Berthold von Schenk's Kingdom Plan - A Sermon Series on "Giving"
Sermon 5: "The Offering"

Think of God’s mercy, my brothers, and worship him, I beg you, in a way that is worthy of thinking beings, by offering your living bodies as a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to God.

The past sermons have been an adventure in giving.

There are not a few members in our parishes who find this subject distasteful. One hears such statements: ‘The Church is always preaching about money. That’s all they want, it seems.”

When we meet on Sunday mornings in the Name of Jesus we must presume that we are Christians, baptized into Christ. The very heart of our holy religion is giving. The theme of Holy Scripture is, “God so loved the world that he gave…” A Christian loves to hear about giving.

Those who understand what giving really means will not be offended and find the subject distasteful. God was and is not cheap when it comes to giving. If you want to know what giving is look to the cross. There was nothing cheap about Calvary. The Bible tells us that God loves a cheerful giver. There is no subject in the Bible which is more interesting and fascinating as the study of giving.

The sad thing is that even church members often find themselves uncomfortable when the subject is giving, and that which is even worse, so many preachers find the subject of giving distasteful. They are afraid to tell their hearers how interesting giving can be and how thrilling.

We have considered various phases of giving in the past weeks, such as the paying of church dues; to have the proper attitude toward giving; the Tithe as a way of life, etc. These subjects were on the low level of giving, but not unimportant. Today we want to ascend to the high level of giving.

It is a burden of every pastor to direct his congregation to the early church of which St. Luke tells us in the Acts of the Apostles. Phillips calls his translation of Acts, “The young Church in Action.’ The great problem of the Church is to regain the image of the primitive church. This must be our image. St. Luke tells us many things which happened in this primitive Church at Jerusalem and their missionary endeavors. He also describes the worship, the Liturgy of the church at Jerusalem. (Acts 2:42) He answers the important question, “When is the Church the Church?” According to St. Luke and St. Paul, it is the coming together, the meeting of the believers. It is the Eucharistic Community. According to the New Testament not every meeting which the early Christians had was the Church, the Body of Christ. The Church was the Church, the Body of Christ, when the apostles told the congregations of the great mystery, God’s plan for salvation. The people listened to the apostolic instruction; when they were in fellowship; when they broke bread (had Holy Communion, prayed for each other and gave God all honor and praise. This meeting was the Church. St. Paul insists that we must “Discern the Body of the Lord.” We must be the Church when we meet together. That is why the Fathers defined the Church as the “Eucharistic Community under the direction of the bishop (or pastor) in order to manifest the total Christ.”

St. Luke tells us that the Jerusalem Church “discerned the Body, the Church,” for they carried out the full liturgy constantly. They did not make their own rules about the type of liturgy they should have, nor how often the Eucharist was to be celebrated. There was preaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers. There is one word which I think needs explanation; it is the word “fellowship” in St. Luke’s description of the Liturgy in the Jerusalem Church. We have cheapened this word to mean any coming together. Fellowship (koinonia) is a word which has three shades of meaning in the New Testament.

There is the first obvious meaning of intimate fellowship. St. Paul speaks of the breaking of bread, “Is it not a communion” of the body  of Christ. In the Jewish thought body was a word meaning the whole person, not only the physical part of a man. Therefore, when the early Christians met it was a renewal of close relationship with Jesus. Before they had been converted they sacrificed food to their heathen gods and participated along with them. This idea was not lost in the Lord’s Supper. So when they celebrated the Eucharist there was an exchange of fellowship with the Christ and his guests. This uniting bond is renewed when we gather about the altar. St. John tells us ecstatically, “Truly our fellowship is with God and His Son, Jesus Christ!”

The second reference to the fellowship (communion) concerns sharing – the share one has in a thing. It has a passive meaning. This too is a communion. St. Paul states: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing in the benefits wrought by Christ?” This is a synonym for Christ’s death. Thus we get in our minds thoughts of the benefits of the cross and we share in these benefits. At the Eucharist we are in fellowship at once with the Lord and with one another. We all share at the Communion with Christ. The union is so complete that we call this hour of worship the Body of Christ.

There is a third meaning to fellowship. It presents the active side. The word may mean a gift jointly contributed – a collection. St. Paul says, “the bread of blessing which we break is it not a communion of the Body of Christ?” Here the offering is meant and it is in this sense in which St. Luke refers to when he describes the liturgy of the Jerusalem Church – “they continued steadfastly (constantly) in the fellowship, the offering, the collective offering and giving. There is something happening when we worship. The early church took the offering very seriously. We recall what happened to Ananias and Saphira when they brought their offering. The offering is the high point of our worship.

