FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Sermon by Dr. George Bryant
Wirth
Commitment Sunday
November 16, 2003
ALL FOR CHRIST AND THE
KINGDOM OF GOD:
YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!
Scripture: Luke 12:13-21; Text: Luke 9:23-25
Throughout
the past five weeks, our Annual Giving Campaign has focused on the theme “All
for Christ and the Kingdom of God.” The
sermons that have been preached during this stewardship season, together with
the moments for ministry and mission which have been shared from this pulpit by
leaders in our congregation – all of those messages have sought to describe how
our commitment to follow Jesus Christ can and will lead to faithful living and
generous giving, right here in this church and out there in God’s kingdom on earth.
The
brochure which every member received in the mail reminds us of the growing need
for help across this city, nation and world and the hope that your pledges will
bring to more people than we can possibly count. Today, on Commitment Sunday, we will ask you to come forward at
the end of this worship service, to put your pledge cards on the communion
table as a tangible and visual sign of your desire to respond to Christ’s call,
when He said To those whom much is given, of them will much be required (Luke
12:48).
I.
Now the title of our sermon today does not come directly from the Bible, but rather from a popular television program many years ago. Some of us are old enough to remember the Jack Benny show, and how he used to delight his audience with a skit that featured a holdup man who accosted the famous comedian and demanded “Your money or your life!” After a long pause that seemed like an eternity, Benny would reply with his hand on his cheek and a gleam in his eye, “I’m thinking. I’m thinking.”
For
the next few minutes, I would like all of us to think about another story which
is found in the scriptures but isn’t so funny - one of Jesus’ parables recorded
in the 12th chapter of Luke.
It was prompted by a question someone asked Him about dividing up a
family inheritance. With some initial
words of warning about greed, saying Take heed, and beware of all
covetousness, for a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of their
possessions (Luke 12:13-15), this is the story Jesus told:
A
wealthy farmer took in a plentiful harvest and realized that he needed more
storage space. So he decided to tear
down the barns that were there and put up bigger barns which could hold all of
his crops with some extra square footage to spare. (So far, so good – nothing wrong with success. That farmer had been blessed.)
But
then he said to himself, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years, so
take your ease – eat, drink and be merry.”
And that, according to Jesus, was the fatal mistake, for God said to the
farmer, “You fool! This night your soul
is required of you; and the things you have laid away, whose will they
be?” Jesus concluded the parable
saying, So it will be for those who store up treasures for themselves but
are not rich toward God (Luke 12:13-21).
Notice
please, that this story does not deny that man’s good fortune, neither does it
criticize his building program or his lay away retirement plan. What was wrong, said Jesus – dead wrong –
was that the man tried to keep it all for himself. He gave nothing back to God, refused to share his wealth with
anyone else, and because of his greed, he paid the ultimate price – he lost
both his money and his life.
Last
fall, I heard my good friend Dr. Ted Wardlaw, former pastor of Central Presbyterian
Church in Atlanta and now president of Austin Seminary in Texas – I heard Ted
Wardlaw describe this parable with his own words:
“The main character in the parable is a man like many of us – successful. We don’t know how old he is – maybe he’s fresh out of graduate school, maybe he’s in his mid-thirties or forties, in his most productive years, financially speaking. In the text it says that he’s a farmer, but he could just as easily have been a prominent attorney, or a banker, or a doctor, or the owner of a Pontiac dealership. What’s important is that he’s a first-class success as the world defines that word. He’s probably, therefore, a Presbyterian, and when he makes just a bit more money, he’ll probably become an Episcopalian. So here is a person who sizes it all up and decides that all of the credentials and all of those possessions have an ultimate kind of value.” (From a sermon by Dr. Theodore Wardlaw, Central Presbyterian Church, October 17, 2002).
And
that, according to Jesus Christ, was and is a dangerous conclusion to make when
it comes to our money and our lives.
Our text for today puts it this way:
For what does it profit if we gain the whole world and forfeit our
souls?
II.
You see, the ultimate truth is that what we have is not our own. Everything we’ve received is a gift from God, and all of it is on loan to us during this journey through life. And when we die, all of our stuff will be left behind. A New Yorker Magazine cartoon pictures a man at the gates of heaven, wearing sunglasses and sitting at the wheel of his Rolls Royce with bags of money and a set of golf clubs in the back seat. Saint Peter is standing there with a big book in his hands, and the caption reads: “You don’t understand. I am Harrison R. Bentley II, and I can take it with me.”
