Sermon -- 25th Sunday after Pentecost (November 10, 2024)

1 KINGS 17:8-16

THE LORD IS GENEROUS SO THAT WE CAN BE GENEROUS.

In the name + of Jesus.

     The readings today all focus on the generosity of God’s people with their offerings.  This is the kind of Sunday which leads people to say that all the church is interested in is money.  Of the sixty-some services that we have this year, I think this is the only one which has readings about offerings.  If all the church is interested in is money, it seems to me that we would pound on this message for more than 1.5% of the services this year.

     One message that gets lost is what our offerings are for.  Another is what motivates us to give offerings to begin with.  Another is the source from which we give our offerings.  Our Lord is generous in supplying all our needs day after day, year after year.  The Lord’s generosity exceeds our needs.  Our basic needs are food, clothing, and shelter.  We do not need to decorate our homes with seasonal items.  We do not need to have appliances or tableware that we use maybe once a month.  We do not need to have expensive toys, multiple TVs, or collections of our favorite trinkets.  But God has been generous to us so that we get to enjoy more than food, clothing, and shelter.  We also get to enjoy washing machines and dryers, indoor plumbing, video streaming, and vacations.  If someone insists, “All the church is interested in is money,” let him be honest enough to admit that his own interest is in the money which allows him to live so comfortably.  To accuse the Church is to hide one’s own greed.  Worse, it is to tell God that he has no right to what he has given you in the first place.  Repent.

     The Lord has been generous to us.  The source of our offerings is what God has generously given.  Offerings cannot be given unless the Lord has first given gifts to us.  And why does God give you your wealth?  Why is the Lord so generous?  So that we can be generous with his gifts. 

     If you look through the pages of Scripture, you will see that giving generously is a hallmark of God’s people.  Consider the Psalms, “The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives” (Psalm 37:21).  Proverbs teaches us, “A person who spreads blessings will be enriched.  One who gives a refreshing drink will be refreshed.  People curse the person who hoards grain, but a blessing rests on the head of one who sells it” (Proverbs 11:25-26).  And St. James wrote in his epistle, “Religion that is pure and undefiled in the sight of God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27).  The Lord is generous so that we can be generous and use our wealth to benefit those who need it. 

     The Lord provided for the needs of his prophet and for a widow during a long period of famine.  The Lord had cared for Elijah in Israel, but eventually the brook which sustained him dried up.  So, the Lord sent him north, out of the country.  The Lord had told Elijah, “Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you” (1 Kings 17:9).  This widow was in dire straits.  She had just enough flour and oil left for one last meal.  She was gathering a few sticks to cook up some biscuits for her son and herself.  After that, they would be left to starve until death came.

     When Elijah met her, his request was very bold.  “‘Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.’  And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “‘Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand’” (1 Kings 17:10-11).  This widow had barely enough for her son and herself, and now Elijah requested, “Feed me first”?!  It seemed like an utterly selfish request.  The widow expressed reluctance, but not refusal.  The Lord, however, promised amazing generosity to this widow if she would trust God’s prophet.  Elijah told her: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth’” (1 Kings 17:14).  The Lord was generous to the widow so that she could be generous to God’s prophet. 

     And the Lord continued to be generous to the widow.  Just as he had promised, “She and he and her household ate for many days.  The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:15-16).  The Lord is generous so that we can be generous and use our wealth, however meager, to benefit those in need.

     The Church has always been devoted to helping those in need.  In the days of the apostles, alms were given to provide for widows.  In the case of the Corinthians, they were taking up a collection for the saints in Jerusalem who were suffering through a famine.  In a time and place where there was no welfare, no social security, and no government programs, widows and orphans were helpless.  The Lord had special concern for them.

     The heavenly Father had compassion for those children who had no fathers.  The heavenly bridegroom had compassion for those women who had lost their husbands.  Through fathers and husbands, the Lord brings provision and protection to wives and children.  God could provide through miraculous means, but he uses people to do this noble work—just as he uses the farmer, the baker, the butcher, and the grocer to supply the food we eat.  But when fathers and husbands die, God calls upon his Church to care for its own members to preserve and support them.  In this way, God’s people reflect God’s goodness.  This is still the case today.

