November 13, 2011

Rev. Justin Spurlock

Generosity – Talent and Treasure

I’m going to read a Scripture for us this morning from Luke, Chapter 12, starting with Verse 13. “Someone in the crowd said teacher, warn my brother to give me a fare share of the family inheritance. He replied Mister, what makes you think it’s any of my business, be a judge or mediator for you? Speaking to the people, he went on. Take care, protect yourself against the least bit of grief. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot. Then he told them this story. Farm of a certain rich man produces the perfect crop. He talked to himself. What can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest. Then he said here’s what I’ll do, I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods and I’ll say to myself, self, you’ve done well. You got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life. Just then, God showed up and said Fool. Tonight you die, and your barn full of goods – who gets it? That’s what happens when you fill your barn with yourself and not with God. He continued the subject with his disciples. Don’t fuss about what’s on the table at meal times, or if the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the ravens. Free and unfettered. Not tied down to a job description. Carefree in the care of God. And you count far more. Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? If fussing can’t even do that, why fuss at all? Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don’t fuss with their appearance. But have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never even seen. Don’t you think he’ll attend to you? Take pride in you. Do your best. For you. What I’m trying to get you to do here, is relax. Not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works, fuss over these things. But you know both God and how God works. Steep yourself in God reality. God initiative. God provisions. You’ll find all your everyday, human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends. The father wants to give you the very kingdom itself. Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourself a bank that can’t go bankrupt. A bank in heaven far from bank robbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be and end up being.”

Let’s consider this morning how to apply these words of Scripture to our lives. Last week we began talking about the iPath. What path are you on? Where’s your life headed? What choices and decisions have you made that have brought the journey to where it is this moment.

We talked last week about how stewardship, we’re kind of deconstructing stewardship, and stewardship, in my definition, is about the choices and the decisions that we make. Stewardship is not just about money. It includes money, but money is just one part of life. It includes so many different things and we talked about how time, talent and treasure are often things discussed when it comes to stewardship. And last week I introduced you to a fourth “T” – touch. And we talked about how time and touch are foundational to being a generous person. That if you are going to be full generosity, that your time and who you touch and who you give your attention to, are essential for being generous – for changing that path of your life for bringing about a future that is filled with love and care and hope and grace, rather than selfishness and greed and all those things that we associate with not being a great person.

Generosity. And I asked you to think about someone in your life who you can say “that person is generous.” And as you thought about that person, I remind you that generosity for that person has very little to do with finances and how much money that person gives. They may give money, but really, their generosity is generosity of spirit – of being – of essence – that they just exude generousness throughout everything that they do. They are just generous people. And part of what it means to steward our lives, look at ourselves, myself, and ask “will I be generous in my next decision – with my next choice.”

Today, I want to talk about talent and treasure. I want to remind you, once again, time and touch are the foundation to talent and treasure. Without being generous with your time and touch, talent and treasure mean nothing. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 talked about how you could talk with the sound and language of angels, you could prophesy, you could heal people, you could do all kinds of great works, but without love, you are nothing. And in stewardship of life, generosity, works the same way. You can use your skills and your talent and use your money and your bank account and your credit cards and all those things – those great and wonderful things – but if under that is not the attention and the gaze of time and touch of the generous giving of self, all of that talent and treasure is truly nothing. It’s really wasted.

So as we think about talent and treasure today, I want you to keep that in the back of your mind. That this isn’t just about getting out a wallet or giving my skill to someone or some place. It’s all undergirded about touch and time. About being generous. About exuding it from the very essence of your being.

Now this man here is being buried, I’m assuming it’s a man, it could be a woman, but a person here is being buried by stuff – by gifts. Now I want to highlight one of the phrases that we heard in the Scripture text we just read. The Scripture text is one where – I was looking at it and saying that really sums up everything. Everything I want to talk about today, Jesus already covered. Imagine that, right? Jesus did a better job with this than I do. But then I realized I’ve only been here a few months and I can’t just get up and read Scripture and walk down and you all think I’m doing my job, so I decided to go ahead and give you a sermon today.

So, this Scripture text, “take care, protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even if you have a lot.” And I would add, “even when you don’t have a lot.”

