One of the most intense job experiences of my life was working for UPS in Dallas, Texas the first two years I was in seminary. It was a nighttime shift from about 6:00-10:00, loading outbound trucks to other states. Though that was probably at the time of my peak health and fitness, I always said that the company only had part-time jobs for this task, because you would drop over before you got to eight hours of doing what we did.

The company started you out by loading trucks (in the heat!), teaching you how to do it just right. They constantly counted everything you did and tracked it in charts they would show you once in a while. When beginning, there was a certain number of boxes you should load in an hour (counting what you did in three minutes and multiplying by 20). As time went by, you were to get better, for which you were paid more.

Later, you might be moved to a “secondary sort” by picking boxes off a conveyor belt and funneling them to one of four or five trucks. If you did well with that, you got to work on the “primary sort” aisle, picking packages and sending them on one of seven belts that went to the pick-off guy, who sent them to the loaders on the trucks. It was a lot of memorizing zip codes, many of which I recall to this day.

With more responsibility came more accountability and expectations … and better pay as well. It was essentially the shipping world’s equivalent of a biblical principle stated by Jesus in Luke 12:48. In the context of teaching about diligent service and watchfulness, and using a parable about faithful stewardship when the master is away, Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

We should see our time, talents and treasures as resources given to us by the Lord — the ultimate Master — to be used as a stewardship. And in terms of our giving, the fourth principle that rises from our 1 Corinthians 16 passage is that giving is to be proportionate by prosperity.

From the text it says … each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

Paul never gives a number or a percentage that should guide giving. Tithing is an Old Testament concept that is difficult to apply in exact science to New Testament giving. We should strive to be generous, even happily so, recognizing how we are so blessed on the receiving end.

I have always promoted with people that tithing is a worthy goal to work toward early in life, family and career … to establish it early as a baseline financial discipline.  For those with greatest need, this is a difficult goal; for those with the greater blessings of resources, mere tithing could be the definition of falling quite short of being generous toward God as a faithful steward of what HE has prospered a person with.

But you all get the idea. As you are beginning in life and careers and so on, times may be tougher; but later when blessings are greater and multiplied, more can likely be done.

I have often said this: In my years of ministry experience, I am yet to find any person who has ever said that they regret what they gave to the Lord. Be generous; you simply can’t go wrong.

Some years ago at a Moody Pastors Conference seminar headed by a well-known mega-church pastor, he said to the group I was a part of, “You want to hear my best plan for assimilating new people and growing a church?”  And everyone leaned forward to hear this gem!  He said, “When we have a church potluck, I watch new people and what they bring and set on the table. Then I go around to my main people and say, ‘see that blue dish over there … make sure it goes home empty.’ Because when people contribute something of themselves to an event and see that something received, they then feel personal ownership and will keep coming.”

Flat tax or consumption tax advocates — who are against the idea of a graduated income tax that more heavily taxes wealthier people (by percentage), arguing for a tax system that involves everyone at every level — contend that it is best for “everyone to have some skin in the game.”  Though we may debate the details of these proposals, we can see the point that when everyone has a part is paying something, albeit small, there is a universal sense of ownership that comes with it.

I have been the “poor guy” in some wealthy settings. You all have often heard me talk about my experiences of living in Texas and my several years on the pastoral staff of a wealthy congregation. And even though our yearly offering to that church would not likely even amount to that given in a single week by many of the millionaires who attended, we faithfully did it, and we certainly felt a great sense of partnership and ownership with everything that church did, big and small. I still feel it and have an ongoing sense of affection for that congregation and the ministries we did together 35 years ago.

As we talk this week about our topic “Why Give?” we make the point that giving is something foreseen to be participated in pretty much by everyone (outside of dire circumstances of life, which do happen). From the text in 1 Corinthians 16, Paul said … On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income…

Paul envisioned that everyone would play a part, not just that percentage that was either wealthy or more than sufficiently resourced.

Giving something, even a small amount, gives a person a sense of ownership and partnership, and we know this is true of any club or organization, not just a church.

But it has always been true in churches (as it is with clubs and other benevolences) as to the shocking percentage of members and attenders who don’t give anything or merely give the smallest amount, thus depending upon a fraction of the people to carry the bulk of the weight.

