Blessings from
Small to Great
You’ve
got it all. And I mean that! You’ve got it all. Now I understand that most of us in this room
don’t usually think of ourselves in that way.
We might think of others in that way: “He has that and I don’t… She’s
blessed in that way and I’m not… I can list a whole bunch of different things
that I want but don’t yet have and so maybe he’s got it all or she’s got it all
but I certainly don’t.” But the truth of
it is: You do have it all. Because you have everything you need and
much, much more.
Let’s
start with the little things, the small blessings. You’ve got taste buds, for example. The Lord didn’t have to bless you in that way
but he did: he made sure that every single food had a distinct flavor and a
specific nuance with thousands of different combinations. And you can taste that! Or think of the colors of this world. The Lord didn’t have to bless you with eyes
that could see in that full spectrum of beauty; but he did. Instead of black and white and shades of
grey, most have the ability to see a deep dark red, a scarlet red, a
rose-colored red, a brick red, a bright red, a faded red, a soft red, an apple
red… and your eye can tell the difference!
Let’s
move on to some blessings that might not be so wide-spread. Next time you walk into the grocery store go
to the bread aisle. Count how many
brands of sliced bread there are. And
then count how many varieties of bread in each brand. And then count how many actual bags of bread
there are on those shelves in that half aisle.
They might not all belong to you but you have been given access to them
all. The Lord has provided them for you
to enjoy.
When you
walk into your house later today, stop in the living room and count all of the
things you see that are now yours.
Furniture, pictures on the wall, knickknacks on the end tables… There
will be hundreds of things you will see.
And they are all yours. Consider
your family: both immediate and extended family. Consider how important those people are to
you; how much happiness they bring; the comfort and the confidence they
provide. Look around you right now: the
building that you’re in and what it is filled with. Look at the brothers and sisters in faith
next to you. Look at the cross in front
of you. Ahh, now we’re getting into the
big blessings, the weighty gifts of our Lord: the sacrifice there on that
cross, the powerful effect of forgiveness from the cross through the body and
blood, the forgiveness from the cross through the water of baptism, the
forgiveness from the cross through the spoken words of God’s love. You’ve got it all: salvation, eternal life,
peace, joy, comfort, and a whole slew of other temporal blessings as long as you live on this earth. You’ve got it all. The question is: what are you going to do
with it all?
Corinthian
Offering
This is
the question that the congregation in the city of Corinth had to answer for
themselves. The apostle Paul was in the
middle of his 3rd missionary journey. And before he made his way back to the city
of Corinth, he decided to write a second letter to them preparing them for his arrival. In this letter he describes them as people
who had it all. But as you read through
a few of these verses again, don’t just pay attention to what they had been given; notice the reason why Paul says they had
been given everything. “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. As it is
written: ‘He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness
endures forever.’ Now he who supplies
seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store
of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You are being made rich in every way so that
you can be generous on every occasion.”
They had
been given it all. But why? So that they could enjoy life? Partly.
So that they could praise the Lord for all that he had given them? In a way.
But the main reason why the Lord had given them so much was so that they
could give much to others. “You are
being made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.”
Paul was
going to be passing through Corinth on his way to Jerusalem. He had been collecting offering from the
cities he visited for those in Jerusalem and the congregation in Corinth had
promised to pitch in. Paul’s letter is a
reminder to these Christians about what they had said as well as an
encouragement to be as generous as possible.
And he did that by showing them that they had it all. They Lord had supplied them with everything
they needed so that they could in turn supply the needs of others.
It’s All Mine!
If you
read through the two letters to this congregation you’ll understand why Paul
needed to give them this encouragement: they were a little selfish at times, a
little arrogant, a little self-centered.
They hadn’t proven to be very loving and giving in the past even though
they had it all and Paul wanted to prompt them with the Word of God to excel in
this opportunity to praise their Lord.
I need
that kind of prompting too. Because I’m
not always so generous. I’m usually more
like a spiritual 2 year old: “I want that.
I want that now. And once I get
it I want to keep it. It’s mine! Not anyone else’s! It’s mine!”
And I’m not just talking about money here or the things we can put your
hands on; but I’m talking about things like the time the Lord has blessed us
with, the abilities, the skills, the opportunities that may be ours but those
that are ours to give. But as a spiritual
2 year old I don’t always want to spend my time looking for ways to help
others; I want to spend it on myself. I
don’t always want to spend the effort to use my abilities to make life easy for
others; I want to relax and enjoy some peace and quiet by myself. I don’t always want to take advantage of
those opportunities to lend a hand when others need it because that would mean
a lot of work on my part, a lot of complications and headaches that I could
avoid if I just didn’t get involved. I
may have it all but I want to keep all of it for me!