See, the thing is, the thing is, that no matter how much stuff that we have, we still worry. Even if you have nothing, you worry. If you have nothing, you’re wondering “where is my next meal coming from, or will I have shelter, will I be able to provide for my family.” If you lose a job, you think about whether or not you will be able to keep your mortgage, will your kids be fed at night. And all those worries are natural, but think about the other side. When we have plenty, and when we have a lot, we still worry about finances. Probably to the same degree, if not even more. Because we’re thinking about how do we hold on to those riches? How do we grasp and take hold of the mixture so we don’t lose them. How do we ensure that in 15 or 20 years from now, that we are solidly secure and set for retirement? And we think about stocks and portfolios and property and status and all these things, worrying, and so whether it’s a little or a lot, we use these same amounts, if not more, anxiety. Doesn’t that strike you as odd? We are a worrying type of people. A little or a lot.

And so we drown in our stuff, whether we have it or whether we don’t. We drown in the idea of having, no matter what. And we sink and sink and sink and wonder “will I have something at the end of the day?”

The God Complex. You know, one of the things that I really hit on and talk about it – it’s part of my own belief system and theology – that most of us truly think, at the end of the day, that we are God. Most of the time, when I encounter people, when I encounter myself, I look at it, and say “I’m really thinking that I’m God in my life. Because when it comes down to it, I am managing me and my future and not really just laying back in the arms of God.

Think about that for a second. Can you do that? When something major happens in life and you know you don’t have control over, we run to God. Some sickness or disease happens, we say we need to go pray about that. But the everyday things – your job, your finances, your house, your kids – all that sort of thing. A lot of you give lip service to God about those things, but we do all of the worrying, we do all of the anxiousness for ourselves, trying to manage all that stuff out so that I become God. I am trusting myself and my abilities to do it best. And that’s not to say you’re not supposed to steward and manage your life. But what it is to say is that you can’t accomplish it fully at the end of the day. Just like the man in the story who had all the barns, we do the same thing. And we look at it and say “I’m going to need something more. In order for my future to be a certain way, I’m going to have to do these steps to make it happen.” And the things that happen in the text is that God speaks and says “Fool – tonight you are going to die.” And this is not a curse from God. It’s not like God said “oh you’re talking about yourself and being selfish or greedy or something like that and so I’m going to strike you dead, it’s God saying you don’t know what’s going to happen in your life. You might die today. You might die tomorrow. You might die five years from now. You don’t know when that’s going to happen. As much as you try to manage your future and manage yourself and your status, you can’t do it at the end of the day. You don’t know when disease is going to strike. You don’t know when you’re going to lose your job. You don’t know when a family member is going to be out of sync with you and mess up your life. You don’t know that. You can’t manage that. You can’t control your final destiny in that way.

And so in the story, God looks down and says “I care for wildflowers. I care for birds. Don’t you think I care more about you than all of those things?”

Now we’ve heard that Scripture text before. We’ve heard it, maybe we’ve thought about it. But how much have we let it sink in? God cares about nature and the environment and creation in the universe. Don’t you think God cares about you? And doesn’t that care allow you to step back and say “I don’t have to create my future. I don’t have to hoard my treasures and my talents and my status in order to be loved by God and to accomplish what God wants me to do here on this earth.”

Because the thing is, a lot of the time we have our heads in the sand. We have our heads in the sand because we’re not really attuned as to what’s going on in reality, because true reality is something that God is up to. God is providing. God is taking the initiative. Reality is about what God is up to in the world, in our world, in our lives. We have, with our heads stuck in the sand, thinking it’s all about me, and me getting status, love, some sort of stuff. Right? God’s reality is that you have been given talents. You have been given treasure from God. From God. Think about this. God has given you the stuff and the talents and the skill to do something with. They are gifts and a grace from God. Your job right now – your family – your house – your wealth – a little or a lot – your talents – great or small – God gave those to you. What will you do for God with them?

That’s the question we should be asking about stuff and talents. It’s not just about me getting ahead with my skills and my personality. It’s not just about me using those to get a pay check so that I can get more things and a bigger house and more cars or better cars or more – whatever it might be. That’s not why we have all of those things. God gave us those things so that we will go and do something in the world with them that makes the world a better place. Your choices and decisions around those skills and talents, around those treasures, are the key. That’s what stewardship is all about.

