Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

Luke 6:37-38 November 11, 2007

“Magnanimously Grateful”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer

Commitment Sunday

Magnanimous is a wonderful old word. It’s a cool word. Magnanimous. It comes from the Latin word magnus, meaning “great,” and from animus, meaning “spirit.” Great-spirited. Great-souled. To say that someone is magnanimous is to say (according to Webster’s Dictionary) they are kind, generous, or forgiving. This is precisely the kind of person Jesus is commanding (not suggesting) us to be in Luke 6:37,38 if we want to honestly be called his disciples:
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
Today is our stewardship Sunday, or commitment Sunday, however you want to label it. It is the one Sunday a year I ask you to make a written pledge for weekly giving for the following year. Throughout the year, you are being challenged in a variety of ways, to give generously of your time, your gifts, and your money. Stewardship is a constant theme around here. But this is the ONE Sunday, as the pastor, on behalf of the leadership of the church, that I ask you (and myself) to make a written pledge. I do this for one reason, and probably it is not the reason that comes to your mind first. I do not do this because the church needs your money. Let’s face it, the church does need money in order to fulfill its mission, but that is not the reason we have a Sunday like this one. I do this commitment Sunday “thing” because we need at least an annual heart check-up – and I care a whole lot more about your heart than I do about your money. In fact, I don’t care a whit about your money. I do pray for your hearts, however, as I hope you pray for mine.
Jesus tells us, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
Not judging is an issue of the heart. Not condemning is an issue of the heart. Forgiveness is an issue of the heart. Giving is an issue of the pocketbook. No! Giving, just like judging and condemning and forgiving, is an issue of the heart, for “where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.”
To judge is to form an opinion of somebody; to measure by guesswork, using the eye or some other sense as a rough guide; to criticize or condemn somebody on moral grounds.
To condemn is to state that somebody is in some way wrong or unacceptable; to force or oblige somebody to experience something very unpleasant, especially something permanent or long-lasting; to issue an official order saying that something (such as a building) [or a person] is unfit to be used.
Who are we to judge or condemn anyone? I can’t even judge myself. I, myself, deserve condemnation. We are called to be magnanimously generous in our acceptance of people. Maybe we don’t agree with their behavior, but we are never called to post up, or speak of, or hope for the worst in someone – and that is what a judgmental or condemning heart chooses to do. I think it’s important to look at the teaching Jesus was providing right before he jumps into the words on judging & condemning. Starting in v. 27, “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Jesus is talking about the heart.

