Westwood Presbyterian Church

October 7th, 2007

197 Browning  Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3K 0L1

REV. PETER BUSH's SERMONS

Why Give? Thanksgiving and World-wide Communion Sunday

 

Why give? It surprises me often that question comes up in various ways. The multi­millionaire who gives a couple millions dollars to their favorite charity gets asked: Why did you give that much money to this group? The volunteer who receives a 25 year pin acknowledging their service to the community gets asked: Why do you give your time this way? The person who jumps into a dangerous situation to save someone from fire or drowning, gets asked: Why did you risk your life?

The answers given are often stumbling - but they boil down to this - I gave because I could give, I gave because I had the resources, the ability, the opportunity to give.

But let's push that a bit farther - where did the resources, the ability, the opportunity come from? They were and are themselves gifts. Having been given money - the millionaire gives; having been given time and ability and health - the volunteer gives; faced with the opportunity to act - the hero gives.

We give because we have been given to. There is no other reason needed - we give simply because we know the joy of receiving. We give out of the abundance of what we have received.

And as we are at the communion table, we recognize just how great is what we have been given. Here at the table we hear the words of Jesus - "This is my body given for you" and then he gave it to His followers. "This is my blood poured out" and then he

. gave it to His followers. At this table we remember the gift we have been given - Jesus' life given for us. Jesus gave His all for us - at this table Jesus gives us His life - His everything for us and to us.

Why did Jesus do that? Why did He give everything he had to us?

1. Because He loves us, and He loves to see the joy and delight on our faces and in our lives when we realize what we have been given. The joy of this free and gracious gift ­ given to us.

2. Jesus gave His all to help us - we were in need - are in need and at the table we find new life - new hope- the ability to begin again - resources beyond ourselves. Jesus chose to not let us fend for ourselves - He chose instead to help us.

3. Jesus gave His all to us - so that we would be enabled to give to others. Jesus gave his all to us - so that we would share some of - all of what we have with Him and with others. Jesus has given us a model of what it means to give - and He invites us to follow that model.

I admit that last point feels strange - but the following story may help. It is called "A Baloney Sandwich".

A Baloney Sandwich

Do you remember when they had old fashioned Sunday school picnics? I do. As I recall it was back in the old days, as my kids would say "back before they had air conditioning."

They said, "We'll all meet at Sycamore Lodge in Selby Park at 4:30 on Saturday. You bring the supper and we'll furnish the iced tea." But if you were like me you came home at the last minute. When you went to pack your picnic all you could find in the refrigerator was one dried up piece of baloney and just enough mustard in the jar that you got it all over your knuckles trying to get it out. And just two slices of stale bread to go with it. So you made a baloney sandwich and wrapped it in a brown bag and went to the picnic.

When it came time to eat, you sat at the end of the table and spread out your sandwich. But the folks who sat beside you brought a feast. The lady was a good cook and she worked hard all day to get ready for the picnic. And she had fried chicken, baked beans, and potato salad, and homemade rolls, and sliced tomatoes, and pickles, and olives, and celery. And two big homemade chocolate pies to top it off. That's what they spread out next to you, while you sat with your baloney sandwich. But they said to you, "Why don't we just put it all together?" "No I couldn't do that. I couldn't even think of it," you murmured in embarrassment, with one eye on the chicken "Oh come on, there's plenty of chicken and plenty of pie and plenty of everything. And we just love baloney sandwiches let's just put it all together."

So you did and there you sat eating like a king when you came like a pauper.

One day it dawned on me that God had been saying just that sort of thing to me. "Why don't you take what you have and what you are, and I will take what I have and what I am, and we'll share it together." I began to see when I put what I had, and was, and hope to be with what He is, I had stumbled upon the bargain of a lifetime.

I get to thinking sometimes with me sharing with God. When I think of how little I bring, and how much He brings and invites me to share, I know I should be shouting at the housetops, but I am so filled with awe and wonder that I can hardly speak. I know that I don't have enough love or faith or mercy or wisdom, but he does. He has all of those things in abundance and he says just put them together.

Consecration, denial, sacrifice, commitment and crosses were all kind of hard words to me until I saw them in the light of sharing. It isn't just a case of me kicking in what I have, because God is the biggest kid in the neighbourhood and He wants it all for Himself. He is saying, "Everything that I possess is available to you. Everything that I can be to a person I will be, I will be to you."

When I think about it like that, it really amuses me to see somebody running along through life hanging onto their dumb bag with that stale baloney sandwich in it saying, "God's not going to get my sandwich! No sirie, this is mine!" Did you ever see anybody like that -- so needy -- just about half starved to death -- but hanging on for dear life. It's not that God needs our sandwich. The fact is we need his chicken ..

 

At this table we receive more than we could ever imagine or hope for, we are given to you beyond our wildest imaginings. Here the resources of the kingdom of God are made available to us. And here we come and bring our limited resources - our baloney sandwich and put it on the table to share with God. All that is His is ours - and all that is ours is His.

     Why give? We give of our money, our time, our abilities, our lives because we have been given to. We do not let other people fend for themselves because we have not been left to fend for ourselves. In giving, we imitate God the Father who has made us in His image, in giving we take seriously Jesus' call to live as His followers, in giving we share the gifts that the Holy Spirit has poured into our lives. Our giving is how we say "Thank you" to the Triune God for all that God has given to us.