09/23/07

“Whose Fries Are These?”

I Chronicles 29:10-16; II Corinthians 9:6-8

One day James wanted to do something special with his five year old son Jimmy. He asked “Son, is there anything you’d like to do right now?” Jimmy said, “I want some McDonald French Fries.” His father said, “If that’s what my boy wants, then that’s what my boy gets.” They got into their truck and headed toward McDonald’s. Jimmy’s lips and tongue were silently moving as he could taste the fries before they even reached the store.

His Dad made the order, and Jimmy’s heart pounded when his Dad said, “make it super size fries.” James took the money out of his wallet to pay for the fries and a drink. Jimmy’s little teeth were ready to sink into those hot golden fries, before they made it to the table. When they sat down, grace consisted of “God bless this food amen,” but it seemed like way too many words to Jimmy who was eager to delight himself with this huge blessing of French fries.

James was glad to see his little boy so happy over something so simple. He decided to join in the fun. He reached over to get a couple of Jimmy’s fries for himself.

To his surprise, his son quickly put his arms around his fries as though building a fort and pulled them toward himself and said, “No, these are mine.” His dad was in a state of shock for a moment. He could not believe what had happened. James pulled back his hand and began to reflect about his son’s attitude toward the fries.

Let’s walk together through the things that went through his mind. He was thinking, my son failed to realize that I am the source of those French fries. At the counter, I was the one who gave the cashier the money from my wallet. I did not give him the size fry he was expecting, but something twice as big. Yet here he is talking about his French fries.

Not only was I the source of the French fries, he has forgotten that I at 6ft 1 and 195 lbs, have the power to take all the fries despite his little arms surrounding them as a fort. Or that if I wanted to, I could go back to the counter and bring him so many fries that he could never eat them all. He also does not understand that I don’t need his French fries. I could also go back to the counter and get as many fries as I wanted. As the Dad thought about it, one or two fries really would not have made much of a difference for him that day. What he wanted was for his son Jimmy to invite him into the wonderful little world he had made possible for his son. He wanted his son to be willing to share the very blessing that he had provided.

Everyday God gives us the choice to live out the chance to appreciate and share all the blessings he has given us. God takes us to McDonald’s on a regular basis in our lives. God blesses us. He blesses you and God blesses me. He’s given us all some French fries. Some have small bags, others medium, others large and some super size. Some are narrow and light in color, others are thick and dark, some are straight and some are curly. But God has given us all some fries.

Like that Dad, James, God desires to sit down at the table with us for some fellowship. When God reaches over to use some of the blessings he has given to us, far too often we say “No God, these are mine. No, No, No. Go and get your own.” We try building our own little forts around our blessings.

Do any of us truly understand that God is the source of all that we receive? Sure we may have gone to work, but how many of us know that you’ve got to have something within you that you didn’t put in you to have the ability to get up and go to work?

Do any of us today truly understand that God has the ability to take away everything we think is ours and God has the ability to give us far more than what we have? Do any of us recognize that God does not need our French fries, and that it is an honor and a privilege to be able to share our fries with God? God does not ask us to give because God is hurting and in desperate need. God asks us to give because God wants us to be like Him. God has a giving attitude and he wants that giving attitude modeled in his children. The first verse many people learn is John 3:16 which begins, for God so love the world that he what….He gave His only Son.

Throughout the Bible, you find that God is always giving. In your own lives, how haven’t you found that you cannot underestimate God’s ability to provide for you in ways that you had not thought possible? God is very interested in our response to the blessings He sends our way and what we choose to do with them. Let’s look at our Old Testament passage of I Chronicles chapter 29.

In the first nine verses of the chapter, the Israelites had just taken up an incredible offering for a new building project. They were going to build the first temple for God. The people had gone NUTS in their giving. They were celebrating because the leaders were pledging their gold, their silver, their jewelry and everything else they had of value.

Let’s look at verses 10-17 which indicate the people knew that God is the source of every blessing that we have. In verse 11 it says: “everything in heaven and earth is yours.” David reiterates in verse 14, “everything comes from you.” Then, look at the last six words in verse 16, “all of it belongs to you.” David understood that everything comes from God. Everything! In verse 12, the last part of the verse says, In Your hands are the strength and power to exalt and to give strength to all.” David understood that God was in control and could give us French fries or take them away from us.

In verse 14 it says, “everything comes from you, and we have only what comes from your hand.” That’s interesting. It’s saying, “God, you gave us everything we have, and we’re just turning around and giving some back to you.” David is saying, “God you are the total source of all that we have. All this wealth we have given for the building of the temple, You have put it in our hands, and then we took it out of our hands, and put it back in your hands.” It’s a circle of giving.

And that’s the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: God is the source of everything. Yes. Whether we worked for it, won it, found it, or received it as a gift, God is still the ultimate source. The bible tells us, the earth is the Lord and everything it in, the world and all who live in it. Everything we think we own, belongs to God. There is nothing we have that God ultimately has not provided. We are growing in Christ when we realize that God gives to us and delights in our giving to others and giving back to God. Doesn’t it amaze you that we would act like Jimmy with the French fries with God?

God gives us all these French fries and we’re sitting around saying, “oh no, no, no these are mine.” God as a parent is hurt because we have such a limited understanding that everything we have was God’s and still is God’s. If you really think something belongs to you, die and try to keep somebody else from taking it. In our Old Testament reading, God asked the people to bring in a tithe and see if He will not bless them for it. A tithe is nothing more than a penny out of a dime, or a dime out of dollar.

If God sat with you at a table, and gave you 10 dimes, what would cause you to say no if God asked for one of them back? Yet 90% of all people who say they love God will say no God, this is mine. We get upset about paying 10% when God is entitled to the full 100% to do as he pleases. The moment God puts money into our hands, “we declare this is mine. I’ll only give what I want to give.” Up goes the fortress around our fries. We have no idea of how blessed we are and of all the things that God has done for us.

God loves us so much, that He has not even given up on us yet even though we make it plain, I’m not letting you have my fries. Do you know what gratitude is? Gratitude is having an understanding and appreciation of the blessings that we have in life. Some of us here would like to show God our gratitude, but like Jimmy, we’re not sure we will have enough fries to meet all our needs and desires.

We serve a giving God. The more we serve Him, the more giving we should become. Will we break down our walls around our fries and say to God, “Your plan and your purposes for my life and the lives of those around me are far greater than what I could do with these fries on my own. You take them and do as you please.”? God is challenging us to allow Him to set us free from our fries so that we might enter into a deeper relationship with Him. It’s time for us to once again to put our treasure where our hearts are and live for Christ, as we begin our Stewardship Season and contemplate what portion of our bounty we will dedicate to the church. Let us never underestimate the Spirit’s power to give us far more fries than we will ever need as we joyfully give a generous amount of them back to God. And let us never doubt for a moment that God loves a cheerful giver.

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