No doubt many students of the New Testament have been somewhat confused when they study the Gospel according to St. John. It has disturbed many in reading this Gospel that the first sign Jesus gave of his great salvation office was the sign at the wedding of Cana. We can read the Gospel according to St. John and be thrilled if we recognize that this Gospel was quite likely a liturgy in the ancient Church. Then we are not disturbed when we read that Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding feast to show his glory. Let us follow the story in this light and thus understand its deep meaning. There is a problem, for they have run out of wine at the wedding feast. The Blessed Mother tells Jesus about this problem. His answer seems somewhat harsh. Jesus said, this is none of my business. My hour has not yet come. Mary does not take this for a no. She tells the servants, “What he tells you do.” Jesus gives a peculiar command – “Fill the water pots.” There was really no need for this for the washing of the feet of guests had already taken place. Nor was it a simple job to fill the water posts. Like in all those towns and villages there was a town well. It meant, therefore, to bring the water from quite a distance. But the servants do what they are told. They do not only fill the water pots; they fill them to overflowing. The steward is asked to taste the contents I the water pots. To his amazement he realizes that the water pots are filled with wine, a far superior wine than that which had first been used.

This “Sign at Cana” is one of deep significance. It brings to us the sentience of the liturgy. We come because of our great need to our house of worship on Sundays. We are told what we should do. “Fill the water pots.” We do this at the offering, although this applies to the whole liturgy as well. (We call this “commitment.”) Jesus has told us, “Do this!” We do it. Water was the symbol of man’s common life. So also was wine and bread. In other words, at the offering in the Liturgy we offer our common life to our Lord. It is not much compared to the riches in this life. Now Jesus accepts our offering if it has been brought in the right spirit. Our offering of bread and wine and our money are symbols of our common life. We are on the altar, Jesus accepts our offering and it becomes the bread of life and the glorious wine. We are also changed, for through our offering we are in fellowship with Jesus our Lord. We are changed into the glorious wine of His Kingdom.

The offering is a great function of our priesthood. The priest must always have an altar; he must offer a sacrifice. In the liturgy we do not bring just money, bread and wine, for the offering is a symbol of ourselves. We offer ourselves to our Lord.

There are many reasons why we should meet together on the Lord’s Day. There are great benefits we receive, for Jesus Christ is totally present in this meeting, the Church. Through the Holy Spirit we receive forgiveness, life, salvation, strength and comfort. The high point of our worship is the Offering. Of course, there can be nothing cheap about our offering. It must be the offering of self; it must be our best. There are no bargain counters in the offering at the liturgy, in the church. “You are on the altar; you are in the communion vessels.” (St. Augustine) You are identifying yourself with the great sacrifice on Calvary. That is what St. Paul means that we show forth his death until he comes again. We also show forth his life.

At the Offering we don’t make deals with our Lord. The Offering is not the paying of church dues, nor that ten percent which you have paid from your income. It is the offering of self. It must be the best we have; it must be ourselves – “Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to Thee.”

The money is only a symbol, but as such it must be the symbol of our best. The real celebrant at the Liturgy is Jesus Christ Himself. Something wonderful happens in that worship hour. Our high priest accepts our offering in the spirit we bring it. This offering may not be the best but it must be our best. In that offering, Jesus, the priest and the celebrant, takes our offering, our best and He offers us to the Father. We dare not be absent from our liturgy, especially because of the offering. Absence from the liturgy is as the writer to Hebrews has put it, “neglecting so great a salvation.” The offering of self, our full commitment, is the high point. It identifies us with the great sacrifice on Calvary. Absence from the offering is not only neglecting a great salvation but it is a denial of our Baptism at which we were baptized into Christ; it is a denial of our priesthood, for are we not the chosen people, the royal priesthood that we should show forth the priesthood of our Lord?

The Offering is a holy action of great intimacy. It is the most important reason for your presence and participation in the Eucharistic community in which the total Christ and His salvation is shown forth and manifested. In the real and in the strictest sense there really can’t be an offering outside of the Eucharistic community, the worship through Word and Sacrament, for in this holy action we show forth the redemptive works of our Lord until He comes again.

What a wonderful privilege it is to be identified with Christ’s work of redemption and when we bring our offering, our best, and be able to say –

Were the whole realm of nature min,

That were a tribute far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Always we must return to Jesus, our great exemplar on giving; also our great teacher. If one reads through the parables of our Lord one will recognize how much Jesus said about giving. To the rich young ruler he says, “Sell all you have and give it to the poor; then follow me.”

One recognizes the basics of giving also in the miracles. Of course, his whole life was one of giving, for “while we were yet sinners he dies for us.” Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given to you.” This is often misunderstood as if Jesus makes a good work contingent on being on the receiving end. Faith precedes all giving. First you have faith and if it is the right kind of faith it will give. How wonderfully Luther expresses this in his introduction to the Epistle to Romans. “Faith is an active thing. It asks not what is to be done but before it has been asked it has done it.”

Recall the time Jesus asked his disciples for one of their boats which he then used for a pulpit. He says “Give me the boat.” After he had taught them he orders them to launch out into the deep. The result was that they caught a great mess of fish; so many that the net could not hold all the fish.

This is the commentary on the words, “Give and it shall be given to you.”

The reason why we so often live poverty stricken lives and live in spiritual ghettos is because we fail to do what Jesus has asked us to do – to give!