We Give Our Lives to God by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

I found a story this week from a blog post about generosity.  This is the story: “Today, I found one of my old high school friends, who used to tutor me in math, begging for money outside of a convenience store. I took him out to lunch and he spilled his guts to me about how his wife (also an old friend from high school) died from cancer last year; and that due to a combination of lack of medical insurance, the loss of his job, and the downturn in the economy which forced him to foreclose on his home, he has nothing left. I set him up with a place to stay in my second bedroom, and told him we’d be roommates for as long as it takes him to get back on his feet.” (source: “75 Day-Brightening Stories of Generosity.”)

The band just sang a song about “surrender.” Surrendering all to God is a hard concept. Giving our whole lives to God? That’s intense.

But then I think about this person who ran into an old friend from high school, the friend was begging because he had fallen on hard times and he was homeless. The person offers the homeless friend a place to live in his own home for as long as he needs it. Why not? We read last week about the first Christian community. They held everything in common. What’s mine is yours. I have a house with an extra room. You are homeless. I share my extra room with you. I surrender my life to God and it means I share what I have with someone in need. Especially if that person is an old friend from high school. “Give away your life,” Jesus says, “Generosity begets generosity.”

Really?

How generous does Jesus want us to be? Practically speaking. What do we mean by surrender? Does that mean everything? Our whole lives? Or can we just choose part?

I don’t know. . . When I hear the word surrender, I sort of think about being defeated. When someone surrenders it means they have lost. Right?

But you know, Jesus has a way of turning words upside down. Because when we surrender to God, we don’t lose, we win. Jesus says that when we give our lives away, we get them back. I think we are going to have to take another look at what it means to surrender our lives to Jesus.

Today is our Commitment Sunday. We are celebrating our commitments as followers of Jesus. Here at The Village, every Sunday we say together a statement of identity. We say that we are followers of Jesus and we can change the world. I believe it is true – that when we live in the path of Jesus, we do change the world.

Some 2000 years ago, Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee and met some fishermen. They were common folk. He said to them: “Hey, how about you leave those fishing nets and come with me? We will go fishing for people. We will build a movement of people who will discover God’s love and together we will heal the world.” He also called a tax collector named Matthew and a physician named Luke. Some women joined the inner circle too. They all saw something in Jesus. They saw God. And so they followed.

We are here today because we are all followers of one sort or another. Some of us are confident that we want to claim that name. We have said, “Yes! I will follow Jesus.” Others of us are on a spiritual journey, we come here with more questions than confidence. We like The Village people and the sense of community. That is okay too. In the United Church of Christ we say that whoever you are and wherever you are on your journey, you are welcome here.

Today I want to talk about what it means to be a follower in the way of Jesus, sometimes called a disciple. Because today many of us are making commitments to the ministry of this church and I want us to be clear about what we are committing to. Many of you came here with some forms that say “Time, Talent and Treasure.” You are ready to commit your time, your skills, and your financial support to The Village because you care about this community and you want to be more than a casual on-looker. You want to be “all in.” You want to invest in this community because you believe in what we are doing, because you care. You like what Jesus had to say. You love that Jesus hung out with imperfect people like us and reminded everyone of God’s unconditional love. You get that message and you want to sign on and be a part of the Jesus movement, whatever the case. If you are going to sign on today, I think it’s good to have a reminder of that to which you are signing on. So here is what it says in Luke chapter 6. This is a pretty good little synopsis of some of Jesus’ core teaching.

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES. There is no room for hate when we become followers of Jesus. In this passage he instructs us to: love, pray, take it (when slapped), and give. Now I don’t think Jesus is telling us to live under the fantasy that no danger exists in the world. And he is not telling us to live in a world  without any laws to protect people from harm. However, he is saying, that hatred only hurts us. So, no human being is to be despised or written off, no matter how awful they are.

Then he brings up the GOLDEN RULE: “Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!” Don’t treat people the way they treat you, or even the way you think they deserve to be treated. Don’t give them what they deserve. “The principle of reciprocity (do to others as they do to you, which means: love your friends and hate your enemies) was widely accepted in the ancient world and represents the attitude that Jesus is challenging.” The Golden Rule attacks this idea. “We are not to do to others as they do to us but as we would want them to do to us.” (source: http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke6x27.htm)

Do better. Be kinder, more patient, more forgiving. Be your best self, even when the other person is not. How many of you heard this from your mother or grandmother?

This brings us to compassion, (which is, by the way, one of our core values at The Village). Jesus says that it is easy to love someone who is lovable. Everyone does that. His followers have compassion for people whom no one else loves. God loves us when we are at our worst, and so if we are going to be followers of Jesus then we need to stretch ourselves and offer compassion to people when they are at their worst.

Jesus concludes this passage by reminding us not to harp on one another’s faults. Don’t kick people when they are down. What it means to be a community of Jesus’ friends is that we encourage and support one another.

I have a friend who puts it this way: “You can’t out give God.” The first time I heard my friend say this, I found it a bit puzzling. I have had to let this saying sort of sink into my spiritual self over the years. “You can’t out give God.” What it means to me is this. God gives us everything. I say that most Sundays when I make our statement before the offering. Everything we have comes from God. God is the creator of the universe. We may think that we own property and we have money that belongs to us, but the whole world was made by God, and ultimately it belongs to God. God is the gracious and generous landowner who shares God’s creation with us and lets us think that some tiny piece of it actually belongs to each of us. We live under that illusion. But it’s really all God’s.

Now we have some human made systems that allow some people to get more stuff than other people. I’m not altogether sure what God thinks about that system but I have some hunches. But here is what Jesus said: “Give away your life.” You’ll find that when you give your life you get it back. “Giving, not getting is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”

That takes me back to the guy who ran into the old friend from high school who was homeless. The one guy with a house gave the homeless friend his spare bedroom for as long as he needed it. He was giving away part of his life, because as Jesus says: “Giving, not getting is the way.”

Today, we are celebrating our giving to The Village Church. I love giving to The Village, because I have learned that I can’t out give God. I can be what I think is generous, and God is always more generous with me.

Still, I want to give away my life. Holding on to my life just does not make sense. Holding on to my resources, when I could be using them to help this church thrive, well that does not make sense either. So just about every year, Kurt and I increase our financial pledge to this church, even if the increase is just $10 or $20 a month. And of course this is my work, but Kurt gives many hours to this church, because, you just can’t out give God.

Let’s think again about what it means to surrender. The song says: “I surrender all, all to Jesus I freely give; I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live, I surrender all.”

I think that means that we will order every part of our lives around giving, and not holding on. I think it means that as followers of Jesus we want to have a loving and trusting relationship with him and when we do, we will find ourselves naturally wanting to give back.

When we run into an old friend who needs a home and we have an extra room we will offer ours. It’s a bold thing, I know. I’m not sure I’ll be ready to do such a bold thing when the opportunity comes, but I hope I will be.

Jesus invites us to give our lives away because generosity begets generosity. Most of all we have to pay attention to the opportunities that God sends our way to share our lives with others – to make a difference – to give our lives away. Let’s be courageous. Let’s be generous. Let’s follow Jesus and change the world.