FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

Commitment Sunday

November 11, 2007

CHRIST AT THE CENTER:

JESUS CHRIST AND ANDREW CARNEGIE

Scripture: Luke 19:1-10

INTRODUCTION

Over the many years of preaching stewardship sermons here, I have shared a number of stories with you that come from Scotland.

You may remember the one about an unhappy preacher up in the Highlands who inserted this notice into the bulletin on a Sabbath Day:

Will those who have been putting buttons into the collection plate please put in your own buttons and not those from the church upholstery

Or perhaps you recall the Anglican cleric of a church in London who called for the offering during the worship service. When the ushers brought the plates forward, the rector saw three small copper coins on top of all the paper money. With a slight degree of sarcasm in his voice, the rector said out loud “I see that we probably have a Scotsman with us in the congregation today.” Within seconds a voice boomed out from the balcony, “Nay sir, not just one – there are three of us up here!”

We’ve all smiled at the way a Presbyterian preacher from Glasgow concluded his stewardship sermon, quoting from II Corinthians 9, verse 7, and then adding this twist to the text: “The Lord loveth a cheerful giver… but He will also accepteth from a grouch.”

And one of my all time favorites from Dr. Frank Harrington (rest his soul), told in a sermon many years ago about an old and affluent elder from St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh who was on his deathbed, and called for the minister to come as soon as possible. After he arrived and offered a prayer, the minister, leaning close to the dying man, heard him whisper with some of the last breaths that were in him, “Do you think if I left ten thousand pounds to the Kirk that I might make it to heaven?” The minister thought for a moment and then whispered back, “I think it’s an experiment worth trying.”

Those stories picture the stereo-type of Scottish people in general, and Presbyterians in particular, as being tight-fisted with their money. But there was one Scotsman who came to America in 1848, the same year our church was founded, and he turned that stereo-typical tight-fisted image upside down and inside out. His name was Andrew Carnegie, and although he was not a church-going man on Sundays, he did believe that God had called him to give all of his money away.

I

The most recent biography, entitled “Andrew Carnegie” and written by David Nasaw (2006), tells us that when Carnegie moved to Pittsburgh with his family in 1848, he was only twelve years old. At the age of 13 he was a bobbin boy in a textile factory, working for a dollar twenty a week. He was mentored by several prominent businessmen who saw great promise in this energetic and intelligent lad, and by the time he was 23, now employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad and an investor in the Pullman sleeping car, Carnegie was already worth $400,000.

Soon thereafter, he joined Henry Bessemer in building blast furnaces for the booming steel industry, and by 1892, the Carnegie Steel Corporation was out-producing most of the competition in the world.

But that same year, Carnegie paid a painful price for his hard driving tactics as the Homestead Steel Works exploded into the most violent labor strike disaster in America’s history. Carnegie was vilified across the country as a robber baron, and toward the end of that decade, right at the turn of the century, Carnegie lost his desire to stay in the steel industry, and sold his company to J. P. Morgan in 1901.

When Morgan formally announced the organization of the United States Steel Corporation, Carnegie’s share came to $226 million. So at the age of 66, Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant who began with next to nothing, became the wealthiest man in the world. And he resolved that before he died, he would give every single dollar away.

The guiding principles for his philanthropy were written down carefully by Carnegie in a series of essays called “The Gospel of Wealth,” finally published as a book in 1900. In these brief excerpts, I think you will find the framework of Andrew Carnegie’s philosophy and faith which he found in the Bible:

“The highest life is probably to be reached, animated by Christ’s Spirit, as we labor for the good of our fellow (human beings), which was the essence of His (Christ’s) life and teaching…This then is (our duty) – for people of wealth to become the trustees and agents for their poorer brethren…

Time was when the words (of Christ) concerning the rich man entering the Kingdom were regarded as a hard saying – ‘It is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven’ …Today, (this) startling verse…awaits…revision…for he who dies rich dies disgraced…

The ‘Gospel of Wealth’ but echoes Christ’s words…and calls upon the millionaire to sell all that he has and give it in the highest and best form to the poor…before he is called to lie down to rest. In so doing, he will approach his end no longer the …hoarder of useless millions…but rich…in the affection, gratitude and admiration of his fellow (human beings)…and sustained by the still small voice within, which, whispering, tells him that because he lived, perhaps one small part of the great world has been bettered just a little. This much is sure: against such riches as these, no bar will be found at the gates of paradise.”

