Giving, not Receiving

Jack Kelley, foreign affairs editor for USA Today and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, tells this story:

We were in the capital of Somalia, in East Africa, during a famine. It was so bad we walked into one village and everybody was dead. There is a stench of death that gets into your hair, gets onto your skin, gets onto your clothes, and you can't wash it off. {Jack continues:} We saw this little boy. You could tell he had worms and was malnourished; his stomach was protruding. When a child is extremely malnourished, the hair turns a reddish color, and the skin becomes crinkled as though he's 100 years old.

Our photographer had a grapefruit, which he gave to the boy. The boy was so weak he didn't have the strength to hold the grapefruit, so we cut it in half and gave it to him. He picked it up, looked at us as if to say thanks, and began to walk back towards his village.

We walked behind him in a way that he couldn't see us. When he entered the village, there on the ground was a little boy who I thought was dead. His eyes were completely glazed over. It turned out that this was his younger brother. The older brother kneeled down next to his younger brother, bit off a piece of the grapefruit, and chewed it. Then he opened up his younger brother's mouth, put the grapefruit in, and worked his brother's jaw up and down. We learned that the older brother had been doing that for the younger brother for two weeks.

A couple days later the older brother died of malnutrition, and the younger brother lived. {Jack concludes with this comment:} I remember driving home that night thinking, I wonder if this is what Jesus meant when he said, "There is no greater love than to lay down our life for somebody else." Citation: Jack Kelley, USA Today reporter, from message "The Stories Behind the Headlines," given at Evangelical Press Association convention in May 2000.

Jim Elliott, one of the 5 missionaries martyred years ago in Ecuador, wrote this poignant statement, and not long thereafter, he backed up this statement with his own life: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.

In prior broadcasts, we've presented several distinguishing features of lifestyle worship. As we honor God by making worship a way of life, these characteristics will emerge in your life and mine. As we make worship a way of life, we will grow to understand that . . .

• Lifestyle worship is simple, but not easy.
• Lifestyle worship welcomes heart, not formula
• Lifestyle worship is daring, not dull
• Lifestyle worship is a continuing process, not an instant event.

Today, I'll give you Distinction #5: Lifestyle worship focuses on giving, not receiving. Romans 12:1 minces no words: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. The New International Version translates the final phrase this way: "this is your spiritual act of worship."

Perhaps the most difficult pill to swallow, especially for Baby Boomers, Busters and Gen-Xers, is the thought of giving without expecting a reciprocal benefit from the person to whom we give. This is somewhat understandable, since it's common to trade favors in business and in neighborhood life. We offer help with the implied understanding that that person will do the same for us when we need it. Of course, that's not bad, either! It's a good expression of 'community,' of 'togetherness.'

Lifestyle worship works differently. With God, if we give in order to get, then we don't really give at all - we trade favors. Trading favors leads to the distinct possibility that we're thinking of ourselves first and of God second - and that's a dangerous order of priorities. It's important for you and me to realize that lifestyle worship will benefit us, but worship is not primarily for our benefit.

Lifestyle worship is sacrificial. A sacrifice is a gift of something we value. A living sacrifice is a gift of the essence or the product of our life. It may be a gift of our time, a gift of our talent or a gift of our treasure. Whatever shape it takes, it is a sacrifice given with no regard for a return on that investment.

Consider, for example, the apostle Paul. He sacrificed health, wealth, marriage, comfort and prestige - all very unBoomer-like of him - in order to devote himself to the mission of bringing the gospel to the Gentiles of his generation. All of us who are Gentiles today can thank him for his faithfulness to that calling.

The sacrifices we may offer through lifestyle worship are not unnoticed by God. He sees them all and He will not let them go unrewarded. In fact, as Jim Elliott implied in the statement we quoted a few minutes ago, our giving garners greater gain!

But be patient. Life on earth is a blink compared to eternity, when our true gains are realized. Of Moses, the book of Hebrews records (11:24-26): "By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward."

My listening friend, be like Moses today.

© 2007 John Garmo. If you would be interested in using this article, please contact us at Info@MissionToChildren.org.