scripture about that...2 Corinthians 9:7: "Each person should give what they have decided in their heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

Bottom line: this morning we're each being asked to assess what we give to Christ's church and why we give. And yes, if possible, to increase our giving. But you know what: if we can't do that from a place of love, we shouldn't do it.

Here's a little "cosmic math:" Giving in love = loving to give. If giving today...or any day...is a source of anger or resentment for you...or if your motivation to give is guilt or your giving makes you fearful, then please don't; obviously now is not the right time for you.

And you're still welcomed here. And God still loves you. And Christ's work in this place will go on just fine because there is an abundance of love at work here. And if sometime later, you feel ready and able to give differently, then that will be just fine.

Please...let's all let this be a day when love sets the course and only love fills our hearts. Amen.

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