     For the most part, people today count on community programs to help those in need, but most of these grew out of the church’s work.  When Christians saw babies and children left to die of exposure, they established orphanages, saying, “We will love and care for them.”  When Christians saw people who were sick and dying, they established hospitals, saying, “We will love and care for them.”  When Christians saw the elderly who needed more care than their children could give, they established nursing homes, saying, “We will love and care for them.”  Many of these efforts have become businesses.  We can debate whether that is better or worse.  Nevertheless, God’s people are still called to be generous, demonstrating love to those in need, whether we work through a charity, take a church collection, or give privately to individuals.  It is not a love of mere words, but of action.  The Lord is generous to us so that we can be generous to others.

     So, why do we do it?  Why sacrifice wealth that could be used to further enhance our own homes or standard of living?  It is because our Lord has been so generous to us.  His generosity is shown not merely by providing our daily bread.  It is made known especially through Jesus Christ.  Jesus personifies generosity in supplying all that we need for eternal life.  He did not do it because he owed it to us.  Rather, it is we who owe obedience to the Lord’s commands and gratitude for his gifts.  But we have given neither.  We have loved ourselves more than God, and our love for our wealth proves it.  It rankles us when the sermon is about money.  We can put up with being rebuked and corrected for many things, knowing our behavior can be better.  But hearing what God says about the love of money always gets us agitated.  It is uncomfortable to hear God tell us that we owe him the firstfruits of our wealth.  It shows that we do not love God with our whole heart, not when we withhold from him what is his.  And we do not love our neighbor as ourselves.  We are generous to ourselves, but not to our neighbor in need. 

     But Jesus has not cast us off for our selfishness, coldness, and greed.  Instead, he is generous with his mercy and grace.  In mercy, Jesus has not treated us as our sins deserve.  He does not reduce us to living in squalor.  But even if our Lord withdraws blessings from us and finds ways to take our money from us, he acts in mercy.  If your money is taken from you, then you cannot love or trust it as you do.  Jesus is also generous with his grace.  He gives us blessings that we do not deserve.  This is especially true in regard to our salvation.

     Our Lord has been generous to us, pouring out his salvation upon us.  Jesus, in turn, had God’s wrath poured out upon him.  Jesus had generously provided healing to the sick, relief to the guilt-stricken, and hope to the humble.  But in turn, Jesus took up our greed, our guilt, and our ingratitude.  He gave himself into death and damnation to deliver us from them.  Now he richly and daily forgives all sins to you and to all who believe in him.  He is the full payment for our debts, and he continually covers over all our sin.  The Lord has been generous to us.

     The Lord has redirected our attention and devotion so that we can be generous.  Our attention has been redirected to the kingdom that will come rather than on establishing a kingdom for ourselves in this world.  Our devotion is to serve our Lord and to love our neighbor in his need.  And since we live in a broken world that knows diseases and disasters, we find many opportunities to be generous in mercy to those who are suffering.  The Lord is generous so that we can be generous.

     It should be noted that the Lord has not laid upon you the obligation to fix everyone’s problems.  When Jesus spoke about Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, he noted, “There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah…  Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in Sidon” (Luke 4:25-26).  Elijah did not provide miraculous aid to every widow in Israel or in Sidon.  Jesus did not restore every dead husband to his grieving wife, not even his own guardian, Joseph, to the Virgin Mary.  So also, you do not need to cure every burden.  You can’t.  You have the freedom to show mercy where you see the need.  And you do not need to feel guilty when you can’t.  God is generous in this way—that he moves his people to provide all kinds of relief to all kinds of people.  God has scattered his people throughout the world to show love in their particular place and time.  God has also given people their particular interests so that some have a passion for natural disaster relief, others donate to the American Heart Association, others work in soup kitchens, and so on. 

     God’s people can afford to be generous because the Lord has been so generous to us.  He has delivered us from a dying world, and he leaves us in this dying world so that we can bring hope to the dying and help to the hurting.  The Lord is generous to us so that we can be generous to others.  In this way, God’s people reflect the goodness of God.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.