Tawa Baptist

Giving

Scripture: Luke 16:1-13

Title: Giving

Key Points:

  • Giving opens doors and facilitates movement
  • Giving creates security by strengthening relationships

Introduction:

Last summer we went to Kapiti Island for a day

–         Kapiti has a lagoon on its northern edge

–         Although it is right beside the sea the lagoon is completely closed in – no water flows in from the sea and no water flows out

–         Apparently this happened naturally with time and weather

–         Local Maori say the lagoon was a burial place for those who had fought and died on Kapiti in wars of centuries past

–         No one drinks the water, nor fishes from it, nor even swims in it

–         The water is dark and brackish (a mix of fresh water and salt water), not really inviting

–         Movement supports life – the Kapiti lagoon is a place of death, not just because of its history but because it has no movement – nothing flows in and nothing flows out

Today we continue our series on well-being and care of the soul, using the acronym: HEALING.

–         Each letter represents a word which, when properly applied, is life giving to the human soul…

–         Hope Energy Appreciation Lament Inter-dependence Nurture & Giving

–         Last week we looked at nurture – this morning our focus is giving

Giving is good for our soul in a number of ways

–         Giving supports life by opening doors and facilitating movement

–         If the lagoon on Kapiti had an opening the brackish water inside could be released and changed regularly and it would become a place of life again

Or to change metaphors, giving is like CRC – it loosens things that have seized

–         Or giving is like engine oil – it allows the motor to run freely without overheating

–         Or giving is like kiwi fruit – it moves your bowel and clears out the waste

–         Or giving is like picking beans – the more you pick the bigger your crop

Giving can include sharing money and resources, being generous in our attitude toward others, giving time to listen and serve, giving people the benefit of the doubt and forgiving others.

Luke 16:1-13

To help us explore this idea of giving our message today focuses on Luke 16, verses 1-13. Taken as a whole Luke 16 is about the use of wealth

–         As I’ve already mentioned there is more to giving than sharing money, nevertheless Luke 16 sets out some helpful principles relating to giving

–         From verse 1 we read…

Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

“The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

“‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’

“Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

 

Our reading today begins with Jesus telling his disciples the parable of the shrewd manager (or the unjust steward)

–         Two things this parable shows us about giving…

–         Giving opens doors and facilitates movement

–         And giving creates security by strengthening relationships

 

The parable of the Shrewd Manager assumes a scenario in which a rich landowner leases his land to farmers who pay rent by giving him a portion of their harvest [1]

The rich man learns that his servant has been wasting his goods so he calls the manager in, fires him on the spot and orders him to hand over the books

–         This may seem a bit harsh to us but it was actually quite gracious in the context

–         In Jesus’ day a manager could have been imprisoned or sold as a slave with his family in order to recoup the rich man’s losses

–         But the rich man lets the manager go free

Interestingly the manager does not argue with his master – he doesn’t try to justify himself

–         The manager knows his master is right and there is no point in arguing, so his thoughts turn to his future – how will he provide for himself?

To his credit the manager harbours no illusions about himself – he knows he couldn’t make it as a labourer or a beggar so he devises a plan so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel (as Black Adder might say to Baldric)

–         The manager’s plan is to call his master’s debtors in one by one and forgive a large portion of each of their debts

–         ‘…Then when my job is gone here, I shall have friends who will welcome me in their homes.’

–         Giving opens doors and facilitates movement

–         Giving also creates security by strengthening relationships

 

The manager called the master’s debtors to him (one at a time) and he reduced their debts significantly

–         900 gallons of olive oil becomes 450

–         1000 bushels of wheat becomes 800

–         These represent significant sums of money

–         450 gallons of olive oil was worth about a year and half’s wages

Giving creates security by strengthening relationships

–         Generally speaking, the greater the gift the stronger the relationship, or at least the stronger the obligation

Let me demonstrate what I mean [Hold up a single piece of paper]

–         Imagine that this piece of paper represents the relationship between two people

