DoxA

Don't Be a Jerk

I have a couple of friends who can recite lines from movies word for word. Most of these movies are comedies so when the two of them get together it's a hilarious combination of the comedy intended by the writers of the screenplay and the interpretation of my goofy friends. I purposely try to get them on the subject of Young Frankenstein or Monty Python's Holy Grail for my own selfish reasons.

There are some movies I can immediately recall details and dialog; most I forget as soon as I walk out of the theater or turn off the DVD. Some scenes come easily and others I need a great deal of reminding. But one movie and one scene particularly stands out... Steve Martin, a comic generous, helped write and starred in a comic classic called The Jerk. In this film, Martin plays Navin Johnson, a simpleton who invents a product (the Omni-grab a handle for eyeglasses that keep slipping down the nose) which carries him from poverty to riches but after a class-action lawsuit filed against him because his product causes people to go cross-eyed, he plummets to poverty... again. After writing every in the lawsuit a check personally and now bankrupt he is forced to leave his mansion... here's where we pick up the action.

"Well I'm gonna to go then. And I don't need any of this. I don't need this stuff, and I don't need you. I don't need anything except... this.” He picks up an ashtray. “And that's it and that's the only thing I need, is this. I don't need this or this." Pointing out other things in the office. "Just this ashtray.” And then he discovers a paddle ball game. “And this paddle game, the ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need. And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need... And these matches. The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control and the paddle ball. And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that's all I need. And that's all I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one - I need this.” He picks up a magazine. “The paddle game, and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches, for sure. And this.” And then a chair. “And that's all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair.” He heads out to the street, “And I don't need one other thing,” he sees his dog, “except my dog.” His dog barks at him... “I don't need my dog.”

It's a very funny scene that is tragic beyond the tragedy. What I mean is, we are just like Navin Johnson. We go through life knowing we don't need anything else but as soon as we realize what we might be missing and see there is so much around us just for the taking, we begin to collect and grab. And before we know it we're walking down life's road with a bunch of stuff we really don't need which only makes us look foolish to others who are content with what they have and who they've become.

Paul who penned the great promise to the Philippians that, "Our God will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory, in Christ Jesus." (Phil.4:19) kept this promise in the same light of his own experience.

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Php 4:11-13

   

Much of what keeps us from Generous Giving is our capacity, our contentment and our competition. If we can only have so much in our lives then our capacity for life should have enough room for God. But we fill it with so many other things in order to find contentment and those things compete for our affections and why wouldn't we when we are trying to keep up with those pesky Joneses? So, questions for us to consider...

• What makes you happy?
• What takes up your time?
• Do you ever consider that God wants to be a big part of your life?
• Do you have enough room for God?
• If so, do experience God doing big things in your life or small things?
• Do you wonder if God is doing anything?

Simply by answering those last couple of questions will reveal how much room you've made in your life for God. If He's doing big things; then He's got plenty of room in your life to work. But if He's doing small things or nothing at all... you've made Him small. Think about it! God wants to be generous through you. But he will only be as generous as you let Him. He will occupy only the space you give Him. He won't be satisfying if you look for satisfaction in other things and He certainly won't compete with the things of this world because He is holy.

    

So, do you want to be satisfied with what you have, a promise that God will supply all your needs or will you be a Jerk; grabbing more and more things that will only get in the way of what you really need?

The choice is yours.

I Knew It!

Just like I thought... and even predicted... as soon as I start talking about money; attendance at church plummets!

Here are the classic reasons:

1. I don't go to church to feel guilty.

2. I don't need anyone to talk to me about my money; it's a private affair.

3. I can't trust that if I do my part that other's will do theirs.

4. We should be spending this time on more important things like reaching the lost and making disciples of people.

5. All this talk about money is self motivated to build an institution and not a community of believers.

6. I'm already giving and don't need to hear this again.

... Just to name a few. But are these real reasons or just excuses?

As I've mentioned before Jesus talked a lot about money. The fact that one out of every six verses in the synoptic gospels deals with money and that of the 29 parables Jesus told, 16 deal with a person and their money, should say a lot about the importance to discuss this topic.

So, why the low attendance this past weekend in church? It could have been several things, none of which we can say are the real reason. But I did mention that because we would be talking about money I believed there would be those who would think of other things to be doing come Sunday morning. But again, why? I believe people are just afraid to deal with the subject.

Dave Ramsey, founder and presenter of the Financial Peace University says 70% of Americans today are facing financial difficulty and 55%  are concerned about their finances. That's enough worry or fear right there to make this point... But what's with the 15% who face the potential of financial difficulty but aren't concerned about it? I believe it's this 15% who will be the ones eventually facing bankruptcy courts because they weren't honest about their fear and their finances (of course I'm not an expert here so don't quote me).

Let me give you an example... there is a person I know who if the bills are too much or the pressure too big to handle, that person becomes like a ostrich who buries it's head in the sand or a baby who covers its eyes. In other words, "If I can't see you... you can't see me." So, the practice to ignore the bills by not seeing them or addressing them would somehow make those financial pressures disappear: Out of sight, out of mind! But we all know there is a day of reckoning!

Someone once told me, "Action dispels fear." Think about it. You know you have to make that phone call but you just can't bring yourself to pick up the phone because you're afraid of what might be said on the other end. So, the more you think about it the less you do about it. Finally, the only thing that gets you past your fear is to act! You pick up the phone, and the conversation wasn't nearly as bad as you thought it would be. Or you find yourself on the ledge of a 15 foot cliff over a pristine pool of water. You're looking down and it seems so much further than it appeared on the beach. You're frozen with fear for what you don't know... how the weightlessness will feel and the water's impact will have... but you jump and it's nothing like you imagined and the next time you don't hesitate, you may in fact, take a running start to your next jump.

