Gordon E. Ellis
April 30, 2006
WHAT IS GOD’S ?
Our Gospel lesson today contains Jesus’ DEFINITIVE statement on the relationship between church and state. At LEAST that’s what ONE faithful, salt-of-the-earth churchgoer once told me. He said: Jesus said that RELIGION should stay OUT of politics! He said: ‘Render to Caesar what is CAESAR’S, and to GOD what is GOD’S.’ That SOUNDS simple enough, doesn’t it? The PROBLEM is that, while THAT’S what the words SEEM to say, it’s NOT what they MEAN. This ISN’T a statement about POLITICS; it’s a statement about THEOLOGY. It really tells us NOTHING about what Jesus thought of CAESAR, or paying TAXES, but EVERYTHING about what Jesus thought of GOD.
WHEN we LOOK at this passage, we need to REMEMBER that it’s a TRAP. Jesus is surrounded by ADVERSARIES. He’s just told two SCATHING parables AIMED at the religious authorities, and they’re ready to ARREST Him, except they’re AFRAID that it MIGHT start a RIOT. SO, they hold a quick HUDDLE and send out a representative to TRICK Jesus: Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with TRUTH, and show deference to NO one; for You do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think: IS it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or NOT? Now, Jesus is not DISTRACTED by their SMOKESCREEN of insincere flattery. HE knows that it’s a TRAP. The QUESTION is about their RELIGIOUS law: IS it against the TORAH to pay taxes to CAESAR, WHO, among other things, CLAIMS to be a GOD? And IF Jesus says Yes, He will alienate EVERYONE in the crowd, who RIGHTLY believe that God alone DEMANDS and DESERVES our ultimate ALLEGIANCE. But if He says No, He will be guilty of TREASON, and subject to immediate EXECUTION by the Roman authorities. SO, it’s a BRILLIANT plot by Jesus’ adversaries: either He will alienate His FOLLOWERS, OR He will incriminate HIMSELF.
BUT, Jesus does NEITHER. His response is disarmingly SIMPLE. FIRST, He asks for the COIN with which the tax is to be PAID, thereby revealing that HE does not HAVE one. The COIN is a DENARIUS, ROMAN currency not ACCEPTABLE for religious offerings, HENCE the need for money-changers in the Temple. Well, His opponents immediately PRODUCE one, which of course, raises questions about their OWN complicity with the Romans. Jesus asks whose PICTURE is on it. The image is CAESAR’S. SO, Jesus tells them to give to CAESAR what IS Caesar’s, and to give to GOD what IS God’s. In other words, give Caesar BACK his PICTURE. And Jesus’ OPPONENTS are STUNNED at the BRILLIANCE of His ANSWER. He has NOT committed treason; but HAS affirmed that our FINAL allegiance is to GOD.
But WAIT a minute! We KNOW what CAESAR wants…. HE wants his COIN. He wants MONEY! But WHAT does GOD want? And what IS God’s? Well, the adversaries of Jesus already KNOW the answer to this question, and within just a FEW verses, WE will TOO. He says: You shall love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, with ALL your soul, and with ALL your mind; AND, you shall love your neighbor AS yourself. Yes, God WANTS and DESERVES the TOTAL commitment of our heart and soul, mind and strength. AND, we may give to CAESAR what is LEFT. WOW! Now, we KNOW how to give to Caesar what is CAESAR’S. But if GOD deserves EVERYTHING; if GOD deserves the TOTAL allegiance of our heart and soul, mind and strength, AND a commitment to love our neighbor as OURSLEVES, HOW do we DO that? HOW do we even BEGIN -- in a serious, thoughtful, conscientious way -- to give to GOD what BELONGS to God?
Well, there is NO final and simple answer to THAT question. But I WILL tell you that MANY people in MANY places through the AGES have found a great deal of MEANING in the practice of PROPORTIONAL giving: the practice of CONSCIOUSLY and DELIBERATELY giving for GOD’S work a designated PORTION of their income. And I am one of those people. I believe that REGULAR, proportional giving is JUST as important a spiritual discipline as PRAYER, as WORSHIP, as STUDY, as KINDNESS, and as USING my TIME and TALENTS to serve God. And I SAY this because proportional GIVING is a regular and constant REMINDER to us that ALL that we HAVE, and ALL that we ARE, and ALL that we can BECOME, is a GIFT to us, pure and simple. And it’s NOT a matter of our GENEROSITY, as far as I’M concerned. It’s a WAY of REMEMBERING that GOD is GOD, and God is GENEROUS.
