Over the next few weeks, in the lead up to harvest, we are are going to be celebrating different aspects of God\u2019s creation, and exploring what our responses to God\u2019s gift in creation could be. <\/p>\n
This morning I am going to be talking about God\u2019s generosity and abundance, and about how God provides for what we need. Now, you may have come along this morning and be really struggling with money, with housing, with where you\u2019re going to get food for meals this week. Some of what I\u2019m going to say might feel like it\u2019s completely disconnected from the reality of your life. If that\u2019s you this morning, then feel free to zone out from what I\u2019m saying, and bring your needs to God in prayer. One of the things I\u2019m going to be talking about is how those of us who have experienced God\u2019s material blessings can respond in gratitude by sharing what we have. So, if you need something, then please don\u2019t be embarrassed. Come and talk to me afterwards, or drop me a message in the week, and we\u2019ll see what we can do as a church family to support you, and become part of you experiencing God\u2019s abundant provision. <\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at our Deuteronomy reading. To give us a bit of background, we\u2019re going to look back at the first verses of Deuteronomy. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan \u2026. in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh moth, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, we know that the speaker is Moses, the one that God had sent to lead the people of God out of slavery in Egypt, but what does it mean by the \u201cfortieth year\u201d? Why is that significant? Well, when the people had escaped from Egypt, they\u2019d headed across the desert to Canaan, the land promised to Abraham, their ancestor. However, when they\u2019d arrived and scouted out the land, they had become afraid, hadn\u2019t trusted God, and had decided not to go in to the promised land. So, God had said that they would need to spend forty years, travelling around the wilderness, before they went in. Here we are, forty years later, on the east bank of the Jordan, with the people ready to receive the promise of God, but before they do, Moses is going to remind them of their history, and of the commandments of God. You see, he\u2019s not going with them. He is coming to the end of his life, and this is his farewell teaching and prophecy. It\u2019s poignant and powerful stuff.<\/p>\n
We see many of the threads that run through the whole of Deuteronomy in what we read this morning. There is encouragement in the focus on the blessings of God. There are reminders of what they\u2019ve been taught in the law, of their history, and of the ways in which God has provided in the past. There are warnings of what happens if they are unfaithful to God. <\/p>\n
He starts with the blessings. This really does sound like a lovely place to live, doesn\u2019t it. It is a good land. There is fresh and abundant water. The fields are fertile and there is a range of crops that will grow well there. Plants flourish, and there is no need for anybody to be in want or hungry, it is a place of abundance. The rocks of the hills are ore bearing, and can be mined for iron and copper to make tools and implements. This is a really good place to live. God\u2019s provision is wide ranging, generous, and abundant. <\/p>\n
The main purpose of this teaching is to inspire thankfulness. As it says in verse 10:<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201dWhen you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Or, as the hymn has it, \u201call good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, then thank the Lord, o thank the Lord, for all his love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, this isn\u2019t to say that it all drops on our plates. The fact that in verse 9 the land is described as a place where \u201cbread will not be scarce\u201d implies that there is work to be done by the people \u2013 farming, milling, baking. The reference to ore suggests that mining, smelting, and forging will be taking place. All require work, and all are part of God\u2019s good plan for provision for human flourishing from creation. <\/p>\n
The trouble is, when we have contributed work to something, we have a tendency to forget that our part is only a contribution. Which is why Moses warns the people against pride in verse 17,<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may say to yourself, \u2018My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
It is true that we may have worked hard to have what we have, but what Moses reminds us is that the ability, circumstances, health, strength, to work are all gift. What ever we have, it is founded on God\u2019s gracious gifts to us. The only appropriate response is one of thankfulness, of gratitude.<\/p>\n
Moses warns specifically about pride, but there can be another temptation that comes when we forget that it is all gift, and that is envy. When we see others who have more than we do \u2013 a nicer car, a bigger house, more money, longer holidays, then we can start envying them. We lose sight of the good things we have been given, because we resent others having more. We lose that sense of gratitude and thankfulness to God.<\/p>\n
One unhealthy human tendency is to look down on those with less than us and believe that they are lazy, and to look down on those who have more than us and believe that they are lucky.<\/p>\n
Pride and envy are both attitudes of heart that we need to guard against, and repent of, when we catch ourselves in them. And one of the most effective attitudes that guards against both pride and envy is thankfulness. Of remembering that it is all gift, and choosing to praise and thank the Great Giver. <\/p>\n
Another guard against pride and envy is trust, trust in God. Trust that in the end we will have what we need. This is what Jesus is going on about in our reading from Matthew\u2019s eyewitness account of Jesus\u2019 teaching. Jesus is encouraging his friends and followers not to be afraid, but to trust. When life is hard, and we\u2019re not sure that we are going to have what we need, this can be difficult to believe, but it is what Jesus calls us to.<\/p>\n
As we embrace thankfulness and reject anxiety, so we are freed to celebrate and share what we have with justice, exercising the stewardship of the earth that has been entrusted by God to humanity.<\/p>\n
We celebrate God\u2019s goodness and generosity to us by looking after the land entrusted to us, and by sharing the goodness we have been given. Let\u2019s think for a moment about some of the areas of creation that we have been thinking about in Deuteronomy \u2013 farming and mining. We may not have direct involvement in these, but we have choices to make about what we buy, what we invest in. These choices can make a difference in encouraging fair trade, sustainable agriculture practices, ethical mining, just employment practices in the farming and mining industries. Now, we may not think that our buying decisions make much difference, but I believe that markets can be, and have been, shaped by consumers. That is why, as a church, we use fairtrade coffee, tea, and sugar in our refreshments. It\u2019s why we bear these things in mind in our other buying decisions. There is still work to be done, but we don\u2019t let what we can\u2019t do stop us doing what we can do. <\/p>\n
We celebrate God\u2019s goodness and generosity to us by sharing what we have been blessed with in our giving. Whether that is to charitable causes that are close to our heart, donating to foodbanks, giving our time in voluntary work, or giving financially to the work of the church, it all flows from a response of gratitude that recognises God\u2019s generosity to us. I love the many different expressions of this that I see around All Saints, it is part of the culture here to want to share, and I want to celebrate that and encourage even more of it.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re coming up to the time when we set our budget for the new year as a church. We will need to make decisions about what we pay our staff. I hope that we can continue to pay them the national living wage, at least, but this will mean that our giving will have to go up by the same percentage as the living wage goes up. So, please do review your giving, and if you have joined the church, but are not yet part of the planned giving scheme, then please talk to me, or Liz Lawson, our Treasurer so that we can give you the paperwork. <\/p>\n
We have a God who is generous, giving out with a measure pressed down and running over. God has created this beautiful and abundant earth, with more than enough for everyone. God has given us responsibility to steward it well, and to ensure that its abundance is shared. Let us not be ruled by anxiety, but let us celebrate the blessing we have received with thankfulness and praise, and by living up to our call to care for creation and for each other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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