Being the Body: To the Least of These

by Pastor Gina Johnson

So, let’s get on with story time.

One Sunday, a pastor stood before the congregation and passed around the offering plates. But instead of asking people to give, he told them to take. There were confused looks and hesitant hands because each envelope that they took had a $10 bill inside of it.

Now, the instructions were simple, they were to use the money that week for themselves, perhaps for someone else, but, the pastor said, “Let your hands be the offering. This is not because you don’t have to give; this is because you do have to give, and it’s more than what’s in the envelope.”

Some people bought groceries for a neighbor, some paid for gas. One person wrote a note on the envelope and left it by the cashier at the dollar store. That congregation realized something, the giving was not about the amount; it was the intention behind it. It’s about recognizing that they are vessels, not just wallets, and sometimes the most generous gift you can give is a piece of yourself. Because when people serve together, and when people give in that way and they share their stories, it’s amazing what that starts to do around the congregation, around the community. If you were given $10 to give however you wanted, what would you do?

Maybe it’s that thing where you’re gonna be in a drive-thru and you’re gonna say, “Hey, I want to pay for that car behind me.” Maybe it’s that thing where you really haven’t had a lot of time to yourself, and you know, in some ways, giving to yourself is just as generous. I don’t know what that means for you, but we will roll on with the message, and I look forward to hearing how we are the body in the comments.

Our first scripture that I’d like to look at this morning comes from Matthew, chapter 25. We’re all familiar with it.

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come you who are blessed by my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them. Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. 

Jesus—He doesn’t separate spirituality from the practice. You see, He’s not saying, “I was lonely, so you prayed for me.” He’s saying, “I was hungry, and you fed me. I was in prison, and you visited me.” That spirituality and that practice go hand in hand. Jesus is teaching us that love is within the body, and it shows up in our actions, not just our affirmations. Our love really shows up when we embody our outreach.

St. Teresa of Avila is one of my favorites. I studied her quite a bit in seminary, and something that she wrote says:

Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion is to look out on the world. Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good, and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us.

Now, she wasn’t trying to be poetic. She was trying to wake us up. She was trying to remind us of the beautiful role that we have in being children of God and being in that abundance. Service is not meant to come from pressure. It comes from presence. It comes from realizing that the divine doesn’t just come through someone standing on a Sunday morning and delivering a message. It works at stoplights, it works at the door at the grocery store, it works in awkward conversations, it works in $10 that you find in envelopes that your pastor hands you.

When you open up your hands and your heart, and you realize that we are always meant to be the extension of God’s love, things will change. And sometimes, the neighbor you give to is going to be yourself.

You know, what about that part of you that’s tired? What about that part of you that’s grieving and is exhausting? What about that part of you that’s spending days apologizing and giving all these reasons why you’re sorry you didn’t get to do something? The truth is, that’s that part of you that you put in the back of the line. That’s that part of you that you set aside and say, “I’m gonna save the world, and I’ll be back for you.”

Well, you know what? Jesus didn’t say, “Love your neighbor instead of yourself.” Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

And so, it may sound silly, right? Because who can’t come up with $10? But if it’s time to buy yourself a cup of coffee, to go buy a journal, if it’s time to use the $10 to bribe one of your grandchildren to come and spend time with you—whatever it is—you are the body, and be it.

You know, generosity is interesting. People say to me, “Presence, presence, you always use that word ‘presence.’“ Well, let me flip it another way. Yes, generosity will begin with presence, but I guarantee you it’s the biggest present to yourself. Because whatever flows through you is going to flow back to you. We don’t give to get, but you cannot give without getting—I guarantee you that.

The next scripture that I want to take you guys to this morning, in studying generosity, comes from 2nd Corinthians 9:6–8.

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

This is just that reminder. We hear that scripture a lot: “God loves a cheerful giver.” You can’t be cheerful about your giving if you are giving out of guilt. And I really hope, as we’re hearing the word “giving” here, that we’re not just thinking, “Money, money, money. I pay my tithe, I paid my tithe, I pay my tithe.”

No—giving goes beyond what takes place in the offering plate, or the online giving, or perhaps the things you donate to. Giving is not just about a monetary donation. It’s about giving from the soul. When Paul is saying that God loves a cheerful giver, he’s not talking about personality, he’s talking about the posture. He’s talking about the intention of the heart of that person. What is their motive, and why are they giving? And that right there will determine whether or not you’ll be cheerful as you’re going about your giving.