Do you
remember Judas Iscariot? He, of course,
was the disciple who betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the one who
sold him out for 30 pieces of silver, the one who eventually hung himself
because he felt so guilty for what he had done.
But Judas had also been the treasurer for that group of disciples. The Bible says that Judas was in charge of
the money bag that they lived off of and that they undoubtedly distributed to
the poor and less-fortunate, but Judas would regularly help himself to the
contents of that bag. He would keep some
for himself instead of giving it away as it was intended.
Don’t we
end up being like Judas sometimes? “You
are being made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every
occasion.” We have been entrusted with
God’s moneybag so to speak. We have been
given responsibility over the blessings that the Lord wants distributed to
others. And so when we keep a tight fist
around those blessings and stuff them in our own pockets, we have negated the
reason why the Lord gave us those blessings in the first place. He wanted to bless others through us. But sometimes we have different ideas with
those blessings. Because we are a little
bit selfish or greedy or just plain unloving.
It’s All for
You
Of
course, the story of Judas doesn’t just remind us of our sins, it also
demonstrates how much our Lord loves sinners.
When Jesus knew that Judas was taking money out of the money bag for
himself, what did Jesus do? Did he kick
him out of his chosen group of disciples?
Did he make his sins public for all to see? Did he immediately condemn him for such a
wicked act? No. Amazingly, if you read the story at the
beginning of the 12th chapter of the book of John, Jesus pointed
Judas to his coming resurrection. And he
allowed more and more money to come into that treasury. And when Jesus realized that Judas was going
to betray him for a handful of coins, he reached out to Judas and even allowed
Judas to celebrate the Passover with him.
And when Jesus was hypocritically kissed on the cheek by Judas in the
Gethsemane an armed mob waited to arrest him, Jesus gently reminded Judas about
who he was and that he still loved him.
Jesus continued to shower blessings on Judas despite his greed and
selfishness and sinfulness! The
blessings never stopped! In fact, we
might even say that the blessings increased the worse Judas was.
But
that’s what the Lord does: he increases the blessings specifically at those
times when we don’t deserve them. When
you are aware of the awful amount of your sins, does Jesus hold a grudge
against you? Does he make you pay? No!
Instead he reminds you about how much he has already paid for your sins
and points you back to the forgiveness at his cross! When you step into this building after an terrible
week of selfishness and greed, does he take all of your blessings away because
of your ungratefulness? No! He gives you even more as he offers you his
real body and blood in the Lord’s Supper and the forgiveness that comes with
it! When you are overwhelmed with guilt
and can’t seem to get over the sins hat plague you every day, does the Lord
give up on you for being so pitiful?
No! He gently leads you back to
your baptism where those sins were drowned; he leads you back to your Christian
brothers and sisters where you can be comforted; he leads you back to his Word
where you can be strengthened in the forgiveness it proclaims.
You may
be greedy at times but the Lord is always gracious. You may be selfish at times, but the Lord is
continually generous. You may be
downright nasty at times, but the Lord is nothing but forgiving. He always gives and gives and gives. And he gives it all to you. You’ve got it all.
The Lord
Re-Supplies
And so
we come back to the same question that we asked before: If you do have it all,
what are you going to do with it all? Keep
it or share it? Hoard it or distribute
it? Quickly stuff a handful in your
pocket so that no one else can have a chance or open your hands as wide as
possible so that everyone can see what’s available? And there are many practical ways to be
generous, aren’t there? You can
certainly throw some money in the offering plate on Sunday mornings; that’s a
good and God-pleasing thing to do. And
you can contribute to the preschool and the giving tree; that’s a fine thing to
do to. But generosity doesn’t just have
to be connected with the church. Sure
you can help out with the carnival next week; sure you can participate in
inviting new movers to Montrose to visit us here; sure you can take time to
spread wood chips on playground or wash the windows of the sanctuary; but your
generosity can be put into practice at home too. Give to your spouse and then give some
more. Give to your children and then
give some more. Give to your neighbors,
your co-workers, your friends. Give them
your time, your energy, your efforts… anything that they could use, give
it. And the Lord will re-supply. He has an endless storehouse of blessings
with which he can restock what you have given away. Trust him: you are not going to be able to
give away more than what he can give back to you. Because that’s what he intended all along: he
wants you to give what he has given to you!
“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.” Giving to others what has been given to you
is the whole point! And you have been
given it all. You’ve got it all. What are
you going to do with it?
Amen.
“God will meet all
your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and
ever. Amen.” - Phil. 4:19-20
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