So…
It turns out, in the Kingdom of God, humility matters.
Now this is a subject I know all about because I am not one to toot my own horn, just saying!
Because, as everyone knows, I am humble, humble, humble!
So, if you need an example of humbleness, I got it covered for you, because there is no one here as humble as me. I mean, right!
For those of you who have been following this series on the Sermon on the Mount, you may remember like a hundred years ago when we started, that Jesus begins preaching to his disciples, followers, the Pharisees and the scribes on this hillside and he tells them that the people in the community who were struggling the most are blessed by God.
I don’t know about you, but that teach was and is confusing, because then like now we all know that riches are a sign of blessing!
Which explains why so many folks are looking for that blessing of winning the Powerball or the Mega Millions!
But maybe not so much God’s blessing.
Because God’s blessing seems to have very little to do with me being rich and famous and popular ,and much more with me struggling with this life.
And none of us have signed up to be struggling!
Yet Jesus has this crazy notion that struggling folks are really the blessed ones!
And even more than that, as I noted in that sermon, it may be that Jesus thinks that those who struggle are actually the ones who are being made holy!
Riches don’t make you holy! In fact, riches, it seems can hold you back from holiness.
And Jesus even doubles down on that notion when he suggests that if you give in a way that is a bit show-off, or you pray in way that is a bit showy, all you got is the public’s blessing!
Your Instagram account may bless you! God, not so much!
Now circumstances are a bit different from Jesus’ days until now. We don’t generally line up by the offering baskets and have a trumpet sound as people drop in their offerings, although I can arrange that.
Let’s try it, everyone who brought an offering today get in a line and you tell me how much it is and I will play a bigger and better fanfare the bigger and better the gift is. Sound like fun? The more you give, the bigger the toot!
Just be aware, the rule is for a big gift you get a trumpet a fanfare! For anything ten bucks and less you get the Harpo Marx treatment.
There is no way we would do that kind of stuff right! I mean, we don’t think more of people because they give a lot of money, do we?
I mean, we would never, for example name a building after them, you know, like Rockefeller Center or Carnegie Hall. The Jeff and Sue Farley Christian Education Building has a nice ring to it, don’tch think?
By the way, do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall – practice, practice, practice.
Anyway, so, what is Jesus getting at?
If you are doing what you are doing as a person of faith so that other people of faith will think better of you, then you might have missed the point!
Because the only one who needs to know about your giving and praying, and for that matter about anything you do for the Kingdom of God, is you and God.
Orrin went on a mission adventure to Namibia, to see his daughter Rachel who is serving with the Peace Corp, and he took with him some of our resources to make that recycled tire caterpillar big toy.
Let me assure you, he didn’t go for the praise back home, nor the praise in Namibia. He went because he could do something that would make a difference. Quietly, humbly, ready to see what God was about to do.
And Kelly and Evangeline are doing the same, ready to paint the world on the wall and pick up 23 gallons of paint in Windhoek in Namibia. And Lorna is planning to go and take hygiene kits later this year.
And folks are going to New Bern, North Carolina with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to rehab houses. And our Deacons are feeding children and families and raising funds for the Ronald MacDonald house charities who housed and fed Liana’s family in Albany and Pittsburgh, and did the same for so many others.
And so much else we do is not for others to see! It is for God alone. Us doing and being the people of God. Making a difference, because that is what we do and wo we are.
Without any trumpets! Without any fanfare!
Because we seek God’s blessing, not peoples.
So, when you want to make a difference, do it so that God knows what you are doing. Other people, not so much.
And when you pray, in private, here’s a suggestion.
From Eugene H. Peterson’s The Message:
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Amen.
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