All That You Can Take With You
Luke 3:1-6, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
December 6, 2015
Luke 3:1-6, All That You Can Take With You
Pastor Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
Audio only[powerpress]
This passage begins in the year 26 or 27 AD with those in power politically and religiously: the Roman Emperor, the Governor of Judea, and the other rulers in the region are named as are those holding the most religious power in Jerusalem– Annas and Caiaphas. Luke quickly makes it clear that the word of God wasn’t revealed to any of them. The word of God wasn’t given to an Emperor in Rome or a Governor in Judea, or even to a high priest in Jerusalem. The word of God came to someone those powerful people had never heard of – John the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, in the wilderness. The prophet Isaiah tells us God’s ways are not our ways and frequently in the Bible and in life God works not so much through the powerful in capital cities like, Rome, Jerusalem, or Washington D.C. God often works through those who are less well known in more obscure places. So it was with John the Baptist who prepared the way for the arrival of Jesus by calling people to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. God often works, not through those who are about accumulating power, control, or resources for themselves, but through those who are willing instead to give themselves away like John the Baptist and Jesus and so many other people of faith; who invested their life and resources in and for others, rather than for their own benefit. The paradox, in the kingdom of God, is that those who seek gain for themselves end up losing it, while those who lose themselves and give themselves away for others end up all the richer. This is also one of the themes in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life.
In today’s scene from It’s a Wonderful Life (IAWL), George and Mary have just gotten married and are on their way to their honeymoon when Ernie the taxi driver mentions that it looks like a run is taking place at the bank. This marks the beginning of the panic that began the Great Depression. Mary urges George not to stop at the Building and Loan, but of course he does and he finds a line of people standing in the rain outside the locked doors. He opens the door and invites everyone and in and then George gets the bad news from Uncle Billy about their lack of money.
I know it’s hard to notice, but could you see the picture of George’s father on the wall that he looks at in a pondering way at the end of the scene? It’s as if we’re to understand that George is asking himself once again, “What would my Father do in this situation?” Below the photo is a frame with some words written on it and as in all excellent movies nothing we see is there by accident. It takes a sharp quick eye, but we’re to notice that it says. “All that you can take with you is that which you have given away.” In the scene that follows George ends up giving away all but $2.00 of the money he and Mary received as a gift for their wedding. As many times as I’ve seen this movie, I’ve thought, “Could I have done that? Would I have done that if I were in a similar situation?”
The contrast between the powerful and John the Baptist, between George Bailey and Mr. Potter in (IAWL) is an example of the truth of a proverb, “With virtue, you can’t be entirely poor, without virtue you can’t really be rich.” Today we still see very visible people who have a lot money, but very little virtue. Last month I read the book, The Paradox of Generosity: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose which shares the results of a large five year multidisciplinary study that tells us the exact same thing as the Bible and It’s a Wonderful Life: giving ourselves away is the path to a life of love and joy, hoarding things for ourselves out of fear, greed, or scarcity is the path to anxiety, worry, and unhappiness. The authors state, “Generosity is paradoxical. Those who give, receive back in turn. By spending ourselves for others’ well-being, we enhance our own standing. In letting go of some of what we own, we better secure our own lives. By giving ourselves away, we ourselves move toward flourishing. This is not only a philosophical or religious teaching; it is a sociological fact.” The authors go on to say they learned that, “The more generous Americans are, the more happiness, health, and purpose in life they enjoy. Generous practices actually create enhanced personal well-being. Despite all of this, it turns out that many Americans fail to live generous lives.”
“The generosity paradox can also be stated in the negative. By always protecting ourselves against future uncertainties and misfortunes, we are affected in ways that make us more anxious about uncertainties and vulnerable to future misfortunes. By failing to care for others, we do not properly take care of ourselves. It is no coincidence that the word ‘miser’ is related to the word ‘miserable.’ Many people fail to live in ways that would actually give them more of what they want in life.”[1] All of this is a reflection of what the Bible has taught. Proverbs 11:24-25 says, “Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want. A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.” Jesus says in Luke 17:33, “Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.”
