The Scripture that I just read is a part of Scripture used to talk about tithing. Now don't get up tight, we are not going to be talking about that this morning. We are going to take a fresh look at maybe something exciting that God is trying to communicate to us.
I was read Tony Campolo's new book, "THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS A PARTY" , when I realized there was something to what Tony was saying concerning this section of God's Word. Listen to what Tony says about this passage. "As I was reading Deuteronomy 14:22-28, the passage about tithing hit me hard. I realized that I had gotten it all wrong--I had always thought that what the Lord told Moses to tells us was to set aside 10% of all our earnings to give to the work of God (i.e., the ministries of the church). But as I read and re-read the passage, it was clear that the tithe was not for that at all. It was for partying." Unquote.
Now, I don't know if I agree with Tony or not, but I have learned a long time ago, that just because something is not the way I always thought it was, didn't mean that my way was right. It also doesn't mean that the other way is right. I'm kind of like the old gold miners out west. They knew where the gold was, YOU HAVE TO DIG FOR IT. I believe it is the same with the Word of God. You have to dig for the gold. Reading the Scripture is wonderful, as a starter, but to really know, understand and appreciate God's Word, you have to dig deeper.
Once a year, according to what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 14, all the people of God were to bring 1/10 of all their earnings to the temple in Jerusalem. Imagine! 1/10 of Israel's GNP! And it was not to be used, according to Campolo, for mission work. I was not to be used for charity. It was not even to be used to build an education annex onto the temple. It was to be used on a gigantic party.
Speaking of parties reminds me that when I was in High School, one of the all time lows was around Prom time. Low if you did not have a date. I always did. But I knew some who didn't and they really suffered. I remember reading about a young Lutheran minister in Minnesota, by the name of John Carlson, who gained attention and praise when he came up with the innovative idea that there should be a special party the night of the senior prom for those who did not have dates.
All across America the night of the senior prom is a time of hurt feelings and deep depression for hundreds of thousands of high school kids. Not to have a date for the senior prom is to be publicly declared a REJECT. Everybody knows that those who can't get dates for the prom have to be losers.
What is even sadder is that the sense of rejection and inferiority symbolized by being dateless on prom night has haunted these kids all through their school years. The prom simply provides the finishing blow.
So far as John Carlson was concerned, the prom was not the kind of party that Jesus would have liked. It was TOO EXCLUSIVE to be Christian, in his opinion. It seemed to be reserved for the beautiful and the popular. So John planned an alternative to the prom for those whom "THE SYSTEM" had deemed losers and rejects. He called it the Reject Prom. Those who did not have dates were expecially invited--the kids loved it. The REJECT PROM was held the same night as the senior prom and it turned out to be a real blowout party that made the senior prom seem tame and dull by comparison.
Once the thing got started, there was no stopping it. EAch year the number attending this party for rejects grew. The party began to get press coverage.
Timex Corp. gave watches to the kids who attended. Other companies joined in, and those who came to the REJECT PROM were overwhelmed with interesting gifts and souvenirs. It wasn't long before some of the kids who could get dates and go to the prom decided not to. They preferred to join in the good time that the "REJECTS" were having at their special party.
What a great sign that the Kingdom of God is among us. What John Carlson pulled off must have had the angels in heaven chuckling and our Lord smiling. It is just the kind of celebration that He ordered in Deuteronomy 14:22-28. In that Old Testament party there were special orders to make the widows, the orphans, the crippled, and the blind the guests of honor. The Passover celebration was a party for those who couldn't afford one.
In the New Testament, the party is good news for the poor and the oppressed. The apostle Paul tells us that the big shots and the elite seldom show up for God's party. Instead it is the "REJECTS" who come.
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: {27} But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; {28} And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (1 Cor 1:26-28)
Jesus faced the same prospect when He described His Kingdom.
Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: {17} And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. {18} And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. {19} And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. {20} And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. {21} So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. {22} And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. {23} And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. (Luke 14:16-23)
The rich and powerful are too busy to come. But blessed are the poor. They're not too busy to show up.
A PARTY FOR EVERYONE
A real tragedy of our world is that so many people seem to be shut out of God's party. This is not God's will. He wants His party to be INCLUSIVE and it grieves Him for it to be otherwise.
A few years ago a man walked into a Minister's office (Tony Campolo) with a very unusual request. He knew the minister headed up a missionary organization that has a variety of programs in Haiti, and he wondered if it were possible to go to a village in Haiti and throw a CHristmas dinner for everybody who lived there. He envisioned a couple of hundred people on Christmas Day having turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce--the whole typical North American spread.
The minister was not crazy about the idea, but the more he thought about it, the more he saw it as a positive possibility. He worried about the cross culture aspect, but came to the conclusion that a typically North American meal would be better than going hungry on Christmas Day.
Things were made ready and the people invited the man to the party. It was great. The joy and celebration that marked the feast were mind-boggling. The infectious laughter of children, the singing of teenagers, the smiles on the faces of adults, all combined to make the party the best one anyone could remember. Undoubtedly, it was the best party this man ever went to, and it was the best Christmas he and his family ever enjoyed.