There is proportionate responsibility, and we’ll be getting to that tomorrow; but there is also the undeniable obligation for all to participate at some level.

Great sports teams have a roster of very different sorts of players. Along with the stars who hit all the home runs or score all the touchdowns, there are role players who do things like pinch run and steal a base once every five games, or who play a simple role like only being the long-snapper for the punter. But when the team wins the Super Bowl or the World Series, they get the same championship ring and the same playoffs share of the prize money. They each contributed what they could and they all had partnership and ownership.

Be a partner; be a player; be an owner, even if all you can do is a small amount. God will be faithful to supply your needs, as faithfully partnering in his service in the kingdom-building work of the church demonstrates your trust in him.

We have all seen or heard illustrations of how saving even a small amount of money on a consistent basis pays off in a huge way over time. Yet so few people do this.

But the same thing is true of giving. It may not seem like much at the same time, but over a longer period it really does add up. And likewise with saving, too few people develop this as a discipline.

In the summers of 1987 and 1988 I took youth music teams to England and Scotland to do a variety of ministries involving singing and children’s VBS work. I met a missionary couple there (one-half of whom is originally from this area) and our family personally began to support them. The amount is not great – only being $25 a month. But now that I look back on it after 29 years of doing this, we have given to the work there close to $9,000.

A second principle about giving that rises from the text in 1 Corinthians 16 is that it be done periodically and persistently. Relative to the issue of giving toward the project of relief for the poor in the church at Jerusalem, Paul directs that this be received in an ongoing, weekly, persistent and disciplined process.

From the text in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 16 … On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

Obviously this is speaking about the gathering of the church on Sunday, the first day of the week. It was assumed that pretty much everyone was going to be there most every week. Imagine that! I know that looks very odd to many people today. Of course, folks then did not travel like they do today, and I doubt that they had junior gladiator travel team leagues for the kids to be a part of on Sundays.

People probably also received their wages in a more daily fashion; they likely did not have weekly, bi-weekly or monthly pay schedules. Nor were there checks and credit cards and the opportunity such as we have to do online giving or automated payments (which is how Diana and I have done our giving for quite a while, as this really keeps you regular and persistent).

The principle to take from this is to make the issue of giving to be a thoughtful, regular, planned and ongoing process of giving back to God (as his stewards) what is acknowledged to have first come from Him.

The second part of this: Paul did not want to see a situation where they would be scrambling around at the last minute to put together an offering. He knew it would not be the same thing nor nearly as effective.

The discipline of regular giving is a statement of our trust in God’s supply and our gratitude for all he has done for us. It connects us to his ongoing work in a regular fashion of being invested in all that is happening to build the Kingdom.

At one time, I owned stock in a particular company, and I would regularly check in on how that corporation was performing. After a time, I sold that position. And as I think about it now, I’ve never looked back again to see how it has done. I’m no longer invested, neither financially or by interest.

The Scriptures say that where our treasure is, our heart (our interest) will be also. And where our heart is, there too will be the expression of our treasure and investment. Persistent and regular giving keeps our heart and our interests focused upon the things that really matter, the things of eternity.

Let’s start the week off with something totally depressing. After all, it’s Monday, the day after Sunday — the only day we’ve seen in a long time with its namesake, the sun making an appearance! And it’s going to rain again much of today. Just filled with good cheer here … so, here it is …

You love your family, but in four or five generations, nobody in going to remember who you are … this is, unless you do something really important or newsworthy, like become a serial killer or something like that. How do I know this? OK … name the names of your great-great-grandfathers.

So, you live, you do a few things, you die, a few folks cry for a couple of hours, and generational history dementia begins. (I told you this was going to be depressing.)

But here’s some good news: God does not forget you. He knew you before you were born. He chose you before you were born. Don’t argue with me on that last point, that’s what the words of the Scripture say. So if he has known you since before you knew yourself, he is going to know you after you are gone and nobody remains to remember you.

So while it is great to achieve a reasonably high level of success and reward in terms of the scorecard of material gains and assets, it is better to invest at least a decent portion of those resources in stuff that is going to be remembered eternally. We can help you out!

