If You Have Two Coats…  Thanksgiving – 11.18.7
Dennis Mullen

            The young man who sang here a few weeks ago on Sunday night repeated a quote I’ve heard a few times.  I’m not sure who said it initially, but it is memorable:  “If you have two coats in your closet, you have stolen one of them from the poor.”

            I saw that young man the next day, and I’m pretty sure he was wearing a different shirt than the night before, so…  And besides, he was driving a nicer car than me, so obviously I don’t have to listen to anything he says.  J  But I’m picking nits here.  This singer apparently lives a very simple life, and he probably shares all he can with the poor.

            I read that quote originally (as the singer did) in Shane Claiborne’s book, The Irresistible Revolution.  “If you have two coats in your closet, you have stolen one of them from the poor.”  Now I have seen Shane C. speak in person once and several times on video, and I’m pretty sure he had a different shirt on in at least one of those appearances, or at least a different do-rag, so obviously he doesn’t follow that saying either, and I don’t have to listen to him!

            But in reality I DO want to pay attention to Shane C. because for more than a decade he has lived the simplest life of anyone I know of and for all I know he may only have one shirt at a time.

            “If you have two coats in your closet, you have stolen one of them from the poor.”  I want to say here at the start that Jesus never said that, Paul never said it, Peter never said it and John never said it.  IOW it isn’t in the Bible, and I believe strongly in the principle of not adding demands to people’s lives that the Bible doesn’t.  And if someone were to make this a rule in our church, it would be one that would quickly lead to legalism.

            Still, as a personal reminder, it isn’t bad.  “If you have two coats in your closet, you have stolen one of them from the poor.”  Stolen?  A pretty strong word.  Yet if God puts someone in my path today who has no coat to keep warm, and I don’t find a way to get one of mine and give it to him, or at least to use my resources to get him a coat, then I have rebelled against the love of Christ in my heart and I have indeed put myself in a place of disobedience of certain Scriptures.

            “If you have two coats in your closet, you have stolen one of them from the poor.”

John the Baptist actually came the closest to saying that when he was laying out simple obedience to God for the people who came to hear him.

            LK 3:10 "What should we do then?" the crowd asked.

            LK 3:11 John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."  BTW, speaking of legalism, probably not a single person here has a tunic, but you get the point.

            And John the apostle – he didn’t say that bit about having stolen your extra coat from the poor, but he did say something stronger:  1 JN 3:17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.  John would get run out of a lot of churches for questioning someone’s salvation, but that is exactly what he does here.  “You’re saying you’re a Christian and yet you can ignore the needs of people in need?  How can the love of God be in you?”

            “John, how can you question my salvation?  I said the prayer and passed through the water!”  Well, listen to James:  JAS 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

            “If you have two coats in your closet, you have stolen one of them from the poor.”  I’m not crazy about that statement.  It’s legalistic and guilt-mongering.  The Scriptures say it better, and without making it into a law.  Romans 12:12-13 for example:  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

            Scripture says it better AND stronger.  We are supposed to help the poor  We can do it with short-term charity – here’s a guy who needs a coat, so I’ll give him mine…and we can help in the long-term with things like justice, development and education – why doesn’t this guy have a coat?  Is he an addict and that takes his life and money?  Does he have a reasonable chance to get a job where he can buy food, clothing and shelter?  Can we give him a hand up?  But short or long term, we’re supposed to share, according to Scripture. 

            But sharing is hard.  Is there a way to wiggle out of it?

            One way we might try is to notice that a couple of Scriptures I just read tell us to share with who?  God’s people who are in need.  A brother or sister without clothes and daily food.  Maybe our charity can be limited to other Christians, or even those of our own church.  Maybe outsiders are poor because they aren’t following Christ, because of their sin.  We don’t want to make it easier for them to get by without Christ, so let’s make it clear to everyone that we try to take care of our own and nobody else.

            Of course there are a couple of problems with this.  First, it isn’t how Jesus conducted Himself in his earthly ministry.  He did good to people in the faith and out of the faith.  Second, this isn’t what Jesus taught.  In fact, when we try to limit our good to our sisters and brothers, we come off like the self-righteous person in Luke who, when Jesus said “Love your neighbor as yourself”, asked “Well, WHO is my neighbor?”  “Who do I have to care about?”  Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, in which the two main characters did not consider themselves brothers in faith but rather enemies, and yet one (the one most of his listeners considered the infidel) helped the other at great cost and risk.  Then he said:  “Go and do likewise”.  Jesus told us to love our enemies and he gave us a mission to “let our light shine before men that they may see our good deeds and praise God…”  So even if some of the first-century Christians had to be reminded to love their own brothers and sisters, the Bible never limits us to loving only them.

