I don’t want to begin by depressing you - but Christmas is soon to be upon us! Already, several weeks ago, one of our local supermarkets had its shelves well stocked with Christmas goodies, and, excluding Sundays,  there are just 67 shopping days left to go before the festive season and as those chilling statistics ring in our ears, I am sure our thoughts will begin to turn to the vexed question of what we are going to give Auntie Doris or Uncle Bill for Christmas this year.

 

If you are anything like me, Christmas presents fall into two quite distinct categories. There are those who we feel we MUST find a present for out of a sense of obligation or because we know that they will send us a present and those who we are overjoyed to give presents to as an expression of our love for them.

 

Extending these thoughts, I wonder how we see our giving to the work of the church here earth. Do we give out of a sense of obligation, in response to a command, or do we give in response to all that Christ has done for us, as an offering of worship and thanksgiving to God?

 

Now, this is a truly enormous subject and I have a mere twenty minutes or so this morning but I want to look very briefly at some aspects of how we respond to God’s love and grace in our giving and at some aspects of the Bible’s teachings on the matter.

 

To begin with, we need to go back to the Old Testament under a heading of ‘Giving Commanded’.

 

If we turn back to the Book of Leviticus, we find there the command given by the Lord to the people of Israel to offer a tenth part or tithe of everything they have to the Lord.

 

Lev 27:30-34

(NIV)

 

The purpose of this tithe can be seen as essentially threefold (although the implications waxed and waned throught he years).

 

Firstly, the tithe was an act of worship - a permanent, significant and costly reminder that everything we have comes, ultimately, from God - something we are reminded of even today in the words used when our offerings are presented toGod - All things come from you and of your own do we give you....

 

Do we see our giving today as an integral part of our worship, do we regard everything we have as coming ultimately from God or as a reward for our endeavours?

 

Secondly, the tithe was there to ensure the proper and ongoing support of the priesthood. If we look on to the book of Numbers,

chapter 18 and vv 20& 21 we read

 

20	The LORD said to Aaron, "You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.
21	"I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting.

 

and then in v24

 

24	Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the LORD. That is why I said concerning them: 'They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.'"

 

The offerings of the people went in part to support the work of the priests and Levites, the equivalent of our clergy and we have a continuing and ongoing duty to ensure that our clergy are properly and adequately supported.

 

We have become accustomed to believing that the Church of England is so well endowed with land and other investments that the weekly gifts of its members are irrelevant to its financial well-being. The truth, I am afraid is very different.

 

Yes, the church of England does have significant resources in terms of income from land and other investments but there is far from enough to go round. The income from the church commissioners provides a little under half of the total income of the church of England and this fraction is set to continue to decline.

 

We cannot go on relying on these historical sources of income. We have already seen how, as a consequence of some ill-judged decisions in the 80’s the value of these investments can be dramatically reduced almost overnight and the only way to guarantee the future for the church is for it to become self supporting.

 

And the demands are growing. Stipends have now fallen to a level where many clergy families are struggling at, near or even below the poverty line and having to rely on Family Income Supplement - is that the church fulfilling God’s command to care for its clergy?

 

Praise God that there has been a steady increase in the number of candidates being accepted for ordination training. However, that training is expensive and has to be funded from somewhere and  with rising life expectancies, we have many more retired clergy to provide for over a longer period of time - this too has to be funded from somewhere.

 

The costs of increased pension provision, training support and a very modest increase in clergy stipends will result in an overall increase in Parish share of around 6% in the Chester Diocese next year - and that is just to stand still.

 

But have you ever stopped to think what could happen if we were freed from these constraints, what could happen if we devoted ourselves to prayer,  if we prayed for revival in this land, if we prayed for our friends and neighbours, if we shared our faith with our friends and neighbours and colleagues at work, if instead of always struggling to maintain the status quo, we were in a position to be able to actively grow the numbers of clergy.

 

Despite what the newspapers and cynics would have us believe, the church is growing, at least in places. We have many growing churches in this diocese, churches where further growth is being stifled by the inability to increase the numbers of staff, where churches are having to recruit their own staff to help overcome staffing difficulties.

 

Even a small increase in average giving each week, an increase of say £1 per week is sufficient to raise funds to allow a significant increase in stipends or a marked increase in clergy numbers.

 

Our giving is vital to fulfilling our duty before God to support and support properly those who have devoted their lives to answering God’s call to serve Him in this particular way.