–         As you can see the relationship isn’t very strong or deep just yet – it could easily be ripped in half – and that’s because not much has been given or shared, perhaps just 1 gallon of olive oil

[Hold up a phone book]

–         Here we have a more robust relationship – one in which 450 gallons of olive oil has been given or shared

–         As you can see this relationship is much stronger

The point is: by forgiving such large amounts of debt the manager opened doors and created security for himself by strengthening relationships

On the one hand the debtors don’t realise the manager has already been given the sack and is no longer authorised to write off their debt

–         So publicly the debtors would be able to say ‘I had no idea the manager had been fired – I thought he was authorised to make the reductions’

–         But on the other hand they might also be thinking, ‘this is all a little bit too good to be true, I have a feeling the manager is going to want his cut’

–         So privately the debtors might be expecting to split some of their savings with the manager afterwards

The manager very shrewdly gets the debtors to write the reduction in their own hand – in this way the debtors cannot contest the amounts owed or get out of their shady deal with the manager

–         It also shows the master that the debtors are aware of the reductions making it a lot more difficult for the master to change the figures back without losing face

As Kenneth Bailey observes, by making these reductions public knowledge the manager has made his master look like a generous hero in the eyes of the whole community

–         If the master were to increase the debts again he would then look bad in the eyes of the community

–         The master chooses to show extravagant grace to the manager once again and does not contest the reductions

–         This act of grace for the manager is also an act of grace for the whole community – everyone wins at the master’s expense

The parable concludes with the master praising his servant (the manager) – not for being dishonest but rather for being clever & brave

–         The manager has essentially risked everything on a belief that his master will act graciously, not treating him as he deserves

–         If the master had not been gracious the plan would have failed and the manager would have been thrown in prison or sold as a slave

–         The master’s generosity points to God’s generosity in forgiving us

 

In verse 9 Jesus interprets his own parable saying…

  • – I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

–         In other words, giving opens doors and strengthens relationships, not just in this life but in eternity

–         Jesus means for people to be smart and use the money or wealth they have in constructive ways – to help others, especially the poor

–         In the same way that the manager had to prepare for his future because he was about to lose his job, so too we need to think about our eternal future

–         This life won’t last forever and when it ends we can’t take our money with us – but what does carry over into eternity is our relationships, because relationships have to do with spirit

Money may have some value in this life but it will have no value in the next life

–         Good relationships have value both in this life and the next

–         If you know the value of your dollar will soon be worthless then the smart thing to do is invest your money in something that will hold its value before the dollar drops – Good relationships hold their value forever

–         So it makes sense to use our money to help others and to strengthen good relationships now, while we still can

 

Luke 16 contains a second parable – of the rich man and Lazarus

–         If the parable of the shrewd manager teaches us about giving and a good use for money, then the parable of the rich man and Lazarus teaches us about withholding and a foolish use of money

–         The rich man used his wealth to indulge himself while neglecting to help Lazarus the poor man

–         When they both died the tables were turned and Lazarus went to be with Abraham, while the door to paradise was shut to the rich man

–         Giving opens doors and strengthens relationships in this life and the next

–         Withholding things (whether that’s withholding money or the truth or love) locks doors and dissolves relationships

–         The security of having right relationships is far better than the security offered by money

 

In some ways (although not in every way) the master in Jesus’ parable is a bit like God and we are a bit like the servant or the manager

–         Hopefully we aren’t dishonest like the manager but, either way, we are not the owner of the wealth – God is the owner and we are the stewards

–         Jesus says as much in verses 10-13…

–         If you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own

–         In other words: what we have in our possession in this life; our car, our house, our furniture, the money in our bank account, our job, our time – it’s not really ours – it belongs to God

–         But we do have considerable freedom about how we use it – whether to serve God’s purpose by helping others or not

–         If we use what God has entrusted us with faithfully, to serve His purpose, then we will be trusted with more in eternity

So if the money we have belongs to God and we need to use it to serve his purpose then what does good stewardship look like?

