#16 Why Generosity? 11/20/2009
#17 A Hiding Place 12/30/2009
Recently Parkview Christian Church , in a sermon series on finances, spent considerable time discussing generosity. Pastor Tim always does a great job of getting to the street-level relevance of God’s instructions and this time he took it one step farther to show how obedience leads to freedom that allows a life of generosity. We say we want to be giving people but we get stuck arguing about obedience so we never arrive at a place where we can be givers. Let’s look at a passage that Pastor Tim used.
2 Corinthians 8 (The Message) 7 You do so well in so many things—you trust God, you're articulate, you're insightful, you're passionate, you love us—now, do your best in this, too. 8-9 I'm not trying to order you around against your will. …, I am hoping to bring the best out of you. You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.
The personal finance author Ron Blue says, “Show me someone’s checkbook and I’ll show you their God.” That would be a scary pop-quiz for most Christians wouldn’t it? Let’s see $110 per month to DirectTV™, $120 for the iphone™, $60 for high-speed internet, $500 to Toyota Credit, $400 to Visa and, oh yes, can’t forget, my faithful $20 each month to God. Neither Mr. Blue nor the apostle Paul condemn those caught in the rut of consumerism. Rather, they lament how these folks rob themselves of what might be if they would bring their checkbook along as they sing, ”All to Jesus, I surrender, all to him I freely give…” Paul says, ”… now, do your best in this, too” to encourage a completeness with nothing held back and no limitation on what the Father can do in a life already modeling trusting, articulate, insightful, passionate, and loving qualities.
Today, one of the victims of this economic downturn is we are tighter with a buck. Tips are smaller, charities are suffering, and acts of kindness rationalized away. But the Apostle Paul is “hoping to bring the best out of you” for your own good. Those moments when we over-tip or put a real contribution in the bell-ringer’s bucket or buy a sack of groceries for the food bank are our best moments. We see purpose in our struggles, connection to our community and the needle on our character meter pegs at max.
I am no different than you. The recent plummet in my personal income has me “Scrooged” tight. Writing checks for my building fund pledge is an exercise in stubborn will. I have to remind myself that my investment in HIS business will never show up on my Personal Financial Statement but is already paying great dividends in another realm. Why, just last weekend hundreds of people were baptized at the church built in a small way by my gifts; Another “the best” moment.
But there is more to this so, let’s not stop; let’s read on into chapter nine to see a whole new world of benefits…
2 Corinthians 9 (The Message) 14-15 You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough the earnestness of others.
Some years back a friend of mine began a work among the Quechua Indians around the city of Cochabamba , Bolivia
This season let us be “moved by the extravagance of God” in every way
#17 A Hiding Place 12/30/2009
The best thing to say about 2009 is that it is almost over! Whew, what a year! The entertainment magazines and TV shows are frantically compiling the list of notable events, so let’s not waste any lines or time in a similar exercise. For me, the crushing weight of chaotic change in our government, a bleak economic outlook, family matters and difficulties in business have been, at times, nearly unbearable burdens. Far too many days end trudging from the car to the house uncertain if I can make it to the door as the mental mass of worry threatens to drive me to my knees. My wife will tell you that this year may be my worst as her partner of nearly thirty years. As much as I may want to sit down on the couch in the evening and discuss the developments of the day, I am often powerless to do so. Trained as a counselor, she will say that my insulating her from the dreadful of that day was actually isolating her. Guilty as charged, but I kept telling myself, “I just gotta hide for a while.”
The only constructive spot to go underground seemed to be my cabin in the woods on the shores of Lake Michigan . Hundreds of miles from my house and light years from my work, it affords solitude conducive to accepting what has happened and steeling myself to what lies ahead. The waves on the water, wind in the trees and stars in the heavens provide a cocoon of quiet that satiates the need to escape. But the last time I was there I wondered if I really was hiding at all. As much as my soul is restored at
5010 Bay Shore Drive there remains a missing piece to the puzzle.
5010 Bay Shore Drive there remains a missing piece to the puzzle.
Turning to the Book of God, actually biblegateway.com, a search for ‘hiding place’ took me to:
Psalm 32:7 (King James Version) 7Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Psalm 119:114 (King James Version) 114Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.
While both are encouraging, I noted that there is nothing about crawling in a hole and pulling it shut behind you, so I read on. I came to another time and place in Exodus 33 where God hid Moses from his own glory:
18 Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." 19 And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." 21 Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."
The learned among you are already critical of that reference in the context of hiding from the trials and test of life so bear with me just a little longer. Lets turn to a familiar old hymn of the church that I remember because I am now older than some rocks. Fanny J. Crosby, [1820–1915], the blind author of over 800 hymns, wrote the words to “He Hideth My Soul” in 1890 that celebrates this moment of God’s proximity to Moses and his tender protection.
1. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
A wonderful Savior to me;
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
Where rivers of pleasure I see.
2. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
He taketh my burden away;
He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved,
He giveth me strength as my day.
3. With numberless blessings each moment He crowns,
And filled with His fullness divine,
I sing in my rapture, oh, glory to God
For such a redeemer as mine!
4. When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise
To meet Him in clouds of the sky,
His perfect salvation,
His wonderful love I'll shout with the millions on high.
Chorus:
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life with the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
Okay, Tim, bring this one home before you lose your audience. Fanny’s song and Exodus 33 proclaim that crawling into the crack in the rock, a secret closet, a cabin in the woods or whatever hole you run to while in trouble is a partial, incomplete prescription for healing, strength building and encouragement. A hiding place is only good if God’s Glory walks by.
So now the question is where is the best crack in the rock with this new understanding of the requirement that it takes a crack and Glory for anything meaningful to transpire? Why, it’s church you numbskull! God’ house, the Holy of Holies, the chapel, parish, tabernacle, or whatever you call yours. All my life the loner in me has run away to a solitary place and tried to find safety and security when His great design was for me to run to His Place and be covered by his mercy as His Glory walks by. The ultimate hiding place is out in the open among the God’ family, His kids, where everyone is covered by His protecting hands and their very countenance energized as His Glory walks by.
So now the question is where is the best crack in the rock with this new understanding of the requirement that it takes a crack and Glory for anything meaningful to transpire? Why, it’s church you numbskull! God’ house, the Holy of Holies, the chapel, parish, tabernacle, or whatever you call yours. All my life the loner in me has run away to a solitary place and tried to find safety and security when His great design was for me to run to His Place and be covered by his mercy as His Glory walks by. The ultimate hiding place is out in the open among the God’ family, His kids, where everyone is covered by His protecting hands and their very countenance energized as His Glory walks by.
Okay , so maybe First Church of the Crack wouldn’t be a good name for a church but it is closer to what God has for me and you than half the silly names I see plastered on the signs out front of houses of worship around town. So, here’s to some quality time in the Cleft of the Rock in 2010!
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