Introduction

Sometimes it's not just a practice but a word—just one word—that God uses in our minds and our hearts to transform us.

When you were kids, you may have had the opportunity to use a rock tumbler. You take an old, dirty, jagged rock that doesn't look like much, and you put it in this machine and close the door and turn it on. For days all you hear is the clinking of the rock inside. After five or six days, you stop the machine and take it out, and what you pull out looks remarkably unlike what you put in. Because of the constant tumbling, the jagged edges have been worn down and it has been beautifully polished. It has been transformed.

Sometimes God uses a word in our minds and hearts, with the Holy Spirit to challenge us, to rattle us around. This morning we're going to look at the word enough—a single word that can transform you spiritually.

Our quest for more

Sometimes God takes a word like enough and gives us opportunities to consider it. As he pushes it deeper into our souls, we learn about who God is, and it begins to transform our lives from the inside out.

A year ago we became the proud parents of a little yellow lab puppy. Baxter has wormed his way into our hearts, and we are smitten with him—one of us more than the other. Our dog trainer who helped us with Baxter when he was little told us, "A tired puppy is an obedient puppy." So our daily job has become to think about ingenious ways of exhausting a yellow lab, which is no small feat. Baxter wakes up every morning with an exuberant expression, like he's thinking, I had no idea I would still be alive. I had no idea you would still be alive. This is the best news ever! And he runs around the house every day, so excited. John and I are constantly thinking of ways to exhaust this poor dog.

One thing that works really well is, in the afternoon after work, I take Baxter to the bottom of Windy Hill where there's a loop that rises and falls. We do a couple of laps, and by the end of the second loop, Baxter is genuinely tired. At the very top of the loop I let him off the leash for a few minutes. I get out Baxter's favorite toy, his red Frisbee. Since he's a retriever, he is content to run endlessly back and forth, up and down through the thickets, returning the Frisbee to me.

But the Frisbee was not the only thing Baxter brought back. He also brought back ticks. The second time I took him up there, I stopped counting the ticks at 25. I take them off before they burrow into his skin, when they're still on top of his fur. I put them in a little cup of water to save them for my son, who wants to see them because that's what boys like. I went online to learn about them, because they keep swimming in the water and they don't die. I learned you have to put soap in there. Ticks are called "the overeaters of the insect world." For those of you who are really technical in your biology, they're not really insects, they're arachnids, but to me they're the same thing.

Ticks are gluttonous, and when they latch on they can't stop. Before they land on their hosts, they're very flat. They drop onto warm-blooded creatures from a bush or a thicket (because they can't jump). Then they engorge themselves with the host's blood, and they balloon up seven to ten times their normal size. They're utterly transformed.

Once a tick has bloated up like that, it automatically drops off the host and then quite literally cannot move, because all of the energy in the body goes into digesting what it has engorged itself on. For the next couple hours, it is at the mercy of predators because it has eaten so much it cannot move.

Jesus says, "Enough"

Sometimes you get spiritual concepts in the Bible. Sometimes you get them in prayer meetings and Bible studies. And sometimes they come from the things you come across in ordinary life—like the tick. I have to admit that there's a little bit of a tick in me. At times I can be a picture of excess, not knowing when to say "enough," not knowing when to stop, always wanting more.

Let's start with a category we can all relate to. There are certain types of food that I do not have an "off button" in my brain for—like rice crispy treats. When a plate of rice crispy treats is put in front of me and I taste them, there is something in my taste buds that makes me incapable of stopping. I can't explain it. Barbecue potato chips fall into that same category. Anything on the In-N-Out menu. Cheesecake. I'm sure every one of you could list four or five foods difficult for you to say no to.

It's funny to think about that food category, but it goes deeper than food. We have a disease of "more" and the inability to say "enough" in all kinds of areas of our lives—clothes, cars, vacations, homes. Without thinking, I drift into the pursuit of an infinitely expanding lifestyle that goes relatively unchallenged in my life.

Jesus said some things that were radically different from what the other religious leaders were saying at the time. People hadn't heard teaching like his before, and they almost couldn't contain it. So many of his messages start with, "You have heard it said … but I tell you …" He turned their worlds upside-down. So let's consider what Jesus said about the idea of enough, and about money.

Most of us were raised by mothers who taught us there are four things you don't talk about in public: sex, politics, religion, and money. Apparently, Jesus didn't get the memo from his mother, because he talked about all of these things. Jesus talked more about money than anything except the kingdom of God. Jesus talked more about money than heaven and hell combined. In the Book of Luke alone, one in every seven verses talks about money.

