Who You Gonna Trust?

The theme of this series is: GATHER, GIVE, GROW — they are all linked together.

And the text this morning is from I Kings 17:8–14.

You can turn there in your Bibles or I’ll have it up on the screen. It’s a little glimpse into the relationship of generosity and faith. You’ve heard it read already. It records a moment when two lives crossed paths — a dirt-poor foreign (mother) and a dirt-poor prophet of God, named Elijah.

It’s the story of a single mom. Living in desperate conditions.

It opens as God tells Elijah that a time of drought is at hand, a consequence of the nation’s self-centered behavior under King Ahab. Elijah survives by drinking water from a brook and eating bread and meat delivered by ravens. But after awhile the brook dries up. At that point, God sends Elijah to the village of Zarephath and tells him that a widow there will feed him. He finds her as she’s gathering firewood. That’s where the story opens.

I have to confess, I have always found this text pretty challenging.

1) The feminist in me has always smarted a little bit: It’s categorized as part of the “Elijah cycle”. Which is a number of stories highlighting the amazing deeds God did through this man. And while Elijah is awesome — Elijah is only second to John the Baptist in the hierarchy of prophets you know — he is only kept alive by this widow. Seems like this should be called: WIDOWS do it again!

2) the activist in me has always been angry. When the story opens, all these people are starving because the king isn’t doing his job. Conditions are desperate and the king lives in luxury. And rather than a single example of charity, I want to read about full-out revolution. Bring down the king! (which is what happens to Ahab a few chapters later).

3) the skeptic in me is in high gear when I start to approach the stories of 1 and 2 Kings — They seem a little like magical realism — where some things are heightened to teach a larger truth. (Like Love in the time of Cholera)

But when I put those voices to rest and let the Word just be the Word., then I am struck by the sophistication this ancient story has between generosity and deep blessing. Because the text is saying directly and without apology: Generosity changes your life.

The woman is nameless (like most women in scripture). In other words insignificant. Known as a group — the immigrant. The refugee. The poor. The homeless.
Defined by her position — widow — indicative of her place and relative value in society. Single mom. She has already watched death take her husband. And now she is watching death scratch away at her son, her only son –and herself.

She is gathering sticks so she can fix her last supper when Vs. 10 — Elijah approaches her saying, “God told me you were to give me some water…” and while she’s going to get it, follow that up with “And get me a little food too! God told me to ask you for that also!”

When she says, “Maybe your God doesn’t know this….but I don’t have anything. I’m preparing the last grains — after we try and eat this bit, my son and I are just going to lay down and die.”

Elijah tries to comfort her, “Do not be afraid (most repeated phrase in the entire Bible!), Do not be afraid, go ahead and give…in fact, feed me first.”

Don’t be afraid. Give. Give it away first.

What would you do?

Recent studies show that nearly half of all Americans (44.8%) give nothing away. Not only dollar, by their own admission. Another 41.3% give away some amount of money but less than 2 % of their income.

What do you think makes a person generous?

(Money?) It’s so tempting to think that generosity is a byproduct of having more than you need, isn’t it? So Why is somebody generous? Because they can afford to be.

Honestly, how many times have you thought to yourself, “I would give…if only I had money to give.”

This is a map from Chronicle of Philanthropy showing generosity across America. The darker the state the greater the giving by capita. Notice anything? Yep — dark blocks of states in the bible Belt…look at that.

Want to know the poorest states in the county?

There are a lot of studies and there is a difference between what people say they give and what they actually give. But again, from the Chronicle, Of the top 5 generous states in the county — Utah — then Mississippi (7.2 percent), Alabama (7.1 percent), Tennessee (6.6 percent), and South Carolina (6.4 percent).

The only correlation between wealth and generosity is the exact opposite of what you think — the more you have, the less you give proportionally.

I got my hair cut on Friday and so I asked Jeff — my hairdresser, and he immediately respond: “Empathy” You’ve first gotta see the need, feel a relationship.

The widow isn’t generous because she has a surplus; she may have some degree of empathy — but the story seems to turn on something different. Her decision to give seems to pivot on whether she trusts what this man Elijah — the prophet of a foreign god — because Yahweh isn’t the God of the Phoenicians — Ultimately she trusts Elijah’s promise — that she will be provided for: Don’t be afraid, trust me. Trust my God. You’ll be taken care of. You will be resupplied with all you need.