–         Should we be living on the smell of an oily rag and blindly giving away as much as we can to charitable causes?

–         Well, no – I don’t think so

–         God is into justice and mercy – so our spending needs to be fair & kind

–         Yes, we should give some money to charitable causes that are in line with God’s purpose but not at the expense of justice

–         Justice is better than charity

For example, it is better to buy fair trade goods and pay a little more than it is to buy something cheap that has been made by slave labour, even if you plan to give the savings to World Vision or the SPCA

–         We shouldn’t give to charities as a substitute for paying a fair price

–         In global terms we (in NZ) are relatively wealthy – we need to use our wealth in solidarity with the poor, not in ways that oppress them

 

Take the example of pokey machines – while the profits might be distributed to community charities, these same profits often come at the expense of the poor

–         If pokey machines are contributing to the problem then it would be better not to have them in the first place

–         No amount of charity can compensate for injustice

–         If you have a dead carcass rotting in a stream, making the water undrinkable, you don’t leave the carcass there and try to purify the water with chemicals – no, you remove the carcass

 

Another Godly use of money is taking care of your family

–         God puts us in families for a reason – to take care of each other

–         If you hold the purse strings then be fair to your family with how you spend your income – make sure they are warm, dry, well fed and educated before spending on yourself or sending money overseas

–         And, if at all possible, try to have a job that allows you time with your kids – because your time is more valuable to them than your money

I could go on but hopefully you get the point: good stewardship doesn’t mean amassing large amounts of wealth

–         Nor does it mean giving all our money away thoughtlessly or carelessly

–         Good stewardship means using what God has given us to help others in ways that are just, merciful and life-giving

–         John Stott was wise and strategic in his giving – the money he made from the books he wrote went to paying for quality theological training for men & women in poor countries. He believed that would do more long term good, for more people, than anything else

 

In his book Lost Connections Johann Hari tells the following true story of the effects of giving [2]

In the middle of the 1970’s a group of Canadian officials chose a small town, called Dauphin, for an economic experiment

–         Most of the people living in Dauphin were farmers growing a crop called canola

–         The 17000 people of the town worked as hard as they could but were still struggling

–         When the canola crop was good everyone did well but when the canola crop was bad, everyone suffered – consequently there was insecurity because people were anxious about having enough to live on

 

The government officials wondered what would happen if they gave everyone in Dauphin a guaranteed universal basic income with no strings attached

–         I guess it was a bit like our national superannuation except for everyone, not just those over 65

–         This income wouldn’t be means tested like our working for families tax credit – every household simply got paid $19,000 US per year (in today’s terms) – which is over $28,000 NZ dollars

–         By itself this wouldn’t be enough to live on but it would make life easier

–         Sounds a little bit like communism but it wasn’t because people were still free to choose the work they did, still free to worship God and still free to earn more if they wanted to, without penalty

–         This experiment lasted for a while until a new government was elected in Canada and stopped it

 

It wasn’t until years later that a woman, called Evelyn, dug up the data and interviewed those who had taken part to learn the outcome of the experiment

–         Evelyn went through the medical records and found there were fewer people showing up at the doctors with depression & anxiety at that time

–         Why? Because the guaranteed basic income removed the rotting carcass of financial stress in people’s everyday lives – it provided security

 

We might expect people to misuse the money or at least accumulate as much as they could, but quite the opposite happened in Dauphin

–         Giving people basic security actually opened doors for them and made positive change possible

–         People chose to work a bit less and spend more time with their kids

–         And this time was quality time because the parents were less stressed and able to be present with their kids, which meant family life was better

–         Students stayed at school longer and learned more – not only that but some adults went back to school to improve their lot in life

–         Others who felt trapped in a job they hated, just to pay the bills, now had the means to leave that job and do something they enjoyed more

 

People didn’t waste the extra money on booze and cigarettes

–         No – they proved to be good stewards and used the money in wise and creative ways to strengthen their relationships and secure a better future for themselves and their families