Jesus said our attitude toward money is a leading indicator of the state of our soul. It's impossible to follow Jesus and say, "I don't think we should talk about money. It's not polite."

So let's look at what Jesus did and didn't say.

Jesus never said money is bad. Jesus never said, "Don't enjoy the blessings God has sent you." It's one of the most profound ways to understand the goodness of God. But here's what Jesus did say: time and again he said that the joy and satisfaction we experience in giving will far exceed the joy we have in accumulating.

Jesus basically said, "I'm afraid you're going to misunderstand who God really is if you don't understand your posture toward money." Jesus knew that outward discussions about money were indicative of the inward journey to answer the question, Can God be trusted? This issue is deeper than what you do with your checkbook, or what you eat at a restaurant, or how you give away money. Those are all outward expressions of an inward reality.

"I believe you're more than enough for me." Those are not Hallmark-greeting-card words. Those are words that we come to believe in the course of time, when we have wrestled through enough difficult circumstances. The way we hold on to or release our money reflects our belief in the sufficiency of God and our identity. More than in my job or possessions or status, my identity is in God. What is going to protect me from this excess? What's going to keep me safe from the relentless pursuit of more?

When I was a young girl, I grew up in southern California with parents who loved the outdoors. From the time I was a toddler, I was outside in the sun. Some of my best memories as a kid were going to the beach. I loved nothing more than body surfing, or riding the waves on a raft, and tumbling and spinning over and upside down in the water. When I got tired, I came out of the cold water and rested on the warm sand or on a towel, letting the warmth of the sun bake the saltwater into my skin so I got salt rings all over my skin. I loved the salt rings.

My head would turn like it was still inside a wave because the water had gotten inside my ears, and I would lie in the sun for hours thinking, This is one of the best feelings in the world. When I was a teenager, we came up with a concoction of baby oil and iodine. I would shake it up and put it on, and it would turn my skin into brown leather. I thought it was beautiful.

Then I met a dermatologist who told me that what I had enjoyed for so many years was actually irreparably damaging me. I have too many scars to count on the back of my neck where I had worn a ponytail and the sun shone down. I have had too many laser zaps on my face from pre-skin cancer and early skin cancer. Now I know that every morning I need to protect myself with SPF 15, 30, 40, or 60—no questions asked. Something has to protect me from this thing I loved so much.

People who have said, "Enough"

Let me tell you what being a part of this church has done for me. When I take that word enough and let it tumble around inside me, I argue with God and withdraw from him. I don't give. But then something changes in me, and I start believing that God can be trusted. I discover the joy and adventure of giving.

A couple of years ago when Compassion Week was approaching, I was in San Mateo. One of our volunteers got a great idea: in addition to all the other projects we were doing, it would be great to bring our excess stuff to Hoover Elementary School in Redwood City, to fill their gymnasium, and to open a garage sale for the parents and the neighbors in the neighborhood.

We spent hours putting this thing together. The room was about the size of a sanctuary, and we completely filled it (I alone had three carloads of stuff). It looked like a department store with household items—clothing, shoes, toys, books. The people in the neighborhood had access to all of these goods at a reduced rate. We took all the money we earned and gave it back to Hoover Elementary School, because they have the highest percentage of parents and kids who are homeless. It was great.

At the end of the event, I told the team, "If we do this next year, I will have to ask my neighbors for their stuff. The word enough has rattled around in my brain and filled my heart, and I've realized I have more than enough." I actually went into one of my closets, took down the hanger, put in shelves, and filled it with bathroom supplies and books as a reminder: You have too many clothes. You don't need all this.

Last week, I joined our junior high and high school team—students and volunteer adults and staff—in Mexicali. Being in the churches, being in the villages, and being in homes of the people who live in Mexicali, left me driving away with the word enough rattling around in my soul, thinking of ways I can live more simply so I can give more generously.

I've met some interesting people in the last year. One young girl decided her New Year's resolution would be to buy five articles of clothing this year, because as she looked at her closet, she realized, I need to go on an adventure with God. She started this as a discipline, something harsh and cold that she was going to learn from. But after a couple of months, she began to experience freedom in this practice.

A family I know had a 15-year-old son who bought a really nice bicycle with his own money. A week later, he came to his parents unprovoked and handed them an envelope containing the same amount of money as he spent on his bike, and he told his parents, "I am so grateful to have this resource in my life, I want you guys to take this money I've saved and donate it to Village Enterprise Fund"—an organization in Africa that provides job training and mentoring for people.

I know a family that was able to send both kids to get a private college education. They were so grateful that they turned around and anonymously sent two other kids who could not afford it to private, four-year colleges. I know a family that sends money every month to a relative who has not had access to the kind of education or opportunities they have.

