Mark 12:28-34

Georgetown Presbyterian Church

November 5, 2006

Rev. Stephen H. Wilkins

A while ago, there was a Frank and Ernest cartoon strip in which the two are standing in front of row after row of shelves of books. On top of one of the shelves is a sign which reads, "Law Library." Frank turns and says to Ernest, "It’s frightening when you think that we started out with just Ten Commandments."

It is frightening, isn’t it? I wonder how the human race has developed from an ancient society with only 10 commandments, to a society like modern-day America, where in the 50 states and federal government we have an estimated 35 million laws on the books. Some of the laws are very good and are deeply needed. But many need to be repealed. Let me give you a sampling of laws that we probably don’t need any more:

In Florida it is illegal for a woman who’s single, divorced, or widowed to parachute out of a plane on Sunday afternoon.

In Amarillo, Texas, it is against the law to take a bath on the main street during banking hours.

In Portland, Oregon, it is illegal to wear roller skates in public restrooms.

In Halethorpe, Maryland, a kiss lasting more than a second is an illegal act.

Today in our text from Mark’s gospel, we encounter a scribe who quizzes Jesus concerning the law. The scribe is not interested in the obscure teachings of the law. He simply wants to know, of all the law, what is the most important?

And Jesus’ reply is one that is familiar to all of us: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. And the second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself."

And so Jesus’ answer to the scribe is this: "To live faithfully as the people of God, it all boils down to two essential things: love God with all your being, and love others as you love yourself."

Christian stewardship is about living faithfully as the people of God. Today is the first Sunday in what is traditionally our season of Stewardship in Georgetown Presbyterian Church. We had a grand celebration on Thursday night, and hopefully you picked up your stewardship packets. Know that Dedication Sunday is November 19; it is our hope that you will fill out your pledge cards and your time and talent surveys and return them to the church on or before that day.

To be honest, I didn’t have to look very hard to find the scriptures that I would use for my stewardship sermons this week and next. The lectionary provided me with the perfect stewardship scriptures. This week we wrestle with love of God and neighbor as an act of stewardship; next week we deal with the issue of m-m-m-m-m-money as we study the story of the widow’s offering.

I’ve said it before, that stewardship has to do with much more than fundraising for the church’s budget. But I have to continue to say this, because we have generations of misunderstanding of the term "stewardship" to overcome. You know as well as I that the Christian notion of stewardship calls us to make available to the Lord our time and talents as well as our treasure. As much as anything else, stewardship is a way of life that seeks to be faithful to God in all things.

That’s why the question posed by the scribe is so critical: Of all the commandments, which is the most important? He’s not asking a trick question. He simply wants to know, of all the law, what is the most essential. He is asking Jesus, "What is it that is most essential for faithful living as the people of God?"

Isn’t that the question that we should ask when considering stewardship? What is it that we must do if we are to live faithfully as the people of God?

And Jesus’ answer is simple: Love God, and love your neighbor. Really, it all boils down to love.

By now you’ve heard me say it enough times, that you know that the love Jesus commands is not a warm, mushy feeling we have toward another. The love, the  that Jesus commands of us is not so much a feeling as it is something that we do. The fulfillment of the commands to love God and neighbor is where the rubber meets the road. It is where faith is put into action; and that, my friends is where stewardship gets serious

The biblical notion of love calls for a sacrifice of the self. In terms of the command to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and all of our strength, the call is to an absolute commitment to God of all that we are. Don’t you see, all that we have is a gift of God’s grace? And so the only appropriate response from us is to offer all that we have, all that we are--offer our selves, heart, mind, soul, and body--to the glory of God. That is the essence of stewardship.

In a small, unassuming shrine in a church in Peru stands the image of San Martin de Porres, dressed in humble robes. Martin was the illegitimate son of a freed slave and a Spaniard. He didn’t have the money or position to join a religious order, so he presented himself as an offering to the order. He just wanted to serve God. His good deeds were legendary: he started an orphanage and a hospital, even though he was little more than a slave.

San Martin just wanted to serve the Lord. He made it his life purpose to serve the Lord. His life revolved around obeying the command to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

You don’t have to join a religious society in order to love God with all your being. You just have to make the decision, every day, to obey that command. You just have to resolve every day to live in obedience to the command to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

But Jesus doesn’t stop with just the number one command, because in truth it is impossible to separate the first command from the second: Love your neighbor as yourself. You see, it is impossible to love God without also loving our neighbor.

Turn to your right and turn to your left. It is impossible to love God without also loving those seated next to you. Walk out the door and look at the people driving by. It is impossible to love God without also loving the stranger in your midst. Go to the projects and to the poor, and to the black neighborhoods. It is impossible to love God without also loving those whose skin is a different color, whose language may be different, whose income bracket may be several levels below your own.

You cannot love God, without also loving your neighbor. That’s why Jesus gives two commands, and not just one. The fact is, loving God is incomplete unless we are also loving other people.

God's call to us is consistent, and it is unmistakable: to reach out and care for the poor among us, for the widows and the orphans; to defend the cause of the weak and fatherless, to maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed; to bind up the brokenhearted and to proclaim freedom to the captives, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, to comfort all who mourn; to love even our enemies and to pray even for those who persecute us. As the people of God, our call is to minister to our neighbors in need, to demonstrate love and compassion, wherever we find an opportunity.

Love, as the New Testament defines it, is action. Love is something we do. Love begins in the heart, and it manifests itself in the ways we act. More than words, it is our actions that demonstrate love.

And that’s what stewardship is: stewardship has to do with the people of God actively seeking the welfare of others. Stewardship means that we are called to do for the poor, for the pregnant teenager, for the AIDS patient, for the person with Alzheimer’s disease, for the gangsta youth, for any outcast--we are called to do for them what we would hope would be done for us if we were in their place. The call to love our neighbor, plain and simple, is a call to service of others.

For more than 30 years, Louis Zbinden was the pastor of my home church in San Antonio. Recently he was honored by the Catholic Charities in San Antonio with the agency’s Lifetime of Faith and Service Award for his collaboration with Catholics and other Protestants in a variety of community service ministries. When the local newspaper interviewed him about the award, Louis said, "Service is the rent we all pay for living on earth. It’s not something we do in our spare time; it’s the very purpose of human life."

Stewardship is the rent we all pay for the privilege of living on earth. You know, if stewardship were simply a matter of writing a check, then we could just go ahead and do it and get it out of the way. But it’s more than that. Way more. Stewardship is about investing all that you are into serving God and giving God glory. Stewardship is about seeking the same welfare for others that you would hope for if you were in their shoes. When it all boils down to it, stewardship has a lot more to do with how well you obey the two great commandments, than how much you put in the plate. Not that what you put in the plate isn’t important; it’s just that stewardship entails much more than that.

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What is essential?

What is most basic?

It’s really quite simple, and it boils down to two things: Love God with all your being, and love others. It’s simple, but it’s not easy, because it involves every area of our lives.

Then again, that is the essence of stewardship, because stewardship is a way of life. It’s something you do. Amen.