The Park Road Pulpit

Emmett Johnson ended his career as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Baptist Hospital System in Birmingham, AL, but his first job was much more meager. Many of you remember the good and the bad of those years following the Depression. In that day you could walk into the bank, speak to the president about a loan, and walk out with money in hand.

So it was for Emmett. “I need to borrow $800,” he said. The banker did not protest, but asked, curiously about the money. “Well,” Emmett said, “Anna Belle and I are behind on our pledge to the church. I have to make good on my commitment.”

And Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity?” (Job 2.9).

If my understanding of the Consumer Price Index is right, Emmett’s $800 loan is worth $6,166 in today’s market. What advice would you give your child if, in the first year of her first job out of college she told you she planned to borrow $6,000 – to pay her tithe!?

Emmett and Anna Belle did not repay that note all at once. $6,000 is a lot of money! But, he did get his loan. He did give it to his church. And he did pay back every single penny. For Emmett and Anna Belle Johnson have always believed in keeping their word. They have always believed in their church. And they have always believed in giving.

And Paul said, “For I have learned to be content with whatever I have” (Philippians 4.11).

Some of you are smiling (or is that a grimace!?) -- the Preacher has just connected your integrity with your money. But, how else can it be? Our money is as much a part of who we are as is our personality. No one dispassionately reflects on his/her bank account. I am not just Russ Dean, Pastor, father, all around nice guy. I am Russ Dean – who lives at 3126 Eastburn Road (a mortgage to pay). Russ Dean, who has two sons (and college to save for). Russ Dean, who wants to retire one day (some days it’s sooner rather than later!) Russ Dean, who loves his boat more than his supper (you all have your vices, too)!

For much too long there has been an improper animosity between the church and the world. A false dichotomy between all that is “sacred” and all that is “secular.” An illusion that what we do in here has to do with your spirit, and what they do out there has to do with everything else, that is really important (which is where your money comes in).

But the Church ought to make it more clear that these are artificial distinctions, and that money is not evil – unless we are. Our money is simply a part of who we are. And this is true if our bank account is overdrawn, or if our portfolio is properly diversified and drawing 6-figures in interest. Our money is simply part of who we are. Period. Your life of faith, your spiritual growth, cannot be considered apart from how you spend your money. Period. Our money is simply part of who we are.

Mohandas Gandhi once warned against the internal forces that could destroy a nation. He called these forces the “seven social sins.” They are:

It sounds to me that our nation could take great instruction from looking at Gandhi’s first six sins. And I believe the Church needs to hear again number seven:

Is your worship without sacrifice? The sacrifice of complete honesty with God, self, one another? And in a broader sense, is your participation in worship, here, without the involvement, the participation, the sacrifice of your life – through the giving of your money?

Integrity is “the quality or condition of being whole or undivided.” Steel can be measured for its material integrity. Buildings can be analyzed as to their structural integrity. People either have moral integrity, or they lack it. But what is spiritual integrity?

Paul has the answer, I think. Spiritual integrity is the quality or condition of being content. Do you have enough – yet? Surely the answer for us all is, yes. Enough to share.

The only question, then, for children of infinite worth[1] is, will we Persist in our Integrity?

1) I believe in giving. I was raised on tithing as an integral part of Christian obligation. But I believe atheists ought to give. Giving is more than a Christian virtue. It is a discipline rooted in the very essence of our humanity. We cannot fully know who we are until we have given of ourselves. (And your money cannot be separated from who you are.) I believe in giving.

2) I believe in giving to the church. In a conversation Wednesday night, we talked about the prophet Malachi who exhorted his hearers, ”Bring all the tithes into the storehouse…” (Malachi 3.10). Is the storehouse the Church, alone? One insightful participant asked me following the discussion if I didn’t agree that God works outside the church. (His implication being that many other organizations also deserve our financial support.) I do agree. God is at work in the ministries of all sorts of “secular organizations.” But my friendly retort should have been a pastoral reminder that God works in secular organizations, through the gifts of secular people. But how else can God work in the church? Only those who belong to this community of faith, can support this community. There are plenty of folks “out there” to support the many, valid, secular ministries that are also “out there.”

I take it as the appropriate challenge of the Church, in a world of competition for the charitable dollar, to prove itself worthy of more and more of your contribution. Amy and I choose to bring all our tithe into this “storehouse.” All of you will not make that decision, and we understand. We do hope that you will find Park Road Baptist Church more and more worthy of your giving, and that you will consider increasing your gift to this community, as a percentage of your overall giving. I believe in giving to the church.

3) I believe in giving to the church, substantively. In two other interesting conversations this week, we talked about the tithe. (Is it 10% or net or 10% of gross? What is your “income” when you are retired?) I don’t believe that 10% is a sacred number, or that it is required by God. I don’t believe God ever works with such legalisms. A single mother should never sacrifice the welfare of her children in order to give 10% to the church. On the other hand, there are many members of Christian communities for whom 10% is not a substantive gift. This is so, even for your pastors.

(A cautious, parenthetical note: We are always cautious about how we talk about money. We do not want to be perceived as either money-grubbing in our challenges to your, nor braggadocious in sharing of our own example. But we believe that leaders must always lead by example, so I don’t mind telling you this morning, out of gratitude for your generosity to us, that we are able to give to this community above a tithe of our gross salary. We hope to be able to continue to do so.)

Why do we make such a gift? Because our two boys need your community. Charlotte needs your community. The victims of hurricane Isabel need your community. Baptists in Cuba need your community. Your pastors need your community. And so we give to this church, substantively. We challenge you to do the same.

In the provocative story of Job, the Satan[2] says to God, “All that people have they will give to save their lives…” (Job 2.4). So it is. People will give all that they have. It is our human nature. We will even give all of our money, to save our own necks. But this is not the gospel. For Jesus said, The one who seeks to save his own life will lose it. Only she who will give all for the sake of the gospel will truly find life (Mark 8.35).

“What are you working so hard to save these days? Your money? Your time? Your life? One anonymous sage said, “He is no fool who gives what he can not keep, to gain what he can not lose.” It is the wisdom of a child of integrity.

[1] This phrase has been used for many years at Park Road Baptist Church, and has become one of the strongest affirmations of this congregation’s theology. It comes here with a bit of appropriate irony – the double meaning of “worth” (spiritual and financial).

[2] In the Hebrew, “Satan” is always used with the definite article, “the satan” (which means, “the adversary”). The mental image of a personal devil (with a pitchfork and pointed tail!) should not come to mind here as “the satan” was part of the heavenly court – one of the divine beings, in Hebrew thought, whose function was to challenge those who failed to bring appropriate honor to God. Thus, the function of the “the satan” was a holy one, it belonged to the court of heaven, not to the halls of hell. The contemporary image of “the devil” often obscures the picture of “the satan” in Old Testament usage.