            Another way we might try to wiggle out of this duty to share:  1 John 3:17 again:  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Do you see a loophole here?  It’s one we commonly exploit, maybe without meaning to.  If anyone SEES…  The way things are set up around here, most of us can avoid seeing people with immediate and profound needs, and if I see no poverty and hear no poverty maybe I don’t have to do anything about it.

            We can avoid seeing deep needs because we don’t have panhandlers and we don’t have people trying to sleep on the streets in downtown Kingston and also because we’re in a relatively prosperous area in a very prosperous country.  Take coats, for example.  “If you have two in your closet…”  I have a hunch that if we took every coat out of every closet in Roane County and distributed them equally, we’d all get three or more!  Not everyone has what they need, but so many of us have so much more so its pretty easy to NOT see…

            One other way I often try to wiggle out of my duty to share is to remember my Misadventures in Benevolence that lead me to believe that helping people isn’t worth the trouble.  A few weeks ago I was getting off the interstate at Lovell Rd. and I saw a guy there holding a sign that said “Hungry:  Please Help.”  I’ve seen such folks plenty, but this was right after I preached that sermon a few weeks ago about how our church needs to change and let our light shine more, and so I wanted to help this guy.  Now I usually have some energy bars with me but that day I had nothing, but I was thinking about getting lunch for myself so I thought:  “I’ll buy two lunches and bring one to him.”  It took a little while to go to Chick-fil-A and get through the drive thru and get back to that exit ramp where the guy was and by the time I got there he was gone.  Maybe someone else was quicker than me, or someone gave the guy cash (which my cynic side says was what he really was after, not food), so here I am with two lunches, one of which I have stolen from the poor J but with no poor guy to give it back to.  So…I ate both of them!   The rest of the afternoon I felt like I had wasted my time and money, and I felt bloated besides!  Why do that again?

            A better example, better than my poor planning and execution, can be seen in some of the people who call the church looking for help.  I’m not talking about everybody or even the majority but some.  I’m thinking of people who call or coming by looking for help who have no apparent interest in God or responsible living or making good choices or working or planning ahead – people who come here not because they hear that Christians are compassionate but because they view churches as a place with a guaranteed handout.  It’s very discouraging, and there is another Scripture verse that speaks to them, Paul’s words in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 - For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."  Good rule, and very much needed not just to protect us from freeloaders but to teach us when we are tempted to freeload about the dignity and godliness of work.

            But it’s a big mistake to take that one verse and add to it any Misadventures in Benevolence we’ve had and then pretty much ignore the rest of the Bible.  The fact is, a great many people need and are ready for active help – gifts of charity, yes, but also education, help with getting a fair shake, and especially Christian friendship and compassion.  We do have these things in our closet and if someone needs them and we don’t give, how can the love of God be in us?

            So we have this obligation to give, to share with those in need.  “If you have two coats in your closet, you have stolen one of them from the poor.”  I don’t take it as law, but I think it’s a very good reminder for me.

            Now so far, this might seem like a strange Thanksgiving sermon, so let me make the tie-in.  What I desire for us is to be thankful not simply that we have been blessed with much but more specifically thankful that we have been blessed with so much that we can SHARE.  Frankly I have found it to be not-so-much a blessing that I have so many things.  For example:  We have a refrigerator, normal-sized, and it usually has enough food in it that I don’t know what’s at the back of each shelf or what’s on the bottom shelf or what’s in the crisper drawers, not at least until they start to smell or until I do an archaeological dig.  And I have quite a few clothes (even though, as you see, I tend to wear the same 3-4 outfits again and again) and this comes not just from buying clothes but from receiving them as gifts and from almost never getting rid of any.  These clothes occupy a closet upstairs and a dresser and two racks downstairs not to mention whatever I have in the coat closet by the door.  There is very little blessing in keeping so much.

            We’ve actually made quite a bit of progress against the clutter this past summer, so I don’t want you thinking that we’re a couple of slobs.  Still we have a lot of things that have accumulated over the years that we don’t need (not very often) that we have to store or move out of the way occasionally, and I’m really starting to realize that it isn’t for all this stuff that I ought to be thankful, that in fact God didn’t really bless me with much of it but I instead got these things myself and messed up his blessing in the process.  Now I’m starting to get the fact that the real blessing, the real reason to be thankful, is when I have enough to share.