Well,
that’s not the way it works, in this life or in the next. We can’t take it with us and there’s no way
to send it on ahead. So while we’re
here on earth, God expects you and me to share what we have received with those
who are in need. And as Christians, the
primary way we can do that is through the church.
Our
children need a safe and secure place where they can learn about God and the
love and grace of Jesus Christ. Your
pledges make that possible. Our
teenagers need youth ministers and weekend retreats and mission trip
opportunities so that they can grow in faith and reach out to serve
others. Your pledges help that happen.
We
have just called Kevin Knab to become the Associate Pastor for an increasing
number of young adults who are streaming into this church. We need more resources than ever before to
minister to them and to develop Bible studies and alternative worship services
that will draw them closer to the Lord.
Your pledges will underwrite those new endeavors.
Our
partnership with Hillside Presbyterian Church was launched a year ago with
Connie Lee as the pastor who is bringing our two congregations together to
address the needs of men and women in prison, refugees coming here from other
nations and reaching out to children around the world through our Cross
Connection mission. Your pledges will
allow us to expand all of those efforts.
Penny
Hill was recently called as Associate Pastor for Family Ministry, where we
focus on the needs of husbands and wives, parents and children, sisters and
brothers who are drawing closer to each other and to God. Your pledges will help our families grow
stronger in their relationships.
And
every day, right here in the heart of the city, we embrace with open hearts and
outstretched hands the needs of homeless people who come here for help; the
needs of homebound older adults who are waiting for meals on wheels and for
someone to visit them; the needs of those who are hospitalized and the needs of
those who seek healing in our counseling center. In fact, the needs of so many are expanding exponentially all
around us, and your pledges enable us to care for them and to share God’s love
with hundreds, even thousands of people every week - not only here at the
corner of 16th and Peachtree, but out there, across this city and
state through our radio and television ministry and to other regions of the
world like Kenya, South Africa, Brazil, Honduras and Haiti.
So
what it all comes down to is how we reach out to as many as we can with both
our money and our lives – All for Christ and the Kingdom of God. That is our theme in this Annual Giving
Campaign, and the time has now come to dedicate our pledges in His holy name. As we prepare to come forward and place our
cards on the communion table, there are two people I want you to think about.
One
is a little girl whose father gave her a penny and a quarter as they sat down
together in the pew on a Sunday morning.
The father said to his daughter, “When the offering is taken, I want you
to decide which of those coins you will put in the plate.”
The
father purposely didn’t watch as the ushers worked the aisles, but when the
service was over, he asked his daughter which coin she had put into the
plate. She looked up with a twinkle in
her eye and answered, “Well dad, you heard the preacher say that the Lord loves
a cheerful giver. I knew I could give
the penny a lot more cheerfully than I could give the quarter, so I gave the
penny.”
My
friends: that little girl was cute, bright and cheerful, but mistaken. Because the greater the gift, the deeper the
joy, especially when it is given sacrificially and freely, just as Jesus Christ
gave His love and life for us.
Which
leads us to the other person I want you to think about now. His name is Thomas, and at the breakfast for
homeless persons last Sunday, he gave this envelope to Rev. Black with a
handshake and a smile on his face and these words written down which I share
with you in closing today:
For the offering.
From a guest at the Sunday
breakfast
Who has no home and eats
here every Sunday
And who wants to give back
instead of being on
The receiving end all the
time.
Thomas
And inside the envelope, which I will put on the communion table in just a few minutes, is Thomas’ pledge to this church – two twenty dollar bills, a ten and a one - $51.00 – all for Christ and the Kingdom of God. You see, Thomas has begun to understand and to believe what it’s all about – it’s about sharing what you have received with those who are in need – both your money and your life!
In
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The sermon distribution fund has been established by the Session of First Presbyterian Church to enable friends and groups to make contributions for the printing of the Sunday sermons. Sermon leaflets will be printed from time to time, as they are requested and as funds are available. Please designate your gift for Sermon Distribution Fund. Thank you for your support.