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1. We are standing on the promises of God.
The Old Testament God is a
covenant-making God, and the New Testament Jesus is a
covenant-making Savior. The whole Bible is all about the
promises, and the language of the book is the language of
“covenant.” Not contract, but covenant. A contract is a
legal agreement. It outlines the details of the deal: “If
you do this, I will do that.” As often as not, it is based
on distrust rather than trust, to make sure the other person
keeps up their end of the bargain.
But a
covenant is something else. A covenant is relational, and a
covenant is offered out of love and trust, not out of
distrust. In the Bible, God makes the offer and invites us
into relationship in the form of a covenant: “I will be
your God and you will be my people.”
It
begins in Genesis. In the beginning covenant of
creation, it is said that God walked with Adam and Eve in
the garden and that they were naked, totally open before
God. It was only when sin entered the equation that humanity
became embarrassed in God’s presence and put on the fig
leaves. The original design of creation was this open,
honest, loving relationship between God and his
people—walking together in the cool of the day.
Then
there’s Noah. God comes to Noah, not
because he is so smart and not because he is so good (even
though he might in fact be a bit better than the rest). God
comes out of grace and invites Noah into a covenant
relationship with the promise to deliver him from the flood.
When it’s all over, even after Noah’s own sin and disgrace,
God paints his covenant in the clouds in the sign of a
rainbow, a sign of God’s covenant with all creation.
And, of
course, the Abraham story is all about God’s covenant.
God calls and God initiates with the promise: “I will bless
you, and through you the whole world will be blessed.”
Finally, with the coming of Jesus, the covenant takes the
flesh and blood, bread and wine. Every time we
break the bread and lift the cup, we proclaim that this is
the cup of the “new covenant in my blood, given for you and
for many for the forgiveness of sins.” It’s the cup of the
“new covenant” made in Christ’s own blood.
The God of
the Bible is a covenant-making God, a God who is known by
the promises he makes and the promises he keeps. From
beginning to end, the Bible is chock-full of promises, and I
believe everybody ought to have a few promises to which they
cling. Here are a couple of my favorites:
Psalm 59:10: “My God, in his
loving-kindness, will meet me at every corner.” How’s
that for a promise you can cling to?
II Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is
sufficient for you, my strength is made perfect in your
weakness.” My grace is sufficient. It is enough, and I
can even work through your weakness. When you are weak, I
will be strong. How’s that for a promise?
Or how about
this one?
Malachi 3:10: “Bring the full tithes
into the storehouse and see if I will not open the windows
of heaven and pour out an overflowing blessing.” It is
the promise of abundance, the promise of a God who leans out
of the windows of heaven and just can’t wait to pour his
blessings on his people.
Remember the
promises. We are standing on the promises—all the promises
of God.
I was driving
along I-96 this week and saw a fascinating billboard for
Comerica Bank. In huge red letters it proclaimed:
“It’s all about YOU.”
Is it?
Really? All about me? When Comerica moved their
headquarters, it was about thoughtful, wise business
strategy based on what was good for the company, the
investors and the future of their business. There’s nothing
wrong with that, I suppose, but it certainly wasn’t all
about me. And besides, can life ever really be “all about
you”? At best, we know that a motto like that sounds
downright selfish and self-centered. And in reality, we all
know it just isn’t true. It is never “all about me.” I am
the product of generations who went before, parents and
grandparents who loved me, teachers and preachers, Sunday
School teachers and camp counselors who formed me—a debt I
can never repay. I have received blessing upon blessing from
God, from my nation, from this church. My life depends on:
·
farmers to grow the crops
·
truckers to deliver the milk
·
mailmen to bring me the bills
·
bankers to handle my investments
·
doctors to care for my health
·
mechanics to fix my car
·
soldiers to defend my nation
And above
all, I am totally dependant on the promises of God. So my
act of stewardship is an act of gratitude for all those on
whom my life rests; an act of gratitude for all the promises
of God.
Gary Haller,
pastor of Grand Rapids First Church, tells the story of an
ecumenical conference on stewardship attended by
Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox and Evangelicals. At one
point, they were listening to the dreary statistics and
recitation of the challenges before the church, the changing
demographics and patterns of giving, when a voice spoke up
from the back of the room, interrupting the speaker, “Ya’ll
need to go out and get yourself some drug addicts!”
Well, that
silenced the house! The voice was Rev. George McRae, an
African American pastor of a church in Miami which includes
many recovering prostitutes, addicts, alcoholics and
twelve-steppers. He told the story of a recovering drug
addict who came to him and asked, “Preacher, now that I am a
Christian, how much am I supposed to give?”
