Gift

“I know what I want to do, and it makes sense to get going.”

It does make sense, doesn’t it.

What if the “it” is the act of giving away $37 billion?

Yep, I said THIRTY-SEVEN BILLION. With a “B.”

But when you have $37 Billion at your disposal, you’re not crazy. You’re…maybe a little eccentric. “Crazy” is just a title for folks without the cash to offset their craziness.

Actually, you’d be an incredibly successful business person with an innate ability to think in ways other people never have. You’d be Warren Buffett.

Back in June of this year, Warren Buffett announced that he would be giving away 85% of his wealth to the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Let’s just say that $37 billion truly is more money than any of us can really imagine.

But, for kicks, let’s see if we can make it a little more real.

To spend $37 billion in the course of a 70 year lifetime (and this is if you stuffed it all in the world’s biggest mattress and didn’t earn any interest), you’d need to spend $1.45 million……EVERY SINGLE DAY, EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE.

Folks, that’s a lot of money. That’s kind of like calling the Grand Canyon a pretty big mudhole.

What motivates someone to give away wealth on that scale? How can a person possibly make that kind of gift?

Carol Loomis, editor of Fortune magazine, asked Buffett the obvious question: “Are you sick?”

Nope.

It was unclear as to whether she was questioning his mental or physical well-being, but somehow I sense the implication that her question aimed at both.

Buffett’s thoughts about his wealth are just fascinating:

…Well, when we got married in 1952, I told Susie I was going to be rich. That wasn't going to be because of any special virtues of mine or even because of hard work, but simply because I was born with the right skills in the right place at the right time.

I was wired at birth to allocate capital and was lucky enough to have people around me early on - my parents and teachers and Susie - who helped me to make the most of that.

In any case, Susie didn't get very excited when I told her we were going to get rich. She either didn't care or didn't believe me - probably both, in fact. But to the extent we did amass wealth, we were totally in sync about what to do with it - and that was to give it back to society.

In that, we agreed with Andrew Carnegie, who said that huge fortunes that flow in large part from society should in large part be returned to society. In my case, the ability to allocate capital would have had little utility unless I lived in a rich, populous country in which enormous quantities of marketable securities were traded and were sometimes ridiculously mispriced.

And fortunately for me, that describes the U.S. in the second half of the last century.

Certainly neither Susie nor I ever thought we should pass huge amounts of money along to our children. Our kids are great. But I would argue that when your kids have all the advantages anyway, in terms of how they grow up and the opportunities they have for education, including what they learn at home - I would say it's neither right nor rational to be flooding them with money.

In effect, they've had a gigantic headstart in a society that aspires to be a meritocracy. Dynastic mega-wealth would further tilt the playing field that we ought to be trying instead to level.

In my “pastor-ears” I hear Buffett’s words sounding an awful lot like the kinds of things we teach at church --- that Jesus passes on to his disciples.

“I have this gift, freely received…and now I should freely make my gift available to the world.”
Sounds great --- but what if your gift was $37 Billion?

Could you give that gift away?

One the one hand, I know what you’re probably thinking. “Hmmm…Buffett will have to figure out how to live on the 15% of his $44 billion fortune. Yeah, I’d be willing to try that.”

Don’t sell our man Warren short. Giving away $37 Billion, or 85% of your life’s earnings for that matter, whatever the number is, cannot be easy.

Whether we’re giving away $37 billion, or $37 thousand, or $3700, I think the same fundamental principal of the heart is at play. Something out there matters more than money.

Something, somehow, forces us to look at life through a different lens.

Somewhere along the way, those who make gifts have been challenged to see what they’ve already received, and feel moved to share the wealth.

That’s a big part of what following Jesus is all about.

Jesus once told those who would listen a story about a man of enormous wealth.

He prepared to leave the country, and entrusted his fortune to three servants.

To one, he gave 5 talents. To another, he gave three, and the final servant received one. Each, we’re told, received according to “his ability.”