 

Now, just before we leave the Old Testament, we need to mention the third purpose of the tithe which was to go to support the poor, the widows, the fatherless and the stranger, a vital role, overtaken to some extent today by Social Welfare provision but never the less, there are still areas where the church provides an important and essential role in meeting the physical as well as the spiritual needs of the people.

 

We have dwelt in some depth on the issue of giving as a command from God. I want to move on now to the New Testament and to look at the attitude with which we make our gifts. Turn with me if you will to 2 Corinthians Chapter 8.

 

Paul is writing from Macedonia to the Corinthian church. The church in Jerusalem at this time was facing terrible hardship and Paul, in the course of his travels, was organising a collection amongst the churches and communities he visited for the express purpose of bringing relief to the Jerusalem church.

 

In the passage which we have just read, Paul contrasts the attitudes of the Macedonian church with those of the Corinthians beofre reminding the Corinthian Christians of just what it was that Christ had given up for them.

 

From verses 1 & 2 of Chapter 8 we know that the Macedonians were far from wealthy themselves -

2 Cor 8:1-2

1	And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.
2	Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

(NIV)

 

These believers had little enough themselves but we go on to read in vv 3 & 4

 

3	For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,
4	they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.
5	And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.

 

Despite their poverty, they had given sacrificially, not in response to any command, but through their commitment to Christ - they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in accordance with God’s will. Notice the order - they gave themselves FIRST to the Lord, then to Paul in response to his appeal.

 

This brings us back to where we started - to giving as an expression of our love for and worship of God.

 

So great was the Macedonian Christians love for God that they wanted nothing more than to give to support the struggling church in Jerusalem. Not only did they give but they gave freely and generously.

 

I am sure that we are all moved to respond to the images of starving men, women and children, the victims of war or natural disaster, to respond to their immediate and pressing physical needs but we need also to remember the week by week needs of the church and the need to support those in full time service of God, in meeting the spiritual as well as the physical needs of us all. That too is costly.

 

But notice as Paul goes on how he doesn’t COMMAND the Corinthian Christians to contribute to the collection for the Jerusalem church. Look at v8

 

8	I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.
9	For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

 

Paul looks to the example of Jesus, the one who is very God of very God, the one of whom Paul says in Philippians Ch 2 and v6 and following

 

6	Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7	but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8	And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
9	Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10	that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11	and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(NIV)

 

Here was Jesus who gave up everything that was rightly his, the honour, the glory, the majesty, the splendour, the power, to come to earth and live as a man in first century Palestine and then to give his life on a cross to set us free from our sins and to give us eternal life.

 

To quote the words of a well known hymn, We may not know, we cannot tell what pains he had to bear, but we believe it was for us he hung and suffered there.

 

Crucifixion is probably the most barbaric and painful means of execution ever devised, it was slow and excruciatingly painful but over and above the physical pain which God in his sovereignty cut short when he brought about Christ’s death after just 6 hours, there was the mental anguish as the one who was without sin was separated from his father by our sin. Your sin and mine, sin which bound him, the sinless one to the cross.

 

How do we respond to such love? Do we respond by a total commitment to God, or are we lukewarm in our response? Do we want to respond by offering all that we have, our time, our talents and our possessions to God’s service? Where do we stand in response to God today?

 

Just in closing, I want to turn very briefly to the passage we read from Luke’s gospel. Turn with me if you will to Luke 6 and v 38 in particular. What a wonderful promise is contained there -

 

38	Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

 

What a wonderful image - give and it will be given to you, a good measure, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you give, it will be measured to you.

I heard a very telling comment from a member of our congregation recently. We have been engaged on a project to visit every house in the Parish. Arriving back, one of our parishioners commented that he was so overwhelmed at the people he had met and the conversations they had had and how much more valuable this was to him than wealth in the form of possessions.

 

God is a gracious God who longs to bless us his people. The more we give, the more we will receive- not necessarily in financial terms but in the joy of friendships in Christ, in seeing friends and family come to Christ, in seeing the church grow and prosper, in seeing God’s kingdom grow and become more powerful here on earth. The measure with which we will receive will reflect the measure to which we commit our lives to Christ and his service.

 

I have tackled some difficult issues this morning. It is my prayer now that you will respond to these words. That response may be a need for repentance. It may be that you have only heard of God’s amazing love for you for the first time this morning - if that is the case, please do not depart here this morning without speaking to myself or Rick or one of the other leaders of the church. You may be feeling anger, please do not depart without speaking about it to me, you may be challenged to make a new commitment to Christ and to devote yourselves to his service through your daily lives.

 

Prayer

 

Jeremy Hunns