December 14

December 14, 2008

God’s Abundance in a Time of Scarcity
a sermon on Luke 2.8-20
by David C. Mauldin
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama

I don’t watch much television. I get my news from the internet and listening to the radio in my car. The past couple of months, I’ve stopped listening to the news more than about once a week. I already know what they’re going to say because it has been exactly the same for months: New job losses, unemployment rising, the recession is deeper and will last longer than we previously thought, the federal government has taken another emergency measure but things don’t seem to be improving, the stock market is down, consumer confidence is down, big business is hurting and so are average people. Food banks are bare. Increasingly families with two parents are turning up in shelters homeless. Non-profits are reeling. You know it all. These are hard times.

What difference does faith make in a time like this? What can we expect from God, if anything? Well, for starters, God isn’t afraid of poverty. We live in a society in which even the poorest can go to a hospital to give birth. God’s Son was born in a barn. We don’t really know the economic condition of the holy family. They were working class people. They were not rich. Neither were the shepherds. The shepherds always inspire me. Why did God choose to announce Jesus’ birth to them? Not the priests. Not rich merchants. Yes, the wise men brought expensive gifts, but contrary to the nativity set on your living room table, they didn’t show up until much later. On the night Jesus was born, the good news was proclaimed to the shepherds. Shepherds were near the bottom of the economic ladder.

Honestly that’s about all I know about the shepherds. They were poor. But I wonder … I do wonder … what were their hopes and dreams? What did they want for their children? What was their idea of the good life? I imagine the scene in my mind: A small band of shepherds huddled around a fire, finishing their dinner and staring up at the stars, telling stories and swapping gossip. Others were taking turns patrolling the flock. One shepherd at the fire says with disgust, “These new taxes mean bad times. Mark my words. Things are going to get a lot tighter.” “It’s the Romans,” answers another, “man, I hate them. If only we could get rid of them.” “It’s not just them,” interrupts an old timer, “If it wasn’t them it would be someone else. Do you think people like us ever get a break?” “I could use a break, we’re about to have another baby.” “You’re lucky. I’ve been saving for two years to get married. How long does it take?” “A long time, young man, and getting longer. Money doesn’t buy what it used to.” “I’d like to be rich!” “Dream on.” “Yeah, and own my own land. I’d hire other people to farm it and tend my flocks. That’s the life.”

And around they go, chatting about the value of a day’s wage and dreaming about what is and what could be: children to provide for, marriage, their own flocks and farms—who knows, really? We don’t know. But we know they were poor, and we know they had hopes and dreams. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, without warning—an angel stands before them. Don’t think of some cute or effeminate guy with wings. In the Bible, angels are more like soldiers than anything else. They are God’s messengers.

Naturally the shepherds are terrified. But the angel says, “Do not be afraid. … for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Then he tells the shepherds how to find the baby Jesus. And then, not one angel but an army, and they burst into song, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace!”

Oh, we do know one more thing about the shepherds. Whatever their hopes and dreams were, whatever they were talking about that night (if anything), they never expected this. The Savior! The Messiah! Here! Tonight! And we have been invited! This surpassed everything they ever dreamed of. What are a few more sheep or a new coat compared to seeing the Messiah on the night of his birth? What is money or land compared with the Savior of the world? God’s precious gift—both sending Jesus and making these shepherds part of the event—overwhelmed their desires as the sun overwhelms a flashlight. All they could do was marvel. Better to be a poor shepherd out on that hillside and hear the angels and see the baby than to be the emperor himself. God knew their needs, deeper than they themselves did, and he met those needs in a completely unexpected way.

What about us, as we sit in our pews celebrating that same birth? What does God’s abundance mean in our time of scarcity? The angel’s message echoes today and wakes us up from our small dreams. As we look around at crumbling economic conditions, the birth of Jesus means at least two things to us. First, God’s dream for you might be different from yours. By different I mean bigger and better. Funny thing about us human beings: Our vision is so limited and our imaginations are so small that we settle for far too little. Second, you can trust God to take care of you.