All these people belong to one family at this church. In no way do they fall into the upper category of income reflected in many of the congregants here. I am amazed at what generosity does in the lives of people who take seriously the word enough. I want to run quickly through the Old Testament and the New Testament, because Jesus didn't start talking about money just when he got here on earth. The Old Testament is full of God teaching his people, "When I give you more than enough, here's what I'd like you to do with it."

The story of Scripture

In Exodus 16, after God released his people from Egypt, they were excited to go to the Promised Land they had been told about for hundreds of years. But they were sidetracked for 40 years wandering in the desert, and they became tired, grumpy, thirsty, and hungry. They remembered all the amazing food they had access to in Egypt. They forgot they had been slaves in Egypt, but they remembered the good food.

So God heard them, and he said to Moses, "I'll take care of you. Every morning when you wake up, I will rain down bread for you from heaven. I'm calling it manna." In Hebrew, manna means "What is it?" God said, "It's going to be a honey-like, bread-like substance, and I want you to gather enough just for one day at a time."

If the people got greedy or fearful and gathered more than enough manna for the day, it spoiled. God was not just giving Israel a lesson in refrigeration; he was telling them, "When you eat this physical substance I've created, when you gather it in the morning and eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it will be a reminder that the God you follow is good, that the God you trust in is sufficient." It was about way more than just bread.

Later in Leviticus 19, God reminds the farmers (most of the people in Israel), "You have tilled and fertilized the soil and planted the seed and watered it and cared for it, and now you're going to reap it. When you harvest it, don't go to the very corners of your fields, but leave the edges un-harvested so people can glean what is left over. And if you have a vineyard you're raising grapes, when it comes time to harvest, don't go back a second time to pick the grapes that have fallen to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the alien."

Then he adds a sentence that doesn't need to be there: "I am the Lord your God." These are directions and instructions. He doesn't need to add that. But he does it to say, "These are not just directions and instructions; these are reflections of the nature of God. Because you were created in my image, they're reflections of your nature as well, and I guarantee if you stop accumulating it all for yourselves but hold your hands out, you will be people who are delighted."

In Deuteronomy 15, God explains what his people's posture should be like towards the poor. He says, "If there is a poor person among you, do not live with tight fists, but live with open hands, freely lending, giving generously and without a grudging heart." From the beginning of Scripture God has said, "I will give you enough, and when you have enough, here's what you should do with it."

In Exodus 36:7, God's people are wandering in the desert. They have not had a place to gather and worship, so Moses says, "All of the items you were able to bring out of Egypt—the gold and the silver, the onyx, the lamb skins, the ram skins, the metal—bring them together and we will build a tabernacle, a temple that can move with us so we will have a place to worship God together."

Because these people in the desert had been shaped by God, and had learned from the water and the manna and the quail, this was their response: "And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work." Moses had to say, "Stop bringing stuff. We have more than enough to build this tabernacle," because the response of God's people was so generous.

Imagine if next Sunday when it's time to take the offering, by the time they get through the third row, the ushers said, "We have no more room in the baskets. The rest of you will have to give next week. We just simply don't have room." That was the response of God's people. Not because they had to, but because they understood who God was, and they willingly gave back with joy.

In the New Testament, there's an interesting contrast between the poor in their giving and the rich in their giving. Luke 21 tells a story about one Saturday when Jesus was in the temple and saw people worshiping. He saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw what probably went unnoticed by everybody else: a poor widow among the rich people taking two small copper coins that probably represented everything she had to eat that week and dropping them into the treasury.

When you're going to teach people something, and you're going to use a teachable moment, you want to go for the big story. You don't put something ordinary on the front page of the newspaper. So why doesn't Jesus talk about the rich people who were putting wads of cash into the treasury? This is another reason Jesus got so much attention from the people who listened to him. He said, "I tell you the truth … this poor widow has put in more than all the others." Mathematically, that's not correct. But he goes on: "All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but out of her poverty she put in all she had to live on."

It doesn't say that she did this every Saturday. It just says that, for whatever reason, that week she came. God was doing something in her heart and her mind and her soul that made her realize, This week I'm going to believe that God is sufficient and can take care of me. Little did she know that Jesus would be so overwhelmed by what she did, he would make it a teaching moment.

In 1 Timothy 6, Paul says, "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant …" not to believe their own press, not to mistakenly believe that what they have in this life is a wealth of their own making, that those gifts and opportunities didn't come from God. Teach them not to put their hope in wealth, which is incredibly uncertain, "… but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." He says, "Command them to do good, to be rich [not just in money but] in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share."

