Christian Stewardship

Text. FREELY YOU HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE. St. Matthew 10.8b

A beggar, going from door to door, saw a golden chariot approaching carrying the King of Kings. The chariot halted and a smiling King alighted, to the joy of the beggar. But when the King held out his hand and asked him: "What have you to give me," the beggar was bewildered. The smallest item in his bag - a grain of corn - he handed to the King. Later on when he emptied the bag, to his amazement he found a tiny grain of gold. With tears of remorse, the beggar wished he had the heart to give the King his all.

The poor widow in Jesus parable (St. Mark 12) who gave her all to the temple treasury had the qualities, which our Lord was always commending - whole-hearted, self-giving, generous without reserve. St. Paul points us beyond her to him who "though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." (2 Cor 8.9).

In God’s reckoning the poor Widow’s contribution of two small coins - all of her wealth- was greater than that of the rich who gave large sums out of their abundance. It is not the value of the gift, Jesus is saying, but the whole-hearted, self-giving generosity which prompts the action. It was the motive not the value of the gift, that Jesus praised. Giving until it hurts, holding no part of ourselves back, is the total allegiance which Christ demands from his followers.

"The Church is always begging for money", is opinion of the Man-in-the-street. That misguided remark is balanced by the story of the little girl who told her Rector: that she had put all her pocket money for the week into the collection plate and had nothing left with which to buy her favourite cassette. Then she added, "It is all your fault, you so moved me during your sermon. But it has given me a good feeling inside." As the Rector congratulated her, she added, "It was for God. You should approve." No doubt he did!

To do good when it hurts, to make sacrifices for another, gives a great feeling, especially when we do it because we first love God. To do good we must give "Our All," that little bit more than we can afford. That is just where the poor Widow in Jesus parable and the little girl scored. How often we fall down in our giving because it cannot possibly hurt or inconvenience us.

It must never be thought that the giving of money to the Church by parishioners is an end in itself. Rather, it is a symbol of our readiness to be identified with our Lord in his willingness to give his all for us. There are always those for whom it is a joy to give, who give well beyond their means. Often they are from the "lower income bracket." St. Paul would say that the needs of the Church are the responsibility of every parishioner.

When giving is mentioned, we must not always think in terms of money. The less well-off who may be unable to match their giving to that of others, have many other things to offer - their time, their talents, their capacity for friendship, their very selves - such an offering is acceptable to God, who knows what we have and what we have not.

Unless all of us are prepared to give ourselves, it is of little worth that we give our money. St. Paul sets as our example the Macedonian Christians: "They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will (2 Cor 8.5). The giving of money must always be an expression of our self-giving.

A lovely verse in the Old Testament, Ecclesiastes 11. challenges us to "Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again." (NIV). To understand those words we must travel to Egypt, where the fertility of the land in ancient times, depended on the flooding of the river Nile. Once a year the Nile overflowed its banks. The meadows became marshes. Then the Egyptian farmers took their boats and sailed across the fields scattering rice seeds as they went. When the Nile subsided, it left a rich and fertilising mud in which seed germinated, and grew under the hot sun, until at last, after many days, the farmers won their harvests.

Dare we apply these words to God. Did He himself not obey this command when He gave Christ, the living bread, to be our Saviour? When, out of the eternal love that was in heart of God, our heavenly Father sent his Son into the world, He cast his bread upon the waters. And what happened? He came to his own people, and his own did not receive him. He was despised and rejected by them. They crucified him like a common criminal. What folly to cast that bread upon the waters! Yet today, millions owe everything to Christ. He has made all the difference in the world. God cast his bread upon the waters, and in countless lives transformed by Christ he has found it again after many days. For so great a gift we say "thanks be to God." May we each offer Him the answering love of our hearts and minds by dedicating our lives to the service of his kingdom.