Now I REALIZE that this is NOT the way we generally think about GIVING around here. WE tend to talk about BUDGETS and increasing the PERCENTAGE of our current giving to MATCH the percentage of our BUDGET increase. And we talk about what the AVERAGE is. And I KNOW that SOME people find THAT approach to be very HELPFUL; and they go over the budget carefully and CONSIDER all the increases. And you SHOULD have ALREADY received a MAILING that’s just FULL of that kind of information.
But friends: there is a PROBLEM in thinking of the church in this way. WHEN we think about BUDGETS and PROGRAMS, the church can EASILY become, in our minds, just another CHARITY begging for money. And there are hundreds of them, aren’t there? There’s public TV and radio; Habitat for Humanity local and national; Special Olympics local and national, the United Way, the YMCA, the Cancer Society, the police union, colleges, community groups, political causes, and a MULTITUDE more. And they ALL want our money, and they ALL call at dinner time. And after awhile, EVEN those things we BELIEVE in start to WEAR OUT our GENEROSITY and give us compassion FATIGUE.
HOWEVER, PROPORTIONAL giving has a different STARTING point. Setting aside a PORTION of our income for GOD, and for God’s WORK, is a practice that dates back to BIBLICAL times. The BIBLE talks about the TITHE, one-tenth of the HARVEST -- in fact, the FIRST FRUITS of the harvest -- being GRATEFULLY given back to God and DEDICATED to the functioning and upkeep of the Temple in Jerusalem. Well, AS it survives in MODERN times, the practice of TITHING has come to mean the giving of 10% of our INCOME for GOD’S work. Now, MANY religious traditions emphasize the giving of all 10% through the CHURCH. In our United Church of Christ, however, we recognize that MUCH of God’s work in this world happens through those OTHER organizations I mentioned. And the process of DISCERNING where WE think GOD’S work is being done, and SUPPORTING it, is an IMPORTANT ACT of FAITHFULNESS and discipleship. SO, in our United Church of Christ, WE encourage the giving of 5% of our income to these OTHER worthy causes (pick and choose), and 5% of our income through the CHURCH. Now, there’s nothing magical about these specific NUMBERS. This is NOT a way of buying FAVOR with GOD. And it DOESN’T make us HOLY, any more than setting aside a regular time to pray and meditate makes us HOLY. As Garrison Keillor once said: If you think then sitting in a church will make you a CHRISTIAN, then you probably ALSO believe that sitting in a GARAGE will make you a CAR. No, there’s nothing MAGICAL about it. BUT, proportional giving IS one of our spiritual DISCIPLINES, and it’s a very IMPORTANT one. And I PROMISE you that it CAN make a very significant DIFFERENCE in your life, AS it has in MINE.
Now, PART of the reason that proportional GIVING is SO important is that it goes AGAINST the grain of our CULTURE, a culture that INSISTS that, in ORDER to be HAPPY, we must always be accumulating MORE and more, AND a culture that SENDS people into a tailspin of DEPRESSION when there seems to be LESS. Proportional giving acknowledges that, HOWEVER we have been BLESSED, WE are called, in turn, to be a BLESSING to OTHERS. It’s NOT a matter of GIVING from what’s left OVER, AFTER our basic lifestyle is PROVIDED for. It’s a matter of making GIVING a part of our BASIC lifestyle. And THAT’S the POINT! THAT’S why PROPORTIONAL giving is so DIFFERENT! It gives from our SUBSTANCE! It gives from the FIRST fruits of our harvest, NOT from our leftovers!
