2 Corinthians 9:1-15
Citizens and First Century Stewardship Problems
James Sledge October
12, 2014 (Stewardship 2)
Comedian
and actor Bob Newhart is probably known better today for roles such as the elf
father in Will Ferrell’s movie Elf or
guest appearances on “The Big Bang Theory,” for which he won an Emmy last year.
Some likely recall a couple of different Bob Newhart TV shows. And if you’re my
age and older, you may remember that he started as a standup comedian, and his
signature bit was the one-sided phone conversation.
Newhart,
with his slow, deadpan delivery, is a bit of a comic oddity, a straight-man who
gets the laughs. That slow delivery allows people to supply the punchline, to
imagine the unseen person on the other end of the phone providing it. If you’ve
never seen a Newhart phone bit, you should watch a YouTube video of him.
I
mention Newhart and his phone routines because we encounter something similar with
Paul’s letters. Not that there’s much comedy, but these are one-sided
conversations. We hear Paul responding to questions, problems, controversies,
situations, and events without having much specific knowledge of those things.
We must do some filling in the gaps based on the side of the conversation we
can hear.
“Now it is not necessary for me to write to you
about the ministry to the saints, for I know your eagerness…” Of course for
us, it’s not at first clear what this ministry to the saints might be, why it’s
not necessary for Paul to write about it, or why he does, in fact, write a
great deal about it.
The
ministry to the saints is apparently an offering Paul is collecting for the
church in Jerusalem. Paul’s work on this offering shows up in several of his
letters, including a previous one to those in Corinth. It’s not clear exactly
what the need was, but Paul has obviously placed a great deal of importance on
helping the Christians there.
It’s
worth recalling that Paul is not always on the best of terms with the folks in
Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Christians are Jewish, and they require any non-Jews
who want to join them to become Jewish first, adopt Jewish dietary restrictions
and males be circumcised. But Paul, although he is Jewish, has been starting
non-Jewish churches in places like Corinth without requiring circumcision or
dietary restrictions. He even insists these not be done.
Yet
Paul has no desire to separate from the Jewish Christians or to start a
different, non-Jewish faith. Paul understands Jesus as God’s way of joining
Gentiles to God’s salvation story that runs through Israel, and he sees the
offering for the needy Jewish Christians in Jerusalem as a tangible witness to their
unity in Christ. He is excited about this opportunity to demonstrate this unity
that they have in Jesus despite their significant theological difficulties.
Apparently
the Corinthians were excited, too. Or at least they had been. Now, Paul seems
worried that things have changed. He’s bragged about their enthusiastic support
of the offering, inspiring others in the process, but will the Corinthians
follow through?
And
here Paul runs smack into a basic stewardship problem. On the one hand, there
is the practical matter of needed funds. He’s made a commitment to help needy
Christians in Jerusalem and is determined to keep that commitment. He’s even
willing to do a bit of arm twisting, saying both he and the Corinthians will be
humiliated if the offering is not ready.
But
on the other hand, simply avoiding humiliation and providing funds is not what
Paul is after. This explains the tension in Paul’s appeal, and in many church
stewardship campaigns. The money is needed, and Paul is willing to work hard to
get it. But Paul also wants the Corinthians to discover something deeper. He
wants them to be the cheerful, happy, joyful givers that God loves.
Now it may sound hard to believe, but I
did not originally notice the connection between today’s reading from 2
Corinthians and this year’s stewardship theme, “Our Community of Joyful Givers.”
I’m not sure how I missed it, but I did. When I finally did notice, I went back
and read the passage over and over again, wondering just what makes for
cheerful, joyful givers rather than reluctant, begrudging ones.
At
a recent meeting of a clergy group, we chatted about issues related to
stewardship. Jeff Krehbiel, the pastor at Church of the Pilgrims in DC, shared
some insights he had gleaned from a conference he’d attended on cultivating
community. The conference featured Peter Block, author of the book Community: The Structure of Belonging, who says
that one difficulty in creating community is that we need people to come
together as “citizens, but instead they show up as “consumers.”
This
distinction is critical. Consumers, including religious ones, come with little
in the way of responsibility. They simply want to have their needs met, be
entertained, receive desired goods and services, etc. The consumer question is,
“Did I get my money’s worth.”
But citizens
come with a very different perspective. The citizen isn’t focused on receiving
value but on creating something and contributing to something. Citizens are concerned
with a common welfare. The citizen question is, “How
much am I invested in this community of which I am a part?”[1]
Consumers rarely create community. Think of those places outside
worship where you show up at a particular time, take a seat, and watch what
people do at the front. Think, for example, of going to the movies. How often
do you converse with those seated around you or gather in a cluster to do
something about an area problem? We go to the movies as consumers, and we gauge
movies almost entirely on that “money’s worth” scale. Was the it worth the price
of admission, or did I waste my money?
Religious experience in America is heavily influenced by our
consumer culture, but Christian faith cannot thrive or perhaps even survive in
a consumer atmosphere. That is because we are called, not simply to receive
something, but to become part of something new that is coming. The reason Paul
so quickly turns from arm twisting to the language of cheerful givers, a
harvest of righteousness, confession of the gospel, and glorifying God is that
Paul is speaking the language of community, of citizens and not consumers.
In another of his letters Paul writes, “Our
citizenship is in heaven.” (Phil. 3:20) Unfortunately, this is often misunderstood
to mean our true home is heaven rather than earth. But Paul does not think in
terms of people going to heaven. For Paul, heaven is God’s domain and the place
from which God’s kingdom, God’s new day, will arrive on earth. This is what
Jesus proclaims and why he tells us to pray for God’s kingdom to come and God’s
will to be done on earth. And
as we await that new day we are already citizens of it. Our allegiance is to it
and its ways. As its citizens, we are called to create communities that embody those
ways, that become the living body of Christ and demonstrate God’s true
community to the world. As citizens we become, as it says in our denomination’s
foundational documents, “the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.”[2]
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“Our Community of Joyful Givers.” I love the sound of that. I
think that Paul would love it, too. Our community, a place filled with
citizens, citizens of this congregation and citizens of God’s new day that
becomes more and more visible as we enact into the world. What great joy to be
a part of and to do our part for this community.
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