 

The same sort of experiment has been done in other places too with the same sort of results

–         I’m not an economist so I don’t know how this would work on a larger scale (like, how would you pay for it and what would it do to inflation?) but I expect there would be significant improvements to people’s health & wellbeing as well as a reduction in crime, therefore saving money over the long term

–         More importantly though people would enjoy the true wealth of better quality lives and relationships

 

This idea of stewardship – giving people resources and trusting them to make good decisions with it, is similar to God’s approach with us

–         Of course with God we will have to give account one day

 

Conclusion:

Our reading from Luke this morning finishes with that well known verse…

  • – “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

 Giving (in whatever form it takes) saves us from the tyranny of self

  • – The tighter we hold onto money the tighter it holds onto us
  • – Financial riches are a cruel master, as is poverty
  • – God is a far kinder, more gracious master
  • – When we release what God has given us, to serve his purpose, we affirm that God is in charge and we find release for ourselves – we open up the lagoon of our brackish heart for God to bring refreshment & life

 

Giving well is good for our soul

–         Giving sets us free – it opens doors in this life and the next

–         Giving facilitates movement and movement supports life

–         Giving also creates security and a better future through stronger relationships

 

Questions for discussion or reflection

1.)    What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

2.)    What are some of the ways in which we can give?

3.)    Why does the master commend the shrewd manager?

–         How are we to be like the shrewd manager?

–         How are we to not be like the shrewd manager?

4.)    What does the parable of the shrewd manager teach us about giving?

–         What does it teach us about the value of money and relationships respectively, in the light of eternity?

5.)    What might good stewardship look like?

–         What do we mean when we say, ‘justice is better than charity’?

–         Give some examples of a good use of money – a use that serves God’s purpose

6.)    What would you do if you had a guaranteed basic income (no strings attached) like the people of Dauphin?

7.)    What is your experience of wealth &/or poverty?

–         What is your experience of God as master of your life?

–         How does giving set us free from the tyranny of self?

 

[1] I have drawn mainly on Kenneth Bailey’s interpretation of this parable from his book ‘Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes’, pages 332-342. Other commentators take a different view.

[2] Johann Hari. ‘Lost Connections’, pages 245-249.

Tawa Baptist

Healing

Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30

Title: Healing

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Hope vs. condemnation
  • Energy vs. exhaustion
  • Appreciation vs. entitlement
  • Lament vs. denial
  • Inter-dependence vs. independence
  • Nurture vs. neglect
  • Giving vs. greed
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

It’s been a difficult week for many in our congregation

–         I had originally planned to preach about the Trinity but it didn’t seem to fit for the week we’ve had – so this morning we are going to draw from the well of Jesus’ wisdom in caring for the soul

In Matthew 11, Jesus says…

–         Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Jesus was a carpenter by trade and as a carpenter he made wooden yokes to go across the shoulders of oxen

–         The purpose of a yoke is to make it easier to carry something

–         A yoke for a team of oxen wasn’t a one size fits all, it was custom made to fit the individual animals

–         The ‘yoke’ Jesus speaks of is his wisdom or his teaching

–         When we take on the yoke of Jesus’ wisdom we find that it fits who we are and makes the burdens we carry in this life a bit easier to bear

–         Jesus’ wisdom brings healing, well-being and growth to our soul

 

A few weeks ago now, as Robyn & I were walking around Lake Taupo, I gave some thought to some future sermon series ideas and came up with this acronym:

–         HEALING.

