“It’s a Matter of the Heart”
First Timothy 6:17-19
January 26, 2014
First UMC of Paragould
Rev. John Fleming
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I wonder if you have heard the story of the pastor and preacher who stood up one
Sunday morning and said this to his congregation, “This morning I have prepared three very
different sermons. I am ready to deliver any three of them. He continued, “The first sermon
I’ve prepared is what I would like to call a fifty dollar sermon. It is of the fire and brimstone
variety. I really get on to you in the sermon. I have timed it. I believe that it will take just
under two hours to preach.”
There were some moans and groans from the congregation and startled looks, too.
After giving them a moment to take that in, the pastor said, “The second sermon I have
prepared is what I would like to call a five hundred dollar sermon. That sermon is about sin
and how it seems to get the best of us in this world. I’ve practiced it and timed it. It will
take me an hour to preach.” Like before, the preacher let the sermon subject and length set in.
Then he said, “The third sermon I’m prepared to preach this morning is what I would
like to call a five thousand dollar sermon, which by the way, is what we need to run our church
on a weekly basis. It is more like the sermons you are used to hearing from me. It’s subject is
love, grace, generosity, and forgiveness. I have practiced it, too. As best I can figure, the
sermon will take somewhere between twelve and fifteen minutes to preach. That means we
will get out of here at a decent hour, arriving at the restaurant much earlier than everyone else.
There were smiles on their faces. This is what they were used to. They sighed deeply, in relief.
Then the preacher said, “Which sermon I preach is up to you!” I would like to ask the
ushers to come forward at this time to receive our morning offering. I have our counters
waiting for it. As soon as the offertory music is over, they are to let me know the total. When I
know, I will tell you which of the three sermons I will be preaching!
I ran across that funny story and thought I would share it with you. I don’t think that I
could preach two hours straight if I had to, and I’m not a fan of fire and brimstone sermons.
I’ve preached very few of them. I am more comfortable with sermons somewhere between
twelve and twenty minutes, with themes like love and forgiveness and discipleship guiding
them. By the way, that sermon hre is a $15,420 sermon. That is what we need to run this
church on a weekly basis.
I ran across this story and thought it might be a good way to kick off our new sermon
series, Extravagant Generosity – The Heart of Giving. It is our way of looking at stewardship
this year. Four weeks from today, we will give you a chance to make a financial pledge to our
church for this year.
Here are a couple of things I’d like to quickly say. First, I know that stewardship isn’t
just about finances. We are also called to be good stewards, to be in charge of our time in
prayer and being active here in worship, in sharing our spiritual gifts with the church and by
telling others about Jesus. Second, it is easier not to talk about stewardship and just hope that
the donations meet the expenses. As a child, I can remember when the Pony Express was
delivered to our house. It was my home church’s way of doing stewardship. A paper
saddlebag was delivered by another member of our church, to our house. When we had time to
consider what we would give, we delivered it to the next house on the list. I can also remember
begging my mother when I was in high school, after our preacher made the announcement that
he’d be preaching the next four Sundays on stewardship, “Please, mom. Don’t make me go!”
Now I am that preacher.
I hope that you will give me a chance. These next four Sundays will tackle the subject,
but in a way that I think fits us. We will be talking about things like generosity, what our
dream church might look like, and who are the ones who have made a great impact on our
spiritual lives. I actually think that generosity is a great way to describe you. When you know
of a need, you quickly respond, especially when it is a very human need.
So let’s get started. The first of these sermons has the idea that ministry and generosity
get their start in your heart. Our scripture lesson helps us to see that. Paul writes two letters to
his young protégé, Timothy. Paul was in the process of handing over the reigns of the
Ephesian church to Timothy. He tells him to be careful of false teachers. He gives God thanks
for mercy. He talks about the qualifications of church leaders, of deacons and elders, and he
instructs Timothy on the subject of how to conduct his ministry in Ephesus. Paul counsels on
how women and men are to act toward each other. Chapter four takes on what a good minister
is about and it’s in those verses that we find a line that youth always need to hear, “Let no one
despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in
purity.”
Then, before he signs off, he talks about true riches. It’s in those verses where I want
our sermon to land. Listen again to Paul’s words to Timothy, “Tell the rich….to do good, to be
rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of
a good foundation for the future, so that they make take hold of the life that really is life.”
