Sermons

In the name of Jesus, Dear members of God's family at Faith, A family is a close knit group of people who have a common love and concern for each other. In a very real way Faith congregation is a family. We are family under God. We share a common faith and love for our Savior and for each other. But how do families react when a member is hurting? I mean really hurting! Let's say someone in our family has a life threatening disease, a heart disease for example. What would we do? Would we be satisfied to treat just the symptoms? Would we be content just to provide oxygen for the shortness of breath, muscle relaxants for the tightness of chest and medication for the dizziness? Probably not! More than likely we would want to treat the cause of the disease and not just the superficial symptoms. Today the Word of God shares with us a situation about a family that really did have a heart condition. It's a family who demonstrates all the classic symptoms of a spiritual heart disease; greed, materialism, and apathy for mission work. Interestingly enough this family in our text isn't at all unlike our family here at Faith Lutheran because at times we also show symptoms of the same kind of spiritual heart disease. Jesus spoke of this kind of heart disease when he said: Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander. The symptoms of spiritual heart disease from which the family under God at Corinth and here at Faith suffer are revealed in the stewardship of our earthly treasures before God. These symptoms reveal the condition of our heart more than the condition of our pocketbook. When our family at Faith, a family under God, is suffering from such a fatal disease we need to have not just the symptoms, but the cause of our heart condition treated and cured. The only cure for our spiritual heart disease is the grace of God found in his Word. Through his powerful Word open heart surgery is performed on each of us as God's law cuts away at the diseased heart and as his Gospel strengthens and builds up a new heart of faith. Today God's Spirit shows how the grace of God cures our family's spiritual heart disease. I. An example of cured hearts in Corinth The words given by the Apostle Paul to the family of believers in Corinth encouraged them to excel in the grace of giving. In order to understand the emphasis of Paul's words we first need to realize that excelling in the grace of giving is not something that we do. No, it is something God does in us through his grace. That's right! To excel in the grace of giving is the result of God's grace. The more we are in his grace, the more we excel in giving. The less we are in his grace, the less we excel in giving. It's that simple. And so Paul's concern for the Corinthians isn't so much that they give more, although that will be the end result. Paul's greatest concern is that the grace of God excel in them through his Word. When God's grace excels in his family they become more the kind of people who give from a spiritually healthy heart, not from a spiritually diseased heart. So getting to heart of the matter Paul writes to the Christian family in Corinth about a collection, an offering, that centered around the Christian family in Jerusalem who was suffering as a result of severe famine. As an encouragement Paul held before the Corinthians the example of other Christians in Macedonia whose spiritually healthy hearts lead them to excel in the grace of giving. Paul writes: AND NOW BROTHERS, WE WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT THE GRACE THAT GOD HAS GIVEN THE MACEDONIAN CHURCHES. When one talks about excelling in the grace of giving it is all too often falsely assumed that such gifts can only come from those who are considered wealthy. Many times people use this as an excuse for themselves not excelling in the grace of giving. They reason, "I'm not wealthy enough to give. Others are more wealthy than I am. Others can and should give more." And yet, in Paul's example of God's family excelling in the grace of giving we learn that the Macedonians were not wealthy people when it came to worldly possessions. But they were wealthy when it came to God's grace. This wealth in God's grace revealed itself in the giving of the Macedonians. Paul writes to the Corinthians: OUT OF THE MOST SEVERE TRIAL, THEIR OVERFLOWING JOY, AND THEIR EXTREME POVERTY WELLED UP IN RICH GENEROSITY. FOR I TESTIFY THAT THEY GAVE AS MUCH AS THEY WERE ABLE, AND EVEN BEYOND THEIR ABILITY. But what would move a family to give beyond their ability for another family? It's not a natural thing to do? What would change a heart from greed, materialism and apathy for mission work to a heart that gives beyond its ability for the spread of the gospel? What change had been worked in the heart of God's family in Macedonia that had not yet taken place in the heart of God's family in Corinth? Paul speaks about the heart-changing events that took place in Macedonia when he writes: BUT THEY GAVE THEMSELVES FIRST TO THE LORD. The family of God in Macedonia gave themselves first to the teaching and preaching of God's Word. And why? Well because in that Word they found the grace of God. Grace is God's love for sinners. A love which sinners don't deserve and cannot earn. Paul speaks of that love to the family at Corinth when he says: YOU KNOW THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THAT THOUGH HE WAS RICH, YET FOR YOUR SAKES HE BECAME POOR, SO THAT YOU THROUGH HIS POVERTY MIGHT BECOME RICH. Christian