Calculating Charity

Sermon

This week, once again, we find ourselves with the apostle Paul and his beloved, cantankerous congregation in Corinth. You may remember that in last week’s sermon, I offered that Paul was encouraging the Corinthians to live large, and I encourage all of us to live large, expansively, with open hearts and the intention of grace.

This week continues that theme in a way. Paul is at it again, quill to papyrus, exhorting this well-to-do congregation to remember their siblings in Christ at the church in Jerusalem, to remember that the Jerusalem Jesus-followers, though led by Peter himself, need funds. Paul lets the Corinthian folk know that some other congregations, those in Macedonia, had given generously to the Jerusalem cause. Now it’s the Corinthians’ turn.

I’m pretty sure that only 1% of pastors enjoy asking people for money, and Gregg Neel is one of them. Most of us dread it for so many reasons. People might say no. We might be conflicted about our own giving and spending. We might have been taught that one never talks about money in polite conversation, so asking for money is the ultimate taboo. We might worry that some who have little will give too much because they have lean wallets but generous hearts. We might be disappointed that some with fat wallets give very little.

But those who are gifted at funds development are wired differently. What helps them the most in asking people for money is commitment to the cause. They believe their cause—a refurbished organ, a political campaign, a poor church in Jerusalem—is of the utmost value, and the plain truth is, that cause needs funding. I think that’s what’s going on with Paul and the church in Jerusalem.

Remember that Paul was not from Jerusalem. He was born in Tarsus, in what is modern-day Turkey, and he was not part of the in-crowd of Christians in Jerusalem. There was some tension between Paul and Peter & James. Despite those tensions, and some differing opinions about this new Jesus thing, Paul was fully committed to the fundraising ventures of the congregation in Jerusalem.

The Corinthians, as far as we can tell from Paul’s letter and from historical knowledge about that city, were able to contribute. Corinth was a port city and a major city in that part of the Roman empire. But Paul has to move delicately here—he has a pretty contentious relationship with the Corinthians and he’s had to correct them and admonish them and encourage them and now he’s asking for money.

If you’ve ever done any fundraising at all—sell Girl Scout cookies or the annual stewardship campaign—you know it’s not easy to ask for money from someone who (a) is mad at you or (b) doesn’t like you. Not that that mattered to Paul; as I said, he believed in the cause, and he knew the Corinthians could contribute without hurting their own prosperity.

Now that word, prosperity, is an interesting one. Why do some people have enough, or more than enough, and some people don’t?

One response is that is God’s intention. In theological circles, that’s known as the prosperity gospel, which has been around for a few decades. You may remember The Book of Jabez, which plucked verse ten out of the Old Testament book 1 Chronicles, chapter four. The verse reads, “Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, ‘Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from hurt and harm!’ And God granted what he asked.” The main point of the book is that God intends to bless believers with wealth.

Theologian Kate Bowler has written about the prosperity gospel and shares this:

“One of the prosperity gospel’s greatest triumphs is its popularization of the term ‘blessed.’ Though it predated the prosperity gospel, particularly in the black church where ‘blessed’ signified affirmation of God’s goodness, it was prosperity preachers who blanketed the airwaves with it. ‘Blessed’ is the shorthand for the prosperity message. We see it everywhere, from a TV show called ‘The Blessed Life’ to the self-justification of Joel Osteen, the pastor of America’s largest church, who told Oprah in his Texas mansion that ‘Jesus died that we might live an abundant life.’” (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/opinion/sunday/death-the-prosperity-gospel-and-me.html)

I may not be able to quote the Bible chapter and verse, but I’m pretty sure this is not what Jesus intended for his followers, and I’m certain that he did not die on the cross so that his followers could live in mansions on earth. I recall Jesus saying, “Blessed are the poor” and telling a rich young man to sell all that he had and give away his money.

So Bible study and theology may not answer why some are rich and some are not. Capitalism might be an answer; we live in a society in which those who already have a leg up have an easier time moving up the next step on the ladder, and those who have no such advantage often find themselves falling farther and farther behind. You move, and you miss a bill payment, then the credit card company can’t find you, and you get compounded interest on the bill, or the loan, or the fee—sometimes it seems as though our systems are set up not to help people with a hand up but to push people further down in a hole.

When a person has served their prison term and is ready to be released, they cannot be released until they have a place to live that their parole officer can visit. But how are you supposed to find a place to live while you’re in prison? And if you do find a place to live, will it be a supportive environment, maybe even with services to help you get on your feet and avoid the temptations that landed you in prison in the first place?

You get my point. So many of our institutions and ways of being simply do not offer liberty and justice for all. If prosperity is a blessing from God, it would seem as though God is highly selective in who receives the blessing. If the church in Jerusalem is falling behind, why should the church in Corinth help them out? If our neighbor is in need, what is our responsibility to that person?

In answering those questions, we have our choice of scripture to guide us. We can remember what Cain said way back in Genesis: am I my brother’s keeper? We can remember what Jesus said to that rich young man: sell all your possessions and give your money to the poor. We can remember the prophet Isaiah’s vision of a rich feast where everyone dines on fine wine and delicious meat and no one goes away hungry.

Or we can remember Paul’s words to the Corinthians: “Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you —so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.

“… if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. For I do not mean that there should be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may also supply your need, in order that there may be equality.”

How do we live out those words? How do we grow generous hearts, so that our first response to anything is “how can I show generosity in this situation?” How do we who have much give so that there is some equality with those who have little? How do we live not only expansively but also generously?

It may be with a generous heart, which is another way to talk about grace. To have a generous heart might look like giving someone the benefit of the doubt, having the humility to say you don’t know everything a person is going through. To have a generous heart might mean choosing forgiveness over judgment, or following the words of that pithy phrase that so often pops up in my social media feeds: be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Grow your generous heart.

Or maybe living generously has to do with the viewpoint we choose to see with. When I studied conflict resolution, one technique we could employ—if the situation were not too hot—would be to ask the two people in conflict to repeat the argument but from the other person’s point of view. What they saw, and what they understood, could be illuminating and occasionally would lead to the beginning of reconciliation. Expand your viewpoint.

And yes, sometimes living generously really is about what we give—of our time, of our talent, of our treasure. God knows there are organizations and causes all over the place that need people to support them in so many ways. Political campaigns need people to put address labels on flyers. Our Sunday School program needs people to volunteer to spend 45 minutes a week with some very delightful children. And it’s not just the church budget that needs financial support but community centers like Northeast Emergency Food Program or world relief programs like Doctors Without Borders or World Central Kitchen.

What you give, and how much you give, and to whom you give is absolutely your choice. I am not here to twist anyone’s arm. But I do hope that you are generous and that you remember that we are here today because of the generosity of those who went before us. As Kate Bowler reminds us, “Our only job is to build on what we’ve been given, and, even then, even our gifts we can trace back to the creativity, generosity, and foresight of others.”

May we be like that for the generations yet to come—generous, hopeful, faithful folk.

To the glory of God.