–         Each letter represents a word which, when put into practice, is life giving to the human soul…

–         Hope, Energy, Appreciation, Lament, Inter-dependence, Nurture & Giving – these are all strategies for well-being

–         They help us to carry our burdens without rubbing our backs raw

–         At some point I would like to take seven weeks to explore these words and their application, through a sermon series – but for today I will simply introduce the concepts to help us in taking care of our soul

–         First let’s consider hope

Hope:

Hope is the ability to imagine a good future

–         If life is good in the present then we tend not to think too much about the future

–         But when life is difficult we find the strength to get through that difficulty by imagining something good coming our way in the future

–         Without hope, without the thought that something better awaits us on the horizon, our burdens seem impossible to bear

The Christian hope, the picture of the future we hold in our minds, is heaven

–         Heaven goes by a number of different names including eternal life and the Kingdom of God

–         The best thing about heaven is God’s presence

–         In the book of Revelation chapter 7 we find these verses of hope…

He who sits on the throne will protect them with his presence. Never again will they hunger or thirst; neither sun nor any scorching heat will burn them, because the Lamb [that is: Jesus], who is in the centre of the throne, will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Revelation was written for Christians in the first Century who were suffering persecution – they got through it by placing their hope in Jesus, by imagining a future in the presence of God

–         In the same way we get through the difficulties we face in this life by believing that one day (through Jesus) we will abide in God’s presence forever

Sometimes we understand what something is by its opposite

–         Condemnation is one of the opposites of hope

–         To feel condemned is to feel like there is nothing good for us in the future

–         Jesus (the Son of God) did not come to condemn us – he came to redeem creation, to save the world

–         There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Sometimes we lose our hope – we lose our ability to see a good future and we might feel condemned

–         It’s like the clouds of depression hang low & thick so we can’t see the sun’s rays of hope and everything is grey & gloomy

–         But just because you can’t see the sun behind the clouds doesn’t mean the sun isn’t there

–         Hold on – the clouds will pass and the sun will become visible again

–         Jesus does not promise a life without clouds but he does offer us certain hope of a future enjoying abundant life in God’s presence, when we put our trust in him

 

Energy:

‘E’ stands for Energy

–         The opposite of energy is exhaustion

We have different types of energy – physical energy, emotional energy, mental energy, sexual energy, spiritual energy and so on

–         Two things that help to sustain and support our energy levels are rhythm and balance

–         It’s like riding a bike – to keep the bike upright and moving forward you need to maintain the rhythm of your pedalling and your balance

To put it in more practical terms, we get energy from maintaining regular sleep patterns, eating a healthy balanced diet, as well as taking the right amount of exercise and rest

Our primary source of energy though is the Spirit of God [1]

–         The Holy Spirit is often compared to the wind

–         In fact, the Greek word for spirit (which is pneuma) is the same word used for wind, just as the Hebrew word for spirit (which is ruach) also doubles for wind

Like the wind, the Spirit of God is a powerful energy, untameable and free

–         We can try and do things under our own steam (by rowing or paddling the ship of our soul against the tide of circumstance) but it is far better to trim our sails to catch the wind of God’s Spirit and be carried along by the energy of God

 

Sometimes though we hit the doldrums, where there is no wind

–         We might trim our sails by reading the Bible, spending time in prayer and seeking to listen to God but nothing seems to happen and we sort of drift spiritually

–         We can’t control the Spirit any more than we can tell the wind what to do

–         When we find ourselves in the doldrums we simply have to wait for God

–         Keep up our daily & weekly devotional rhythms & rituals until the wind of God’s Spirit visits us again

 

Appreciation:

‘A’ is for appreciation

–         Appreciation is a word that carries more than one meaning

–         It can mean gratitude or thankfulness but it can also mean enjoying what is in front of you, not rushing past but stopping to smell the roses

A sense of entitlement is poison to appreciation

–         If we think we’re entitled to something because we’ve worked hard & we deserve it then we will lose the simple joy of appreciating what we have

–         The key to appreciation is remembering that life is a gift from God

–         Not a duty to be performed or a goal to be achieved, but a gift to be enjoyed

 

In Luke chapter 10 we find two sisters, Mary & Martha

–         Mary sits still at the feet of Jesus, simply listening and appreciating him

–         While Martha runs around in a flurry of busy-ness and self-righteous contempt for her sister

–         Martha feels her service for the Lord entitles her to tell Jesus what to do:

–         “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me.” But Jesus says to her…

–         “Martha, Martha. You are worried and troubled over so many things, but just one is needed. Mary has chosen the right thing and it will not be taken from her.”

