Taco Bell: A Holy Place? July 1, 2018 [Scripture Focus: 2 Corinthians 8: 7-15] I discovered through my research that there s this reality that whatever you make ($10,000 or $1,000,00 per year), to most of us rich usually means twice the amount that we currently make. If you make $10,000 per year, then the person who makes $20,000 is rich. If you make $1 million per year, then you re not rich until you make $2 million per year. Think about this criteria: In 2000, the Federal Reserve shared that 7,000 families in America had a net worth of over $100 million dollars. Today, that number is closer to 20,000 families. Families worth only $10 million or more (those known as the junior wealthy ) now number close to a million. Just so you know, there are over 80 million family households in America. In 2016, there were just over 323 million people in America and the wealthiest 1% of them earned more than the total national income of France or Italy. So, if I told you that I could offer you a job paying $37,000 per year, would you jump at the chance? Maybe not An annual salary of $37,000 would represent a pay cut for many Americans. However, for 96% of the world s population, this would represent a significant increase in salary. If you earn $37,000 per year, you are in the richest 4% of people in the world! On the world s scale, if you re making at least $37,000 per year, the only problems you face are rich people problems. These are problems that the remaining 96% of world s population would love to have; Bad cell phone coverage = rich person problem; Can t decide where to go on vacation = rich people problem; Slow internet? Car trouble? Flight delays? Amazon s out of your size? All rich people problems! This morning, we re going to talk about what the Bible says to us about being rich and what we re supposed to do. Let s take a closer look at the text from 2 Corinthians 8: 7-15 that Connie read earlier.
In today s text, the Apostle Paul is urging the Corinthians to help the poor. Paul uses Christ as an example. According to Paul, Jesus became poor in two ways. First, he gave up his glory with the Father in Heaven to become a human being. God to human; it does sound like a bit of a demotion, doesn t it? Secondly, he was literally poor in the things of this world. While He was a part of the Triune Godhead, he lived on this earth, was born into a poor family, lived a poor life, died in poverty and was buried in a borrowed grave. While there s no evidence that Jesus was any poorer than most first-century Palestinians, he did, in fact, become poor by giving up his rights as God. He became human and was subject to place and time and other human limitations. He did NOT give up his eternal power but set aside his glory and his rights and made us rich when we received his gift of salvation and eternal life. Through Paul s communication with the people of Corinth, we were taught that no matter what we have, we must never forget those who are less fortunate than ourselves. We re to take what we have and make a difference in the lives of those who are hurting or those who don t know the living, risen Christ. We re not to worry about our rich people problems: Bad cell phone coverage; Can t decide where to go on vacation; Slow internet? Car trouble? Flight delays? Amazon s out of your size? In the overall scope of the world, these are not real problems! While most of us will stroke a check to help if we see a heart-felt video regarding the poor treatment of animals or folks suffering because of a natural disaster or it s around a holiday, it s more typical that we ignore the bad stuff that s going on around us every day of our lives and focus on rich-people problems. Honestly, we don t know what to do; we don t know what s real and what s a scam; we see people who seem to have no place to live and immediately assume that they re addicts or crazy or are trying to scam us. They re probably driving a Mercedes and are able to do so on
what they make scamming naive people. When just maybe maybe they re normal people who have fallen on hard times; the same hard times that any of us could encounter. I was out one day helping Blankets for the Homeless distribute food and clothing and met a young man. He was an auto mechanic and said that this was a good job - until the garage that he worked for mysteriously closed one day - without notice. He was ultimately able to find another job in about a month but in the meantime, he had no income and little savings. His family (he, his pregnant wife and their little child) were evicted from their apartment. He wasn t remotely asking for it but said that he needed around $5,000 to move into an apartment to cover deposits, utilities, first & last month s rent, etc. His family was living in a cheap hotel at the beach (the kind of hotel that houses those who can only afford week-toweek arrangements). He said that no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn t get the deposit money together. There was always a medical bill or something that took all of the money that he could squirrel away. He wasn t crazy or an addict. He just fell upon the kind of hard times that almost any of us could fall upon and had no financial safety net. It s not that hard to imagine I want to read you a page from Steve Sjogren and Dave Ping s wonderful book Outflow: Outward-Focused Living in a Self-Focused World. Splash A tiny drop of rain fell from Heaven as Theresa s dented Toyota idled roughly in the Taco Bell drive-through. A single mom, Theresa, depended on a government welfare check to feed her 8 year-old son. It was 10 days till the next check would arrive and she was already broke. Here s how she described what happened next
After looking under the sofa cushions, all the car seats and through the glove box, we came up with grand total of $4.58! It had been a hard week and my thinking was Hey, any way you look at it we aren t going to have enough money to make it through to the next check. So let s go out with style. So we headed to Taco Bell. As we got to the drive thru window to pay, I was never so shocked in all of my life. The guy standing in the window had a big grin on his face and said this is your lucky day - the people in front of you paid for your entire meal. They said to give you this card. The card read We hope this small act of service shows you God s love in a practical way. I ve got to tell you something. For me and my 8 year old son, Donny, this was no small act of love. It was huge! We were in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to receive this touch from God when we needed it most! When you leave church today, you ll be encouraged to take a few cards (like those that Theresa and Donny received). The next day, Theresa and Donny came to church for the very first time. That tiny drop of generosity they d experienced in God s name (at Taco Bell) made them hopeful that perhaps God really did care about them and what they were going through. Taco Bell was a holy place on that day The people who helped Theresa and Donny didn t decide against helping others for fear that they might be scammed. They responded by opening their hearts (and their wallets), the same way that Paul tells the Corinthians to react. Honestly, we have so much, what would it mean to any of us to buy someone a meal at Taco Bell? Taco Bell officially became a holy place on the day that Theresa & Donny were fed.
