In today’s scripture readings, we are told to give all we have to the Lord. As we heard these stories read to us today, perhaps some of us were unable to identify with the lessons. After all we live in a prosperous land that offers a safety net for the impoverished citizens of this country through the welfare system. Some may argue with me and say that we need to do more for the poor. All I am saying is that the poor in this country have more opportunities to be helped than the poor in the Third World countries. Just go to Uganda and see the AIDS orphans wandering the dusty roads barefoot, covered in rags sewn together, as they beg for just one more morsel of bread to quell the pain of their empty stomachs that are bloated by starvation. Then come back and tell me that our poor are in worst shape.  I seriously doubt that anyone here could make that argument.

                                                                     

 As for our own lives, how many of us here can truly identify with what it must be like to be in such abject poverty that we have only enough for one more meal on this earth such as the widow of Zarephath who was preparing a last meal for her son and for herself before facing death? Then shared what she thought was her and her son’s last meal with the prophet Elijah? Or can we even come close to identifying with the widow at the temple who gave all the money she had to the Lord? Knowing that unless someone intervened out of mercy for her sake, she would die? Thirdly, how many of us can identify with Jesus who willingly gave His life through crucifixion in exchange for our eternal souls? The stories of these who gave their all to the Lord should reach deep down into our very souls and cause us to examine our own lives and to be honest before Almighty God as to what we are giving to Him from whom the very breath for our lives comes.

Many of you here already know that I grew up as a Baptist. One of the hymns that we sang in the Baptist Church was the hymn “I Surrender All”.  Please listen carefully to the words of this great old hymn. These are the verses.

“All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.

All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow;

Worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;

Let me feel the Holy Spirit, Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give my self to Thee;

Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.”

Then the chorus went like this:

“I surrender all, I surrender all;

All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.”

Over time, it has become the Episcopal tradition to give 5% to the Church and another 5% to charities. This has become known as the “Episcopal tithe”. This, however, is not scriptural. As much as I love the Episcopal Church, I believe that we can learn some things from the Baptists and other traditions.

One of those things is the importance of complete commitment in our lives to Jesus Christ. Sadly, many in the Body of Christ have accepted the world’s view that whatever makes us happy, as long as it is not hurting others, is fine. We have exchanged the teachings of God for the false teaching of “I’m OK, and You’re OK”.  If this were true, then Jesus did not need to have died for our sins. We have allowed the members of the Body of Christ to put their own desires above the spiritual laws laid down by Almighty God. This has placed the very souls of many in the Church in severe danger. Because we have walked away from the teachings of Christ, we have become like the scribes in today’s gospel reading from Mark.

We need to hear Jesus’ words of admonition as a warning for accepting outward show over inward substance. The scripture reads, “Jesus said, ‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!”  Like the scribes of Jesus’ time, many in the Church have sought after the approval of the world instead of seeking the approval of our Father God. Political correctness has replaced scriptural integrity.

Only when we are willing to seek the Lord’s will for our lives and walk in faith will we know again the blessings of the Lord for His sons and daughters. Some of us are now thinking, “Whew! That does not include me, because I follow the scriptural teachings of the Lord. I abstain from that which the scriptures declare as sinful and I embrace Jesus as my Lord and Savior.” But I am here to say all of us have fallen short of being in obedience to the Lord. We have held back from the Lord what is rightfully His by not giving our all to Him. It is so easy to categorize our lives and to hold onto that which we do not want to relinquish to the Lord. A common area to hold from the Lord is in the giving of our tithes and our offerings. After all, we tell ourselves that it was through our own hard work that we earned our money. Why should we not be the ones who decide where it goes?

Yet, this is not what scripture has to say about our finances. In the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, the prophet warns the Jews of their sin of withholding from the Lord what belongs to Him. Malachi, chapter 3, verses 8 through 10, we read these words, “Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me-the whole nation of you! Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts;  see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”

According to the scriptures, a tenth of whatever our income is belongs to the Lord, which is why it is called a tithe. Anything given above the tithe is an offering, which we are also commanded to give to help the poor, the needy widows and the orphans. Now some of you may be thinking that is only from the Old Testament, but did not Jesus say, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s”?

This is a difficult teaching for me to give. Because when preachers start talking about money, folks get upset. They leave with the impression that that is all that is important to the minister. In fact, I personally hate to hear a preacher talking about money, which is why I try to not do it very often. However, in preparing to write this sermon, the Lord laid on my heart that I have been neglecting my duty to you as your spiritual leader and pastor.

So I am here to share with you today the importance of giving to the Lord what is rightfully His, because as your spiritual leader it is my duty to warn you of the consequences of not being obedient to the Lord. Tithing - whether we like it or not is an act of obedience to God. When we do not give the Lord our tithe, then we are actually stealing from God. Something that I am sure none of us want to do.

Now I know that there is also among us the belief that if we give of our time and or talents to God that is the same as giving of the tithe. As much as I would love to humor those who believe in this teaching, I have to tell you that it is a false teaching. As Christians, it is our duty to live our lives for Christ. This includes our time and our talents. It is the Lord who has given us time on earth and any talents we may possess. Because we owe all we have to the Lord, then when we give our all to Christ we are merely fulfilling what is our duty as Christians.

In the gospel of Luke, chapter 17, verses 7 through 10, Jesus tells the disciples the following, “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table?’ Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”

Jesus compared his disciples to slaves! As followers of Christ, we have been bought with a price which is the blood of Jesus. We no longer belong to ourselves, but have become slaves for Christ. All that we do is to be done to glorify the Lord. It is our duty.  So to those who say, “I give of my time and talents to the Lord”, my reply is, “Well and good, because we are the Lord’s slaves. Our obedience in all things to the Lord is expected of us. This obedience not only includes our time and our talents, but also our tithes and offerings.”

Now I know that there are those among us of whom giving the tithe immediately would be financially a disaster. So I will say to you the same thing that the bishops tell their priests. A tithe of what you make is expected from you. If you cannot immediately give the tithe due to financial obligations, then set up a goal to start achieving the giving of the tithe.

As your priest, I challenge those here who are not tithers to start giving to the Lord 1% more of your overall income each year until you are giving a tithe to the Church. This is a ten year plan to help you to become a tither. As for giving to help the poor, do not neglect the poor or the sending of missionaries while you go forward in your goal to become a tither. If you have the faith to become a tither much more quickly than I say “Go for it! You will not regret stepping out in faith for the Lord!”  For the Lord God has promised to open the windows of heaven and pour out His blessings on those who are obedient in giving of their tithes and offerings to the Lord.

This year the vestry has made it even easier to give to the Lord by approving a plan to accept tithes and offerings through our website. Even when we are not at church, we can still be obedient in our giving to the Lord. The e-giving system on our church web site is easy to use and dependable. Also, guests who go on our web site now have a way to easily support our ministries here at St. Raphael’s through the system of e-giving. For those who prefer the traditional method of church envelopes, we will soon have those available for you to be picked up in the Parish Hall. By making giving to the Lord easier for you, we hope to help you to receive back rich blessings from our Father God.

During this season of stewardship, let us remember that all that we have already belongs to the Lord. May the Lord give us the courage and the faith to be obedient to His Word. May we look to the widow of Zarephath who shared her last portion of food with the prophet, the widow in the gospel of Mark who gave her last coins to the Temple and the Lord who laid down His life for us as examples of the walk we are called to walk. May the Lord say of each one of us when we stand before Him face to face, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter now into your reward.”