At the Impulse of Thy Love

Not a Sermon - Just a Thought, April 20, 2007

In the movie Napoleon Dynamite, Pedro, a high school kid, is running for class president. In his election speech he promises, “If you vote for me, all your wildest dreams will come true.”

It’s a funny line because of the absurdity of the promise, and it’s not too far off from what some religious leaders will tell you in order to raise funds. I know of preachers who have actually said or written things like:

“If you give money to the church all your financial problems will disappear.”
“If you tithe to the church, God will bless you.”
“God won’t bless you if you don’t bless God.”

It’s the same thing as Pedro’s impossible promise. I’m not saying that God won’t bless you if you give. What I am saying is that too many preacher-types have manipulated too many faithful people with empty promises. “Give so you will get.”

I believe that every Christian should financially support their church, but not because you’ve been beaten over the head with the Bible, the church budget, or the pleadings of a poor preacher. There are preachers who guilt you into giving money to your church. I’m not one of them. I’ll leave guilt up to you and the Holy Spirit. The bottom line for me is that if “God loves a cheerful giver” then you shouldn’t be manipulated into stroking a check for the church. Nor should you be tricked into giving so you will “get back” from God. You should give generously because you believe in the work of your church. You should give out of a realization of what God has done for you. In short, God gave, we give in return.

Frances Havergal had the same idea in mind when she wrote the great hymn Take My Life, and Let it Be Consecrated. One line reads:

Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of thy love.

God made every resource that the planet earth has to offer, including that twenty in your wallet and the direct deposit your employer just dropped in your checking account. God has done some pretty cool things for you, including breathing life into you and sustaining you to this point. So when this preacher encourages you to give generously, either to my church or the church of your choosing, it’s because I want you to do it at the impulse of God’s love, not because of obligation or guilt or false hope.

That’s the sermon idea for this Sunday at Willow Meadows Baptist Church. I’ll be preaching a sermon entitled At the Impulse of Thy Love based on John 3.16-21. It is the beginning of a three part series about your finances, the church finances, and how the two should meet. We’ll also be praying for the families connected to the Virginia Tech tragedy and remembering those students. Join us, if you’re in Houston, at either 9am or 11:10am.

Impulsively,
Pastor Gary

Not a Sermon – Just a Thought is a weekly e-column written by me, Gary Long. You can subscribe by emailing me at glong@wmbc.org.

John 3.16-21 – NIV
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."