How Knowing the World is a Garden Changes Everything

Ever since I saw it, it’s been bothering me.  It’s the contradiction of it all.  I’m talking about that amazing prayer in your bulletin?  I put it there last week too for Veteran’s Day.   You don’t have to look for it.  I’ll just read it to you.

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.

I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health, that I might do greater things.

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

I asked for riches, that I might be happy.

I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for but got everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am, among all people, most richly blessed.

I love that prayer.  No great theologian or pastor wrote it.  A regular soldier did, one whose name we don’t even know.   Yet, the prayer gives profound perspective on life.   But what bothers me is that as insightful as this soldier was, he was fighting on the wrong side of an awful war.  He died defending slavery of all things.  But I shouldn’t be surprised.

Everyone has blind spots.   Great spiritual leaders have them.  I love the prayers of the monk, St. Bernard of Clairvaux.  I use them in worship.  The guy wrote beautiful prayers.  But he also delivered powerful sermons promoting the Crusades, of all things.  

And don’t think you and I have any room to get morally superior.  A hundred years from now, people will look at some of the things we thought or did and be appalled.  Still, just as in that prayer, life does have certain truths, certain realities that stand the test of time.  They held true a hundred years ago. They’ll hold true a hundred years from now.  Yet, even so, you can miss them.   And the truth that you’re about to hear, one the Bible goes back to again and again, many people miss.  But when you get it, it changes everything.   What is it?  Listen and find out.

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Do you see the truth here, the truth that so many miss?  God tells you this truth again and again.   Yet, still you can miss it.   And when you do, you miss so much.   And here in Paul’s words, God tells you this time one more time.   God says.  Don’t you get it.  I’ve created a garden.  This reality, this world you see has limitless potential.  And only as you realize that, will you discover the vibrant, dynamic life God yearns you to have.

That’s how Paul can make such bold claims to this church in Corinth.   You see.  Paul is writing a fund-raising letter to these Christians.  He is calling on them to give money for a special collection for believers in Jerusalem who are facing a famine.  And what does he tell them about their gifts?   He says.  If you give generously, you will reap generously.  He tells them.  Think of the money as seeds.   These seeds will reproduce.  They will return to you blessings far more abundant than anything you give.   So, let’s get this straight.  Paul is telling them.  Whatever you give, you will get back way more.  That’s a pretty stunning claim to make.   So how can Paul make it?

He knows.  God created a garden.  You see.   You can look at the world the way a gardener does or the way a butcher does.   If you look at the world as a butcher, then you think, ok.  I’ve got this one cow, and that’s all I got.  So, if my expenses go up, I’ve got to shave the meat a little thinner. And I can’t give anything away.  That would be crazy.  I’ve got to hold on to the cow no matter what.   But if you look at the world as a gardener, you think, hey, I’m almost out of tomatoes.   No worries.  I’ll grow some more.   You don’t worry about giving tomatoes away either.  You know.   You can just grow more.   In fact, with one seed, you can grow limitless amounts of tomatoes. 

I first heard it put that way by a guy named Tim Sanders.  And off that insight, which Tim would readily admit comes from the Bible, he’s made a nice career.  He’s done more speaking and consulting for more Fortune 500 companies than I could name.   Basically, he’s told them this key truth.  Don’t look at the world as a butcher.  Look at the world as a gardener.  Why?   That’s what the world is, a garden.

RobertoGoizueta got that too.  He said.  The secret isn’t counting the beans.  It’s growing more beans.   And when he led Coca-Cola, he applied that truth pretty well.  When he became President in 1981, Coco-Cola was worth a little over 4 billion.  When he died in 1997, still serving as President, Coca-Cola had become worth over 150 billion dollars.   Just this year, his foundation gave away over 44 million dollars, 21 years after the guy died.  That’s some beans.   

But, let’s make it clear, God isn’t telling you when you give money, you’ll get more money back.   That’s why God leads Paul to words like blessings or fruits of righteousness.   God knows.  What makes life worthwhile goes far beyond money.   Money can’t buy you friends or love or even security.   But Paul is saying this.  When you give generously, including financially, you sow seed into the world that I, God will multiply in your life.   And if you don’t give, you miss the opportunity for that to happen.  Why?  Because God is a gardener.  The whole story of the Bible begins in a garden.  

God is a gardener.  And the more seed you give God to work with, the more blessing God brings in your life.  That’s true of how you spend your time.  That’s true of how you spend your money.   Yes, this church needs financial support to continue its witness to the gospel.  But your gifts do more than simply keep the lights on.   As you give, as you take risks in your giving, you open yourself to richer blessing from God.   Whatever you shovel towards God, God shovels back.  And God has a bigger shovel.  Yet every year, I see people hold back, not give what they could, because they don’t believe this.  They don’t believe that what God is telling them again and again is true.   And that’s tragic. It’s why when someone sent me this clip earlier this week, I knew, it’s because God wanted me to use it here.

Now, look.   God isn’t asking you to lift up a star fighter with your mind.   But God is asking you to believe that you can give more than you think to God and to what God values.    God is asking you to believe more by giving more, trusting that God will provide for your needs, trusting that in your giving, God will bring you more blessing.   As the preacher and leadership guru John Maxwell put it.  So why not try abundance?  At best, you’ll experience abundance.  At worst, you’ll get the scarcity you’ve already been experiencing.   And how do you know, you’ll experience abundance?  Because, God is a gardener.   Just look at Jesus.

Do you know how Jesus described his death on the cross?  He called it a seed, that like any seed, could only bring life if it gave up its life.    Where did Jesus pray before he died.  He prayed in a garden.  And after he died, where did his friends bury him.  They buried him in a garden.  And when he rose again, when Mary saw the resurrected Jesus, who did she think Jesus was.  She thought Jesus was a gardener.   And in a profound way, she was right.   In his death, Jesus planted a seed that bears limitless fruit to this day.   So, plant your seed. Give generously to others with your time, your talents, and yes your finances.  And then wait and see what God will do, what fruit, what blessing, God will bring.  After all, God is a gardener.