Giving Changes Us

 Matthew 6:19-21

Stewardship
February 12, 2023

 

We’ve been talking about generosity
for a few weeks.

We’ve heard three great sermons from

our three in-house preachers.

And we heard from our stewardship team too.

I thank them all for their gifts and words about generosity

 

In Galatians, Paul talks about the fruits of the Spirit

Along with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,

generosity is one of the fruits of the spirit

the products of living a life close to Christ and open

to God’s inspiration.

 

Generosity is, maybe,

the most practical of the fruits.

It’s one that we can see the results of the easiest:

When we share what we have, we make a

difference – in the life of the church,

in the world, in people’s lives.

 

I told you that the first time I understood

generosity was when I saw my childhood church

rebuilt after a fire. People coming together,

opening their hearts, and sharing their treasure.

It made a difference in many churches,

it can make a real difference in the world.

Actually the inspiration and generosity of faithful 

people is one of the things that has made the most difference in the world.

You, the people of Christ Lutheran Church,

have been generous in so many ways.

Whether you’re here all year, or just part time.

even our visitors have been generous with

your money and your time.

 

You have been generous giving lunches each week

in the Thursday Lunch Break, you bake an incredible

amount of cookies for us to give away,

you distribute food to school children

through Backpack Buddies,

You replenish that Little Free pantry every day,

You’ve helped build houses with Habitat for Humanity,

you’ve given school supplies, coats, hats,

scarves, socks, quilts, prayer shawls,

you stepped up and gave more than 100

gift cards to the people of Chimney Cove and Family Promise

this Christmas, you share meals,

You helped and housed people after hurricane Matthew.

 

Christ Lutheran was the place that gave birth

to Deep Well through Charlotte Heinrichs.

You renovated this sanctuary,

you have given to the Preschool and kept it

nurturing thousands of young children on the Island,

you support the mission of this congregation

keeping the lights on salaries paid.

 

All this and much more has been done with the generosity

of the people of Christ Lutheran Church

opening your hearts and your wallets,

sharing your treasure to  make a difference.

  

But that giving doesn’t just make a difference

in the world, it makes a difference in each one of you.

I think that’s what Jesus is talking about in this gospel.

 

Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I think when we hear this, we assume Jesus meant it the other way.

Where your heart is, that’s where your treasure goes.

Give to what you already love.

Listen to your heart and it will tell you

where you should put your money and your time.

 

But Jesus didn’t say that.

He said where you put your treasure,

then your heart will follow.

 

Our generosity is a spiritual practice for the giver,

as well as a practical gift for the receiver.

Where we put our treasure,

then our life and our attention,

and our passions, and our heart

gets focused on that.

Giving changes us.

When we trust in God and we release our money

and we give to the things that God values,

When we give, when we make the sacrifice,

then our heart follows, then we start becoming

the people that God wants us to be.

Giving changes us.

 

When we decide to trust in God’s abundance,

our life becomes more abundant.

Not in terms of wealth,

I’m not going to tell you that you will get

personal, monetary wealth back if you give to our church

like some TV preachers like to tell their constituents.

But when we are generous,

it opens our hearts to really understand

God’s gifts and God’s love for us.

Our bank accounts might be lighter,

but our life becomes more abundant.

Giving Changes us.

 

When we give to God, we know we’re not storing our treasure

up on earth where rust and moths and thieves

and the unpredictable stock market can take it away.

We know that we’ve given what God has given to us, back to God.

Giving changes us.

 

Studies show generous people are like three times

happier than people who aren’t.

Generous people are more optimistic.

People who are older and generous live longer,

and with better health.

Giving changes us.

 

And generosity has changed this congregation.     

Our decisions to give and to serve have made us

more into the community that God wants us to be.

Our giving to our community has changed us.

  

In just a moment, we will share our intent to give

with God and this church,

and our hearts will follow those gifts.

 

But we remember,

no matter who we are,

or where we give,

or how much we give,

or how much we don’t give:

We are God’s beloved.

God’s unconditional love is our real, priceless treasure.

And where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also.

 

Let us pray:

We thank you God for all that we have and all that we are.

Use our gifts this year to make each of us and

Christ Lutheran into what you need us to be.

Amen.