You see, Andrew Carnegie believed that what Jesus said was true: To those whom much is given, of them will much be required (Luke 12:48). And Carnegie tried to fulfill that requirement from the age of 66 until the end of his life. He gave away more than $250 million, worth nearly $120 billion today, to education, world peace, public libraries, medical research, recreation and as our Director of Music Ministry knows, Carnegie built more than 7000 pipe organs throughout the world and a concert hall in New York City which bears his name.

To be sure, Andrew Carnegie had his critics, including The Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, a Methodist bishop, who wrote these words in his review of “The Gospel of Wealth”:

“Carnegie is personally a most estimable and generous man…entirely worthy of …praise. But when I contemplate him as the representative of a particular class of millionaires, I am forced to say, with all personal respect…that he is an anti-Christian phenomenon, a social monstrosity, and a grave political peril.” (From “Andrew Carnegie,” by David Nasaw, Page 353)

And sadly, Carnegie left behind a long line of broken relationships, including a bitter battle with his former partner and friend Henry Clay Frick. Toward the end of their lives, living nearby to one another in New York City, Carnegie sent a note to Frick asking for a meeting and hoping for some kind of reconciliation. A note came back from Frick which said: “Mr. Carnegie – the next time we meet will be in hell.”

Well, Andrew Carnegie believed that he was going to heaven. And I tell you all of these things about him for one primary reason: the framework for the Gospel of Wealth, and the focus of the last half of Carnegie’s life were built upon the teachings of Jesus Christ.

When the rich young man in Mark’s gospel (chapter 10) came to Jesus and asked Him “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus ultimately told him to go, sell all that you have, give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. He couldn’t do it. But as Andrew Carnegie heard those words from Christ, he promised that he would do it, and he tried to give everything away – 100% - before he died.

II

There was another man in the Bible who met Jesus one day. His name was Zacchaeus, and like Andrew Carnegie, he was short in stature and had made a lot of money. But Zacchaeus had become rich in a dishonorable way. He was the chief tax collector in Jericho, and had collaborated with the Roman authorities to cheat the Jewish people by skimming money off the top into his own pockets. (Just think of Bernie Ebbers and all the people he defrauded at Worldcom and you’ve got the picture). So his fellow citizens hated Zacchaeus, he knew that was true, and the guilt had begun to corrode his soul.

Zacchaeus had heard the word on the street that this teacher and preacher from Galilee forgave sinners and tax collectors, and that’s what he needed most of all. So he climbed up into a sycamore tree, watching and waiting for the opportunity to meet Jesus.

Somehow Jesus already knew his name, and He called out to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” The Bible doesn’t say exactly what happened in that house, but we can imagine that Zacchaeus’ wife was praying that her louse of a husband would straighten out his life, and the children were hoping that their father’s reputation could be restored so they wouldn’t have to suffer harassment on the school playground any more.

Whatever it was that Jesus said to him, Zacchaeus experienced a conversion and came out of that house to announce to the crowd: “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” And at the end of the day, that tax collector had been touched by the transforming power of Jesus.

CONCLUSION

Now with all of that said on this Commitment Sunday, there is only question which needs to be answered, and it is this: How much? How much should we give to building this church for ministry and mission?

Andrew Carnegie’s goal was to give everything – l00% of what he had made – to give all of it away. And that is what Jesus asked of that rich young man in Mark’s gospel – Go and sell all that you have, give it to the poor…and come follow Me.

You say “Preacher, that sounds a little steep. What else does the Bible say?”

Turn to Luke 19 and remember Zacchaeus, who was converted by Jesus and with an attitude of gratitude pledged to give half of his possessions to the poor. That’s 50%, right there in the Bible.

You say “Preacher, what are the other options?” And of course you already know that the Biblical standard is 10%, a tithe of what you have or what you’ve made, or a 10% increase over what you gave last year.

But there’s another percentage I hope you will consider as we close and prepare to bring our pledge cards forward. We in America have the highest percentage of financial resources in the world. Time magazine reported a couple of years ago that this country spent $6.0 billion on Halloween, which is more than the gross national product of most nations on this earth.

This book, “Giving USA 2007: The Report of Philanthropy for the Last Year,” was given to me by a friend. The numbers are staggering! The estimate of total giving in the United States can be rounded up to $300 billion and one-third of it, $100 billion, was either given to or given by those of us involved in religion - faithful giving.

The truth is that we have been blessed, my friends, with far more than we ever imagined. And according to the gospel, Jesus’ gospel of wealth, To those whom much is given, of them will much be required. I believe that He was talking about us. And if you believe that too, then you will know in your heart what He is calling you to do.

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

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