November
27, 2013 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA
“He who supplies seed to the
sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and
increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way
for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”
Once again, the Lord has
brought us an opportunity to reflect on the generosity that He has shown to us
in providing for our earthly needs. That is the reason that we gather together
for a Day of Thanksgiving. We render our thanks in response to what has been
given to us from the Lord. In
doing so, we take our place in the long line of the Lord’s people who have done so.
The First Reading that you heard gave
instructions for how the Lord’s
people were to offer their thanks. Some of the fruit and crops obtained from
the ground were to be offered to Him. Each Israelite was to bring a basket of
their firstfruits to the Lord’s
altar. Then there was a little liturgy that they would follow: the giving of
the basket to the priest, followed by the recitation of a thanksgiving address.
In that statement, the Israelites remembered their history, how the Lord had taken Abraham out of his homeland,
raised up a great population in Egypt despite their being enslaved, and brought
them to their land. And the last statement confessed the truth about why they
had anything to bring to that altar: “And behold, now I bring the first of
the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord,
have given me.”
That phrase spoken by the Israelites during the
harvest time worship acknowledged their dependence upon the Lord. It revealed the Lord’s
providential nature. In those words are the seeds of truth about the Lord’s identity, what future believers
would also confess. The same sentiment is spoken by the Psalmist: “You visit
the earth and water it; You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of
water; You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it.” That phrase
even provides a source for what Luther would write in the Small Catechism:
“He also gives me food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land,
animals, and all I have.”
How different do those prescribed actions in the
Old Testament stand in contrast with the man in Jesus’ parable!
You heard Him tell the story: “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,
and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my
crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build
larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say
to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat,
drink, be merry.’” In that little liturgy, there was nothing attributed to
the Lord, no acknowledgement about
the actual source of the man’s harvest. But there were plenty of baskets of
grain brought and offered up to the rich man. They filled his newly-built
barns.
So what does Jesus say about this man? When his
life is brought to an end, the rich man’s folly is revealed: “But
God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things
you have prepared, whose will they be?’” And the last statement of Jesus’ teaching
on this matter confesses the truth about such people: “So is the one who
lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
The contrast between the faithful worshiper and
the rich man is shown. It is a matter of the heart. It is a matter of belief.
Does the individual have an understanding of what is taking place in this
world, even in the provision of earthly goods? The one who does know how the Lord is behind the whole system will bring the harvest
gifts in the basket and offer them in thanksgiving. The offering is an act of
faith. It is a form of worship. It is a God-pleasing work.
But this is not an archaic act. Yes, there have
been some changes in circumstance. You have not been brought to Canaan, “a land
flowing with milk and honey.” But the rest of what the
Israelite worshipers said is true. As you have been baptized into Christ and
given faith in Him, you have become a spiritual descendant of Abraham. The
Exodus story is now part of your heritage. You have been personally delivered
by the Lord by His great deeds of
death and resurrection for your sake. And the Lord’s
provision of earthly goods to you continues to this day. You are a recipient of
the Lord’s graciousness and
generosity. So like the Israelites of old, you are led to bring forth the
baskets of what you have received and offer them at the Lord’s altar, saying: “And behold, now I bring the first
of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord,
have given me.” This is an act of faith and form of worship and
God-pleasing work that you perform.
In the Second Reading, you heard more descriptions
about this giving. The famous, often-quoted verse from Paul’s pen
was read: “Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or
under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” That verse is familiar
to you, since it has appeared on offering envelopes and pledge cards for
decades, if not centuries. And so you go try to figure out in your mind what
can be given and write down the number or fill out the checks and in the
baskets they go.
But this is not quite what Paul is getting at
with that statement. Instead, he is showing you and all who have heard this
text what happens behind the curtains in the matter of giving. He is confessing
the same truth about the Lord as that
harvest liturgy did in ancient Israel. And that is seen in the statements that
follow the matter of “cheerful giving”: “And God is able to make all grace
abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you
may abound in every good work. As it is written: ‘He has distributed freely, He
has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.’ He who supplies seed
to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing
and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every
way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints,
but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.”
The apostle is confirming the fact that the Lord provides for you. He grants you what you need;
your offerings are a confession of faith that this is so. But he also
introduces another aspect of what happens when you do so: the Lord grants things to you as you make
your offerings to Him. This is not
to say that if you put a $10,000 check in the plate, the Lord will give you $100,000 in the next
week or month. Such a statement would be a perversion of what the apostle is
saying, and if you heard such things from this pulpit, there should be an
immediate call to the District Office, if not to the Attorney General. But
there is a truth that is revealed: though you are giving sacrificially, you
also are receiving. The Lord’s
provision to you actually continues as you are providing for other people
through your offerings: your good works increase, the harvest of your
righteousness increases, your richness toward God increases.
That truth is a confounding thing to the earthly
mind. When hearing about the rich man in Jesus’ parable and the full
barns, it would seem that his actions are the way to obtain and maintain
riches. But the apostle’s words are just the opposite: “You will be enriched
in every way for all your generosity.” You have been given to know what is
actually the case. True riches come from the acts of faith that recognize the
truth about the Lord’s identity—that
He has given you all good things, both temporal and eternal, physical and
spiritual. Those acts of faith include the offerings that you present before
the Lord’s altar, even the ones
that are placed in the brass baskets that will be passed through the pews. Let
that be remembered again this year, especially on this day when we recognize
the Lord’s provision to us.
+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit.
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