Recently I read about John D. Rockefeller, Sr., who lived from 1839-1937.  He was the founder of Standard Oil, which was broken up by the Supreme Court and lives on now in names like Exxon, Mobil and Chevron.  Yes, if you’re assuming that must mean he’s rich, you are correct.  Some say he was the wealthiest man in American history.  He was a generous person his whole life—researchers point out that when John was working his first full-time job at age 16, he gave 6% of his income to his church, and by age 20, he was giving away more than 10% of his income.  At that time, his earnings were modest.  But through a combination of right place, right time, hard work, and entrepreneurship, he found himself at age 53 with a massive fortune—but he was physically not well.  Doctors were called in and gave him a year to live.  With that, Rockefeller changed the direction of his life.  He stopped thinking about how to make more money, and started thinking about how to give away more money.  As he focused more and more on philanthropy, hi health improved dramatically, and he lived to be 97, almost 98 years old, leaving behind an enduring legacy of benevolence.

John D. Rockefeller Sr. is well known for his business acumen.  But ultimately, his life was defined, not by what he earned, but by what he gave away.  His life was defined by generosity.

In theory, all Christian’s lives are defined by generosity.  We call ourselves Christians, which literally means “little Christs”, choosing as our namesake the one who gave everything he had.  Giving is what Jesus did.  Giving is what people who follow Jesus do.  It’s just who we are.

And yet, being givers is an aspect of our identity we often have difficulty talking about.  You already heard earlier in this service from Lilian Wright.  She is a long-time member of Lima Church and someone whose life is defined by generosity. I am in my fifth year as pastor of Lima, and this is the third time Lilian has volunteered to speak to the congregation about giving.  I’ve got to tell you, this is unheard of!  Usually at churches no one, including the pastor, wants to talk about giving!  Money is a tough subject for many of us.  Hopefully hearing Lilian talk about the joy she finds in giving makes it easier.  Because if there’s something else Christians should be defined by, it’s joy!

I think that’s because God designed us for generosity, and when we are in synch with who God made us to be, we experience joy.  God created us with the willingness to give to God and to others.  One of my all-time favorite memories as a parent is the year our friends gave us their old Ikea coffee table, and Phil turned it into a Thomas the Tank train landscape.  We even attached a train whistle with Velcro to the side of it.  We laid in bed on Christmas morning, listening to Adrienne and Wes as they were thrilled with this new gift.  Every time I hear a train whistle now, I think of that day.  Being able to give our kids a gift they loved—is there any better feeling?

Hopefully you get that same kind of warm, rewarding feeling from giving to the church.  But as much as we love to give generously, there are two voices that often creep us and tempt us away from generosity. The first voice is fear of not having enough.  If you’ve ever had a month where the bills totaled more than the income, you know how scary that is.  Or if you’ve watched your investment balance plummet with the stock market’s latest “correction”.  Why is that those corrections feel so incorrect?  And none of us knows how long we are going to live, and what our needs will be, and how much money we will need.  There is a lot of financial fear to being an adult!

And so we are tempted to hoard, to hang on to our money because that helps us feel more secure.  But this is an illusion.  Our security does not lie in our wealth.  Think of Ukraine.  Is the quality of life there significantly different for the wealthy families than those of lesser means?  Maybe when the war first started, but not now.  No amount of wealth can protect us from heartache, heartbreak, or heart failure.  The same fate awaits us all.  That is why Jesus teaches us to find our security in God, not wealth.

Wise stewards are able to be generous because they trust God’s provision.  But generosity requires more than wisdom and faith.  It requires commitment.  We might call that second voice that tempts us away from generosity, “FOMO”, or “fear of missing out”.  If we give to those in need, that means less money for us.  What if I can’t afford to do something fun?  We remember from last week, Jesus taught that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions—and it does not consist either in the abundance of experiences.  It consists in the abundance of connection and communion.  When we anchor our identity in Christ, we become able to give more generously.

I keep thinking back to the story about John D. Rockefeller Sr., and how he was given a year to live, and what a difference that wake-up call made for him.  He did not want his life to be defined by what he earned or what he accumulated.  He wanted it to be defined by generosity—and God blessed him with four additional decades in which to live that out.

I don’t know whether John D. Rockefeller’s life was really saved by that change of heart or not.  Was it letting go of that wealth that allowed him to live forty plus more years?  I do know that letting go is essential for our spiritual lives.  Again, we call ourselves Christians, taking as our namesake Jesus who let go of his life, only to take it up again when God raised him from on Easter morning.  Surrendering, being willing to die to the old so we can be raised in the new, this is our pattern.  This is the template Jesus gives us for living.  It is only by letting go of what we have that we can take hold of what God has for us.  As Mother Teresa said, even God cannot fill someone who is already full.  If we want more of God’s Spirit in our lives, we have to make room. And the way we make room is by letting go.  Letting go of our fear of not having enough, letting go of our fear of missing out, letting go of our will.  By letting go of these things, we open ourselves up to greater generosity—and greater joy.

