¹⁷As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, ¹⁹thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.   

1 Timothy 6:17-19

            Donald Miller wrote a book not too long ago entitled, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.  The book is about two movie producers who want to create a movie about his life.  They begin to take his meandering memoirs and modify them into a meaningful narrative. They concluded that his real life needed doctoring lest it be too directionless for the screen.  He realized then that he needed for his real life to be a better story.  He wrote, “If stories are just life without the meaningless scenes – I wondered if life could be lived more like a good story in the first place.”

We have focused on I Timothy 6 for the last month.  There are two words in this now familiar passage that seems to bring everything into sharp focus.  They are the words, “so that”.  All this instruction about our relationship with money was written “so that…”  I want to bring this series of sermons to a finale with those two words, “so that”.  We admitted early on that we are the rich and this portion of this letter applies to us. An annual household income of 50,000 places us in the top 1% of money makers in the world.  An income of $34,000 a year keeps us in the top 5%.  Remember, there is nothing inherently wrong with being rich.  It is just that to whom much is given much is required.  There are responsibilities that come with wealth.  Last week we identified those responsibilities as enjoy, employ, and invest.  We are to enjoy what God has given us, rather than obsess over acquiring more.  We are to employ our resources, rather than hoard them.  We are to invest our resources in lasting causes, rather than waste them.  So why do we enjoy, employ, and invest?  So that we may take hold of the life that really is life.  Another translation of this last phrase reads, “so that they may take hold of eternal life.”  At first, I saw a huge difference between the two until I realized that eternal life starts today.
 

We Yearn for Life That Really Is Life

Jesus said, as recorded in John 10:10, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  However, before John recorded those words he provided examples of that in every chapter leading up to that verse. In John 1 Jesus invited Nathanael into that life and the man of integrity became a man of excitement as he was confronted by the life giving Jesus.  In John 2 the people of the wedding feast discovered that Jesus’ wine was the best stuff they ever tasted and the people in the Temple were called to a much grander sense of worship.  He was promoting the life that really is life.  Nicodemus discovered in John 3 that he needed a whole new beginning, not just a modification of what he was living.  He needed to be transformed into life by being born anew.  The woman at the well in John 4 was introduced to the living water that quenched the thirsting of her soul.  In John 5 a man who had been sick for 38 years was invited into this life with one question, “Do you want to be made well?”  In the sixth chapter of John 5,000 people were fed spiritually and then fed physically with just five loaves of bread and two fish.  In John 7 those celebrating the Feast of Booths remembered their time in the desert for 40 years.  It was customary at this Feast to pour water upon the rock as a reminder of the Lord’s provisions during parched times.  At that very moment when the salivary glands were activated, Jesus cried out for the all who were thirsty to come to the waters of life that really is life. In John 8 he is the light to those who are caught in darkness and in John 9 he gives sight to those who can’t see.  Then after identifying himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10, he said it, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

We yearn for life that really is life.  Several months ago my son, Zachary, came home from college all bruised up and bearing a number of scabs.  He said he had been riding his longboard down a steep hill on campus at Texas State University when he got a little off balance.  His board went to the left and he went to the right sliding down the pavement and nearing a stop just before reaching the curb.  A female student had been walking along the sidewalk and watched in horror as this whole thing happened.  She was even more surprised when Zac jumped straight up in the air, with a smile beaming from his face as he shouted out, “Whoa!”  When asked if he was OK, he said, “Yes!”  As he told that story the dad in me wanted to lecture him for not wearing a helmet (which I did), but there was another part of me that yearned for that “Whoa!” kind of experience.  Now I don’t think longboarding is taking hold of life that really is life, but I think when we do experience Jesus’ kind of life, that is how we are affected, “Whoa!”  For all who are yearning for that kind of life, I have good news for you, Eternal life starts today!
 

People Around Us Yearn for Those Who Have Life that Really Is Life

Have you ever noticed that there are people in your life who charge your batteries and those who drain them?  I am sure that all of us have those folks and that it has something to do with our personalities.  But there are also those people who charge our spiritual batteries.  In his book, Wild at Heart, John Eldridge quoted Gil Baile who said, “Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

This became so clear to me on Thursday when Bishop Huie was speaking at a pastors’ retreat about her friends Sam Dixon and Clint Rabb, who died in the collapse of the Hotel Montana in Port au Prince, Haiti.  Jim Gulley, a former director and current consultant for the United Methodist Committee on Relief struggles with why he survived and his two friends with whom he spent those 55 hours did not.  He said that while he did not know the answer to that question he was certain that his life would be spent bearing witness to their love and their faith.  Clint Rabb is the one who exclaimed before he died, “Tell the people of Haiti that we are praying for them.”

