#42 The Joy of Giving (14/09/02)

By Dr. Robert H. Schuller

The ultimate joy is the joy of giving. That is why this is the last message in this joy-filled series. These messages were developed to allow us to set the stage for a new century and a new millennium.

This Hour of Power and Crystal Cathedral ministries focus on joy because that is a human need and all persons should experience the sensible, sane and healthy lifestyle of a joy-filled life.

All who hear or read this message should be thankful because you have received many gifts. Jesus said, "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8).

As we come near the end of this century, stop and think of all the things this century has given to us. In 1912, America did not have a Federal Reserve. There were also no investment counselors, mutual funds, vitamin pills, refrigerators or income tax. I bet that last phrase really got your attention!

There were no radios, telephones, traffic lights, plastics, man-made fibers, or fluorescent lights. Americans did not have Social Security or unemployment insurance until after the 1929 crash. We also did not have air mail, airlines, copying machines, air conditioning, antibiotics, frozen foods, television, transistors, lasers, nuclear energy or computers.

Who would have imagined the changes that came to be in this century alone? Jesus said, "Greater works than I do, shall you do." Wow!

In 1912, Emil von Vehring produced an effective immunization against diphtheria and tetanus. In 1921, Frederick Banting and Charles Best isolated the hormone insulin. In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. In 1929, Hans Berger developed the first electroencephalograph. And the list goes on and on. Wow!

Dr. Jonas Salk developed the first effective polio vaccine in 1954. I knew him! In 1967, Christian Barnard performed the first successful heart transplant.

All of us alive today are the beneficiaries of these passionate possibility focused people. Their creative genius and their inventions have allowed us to live longer lives. That is one of the gifts we have received.

"Freely you have received," Jesus said, "freely give." We are happier, more joyous people today because we are the recipients of many gifts. Now that you understand that, do you have something to give? Do you know what that is? Maybe you have not discovered it yet because you put yourself down and are trying to figure out where you are at.

You are in a place called a church and this church is the Crystal Cathedral. If you watch the Hour of Power on television, regardless wherever you are in Russia or Viet Nam, or Canada or the United States God knows where you are.

By tuning in and listening, you are emotionally connecting with millions of others in a place called church. What is our message? Our message is that everybody has something to give that is worth a lot.

Everybody has something they can lay on the table. Maybe you are a Shirley Zink and you have been hurt like nothing else hurts. Her 19-year-old son committed suicide on his birthday. Her hurt is as bad as it gets. But she came here and she turned that hurt into a halo because she turned her pain into a possibility experience by helping others. Wow!

What do you have to lay on the table? Frank Freed who heads our counseling ministry here had a wonderful idea. He and his wife Evelyn wanted to give a gift of a "smiling Jesus" and they commissioned the sculptor who created the Smiling Jesus bronze that stands on these grounds.

It tells the Bible story of the loaves and fishes, and the Smiling Jesus stands with two little children who gave Him the five loaves of bread and the two fishes. The children were willing to be so generous and He gave them all He had. Jesus gave everything he had.

Another friend of the ministry, Isabelle Paul, gave us the beautiful sculpture by Mheri Danielpour (who did the Shah of Iran and his family). This wonderful artist from Iran captured the story of the Widow?s Mite in bronze -- the widow who gave everything she had, only two coins.

The widow stands at the entrance of this church. Genuine antique mites are in her hand. She?s giving all she had. The children gave all they had to Jesus -- the fish which is the symbol of the Christian faith.

I want to analyze why giving produces so much joy to the giver. Why does giving make people so happy? You can't find a religion in the world that generates as much energy -- in what could, only in psychology, be described as high levels of joy -- as the Christian faith.

I know and respect all the other faiths, but there is no faith that generates joy like the Christian faith. Why not? Because you tap into the mathematics of Jesus. What does this mean? He gives you power and friends, and He adds faith and a lot of what we call "lucky breaks."

Jesus strengthens our weaknesses, shortfalls and limitations. He helps us get by so much better with less than others who have more than we have. He adds, subtracts and divides the difficulties, the problems and the pain. He multiplies the possibilities, even the ones that come out of your pain.

Giving is at the heart of our faith. It was at the heart of the philosophy of Jesus. He was a giver and not a taker, and there are two basic kinds of people ? the givers and the takers.

When Jesus said, "Freely you have received, freely give," He meant that if you want to experience the joy of living, learn to receive and to give.

What does that mean? There isn't a single person walking around who has asked to be born. You didn't pick your parents. You didn't pick your genes and chromosomes. You were given the gift of life, the most precious gift God could give and He gave it to everybody. Life! Wow!

We are coming to the end of the century and nearing the end of a millennium. We have to stop and think about the blessings we have received so freely.

You didn't ask to be born, and yet you were born at this time in this century when we have health care and a longer life span like no one ever thought possible. Freely you have received. Now give freely.

You will begin to experience the joy that passes all expectations. The joy of giving produces greater pleasure than any other joy. I tried to analyze this from a psychological and philosophical and theological prospective. I made some notes. What does giving do to you?

