"To Whom Much is Given"
Sermon Transcript for February 20, 2000
By Dr. Charles Tyler
Scripture Reading: Luke 12:39-48
I’m a person who believes in the guidance of the Holy Spirit; and both the service that preceded this one and this service has impressed that on me more and more as I came to the service and listened to Steve’s prayer and to Hugh’s musical presentation, how everything fit together with what I had to say. And this was done, of course, without consultation between any of us. And I truly believe that God does have a hand in the way things work.
This message that I have been asked by Reverend Mike to give today was originally to have been a lay witness on stewardship. As our stewardship team plans for its program this year, it is our intent to do as we did last year--to have a stewardship witness person in the pulpit once a month from February through June as we try to lay the stewardship foundation for the promotion of our annual canvas in the last six months which is the responsibility of the Finance Committee. We try to team; both team up together at that point.
Our early thought was to do this on the first Sunday in February, but as the saying goes, "Something happened on the way to the forum." I was in an Intercessory Prayer meeting with Barbara Ludwig, who’s also a member of that team. And she was discussing with great enthusiasm a lay witness that she was going to do the following Sunday, which was the first Sunday in February, about the farewell program for the organ. And I thought that sounds appropriate and great and I’m glad to hear her say that. So I stopped by the office and I said to Mike, "Do we have two lay witness programs ever on one Sunday?" And he said, "Well, no." And I said to him, "Well, I just heard Barbara comment about the one she was going to do this next Sunday, and he said, "Oh, that’s right. She did say she was going to do that. Can you do it on the 13th?" And I said, "Well, yes I think so." But I didn’t put it in my book. I went to Sunday School with Mary Lou and, of course, I’m substitute teacher there. And she said to me that morning, "Can you teach on the 13th?" And I looked at my book and said, "Sure." About the middle of the week as I began to think about my Sunday School lesson, I thought, "Wait a minute. I can’t do this." So I picked up the phone and called Mary Lou and said, "Mary Lou, I’m sorry. I’ve got to back out on the 13th." It wasn’t fifteen minutes later until the phone rang and it was Reverend Mike. He said, "Charlie, I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to be here on the 20th and Steve Wakefield’s going to do a lengthy lay witness on Missions, can you do a mini-sermon on stewardship?" So, here I am doing a mini-sermon that was supposed to be a lay witness mission. I guess he thought maybe since I was a preacher that I didn’t know how to do a lay witness program.
The sermon subject, "To whom much is given", of course, is taken from the text of the scripture passage that was read which is the text for the day: "From everyone, to whom much has been given, much will be required." Now if what I talk about during this sermon, if it kind of sounds to you like a counsel of perfection, I make no apologies for that, it certainly is. But on that score, you Methodists are accustomed to that. It was John Wesley who insisted that after we were saved and sanctified we then had the responsibility of going on to perfection. Somebody talking to Mr. Wesley about that one day said, "Well Mr. Wesley when do you expect to be made perfect?" He said, "About five minutes before I die." Which is to say, of course, that we all have that lifelong responsibility of trying our best to do better than we did the day before. And so, applying that idea to the matter of stewardship, we take a look at the scripture lesson and the text and move from that point on.
The scripture lesson, you may have caught on, was Jesus’ explanation to a question Peter asked about one of the parables that Jesus had just told about a master and faithful and unfaithful servants. And in one of these versions, the term "faithful and prudent manager" is used to describe these people. And, that’s another term for steward. A steward is a manager. If you are a steward, you manage someone else’s property. And so, it’s against that background that we talk about the text as it is found in the gospel of Luke.
As in the story, the master’s possessions, which he entrusted to his managing servants or stewards, describes our current situation because we too are stewards of God’s manifold blessings and responsibilities. But what we have, whatever it is, either in capacities or in family or all the relationships that we enjoy, this is a gift from God. Even that which we possess in a material way, in a sense, is a gift from God. Our question then, that we need to talk about today, is "How are we managing our gifts and our responsibilities?" And as Peter asked, "Is this just for a few?" And the answer is, "No, it is for everyone". Whatever our status, whatever our capacity, whatever our financial ability is, we have a responsibility."
Now, what I want to talk about, though, is how this subject applies to the subject, "to whom much is given." We need to remember that when we started out with the, as we rejoice in the pleasant places in which we find ourselves here in this great country of ours; we need to be very grateful that the gifts that we have are unusual. That citizens of this great and prosperous land, and we need to emphasize that because we are in the greatest prosperity we have ever known in the history of our country. We need to reflect on the privilege that we enjoy to a greater degree than any other country. Clearly, every one of us is included in the term "to whom much is given."
