Texts: The Offertory Sentences from the BCP
Christians are often surprised to discover how much the bible talks about money. By one statistic I found, there are approximately 2,350 verses concerning money, which is almost twice as many verses as those on faith and prayer combined. Though I don’t particularly like to preach on money, it is good to have the occasional “stewardship sermon.”
In the past, I’ve often based such a homily on St. Paul’s teaching on giving in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. This is probably the most detailed single discussion of money and giving in the New Testament. In answer to a challenge from a younger parishioner, I’ve also preached on one of Jesus’ more difficult teachings about the tendency for wealth to be a force for personal corruption.
This year I figured I would approach it a bit differently, a bit more liturgically, and look at our offertory sentences from the Book of Common Prayer. You can find these, along with their Scriptural citations, on pages 72 and 73 in the Prayer Book. This is probably easier than trying to find each in your bible as we talk about them, though I won’t simply be going down the list in order.
Liturgically, the Offertory is the main preparatory action as we transition from the Liturgy of the Word or “ante-Communion” to the Liturgy of the Table. We already see in the New Testament the beginnings of some form of offertory, as both Acts and the Epistles discuss collecting alms and other donations when the Church assembles. And, of course, in the Gospels we see folks bringing some sort of monetary offering to the Temple or Synagogue as well. A significant point of the offertory as a transition is the idea that our giving is part of our worship. We don’t come before God only to receive, but we also come to give back as an act of worship and thanksgiving.
When we group together our Offertory Sentences, I see three broad truths the Scriptures teach us. First, we are reminded that God owns everything. Grasping this truth is foundational for the bible’s teachings on money, stewardship, and giving. It all belongs to God in the first place.
This is best illustrated by the last two sentences, both of which are from Chapter 29 of 1 Chronicles. In context, King David has collected offerings to build the Temple and Solomon is about to be anointed as the next king. Our sentences come from David’s prayer between the Temple collection and the anointing of Solomon.
Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all (1 Chronicles 29:11).
All things come of thee, O LORD, and of thine own have we given thee (1 Chronicles 29:14).
Since everything belongs to God and he is in control, we can have the freedom and confidence to be generous. In our generosity, we are only giving of what he’s already given us. Since he is sovereign, he can and will take care of his Church. He’ll keep the ministry going. While he invites us to join him in building up the Church, it is still his doing. I’m reminded of a story of a seminary whose board was praying for the school’s financial needs. The president prayed, “Lord, the bible says that you own the cattle on a thousand hills. Would you mind selling a few of those cows for us?” The next day they got a visit from a cattle rancher with a check to support the seminary! He said he felt led by the Lord to sell a couple of cows and donate the proceeds!
God’s ownership means that we are invited to be generous. It also means that he counts our generosity towards his children as generosity towards him. Look at the sentence at the top of Page 73. Matthew 25:40:
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
This, of course, speaks to the Christian’s call to help the needy. As a church, we support three ministries that help “the least of these.” Christian Assistance Ministry (CAM) is a local ministry to help those in need. Anglicans for Life is a national ministry that advocates for the unborn and helps support at-risk mothers. And Love for the Least is a global ministry that brings the gospel and material support to refugees and orphans in some of the most difficult parts of the Middle East and Africa. Next year we plan to expand our support through a quarterly giving focus on these and other ministries, all of which help those who belong to Jesus.
This leads to the idea that God is the Lord of the harvest. That is, he is in control of the results. Notice our third sentence on Page 73, from Luke 10:2:
Jesus said unto them, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest.
Contextually, the harvest is a metaphor for bringing people people to the Lord. It’s a metaphor for the increase of God’s kingdom. The principle, however, applies to all our ministry efforts: God sends the laborers. He sends the harvest. He is in control because everything belongs to him.
If everything belongs to God, what is our role as Christians? This brings us to the second main point: we are stewards of what God has given us. That is, we are managers God has put in charge of his gifts of time, talents, and treasures. In the Prayer Book, most of our Offertory Sentences focus on our own stewardship of what God gives us. Some of these sentences speak primarily to our duty as stewards. Some of them speak of the blessings that come from being good stewards. Many speak to both the duty and the blessings.
When it comes to the duty of our stewardship, many Christians immediately think of the Old Testament commands regarding the tithe, basically a 10% tax to support the priests and Levites. This contribution was separate from other offerings in Old Testament Ceremonial Law. While the Civil and Ceremonial aspects of the Old Testament Law are not directly binding in a New Covenant context, a 10% tithe has historically been considered a good guideline and baseline for Christian giving. That’s why All Saints tithes to the diocese and the diocese tithes to the Province. Our Offertory Sentences give us two Scriptural principles behind the Old Testament tithing Laws, principles that are directly applicable to Christians under the New Covenant. First, from the Old Testament, we have Deuteronomy 16:16-17, the fourth sentence on Page 73:
Ye shall not appear before the LORD empty; every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.