Maybe better than any sermon that s ever been preached, Theresa and Donny saw the Gospel lived out. The people who bought their meal may have been more effective preachers than Billy Graham or T.D.Jakes or Joel Osteen. They didn t just talk about the Gospel. They lived the Gospel! Maybe like Theresa, you ve wondered about God. Does God exist? Does he really care about me? Are God and religion even relevant any more? My life s filled with technology, busy-ness and modern problems. Honestly, what s an old-fashioned God have to do with my life? Maybe God s already a part of your life but you ve been thinking How can I have a deeper relationship with God? How can I trust God for my health, my finances and my future? How can I share my hope in God with those around me? There s this reality that when we only focus on ourselves (looking inwardly), we will never, ever have the answer. We ll never be fulfilled. Simply put, this just isn t the way God designed us to live our lives. It s only by becoming outwardly focused (like Jesus was) that we can begin to experience God s plan for us and to make a real difference in this troubled world. One of the daily devotionals from my friend, Glenn McDonald, this week seemed highly appropriate when I read it. On Thursday, Glenn wrote An older woman decided to do some shopping downtown. She was anxious about venturing into the city by herself, but felt hopeful that she could get in and out of the stores quickly and be on her way home. With relief she returned to her car, only to discover she had locked the keys inside.
Along with her cell phone. She glanced around at the unfamiliar urban terrain. Her first impulse was to pray. Lord, I m in a fix here. Please send me a good man who can help. Moments later a man seemed to appear out of nowhere. Having trouble with your car? he asked. I ve locked my keys inside, she said, and I really don t know what to do. No problem, he answered. Within 30 seconds, he had unlocked the car. Here you go, he said with a smile. Thank you so much! she gushed. Then, looking to heaven, she said, Lord, thank you for sending me a good man! With that, the man s smile faded. Lady, he said, I m sorry to tell you this, but I m not really a good man. I just got out of prison for grand theft auto. The woman thought for a moment. Then she prayed, Lord, thank you for sending me a professional! God so loved the world that he doesn t usually send professionals. God, in fact, seems to favor blessing the world with those who have never seen the inside of a seminary or received special theological training. People who were in awe of Mother Teresa of Calcutta sometimes wondered aloud how they, too, might be used by God to do great things. "Do you want to do something that matters?" she would answer. "Then pick up a broom and sweep the floor." Concerning her own life she would simply say, " I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world. Every one of us can embrace that role today. Your small of act of service, your simple word of encouragement, and your heartfelt silent prayer are all God needs to change the world. It s difficult to imagine that any of us could be in the same league with Mother Teresa but if we focus on Christ s teachings and follow His example, God s love can be made complete in us. We can become living, breathing examples of God s love! When you can t imagine being gifted (or rich) enough to make a difference to those who are hurting in our world, remember that you ve been given more than enough. We ve already determined that you re rich! You have all that you need to go to Taco Bell, buy someone a meal and share the gospel. You don t need the Charity Navigator web site to determine who s authentic. Just go be the person that Christ calls you to be. You can go to Taco Bell and share the Good News!
There s no one here who won t encounter a homeless person this week. They are absolutely every where! In May, we made Blessing Bags to give to those in need. Using the donations of this congregation, you ll find that we have lots more available following worship in the Narthex and the Fellowship Hall lobby. We ll also have cards - like the ones that Theresa and Donny received. You are invited to take them and to turn where ever you go into a Holy Place. Go ahead! Share some of our immense wealth with those who are so desperately in need. Now, go and make a difference in the world. Don t worry about whether there s a need or a want. Just give to others as Christ has given to you. Don t forget: You re rich! Amen.