Thanking God for Everything

September 22, 2013 1 Timothy 2:1-7 Luke 16:1-13 Year C 18th Sunday after Pentecost Thanking God for Everything Brer Rabbit Earns a Dollar-A-Minute A Georgia Folktale retold by S.E. Schlosser One fine morning, Brer Fox decided to plant him a patch of goober peas. He set to with a will and before you know it, he had raked and hoed out a beautiful patch of ground and he put in a fine planting of peas. It didn't take too long before those goober vines grew tall and long and the peas ripened up good and smart. Now Brer Rabbit, he'd watched Brer Fox planting the goobers and he told his children and Miz Rabbit where they could find the patch. Soon as those peas were ripe, the little Rabbits and Brer Rabbit would sneak on in and grab up them goobers by the handfuls. It got so bad that when Brer Fox came to the goober patch, he could hardly find a pea to call his own. Well, Brer Fox, he was plenty mad that he'd worked so hard on those peas only to have them eaten by someone else. He suspected that Brer Rabbit was to blame for this, but the rascally rabbit had covered his tracks so well that Brer Fox couldn't catch him. So Brer Fox came up with a plan. He found a smooth spot in his fence where a cunning rabbit could sneak in, and he set a trap for Brer Rabbit at that spot. He tied a rope to a nearby hickory sapling and bent it nearly double. Then he took the other end of the rope and made a loop knot that he fastened with a trigger right around the hole in the fence. If anybody came through the crack to steal his peas, the knot would tighten around their body, the sapling would spring upright, and they would be left hanging from the tree for everyone to see. The next morning, Brer Rabbit came a-slipping through the hole in the fence. At once, the trigger sprung, the knot tightened on his forelegs, and the hickory tree snapped upright, quick as you please. Brer Rabbit found himself swung aloft betwixt the heaven and the earth, swinging from the hickory sapling. He couldn't go up and he couldn't go down. He just went back and forth. Brer Rabbit was in a fix, no mistake. He was trying to come up with some glib explanation for Brer Fox when he heard someone a-rumbling and a-bumbling down the road. It was Brer Bear, looking for a bee-tree so he could get him some honey. As soon as Brer Rabbit saw Brer Bear, he came up with a plan to get himself free. "Howdy, Brer Bear," he called cheerfully. Brer Bear squinted around here and there, wondering where the voice had come from. Then he looked up and saw Brer Rabbit swinging from the sapling. "Howdy Brer Rabbit," he rumbled. "How are you this morning?" "Middling, Brer Bear," Rabbit replied. "Just middling." Brer Bear was wondering why Brer Rabbit was up in the tree, so he asked him about it. Brer Rabbit grinned and said that he was earning a dollar-a-minute from Brer Fox. "A dollar-a-minute!" Brer Bear exclaimed. "What for?" "I'm keeping the crows away from his goober patch," Brer Rabbit explained, and went on to say that Brer Fox was paying a dollar-a-minute to whomever would act as a scarecrow for him. Well, Brer Bear liked the sound of that. He had a big family to feed, and he could use the money. When Brer Rabbit asked him if he would like to have the job, Brer Bear agreed. Brer Rabbit showed him how to bend the sapling down and remove the knot from his forepaws. When Brer Rabbit was free, Brer Bear climbed into the knot and soon he was hanging aloft betwixt heaven and earth, swing to and from the sapling and growling at the birds to keep them away from the goober patch. Brer Rabbit laughed and laughed at the sight of Brer Bear up in the sapling. He scampered down the road to Brer Fox's place and told him that his trap was sprung and the goober thief was hanging from the hickory tree. Brer Fox grabbed his walking stick and ran down the road after Brer Rabbit. When he saw Brer Bear hanging there, Brer Fox called him a goober thief. Brer Fox ranted and raved and threatened to hit Brer Bear with his walking stick. He yelled so loud that Brer Bear didn't have time to explain nothing! Brer Rabbit knew that Brer Bear would be plenty mad at him when he found out he had been tricked, and so he ran down the road and hid in the mud beside the pond, so that only his eyeballs stuck out, making him look like a big old bullfrog. By and by, a very grumpy Brer Bear came lumbering down the road. "Howdy, Brer Bullfrog," Brer Bear said when he saw Brer Rabbit's eyes sticking out of the mud. "You seen Brer Rabbit anywhere?" "Brer Rabbit jest ran on down the road," he told the grumpy Brer Bear in a deep croaking voice that sounded just like the voice of a frog. Brer Bear thanked him and trotted down the road, growling fiercely. When Brer Bear was out of sight, Brer Rabbit jumped out of the mud. He washed himself off in the pond and then scampered home, chuckling to himself at how he'd escaped from Brer Fox and Brer Bear, and already thinking up a new way to get into Brer Fox's goober patch to get him some peas to eat. Why are trickster stories so important? My family used to tell Brer Rabbit stories all of the time when I was a child. I would always listen to see what Brer Rabbit was going to get a way with next. It seems as if we love to hear stories of the trickster. I think that they are especially important in cultures of oppression. It seems that in a corrupt world – where the odds are stacked against us, where the system always win, we like to hear stories of the one who is able to outsmart the system. If we cant get ahead, we like to hear stories or how someone with a little conniving does win. Why else would Jesus tell a story about a cheating steward