Well, like
most pastors, George says he somewhat sheepishly began
describing tithing as the pattern—ten percent returned to
God. And the man interrupted him, “Preacher, you mean to
tell me God only wants a dime out of a dollar? Why, my old
drug dealer on the street takes seventy percent. If God’s
saved me from the drugs and the dealer, don’t I owe more
than a dime?” Pastor McRea concluded, “And that’s why every
Sunday we have a logjam at the tithe box—because they know
what God has done for them and they can’t wait to say
thanks.” (Rev. Gary Haller, FUMC Grand Rapids, MI, “A House
With Room For You!”, Oct. 14, 2007)
We who have been so
blessed—we are standing on the promises of God.
This week
while I was working on this sermon, I was following the
news. I listened to NPR, got the New York Times
on-line and the Free Press in the morning. I read
Time Magazine and the Economist. And by Friday I
thought, “Can it get any worse?”
·
GM reports big losses
·
Chrysler and Ford announce more
cuts
·
oil at $100 a barrel
·
the stock market is down
·
Bernacke says the economy will get
worse before it gets better
And we’re
going to ask for money? You bet! Since when is the church
dependant on Ben Bernacke’s prophecies? The church stands on
the promises of God: “Lo, I am with you always, to the end
of the age. Upon this rock I will build my church, and the
gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and
righteousness.
We dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on
Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock we stand,
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
We are standing on the
promises of God.
2. And we are
standing on our promises to God.
We live by
our promises. We make promises to the bank, the mortgage
company, the credit card company…promises to our employees,
our bosses, our colleagues, our community, our nation. In
the faith, we live by our promises. Promises signed by water
in the sacrament of baptism: “Will you nurture these
children in Christ’s holy Church? Will you surround these
children in a community of love and forgiveness?” We live by
promises made to each other: “To have and to hold from this
day forward. For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in
sickness and in health, to love and to cherish.” We live by
promises like “supporting the church with our prayers,
presence, gifts and service.” We live by the
promises we make and the promises we keep.
Just imagine the
difference it would make if all 3,211 members of this
church:
-
prayed for this
church every day
-
promised to be
present in worship every Sunday they are in town
-
made a pledge of
their gifts and started tithing
-
found one avenue of
service in the world, through the church
Just imagine what it
would be like if we all remembered the promises.
One of my
favorite stewardship stories is about the couple who came to
their pastor and said, “You know, we would really like to
tithe. We believe in it and we used to practice it.
Twenty-five years ago, when we were just married, we didn’t
have two quarters to rub together, but one of the first
promises we made in our marriage was to promise ourselves
that we would tithe. And we did tithe—every week, ten
percent. It wasn’t much and it certainly didn’t make much
difference for the church, but it meant a lot to us. But now
we both have full careers, we’re making a lot of money, and
frankly, we just can’t afford to tithe. What do you think we
should do?”
The pastor replied, “Well, that’s really between you and
God. I can’t tell you what to do. But I can pray for you.
Let’s pray that God will return your income to what it was
25 years ago. Then you will be able to tithe once again.”
We’re standing on
the promises:
Prayers, presence, gifts and service.
Remember the promises.
In just a
moment we are all going to make our way to the chancel in an
act of commitment. We come here for communion every month to
receive God’s gifts of bread and wine, grace and
forgiveness, but now we come to give back. I want you to
know that your Administrative Council has already taken the
first step. We invited them to take the lead by turning in
their pledges in advance, and in addition, a good number of
other folks have already mailed in their commitments for
2008. So far, these advance commitments total almost
$500,000. Now it’s up to the rest of us. I also want you to
know that I have asked the Staff-Parish Relations Committee
not to increase my salary for next year, but that won’t stop
Judy and me from increasing our pledge. I invite you to
join us in that kind of commitment.
Our imagery
for this campaign has been all about fabrics and weaving the
tapestry of ministry. Jeff is wearing a stole Phyllis
Holmes made, and I’m wearing one I wove on my grandfather’s
loom. This loom before us represents the weaving together of
all of our time and talents, our gifts and our service in a
fabric of ministry. I invite you to come and bring your
weekly offerings, your loose change for hunger relief, and
your commitments for next year. Place them here in this loom
as your part in the great tapestry of faith.
We are going
to take a moment to pray over these cards. Pray about your
commitment (and maybe just add one more zero!). Then come,
remembering the promise.
We are standing on the
promises of God.
We are standing on our
promise to God. |