Second, from the New Testament, we have the fifth sentence on page 72, from 2 Corinthians 9:6-7:
He that soweth little shall reap little; and he that soweth plenteously shall reap plenteously. Let every man do according as he is disposed in his heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.
These verses teach us that we ought to give back to the Lord when we come to worship, that our giving should be based on how he has blessed us, that our giving should be prayerful and intentional, and that our giving should be done joyfully. Again, giving is to be an act of worship, not something we do begrudgingly or by manipulation.
Notice that we also have a promised blessings for giving. Using an agricultural metaphor, St. Paul says that generous sowing leads to generous reaping. While this does not necessarily imply a direct monetary or financial blessing, it is good to be generous. As the first of the Sentences says, “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
Now, that 10% guideline may be something that sounds like an impossibly high goal. That’s OK. I think everyone can attest that times have been tough, economically. The most important thing is to exercise faith in God by cheerfully giving, regardless of the amount. A wise suggestion is to work up to the more ideal position of a tithe over time. And if you have been faithful in tithing, be sure to be open to the Lord leading you towards even more generosity.
We have already discussed how giving should indeed help the “least of these.” Our giving as Christians should help the poor and vulnerable. While this certainly includes the “least of these” throughout the world, there is a special priority towards the Community of faith, both supporting the Church and helping other Christians. Consider these sentences from the second half of Page 72:
While we have time, let us do good unto all men; and especially unto them that are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10, emphasis added).
God is not unrighteous, that he will forget your work and labour that proceedeth of love; which love ye have showed for his Name’s sake, who have ministered unto the saints, and yet do minister (Hebrews 6:10, emphasis added).
Whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (1 John 3:17).
There are lots and lots of charities and other nonprofits out there. Many (though certainly not all) are responsible and work for a worthy cause. And it is indeed good to be generous to a variety of charities. That said, the priority for Christians should indeed be Christian organizations, starting with the local church. Indeed, your generosity to the church enables All Saints to have a full-time rector, an exceptional choirmaster and organist, a beautiful building to worship in, among other blessings. And through these ministries, we are able to be an outpost of the Gospel in our local community and beyond. This is the kind of thing our second sentence on Page 73 speaks to:
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? (Romans 10:14-15).
One of the ways you “send” me on mission as a minister of the Word and Sacrament is by contributing to the church.
Now there are several more sentences that speak to our duty to be stewards of what God has given us as well as the blessings that come from such stewardship. But there is still a third truth that we need to address. We’ve already seen the truths of how everything belongs to God and how we are merely stewards or managers of what God has given us. The third truth is that the treasures of this world are fading away. They are temporary. And that means that they are far less important than we often feel or think they are. Consider the third sentence on page 72:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thrives to not break through nor steal (Matthew 6:19-20).
I’m sure this comes as no surprise to you, but I am a big fan of fantasy books, particularly those of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. In both Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we have pretty classic depictions of dragons as avaricious and greedy monsters that hoard treasure for the mere sake of hoarding it. And both stories make a point that this “dragonish” attitude can easily infect people.
Sometimes that “dragonish” tendency is a pull to be overprotective of our stuff. This can be very taxing on our psyche as well as our spirit. If you’ve ever known a hoarder, it’s terrible to watch a person literally put themselves in physical danger as well as mental and spiritual danger because they can’t let go of possessions.
Other times, the “dragonish” tendency is a pull to get, get, get. We think buying more things or making more money will make us happy. Yet, that promised happiness is a vapor. It never delivers.
As we enter into the Christmas season, we certainly see temptations to covetousness and greed all around us. The commercialization of one of the Church’s holiest seasons, one of our culture’s most cherished seasons, is something that has been lamented for decades. Heck, this lament is the main theme of the original Charlie Brown Christmas special from the 1960’s!
Yet, it’s often very difficult to see greed or covetousness in ourselves. Avarice is a very sneaky sin. Generous giving is a good strategy to combat our tendency to become “dragonish.” It’s a good way to remind ourselves that the things of this world are passing away.
By contrast, the things of the next world are eternal. They’re an investment that will continue to yield returns forever. Lives changed, people coming to faith, growing in fear and knowledge of the Lord, building eternal relationships with other Christians… these are the things that will last for ever. We were made to love and be with God forever. Let’s make sure we don’t let the good material gifts he gives us obscure that ultimate good of fellowship with him.
I want to close this year’s stewardship sermon by thanking you for your generosity thus far. Thank you for the ways that you have supported the ministry of our church and have been obedient to God. And if you haven’t exercised generosity, I invite you to do so. I know times are tough. For many folks and many churches, costs are up, and incomes are down. But the Lord is faithful, and we strive to be faithful in return. So, thank you for blessing us as God has blessed you. May we continue and indeed increase in our generosity, for God and his glory. On that note, we close with a final offertory sentence, from Matthew 5:16:
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