Those of you who have traveled about the world know that the world looks upon us, no matter who we are, as wealthy, as rich. And the truth of the matter is, in comparison with what they have and what we have, that is a fact. And that puts upon us as a responsibility, both as individual citizens and as a country, a moral obligation to be concerned in the kind of program Steve was talking about--missions. The people who have less than we have, we have an obligation to them. And we need to remember it isn’t whether they’re worthy or not.
I recall when I was a teenager my local church, which is a little country church outside of Indianapolis, decided one Thanksgiving, this was during the Depression and there was great need for people to be helped, and we decided we would do Thanksgiving baskets because we were a rural community and we didn’t have much money, but we did have food. And so we prepared 25 baskets and loaded them on the back of a truck. And I was one of the boys who was to hop off and go into various homes and give them these baskets of food. And one of the questions that some of the people raised in the official board, of which I was a member, was "Are these people worthy?" And, I had to think about that. Because when I went back home after observing what I had been involved in, I discovered that places were filthy, kids were dirty, and I said to my mother, "My goodness, I couldn’t understand these people." And she said to me, "Charles, if you had to decide whether to buy a bar of soap or a loaf of bread, what would you do?" And suddenly, I was rebuked, because I was standing in judgment upon these people because they were in circumstances where they couldn’t, in a sense, help themselves. Well, obviously, you know, there are some people its there own fault. But there are many, many people who are in difficulties, not their fault. And we don’t make a gift to people, because they are worthy. We give a gift to people because they have a need. Of course their significant need is a spiritual need. And we try to reach that spiritual need by our evidence of our concern about their total welfare.
Having said all that, we also know in our circumstance here, as good as they are, some families have more than other families. Within our situation, as good as it is, we still have a poverty problem. It’s a disgrace, but we have a significant poverty problem. And if you think that poverty problem is off somewhere else, you’d better change your mind. When I was pastor in Christ Church Washington, which is a church very similar to this in a county seat town very similar to this, the women did a study one year. And in that study I asked my Associate Pastor if he would do a study of our community to find out how we were doing on taking care of people less fortunate than ourselves. He came back to me and he said, "Dr. Charlie, I’ve just found something that just scares the life out of me." He said, "You know, we think the poverty is up in Indianapolis, in Marion County. That’s were the poor people are." He said, "In Davies County, we have a higher percentage of poverty than they do in Marion County."
Shortly after that I went to a service club where I heard a Catholic priest in my area talk about the fact that every county seat town where we have considerable prosperity because that’s where people tend to gather in the county. And we are the leaders, really, in a sense. We are blessed. There’s the other side--responsibility. He said, "We hide these people, and you have to look for them." And so, I began to look in that county. Sure enough, there they were. So every time I move to a new town, I do that trip. I’ve done that trip in Franklin. You might take a trip through Franklin and look and see how different sections of the town look different to where you live. And these are people, they’re good people, but for some reason or other they are in a circumstance that’s not like we would like for them to be.
Now, having said all of that, what about the principle of the tithe when we talk about stewardship and money. Because now I’m down to that point where I need to talk about a couple of things which people say, "For heaven’s sake, preacher’s always talk about money." Well, the reason we do that is because if you read the Gospel with care you’ll discover that Jesus talks more about money probably than any other thing. And points out the dangers in how we handle it or mishandle the blessings, the material blessings that God gives us.
So, when we look at the principle of the tithe, you know, which has always been considered, everybody ought to give ten percent. That doesn’t look fair, because that’s almost like a flat tax and falls on everybody alike unless the person that’s down here is giving much more sacrificial gift if they give ten percent, than the person that’s up here. Isn’t that obvious? Of course it is. So we need to look at the history of the tithe to sort of get ourselves squared away. And some say, "Well, how do we answer that? Is it in the Bible?" Well, yes, but it starts in the Old Testament. And remember we are a people of the New Testament. And the Bible is a progressive revelation of the character of God. It starts out with good things, but they get better and also more demanding as we come to the time of Jesus.
So, in order to help that question, when the tithe was first required, virtually everybody lived at about the same level. Life was very simple. Everybody had a few sheep, a few goats, raised a little produce. So, the gift of the first born animals and the first fruits in produce was about the same for everyone. And, that fixed pattern was relatively fair. But even in Bible times, as the times moved on and countries moved away from that simple area to a money economy, significant differences began to arise among people and ten percent of the small farmer’s income was far more sacrificial than the wealthy farmer or the merchants who had a greater income.
