Pentecost 14 (NL2) John B. Valentine
Matthew 6:1-4 August 25, 2024

“WHY GIVE?”

Okay ... folks.

We’re closer to the end of this sermon series on stewardship than we are to its beginning ... but there’s a couple of key questions about stewardship that we haven’t quite touched on yet.

• Question number one being the “How much?” question ... and ...
• Question number two being “Why?”

So we’ve got some work to do!

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Anyhow ... you may recall back when we started this conversation ... back at the end of July ... how I referenced a recently-published book entitled Infectious Generosity ... written by the TED Talk guy ... Chris Anderson.

A book which basically was ... is ... a treatise on how and why even atheists and post-Christian folks should be good stewards of that which has come to them.

Now ... obviously ... I disagree with at least one of the premises of that author ...

But I can’t help but acknowledge some of the ways in which he gets it right

You see ... as regards the “How much?’ question ...

This Chris Anderson fellow says ... surprise, surprise ... that we should all aspire to giving ten percent.

Ten percent of our annual income to charitable causes beyond ourselves.

Eerily reminiscent of the ten percent number ... a “tithe” as it were ... that can be found scattered throughout the pages of the Bible.

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Now ... just to be clear ... the church ... for a long time ... has talked about “tithes and offerings.”

In fact ... over the years ... people in the church .... people on stewardship committees ... pastors in pulpits ... have seemingly used those terms interchangeably ...

Such that you might very well be thinking that those are just synonyms for one another.

“Tithes are the same as offerings .... offerings are the same as tithes.”

But whereas “offerings” refer to any and all charitable gifts we might make to support the mission of the Church and God’s grand purposes in this world ...

The word “tithe” literally means “a tenth” ... such that ... in Leviticus ... there’s a text that declares ... “All tithes of herd and flock, every tenth one that passes under the shepherd’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord.”

And it would seem that this spirit of a tithe ... giving one-tenth of one’s personal harvest ... is at the heart of the Bible’s perspective on that matter.

But listen to why Chris Anderson ... the TED Talk guy ... thinks that ten percent is a good rule of thumb:

One ... because “It should be accepted as fair, making heavier demands on those who can afford to give more” ....

Two ... because it is reasonably achievable ... because “It should not be so demanding that most human beings would be crushed by it” ... and

Three ... because it would “provide enough money to take on the main problems that charitable giving could reasonably tackle.”

In fact ... toward the end of that book Anderson challenges all of his readers to take on what he calls “The Generosity Pledge” ... to make a commitment to being generous for richer or poorer ... in sickness and in health.

“If I could” ... he writes ... “I would slip a little note inside a time capsule and whisk it back to the younger version of me ... and this is what I would say:

Dear Fifteen-Year-Old Self ... I have good news. It’s going to be okay. Yes, you do have an ethical obligation to others wherever they are in the world. You should take it seriously. But it is not an impossible burden to carry.

As far as the money goes, the most you need to commit is ten percent of your income or — if you get really wealthy two-and-a-half percent of your net worth — each year. You can handle that It’ll be tough, but worth it. For you’ll discover that a commitment to generosity can be your pathway not to guilt but to joy. You’ve got this!

With love, Your lucky, grateful future self”

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Let’s be honest ... folks ... ten-percent-a-year may feel like pretty high bar.

And you may be thinking ... “I just can’t” ... or maybe “Someday ... but not right now.”

But ... trust me ... speaking from personal experience ... it IS an achievable goal!

Bethany and I have been committed to the practice of tithing for as long as we’ve been together.

Not that it has always been easy for us to live into that commitment ... but it has been rewarding ...

Because it has given us the peace of mind of knowing that we’re doing what we can for others ... in good time and in bad ... in sickness and in health.

Sure ... it’s meant NOT doing some of the things that we might wish we could do ...

But ... over the years:

• Our gifts have put food in the mouths of hungry and hurting families ... and

• They’ve put a number of missionary kids in Tanzania through elementary and middle and high school ... and

• They’ve helped build a safe-haven for special ed. kids down in Mexico ... and

• They’ve kept the doors open at LARC ... and helped fund the work of the larger church ... and helped ensure that these facilities here are in good order ... as well as the facilities of other congregation’s to which I’ve been called over the past three-and-a-half decades.

We may not have changed the whole world with our tithes ... but we have changed some communities ... and some peoples’ worlds for the better.

And that ... to us ... feels pretty good.

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You know ... as regards the “How much” question ... that Infectious Generosity book reminded me that wealthy people actually have a harder time parting with their money than poorer people do.

