Good morning!
Have you ever read a bit of scripture and responded, “Yes,
but…let’s be serious.” Today’s Gospel
reading is one of those bits that I think many people take as fanciful poetry,
but not a prescription for life in the real world.
We cynically talk about life in the “real world.” Making peace is fine but we have to defend
ourselves. Loving our enemy must mean
only after we have defeated and disarmed them.
Of course we shouldn’t be greedy, but we have to have enough for us to
get by.
Jesus said: “Take care! Be on your guard against
all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of
possessions.” Sometimes greed is clearly
seen, especially in others. It’s always
easy to see it in others. I, on the
other hand, am just being prudent. How
much do I need to live comfortably? Just
a little more!
Presbyterians may be especially bad
about recognizing greed in themselves because we frequently have perverted the
notion of grace into a mistaken idea that the wealthier someone is the more
that person is demonstrating the blessing of God. Therefore the more one accumulates the more
God is blessing them. Apart from the
fact that the idea is unscriptural and blasphemous, it demonstrates a very
self-serving naivite regarding the working of the world. Worldly success and godliness are not
inextricably joined. If God has blessed
us with wealth then God has given us an opportunity to share his love through
the stewardship of that treasure.
Jesus said: “Do not keep striving for what you are to eat
and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of
the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you
need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to
you as well.” We pray, “Give us this
day our daily bread.” We
weren’t told to pray for nest eggs or fat retirement accounts or large
endowments. We were told to trust that
if we are doing the Lord’s work the Lord will provide for our daily needs.
In this era of declining church
attendance, there are churches – large and small – that also don’t understand
the purpose of wealth. They cling to
bank balances that would do a great deal of good in the world if they were seen
as an opportunity to share God’s love rather than as a “rainy day fund.”
Viewing money as a security blanket is a form of greed just as much as
accumulating money might become the reason for your life.
I can hear someone saying, “Get
real!” Okay, here goes. We are charged to be stewards of all that God
has given us. That means everything from
the resources of creation to whatever personal or institutional wealth we may
accumulate. Stewardship is treating
God’s gifts with respect and care and using those gifts – be they as disparate
as money and water – for the glory of God.
Building bigger barns or buying more land or devising better tax
loopholes to increase and store our treasures is not stewardship. Getting the optimal use from our treasures by
sharing our treasures – or in the case of natural resources, not destroying our
treasures – is the act of a steward.
Let me give you a concrete
example. WorldVision is one of my
favorite mission organizations. I grew
up listening to their radio broadcasts when I was a child and they have continued
to act as the presence of the Gospel throughout the world. They probably don’t hold the world record for
“conversion experiences,” but they have overseen the successful drilling of
more water wells than any organization in the world. The also oversee a large program of
micro-investing. Think you’re a
capitalist? There are impoverished
people all over the world who would like you to invest in very small business
plans that will allow them to earn a living and feed their family. If a congregation set aside $5000 a year to
“invest” (and return of the investment is expected) they could invest in 10-20
entrepreneurs trying to eek out a living.
Hear the words of our Lord: “strive for
his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” That’s as real as it gets.
Let
us pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily
bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever. Amen.
Today’s readings are
Ecclesiasticus 34:1-8,18-22; Revelation 13:1-10; Luke
12:13-31; Psalm 40, 54 & 51.
Blessings.
Pastor Jim
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