Then in Acts 2, when Luke only has a couple of verses to describe the early church, he says, "They listened to the apostles' teaching, they ate together, they prayed together. They were so transformed by Jesus that they began to sell their possessions and their goods to give to anyone who had need." They began to understand that their enough and their more was for the purpose of redistributing and giving to other people to make sure everyone had enough.

Three ways to increase generosity

The very best sermons take what we already know and move that into a profound reality in our lives. That level can't be accomplished by a speaker; it can only be done by the Holy Spirit. So I have no idea what God will do with you when you leave today with this word enough, but I trust that something will happen. So I have three suggestions of things you can do.

First, I'm not even going to talk about sacrificial giving. I'm just going to talk about the money we already spend. Consider this: the collective income of church-going people in the U.S. (there are 138 million of us) is $2.5 trillion.

So how do we use our purchasing power to have a consciousness? How do we use our purchasing power to reflect biblical values that protect the land and the people who work on the products we purchase? How do we use our spending power, not for charity that only changes things for a moment, but for development and systemic change?

Here's one idea, something John and I do: Trade as One is an organization that works all around the world with other organizations that help people step out of slavery and poverty, and teach them how to make products and create consumable goods.

Every month you're going to buy things like olive oil, and tea, and chocolate, and rice. So every three months John and I send this organization $99, and every month we receive a box. For a little over $30 a month, we get things in there we would normally buy already. We get rice, chocolate, spice-infused olive oil, tea, and black bean soup mix. It varies every month.

One month we got a box of quinoa, which I had heard about but had never cooked. They sent a recipe with it, so I handed them both to John and said, "Here, fix the quinoa." That money you're already spending could make a huge impact in the world if our collective purchasing power went to something like that.

Second, when you came in this morning, you got a pack of cards in your bulletins that say "enough." I did this as an experiment last week while I was working on this message. I believe in the power of a word, the power of an idea to get stuck inside my body, forcing me to wrestle with God. I came across circumstances in my day that made me consider, Is it time to say "enough"? It's not always time to say "enough," but when is it?

You have six cards. Put them in your pocket, put them in your wallet, put them in your car, take them with you this week, and every once in a while, when the word enough comes to mind and you feel it's appropriate, take the card, fold it inside out so nobody knows what you're doing, and put the card on the table in front of you. It's a way to help you remember, Right now I'm saying, "Enough."

Last week I used one of these at a meal. I placed one next to my ATM card in my wallet so that for every purchase I considered making, I asked myself the question, Do I need it? And if I don't, what might I do with that $35 to free it up? How could I give it to somebody who needs it way more than I need this really cute thing I was going to buy?

I used one at a meeting this week. I had it in my pocket. Sometimes at meetings I like to talk. Everybody else was talking, and I felt so ready to give my opinion. But I remembered that card and thought, You know what? I don't need to talk right now. So I took the card, folded it, put it back in my pocket, and I just sat there quietly. I don't know what God will do with you and the word enough. I'm not the Holy Spirit. I used to think I was, until about 11 years ago. I personally thought I was quite good at it. But I was not doing a very good job.

Third, we're going to do an experiment this week called "loose change." So when you leave, I want you to dig into your pockets, open your wallets, and pull out any change you might have. Then look in the dollar bill section. Don't panic. I'm only going to ask you to take out $1 bills, nothing more. Grab it and drop it into the basket when you leave.

When we send out the "Midweek Update" email, we'll let you know how much money we gathered from loose change over and above your tithe. Then I'm going to talk to some of the deacons and somebody on the benevolence team, and we'll pick somebody to give this money to. In an appropriate way that protects confidentiality, we'll let you know next Sunday what we did with it. It's amazing what the excess we have can do to change somebody's life.

At the 8:00 service, the ushers were so excited they took me back to see the collection and said, "We don't have enough bags to hold this." I told the 9:30 service that and they doubled it. So I'm saying, "Let's make it a true Daily Double, Alex." Let's see what the 11:00 service can do. Because there's somebody out there who has no idea that in just a minute their prayers are going to be answered.

Conclusion

I want to read you one of the most amazing passages in the Old Testament. It is a prayer of David, and it comes towards the end of his life when he and his son Solomon are collecting items to build a permanent tabernacle in Jerusalem. It will be the temple, a permanent dwelling place for God that will remind people who walk in it of the magnificence and the goodness of God.

David, in an overwhelmed tone, prays this prayer to God:

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand … O Lord our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple … it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you …. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you …. Keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you.

May that be a prayer that is so true of this congregation that everybody in the community knows of your abundant generosity.