03/22 – Luke 21:1-4 – Red Letter Challenge- Giving

I bring you grace, peace, mercy and care from our holy living triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

We at St. John’s are going through some challenges. We, like the rest of the planet, are working through the Coronavirus challenge. Beginning with the end of September, on Rosh Hashana (the Jewish Old Testament New Year) I challenged the congregation to pray the Psalms. Using one Psalm a day as a prayer. As we finished that we began the Red Letter Challenge¹ book as Lent began. A 40 day challenge to learn from the words of Jesus.

The Red Letter Challenge is divided into five parts, and this week’s focus is on ‘giving.’ Most folks would associate church and giving to “pastor’s going to pry open our wallets.” Now I know we have a lot more people tuning in because so many other churches are closed. So let me say this much about money. Your church still needs you. Your home congregation needs you. They are, I’m sure, doing what they can during this difficult time to provide spiritual care. They can do that only with your continued benevolence and generosity.

With that said there is much more to giving than money. The first and most important thing to give is salvation which comes solely and only though Jesus Christ and Him crucified, dead, and risen from the grave. Give that free message wherever you go, and through all you do.

Have you ever gone into a restaurant advertising “Free Desert.” Of course you have to buy a meal first, so there’s a catch to “Free.” Living is a world where marketing is everything we all know “Free” is never really free. Until Jesus came along and says He’s giving it all for free. I think the place that becomes most clear is in Acts 2.

There Peter is preaching a real fire and brimstone sermon. He calls the people out for killing Jesus. The sermon hit them in the heart, and in verse 37 they ask, “What should we do?!”

Peter’s words are mighty and clear:

Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you, and for your children, and for all who are far off, for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.²

Understand, these people were living in a world where sacrifices covered sins. The bigger the sin the bigger the sacrifice that was required. So what would be the sacrifice for killing Jesus the Holy Christ of God? As that understanding washed over their minds you can almost hear the panic in their voices, as they think, “There has never been enough sheep, goats, and cattle to pay for this.” They were right.

It goes further than that. There is nothing you can give to God that He needs. He already made all that is. So He comes to give to you. Simply repent and be Baptized; simply believe and forgiveness comes for free, just like He said it would through the prophet Isaiah. There it is recorded that a time will come when God will say:

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.³”

The verses before and after that promise are a wonderful message of God’s salvation which is fully fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus who gives to you a foretaste of the great feast to come in His Holy Supper where His body and His blood are given to you for your salvation. Jesus’ words are recorded in John 6:

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.⁴”

The Lord’s Supper is a small taste of the day when all the faithful from Adam to the end will be seated at a banquet called the Great Wedding Feast of the Lamb.⁵ An eternal feast and life that will never end. That day is often called the Last Day. A day when everything truly becomes free. When will that day come?

At times like these people are prone to think it is coming and coming very soon. St. Paul wrote is Romans 13:

Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.⁶

Jesus is the Light of the World.⁷ That is the Light we have to give to those living in darkness.⁸

We at St. John’s are heading into a week of mini-challenges that will prompt us to give. How can we give when the whole world is infected with a disease that forces us to stay apart? Start with prayer. Ask God to open your minds and hearts, and then your eyes to where you can give. Knowing that giving begins with prayer.⁹

As a human race we need to come before our God and repent. Whether this crisis is a judgment from God, or simply the affects of sin on a world separated from God, the results are the same. Fear, trial and death are coming. Maybe soon, maybe years from now, but they are coming for all of us.¹⁰ What better time to begin to pray, and pray together.

I would like to encourage everyone to set an alarm for 5:16. AM or PM or both is up to you. I would encourage you to pray at 5:16 everyday until this malady is mitigated. Why 5:16? Because of the words recorded in James 5:16. They teach us:

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

That is the Holy Word of a Holy God who says:

My Word that goes out from my mouth, shall not return to me empty. It shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.¹¹

If you don’t know what to pray start with a Psalm. Start with Psalm 1. The Psalms are the Word of God. Pray His Words back to Him, one Psalm a day, starting with the first. Like everything you have, it is all His already. Everything we give to God came from Him, so give to Him His Words as your prayer. Follow the Psalm with four requests:

1. Heart:
   Ask God to heal your heart making it a place He would long to dwell. Making your body a temple of the Holy Spirit.¹²

2. Mind:
   Ask God to heal your mind, making your every thought only that which would give Him pleasure. Not like the days of Noah when their every though was evil.¹³

3. Vision:
   Ask God to heal your eyes to allow you to see people though His eyes. Giving you the compassion of Jesus for all people.¹⁴

4. Giving:
   Ask God to fill your mouth with His words of comfort and blessing. Giving you words like He did for the prophet Jeremiah.¹⁵

Though we should not put God to the test,¹⁶ nor should we cower in fear.¹⁷ Where we can be of service to others let us put our faith into action. This has been the heart of the Christian Faith from the beginning of the New Testament.

Plagues prospered the Christian Church because Christians were the ones who stepped up, and stepped out, to help the sick. There are many recorded accounts throughout the last 2,000 years of Christians being there first to help.¹⁸ Do not let this time be the first we fail! Our government has spoken nearly nothing of prayer. In fact I’ve not heard a great deal from the Church about prayer. All of the focus and all of their effort has been on human strength and wisdom.

God has certainly blessed us with many strengths, but He does, from time to time remind us that human strength only goes so far. Now is the time for the Holy Christian Church on earth to pray.

In a week, for us here at St. John’s, focused on ‘giving,’ what greater gift can we give the whole human race on earth than the gift of prayer, and the power and affect that comes through the prayers of the righteous.¹⁹ Encourage others to do the same. Spread the Word, share the promise, and let us all call on a Holy and Living God to save us.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen.

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