Sermons

"Prosperity Conscious"

Delivered from the Pulpit of First Congregational Church

of Anchorage by The Reverend Mark E. Long

on November 22, 2009

Lections:  I Kgs. 3.5-15

                 II Cor. 9.6-15

                 Mt. 19.16-22

Last week congregants were asked to write prayers of thanksgiving or petitions seeking God's blessings and put them in the collection plates.  These collected responses are referred to in this sermon.

Let's talk straight this morning; we want all the prosperity that we can cram into our lives; we seem to have little idea how to go about it.  We are like the "young man" that goes to Jesus and tells him how holy he is except he has this one "blind spot" that ruins everything - he confuses what is really valuable.  In America we might say, it has always been that way thanks to our Puritan ancestors who followed the way of the "young man."[1]   

Still today our "breakneck pace" culture tells us, and we "buy in," that burning the candle at both ends is not only noble but also prosperous - work harder, have more.  But the truth is any gain is offset by the "burning away" of the bond with family and friends.  This is the cost of all the hard work.

But we know what is really valuable in life, don't we?  Well, some of you do.  One of you is very specific in "thanking God" for Angela and Dan, and one is very specific in "praying for courage" for someone by name that I am asked to keep private.  It is no one around here, incidentally.  Four others are thanksgivings and petitions for unspecified friends and family; one says "thank you God" and three others ask that family and/or friends "be blessed."  Four of you expressed prayers for an enlarged sense of family - President Obama and his family, hope for the outcast forgotten by family and friends, kids to have fun, and married couples.

The number of "shout-outs" to family and friends goes up dramatically if we count prayers for the Church family.  There are petitions for "the Church" to become a "community of souls," achieve "peace," "heal," develop "leadership and communication," "common sense, clear thinking, and kindness for all," "vision," "renewal, strength," wisdom," and "spiritual guidance."

Interestingly, petitions for "blessings" constitute part or all of 20 of the 21 responses.  There are some generic thanksgivings or hopes for mankind mixed in but 20 out of 21 of you somehow put "family, friends, or Church" into the mix.

I conclude this seems to have something to do with your sense of prosperity.  I qualify this conclusion because only 21 of you picked up a pen and wrote something.  There is no way to know what the majority of you were thinking, maybe it is the same; maybe it is different.

But I will say - those of you that did respond - I believe have it right.  Prosperity is about people.  Prosperity begins with people and the way that you regard them.  It has nothing to do with possessions as Jesus well knew or even the experiences that they afford.

Others will differ.  They are very popular.  They are on television; they write books; they are the gurus and peddlers of "prosperity."  They were around in colonial America, in Jesus' day, and even the voice in the back of the head of God or really the writer of our Old Testament lesson this morning.  They say "look out for yourself," "prosperity lies in your desire to create it or claim it for yourself," "ask God for whatever you need, God wants to give it to you."  They may be popular (why wouldn't they be) and so rich and famous but they have it wrong.  Wrong enough to ruin your life and your Church.  It is not what you claim but what you want to do for others with what you claim that makes the difference.

It is the generous spirit toward others that will bring the prosperity we seek.  It is all that will bring it.  We will reap what we sow.

I came across a story of the Nupe tribe of Africa about the generous spirit this week.  A hunter is in the jungle hunting antelope.  He finds and kills one but as he begins to drag it off, a mongoose appears.  The mongoose tells the hunter, "I have not eaten in days; I am so hungry, will you share the meat with me?  If you do, I promise to return the favor some day."  The hunter shares some of the meat with the mongoose.  They go their separate ways.

A week or so later the hunter is in the woods again and in the middle of the jungle comes across a crocodile.  The crocodile says to the hunter, "I live in the river but I have wandered off and can't find my way back.  Would you please lead me back there?  If you will, I will give you five loads of fish."  The hunter agrees, hooks the crocs leg with a thong rope and leads the croc back to the river.

Once there, the hunter removes the loop from around the croc's leg.  The croc thanks the hunter, goes into the river and returns with a load of fish in its jaws which it lays at the hunter's feet up the river bank.  The croc enters the river again and brings a load of fish in its jaws half-way up the river bank.  The hunter gathers the fish and carries them up the river bank and drops them with the first load.  The croc by this time gathers a third load of fish which it drops at the water's edge.  The hunter gathers them and carries them up the river bank as before.  The fourth load the croc drops in the shallow water just offshore.  The hunter gathers the fish and carries them up the river bank.  The final load of fish the croc drops just at the edge of the deep water, the hunter wades in to gather them but the croc grabs his leg and drags him off to a sandbar.  The croc is joined there by others who are waiting for their next meal to be served.

