Let’s Make a Deal
A Sermon by Brent J. Eelman
Abington Presbyterian Church
October 21, 2007

Jeremiah 31: 27-30
        The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. ²⁸And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. ²⁹In those days they shall no longer say:
‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
   and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
³⁰But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.
        ³¹ The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ³²It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,^* says the Lord. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.*

Let me tell you about Ralph the grocer. I knew Ralph from the small service club of which I was a member. This club met once a week for a lunch meeting. We would sit around tables and talk prior to the program. I am not sure what it is, but in many contexts people, (especially men), are uncomfortable around a minister. They are not sure what to talk about, (Hint: most of us like sports.) and often out of nervousness they will start to talk about church. One of the things that I could usually count on at these service club lunches was that one of the gentleman would explain to me why he didn’t attend church. There were a number of reasons: “I don’t like the minister.” “The church has become too liberal.” “The church has become too conservative.” But there was one that was uttered most often: “All the church cares about is money.” Ralph the grocer let me know that this was why he didn’t go to church. He told me that he believed in God, and that Jesus was important to his life, (after all, he was a Methodist), but all the church cares about is money, and that is why he didn’t go.

It was a beautiful fall day, about 20 years ago. It was stewardship season, and as pastor, it was one of the two stewardship sermons that I was about to preach. Subtle preaching never saved anyone, and so I tried to put the message about stewardship as clearly to the congregation as possible, sharing with them that stewardship of money was part of the Christian life. The most popular thing that Jesus talked about was money. I was about half way through the sermon, and I saw out of the corner of my eye, (you guessed it, Ralph the grocer.). Of all the Sunday’s to come to my church, (and he was a Methodist!). Ralph’s prejudices were confirmed. He heard me preach once, and now it was established: Presbyterians were no different than Methodists. All we cared about was money. That week, at the service club lunch, I sat down at the table and was soon joined by four or five other individuals, including Ralph. It did not take long for him to get started: “I went to church for the first time in ten years… and do you know what Brent’s sermon is about? Money. Is that all the church cares about? I don’t think I am going to go again.”

I had enough, and so I responded: “Ralph, I went grocery shopping in your store on Saturday and I want you to know that I was shocked. Everything had a price on it. Every person needs food to live, but here you put a price on everything, and if that is not enough, a person can’t get out of the place without going through the checkouts and paying for your food. At least we don’t have cash registers at the church door!” Then I concluded, “All the grocery business is about is money.”

I share this story with you because it illustrates a most uncomfortable reality. Most worshippers do not want to hear a sermon about the stewardship of our financial resources. It creates an uncomfortable mixture of the sacred and profane and makes some people nervous, others upset, and others angry. Perhaps it gets a bit close to the thing that we think is really important. But there is another aspect to this reality and that is: most of clergy would rather not preach about the stewardship of financial resources. There have been a number of surveys done that conclude that money and finances are the least favorite topic of preachers. So every fall we go through this awkward ritual of the stewardship message. The pastor preaches something that makes him or her uncomfortable to a congregation who wishes that he would preach about something else.

Recognizing this uncomfortable reality, maybe clergy and congregations should arrive at some kind of deal. The deal would be: Preachers will stop preaching about money…. And congregations will make sure that they are faithful stewards of the financial resources that God has given to them. In other words, we will give more than enough to support the church’s ministry and mission in the world. Do you think it would work? Would you like to try it?

Maybe that is not the right approach. Perhaps we should take another approach to this uncomfortable dilemma. It would not be the deal that I just proposed, (although that one is still on the table.). Rather it would be the one that Jeremiah declared to the Hebrew people 2600 years ago. We wouldn’t be so crass as to call it “a deal”. We would use the language of the Bible and call it a “covenant”. (But it still is a deal between God and human beings.) This covenant or deal would clearly spell out our relationship with God. In the words of today’s prophesy, “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” The benefits of that relationship would apparent. God will be with us, loving us, caring for us, providing for us, even in our darkest times. God will be the source of comfort in our lives. God will give our lives a sense of meaning and purpose that transcends the humdrum and banal realities that often characterize life apart from God. “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” This deal would not require a signed pledge card or commitment card. It would not need brochures and letters… instead, it would be written upon our hearts. We would know, without asking, what God requires of us. More importantly, we would not only know it, we would do it. We would do it with joy. In our hearts we would know what it means to be a disciple of God’s son Jesus Christ. It would be there in our hearts, and ministers would not have to preach about it, or nag about it.

That was the deal that God proposed in this new covenant that Jeremiah declared to the people. It is the same deal, indeed the covenant that we proclaim also includes us and is sealed for us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the deal that declares that God loves us, chooses us, wants to save us, and will walk through life with us… and it is written on our hearts.

This deal turns this whole stewardship thing upside down. Too often we talk about stewardship in terms of our “obligations.”… and of course we throw in a generous portion of guilt, (you haven’t been meeting your obligation!) And so stewardship becomes this awkward and uncomfortable reality that we try and dance around with nice words and obscure expressions. This deal that God makes with us, God’s people, is awesome, because it describes a relationship of love, justice and hope. How do we respond to this deal, this covenant? With love!

I, like many other people, am involved in another covenant relationship that is based upon love: marriage. Marriage, throughout the Bible, (including our text in Jeremiah today,) is often compared to God’s relationship with God’s people. Verse 32 says: “I was their husband.” I am aware that marriage can, at times, be miserable, painful and scarring. But it can also be wonderful, albeit difficult. There are days that I am overcome with the reality that someone loves me enough to tie her life to mine… that someone loves me so much that they are willing to stay with me, in spite of my faults, my shortcomings and my quirks. On those days I am moved to express that feeling of the heart. Often it will be expressed with flowers, a card, kind words. It will be expressed with gifts. Gifts are ways that we respond from our hearts to love. I rue the reality that gifts have become obligations in our lives. We expect to receive gifts! We have gift lists, (obligations) that we fill at Christmas and birthdays. Giving a gift is an act of the heart… a response to love. Gifts are sacred in the best sense of the word….

That is what the deal is all about: the covenant with God. God loves us so much. Consequently this thing we call stewardship is not an obligation. It is an expression of love: deep, heart felt love. That is the deal.

Good old Ralph, the grocer. Like most worshippers, he didn’t like sermons about money…. What he didn’t know was that few preachers like to preach them… So let’s make a deal.. can we understand stewardship of our finances in terms of love not money. It is not about meeting the budget, it is not about obligation or guilt.. it is about love: the love that God willingly shows us in Jesus Christ. The love with which God binds himself to human beings, in the same way a couple bind themselves to each other in marriage. Can we see it in terms of love and our gifts? Our offering and our financial stewardship are a response to God’s amazing love: a very special present that comes from the heart of our being given to one we love, because we are first loved. Let’s make a deal! Amen.

*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania,  www.apcusa.org