            Paul had his mind on this blessing when he wrote about the reason for work in Ephesians 4:28 - He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. 

            Also, in 1 Timothy, Paul gives some teaching to rich people about sharing with those in need, and I want you to listen to the reason:  1TI 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 

Why share?  Because that is where the blessing is.  That means that the real choice between sharing with others or hoarding for myself isn’t a choice between being good vs. being selfish.  Instead, the real choice is between faith and unbelief.  God’s Word tells me that the real blessing comes from sharing.  TV tells me that the real blessing comes from consuming.  Who are you going to trust? 

            Now there is one more thing to say before we’re done.  The fact is that sharing in the needs of others, all by itself, is actually a dangerous and potentially damaging activity.  Why?  Because of pride.  If I share with you, it makes me feel good about myself, it tends to allow me to overlook my own sins that I need to be dealing with and it makes me feel superior to you. 

            And I think that is exactly why 1 Corinthians 13:3 says:  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

            Now that doesn’t mean I should refuse to help anyone until I feel love for them.  Rather, it means that I need to be constantly walking with Christ and letting him work on my pride so that I AM loving toward others, and so that he uses the practice of sharing with others to make me more loving.  And I want to do whatever I have to in my giving to make sure it is all about Him, and not at all about me.

Shane Claiborne’s story about the woman who got her shine back:  The Irresistible Revolution, pp. 258-60.

"In the early days of our community, Michelle, a founding partner of the Simple Way, and I headed out to get a loaf of bread. We walked underneath the El tracks just a block from our house, a strip notorious for its prostitution and drug trafficking, where the air is thick with tears and struggle. We walked past an alley, and tucked inside was a woman, tattered, cold, and on crutches. She approached me, asking if I wanted her services. Our hearts sank, but we scurried on to get our bread. Then we headed quickly home, nodding at the woman as we passed. When we got home and opened the bread, we noticed the bag had a large gash in the side and the bread had gone bad. We would have to go back, and we both knew what that meant. We would have to walk by that woman again. We walked by the alley and saw her in there crying, shivering. We got our bread, and as we saw her yet again, we could not just pass by. We stopped and told her we cared for her, that she was precious, worth far more than a few bucks for tricks on the avenue. We explained that we had a home that was a safe place to get warm and have a snack. So she stumbled onto her crutches and came home with us.

 As soon as we entered the house, she started weeping hysterically. Michelle held her as she wept. When she had gained her composure, she said, "You all are Christians, aren't you?" Michelle and I looked at each other, startled. We had said nothing about God or Jesus, and our house doesn't have a cross in the window, a neon "Jesus Saves" sign, or even a little Christian fish on the wall. She said, "I know that you are Christians because you shine. I used to be in love with Jesus like that, and when I was, I shined like diamonds in the sky, like the stars. but it's a cold dark world, and I lost my shine a little while back. I lost my shine on those streets." At that point, we were all weeping. She asked us to pray with her that she might shine again. We did; we prayed that this dark world would not take away our shine.

Days, weeks went by, and we did not see her. One day, there was a knock at the door, and I opened it. On the steps there was a lovely lady with a contagious ear to ear smile. We stared at each other. We see a lot of people, so I was going to try to fake recognizing her, but she called my bluff and beat me to it. "Of course you don't recognize me, because I’m shining again. I'm shining!" Then I knew. She went on to explain how deeply she had fallen in love with God again. She said she wanted to give us something to thank us for our hospitality but sadly confessed, "While I was on the streets, I lost everything I owned. Except this." She pulled out a box and apologetically confessed that she smoked a lot and always collected the Marlboro Mile points from the cigarette packs. "So this is all I have, but I want you to have it." And she handed me a box bursting at the seams with hundreds of Marlboro Miles. It's one of the most precious gifts I’ve ever been given, like receiving the widows last pennies. And they make good Bible markers. Now wherever I am speaking somewhere and open up the Word, I see a Marlboro Mile (and the elders raise their eyebrows), and I am reminded of all the broken lives that have lost their shine a little while back."

(Thanks to this young woman for typing this out!)

Invitation

 Morrison Hill Christian Church
P.O. Box 59 - 1008 E. Race St.
Kingston, TN  37763   (865) 376-5205