The traditional wording of this text from the King James Bible is “the greater treasure is there be your heart also.” And you see that on different cards and things and around places throughout your life, and our version says “the place where your treasure is, the place where you will most want to be and end up being.” Often times we turn this around. We think “if I love something, if I’m passionate about it, if I care about it, then I’ll put my money there.” But the fact is, our living it out actually shapes and changes and twists what we really treasure. Where you treasure is, is really what your life is about. Instead of where my life is all about, there my treasure is. Because many of us have great thoughts about our lives. We think “I value these things.” But when you really begin to look at your life, the things that you value, and what’s actually being lived out are very different many times. I know that’s the case often when I look at my own life. And so a statement that I often used, and I’m stealing this from other people, is budgets are moral and spiritual documents. Budgets are moral and spiritual documents. If you look at your own budget, how you spend your money, how you intend to spend your money, that is really what you treasure. And the places you go and the people you spend it on and what you have, is really what you value and treasure at the end of the day. How you spend it is where the heart is – is where life is really being lived at that moment. If you look at our church, if you look at our budget, the good, bad and the ugly, you would see what we truly value. And with every budget, like I said, it’s a spiritual and moral document. It reveals some great things about yourself and about us and it also reveals things that we think maybe I shouldn’t value that, maybe I shouldn’t be putting my treasure and talents in those things and places.

So I want you to think right now about your own budget. Stop and think. How do I spend my money? How am I using my skills and talents? What am I doing with those things? Where are they going? Because that’s what your life is really all about right there. That’s where you center your very being. And if you change where you put those talents and treasures, your essence then changes with it. Your life, or even how you even want to picture your life, that iPath will shift. It will transform the future – it becomes different. Totally altered because of those choices that we make with the treasure and the talents.

The generosity challenge. Last week I challenged you to find five people. This week I want you to find five places. Five places that you want to give your skills and talents to. Five places that you want to invest your finances and treasure in. Five places. And I could stand up here and give you a whole thing about why Columbine United Church should be one of those places. I’m not going to do that, even though I do think it is one that you should value. I’m going to let Brook give the reasons for that, actually.

I want you to think about your own life and think about that budget and say “what are the five places that I truly want to treasure? Where I want to be and be a part of in some way.” How can you give them some of your talent and skill? How can you give them something out of your wallet or purse or credit card or bank account? What can you give? Why would you give it to those places? Consider that. Take a moment. Write some of those places down. Write them down. Places, locations – that’s where talents and treasures get used by people in those locations. It’s a challenge. Generosity is not something that usually comes naturally to most of us. We spend our time, we give our attention and touch, we give our talents and skills. We use our treasure. It is the main factor of what happens in our path. That destiny, that future, whatever it’s going to be, it can go more towards greed and selfishness or it can go more towards generosity and a good stewarding of life. The choice is up to you.

I want to close in sharing a brief story about my own life. I talked about this last week, with my whole decision with seminary and that sort of thing. What I didn’t tell you was, about five years ago, the whole trajectory of my life was to go and be a professor – to go into academics. Because a great part of my life was wrapped up in Biblical scholarship and theological scholarship, things that most people don’t care about, and go that route, because it’s really heavy and weird and all that kind of stuff. And there’s a part of me that would be really good for that sort of thing. But I began to realize in my life that talents and skills that God had given particularly to me, were different than just that route. And that route is great for certain people. God has given certain people the right blend of gifts to be that person – to be that professor, to be that academic person – to do that route. But God had given me a slightly different set of skills and they overlapped, so for me to be me, to be opened up to really get who I’m supposed to be and my future that God dreamed about – I had to go this direction and be right where I’m at, right now. To be right here, because when I opened up those talents and used them and made the right choices, my life changed. My treasures, my talents and my heart and very being were all synced up. And it transformed me, opened me up to exploring parts of my personality and myself and my inner being that I didn’t know were there. Things I could not have reflected on before that decision. And that’s the thing about stewardship. It’s not just about funding a place. It’s not just about doing some good with your skills, or about giving some time and some volunteer hours or helping someone I never met before. It’s about God’s dream for your life on this planet and what can happen.

Stewardship. Those choices and decisions you make. Transform your path. The iPath and our path together. What choices will you make? How will you steward yourself? Your time, your talent, your treasure, your touch?