Luke 6: 37-38

Judge not and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning!

Long, long ago, if we had been sailing the great seas at night in our tall-masted ship, the captain of the boat might have a guide to tell him where to sail. Looking up into the night sky, he'd see the North Star. He'd focus on it, and the star would give him an idea of how to steer the boat.

Dear friends, these weeks we've been taking a look at five guiding stars, five shining stars for the faithful Christian. Five stars we can keep our sights set on so that we can guide our lives and be effective Christians. We might have called this series “Five Habits of Highly Effective Christians," but somebody already took that title. But these are five guiding principles for each of us as Christians.

Let's review them quickly. Think of them as five stars, at each point of the cross, plus one in the middle. The first is worship. Come to church on Sunday morning. Remember the Lord's Day to keep it holy. I heard a wonderful story just this week. I was talking to a friend here in the church, and she was telling me about a relative whom we need to pray for. She doesn't live near here, but when she does come to visit, the friend said, she “would love to bring her to church to hear the message and to be around the kind of people that come to church." That's you! What a compliment! And what truth! We come to church because God wants us to. We're reminded to do it in the scripture. It's part of our fulfillment of our love for God. And we come because other people need us. Other people need you to be around. You never know who you're going to bless today. When we're talking together after the service, you never know who's going to come up to you and see the brightness in your eyes and say, “I feel better now." A preacher once told me, “Son [I loved hearing that], remember when you're preaching, where two or three are gathered together, one of them has a broken heart." I never forgot that. Who might have a broken heart that you're touching today? Who might go home just a little better because they've seen you? Worship is our first guiding star; it's our symbol of our love for God.

Number two: Grow. At the root of the cross, as from the roots of a tree, grow. We grow by reading, studying, and praying. That's how we grow and change and become better, fuller, richer, deeper Christians. All you musicians, you love your art of music because it's an infinite thing. You never reach the top; you just keep getting to greater levels of subtlety and artistry and therefore greater levels of joy. Faith is like that. We grow all the time, and we become deeper, firmer, richer Christians by it.

Third, serve. I'd like, for rhyming reasons, to call this one care, the star of care. Caring for people, serving, means helping people. Help people become disciples of Jesus Christ, and just help them out. That's the Christian way. That's the way that will transform the world. If someone never hears the Lord's name from your lips – I hope they do – but if they don't, if they find you a helping person, they're going to say, “I like that one. That person has something special about him." We care, by helping people and by praying for them.

So, worship, and grow, care, and share. The fourth star is the star of giving. I want to talk with you today specifically about our giving to our church. And here's what I want to do: I want to bless you, and I want to thank you on the Lord's behalf, for what you do for this church. Giving and sharing is part of being a Christian. What if we were never asked to share as a church?

I know of a church. It's going to remain nameless. It's up in north Jersey . It's not Methodist. They have a multi-million dollar endowment. No one ever has to give anything. They never talk about stewardship. It's a huge, big, Gothic, cathedral-like church with a multi-million dollar endowment. There's one problem: it's empty! There's hardly anyone who comes to the service. Nobody feels needed. Nobody feels as if their gifts are important. People are not allowed to participate.

Jesus said this: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Why do we give? Bottom line – we give because we love. We give because we love God. That's why I give. How about you? We give because it's a reflection of God's gift to us in Christmas and Jesus.

In a little while, we're going to be going out to buy gifts for people. We did such a wonderful job at the Bazaar, buying presents and gifts. Why do we do it? Because we love, and we want to show our love. And it's the same thing with God. We give because we love.

We give because we're grateful. I thank God for gifts too numerous to list, and I say, “God, take this portion of what I have and bless it and use it. I am so grateful." My parents were such grateful people. They blessed the church, and they taught me to bless the church. They blessed others.

I was having dinner with my mom. She has now gone to heaven. We were having a wonderful dinner together at one of our favorite restaurants, Big Stash's in Linden . We were laughing and talking, having a wonderful time. It was a Monday night, my day off. I was getting ready to pay the bill, about 40 dollars. I was getting ready to leave the tip. I always like to leave at least 20%. My mother says to me, “Anthony, leave the girl twenty dollars."

“Mom, are you kidding me?"

“No, Anthony, we had a great time, and she did well. She worked hard. Leave the girl twenty dollars."

“Mom, wait a minute. That's like 50%. That's a quintuple tithe."

She just smiled. I left 20 on the table. And I'm glad I did. Mom had a grateful heart, and she expressed it.

We give because we love. We give because we're grateful. And we give because we have faith. We have faith that God has so much more to give than he's already given away. And we have faith, because we believe that as we give to the place where we are spiritually fed, God will take that gift and use it in remarkable ways that we could never calculate.

You know what? When the ushers come forward with your gifts and I take them and I turn to the cross and raise up the offering plates, that gesture for me is filled with great meaning. I pray, “Lord, take these gifts and use them in a remarkable, miraculous way. Transform them so that they become your ministry in the world." That's what we do together. And that's why we give, because we have faith that God will do this.

We give because we love. We give because we're grateful. We give because we have faith. Finally, we give because we believe that our gift is important. It is. Not a one of us could single-handedly do all that needs to be done. Together, we can make a Ferris wheel. Together we can make it happen.

Last story. Don't forget that Jesus was talking to five thousand people, and they were hungry. He said, “How am I going to feed these folks?" And He wouldn't do it unless He had help. And a little child came up. The scripture doesn't make clear whether it was a boy or a girl. A little child came up and said, “There's a lot of people. Here's my lunch; a few rolls, a few dried fish. Here, Mr. Jesus. Can you use it?"

Jesus took the lunch and smiled at the child and said, “Thank you. Watch this." He took the bread and blessed it, and broke it and broke it and broke it and broke it, and all were fed, and there were leftovers! That's what Jesus can do. And that's where our faith is. Your gift, my gift is important. And maybe the child went home and said [Pastor Tony singing]:

“Mother, I didn't bring home the fish.
I didn't bring home the bread.
I didn't bring the food for us.
I gave it away instead.

Mother, I don't know what Jesus did.
The fish and the bread just grew.
If He can feed the hungry crowd
Then I know He'll feed us, too.

I know He'll feed us, too.

I bless you. I thank you for all you do for the church. God loves you. I do, too. Have a blessed week. Amen.