First, about God’s dream for you. What is it most every American wants? A good job, good income, a nice home in a safe neighborhood, a solid education for your children, a comfortable retirement—that sort of thing. Some aim higher and some aim lower, but in general that’s how we imagine the good life: having nice things and running in the right circles. The bad news is, if you really care about those things a lot: God isn’t very interested in those things. His dream for you is much bigger and better, but also very different. His dream is to make you a saint. That is, he wants you to be like Jesus.

God’s dream turns everything upside down. Material things don’t matter much. What matters is the love you have for God and other people. God cares much more about the kind of person you are than about the kind of car you drive. If poverty will speed you along the path toward holiness, then God will not rescue you from it because he wants you to have the better gift. Or wealth may be your challenge and opportunity; imagine the rich young ruler had followed Jesus’ command and given his wealth away—what a different person he would have become, one much more like Jesus.

Do you love God passionately, above everything else? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? Do you enjoy doing good? Have you tasted his grace? Have you taken a hard, honest look at yourself, realized how broken you are, then discovered God loves you anyway? He loved you by sending Jesus to die on the cross for you. He loved you enough to mount that costly rescue operation so that he could win you back, clean you up, and make you worthy of his love. Do you know that? Do you know Jesus? He wants to make you beautiful—in this life and the next. Have you responded to his invitation the way Mary did: Whatever God wants, I will do.

Jesus came for a reason. As the angel told the shepherds, he is the Savior. Being saved means more than going to heaven when you die, although that is part of it. Jesus gives you so much: He forgives you for all the wrong you have done. He gives you a fresh start. Slowly but surely he changes your heart. And someday … well, when he is finally finished with you (and it won’t be in this life) you will be the spitting image of him. You will be a creature so glorious that if you could see it today, you would be tempted to fall down and worship it. That’s what God wants for you: peace and joy today, eternal life with him, all those wonderful promises we find in the Bible.

Our problem is not that God is stingy. Our problem is our dreams are too small. God has given you everything. He has given you his own Son. He has given you a name and a future. God’s abundance overwhelms our scarcity. We grope about in the dark, wishing for a flashlight, and what happens? The sun comes up!

Now, you’ve got to be careful, because you might hear this and conclude that God cares about your soul and not your body. “What good is all this talk about eternal life when I can’t put food on the table?” you wonder. You could not be more wrong. God created your body. He invented matter. He knows your needs, and he cares. Jesus said in his sermon on the mount: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” [Matt 6.25-33]

Jesus said that, but we don’t trust him … not really. Do we? We should. It makes more sense than the economic house of cards we build for ourselves. Jesus knew God the Father better than you or I do, and he was simply telling us we can trust God to take care of us. And it makes sense, doesn’t it, as we think about Christmas? If he gave us his Son—if he loves us that much—why would he withhold our daily bread?

Which is easier: to save us from our sin or to provide for our physical needs? Physical needs are easy for God. The earth is full of his blessings. People are hungry, not because God is a bad provider but because of what we human beings do. God knows we need food, so he gave us food. Some people have too much and waste it while others go without. We can’t blame God for that. God knows we need water, so he gave it to us. If we pollute it, how can we blame him? Yet despite the problems we cause, God can still provide for our needs. Saving us from our sin—realizing his ultimate dream for us—that was the hard thing, the costly thing. If we can trust him for the big things (like eternal life), we can trust him for the little things (like our daily bread).

So as we rush along with the shepherds to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we too recognize God’s abundance in our time of scarcity. We realize the depth of his love and the awesome size of his power. We see that he is indeed with us. We are not alone. He knows and he cares. We can trust him for the big things and the little things. His dream is better than ours, but it doesn’t mean we won’t have hard times. We will. All saints do. Jesus did. Yet God knows our every need, and he will provide.

As we leave the manger with the shepherds, we too will be changed. Hopefully we will trust God more. And hopefully, knowing his generous heart, we will be more willing to share the abundance he has given us with those in need. Amen.

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