"Re-gifting"
The benefits of giving
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Text: Philippians 2:25-29 and 4:10-20
At this time of year, our minds often turn to gifts: Those we are about to give to people we love, those we feel we ought to give, gifts we look forward to receiving and memorable gifts we have received. I often take an inventory of the gifts I have received, what they have meant to me, and whether they're memorable because of who gave them or how wonderful they are. Now and again, my mind turns to gifts that were not the best ones I have ever received.
Recently, I thought of a gift I received as a nine-year-old living in a little village called Needham Market in Suffolk, England. My parents and I had just moved there and it was our first Christmas - one of the coldest on record in Britain. A lady across the road knitted me a blue and white cap. There was only one problem: If you were a boy and you wore a coloured cap, it usually symbolized your favourite sports team. Since my team was red and white, I didn't know what I was going to do with the thing. I could never wear it in public no matter how cold it was and when I tried it on, I looked like a character in a Scooby-Doo comic! So I did what anyone would do under such circumstances. I kept it for a year, re-wrapped it and gave it to my friend Graham the next Christmas. He received the cap with a big smile on his face and, unbeknownst to me, gave it to his friend Clive the next year. The following Christmas, Clive re-wrapped it and gave it to Stephen (who was also a friend of mine) who gave it back to me the next year!
According to the situation comedy, Seinfeld, there are three rules about re-gifting. One: Always re-wrap it. Well, everyone did that in this case. Two: Never use it. Unfortunately, the bubblegum stain when I got the cap back suggested otherwise. Three: Never give it back to the person who gave it in the first place! That is the great sin of re-gifting!
There is no problem with re-gifting - I am sure we have all done it from time to time with things we can't or don't want to eat, or items we think would be ideal for someone else. There is nothing wrong with re-gifting, as long as you follow the Seinfeld rules. If you don't, things can get very awkward.
This year I have thought about re-gifting. In many ways, what we do as Christians at this time of year is re-gift. We receive the gift of Christ, and then give it again, and again and again. What astounds and sometimes bothers me is society's disconnect between the act of giving and the Christmas message of God's gift of his son, Jesus Christ.
This was really brought home to me a few days ago in a grocery store line. Things were moving very slowly, so a group of people started talking and complaining. One man, who seemed to have an incredible amount to say, saw a donation box in front of the cashier.
So he said to everyone gathered loosely in this confederation of the discontent, “I just wonder why everyone wants us to give gifts at this time of the year.”
So, giving my theological answer, I said, “Jesus.”
He replied, “I agree with you. It's just getting on my nerves that we have to give so much!”
I was about to explain myself, but he was already paying the cashier. I wanted to grab him and say, “No, John 3:16: ”˜God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.'”
I think we have lost sight of the relationship between our desire or need to give at Christmas and the reason for giving. This Christmas, I would like us to have an invigorated, passionate sense of why we are giving and why it will make a huge difference in our lives. I want to suggest four things that giving will do for you this Christmas.
First, giving will increase your joy. I think it was Winston Churchill who said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” No one knew this better than the Apostle Paul. Today's passage describes what happened after Paul received a gift. Paul was instrumental in creating the Christian community in Philippi. While in prison, he received a gift from the Philippians. It was sent via a courier named Epaphroditus. In response, Paul said, “I rejoice greatly that you have remembered me.”
For the Apostle Paul, it was not so much the gift that made a difference in his life, but that this congregation he helped to establish was practising the Gospel. They cared for him in his time of need, showing the same love and compassion he had for them. Paul was overjoyed that they remembered him and responded to the glory of the Gospel.
I have been privileged to attend many Christmas pageants. Every Christmas, I have a bright smile on my face when I begin our pageant. It is so magnificent, with animals, families singing together and beautiful music from the choir. It is a spectacular event! But I have been to some less-than-spectacular pageants throughout my life.
I think the worst one I ever attended was in Athlone, which is just outside Cape Town in South Africa. At the time, under apartheid, the area was designated the “coloured area.” The people were very poor and the congregation did not have much money. There were no professional musicians, stage lighting and sound. Christmas was in the middle of summer. It was a perfunctory performance with Mary, Joseph and a couple of children until near the end, when the children got up to sing. They sang in Afrikaans and I didn't understand them very well, but I got the gist of the message. The song was titled, My God Smiles at Christmas, and the children's faces lit up as they sang. The whole room changed, as if there was a profound spiritual presence. The joy on their faces was infectious and overwhelming!