He cited a well-word statistic that ... on average ... lower-income people share between three and four percent of their income on charitable gifts and causes ...

Whereas ... on average ... upper-income people share somewheres right around two percent of their income on the same ...

Which means that while the practice of tithing should be objectively easier for folks who have more disposable income ... subjectively it’s a whole lot harder.

It’s like how ... in the middle of a church stewardship campaign ... this one fellow stood up and said:

"I'm a millionaire, and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life.

“I can still remember the turning point in my faith, like it was yesterday:

I had just earned my first dollar and I went to a church meeting that night. The speaker was a missionary who told about his work. I knew that I had only a dollar bill and had to either give it all to God's work or nothing at all. So at that moment I decided to give all I had to God. I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am a rich man today."

The congregation applauded all ...

But ... as he took his seat a little old lady it the second row stood up and said, "I dare you to do it again!"

Let’s be clear here ... folks.

As one of your pastors ... I would NEVER ‘dare you’ to do anything.

But I would invite you to tithe ... or at least to seriously think about increasing your personal generosity ... because ... well ... because that leads into the second of our big not-yet-considered questions ... which is “Why?” ....... “Why stewardship?” ........ “WHY GIVE?”

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You see ... there’s another classic old ‘Stewardship’ story. It goes like this:

There’s this fellow who dies and goes to heaven ... where he’s met at the Pearly Gates by St. Peter ... who leads him down a series of streets that are paved in gold.

And they pass countless stately homes and beautiful mansions ... until they came to the end of the street where they stopped in front of a rundown cabin ... and Saint Peter opens the front door and says “Welcome home.”

Well ... the man is a bit flabbergasted and asks St. Peter why he got a hut when there were so many mansions he could live in.

To which St. Peter replies, “I did the best I could with the money you sent us.”

Now there’s something that’s a little bit funny about that joke ... but I don’t buy the premise of it.

The God I know ... the God we proclaim ... the God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ ... is a God who gives all of us far, far more than we either desire or deserve ...

But that story does beg the question “Why give?” ... “WHY?”

• If not for the heavenly reward ... “WHY?”
• If not for the eternal return on investment ... “WHY?”
• If not for ensuring that your eternal accommodations are five-star ... “WHY?”

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You know ... I like ... I really like the TED Talk guy’s answer to this one.

He harkens back to human psychology and reminds his readers that inside each of us there are two different ways of thinking ... LIZARD BRAINS and MAMMAL BRAINS.

Your lizard brain is that part of your brain in the back of your head ... right at the top of your spine ... and it’s hardwired for selfishness and self-defense and self-preservation.

Your lizard brain is the home of most of your basic emotions ...

Fear ... lust ... anger ... greed ... stuff like that ...

And your lizard brain would NEVER think of being generous or gracious or self-sacrificing ... because that is not what lizards do.

Your mammal brain ... your “mammalian brain” ... on the other hand is located up here ... at the top of the back of your head.

And IT is hardwired for community and connection and compassion and care.

• It’s your mammalian brain that makes you feel sorry for someone else.
• It’s your mammalian brain that wants good things to come to others.
• It’s your mammalian brain that make you cry at movies.
• And it’s your mammalian brain that drives us to self-sacrifice for the sake of our kids and our communities.

And then ... THEN ... there’s your HUMAN BRAIN ... that big chunk of brain up front here.

And your human brain’s job is to facilitate negotiations between the lizard and the mammal inside of you.

And to determine which of those two ways of thinking is going to win out in a given situation .... whether you’re going to be selfish or self-sacrificing ... generous or greedy.

The weird thing is ... when your human brain and your mammalian brain can quiet your lizard brain and embody generosity ...

HAPPINESS HAPPENS.

Sure ...

• love can make you happy ... and
• beauty perceived in art or in nature can make you happy ... and
• meaningful work can make you happy ... and
• money ... to an extent can make you happy ...

But the happiness that comes from generosity appears to be the most enduring kind of happiness of all!

Or ... as the old Chinese proverb asserts:

• If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.
• If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.
• If you want happiness for a month, get married.
• If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.
• If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody else.

For as Chris Anderson puts it ...

“It’s not always obvious, but generosity is a core part of who we are. Whether you think we were built by God or by evolution, we are wired to look out for each other. Our deepest fulfillment comes only when generosity is a fundamental part of our lives.

“No one can tell you what your specific obligations to your fellow humans are. But it’s truly important that you find your own answers to that question. Your reputation, your long-term happiness, and the happiness of those around you all depend on it.”

So why don’t you put your human brains to work ... and think about these things!