St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Pastor Mark Gartner
Sermon For Pentecost 17 – September 28^th and October 1^st, 2006

Dear children of God’s love. Amen

How many of you would say that you have volunteered for something in the last couple of weeks. Maybe you volunteered to work for some function or activity. Maybe you volunteered to help someone out who needed help. Maybe you volunteered to help in anyway that you could help out. I would think that most of us have volunteered our time and effort at some point to help others. Let me ask a question, Why do people volunteer their time and efforts? It can’t be for the pay. It can’t be because the work is so easy, because many times it isn’t. So why do people volunteer? I would say that it is because of hearts full of love and compassion that lead people to volunteer their time. They see people or organizations in need and take the time to offer their help and assistance. Many times I think it is the feeling of helping others that leads people to volunteer. It makes you feel good about yourself. It is the feeling of chipping in to help others

As we have our 4^th and last Reflections of Faith service which have been used to help encourage us in our offerings to God, I would like to ask why we voluntarily give our offerings to God? Much like our answers above, we soon realize that we give our offerings as an act of worship to thank God for all that he has given us. At the same time we realize that our offerings are not just for one purpose. Our offerings help many other people in many different ways. Our offerings can help us to work together at our joint mission that God has given to all of his children. Our theme will bring this out:

Our text for this morning was written to the Christians living in the city of Corinth. The congregation in Corinth had been blessed in many ways. They had been blessed materially with wealth and they had been blessed spiritually with many spiritual gifts and abilities. The congregation at Corinth realized that God had blessed them and they had committed to take part in a special offering that was being gathered to help support the poor Christians living in the city of Jerusalem. They were very excited to give their offerings to support their fellow Christians, and Paul had used them as an example to other Christians on what Christen giving is all about. This morning we will use the Corthinthian Christians as a wonderful example for us here at St. Luke’s.

In the verses leading up to our text, we see some wonderful gospel encouragement to help lead the Corinthian Christians as they brought their offerings together. In verse 7 Paul writes, "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." What a beautiful description for us as we look at our own offerings to God. God wants us to decide in our own hearts what we are to give to God. Giving offerings is personal relationship between you and God. It is not based on the congregational average. It is not based on what someone else gives. It is not based on a feeling of I hope that this gift is enough. God wants and encourages us to sit down in advance and figure out what we can and should bring to our Lord.

When was the last time we sat down to figure out our offerings? I mean when was the last time we looked closely at all that God has given to us and with a cheerful heart said what percentage am I going to give back to the Lord. This means we actually took the time to see how greatly God has blessed us and then gave our best to the Lord. Did you notice in these verses that Paul didn’t regulate the amount? We aren’t Old Testament Christians who were told directly by God to give 10% of all they owned to God to says thanks. God gives us Christian freedom to choose with the help of God the Holy Spirit what we are gong to give. Does this mean that we can’t give 10%? Obviously not. At the same time we realize that our Christian freedom is not to be used as an excuse to say that God should be happy with anything I give, even if it is not very generous. Cheerful and joyful our attitudes of Christian hearts that truly recognize all that God has done to bless us. We are not motivated by compulsion. God isn’t pleased with grouchy and complaining people who bring gifts to the Lord. He is looking for cheerful givers

It is the grace of God that unites us together. It is God’s grace that brought us into God’s family and it is God’s grace that leads us to serve him with all our hearts and lives. This unity that we enjoy is a bond that is greater than we sometimes can imagine. We as members of St. Luke’s enjoy many blessings. We enjoy unity of teachings found in God’s Word. We enjoy unity of faith, which can be shared with one another. We share the common confidence of knowing that God has led us to believe and that all who believe will one day be in heaven. Our unity also extends beyond the walls of this building. There are Christians throughout the world that we are united with through faith. There are people in other countries and far away places who we are united with. The words of our text try to bring this to our attention.