Our question for this series is “Why Church?”  The church is the bride of Christ. That’s pretty important, and the marriage begins our eternity future. And our question for this week is “Why Give?”  And we’ll give you five reasons that come out of a passage in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 where Paul says this …

Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do.  On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.

The first reason or answer to the question “why give?” is that it is purposeful, it is for the Lord’s people. All that we give to the church, be it for benevolent purposes (as in this case) or for costs related to personnel, materials, projects or facilities to make it all happen … these are given with a purpose of growing the work of God’s people, the church. And it is work that has eternal consequence and reward, stuff that will not be forgotten.

In the context of this end of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, this “collection” related to providing funds for the relief of Christians in the very first of all the churches — the church in Jerusalem. Why was this church poorer than the others?

• Jerusalem was a poor city to begin with, often a place flooded by people who came on feasts and pilgrimages.
• As the center of Judaism, the early Christians there were particularly persecuted for their belief that the Messiah had come and been rejected by the Jews.
• Many of those who were converted on the Day of Pentecost and thereafter had likely stayed there, sharing “all things in common” as it said in Acts, likely living with multiple families in a single home and scratching out a living.
• There was a famine in that region that lasted for four years — we see this referenced in Acts 11.

Paul also had a purposeful passion beyond the mere human needs to be addressed by these gifts. He wanted to see the body of Christ become One, bringing together the disparate background of Jews and Gentiles into one new and amazing family unity, unlike anything else. And he realizes this is a great opportunity to do just that. Not only might he help relieve the needs of the Jerusalem church, but in an overwhelming act of love, this money from many Gentiles would go a long way to solidify union in the family of faith.

These early Christians, on both the giving and receiving ends, would realize that they were a part of something so much bigger and greater than anything else. It is the stuff of eternity.

And this remains true in our generation. The dollar that provides a building with a youth program and a youth worker with resources … who meets a visiting student who enjoys the event and comes back, trusting in Christ as savior … who gets discipled over time and ends up on a mission field in another part of the world where a new church is begun there … this is the work of the church. And we can be a part of it and rejoice throughout all of eternity for what was accomplished in the mundane of the here and now.

Fact: I’ve only once eaten at the “kids’” table on Thanksgiving.

I was also a freshman in college.

There’s always something weird about being seated where you feel you don’t belong.  I rarely eat in restaurants alone, but being single occasionally it becomes necessary.  A few years ago I was traveling alone and ended up eating dinner in a relatively nice restaurant.  They proceeded to usher me to the center table.  As in, the table in the middle of the restaurant. As in, the table where passersby could gawk at the peculiar single man eating alone with no one there to tell him that he has food stuck to his face and then wonder if the food stuck to his face was even from the same meal because, hey, maybe he ate lunch alone too and hasn’t been near a mirror.

That sort of table.

A few years ago everyone was talking about the movie The Blind Side, the true story of how Michael Oher came under the care of Leigh Anne Tuohy—played by Sandra Bullock.  I remember being struck at how many scenes took place around a table: the dinner table, the same table while studying, every scene seeming to underscore Oher’s new position not just on the football field, but as a member of the Tuohy family.

That’s what communion does for us.  This is a meal reminding us that we are welcome at the king’s table.  Paul discusses the importance of this meal with the church in the city of Corinth.  Though the meal’s primary purpose is to re-tell the story of salvation, the meal also serves to unite us and remind us who we are and who we are meant to be.

COMMUNION UNITES THE CHURCH

First, Paul emphasizes the unifying element of the Lord’s Table:

¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

Sharing this common meal together reminds us of our place in a larger community of believers.  I’m told of other people taking communion alone, as part of their devotional life.  There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but the greater blessing is to be a part of the larger church community.  This is why—for the earliest churches—communion was the primary focus of their gatherings.  More than the sermon or music or anything else, the communion table serves as the climax of the service.  We should probably see it as ironic, then, that the one thing Jesus commanded his followers to do is the one thing we’re guilty of treating as optional.  The communion table is meant to be a regular part of our body life.  It unites us to Jesus by uniting us to his body, the Church.