The song's words are true. When God gave his Son, according to John's Gospel, he did it out of love and with joy. God rejoices in seeing people respond to that joy. That is the passion we should have for giving. That love and joy should infuse every gift we give. Things have become so perfunctory and mundane, and we need to recapture the passion of the first Christmas gift. When we do so, it increases our joy.
Secondly, giving develops our understanding. Kenneth Behring, a well-known real estate developer and philanthropist in the United States, made millions of dollars and was very generous to charities. His life changed during a trip to Vietnam in 2000 when he gave a wheelchair to a six-year-old girl who suffered from polio and was disfigured. He said,
I gave this girl the wheelchair and she wheeled it up to me. I looked at the smile on her face and the joy she had, and it was overwhelming. When I looked into her eyes and saw her response to the gift she'd been given, I felt the power of God.
At that moment, Behring decided to create a wheelchair foundation. Since then, 100,000 wheelchairs have been given to people world-wide. But Behring said he needed not just to give, but to be engaged in the giving. To use a phrase that has been coined, he needed to become an “engaged philanthropist.”
In Philippians, when Paul received a gift, it was not a case of somebody passing him an envelope or handing out some money. Epaphroditus delivered the gift in person. In a fascinating phrase, Paul talked about re-gifting. He said, “I am going to send Epaphroditus back to you and I am also going to send Timothy, who is a Godly young man.”
In every exchange in the Book of Philippians, people are engaged - an interaction takes place. More than just the gift, there is the joy, wonder and power of seeing the response of those who receive it. I know we can't do that in every circumstance, and I am not suggesting we should not give unless we can actually see the wonder the gift inspires. But whenever possible, we should engage with people so we can understand their needs. The message of Christmas is that God engaged with the world. God did not just send a gift; he sent his Son. God did not just give us a series of rules, good ideas and ethics; God came in person to deliver the message. When he gave Jesus, as the children in Athlone said, God smiled!
Giving also promotes our contentment. Paul was in Rome, where everything was bad and he was in chains. Yet he said, “I rejoice in the gift you have given me.” Then, he said something amazing: “I have learned in every circumstance to be contented.” Some translations say, “I have learned the secret of being content.” Paul understood that contentment was something he had learned. It did not come from a change of attitude, a great cosmic mystery or some process of special knowledge or gnosis; he received it in another way.
Paul found the gift of contentment in the gift of Jesus Christ. When he found Christ's grace, contentment followed him. He said,
I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13)
I see the world around us desperately seeking the secret to contentment. I see people going to book stores and taking anything off the shelves that will give them a clue as to how to have a peaceful life. All around me I see people asking for pastoral care. At least 50 per cent of them come to us because they want to learn the secret to finding contentment in their lives. It has become an obsession in today's world.
Paul desired in his heart to give what he had found: The contentment of knowing he was secure in the love and grace of Jesus Christ and that he had found favour in God's eyes through the gift of Christ. He wanted more than anything for others to know that. Surely this is one of the great gifts the church gives at Christmas, and that you and I can give others: The gift of Christ, who is the source of peace, contentment and joy.
The last benefit of giving is the blessing it brings. Do not misunderstand me; I am not saying that what you give will automatically come back to you. I am not trying to tell you that you should be motivated to give by the abundant blessings you will get in return. That is a lie. What I will tell you is that you will receive a greater blessing - the blessing of having shared in the joy and giving of God.
Rev. Michael Eden, the rector at an Anglican church in Stowmarket, became well-known throughout Britain last year for his unique illustration of a parable. One Sunday, while preaching on the parables of gifts and giving, he gave the congregation 900 pounds. He stood at the end of the aisle and handed out 20- and 50-pound bills to members of the Parish of St. Mary's and St. Peter's. But here was the catch: They were to multiply the money and use it for God's glory. One woman bought some wool and knit things for people in need. (I hope it wasn't blue and white caps - that's all I can think!) She made 175 pounds. Someone else baked cookies and sold them on the street corner. Children ran lemonade stands. Another person got a good return on an investment. The 900 pounds became 5,000 pounds - five times what the minister gave away. It is an incredible story!
Rev. Eden's point was that we should use what God gives us for others. That is the great gift of Christmas. Let it be multiplied!
John Greenleaf Whittier put it so beautifully. I agree with these words, which are our inspiration this morning:
Somehow not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to make you glad.
My friends, that is called re-gifting! May you do it this Christmas and enjoy every moment of it. Amen.