You know every single time we are moved to the possibility of generosity; we stand in that woman’s shoes. We have a friend that’s in need. We have a church that’s in need. We have the poor among us; and refugees in our midst and sure!, we’re moved to give.

But what if we give our gift and I’m just hung out there to dry? What if there isn’t any re-supply from heaven. What if, I nobody in heaven sees anything? And now I’m just a little poorer than I was before? (Bill Hybels stewardship — 2008)

And what does it actually mean to say, she’ll be taken care of. Contrary to the way this text has been twisted by prosperity preachers, this isn’t a quid-pro- quo, give a little, get a lot! If God was a get rich scheme then the Baptists in Mississippi would be living in Lake Forrest.

You know what is beyond dispute? There are reams of data on this: The more generous we are, the happier we are.

Not only that, not only are more generous people happier, they also report being healthier, having a greater sense of purpose, are less likely to be depressed and have a greater interest in personal growth.

On virtually every scale of well-being, every scale of what we ultimately want in life — generous people score higher. By a lot. I’m going to show you some different stuff each week, but look at this. It comes from a new study out of Notre Dame, written in The Paradox of Giving,

Nearly 4:10 Americans who say they give away 10% say they are “very happy.” And only 10 % of them are “somewhat” or “very unhappy.”

Now you may think 10% that’s a pretty high standard! I don’t know about high, but it’s a standard only between 3–8% of Americans say they meet. (all of this is self-described behavior).

Money doesn’t buy happiness, but giving it away does!

But still — that’s hard to believe. To trust.

I once heard Bill Hybels from Willow Creek church preach on trust and generosity. And maybe it’s because of where I was in my life right then — it was a conversation my husband and I were having around that time– or maybe it’s just a really good example, but I’ve never forgotten it. (He must use it a lot because I easily found it online!) So I’ll share it with you.

He noted two people at the same stage in their careers, both Christians, both attending church, both listening to teaching on generosity, stewardship, etc. He called one Fred, and the other Ted.

Fred lays out his goals and plans — “I want to get from A (where I am now) to B — getting to B means I need to pay my mortgage, pay off the cars, get some retirement savings going, fund my kids college, etc.
 This is hard math God, I hear what you say about tithing, giving and all that, but this is going to take all of my income. 100% of it. It’s just obvious. Those are the numbers.

Ted — same age, same demographic, similar dreams. I want to get from A to B too. I want to pay my mortgage, save for my kid’s college, retirement, etc. I know the math. I’ve done all the numbers too. It is hard math!

But Ted decides I’m going to step out in faith. I know these stories about Abraham, and widows, about Zacchaeus, and Jesus and I’m going to trust that I can get from A to B on 90% of my income. I’m going to give. And God says, if you do this, I’ll take you to a place called “C”, where you will experience something different — sometimes remarkable, sometimes quietly blessed, sometimes you’ll know you’re part of a movement that’s deeper and wider than you could have ever imagined.

Both of them are Christians. Both of them are trusting in something. Fred trusts in what he can figure out; he trust in the market; Ted uses the numbers + the market too, but he trusts in God. And both of them think the other one is an idiot. Fred thinks Ted is an idiot for thinking he’s going to get what he wants on 90%, run the numbers! This is never going to work. This C thing? Forget about it.

Ted thinks “I feel sorry for you Fred. This life is better than I had ever imagined. You’re not going to experience this.”

Ted is experiencing this “C” thing — a life of generosity is taking him right to what the hard-nose researchers are finding: Generous people across the board are happier, healthier, with purpose and growth and intentionality.

The question is, which idiot do you want to be? There’s only two camps. You’re either going to trust God or you’re going to trust something else.

And you know what? I don’t need to know the answer. That’s between you and God. Nobody else. This stewardship packet you got in the mail? This letter and graph and stuff? That’s just for you to take up with God. Not with me, or the elder board.

All we are asking is that sometime in the next three weeks is that you have that conversation. You take all this stuff to the Lord — get your Bible out, maybe your journal out, maybe your giving statement. And honestly ask yourself, Am I a Fred or a Ted? Why did I make the decisions I’ve made in the past? Is it time for me to decide differently? Am I being called to step out in faith? Make some changes?