Now, I wish Paul had not used the word rich because it’s easy to get caught up in that
word, thinking that Paul is talking to someone else. Bill Gates is rich. Warren Buffet is rich.
The Walton Family is rich. I am not rich. By those standards we may not be. But some others
we are.
I don’t want us to get caught up in that word, that idea. Instead, I want us to get caught
up in the challenge of this passage. If you take it seriously, and I hope that you will, it will
make you uncomfortable. Timothy is supposed to encourage the church in Ephesus, to do
good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, and to be ready to share.
Now let me say this, the word generous can be a tricky one, mostly because it covers so
many things. You can be generous with your money, as we have, to make sure that Blue Books
are given to our youth, that ASU is farther along on their trip, that our children are taught good
lessons in Sunday school. I think God has put deep inside all of us a real desire to make a
difference in someone or in something that we love.
You can also be generous with your time, spending time with someone, even when you
think that there is no time to give. When you do that, you are making a difference to someone.
You can also be generous with your love. Does that make sense? Being generous with
your love means that you don’t hold your love back, even if you heart was hurt for some
reason. There’s something deep inside of you that still wants to give that love again. You can
be generous with it.
Generosity. Being Generous. What does it really mean? Sometimes it is easier to see
it than to define it. I asked you this week, through the enclosure of a letter and on my
Facebook, Where have you seen Jesus this week? I got all kinds of answers, from a sunrise and
a blue sky to a church that hosts a homeless ministry. Some told me that they saw Jesus in their
friends and family. Another wrote that they saw Jesus in an angel’s visit. Another said that
they saw Jesus in a random text that delivered the right words at the right moment. One of my
friends saw Jesus while teaching the fourth and fifth graders here on Wednesday evening. A
father saw Jesus in teachers as his daughter walked back into her school life after being away
from it for months. Some saw Jesus in unconditional love, in forgiveness, and in the eyes and
smiles of children. All of the responses are ones of Jesus showing up in ordinary places, doing
ordinary things, using ordinary people.
Like the guy I heard about who hardly was ever in church, because he took the weekend
shifts at a gas station so that the younger men could be with their families and in church on
Sundays. If you pulled in there on a Sunday morning, you would see Michael put down his
Bible and walk out to see how he could help you. His pastor knew this about him. He also
knew that Michael could always be counted on for his generosity. Few knew that he was a
tither, few knew that he was the one the pastor called when there was a special need in the
church. Michael, you see, knew what Paul meant when he encouraged, “Be rich in good
works, generous, and ready to share.”
A family pulled into his station one day. They had gone to Dallas for a job, but the job
hadn’t lasted. The family of four had searched high and low for work, but couldn’t find any.
Finally their money ran out. It took every ounce of pride for the father of the family to do it,
but he began to ask for help. He found a new job, but it was in Missouri. It was only his if he
could be there the following day. He pulled into the station on fumes without a way to pay for
any gasoline. He also had an almost flat tire. Michael was working that day. The man asked
Michael if there was a way that he could work a little while for gas money and for money to fix
his tire.
Michael made two phone calls that morning. He called his pastor and asked if he would
come and pick them up, take them to the church, let them shower there, and to be fed a good
meal. Then he called his friend who owned a grocery store and asked if he would provide
some travel food for their journey. When they finished eating at the church, the pastor drove
the family back to the station, where Michael had filled the tank with gas and had put four
newer tires on their car. He also gave them a gas card that would get them to Missouri.
When the father of the family heard all that had been done for them he cried, and then
nearly ripped the arm out of the socket of the pastor, shaking his hand. Michael and his pastor
watched as the family drove off to a new life.
Michael, you see, has a generous heart. He wasn’t the kind of Christian who was in
church every time the doors were open. He couldn’t be. He wanted to be. He was the kind of
Christian who took Christ out into the world, something us UM have come to call our mission
field. His way was that of a generous heart. He was rich in good works. He was generous and
ready to share. He was living the kind of life, as Paul said, that really is life.
I was thinking that you all are a lot like him. I want the people that you come into
contact with to see Jesus in you. Let us pray.
(Special thanks to Billy Strayhorn for the opening and closing story in this sermon)