 

Mary paused to appreciate the Lord – to enjoy the presence of God (in the form of Jesus) who was in front of her. We need to do the same

–         One thing I often do at the end of the day is think of the things that went well in the day: things I appreciated, situations that were redeemed, anything really that had the finger prints of God on it

–         And then I thank God for those things before going to sleep

 

‘H’ is for hope, ‘E’ is for energy, ‘A’ is for appreciation and…

Lament:

‘L’ is for lament

–         Lament is an old word that we don’t hear very often, which is a great shame because it is a practice that is needed more than ever today

Lament is a way of expressing the sad, bitter, angry & painful truth of what we are feeling inside

–         The opposite of lament is denial – pretending everything is okay with us when it isn’t

The psalms are full of laments – people grieving with raw honesty, pouring out their rage, their sadness, their doubt before God

–         Apparently God is big enough to handle it

We might practice lament in a number of ways – perhaps through music & song, maybe by writing a poem or painting a picture or simply with our tears

–         Lament takes a stink feeling, a sucky feeling, and does something creative with it

At the end of Matthew 23 Jesus laments over Jerusalem saying…

–         “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing. See, your house is left to you desolate.”

Jesus could see the coming destruction of the city with the unnecessary suffering of its people – and the waste of life, the futility, grieved him

–         It didn’t have to be this way – it’s not what God wanted

–         God’s instinct is to gather and protect his people but on this occasion, as on so many other occasions, God didn’t get what he wanted

There’s been a lot to grieve about this past week

–         Give your grief to God – tell him honestly & respectfully how you feel

–         Ask him to do something creative with it

 

Inter-dependence:

In the movie Guardians of the Galaxy there is a character called ‘Groot’.

–         Groot is a tree in the shape of a human

–         All through the movie Groot says only one thing: “I am Groot”

–         It doesn’t matter what the question is or what the topic of conversation he always says: “I am Groot”

–         Until the end of the film when he lays his life down to save his friends and says: “We are Groot

‘I’ is for inter-dependence, in contrast to independence

–         Inter-dependence is about being connected to one another in a good way

–         It’s about depending or relying on one another

–         Inter-dependent relationships function on trust

–         In contrast independence is about being isolated or alone

–         Independence is often the result of mistrust

 

Healing, wholeness, growth – these things don’t happen in isolation, they happen in community

–         If you injure your finger the doctors don’t seek to heal the finger by separating it from the hand – no, they keep the finger attached

 

Our body is an inter-dependent unity. As the apostle Paul says…

  •  25 And so there is no division in the body, but all its different parts have the same concern for one another. 26 If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it; if one part is praised, all the other parts share its happiness. 27 All of you are Christ’s body, and each one is a part of it.

 

The death this past week has affected a lot of people and that’s because we are all connected

–         Whether we like it or not, what happens to one part of the body affects the rest – and that’s true whether you were close to the one who died or not

If you are hurting, don’t do your grieving alone – talk with someone

–         There will be people available to pray with you here, by the water cooler, after the service or you can catch up with Daryl or me

–         It has been really good to see the way many people in the church have come together to lend support to each other – especially the youth & young adults. There is healing in community

‘H’ is for hope, ‘E’ is for energy, ‘A’ is for appreciation, ‘L’ is for lament,

‘I’ is for inter-dependence, and…

 Nurture:

‘N’ is for nurture, as opposed to neglect

–         Nurture is about taking care of someone or something

–         One of the primary images we are given of Jesus is that of a shepherd

–         A shepherd takes care of his sheep

It’s interesting how Jesus restores Peter

–         After Peter had denied him three times, Jesus tells Peter to feed my sheep

–         Jesus heals Peter by giving him some people to nurture and take care of

