Wellspring UMC; Second Sunday after Pentecost; June 10, 2007: “Giving Leads to Life”:

-I Kings 17: 8-24

Today we begin an adventure together, and as with any adventure, the more we are willing to put into it, the more we’ll get out of it. Today we begin an adventure in giving. Over the next eight weeks, we’re going to be encouraged to live out our mission statement, “To Care as Jesus Cares,” through acts of kindness. If they are random acts that’s fine, if they are planned that works as well, but right now I invite you to step on a path with me which will lead us all to live into a state of giving.

The concept is simple. Basically, we’re going to be sharing in worship ways in which we can give of ourselves and what we have to others. Maybe it will be a stranger, maybe colleague, maybe a family member, maybe even yourself, but each week I’m asking us all to take a risk and give something away. I’m inviting us to take this eight week period and bring to the forefront of your heart and mind a prayer which goes something like this, “God, make me an instrument of your love everyday, and use us to give Your love away?” Then I invite us to listen and respond.

Do you get what I’m saying? Everyone understand?

While I was on retreat last year planning my scriptures for the year, I took with me a book by Steve Sjogren called The Day I Died. It is about how Sjogren went in to have his gall bladder removed and ended up “dying” in the hospital three times, only to be revived again and again and again. They nicked an artery and cut nerves, and in the wake of this mishap Sjogren now has very little strength in his legs and many medical problems, however, he is a person who lives life more fully than most.

Steve Sjogren is the founding pastor of Vineyard Community Church, in Cincinnati, OH, and the centerpiece of his ministry is something called “Servant Evangelism,” which is basically doing acts of kindness in Christ’s name, as an outreach to the community. As part of that act a business card is given that simply invites folks to be a part of that faith community.

I heard Sjogren speak once, and this was after the medical mishap, and despite the cane he had to use, despite the huge effort it took for him to speak at that conference, there was a fire in his soul that would not go out. And it was based in the fact that the community of which he was a part started to do these deliberate acts, as a means of service but also as a means of evangelism, but what happened was that these acts of service led to a life of service. Looking for fun and different ways to bless others became central to who Sjogren and his folks were, and they realized and lived as ones who knew that giving leads to life.

We are blessed this morning to have with us Dr. Camilla Buchanan, who shared with us a very tangible way in which our giving brought life to the Maasai people. Time and time again we are reminded of how vital water is to bringing and sustaining life, but far less often are we reminded of how many people do not have access to safe, clean water. According to the UNICEF, 17% of the world’s population does not have clean water. That’s 1.1 billion people forced to drink from unsafe water sources. The result is that every year 1.6 million people die of deaths related to this one health issue, and most of those deaths are children under the age of 5.

Through our giving and compassion, by caring as Jesus cares, we have saved lives and warded off sickness by recognizing what we so easily take for granted, the necessity of clean water. Through our giving, there is life.

Our scripture passage today is one of my favorites. I Kings is a book which chronicles the many and varied kings of the tribes of Israel. We enter this story under the kingship of Ahab. Ahab was not a good king, and in fact deliberately worshiped other Gods and set up idols throughout the kingdom. He married a foreign Queen, Jezebel, and God was not pleased.

Enter Elijah, the prophet. He had a message for Ahab, “Ahab, it’s not going to rain for a few years except when I say so,” which I’m sure really made Ahab mad. Who was he to speak for God? Who was he to speak to the king that way? And from then on, Ahab was out to get Elijah. God sent Elijah out into the wilderness, and there ravens bring him bread and meat, and he drinks from the brook...until that brook dries up.

God then sends him to Zarephath, which is by the way the home region for Queen Jezebel. God sends Elijah to a woman, and Elijah is quite bold in his request. “Give me some water...and by the way, a piece of bread would be nice as well.” Now everyone knew it was a drought. These were rough times, and yet Elijah spoke a word that on one hand makes no sense, and on the other led to the discovery that giving leads to life.