Now, I KNOW that, to MANY of us, PROPORTIONAL giving seems UNATTAINABLE. But remember: IF you give ANYTHING to ANY cause because YOU believe that it’s GOD’S work, you are ALREADY giving a PORTION of your income. IF you ALREADY pledge to this CHURCH, that PLEDGE represents SOME percentage of what you are RECEIVING from God. So, the QUESTION is: WHAT percentage does it represent? I’ve included in your BULLETIN this morning is an INSERT entitled, How MUCH Shall I Give? BASICALLY, it’s a page of NUMBERS. And I would ask that you take it OUT and LOOK at it. It’s very EASY to USE! In the left-hand column, simply find your annual income in dollars. Now, SOMETIMES people ask whether we’re talking about GROSS income or NET income after taxes. Well, the BIBLICAL concept is to give the FIRST FRUITS off the top, so GROSS income would be the ANSWER. BUT, if proportional giving is NEW to you, then whether it’s GROSS or NET income doesn’t really MATTER very much. Just CHOOSE a number that FAIRLY represents your INCOME. ONCE you’ve FOUND that number, read across the ROW until you find the amount of your CURRENT gift or pledge. For example, let’s assume we’re talking about an annual income of $75,000 dollars. IF your pledge is $29 per week, you can look UP to the TOP and see that you are giving 2% of your income. To increase that pledge by increments of 1%, move toward the right and notice that a pledge of 3% of $75,000 would bring you to $43 per week. And at 5%, you’ll be giving $72 per week. Now, IF you make giving 5% your GOAL, you DON’T have to DO it all at ONCE. You DON’T even have to increase by 1% per year. Increase it by ½ of 1%. For a NUMBER of years, Diane and I just added another $5 per week to our pledge, until we finally REACHED that 5% mark, and now MORE.
Well, what I’D like you to DO, BEFORE you make your PLEDGE for 2006-2007, is to MAKE that calculation: WHAT percentage of MY income do I CURRENTLY give to God’s work through the church? And THEN, talk to GOD about it. PRAY about it! IS this percentage something that feels GOOD and RIGHT to me? And what ABOUT a 5% pledge: Can I begin to at least move TOWARD giving 5% of my income back to God through the CHURCH, and 10% OVERALL? Well, from personal experience, I can TELL you: MOVING ½ of 1% can mean a significant CHANGE in HOW we THINK and FEEL about GIVING, AND about the church. But, your INITIAL calculation (WHAT am I giving NOW) is the place to BEGIN!
The question always ARISES: Well, what about church GIVING that ISN’T a part of our PLEDGE? What about all the SPECIAL offerings, projects and collections that come up? Well, all I can say is that in SOME households, PROPORTIONAL giving relates JUST to the PLEDGE amount. It OTHERS, it may include their PLEDGE plus their Capital Campaign pledge. And then, there are OTHER households that include, in the 5%, ALL of the money that they give to the church over the course of a year. Well, all I can SAY is: DO what makes you feel GOOD. The point is NOT to imply that there’s some MAGIC formula. The POINT is to encourage ALL of us to become more AWARE of WHAT percentage of our income we give to God’s work IN and THROUGH the CHURCH, and to consider the place that PROPORTIONAL giving HAS in our lives. After all: it’s NOT that God really NEEDS our money. It’s that ALL of it BELONGS to GOD in the FIRST place, and how can WE find a MEANINGFUL way to REMAIN aware of the GENEROSITY of God? For MANY of us, PROPORTIONAL giving is a MEANS to DEEPENING our AWARENESS of God’s ongoing GOODNESS and LOVE in our lives. In OTHER words, it helps us REMEMBER just WHAT belongs to GOD, because in the LAST analysis, it ALL belongs to God. Friends, I hope that YOU will pray LONG and hard this week about this PROPORTIONAL kind of giving, and that WHEN you come back to church NEXT Sunday, you’ll bring WITH you not ONLY your filled-out PLEDGE card, but also your TIME and TALENT Pledge Form as well. And I PROMISE you that, IF you decide to PURSUE giving back to God what IS God’s, using this PROPORTIONAL kind of giving, it WILL make a SIGNIFICANT difference in your life, and in particular, in the FULLNESS of your life. That’s a PROMISE! Amen.