The honored guests at that party in Haiti were the poor and the oppressed. That is the kind of party that pleases the Lord--the kind He was talking about in Deut. 14.
If our Lord's Kingdom is comprised of people who can joyfully celebrate the goodness of life which He has ordained, then we must see to it that nobody is prevented from enjoying the party. If poor black kids in Indianapolis have little to celebrate because they have hovels for homes and live in the midst of gang violence, then we must do something to change all of that. If people in Liberia have to endure humiliation and death because of the rulers, then that rule must be changed. If the people of Kuwait are denied human rights and are made into aliens in the land in which they were born, then we must protest.
If Catholics in Northern Ireland are made into 2nd class citizens by the Protestant majority, then we must work and pray for the restructuring of the Irish social system.
In simple words, we must be committed to destroying all of those barriers that keep our brothers and sisters from entering into the celebration of life which is the mark of the Kingdom of God. It is our calling to join with Christ to destroy all of those works of the devil.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. {8} He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. {9} Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. {10} In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (1 John 3:7-10)
Sitting in front of a television set in a strange hotel in a strange city, there on business for CBS, waiting till it was time to leave for the airport to go home. Feelings of loneliness and anxiousness about getting home were keeping me from sleeping. Then, onto the TV screen came pictures of the closing celebration of the Olympic games. At first, the teams, wearing their official uniforms and carrying their national flags, marched around the stadium in a structured parade that looked like soldiers on review.
Then suddenly the Olympians broke ranks. They ran and danced with one another in a spontaneous outpouring of enthusiasm. The neat columns were gone. Nationalistic identities were destroyed. There wereno longer winners and losers, communists and capitalists, whites and blacks, Hispanics and Asians, rich and poor. There were only happy, dancing people hugging each other and loving each other. In that ecstatic moment, all divisions between humanity were wiped out. In a split second, the socially created barriers between the peopls of the world were forgotten. All at once there was joyful pandemonium and unspeakable joy.
As I watched that faraway party, my depression disappeared. Even though I was all alone, I stood up and applauded. And as I cheered, I sensed God saying to me that this is what it was like on the day of Pentecost and this is what it will be like when the Kingdom comes in its fullness.
From the book of Acts we read:
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. {2} And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. {3} And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. {4} And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. {5} And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. {6} Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. {7} And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? {8} And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? {9} Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, {10} Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, {11} Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. {12} And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? (Acts 2:1-12)
In the party generated by the Holy Spirit, all divisions are obliterated: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28)
As I watched that TV scene, I saw the vision--through a glass darkly--of the party that gave birth to the church and the party that will mark the eventual triumph of the church in that moment. What I saw only made me long for that day when I will see it face to face. The vision of what will be stirred within me incredible dissatisfaction with what actually is right now.
The party that is to come makes me unwilling to tolerate all systems and structures that keep the party from happening now. There is nothing that fosters social change like a tiny glimpse of the party that will be given by the God who promises it to us by His grace.
A PARTY OF PEACE
Sociologists long have known that radical social change and revolution do not occur becasue things are deplorable as much as they occur when people see the possibilities of what could be. Little tastes of the party God has in store for us make me want to destroy the unjust social arrangements in this world that keep the party called "GOD'S KINGDOM" from being realized. That image of the Kingdom of God at the Los Angeles Olympics was something I must remember.
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Cor 2:9)
What socialogists do not know is how powerful a force for peace a party can be. During the Civil War, the army of the Union and the army of the Confederacy were locked in a vicious battle to the death just outside the city of Richmond. As night fell after the first day of the battle, cheers were heard from the Confederate lines. When General Grant asked what was going on behind the enemy's line, he was told that the wife of General George Pickett had given birth to a baby boy, and that his troops were celebrating.
Upon receiving the news, General Grant ordered bonfires to be lit and a toast to be given. Cheers and hoorahs rang out all night long. For a few hours, the shooting stopped and warring soldiers were drawn together for a birthday party. The birth of Pickett's son only temporarily stopped a war. But it stands as evidence of what a good birthday party can do.
The good news is that another Son was born, and there were some who stopped what they were doing and enjoyed a little bit of peace for just a little while. THere was singing in the sky--at least some shepherds said there was. And some strange visitors came looking for a baby whom they nicknamed the Prince of Peace. Everyone has not gotten the message, so not everyone knows about the baby. But the baby started a movement and we know that someday everyone will come to His party and call Him the Lord of the Feast.
There's a great day coming when the world will change. The lion will lie down with the lamb. Swords will be beaten into plowshares. And people will forget about war. What started out as a birthday party will end with a wedding feast. We will call it the "KINGDOM OF GOD." We must pray for it, and we must work for it.
We, here this morning are looked upon by the world as rejects. But one day, like the REJECT PROM, people will want to come to this party. We must be ready to receive them and we must tell them there is a party going on. We are not at a funeral, but a party. And at a party, you enjoy yourself and are happy and smiling. Let's begin, today, to have our party for Christ, that everyone will want to come.