–         The wisdom of Jesus seems to be that healing, well-being and growth of our soul doesn’t happen by self-analysis alone – it happens as we look outside ourselves to the nurture and care of others

Sometimes when we are hurting or in pain we can become quite self-absorbed and our perspective gets smaller & smaller until we find ourselves locked in self-destructive thought patterns – the temptation in grief is to self-pity

–         Nurturing others, looking to the well-being of others, actually enlarges our perspective and frees our mind, lifting our thought patterns out of the rut we sometimes get ourselves into

–         Self-pity leads us to neglect our soul. Nurture, of others, saves us from self-pity

Giving:

Related to this idea of nurture is our final letter: ‘G’ for giving

–         Jesus said: It is better to give than receive

–         By giving I don’t think Jesus just meant giving money

–         I think he meant giving in the broader sense of that word – being generous in our attitude toward others, giving time to listen, giving people the benefit of the doubt, forgiving others, giving ourselves

The thing is we can only give what we have received – we can’t give what we don’t have, so giving implies receiving, not earning or taking, but receiving as a gift. God offers us life as a gift, both to enjoy and to share with others

The classic illustration for the benefits of giving is the Dead Sea

–         While the Dead Sea receives water from the Jordan River, it doesn’t have an outlet and consequently the salt & mineral deposits increase to such an extent that nothing can survive in the water there

–         It is similar with our soul – when we don’t give, our soul becomes constipated or bunged up with bitterness

Jesus encouraged generosity, not to make us feel guilty about not meeting some impossible ideal, but in order to set us free from the constipation of greed

 

Conclusion:

There is a lot more we could say about each of these things (and at some point in the future we might explore them further) but that’s enough for now

–         As you process the events of the past week (whether it’s been a good week for you or torrid), which one of these words or areas of well-being do you think you need to focus on, both for your own healing & growth, as well as that of those around you?

 

Let us pray…

Father God, you are just and merciful. You understand us completely because you made us. You are the ground of our being.

Jesus, Son of God, you are our brother and our hope. Because of you we have friendship with God and a future to look forward to.

Holy Spirit, you are the source of our energy, the wind in our sails, the warmth in our heart, the one who connects us to Jesus.

God you are our home – we come from you and we return to you. In you we can be ourselves. We pray for those in NZ and in the world at large who have nowhere to live. Provide each one with affordable accommodation and a caring community to belong to.

God of the easy yoke we pray for those who are weary and heavy laden. Help each of us to take care of the soul you have given us. Save us from the constipation of greed. Keep us from that self-pity which leads to neglect of the soul. Help us to express our grief in creative & satisfying lament. Give us eyes to appreciate the good news all around us. Strengthen our trust in one another that we would do the ups & downs of life together, in an inter-dependent way. When we find ourselves in the doldrums help us to keep our balance and maintain healthy rhythms, while we wait for the wind of your Spirit. And when our mood is overcast and we lose sight of hope, hold on to us and remind us that the clouds of depression will pass. Restore us as we care for and nurture your lambs. Give us wisdom to live generously & well, in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

 

Questions for discussion or reflection

1.)    What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

2.)    Jesus’ metaphor of the easy yoke can be understood in a variety of ways – how do you understand it?

3.)    Where is your hope placed? (What is your picture of the future?)

4.)    How are your energy levels at the moment? Are you rowing against the tide or catching the wind of God’s Spirit?

–         What can we do when we find ourselves in the doldrums?

5.)    What form of lament works best for you? (E.g. music, writing, painting, crying, something else creative?)

6.)    What has God given you to share with others?

7.)    Which of the 7 areas (words) of well-being, mentioned in the sermon, do you need to focus on for the welfare of your soul (and for others)?

8.)    At the end of each day this week, think of three things in the day you appreciated and give thanks to God for them.

 

https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/27-may-2018-healing

 

 

[1] Note to self for future sermon: use the story of an exhausted Elijah being feed by an angel, rested and carried by the Spirit (God restores Elijah’s physical & spiritual energy)