Paul puts it this way, "This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you." Did you really catch the flavor of the words Paul wrote? We have to remember that the context of these verses are the encouragement that Paul was giving the Corinthian Christians to finish giving their gifts for the special offering in Jerusalem. The Corinthian Christians had most likely never met one of the poor Christians in Jerusalem who would receive the gifts they were collecting. So why would they gather offerings to help these people in places they have never gone?

Paul lists three things. Here are things that we need to always keep in mind as we look at the bringing of our offerings to God. First, Paul points out that there is the physical help that the poor people in Jerusalem would receive when the financial dollars finally arrived. Maybe they would be able to buy food and clothes and the other essentials of life. For this reason alone, we can see that their offerings were doing good things. But anyone can send money to help people in need, even unbelievers do that. I hope that we don’t just give our offerings to support the physical operations of our Church or to just help support the physical needs of others.

The second thing Paul points out that happens as the Corinthians and all Christians given their gifts is this, "This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God." The Corinthians offerings as well as our offerings are not just dollars put in a offering basket or sent to help people in other countries. They are a great expression of the thanks that is in our heart. A thanks that is overflowing out of our hearts, because of what God has done for us. A thanks that can’t be contained. A thanks that is just bursting at the seams to get out. Our offerings are just one of many ways for us as Christians to let this thanks pour out to our God and Savior.

The third thing looks at our offerings in another way, "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you." Many times we give our offerings and wonder where does all that money go. By God’s grace alone we gather offerings every week over $14,000 and even more on many weeks. That is money that God has brought forth through his faithful people. I cannot express my thanks enough for hearts filled with love that bring their thank offerings week after week – faithfully and joyfully giving of the best we have to offer. But again where does this money go? The truth be told, the bulk of these offerings go for things that many of us are not using or drawing direct benefits from. Much of our offerings is used for Christian education as we said a couple of weeks ago. Many of you could say that this doesn’t help me so I don’t want to give my offerings. I don’t have kids or my family is all grown up. Why don’t those who are younger pick up these costs? Another big portion of our offerings goes to give mission offerings to the synod. May we never forget the work of the synod. A synod which supplies pastors and teachers to our Church and School. A synod which supplies materials to be used in our Bible Classes and other religious classes. A synod, which helps spread God’s Word to parts of this country and all over the world to places where we could never go ourselves. Once again we might say I don’t receive direct benefits from this why support it.

That is why Paul wants us to look at the big picture. Look again at the third blessing that comes from our offerings, "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you." By our offerings we are uniting in the mission that God has for all Christians which is to share God’s Word with all the world. Paul notes that the Jerusalem Christians would pray for the Corinthians and praise them for their faith and generosity found in their offerings, which they realized, came from God's grace. Their are people in this congregation who are full thanks and praise, because of the support they get for sending their kids to Christian education like TSL or Lakeside or LPS. Through our offerings we work together to help train God’s people here at St. Luke’s and to take God’s command and do it as we go and make disciples of all nations. Through our joyful and generous offerings we have people we are praising us for our offerings of love and thanks. Our offerings are just a small part of our lives and the mission that God has put before us.

As Paul closes this beautiful section on Christian giving he puts it all in perspective. Paul writes, "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" I pray that our discussion over the past weeks about how our offerings are a "Reflection of Our Faith" has opened our eyes and hearts to see that there is always room for improvement. There is not a person in these pews today who can say that this doesn’t apply to me, because we all have a sinful nature which is trying to cloud how to view our offerings. In the end we have to join with Paul in crying out loud and clear, Thanks! Thanks God for giving us the opportunities to thank and praise you with our financial gifts. Thanks God for filling our hearts with your love so that we look for any way to serve and thank you. Thanks God for the generous offerings that our being brought to do your work here at St. Luke’s and around the world. And above all thanks for forgiving me for all the times I have failed to let my offerings be a reflection of my faith. May we recognize the unity that we enjoy here at St. Luke’s, in the WELS and in God’s holy Kingdom. Amen.