God's Promises Free Us to Give with Joyful Generosity

1 Kings 17:7-16 2017 Stewardship Series: Joyful Generosity God’s Promises Free Us to Give With Joyful Generosity Scarcity vs. Abundance Dear friends in Christ, Last month was the most active month on record for hurricanes in the Atlantic. In the wake of those storms thousands of people climbed out of their shelters to realize that they had little to nothing left. But then, for many people, assistance started to pour in. Within a matter of days help came from all kinds of places: government programs, private agencies and celebrity organizations. Family members, friends and total strangers drove from miles away to help rebuild communities and people’s lives. They came with bedding and blankets, clothing and cleaning supplies, fresh bottled water and uncontaminated food. What if a natural disaster hit your life, and you had little to nothing left? What it there were no government programs to be your safety net? What if there were no private agencies or celebrity organizations from which you could request help? What if your spouse had died and you were left to care for your child in this dreadfully poor condition? And what if friends and neighbors could not help you because they were stuck in the same difficult situation? What if you couldn’t just drive to Piggly Wiggly or Walmart for a bite of food and something to drink? What if the rain hadn’t fallen for a year or more and the crops had shriveled up and blown away? What if drought and famine lasted for several more months and all that remained in your cupboard was a handful of flour and a shot of olive oil? The widow resigned herself to the fact that they were going to die. She would have one last meal with her son. Then they would wait for starvation to overtake them. But when she went out to gather a few sticks to prepare their last supper, a stranger called to her and asked for a little water to drink. The man obviously wasn’t from that area. Maybe his accent betrayed the fact that he was from Israel. And if he was from Israel, then he had walked 80 or 90 miles north to get there. Human decency dictated that she give the weary traveler a little water to drink. And she was OK with that. But then the stranger added, “And please bring me a bite of bread to eat.” What thoughts might have gone through her mind at that moment? She really couldn’t afford to give him anything, could she? Didn’t she need that handful of flour and shot of oil for her son and herself? If they had any chance of surviving at all until they could somehow find a little more food, then she could not afford to give this stranger what he was asking, could she? The woman explained her situation and probably thought that that would be the end of the discussion. But it wasn’t. Instead Elijah said, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’” They were having this conversation in town of Zarephath, in the area of Sidon, north of Israel. It was a territory of Gentiles who bowed to the false gods of Baal and Asherah to make the rain fall and the crops grow. But at some point in her life, someone had told this widow about the God of Israel. The LORD was the God who, by his grace, had chosen the descendants of Israel out of all the nations of the earth, to be his people, the people through whom he would send the Messiah for the people of all nations. With powerful plagues the LORD had miraculously rescued his people from their slavery to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The LORD had led his people across the Red Sea on dry ground to escape the Egyptian army. When the Israelites were walking though the wilderness, and food and water became scarce, the LORD miraculously gave them manna from heaven and made clean water stream out of a rock. The LORD had driven Israel’s enemies out of Canaan and gave them that land flowing with milk and honey. Elijah was the LORD’s ambassador and spokesman. So if he promised that her handful of flour and her shot of oil were not going to run out, they were not going to run out. She could believe the LORD. And she did. 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah. The LORD’s promise was all that this widow had left, and it was all that she needed. If the LORD promised to take care of her, then she was abundantly rich. If the LORD promised to take care of her, she was also set free. The LORD’s promise set her free from so desperately clinging to what little she had so that she could give from the little she had to help the LORD’s prophet in his need. J.D. Rockefeller is called the wealthiest person in modern times. At his peak, in today’s dollars, Rockefeller’s net worth was between 300 and 400 billion. That’s more than four times the net worth of Bill Gate. The story is told that one day someone asked Rockefeller, “How much money is enough?” With tongue in cheek, and with billions of dollars in the bank, he quipped, “Just a little bit more.” “Just a little more.” We all tend to think that way, whether we have billions in the bank or only a handful of flour in the cupboard. “I need just a little bit more, then I’ll be set. Then I’ll be content. Then I’ll be secure.” A little more money, a little more time, a little more talent, a little more clothes, a little more food… It seems we are never really satisfied with what we have in our possession, never truly content with what God has chosen to give us. So we also very easily slip into the sin of blaming God. Because if I don’t have enough, that must mean that God hasn’t given me enough. And if God hasn’t given me enough, then I’m going to cling all the more tightly to what I do have. That’s a problem because our God hasn’t called us to live shriveled up self-centered lives that cling to the things of this world. He has called us to live as his children, to keep our hearts focused on heavenly treasures, to use the earthly possessions he has entrusted to our care, and to give with joyful generosity. This is why we continually need to hear God’s promises. For example, the writer to the Hebrews says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5). St Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution, or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:31-37). Jesus tells us, “Don’t worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans (like those Sidonians who served Baal) run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:31-33). None of us has to white-knuckle earthly possessions. No matter what our situation – whether we have billions in the bank or only a handful of flour in the cupboard - our heavenly Father knows our needs and he promises to take care of us. That promise sets us free: free from worry, and free to live with joyful generosity. Yes, use your possession to take care of your family. Yes, use your possessions to take care of yourself. And yes, pay your taxes. These are good and God-pleasing ways to manage what our Lord has entrusted to our care. And he has directed us to use what he gives us in these ways. But don’t turn these into an excuse to be less than generous also in your support of the Gospel ministry of your congregation and synod. And don’t turn these into an excuse to be less than generous also in your assistance to the poor and needy. These also are areas in which our God has directed us to use his gifts. Even the poorest of us are among the wealthiest people in the world. We live in a country in which God has poured out so much physical and material wealth. But you and I can say that we are even more abundantly rich in another sense. Even if you and I had only a handful of flour left in the cupboard, we would still be the richest people in the world. We can say that because Jesus has paid the price for our adoption into God’s household. God has clothed us in the robes of his Son’s righteousness and has given us all the blessings that Christ won on the cross: forgiveness, peace, joy, a right relationship with him. He calls us his children and has made us heirs of eternal life. He promises that he will never leave us nor forsake us. He promises that he will continue to provide all that we need. So we are free from having to white-knuckle what we have in this world. We are free to give in ways that our loving Father directs us to give, and to do so with joyful generosity. Amen. Pastor Karl M Schultz October 1, 2017