The woman humbly says, “I don’t have any bread. Just a bit of flour and oil. I’m gathering these sticks to make a fire for my son’s and my last meal. After this is gone, we’ll prepare to die.” Imagine having to face such a fate!

Then Elijah says, “Go ahead, make your meal, but first bring me some bread, then make enough for your family.” Okay, what would you do? As a parent, I know what my thoughts would be, “Go jump in a lake...or should I say lake bed since it’s a drought!” But then he says, “If you do this, God will provide. The flour and oil will not run out until the rain comes.”

It’s all or nothing. If she doesn’t do it she lives a little longer but dies anyway. If she does follow this ill fated logic she gives away what little she has to a madman but still dies...or she trusts him and believes God will provide. She chose the latter, and God was faithful.

God was even more faithful in her life because the son becomes sick and dies. Rightfully so, she takes her anger out on this man of God. Why does your God do this? What did I do? Is this for past sins?

Elijah doesn’t respond, he simply takes the child upstairs, then HE rails at God, then stretches out over the boy three times pleading for the boy to live again. God hears, the boy lives, and the woman says, “I know that you are from God, for your God gave my son life again. You gave me life again.”

It’s an amazing story. It’s a story of faith. It’s a story of life. It’s a story of hope. It’s a story that reveals the truth that giving leads to life.

Think about this story of a second. Elijah was willing to risk his life, willing to give his life, in order for God’s people to be redeemed, so he stands up to Ahab and shares the truth. He gave himself for God, and in turn God brought life to him. Though forced to the wilderness, God provided food and water for Elijah.

He moves to Zarepheth where he meets this woman. Maybe it’s because of God’s provision for him that he invites the woman to learn the same lesson by giving all she had so God could bring true life to her, but he says, “Go for it.” She does, and not only is she given the gift of food and sustenance, but she is given the ultimate gift – the life of her son returned. It is because she gave, and gave completely, taking a HUGE risk, that she discovered that this giving God gives and gives and gives so that we might live.

Sound like a familiar story? This Jesus we follow, he gave. He provided for some 5000 people gathered, and through that miracle they caught a glimpse of the life that comes from this giving God. Jesus gave of Himself countless times, and ultimately on the cross, and in doing so we see that in giving Himself away, God gave Him new, abundant life.

And the same is true for us. The same invitation is given for us to give ourselves for God’s sake, and the miracle is that when we do we discover again the great truth that giving leads to life. Anytime we risk for God’s sake, there are great benefits, for us and for those whom we serve.

Ah but how hard that is! How hard it is for us to give so recklessly. We like to be in control. We like to be secure, and yet deep inside us we yearn for the passion to give with abandon.

How do we do that? Well, we do it one step at a time. Just like when we have a big project in front of us, we chip away at it one step at a time, but we at least chip away at it. We begin to move forward, but that movement, that change comes in taking that first step. We begin to give by simply doing it. Start small, start big, it doesn’t really matter, but begin to pray for a servant’s heart and Christ’s eyes and giving hands led by mission oriented feet. Whatever we do, we’re invited to keep before us the example of the widow at Zarephath, the example of Christ and look for ways to bless and give to those around us.

The Swiss New Testament scholar Aduard Schweizer once said, “The widow at Zarephath had to serve before she saw the miracle, had to dare to bake him a little loaf of bread on credit...” You and I have to serve before we see the miracles of life, we have to dare to send funds to help people across the globe or even to purchase a trailer to help our neighbors, and we hope all will work as we want, but when we’re open to what God’s plan, then Christ is revealed in powerful and unexpected way. We have to dare to give a smile to a stranger, hoping that God will use us to make a difference. We have to risk speaking to the curmudgeon of a neighbor or arrogant colleague, inviting God to build a relationship through.

Giving is not always easy. It takes focus. It takes effort. It takes us being willing to give a part of ourselves to God and the other, then listen, allowing the Spirit to lead us to give, to live, and to use us as ones through whom God can reveal to the world, that giving leads to life.

The invitation is given. The challenge is before us. Go and serve. Go and live. Go and give. Amen.