You tap into memories that have been lying around untouched. When you present a gift to a person or an institution, or to God or to Jesus, or to this church, you are recalling, recollecting and remembering something wonderful and beautiful that has happened or is happening. To an overwhelming degree an average day is made up of moods that have been shaped by memories. If you want to tap into subconscious memories that you haven?t recalled, buy a gift for someone or for something.

Tap into the emotional energy called thanksgiving energy. Like we sing in the hymn, "Count your many blessings, name them one by one," you'll be surprised by what the Lord has done. It is impossible to be thankful and not experience joy.

Move into positive fantasizing. The human brain is created so that we have the capacity to imagine, which is a form of fantasizing, enthusiastic imagination. When you are presenting the gift, do you think what it is going to do? How is it going to help?

Your generosity generates joy in personality and character. Everybody has a reputation. It may be a reputation for generosity or it may be a reputation for something quite the opposite. Ultimately, what do people think of you?

Next summer I will be celebrating my 50th anniversary as an ordained minister. Of all the funerals I have conducted, there is one I still can't get over. He was a very well-known and successful man here in Orange County, California.

He had made a lot of money in the stock market and had died suddenly of a heart attack. When I got to the funeral chapel, nobody else had arrived. I waited and the time came to proceed with the service and nobody else was there other than the funeral director and myself.

The time came and the funeral director said, "Well, it?s time to go." And I said, "But, nobody is here. He had three sons, they all live in the area."

The funeral director answered, "I know, but let me tell you something Dr. Schuller. One son called and ordered the funeral and the other bought a plot for him, but they both said, ?Don?t worry, we?ll take care of the expenses but we are not coming. When he was alive, he never had time for us.?"

And nobody came to this man?s funeral. He had money, power and a well-known name, but what kind of a reputation did he have?

You can become a generous, caring and philanthropic person. You don?t just give to the church. Hopefully you give your tithe, the full 10% of your earnings to your church. You may give more than that and you may give to other good causes.

If you are a generous person, generous people surround you. You have no idea how that will change your life.

As a generous person, you are honoring people when you give them a gift. You are honoring this church or this institution when you bring your tithes and offerings. But in the process, you also honor yourself. You will end up with self-esteem and pride.

Why is it that giving generates such joy? I think one of the last things I want to say is you learn through it when enough is enough.

Have you learned that? I know a lot of people who haven?t. If you can come to church and drop 10% of your earnings in the offering, you can look at what you have done and say, "That is enough."

I feel so sorry for people who are not poor. Some are rich and some are very rich and some are super wealthy. Yet some of these people have never learned when enough is enough.

You can't "eat" your wealth, you'll get too fat. You can't "sleep" it, or "wear" it. You can't go every place you want to and you can't take it with you. All around you there are people who are hurting and hungry. There are people who are lost and wanting to commit suicide, and there are ministries that are trying to save these lost souls and they need your help.

The joy of giving is knowing that you are making a difference where you are, where it really counts, and you aren?t doing it for honor or fame. You are doing it because you are driven by a passion and that passion is spelled C-H-R-I-S-T.

Christ makes the difference. "Freely you have received so much, freely now give." I don?t know this woman, but her story made the news recently. Her name is Joyce Roche and she is coordinator of organ donations in Indiana.

She heard about a kid in Minnesota who was going to die unless he got a kidney and there was no kidney for him. The thought struck her that she had two kidneys and she could give him one. She is one of the first persons ever to think about donating a kidney to a total stranger in another state.

The boy?s family couldn?t believe it, but it did happen and she said, "I just feel that I?m doing what Jesus teaches. Give yourself and you'll receive more than you can ever hope for."

Jesus Christ is what drove her to give the gift of life to that boy. After the surgery, when the media and everyone else was there, she came out and met the young boy. She had tears in her eyes as he smiled at her and gave her a special gift, it said, "To my other mom."

To wrap up the story, the woman was quoted in press reports saying, "The greatest blessing for me is that for a moment in time I got to see God?s purpose for me. That for me has been a miracle." Wow!

The joy of giving never stops because you know your gift is never spent. Your gift becomes a seed and it is that seed that continue to bear fruit.

How can you discover the joy of giving? How can you become a giver and not a taker? Let me show you how.

This church is so wonderful because we have taught people what the Bible teaches. This is good Jewish religion, good Catholic religion, good Protestant religion, good Muslim religion.

The Bible says, "Freely you have received, now freely give." You were given life and you weren?t charged for it, except by the hospital. Freely you have received, now freely give. God says we are to give one-tenth back to Him, one-tenth of our time and one-tenth of our resources and our money.

We have been teaching this for 45 years. I taught it to all my kids. Ten apples, God is very generous. You can keep nine, just give one to Him. Everybody can do that without exception. Give God one tenth, live on the other nine-tenths.

Or do what my dad told me. Dad said, "Give 10% of what you earn to God. Take another 10% and put it in savings and you live on the 80%. If you can't live on the 80%, you are living too high."

Start by tithing. Start by giving to God. Start here and before you know it you will become addicted to generosity. What joy that puts in your life!