But before they can begin, the hunter sees the mongoose he shared the antelope meat with float downriver toward them.  The hunter yelled, "hey mongoose, help me.  I did the croc a favor, but it has tricked me and now wants me for dinner.  This isn't fair."  The mongoose said, "I can't say whether it is or not.  I will decide the matter if you both will agree to my decision.  They both agree.  "Let's go back to shore and show me what happened."

So the hunter, croc, and mongoose go back to the shore.  The hunter shows the mongoose how the croc got him closer and closer to the water until the croc snagged the hunter's leg.  "Was this fair?" asks the hunter.  The mongoose said, "I can't say whether it is or not.  What happened before this, can you show me?"  So the hunter puts the thong rope around the croc's foot.  The hunter said, "I led the croc from the middle of the jungle to the river, ask requested."  "Show me how you did it," said the mongoose.  The hunter leads the croc and mongoose into the jungle until he comes to the spot where he first met the croc.

"It was here that the croc asked me to help lead it back to the river."  The mongoose turned to the croc, "Is this the spot?"  "Yeah," said the croc, "this is where he started dragging me to the river."  "So you were not satisfied," said the mongoose.  "No," said the croc, "I was not satisfied.  The thong hurt as he was dragging me through the jungle."  "Good," said the mongoose, "you were not satisfied because the thong hurt your leg and so you punished the hunter for his bad treatment of you by grabbing his leg and dragging him to the sandbar; is that right?"  "Yeah," said the croc.  "Fine, then my decision is that the hunter should remove the thong from your leg and leave you as he found you.  That's my decision."  The hunter and mongoose walked away into the jungle.  Again unable to find its way back to the river, the croc went hungry and thirsty.

Moral:  There comes a time when every one is treated as he has treated others.  We reap from whichever seeds that we sow.

Let's unpack this story a little.  The generous act of sharing by the hunter is the catalyst for generosity returned to him.  Good things happen for generous spirits; the mongoose doesn't starve which keeps the mongoose around to save the hunter from being dinner.  But not always, sometimes generosity goes one way but not the other.  Community falls apart as if no one is generous in the first place.  According to the story, the burden of the damage falls on the one who is not generous.  It is she alone who hungers and thirsts after what she will not receive.

But the story doesn't tell the whole story.  The lack of generosity in a community is more far-reaching.  It brings heavy damage to the whole community.  Everyone is affected; no one is spared.  In the process, families split, disintegrate, and cease to exist at least in a meaningful way.  This is what lies in the future of a community that does not understand that prosperity begins with generosity.

Solomon, King David's son and then king himself, understands this in the back story of how he becomes so wise.  When David died, Solomon becomes king around 20 years old and marries for love or peace Pharoah's daughter.  Life is generally good.

Solomon goes to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to the Lord to give thanks for what he has received and encourage continued blessings to fall his way.  The Lord appears to Solomon there in a dream and asks, "What would you like me to give you?  What would you like Solomon - a longer life, more money, more land?  What can I get for you?  Your wish is my pleasure to fulfill."

This is heady stuff for a 20 year old.  But Solomon seemingly wise already in a spirit of humility asks only for an "understanding mind to govern God's people?"  That's it.  One wish - make it a good one, dream big Solomon, and he asks for the wisdom to benefit his community with an understanding to know what is right.  His is a generous spirit.

The Lord not only gives Solomon a wise and discerning mind to surpass any other king but also everything for which he doesn't ask - "riches and honor all his life."

Moral:  A generous spirit is the path to not only receive generosity in return but also the Lord's blessings.  Life for the generous of spirit is not limited to what generosity may flow back to him from others but also for the blessings that will flow into his life more directly from God.

Solomon, the wisest of his time, knew this.  Do you?  Do you really understand that you will reap from whichever seeds that you sow and that the blessed life, whether for yourself or the Church, depends on your generous spirit?  Do you really understand?  I hope so, I really do hope so.

This is how I see generosity just ahead of the day we give thanks for the blessings that flow from it.  Amen.