Sermon for April 10th (Stewardship of Gifts)

Ephesians 4:14, “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. Perhaps the title of this sermon on stewardship should be simply: Grow up!

Is your faith still in kindergarten? Now, for some you, your faith is still in kindergarten because, well, you are a kindergartner. Very understandable. For some of you, you’re not even that ar. Your faith is still in infancy. You’ve just recently come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and maybe you are crawling through life just learning to walk upright like my youngest son. Just like with him, we, as a faith community, are going to clap and sing your praises every single time you take another step of faith on your own. It’s as joyful of an experience for us as it is for you. Having a young faith is a blessing from God.

However, having an immature faith is a very different story. For some of you, your faith is in kindergarten not because of your age and not because you just became a Christian but because you are scared to grow up. You are like Peter Pan who wants to stay a little boy forever! Or, maybe, you just have never cared to take on the responsibilities of adulthood. God has given you gifts and talents and you’ve buried them underneath fear, doubt and ambivalence. And, in doing this, you have not only affected your own relationship with God, but you’ve affected this church and you’ve affected your family. Until you start using your gifts as God intends, you, this community and your family will suffer the consequences.

“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” What could this community become if we used our talents and gifts according to God’s will and not our own? But, unfortunately, we are still stuck with our minds in this old world. Conformed to what we believe the world wants us to be.

Romans chapter 12, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” When it comes to our talents and gifts, what is the pattern of this world for sharing them? Well, think about it. What are the things that you are really good at? What do you use them to do?

To get paid, right? To enhance your career. To get ahead. Or maybe you write them down on your college resume so that you can get into the best schools. Perhaps you use your skills to become popular in school or calm yourself down at the end of the day. We are driven and encouraged in our society to use our skills to better our lives and gain respect from others, whether that means we are known as the best knitter in Southwestern Iowa or the most organized secretary in the company. It would appear to most people that God has given us gifts and talents so that we might live a happy and fulfilling life. They are called “gifts” after all. Gifts from God for us!

But, believe it or not, that’s not what God gave you gifts for. Even in the church, we have misused the concept of spiritual gifts to enhance our own reputations and make ourselves feel more “spiritual”. It’s so easy to be deceived into following this world’s way of thinking. But the gifts that God has given you aren’t for you, they are for the sake of someone else. Perhaps that’s why God created us to be in relationship to other people, in communities with others, so that he’d always be able to use us as his hands and feet for someone else and get us fed and supported through the hands and feet of others. Saint Paul says, “For no one lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone.”

How are your gifts used at home? How might you be a good steward of your gifts at home? Remember the reading from Romans, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Like it or not (and, by the way, I DON’T like it) do you want to know what the most “spiritual” gifts are that I can use at home? Cleaning the toilets, taking out the trash, changing diapers, fixing supper, brushing teeth and doing our monthly budget. For some reason, God has blessed me with these jobs because I can do them pretty well. And, no, they are NOT gifts for me—they are gifts for my wife and family. God gives us gifts so that we have something to GIVE to someone else. Or, as it is put in 1st Peter chapter 4, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.” I am a “gift” to my family as far as I am willing to use my skills for their sake.

Let me explain this another way. I remember one time visiting my mom who was sick in the hospital when my parents were still married. Before we went up to the room, we stopped by the gift shop and my dad had me pick out something to give to her. I don’t remember what it was, but I do remember giving it to my mom. She smiled and said she loved it. In other words my father gave me a gift that I used for someone else. But who REALLY received the gift? My mom probably got a stuffed animal or a plant. I received the joy of giving, but my dad received the greatest gift. Seeing my mother loved and me able to show her my love.

I heard a story about what one pastor in North Dakota did to explain the story of the talents that we read today. He asked several people in his congregation to donate large sums of money for a “project” he would do at the next week’s service. He handed out five envelopes. Each envelope had $500 dollars in it. The envelopes were handed out to random people and the only rules, as far as I remember them, were this: you can use this money for any purpose you want, but you’ll have to promise to come back here next week and share with the congregation what you did with it. It was FREE money. A gift.

By the next week, the stories were astounding. People used the money for tons of different benevolences sometimes multiplying the amount ten times through matching funds and from their own pocketbooks. And while none of them used these generous gifts for themselves, they all felt like they had received quite a substantial gift in being able to give it away. Here’s the point: As long as you think that your spiritual gifts are for you, you will always feel like someone else is using you, or you HAVE to do things, or life is unfair. This is called immaturity. When couples come into my office and talk about wanting “my stuff” “my way” and that type of thing, they are normally not the 80 year olds, but the newly married. The “immature” you might say. But if you see your gifts as gifts for others, then you will start to understand what Paul is saying in Romans about your spiritual act of worship being to “offer your body as a living sacrifice.”

That’s NOT the way the world thinks is it. According to the world, you should use your gifts to make your life better. But according to God, your gifts are yours for making the lives of others better. As Jesus put it, the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. God has given you talents and gifts and skills because he loves you and he trusts you to use them for the sake of this world. The best gifts I’ve ever received are the ones I’ve given.

If you do not use your gifts for your calling at home, your whole family suffers. If I do not clean the bathrooms, take out the trash, change diapers and cook food, my family suffers in many diverse ways. And I will not be living out the very spiritual calling God has given me to be a good husband and father. In addition, God has called each and every one of you into this household here at Emmanuel and, beyond that, into the household of Christians on this Earth. If you, as a member of this congregation, do not start using your gifts to serve others the whole body suffers and you suffer as well. Not only that, but the world suffers and so does the name of Christ. So often, when we talk about spiritual gifts, it all about you. But God calls us to realize that he gave us these gifts, as presents to give to others.

According to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus said, “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” One of the best gifts I have ever been given by God is the opportunity to serve this congregation as its pastor. I love it. It’s strenuous at times, overwhelming even, but serving you and your families blesses me with love, meaning and joy. But, as many pastors in many different churches have found out, if I start becoming focused on my own abilities, on my own ego and pride thinking that God has somehow blessed me with spiritual gifts for fortune and fame, I have no doubt that God will take away this great congregation from me in an instant. It’s happened to many much more skilled pastors in much larger congregations before me. Pride comes just before the fall, they say. When your gifts become all about you, you lose their blessings.

My prayer for you and for me, is that we stop looking at our gifts, our talents and our skills like the world would have us see them: as ways to get ahead and serve ourselves. Instead, maybe we might see them as opportunities to be of some earthly good others. Because, when that becomes the truth for you, when your mind is transformed in this way, you will have received the greatest gift that God could ever give you. Amen.