So, what was a talent worth, really? We know that in Jesus’ time, in the Greco-Roman world, a manual laborer could earn one drachma each day. A silver “talent,” weighing almost 58 pounds, was worth 6,000 drachma.

In other words, that laborer would have to work 6000 days (almost 16.5 years – working every single day) to earn one silver talent.

In today’s dollars, that means the master gave the first servant $2.375 million, the second servant $1.425 million, and the third servant $475,000.

Do those numbers get your attention? They definitely would have gotten the attention of those who heard Jesus tell the parable.

The first two servants invested wisely, worked hard and doubled their master’s money by the time of his return. The third servant, paralyzed by fear and uncertainty, dug a hole and buried it. Literally.

The weight of the gift was more than he could bear.

What about us?

What will we do with the treasure we have been given? I know, it’s hard, sometimes, for any of us to look at our lives, our “talents” and gifts, and begin to know their value. The lie we too often tell ourselves, because it seems like the easier way, is the one that says, “my little gifts couldn’t matter that much anyway.”

That’s not what Jesus thinks.

When asked why he, the second richest man in America, would choose to give his money to Bill Gates, the richest, here’s what Warren Buffett said:

If you think about it - if your goal is to return the money to society by attacking truly major problems that don't have a commensurate funding base - what could you find that's better than turning to a couple of people who are young, who are ungodly bright, whose ideas have been proven, who already have shown an ability to scale it up and do it right?

You don't get an opportunity like that ordinarily. I'm getting two people enormously successful at something, where I've had a chance to see what they've done, where I know they will keep doing it - where they've done it with their own money, so they're not living in some fantasy world - and where in general I agree with their reasoning. If I've found the right vehicle for my goal, there's no reason to wait.

Compare what I'm doing with them to my situation at Berkshire, where I have talented and proven people in charge of our businesses. They do a much better job than I could in running their operations.

What can be more logical, in whatever you want done, than finding someone better equipped than you are to do it? Who wouldn't select Tiger Woods to take his place in a high-stakes golf game? That's how I feel about this decision about my money.

High praise indeed. Want to know something amazing? God thinks the same of us.

God, for reasons he seems to keep largely to himself, loves us so much that he seeks to accomplish his work in the world through the gifts that he’s given his children.

What if God’s investments reside in your heart, hands, head and ---- yes ---- even your bank account?

What if?

What if God’s people --- those of the tender heart and open mind…of the humble soul and courageous spirit…those who walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ made a collective decision…

What if we knew what to do?

It would make sense to get going.

Grace and Peace –
Adam

LIFE AT SOTH:

The SOTH pumpkin patch rolls in very soon. We need all volunteers on hand for a fun time (really, not kidding, it’s a blast) unloading pumpkins and setting up for the community. This event provides the yearly fundraising for our youth group, so thanks in advance from “The Flock.” See you here on Friday, October 13th in the afternoon (more specific time to follow as soon as we know it).

Confirmation classes beginning this Sunday afternoon, 4:00 pm at “The Ranch” for all of our current 6th and 7th graders. Questions? Contact Adam at adam@sothumc.net

“Get Out of the Boat” series continues in worship this week with Adam’s sermon, “Gift.” The SOTHBLOG and sermons will be following the small group curriculum currently underway from John Ortberg’s If You Want to Walk on Water, Get Out of the Boat. Extra copies will be available outside the worship space if you’re not in a small group but would like to read along.
Our series will culminate with an opportunity for each SOTH member to “Get Out of the Boat” in faith for 2007. Financial pledges and volunteer pledges for ministry will be received in our special worship service on November 5th, 2006.

LET’S KICK SOME GRASS: Don’t forget, volunteers will gather this afternoon --- very shortly --- to mow and work on the church property. SOTH accomplishes this task through a team of volunteers, and your help is needed. Come out, enjoy the Fall weather, and weedeat your cares away!