COMMUNION HELPS US TELL GOD’S STORY FROM NOW TO THE SECOND COMING

Second, Paul sees the practice of communion as enduring from the time of Jesus’ death until the time of Jesus’ return.  He even quotes Jesus, saying:

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  ²⁵ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

Because communion is a means of re-telling the story of the gospel, every time we take this meal together we remind ourselves that yes, we once were deserving of God’s justice, but Christ took our place and now we share a place at the Father’s table.  And one day we will enjoy this table fellowship not merely symbolically, but in some great “marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:6).

If you’ve ever been in a wedding, then you know that the night before the wedding party typically gathers to review what’s going to be happening in the official ceremony.  And usually, the party joins together to enjoy a “rehearsal dinner.”  This usually isn’t as special as the meal at the actual wedding, but it’s usually a memorable time full of anticipation.

In one very real sense, the communion table is the rehearsal dinner for the church—a way of rehearsing what our new life will look like when Jesus returns to establish perfect justice in his restored creation.

WHO IS WORTHY?

But Paul now takes a slightly darker turn in his letter:

²⁷ Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰ That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.  ³¹ But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. ³² But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:27-32)

Apparently, Paul was dealing with folks who were treating the communion meal as their personal dinner table if not some sort of party.  But it seems to be broader than that.  He cautions against those who take communion in an “unworthy manner,” and even suggests dire consequences for those who fail to heed this warning.

What does it mean to be “unworthy?”  It seems to refer to those who seem totally out of step with the sacrificial death of Jesus.  And I think it really comes down to taking our sin too lightly.  We can do that in two different ways:

• The first way is to simply ignore our sin. We approach the table without genuinely having repented, brushing aside the darkness of our hearts as inconsequential or simply a “mistake.”  For some, this might even mean ignoring the social dimension of sin.  Jesus commands us to “leave our gift at the altar” and go and be reconciled to one another before entering worship (Matthew 5:24).  To ignore these things or treat them as optional is to take the bread and cup in an unworthy manner.
• The second way is far more subtle. When I was younger, the “unworthy manner” verse was always trotted out as a prod to get us to really   The motive was good, but it provoked an unhealthy perspective toward sin.  It meant that before you went to the table, you sat there and catalogued all the bad things you did, and you better be really sorry you did that stuff and then you can go to the table.  Right?  The whole thing smacks of an attitude that says that I make myself worthy of the Lord’s Table.  And that’s utter nonsense, but when we think of repentance only as a feeling of being really, really sorry, we have approached the table in an unworthy manner.

So…what’s the alternative?  The opposite of taking communion in an “unworthy manner” is not—repeat, not—that we are ever worthy of coming to the table.  No; we come to the table because Jesus is worthy and we sit at the King’s table only by the grace of his invitation.

This means that this table is for you.  No matter who you are, Jesus invites you to His Father’s table.  No matter if you’re a sinner or saint, this table is for you.  It’s for those who struggle with ongoing sin.  It’s for those who struggle with their own sense of pride.  It’s at this table that Jesus invites us to repent of both our self-indulgence as well as our self-righteousness.  This table is about casting aside our devotion to sin and self and falling face-first on the mercy of God alone.

We need that.  We started this week by suggesting that rituals help define who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going.

There’s a good chance that you look back at your past accomplishments and beam with pride.  You see yourself as put together and accomplished and your future is bright.  This table reminds you—perhaps painfully so—that your identity will not be found in your achievements, but only in the achievement of Jesus.  The table—like the gospel message itself—challenges our sense of superiority and bends our twisted hearts back open to love God and neighbor.

There’s a good chance that you look back at your past experiences and cringe with shame.  For some it’s the wrongs you have done, for others it’s the wrongs committed against you.  You see yourself as broken and worthless, and your future seems dim if you think of it at all.  This table reminds you that your identity will not be found in failure but only in the Savior who took your place on the cross, to pay for your sin as well as to experience the effects of sin, namely pain and humiliation and death.  This table—like the gospel message itself—challenges our sense of inferiority and lifts our gaze from our past to God’s glorious future.

This table is for all of us who place their trust in the accomplishments of Jesus.  It prompts reverence, yes, but also joy.  And it reminds us all that in Jesus, we all find a place at the table.