When it comes to our giving and when it comes to our openness to discuss the subject; many of us are frozen in fear. It's like standing on that ledge... you know you should jump and deep down you know it'll be okay, but you just kind of stand back and think about it and think about it and think about it...

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. Php 4:6-7

Q's...

• What are you worrying about? No really! WHAT are you afraid of?
• Are you praying about it?
• Are you grateful for what you have?
• Do you complain about what you have? More importantly what you don't have?
• Is what you don't have the reason you're worried... why you're praying?
• Is thankfulness and God's provision related?
• Is thankfulness and God's peace related?
• How would a thankless heart produce fear?
• What does God's peace guard our hearts and minds from?
• When it comes to our giving what action should we take?

So, you're standing at the edge of your fear... when are you going to jump? There are people who have gone before you and are in the water telling you it's okay... you can see they made it and there are no bodies floating face down but you still have those pesky butterflies in your gut... ACTION takes away the fear. Talk about it... Give... and you may think to yourself when you've joined all the others... "It wasn't that bad!" And I can say... "I knew it... all along."

Give Till It Hurts

Do you ever remember hearing someone say... "Oh that hurts...but in a good way!"?

I never really got that. Okay, maybe you go for a run or you work out so the pain is somehow producing a benefit you know will come in time but let's just be honest. Pain, hurt, discomfort or any kind of tender awareness that goes beyond normal feelings and abates pleasure is not fun!

Since our society produces pleasure seekers and we have learned the fast track to pleasure... it's called Visa or Mastercard... our lives are anything but painful. Oh, we might get a little disappointed because we were temporarily inconvenienced because we actually exercised some restraint in a purchase or considered a budget for just a second in a moment of reason, but by and large, we tend to just go for it and defer the pain. let me say that again... we defer the pain. But more on that in a couple of weeks from now.

God has called us to be generous. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:8, "Freely you have received; so freely give!" This is a command in the same context of our Lord commissioning his disciples to do all the works of God, for the helpless. "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy and cast out demons." These are the people who are hurting! And these are the people who are just like you and me when it comes to our financial freedoms... we're sick if not dead. And like a leprosy the interest on our consumer credit is growing like a tumor and chocking off the life of our potential generosity... "Will someone please remove this demon inside!"

Now you may be saying, "Wow, getting a bit dramatic on us arncha?"

Well, not really when you consider that churches across the country, not to mention missionaries, parachurch ministries, non-profit organizations and orphanages struggle to make ends meet. These are the people and institutions that rely on the generosity of God's stewards.

Let's just stop for a second and consider what that word "Steward" means. Webster's Dictionary states a steward is, "One employed in a large household or estate to manage domestic concerns." to apply that definition, to those who are surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we then are commissioned with the responsibility of managing His affairs. It's easy to think the pastor or church elders are responsible for this (and they should be) but we are all called to this task. So, if we're not the business administrators of a local church then what are we to do? Let's first admit a couple of things to answer this question... First, generous giving is not giving 10 percent of our income to "the church." Generous giving might mean giving all of our income to the church. Secondly, generous giving is not giving strictly to "the church." Generous giving means you're giving to the needs around you. Which should include the church but also, your neighbor who's been out of work and needs assistance, a friend going off to the mission field or a local organization trying to help battered women. And thirdly, generous giving doesn't mean giving generously. Generous giving means giving till it hurts. For some reason Jesus wanted to make the point, as does the apostle Paul, that generous giving is not an amount but a sacrifice.

Should generous giving be a sacrifice? Jesus didn't call it that when he observed the widow put in everything she had for the temple offering but he compared it to the rich who were giving much more but out of their surplus. In other words, "Here's what I can give and it still doesn't cost me anything."

King David, who had to decide between three different punishments, chose to "fall into the hands of a merciful God." After God issues David's punishment, which was to let David live and take the lives of 70,000 innocent people (don't tell me our sin don't affect others) He then commands David to make a sacrifice at a threshing floor in Jerusalem. When David asks to buy the land from it's owner, to build the sacrificial alter, the owner offers to give David the land, the wood from the threshing floor and the oxen for the sacrifice...

^{But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver* for the threshing floor and the oxen.} 

^* Hebrew 50 shekels of silver, about 20 ounces or 570 grams in weight.

Tyndale House Publishers: Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 2nd ed. Wheaton, Ill. : Tyndale House Publishers, 2004, S. 2 Sa 24:24

   Give... till it hurts. That's sacrifice.

Remember, God wants you to give generously from the heart and He doesn't want your giving to be a form of art. In other words, don't display it, hope someone will admire it or expect it to have some value for anything other than what it is (a painting is nothing really more than wood, canvas and paint).

Here the questions are simple.

• Is your giving sacrificial or is it artificial?
• Do you give based on what you have or what you see?
• Do you give first and then see what's left for your needs or do you meet your needs and see what's left for your giving?
• Do you give in hopes of fulfilling some obligation or do you give because you understand you are a steward of Gods treasures?
• Have you ever experienced the surprise of abundance when you have little?
• Have you ever experienced the surprise of having little when you had an abundance?
• Knowing what you know about generous giving, what do you think God would say to you directly regarding your faith in giving to His church and to others?

Now I hope you'll consider these questions without guilt. The purpose of asking is to challenge the practice of generous giving not to make anyone feel guilty. The reason I feel it's important to state this concern is too many churches have capitalized (no pun intended) on the guilt factor to generate giving. Notice I left out the generous preface.

So when it comes to our giving; God sees it favorable when it is generous... He also is pleased when it is gladly given... but that's for next week.