who gets the best of his master. Why else would Jesus say that he has done well and should be commended for cheating. Doesnt every other story in the bible tell us that cheating is wrong? Why does Jesus tell the story of the dishonest steward? Well most of the bible tells us not to steal – and cheating is indeed a form of stealing. But Jesus seems to know that there is one story – where cheating is good for you. Jesus puts himself in the story as the conniving steward – who cheated the devil out of what was due him. For we are all sinners, and the wages of sin is death. But Jesus died on the cross so that we could be free of our sin. Our debts have been forgiven, we don’t owe the devil nothing. And we can be grateful for what Jesus has done for us. What does it mean to be a good steward? But the lesson that I want to talk about today from Luke 16:1-13 is the lesson of what it means not so much to be a cheating steward, but to be a good steward of what God has given us. This story is a lesson on our attitudes toward money, our attachments here on earth, how we give to others, and also how we are able to make friends. This story reminds us that whether we are in debt or not, we are not the sum of our possessions. No matter how much we have- it is all lent to us by God. And the day will come when we will not have any of it, because it will be left here on earth. It is not so much what we have on earth that is important, it is what we have with us when we go to heaven. What we have we will lose – but what we give to God will last forever. There is a saying that those that give help those in need in this world, but those in need help those who have in heaven. We have to be willing to be used by God in every circumstance that God puts us in. Like Running a Business There was an interesting legal question posed in The Saturday Evening Post recently. It seems that one lovely Sunday when the sermon was overlong, the congregation rushed, as usual, from its pews on the first syllable of "Amen!" Faithful Abigail, the only worshiper held entranced by the sermon, moved slowly and was trampled. She sued the church and its officials for damages. "Those in charge of the church knew that most of the congregation stampedes after long sermons," Abigail argued. "They should have recognized the danger in the situation. Not being prepared to cope with it, they were negligent." The church's attorney argued like this in response: "A church is a nonprofit organization manned for the most part by volunteers. No one has a right to expect it to be run with the smart efficiency of a business concern. Abigail, therefore, has no real claim." If you were the judge, asks the writer, would you award damages to Abigail? What I found interesting in this hypothetical situation was the characterization of the church. "A church is a nonprofit organization manned for the most part by volunteers. . . No one has a right to expect it to be run with the smart efficiency of a business. . . ." Why not? What if we were as good at what we do as McDonald's is at what they do, or Coca Cola or Microsoft? What if we were as committed to spreading the good news of the kingdom of God as American business is to winning new customers? This is the point Jesus is trying to make. He wants people who bear his name to not only be nice people but to be people who make a difference in the world. Imagine what the world would be like, if the church was just as determined to be the body of Christ, as Apple was to make money? If everybody was as excited about the church as they were about the new apple phone – think of how many people we could reach. This lesson is also about learning to make friends with the world. Everybody was greatful to the conniving steward because he did them a favor, they all wanted to be his friend and welcome him onto their homes. How can we help people understand that Jesus has done so much more for them and they should be grateful. Even in our own lives – where do we place God amongst our priorities? We give to our hobbies, we give to the interest that capture our hearts, we give to our lives – what do we give to God? It is not so much about how much we give, it is about how much of our hearts do we give to God? Do we put God in one corner, and our lives in the other, or do we realize that God comes first in all things. And that we can give to God from what we have. The sons of light Luke calls Christians the sons of light. For Luke, sons of the age where the Jews, sons of the world were others, and sons of the light were those who were able to put God first in their lives. One God, One mediator, One Christ I am not focusing on the lesson of 1 Timothy today, but I think that it helps us to remember to put God first. It says that there is One God, One mediator, One Christ for all people. If there is one God for all people – then our hearts should be in one place. That is on the things of God. John Wesley a model of giving Before John Wesley became the founder of the Methodist Church he was a teacher at Oxford University back in the 1700's. When he began his career he was paid 30 pounds per year - in those days a lot of money. His living expenses were 28 pounds - so he gave 2 pounds away. The next year his income doubled - but he still managed to live on 28 pounds - so he gave away 32 pounds. The third year he earned 90 pounds - lived on 28 - and gave away 62. The fourth year he earned 120 pounds - lived on 28 - and gave away 92. One year his income was a little over 1,400 pounds - he lived on 30 and gave away nearly all of the 1,400 pounds. Wesley felt that with increasing income, what should rise is not the Christian's standard of living