What the Bible, It’s a Wonderful Life, and the book The Paradox of Generosity all point out is that “All that you can take with you is that which you have given away.” This truth which points us to the value of being generous applies to many areas of our life: “money, possessions, time, attention, aid, encouragement, emotional availability, and more. Generosity is a basic, personal, moral orientation to life that always intends to enhance the true well-being of those to whom something is being given. Generosity involves not only the good of love expressed, but also many vices and counterproductive emotions rejected, such as selfishness, greed, fear, and meanness.”[2]
Again this is something we see throughout It’s a Wonderful Life and in our own lives – it makes us feel good when we give and make a difference in someone else’s life. Author Kerry Robinson states, “The more seriously we live out our faith, the clearer the call to be generous and to live lives that inspire generosity. No one is excused from the responsibility and invitation to be generous and other-centered. Central to Christianity is the conviction that one finds life by giving it first away. Everyone has something to give others.”[3]
Listen to what a man wrote about an experience he had: “A couple of years ago I found out what “you can’t take it with you” means. I found out while I was lying in a ditch at the side of a country road, covered with mud and blood and with the tibia of my right leg poking out the side of my jeans like a branch of a tree taken down in a thunderstorm. I had a MasterCard in my wallet, but when you’re lying in a ditch with broken glass in your hair, no one accepts MasterCard….We come in naked and broke. We may be dressed when we go out, but we’re just as broke. Warren Buffet? Going to go out broke. Bill Gates? Going out broke. Tom Hanks? Going out broke. Steve King? Broke. Not a crying dime. All the money you earn, all the stocks you buy, all the mutual funds you trade—all of that is mostly smoke and mirrors. It’s still going to be a quarter-past getting late whether you tell the time on a Timex or a Rolex….
So I want you to consider making your life one long gift to others. And why not? All you have is on loan, anyway. All that lasts is what you pass on…. Giving isn’t about the receiver or the gift but the giver. It’s for the giver. One doesn’t open one’s wallet to improve the world, although it’s nice when that happens; one does it to improve one’s self….A life of giving—not just money, but time and spirit—repays. It helps us remember that we may be going out broke, but right now we’re doing O.K. Right now we have the power to do great good for others and for ourselves. So I ask you to begin giving, and to continue as you begin. I think you’ll find in the end that you got far more than you ever had, and did more good than you ever dreamed.” That wasn’t written by a preacher or a theologian, but by novelist Stephen King who understands being generous better than most people.
The Farmer’s Gazette observed, “It’s an easy matter for a stingy man to get rich, but what’s the use? It’s better to tell your money where to go than to ask where it went. You can only take with you what you gave away.”
I close with the results of one more study, led by Michael J. Poulin of the University of Buffalo, who followed 846 people over five years. At the start of the study, the researchers interviewed all of these people about stressful events in their lives, such as non-life-threatening illnesses, job loss, financial difficulties, or the death of a family member. They also asked participants whether they had helped friends, neighbors, or relatives who did not live with them over the past year, and how much time they’d spent doing so. This included caring or generous deeds such as driving people places, running errands for them, doing housework or providing child care for others. After five years, doing good clearly did good—for the givers. “Over the five years of the study,” said Poulin in a press release, “we found that when dealing with stressful situations, those who had helped others during the previous year were less likely to die than those who had not helped others.” For non-helpers, though, each stressful event increased the chance of dying over the next five years by 30 percent. Wow.
Albert Pike, “What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
“All that you can take with you is that which you have given away.”
Questions for Discussion or Reflection
- Think about some of the people you admire or have looked up to in life. How many of them do you appreciate because they were generous with their time, attention, skills, care, encouragement or finances?
- How were the lives the people we remember the most in the Bible, such as Moses, Esther, the prophets, Mary, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, etc., – marked by “giving themselves away.”
- In the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, Jimmy Stewart’s character George Bailey keeps a picture of his father on the wall of his office with a sign under it that says _________________________________________________.
How true do you think that statement is? Why? - In her book Imagining Abundance, Kerry Robinson writes, “Central to Christianity is the conviction that one finds life by giving it first away. Everyone has something to give others.” How can you give your life away even more so that you find life? What would that look like for you?
- In Acts 20:35b, Paul says, “remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” Do you think Jesus is correct? If so, what are the implications for you?
- What do you have that you can give and share with others?
[1] Christian Smith & Hilary Davidson, The Paradox of Generosity, pages 1 & 9.