Do I even need to preach about forgiveness today? According to this Scripture (and many others), we will be forgiven using the same measure that we use to forgive. In other words, if you forgive little, you will be forgiven little. If you forgive much, your sense of God’s forgiveness for you will not be able to be contained in any measure. If you are withholding forgiveness from someone in your life, you will not have a good sense of God’s grace and mercy – leaving you open to the lies of the devil in your life.
So here’s how it works:
1. A person who chooses to put a lid on judging others, who chooses against condemning others to a lifetime of consequences from spiritual, emotional, physical, & material poverty, who chooses to forgive always,
2. will have a magnanimously grateful heart! (Remember, magnanimous means: great-spirited or great-souled!)
3. a magnanimously grateful heart is a radically generous heart, because:
4. the measure I use to bless others (with my magnanimously grateful heart) is the measure God uses to bless me with his magnanimous heart. And can we agree today that no measuring container can hold the blessings of God when God finds a heart ready to receive them & pass them on?
There’s a bunch of magnanimously grateful people here in this church – and part of what we need to realize is that this kind of gratefulness begets more gratefulness begets generosity which begets more generosity. So, I hope no one here is unwilling to catch the virus that’s going around in this congregation. It’s a virus of generosity that has only a few things that can kill it, including of course: Judging, Condemning, & Unforgiveness. When those unChristlike behaviors are inoculated against with Christlike love, there’s no telling how far this virus of generosity that comes from magnanimously grateful hearts will spread. There’s no telling!
So, let me give you a few numbers that might just make this virus worse:
In 2006, we budgeted expenses at $132,500.00. Our actual expenses totaled $158,600.00 (an increase of $24,100), which includes $25,400 in local, national, & world missions. Our income for 2006 was $175,800, revealing a $17,200 “profit” for the year (which we immediately gave $2000 more away as our tithe on God’s blessings).
So far in 2007, we budgeted expenses at $149,500.00. Our actual expenses so far total $181,900.00 (an increase over budget of $32,400), which includes $55,600 in local, national, & world missions. Our income so far for 2007 is $188,900, so far revealing a $7,000 “profit” for the year.
Our total envelope giving for 2004 was $91,500.
Our total envelope giving for 2005 was $107,500.
Our total envelope giving for 2006 was $110,900.
Our total envelope giving for 2007, based on current figures and patterns will be:
$127,000.
Now, we do our best to budget our expenses, but if you want it all to come out a specific way at the end and try to manage it towards that end in a congregation with a generosity virus, you’re going to go nuts. We are finding out, that you just can’t budget for God’s blessings. You can’t predict how God will move & act in hearts that are healthy, in hearts that are magnanimously grateful hearts.
God does, however, give us a formula to help us get and keep our hearts healthy. He tells us not to judge, not to condemn, to forgive others, and to give a minimum of 10% of our income back to Him. From the days of the Old Testament, God spoke about giving the tithe (which means 10%). God, in his wisdom, knows that when we are committed to giving what he asks of us, it will help us keep our priorities straight; it will help keep us from worshipping other gods of our own making. I don’t know how God came up with the 10% figure just like I don’t know how God created the heavens and the earth. But what I do know is that God did create the heavens and the earth, and I know, from personal experience, that giving a minimum of 10% of your income back to God is the first and best thing you can do with all God gives you.
In the last number of years, our church budget has had a percentage of mission giving built right into it. We moved from 7%, to tithing 10% of our operating budget, to 12%, to 15% this year. As we have been faithful to give a minimum of 10% away, God pours more into our laps, which is stretching us to become more responsibly generous than ever before. I am so grateful to be able to tell you that this past Monday, because of the strength of our financial situation, the trustees and the session had a conversation about what to do with the profit from the Turkey Supper this year. I believed God was calling us to do something radically different this year in response to his blessing over us. And so, we voted unanimously to give 100% of our profit from the Turkey Supper & Bazaar this year to the Valley Medical Center to help with the start-up costs for the new family practice there with Dr. Johnston.

Judgment begets judgment. Condemning words and actions beget condemning words and actions. Unforgiveness begets unforgiveness. We know this is true. But what is also true is that faithfulness begets faithfulness. Generosity begets generosity. Magnanimously grateful hearts beget magnanimously grateful hearts. Good news begets Good news! Blessings beget blessings!
So, here’s what I’d like you to do: I’d like you to make a commitment to God for what you are going to give back to Him through the ministry of this church in 2008. We are challenged in Deuteronomy 7 to “… remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.”
When we challenge ourselves by making a commitment to give a certain percentage back to God (and hopefully growing our faith by stepping up to a new percentage of giving), and then we have envelopes that we put our offerings in so that our treasurer can track our giving for us, we then have a record of what God has enabled us to do. This way, we remember that giving Him first place is the true way to healthy heart living. It’s hard to be judgmental, condemning, & unforgiving when you have a record in your hand of how God has been kind, & generous, and merciful to you.
If you currently have envelopes for your giving, you will automatically receive new envelopes for 2008 in the last weeks of this year. If you want envelopes, all you have to do is ask Donna Hays, treasurer, and she will make sure you get a pack.
I know there are some among us who can barely pay their bills, let alone give a regular amount to the church. I want you to know how glad we are that you are here, giving all of us the opportunity to minister to each other as did the members of the early church as we read in Acts 2. “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
Let’s continue to remind each other of God’s faithfulness, for it is true what the apostle Paul claimed: “And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Amen.

Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

11-11-07