Are you doing the things you’re doing—whether it’s for your loved one, whether it’s for your church, whether it’s for a stranger, whether it’s for people you don’t even know—are you doing it with a cheerful, glad heart? Are you serving as an opportunity? Do you get to go to work every day, or do you have to go to work every day, or are you blessed to go to work every day?

And when I say work, I don’t even mean a vocation. What is your work that day, and how quickly can you recognize, “I am blessed to do this today. So, I’m gonna go about it cheerfully, and throughout my day, I’m gonna lead with presence and generosity”?

You know, it’s interesting because sometimes we give a lot of our time, and we give a lot of our energy, and we give a lot of encouragement and we feel like we give and give and give, and we think we’re losing something. We think, “Gosh, I keep giving, I’m losing something.” But I want you to think of it this way: every time you give, you’re multiplying something.

You know, a young man came in the church, and our Office Administrator could have said to him, “The pastor’s not here, so you can come back later.” But instead, she stopped what she was doing and spent time talking to him until I came back.

And when I got back, I was actually trying to wrap things up because I had other commitments coming up, but instead, I went into the sanctuary with this young man. And it’s funny, because maybe you hear this noise, too. I looked at the clock back there, and I was like, “Man, this is inconvenient”, and I heard this voice inside of me say, “Gina...”. Dang it, you voice—I won’t tell you what else it said—but that young man and I spent an hour and a half together.

The funny side was, I had to remind myself that this is a blessing to me. This is a gift to be there for someone, and I didn’t know if I’d ever see this young man again or not. But when he left here, he left feeling loved, he left feeling seen, he left with a Bible, and now I’ve seen him multiple times. He came out with us to go to a concert in the park, and he’s excited to be a part of this community.

Sometimes we have to recognize that when we give, it’s not just about what we’re letting out of ourselves—it’s what’s flowing through us. It’s what we’re multiplying. When Paul was speaking to that church, they knew scarcity. There was no one of extreme power, no one of extreme wealth in that place. But he was reminding them that generosity wasn’t about the amount, that there was a greater purpose behind the generosity.

So, he flips the fear, and he says, “The one who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, but the one who sows generously will reap generously.” He’s giving them the equation. He’s saying it’s an equation of letting things flow from you, of being faithful to that flow.

Another teacher out there that’s very respected throughout all religious communities is Buddha. Centuries before Paul, Buddha talked about the Dana, and the Dana is the practice of giving as a path to freedom, as a path of freeing oneself, you give generously. He says, “If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single day pass without sharing something.”

For both Paul and Buddha, giving was not just about the recipient. As a matter of fact, it was about them, and how they were feeling moved, and what they could do to be that representation of freedom, of generosity. Paul was calling us to be cheerful; Buddha was calling us to be faithful; and together, they’re calling us to the same truth.

When we give, we are unlocking the abundance that is already within us, and it’s a beautiful feeling. You know, I don’t know how many times I’ve gone to do something where I’ve thought, “I don’t know...” and once I’m there and I’m participating in the community space, I’m not even thinking about the cleanup or the setup.

I’m too busy caught in the laughter; I’m too busy caught in the tears; I’m too busy caught in the expressions of joy that come in those times. Cheerful giving can always serve as a mirror of your inner life.

So, if you’re out there and you feel strained, you feel guilt, you feel pressure, you feel, “I have to do this”—well, if you’re feeling that, then that is a reflection to you of where your giving is at, and where that cheerfulness is in your heart. Because again, it’s not just about money. If you feel like, “Gosh, I don’t have enough time. Why did I sign up for this?”, well, then why did you sign up for it? It’s something to think about.

When we give without fear, things get stretched, things get expanded. And when we give with pure joy, guess what we are? We are pure joy. We are the representation of that. I like the word “conduit,” because I always think, “Oh, awesome, I get to be a conduit of the Holy Spirit.” Well, we are a conduit of generosity. That Jesus flows through us every time we give.

Sstop making the giving a “have to,” or it a, “Well, I’m doing it for them, you know, they need us to do it... Oh, let’s give to them… This is gonna make their situation better.” Those are all maybe true, but that’s not the source. Generosity is never a loss. It’s a spiritual practice of remembering and embodying who we are called to be.

The last scripture that I’d like to share with you this morning comes from the book of James. James 2:14-21.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is worthless?

It’s very interesting, because a lot of times there is an argument around that. “Well, wait... faith and works... you know, we don’t have to do, do, do—we have to be, be, be.” But if you remember the message a couple weeks ago, that’s exactly what I was talking about. I was talking about that when we spend time in the being, the stillness, the presence with God, the doing comes up from us organically.