stewardship is really a matter of the heart more than it is a matter of the purse or pocketbook. Martin Luther made the point that when the heart is converted the pocketbook is sure to follow. And nothing touches the heart of God's family like his grace. Nothing cures our spiritually diseased and dead hearts like the grace of our God. Our being able to excel in the grace of giving is a direct result of having been made rich ourselves by the grace of God. Being made rich in God's grace required that Jesus become poor for us. And poor he became. Not just as a baby born in a stable. Not just as a peasant-carpenter from Galilee. But God the Son emptied himself of his almighty power and glory and became a true man. He became susceptible to everything you and I face - sickness, sorrow, hunger, temptation, pain and even death. He became poor by submitting himself to same Ten Commandments of God under which we live our life and fail miserably. But Jesus never once sinned. He lived a perfect life. And yet he became poor with our sin so that he might suffer our death. Jesus gave up all the glory and riches of heaven for our sakes. But it wasn't just his glory and power he gave up for a time. It was his very life that he gave up so that we would not die from the spiritual heart disease of our sin. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Jesus laid down his life for his friends. He paid for your sins and mine with his own blood. He died the death we had earned for ourselves by our sins. And now the sin-diseased heart of mankind has been cured eternally. The looming death sentence has been lifted from our shoulders. We are free from sin. Free to live without greed or doubt or worry or apathy. And most of all we are free to excel in the grace of giving. This is the grace that cured the spiritually sick hearts of the Macedonians. This is the grace that has cured our spiritually diseased hearts as well. Transition: When we know God's cure for our spiritual heart disease, it naturally moves us to excel in the grace of giving. And when we excel in the grace of giving even the symptoms of heart disease are removed. What are the symptoms of our spiritually diseased heart at Faith Lutheran? A symptom of heart disease is a lot of talk taking place among the members of Faith's family concerning money issues. We talk about money matters at our meetings. We talk about it in our living rooms and at our dinning room tables. But what are we talking about? If we really listen we will notice that most often the talk centers around the symptoms of a heart disease and not the cure. We talk about a million dollar annual budget being too large for our congregation Each week we nervously check out the financial numbers in the bulletin which receives more discussion at the dinner table on Sunday than the content of the sermon that week. We talk about the "we / they" relationship. "They spend more than we give" is an all too familiar argument when we are all family under God. We complain and say, "I can't give anymore. What about those who don't give their fair share?" And yet statistics concerning the median income for FDL county would show that the majority of those who regularly sit in these pews at Faith are not being first-fruit givers. We reason, "I've given the same amount for the last ten years. If it was good enough for God then, it's good enough for God now." Some have told me, "I'll give what I can," (which usually means whatever is leftover after I've had my fun and met all my other financial obligations). But do you realize what all this talk is about? It's about the symptoms of heart disease, not the cure. Our problem at Faith is not a lack of financial resources. God has financially blessed our family at Faith beyond measure. Our problem at Faith is the need of a cure for our heart disease. Greed, materialism and apathy for mission work are only the symptoms. The real problem is the sin we have in our heart. It's a sin we have become comfortable with for a long time now. It's a sin we don't like to hear preached about. It's a sin we think others should confess before the Lord. But it's a sin that wont go away unless we like the Macedonians give ourselves first to the teaching and preaching of God's Word. His Word is the only cure for our spiritual heart disease. God's Word touches our hearts and lives when his law cuts away at our sin and condemns us for our greed, our materialism and our apathy for ministry and mission work. His Word also touches our hearts and lives when the gospel assures us of God's forgiveness concerning the misuse of our financial blessings. The grace of God in our life compels us, drives us, moves us to do everything we can as a family to make sure we have enough teachers for our students, enough pastors to minister to our sick and dying, and to those many new Christians who just want to be fed with the Word of God. When we give ourselves first to the Lord he promises that his grace will excel in our lives. And when his grace and mercy fill our hearts we will stop talking about the symptoms of heart disease and start rejoicing in God's cure for our spiritual heart condition. The grace of God will then lead us to excel in the grace of giving. The grace of our God is the key issue in addressing not only the symptoms, but more importantly, the cure for our spiritual heart disease of sin. May God's Spirit bless our family at Faith Lutheran as he leads us to believe that only the Grace of God Cures Our Family's Heart Disease. Amen.