Let’s talk for a minute about how this works in real life.  I have with me my set of offering envelopes for 2022.  We include an envelope for every week of the year to support our general fund, because like most churches, our main source of income is what comes in through offering envelopes.  Some churches receive rental income; some receive grants to run special ministries in their communities; and some are exploring creative new revenue streams.  Recently I read about one church that turned their sanctuary into a rock-climbing gym!  They could no longer afford to worship in the sanctuary, so they turned it into a revenue generating space, and that funding stream is keeping them open!  Church growth experts expect that kind of experimenting to become more popular in the coming decades. But for now, by and large, the only money churches have to spend is what their members give.  Lima Church is defined by—and exists only because of—your generosity!

Which is part of why we have such a hard time talking about money at church.  People feel blamed if there isn’t enough.  And that just adds to the shame we already feel about money.  We feel shame about how much we are able to earn, how much we are able to save, how much we are about to do for our children, how much we are able to give.  We have a lot of shame.  But that voice of shame does not come from God.  Like the fear of not having enough and the fear of missing out, the voice of shame comes from the evil forces that are trying to keep us from feeling secure.  If you feel shame about your finances, please know that is NOT God’s voice talking!  That is the voice of the evil one who wants to keep you feeling trapped instead of being free.

The antidote to shame is belonging.  It’s connection.  It’s communion.  That’s why the weak can say I am strong and the poor can say I am rich.  Because we BELONG to God, and we belong to one another, and TOGETHER we are the body of Christ.  TOGETHER we are responsible for the ministries to which God is calling Lima.  TOGETHER we get bear the financial burdens of our church.  There is no ranking here.  The church member who is able to give $13 a week is on exact equal footing with the church member who is able to give $300 a week.  Every soul is of equal, infinite value to God!  Trying to make each of us feel like we are not enough is one of the oldest tricks in the devil’s book.

Money is hard to talk about for a lot of reasons, but shame doesn’t need to be one of them.  And neither does fear.  One of my mentors likes to say, “Good things can happen if we can tolerate a little fear.”  If we can tolerate the fear of not having enough, and the fear of missing out, and go ahead and GIVE, we will experience joy!  I also want to mention that peer pressure and criticism should not be reasons we have a hard time talking about money in church.  Remember, we are not called to judge how others are spending their money.  Each of us must work this out with God.  Let’s make Lima a judgment free zone as we talk about stewardship!

Deep down, I think for most of us, talking about money in church is hard because we know that what we do with our finances is a snapshot of our overall spiritual health.  What we do with our finances is a measure of our commitment to God. It’s not the only measure, of course.  But it’s one of the only quantifiable measures we have.  And so we find ourselves asking again, how much is enough?

To answer that, I want to share with you wise words from three saints.  Not the John Rockefellers of the world, but normal people!  First, from Ann Holland, a member of Lima who heard me mention a couple weeks ago that the heater needs to be replaced at the Eddystone UMC parsonage so they can be ready to receive the Ukrainian refugee family soon, and they need $7,000.  She asked me how to make a donation to that and said, “I need to give.”

What a remarkable statement!  What is true for Ann is true for all of us!  We all need to give!  It’s how we store up for ourselves true treasure. It’s how we build an eternal foundation for ourselves.  Giving is how we take hold of the life that is really life!

The second piece of wisdom comes from a retired United Methodist pastor by the name of Lonnie Turnipseed, and his wife Ibby.  Phil and I got to know them when our kids were little and they moved to our town in their retirement.  One time we got to talking about how expensive it is to raise children, and Lonnie and Ibby said something that stuck with me.  “One of the ways we show love is by being responsible financially.  By writing a will, and buying insurance, and paying our bills. This is work unto the Lord, and it matters as much as giving to the church.”

What a relief to hear those words!  I start to tear up just thinking about how comforting and affirming this older couple was to us.  As you consider how much to give to your church, please remember that God knows we live in the real world, and we have real obligations and real people who are counting on us.  Taking care of your family’s financial needs is just as holy as helping with your church family’s.

And the third piece of wisdom comes from my mother-in-law, Barb.  She watches our worship videos every week, and recently when I was on the phone with her, I mentioned that we might have fewer people watching for the next couple weeks because we are going to talk about tithing.  She said, “Tell them to give it a try!  It won’t kill them!”

Which brings us back to Mr. Rockefeller.  Giving didn’t kill him—but it might just have saved his life!  Paul wrote that God gives us everything for our enjoyment.  Our culture tells us that we can maximize our enjoyment by getting more, experiencing more, hoarding more.  But true joy comes from getting in synch with God, and if there’s one thing God loves to do, it’s give.  May we be people defined by generosity—and defined by joy.  Amen.