Sacred Seconds

Paul Harvey once shared a story of a woman and her frozen holiday turkey.

The Butterball Turkey Company set up a telephone hotline to answer consumer questions about preparing holiday turkeys. One woman called to inquire about cooking a turkey that had been in the bottom of her freezer for 23 years. That's right, 23 years! The Butterball representative told her the turkey would probably be safe to eat if the freezer had been kept below zero for the entire 23 years. But the Butterball representative warned her that even if the turkey was safe to eat, the flavour would probably have deteriorated to such a degree that she would not recommend eating it. The caller replied, "That's what I thought. We'll give the turkey to our Church."

How many times have we looked at our house and said. It’s time for an upgrade and so we change the curtains, or the carpet, or the furniture, or the appliances, or we want a new TV because the one we have is not big enough or sharp enough or it doesn’t look good with our new furniture or carpet or what not. So we scrimp and save, or borrow and spend as the case may be to get that new shiny thing that is the object of our desires and then we look at what we had before and we go through a mental checklist.

Can I use this anywhere else in the house?

Can I get any money for this on the second hand market?

Do I know anyone who might want this and would take it off my hands?

And if we answer “No” to all three of those questions we say to ourselves: Well I guess the church could use it. And we drop off our sacred seconds at the house of worship so that the staff, or the youth group, or the kids ministry can make use of it and we pat ourselves on the back and call it good stewardship.

Or we work really hard all year. And we save up our vacation days for that long awaited chance to get away from it all. To get away from our job, or our boss, or our stress and to take some much deserved “me time.” Perhaps that vacation is spent camping, or it’s spent at a resort, or visiting relatives, or jet-setting around the globe – or perhaps even you’re planning a “stay-cation” this year and you’re going to attempt some project at home or even just putter around for a couple weeks. Meanwhile you’ve passed on the opportunity to go on a missions trip, or to help out with your congregations’ Vacation Bible School[1], or even volunteer with summer ministries because you simply are too busy and don’t have the time.

Don’t have the time?

Really?

Friends I wonder how often we are guilty of giving God something less than our first fruits; something less than our best. How often are we guilty of giving God our sacred seconds?

In the book of Malachi Yahweh demonstrates contempt for the corrupt priesthood who dishonour him through the presentation of blemished offerings. God says through the prophet:

“A son honours his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honour due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ “By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.(Malachi 1:6-8)

God is telling the priests that when they accept and offer up leftovers to the Lord as sacrifice they are implicitly making a statement about the way they think about God. When they offer him a sacrifice that they wouldn’t even offer local politicians they make a statement about their true devotion and love for Yahweh.

Further on in verses 12-13 he makes this abundantly clear:

But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty.

Have you ever considered what your practice of “stewardship” says to God? When you give to the God that you claim to owe your very life and salvation to out of the overflow of your…leftovers what message are you conveying to him? What message are you conveying to the world?

When you only drop in the offering plate what you have on you in cash and change at the time the offering is taken.

When you only help out in the church when all the other “priority” items in your schedule allow for it.

When you only give to the poor when you procure newer and better stuff for yourself.

When you only give a thanksgiving turkey away that you’d be embarrassed to feed to your guests.

Yahweh continues to speak through the prophet:

“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.(Malachi 1:13-14) 

I’m not trying to pick on anyone, nor am I venting out of any recent frustration. I’m writing this post precisely because I’ve enjoyed a season in ministry lately where I haven’t had to deal with this specific issue and feel safe now stating it without specifically calling anyone out. But over the course of a decade in ministry I have seen every one of these examples (except – I hope – the Turkey) play out many times. Ratty old couches mysteriously appear in the Youth Room, gargantuan old rear projection TVs end up in the church foyer that no one (including the church) has room or use for anymore; old computers that can barely get on the Internet being offered up for new staff or interns to use in the name of good stewardship. I will go out on a limb here and state that when we puff up with pride and think that we have somehow done something truly generous or have practiced good stewardship in these actions all we have done becomes an affront to God.

I’m not saying that you need to give everything you have to God, or the church or to charity. I’m not saying that you’re never entitled to something new (well actually I would say that, but only because I used the word “entitled”) or that you can’t have nice things. I’m saying don’t delude yourself by thinking that giving your sacred seconds to Jesus is somehow a sacrifice, as if Jesus was some sort of divine junk collector. Don’t think that Jesus is satisfied with your afterthought offerings, or your garage sale generosity. If he is who you say he is, then he is worthy of nothing less than your absolute best. In scripture we talk about the first fruits of our labours belonging to God the first part of your paycheque, or best part of your day, or the nicest of your stuff. Whether you give or not is completely up to you. And how much you give of something is completely up to you. Even where you give (the church, or a community organisation, or a charity or directly to people who need help) is up to you. Paul reminds us to give out of a cheerful heart and not out of compulsion – we don’t want any Ananias and Sapphira situations happening. But know that what you give, if you give, is a reflection of what you think about God.

God demands better than our sacred seconds – even if they are tiny and infrequent firsts.

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[1] For the sake of transparency I’m skipping my congregation’s VBS this year to visit with family overseas.