When we spend time in our faith, really understanding what it means to embody that faith, to be a living representation of that faith, to sit in the stillness and peace of that faith, then the doing will be there. If the body is all heart and no hands, well, then what good is it?

Think about it like this: if faith is what gives us breath, then our service is our muscle. Can you imagine feeling that breath, feeling that power, getting ready to go, but you don’t move? It’s like being stuck. And James is not trying to shame anyone, he’s actually inviting you all to stretch your faith by recognizing that you move past the belief, you embody the belief, and you move it forward.

He’s saying, faith, if it isn’t lived, it’s lifeless. He’s saying, if a body has that breath but never stands up, then the vision is going to get lost. He’s not saying, “Do more.” He’s saying, “Be what you believe. Live what you claim. Show others who you are in Christ Jesus by your actions, by your words, by your presence.”

I was thinking about the equation after that sermon a couple weeks ago, and I thought about it this way: when you really sit in beingness with God—so, self and faith are the beingness—and if you sit there, it transforms into the doing, which is the works. But what it equals is the love. When you put that together, the being and the doing, it equals the love, the embodied action. Faith is not meant to be a checklist; it’s actually meant to be this energetic flow that runs through our life, and it comes alive and is seen when you move with it.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that, “Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of people but is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them—is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.”

So, he’s saying, if you profess to be concerned, it’s just like the scripture we just read: if you say, “Hey, take care. You’ll be in my prayers. I’ll see you later,” then you are just sitting there waiting for burial.

So, what does all of this mean to us? Well, the series topic is Being the Body, and all I’m saying to you is that we can get more rooted in our sacred identity not by doing more but by being more.

Let’s not just believe in love and service, but let’s walk it. Let’s talk it. Let’s speak it. Let’s cook. Let’s fold bulletins. Let’s go knock on our neighbor’s door who’s lived there for all those years and we’ve never done it once.

And sometimes we’ll ask ourselves, “You know, what is it that keeps me from doing those things that I’ve heard throughout the years? It’s not just Pastor Gina; I’ve heard this many times. What is it that keeps me from it?”

Well, perhaps you’ve heard some of these: you go to the store and someone says, “Would you like to round up for charity today?” And perhaps you’ve heard someone respond and say, “No, I gave at church.” Perhaps other times you hear someone say, “Would you like to help volunteer?” and someone says, “Ah, you know, I’m exhausted. I already serve at my church all the time.”

See, that’s the thing, as we get in this culture where we overextend ourselves, we become under-available because we never just pause long enough to be in the beingness and then to let it flow. We get caught in the scarcity mindset, especially in small churches. You know, we’re always thinking, “There’s not enough. There’s not enough people. There’s not enough money. There’s not enough time. There’s not enough energy.”

Hey, guys, how many people did Jesus feed with a little boy’s lunch? Yeah, it kind of hits me too. I’m like, “Dang it.”

And then there’s my favorite one, because I’ve succumbed to it myself, and that’s the burnout narrative, because we keep telling ourselves that service means exhaustion and it can’t mean joy.

Well, you know, I want to challenge you: don’t serve if you don’t find joy in it. I mean it honestly, because you should never serve where it comes back and bites you in the butt. You should serve because it fills you up so much that the abundance of you is overflowing to others.

And last but not least, do not get caught up in “it’s about the money.” You know, some of us have time, some of us have money, some of us have wisdom, some of us are great at cooking, some of us are great at singing, playing the organ. We all have different things, and so, as the body, if we all give of these different things joyfully, something beautiful is going to emerge. Something beautiful is emerging.

Take a look around. Look at the Spirit that’s present where you are. You can see it on other’s faces. You can see it when you look around at the different things that are done to make that place what it is—and it’s far more than just money. It’s far more than feeling exhausted; it’s about joy.

As you all remember, at the beginning of this we talked about the reverse offering. Now, the challenge is to ask yourself, “Well, what am I gonna give this week?” Is it a ride? Is it a phone call? Is it a handwritten note? Is it a bag of cucumbers to someone? What is it going to be? Maybe it’s your story. But I’m going to tell you: do not wait for the perfect outreach opportunity. You are the perfect outreach opportunity.

Let’s pray.

Our most gracious and loving God, you pour into us in abundance. Your Spirit overflows from us in great, generous portions. We have more than enough; we are more than enough because you, God, have created us that way. As we go from this place today, Lord, may we hear your Spirit. May we hear your voice. May we feel your presence as it empowers us, as it loves us, and as it moves us to represent the body of Christ. We thank you for your Word.We thank you for this time. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.