My friend Cheryl wasn’t able to hear that message from Bishop Huie, because she was called back to Pasadena where premature twins were fighting for their lives.  The twins are the nephews of Nathan Walkup, one of the affiliate members of this church and a member of the Aggie men’s basketball team.  When Cheryl got to the hospital, she baptized Benjamin Ray Walkup, who died the next day, and prayed with a family whose hearts are broken and whose souls are seeking God.  They needed someone there who had taken hold of life that really is life.  My friend, Cheryl, is such a person.

There are people around you who are in need of what you have.  It doesn’t mean that they don’t have it.  The Walkups are one of the finest and most faithful families I know.  It’s just that sometimes we are too exhausted to hold ourselves up and we need someone there who gets it, to hold us up.  Sam Dixon and Clint Rabb need Jim Gulley to tell their story.  Matt and Bailey Walkup need Cheryl Smith to stand with them during the darkness of grief, uncertainty, and shattered dreams even as they celebrated the improvements in the health of Ben’s twin, Jack.

Jesus pointed out in Luke 12:15, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”  That is not where we will find this kind of life, the life that really is life – the life for which we yearn and the life for which those around us need for us to have.  It is eternal life.  Remember, eternal life starts today!
 

We Yearn for Those Around Us to Have Life That Really Is Life

I have been focused on this one phrase for more than a month, “so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.”  Thursday after Bishop Huie spoke she invited the pastors in attendance to come to the altar and request prayer.  I went forward and asked the person praying for me to pray that I may take hold of this life.  I wanted to have that “Whoa!” sense to my life and soul.  The person praying for me said, “Lord, fill Kip with this Spirit-infused passion and surround him with people whose souls are on fire for you.”  When those words, “surround him with people whose souls are on fire for you,” were spoken tears welled up in my eyes.  I became aware of how much I need you and how much I desire for you, each one of you to have hold of the life that really is life.

The preacher for the retreat that I attended was Dr. James Forbes, Pastor Emeritus of Riverside Church in New York.  He is an amazing preacher who paints such beautiful pictures through his words.  He told the story of when Jesus finished preaching in Capernaum in Luke 4 and went to Peter’s house.  There he found Simon Peter’s mother-in-law sick with a fever.  He healed her and she got up and tended to her guests like a typical ambassador of hospitality.  At sunset all those who were sick were being brought to Jesus. Dr. Forbes pointed out that Peter’s house had been transformed into a medical clinic.

Any guesses as to where my mind went when he said that?  Right outside in our parking lot.  Red, White, and Blue are the designations given to the three Portable Medical Clinics that have been transformed through the generosity of time and labor of so many of you.  I know about turning a house into a medical clinic.  I have seen it happen as you have built three of these Portable Medical Clinics in one third of the time that it took to build one.  That is inverted mathematics, but I like it.  Before you ministered to a single soul in Haiti, you healed my spirit.  Thanks.  I needed that.  As I walked by those transformed containers this morning, I realized eternal life starts today.  I am surrounded by folks who have taken hold of life that really is life. 

But what does all this have to do with stewardship?  We have commitment cards in our hands and nothing has been said about money.  Here it goes – some of you cannot take hold of the life that really is life, because you are holding too tightly to your stuff.  I am convinced that until you practice proportional giving as a spiritual discipline, you are going to find it difficult, if not impossible, to take hold of the life for which you yearn, for which others yearn, and for which you need to experience in those around you.

Adam Hamilton told the story of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. in the epilogue of his little book, Enough.  He said that Rockefeller had made his first million by the age of 33, but by the age of 53 he had become seriously ill.  He could not digest his food, his hair was falling out, he was depressed and diagnosed with one year to live.  He decided at that point to make that year count.  He started giving away the stuff that he once obsessed over amassing.  He built hospitals, contributed generously to his church, gave millions to missions, and helped build universities.  His life was transformed by generosity and that one year stretched into 45 years, before his death at the age of 98.  Hamilton concluded, “Rockefeller’s life was saved when he stopped focusing on himself and acquiring and began to focus on others and giving away.”  He found what Donald Miller was looking for – a better story.

Today as you come forward to receive communion, I invite you to bring your completed commitment card with you.  Place it in the envelope provided and then drop it in the basket on this altar.  I invite you to follow the spiritual discipline of proportional giving.  If you are already giving a tithe (a tenth of that with which God has blessed you), pray about what God wants you to do now.  If you are giving less than 10%, determine what percentage you are returning to God and increase it by 1-2% of your income or more as you begin to move toward the tithe.  I truly believe that this is a step to a better story.

After you place the commitment card in the basket, declaring to God what portion you will give to God, then hold out your hand and receive that for which God gave himself – forgiveness, grace, love beyond measure – found in a piece of bread dipped into a cup.  Paul wrote, “Every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again.”  This is the food that sustains life that really is life – eternal life.  Eternal life that starts today!  Amen.