Now, what do we do with that? What did Jesus do? Well, when Jesus was looking at this he began to develop a point of view that worked from the basis that we all have an obligation for portions to be set aside for God and his work. But how do we determine that proportion? And one of the things he did in pointing out how important it was, you see...you remember, the Pharisees were the leading people. They were the righteous people. They were the people who kept not only the law but the five hundred and some regulations that they had added. And they couldn’t understand why Jesus didn’t keep all those regulations. But he condemned the Pharisees because they tithed in the old King James Version it was "mint, and rue and cummin." Do you know what that is? Those are herbs. And if they had a hundred herb seeds they’d set aside ten of them very carefully. But he said to them, "You tithe mint, and rue, and cummin and you avoid the weightier matters of the law--justice, and service and concern for your fellow Christian."
And there again, you see, is a thing we have to look at in our society. We sometimes get very disgusted with the conduct of people out there who are in this category. But because sometimes they get on drugs, sometimes they get drunk, sometimes they do things that are very bad and very foolish, but maybe we need to understand the stress of the pressures that push them to do those foolish things, and begin to say, "I wonder how I would do if I were in that circumstance."
The other side was, he also praised the poor widow, who out of her poverty could only put two pennies in, as being more larger gifts than those who were more prosperous. And this infuriated the Pharisees because they just couldn’t quite understand that.
Now let’s come back to our day and talk about our situation and distribution. How do we apply the "tithes" to our income. Well, as an answer to that question, the doctrine of proportionate gift has been suggested. This is a little different than just a straight flat tithe. All families have a right to a fair level of income for their basic needs, but many of us now have incomes that go well beyond that need and the question then becomes, "As good stewards, as those to whom much has been given, what does the tithe mean?" Clearly following the text of the day means that our tithe probably needs to be more than a fixed pattern for everybody. And you say, "What does that mean?" Well it means that maybe some people can in their poverty qualify for their proportionate gift for less than ten percent, while those of us who are well beyond any need, need to think of more than ten percent.
Do you say that’s a counsel of perfection? Yes it is. But it’s a principle that we need to deal with. Now how do we handle this? Well, let me go back quickly to a congregation that I served one time where we wrestled with that problem. I was sent to a church that was in dire difficulty. The pastor had a heart attack in the middle of a building program, which was not paid for. There current income was very low and they were broke. In fact, the congregation of 800 people had a budget of $17000.00, $5000.00 which was my salary. Which meant they only had $12000.00 to pay for the maintaining of the church and do their missions. It was ridiculous. This was when my wife and I were confronted with what stewardship means in our situation. Because now somebody told me after I went there, "Young man, you have arrived. You have reached the place in your career where you can go anywhere you want to go because you are now in a church which is a significant church." It had all these problems and programs. All they could see was a big church, you know. I had the fourth largest church in the district. So, you know, we should be proud about that. Well, the other side of the coin was, we weren’t doing what we should do and that was part of their problem. We discovered that they, on the average, were only giving 1½ % of their income. So how did we handle that?
Well for the young people who said to us, "My goodness, we can’t do much more than we are doing." Well, why? Well, they had a car bought on time and they had a refrigerator bought on time and they had a television bought on time, etc. And by George, we’ve got to make those payments or we don’t keep it. So what came first? And so we said to them, "as you begin to consider the need for you to make some kind of a proportionate gift that’s bigger than what you are doing, the next time you pay off one of those major obligations, don’t go out and buy something else for yourself. Sit down and look at your budget and get it in tune. And then begin to move beyond. If you’re giving 1%, try giving 1½ or 2% next year. And then, as you get in to the habit and as life blesses you and your income goes up each year, move higher and higher and higher."
That thing happened to some people until we have two illustrations. Golden Rule Nash was a man who made a lot of money with a tailoring business and became a millionaire. And, ultimately, he felt his obligation to God was to keep 10% for himself and give 90% to God. And that was great. But you see what was happening. He still had millions of dollars to live on even though he was giving 90% of it away. So the proportionate thing, you see, was his obligation. He lived far above anybody down here in poverty or even in ordinary circumstances. And then one of the Kraft people in the Kraft food business did the same thing. Now I’m not suggesting that anybody here in this congregation should give 90% of their income. But what I think we need to do...(Lost part of message when tape turn to side 2).
Which is what we said, we’ve always set aside 10%. At that time we had three children, the youngest one was still in kindergarten. So we still had kids that were all going to go through college. We said, we need now to move up to 15%. And we did. And today, here we are in retirement. Strangely enough, the stock market’s been pretty good to us. We’re giving more than 15% because we feel that’s our obligation and our responsibility.
The principle I’m talking about, surely we can’t do any less for God in distributing our income than a secular government who let’s us off with a graduated income tax. Hear again the words of our Lord, "From everyone to whom much is given, much will be required." Let us pray: "Oh God, our Father, we give you grateful thanks for all the blessings you bestow upon us. And we give you thanks that you allow us to participate in the advancement of your kingdom. Help us, oh Lord, to take a look at where we are and what our fair proportion is and to find a blessing in doing that. For we ask it in Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen."
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