but the standard of giving. Increasing our standard of giving. What a great Christian man and what a great lesson he taught us. In a world were raises and extra income is scarce, we are free to determine how much of what we have can we give to God. Jesus’ stewardship sayings When I was doing my research last night, one commentary said that this lesson was do difficult, that I should find something else to preach. It is not that it does not have enough good news, it has too much good news to process. Luke quotes Jesus as saying whoever is faithful in a little, will be faithful in a lot, if you are dishonest in a little, you will be dishonest in a lot, and no slave can serve two masters – you can serve God and money. Each of those sayings is a sermon in their own right. You can steal our money, you cant steal our commitment to God But the bottom line is the he is reminding us to be good stewards with our money. As a matter of fact, being Christian is all about money. It is about how you spend it, what your attitude is about it, and about how your faith determines what you do with it. Are you on the earth to make a living or to make a life. is your treasure here on earth or is it in heaven? Only what we give to God will truly last, and what we do for God we do for others in need. One day a church was burglarized, and when the robber opened the bank bag he found $70,000 – in pledge cards. One can only imagine his disappointment. The burglar learned a lesson the unjust manager knew very well: that you can’t steal commitment. Neither can unprincipled people in the marketplace steal our commitment to be disciples of Christ. Amen. Children’s sermon 2 + 3 = 4? by Wesley T. Runk Passage: Luke 16:1-15 · Lectionary: Proper 20 Item 1 of 11 | Back to Results Object: Some notes with answers to math problems writ ten on them. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have ever heard of the word "cheating?" What does the word cheating mean? [Let them answer.] Those are pretty good answers. When someone cheats he hopes to get something that does not belong to him for nothing. When you cheat, or someone you know cheats, it can cost a lot. I want to tell you about people who cheat because they think that they can make friends by cheating. I want to show you some things that a teacher gave me that she took away from some of the people in her class. Do you know what these things are? [Show them the notes and let them guess.] These notes have answers on them. [Show them the inside of the note.] The person cheating was giving the answers away to other people with the hope that these people would be his friends. This person thought that the other boys and girls would like him if he wrote the right answers to the test on pieces of paper and gave it to anyone who did not know the answers. Of course, the person cheating did not think that the teacher would catch him. Some people think that they can make friends by cheating. God knows how men think and he also knows that we try to do things like this to win friends, but he warns us about doing them. Jesus told a story about a man who acted just like this boy. Jesus said that the friends you win like this only last for a little while, and soon the friends disappear and you still have to face God. Jesus taught us about honesty and said that to be honest is the best way. It may mean that we have to work a little harder and have a little less for a few years, but someday we will be glad that we are honest. There is no room in God's kingdom for a cheater and that is where we want to live forever. The teacher told the boy who passed the cheat notes about what God teaches and how little good it does for us to make friends by cheating. She thinks that the boy learned a lesson, and I pass this on to you so that you can learn also. These notes would not help anyone for very long, and they could hurt for a very long time. Paper Flowers And Disciples, Wesley T. Runk, CSS Publishing Co., Inc., 1977, 0-89536-197-3 From my sermon on the Wasteful Steward.) We have already been given all the energy and talent we need to feed the hungry, teach every child, settle disputes, and make it through the toughest times. These skills and resources are evident in our hobbies, our friendships, our grudges, and our schemes. We have it in us!. Jesus, as usual, uses an odd metaphor to point this out. And now, a poem: Often the gifts we have are really being used, They’re just aimed incorrectly and being abused. If you abhor waste and desire success Then love God and your neighbors with all you possess. Humor: You Took Me In Henry Ford was known for both his frugality and his philanthropy. He was visiting his family's ancestral village in Ireland when two trustees of the local hospital found out he was there, and they managed to get in to see him. They talked him into giving the hospital $5,000 dollars (this was the 1930's, so $5,000 dollars was a great deal of money). The next morning, at breakfast, he opened his newspaper to read the banner headline: "American Millionaire Gives Fifty Thousand to Local Hospital." Ford wasted no time in summoning the two hospital trustees. He waved the newspaper in their faces. "What does this mean?" he demanded. The trustees apologized profusely. "Dreadful error," they said. They promised to get the editor to print a retraction the very next day, stating that the great Henry Ford hadn't given $50,000, but only $5,000. Well, hearing that, Ford offered them the other $45,000, under one condition: that the trustees erect a marble arch at the entrance of the new hospital, with a plaque that read, "I walked among you and you took me in." Billy D. Strayhorn, Let's Make a Deal