Muskogee has afforded a number of career and lifetime firsts for me. For example, last week I got the 8:00 service to laugh twice during the sermon. Also last week, I managed to get into an argument with a homeless person about scripture. There were several lessons in that encounter, not the least of which was security for our staff. As I left a while later for pastoral visits, I was concerned for the safety of staff and volunteers at church, knowing that there was a mentally unstable homeless person out there who now had a grudge against me.

The other lesson, surprisingly, was about stewardship. This former truck driver came into the office needing a pair of eyeglasses. With a few calls and emails we found someone who could take care of this man’s needs. He returned to the office and we told him the good news. Next he plopped down in my office to chat. I asked him how he managed to get into his current predicament and where he was going after he finished his time at the Gospel Rescue Mission. He evaded the first question, smiled and said “I will go wherever I go.”

Then he started asking me questions like “If you lost everything you had, would you be sitting here smiling?” He seemed arrogant about his state of bliss and my inability to get down to a zero level. I told him it would be impossible for me to lose everything because the last thing I would have to lose would be my faith in a redeeming God. He smiled with his arrogant smile and quoted Philippians 4:19 “My God will fully satisfy every need of yours.” He quoted this scripture in a way to justify his lack of concern for where he will go or what will happen to him. Because he believed God would provide for all of his needs, he was off the hook for responsibility or accountability. He didn’t like my reply.

“But you have only cited half the verse.” I said. “It is not about God as a servant to my needs but the entire verse is talking about God’s power on earth through Jesus. The verse ends with “according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” This did not make the homeless person happy. In fact, he went from calm to ballistic. He was agitated in the chair. He got up. He pointed an angry finger at me and said as if to convince himself, “God will supply all my needs.” And he walked out.

How was this encounter connected to stewardship? Here was a person who was rescued by the inappropriate application of scripture. This man was led to believe that because part of a sentence from a book told him that God would give him everything he needed, that he did not need to do anything to receive such blessings. For him, the Bible was the book that sanctified his anything goes philosophy. For him, the Bible said all he needed to do was believe what some authority figure told him, and he would have a wonderful life.

I could see where he was going with this proof text of scripture, and I would have nothing to do with it. Lines were clearly drawn. I was still willing to work with him for his new eyeglasses, but he walked out. I am sure he thought I would go straight to hell. I prayed for him. He sauntered down the street with two bad knees.

How does this apply to stewardship? Stewardship is not just about what we choose to give back to God. It is about how we care for what God has given us. Belief in a “vending machine God” as this homeless person did, is both a very primitive stage of religious development and bad stewardship. God is not a vending machine where we punch the button “God, I need some place to stay tonight” and God provides. You punch another button that says “God, I need food today” and God provides. God doesn’t work like this. To believe in this god is to engage in the magic thinking of three year olds.

The distinction in stewardship is the same old battle between the private religion preached by evangelicals around the globe, and the public religion of Jesus. Private religion puts God in the position of the eternal giver of blessings, gifts, and meeting the demands of people who way “God will provide all my needs.” The public faith of Jesus says that we are to respond in gratitude for what God has given us. And out of gratitude, we are to pass on the blessings to others.

Real stewardship invites us to look at what God has provided us already: our lives, our health, our families, our community, this church, our jobs, and so on. We give thanks for what we have been given. Our celebration every Sunday is a service of giving thanks for the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. What part or our own lives and our selves can we give up in return for what Jesus has given us?

Our Epistle from the first book of John refers to something we exchange at the altar rail every Sunday. John tells us, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” At the rail, you will hear “The body of Christ, keep you in eternal life.”

Those who are into private religion, the faith of God meeting my needs, and the faith of personal salvation, will hear this as a proclamation that if I believe in all the words about Jesus, then I will live for eternity. But in the public faith of Jesus, eternal life is not about eternity. It is about living FOR something right now. Living FOR what God wants you to be. Living FOR the benefit of others.

Do you live for the betterment of this church, this community, your schools, your children, your grandchildren? Do you live for moving our community to a more sustainable environmental practice? Do you live for justice with the poor and disadvantaged in our community? Do you live for improving the health and well being of other people here? If these are part of your hopes, dreams and daily life, then you are living in eternal life right now.

When you receive the wafer in your hands, and you hear the words “The body of Christ keep you in eternal life.” This is a nudge to put your life in the service of others.

Living FOR the betterment of other people is what all Christians are called to do. We are Christians because our focus is outward towards others. This is not a private religion of me and Jesus and my salvation. This is a faith of making God present for other people in ways that improve their lives.

After Judas hanged himself, the disciples wanted to bring a new person into their circle to replace Judas. All things being equal between several candidates, they drew lots, believing that the hand of God would determine the selection of the lot. Matthias was chosen because of this process.

You should know that the Greek word for clergy is “kleros.” It is the word used in this passage for “lots.” The notion of becoming a clergy person is that your vocation as clergy is your lot in life. God chooses the one to be ordained. All we have to do is respond. That is really true for all of us; ordained or not.