Sermon May 25th 2008
Jared Rakness
Sermon May 25th 2008
First Reading Isaiah 49:8-16
Second Reading 1st Corinthians 4:1-5
Gospel Matthew 6:24-34
“God and Wealth”
Dear hearers of the Word of God, Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Let us pray: Almighty God, we come today restored to you through the work of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who did not withhold anything from us, but poured himself out for our sins and has claimed us for all time as a sheep of his own fold. Today teach us to be stewards, teach us to be cheerful gives, that we might use the resources you have entrusted to us wisely and always keep you first in all that we do, for we pray it in Jesus name, amen.
Today Jesus tells you not to worry about what you will eat, or what you will drink or about your body or what you will wear. However Jesus doesn’t explicitly prohibit you from worrying about the price of for a gallon of gas, something that I’m sure has crossed some if not all of your minds at least a few times in the past week or month.
Today, at least according to the 24 hour news cycle and the media’s perspective, we live in an uncertain time, a time when we do not know how high inflation will go, round and round it goes, where it stops no one knows. I confess that I haven’t been immune from this speculation; I’ve read more stupid books on these issues than I wish to admit lest I die of embarrassment.
So what to do when the world seems to be going to heck in a hand basket, with so much rapid change that if you were to read everything about it your head would nearly explode. Maybe I’m alone in my concern and fretting over these issues, but I do not think that is the case, with American’s owing a total of over 800 billion dollars on their credit cards a number that is rapidly growing, and owing as a nation a total of somewhere in the neighborhood of 53 trillion dollars as a whole of personal, business and government debt.
We are a nation swimming in debt, the nation debt is somewhere around 9.5 trillion dollars and the coming social security and Medicare bills are projected to be something like 5 times our current debt. As one professor at Seminary told our class, financially we are a bankrupt nation. Now I believe that we are a great nation and sooner or later, hopefully sooner, we will remedy this situation, which will take hard work and sacrifice.
Now in this time of worry and distress how does scripture help and guide us in these matters, or more specifically the matter of money? Did you know that Jesus spoke more about matters of money than anything else, except the kingdom of God? So it must be important, if Jesus is going to speak of money this often maybe we need to sit up and listen.
So what is it that Jesus says, what does he tell us regarding money and wealth? In today’s Gospel reading it is very clear; you cannot serve both wealth and God. You will either be slave to one or the other. What Jesus has done here is he has placed money and finances on a spiritual level. This isn’t just a physical matter that has to do with what you can or cannot afford, but it is a spiritual matter of how you will prioritize your life.
What will you put first, God or wealth, and that is a spiritual matter. Jesus says it right off that they both cannot be first; it’s one or the other period. So how do you prioritize your life? From my own experience I’ve spent most of my life seeing my income, a paycheck as mine, after all I put in the time, and I did all the work to earn it. So then it rightly should be mine to do with what I want.
But is this right; is this in keeping with a life of faith and the life of discipleship, or is this being curved in upon yourself? After reading Matthew 6 today and Jesus’ words, the answer is clear, to view money and possessions in this way is not right. God will not play second fiddle to anything, not even your money. Which brings up another theological point, is it your money in the first place?
Having read the creation account from Genesis last week, and reading the whole of the scripture one thing you find very clear is that everything is God’s. So you can no longer even view your paycheck as your own, but it is God’s, and God has just entrusted it to you to be a good steward off, to take care of his planet, the poor and the hungry.
Everything is God’s, everything in all of creation is God’s, which makes you not owners of anything, instead it makes you stewards of God’s creation and all that God has entrusted to you. So what now does stewardship look like, well it is giving back to God that which he has first given you, in all things, in time, in talents and in money.
Due to sin however, or being curved in upon yourself we want to reverse this, we want to keep and own everything, we want; due to sin we are like the five year old in the grocery store throwing a fit because we want a candy bar, or as my seminary Professor Dr. Sundberg once said, if they make it I want it.
So as you hear this word of Christ that comes to you and breaks into your sinful self bringing it to death, a new creation arises in its place, where you begin to see outside of yourself. This is now the place where stewardship begins, from forgiveness and the new creation, it begins after you have been justified before God, and commissioned to go and make disciples.
From here you begin a new life as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and as a disciple you are also called into the life of a stewardship. It is a life where you place Christ first in all that you do and all that you are. Today Jesus tells you straight away, you cannot serve two masters; you will either be slave to one or the other. In matters of money and wealth, he is telling you that it can pose a serious danger to your spiritual life.
For Luther, physical suffering or danger was never serious, instead Luther saw the importance and dangers of the spiritual, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Jesus tells you from Matthews Gospel the 10th chapter. This is what we are speaking of when it comes to stewardship, we are speaking of the spiritual, where wealth and greed can kill both the body and the soul.
Next Jesus puts down the wealth of the world, he puts down the very things we glory in. Comparing the creation to Solomon, Jesus says that not even Solomon was clothes as wonderfully as the lilies of the field. You may think you are beautifully clothed or drive the nicest car, but they are nothing compared to the splendor of God’s creation.
If you don’t believe so, go and drive through Yellowstone, or Estes Park in Colorado, nothing humans have ever done could compare to the splendor and beauty of the creation that God has surrounded us with.
In the end Jesus tells you this, place the kingdom of God first, do not strive after the wealth of this world, it is a nothing, but strive first for the kingdom of God. Wealth will only give you worries if it is your master, but God will give you peace and comfort, God will give you peace and comfort not just for today, but for tomorrow as well.
Now for the practical matters of stewardship, when you are doing your monthly budget, which I hope you are all doing, place giving at the top. And if you are wondering what to give, I think a good guide is the scripture where they say 10 percent. Now ten percent of gross income, net income, or adjusted gross income? I don’t think it matters as long as you are faithful in the 10 percent. If you are not there, then strive to work up to it, just begin to place God at the center of all that you are, that is what is most important, for where you treasure is, there your heart is as well.
Now there are at least six biblical stewardship values, to be a steward is to be intentional in your giving, make a plan. To be a steward is to be regular in your giving, or stick to the plan you have made. To be a steward you are called to be generous, and give our of your first fruits, it is to be proportional and cheerful.
Proportional being percentage giving, this is best showing in the parable of the widows might, she gave a penny, but percentage wise that was of far more value than the rich who gave a large financial sum, but gave little in terms of percentages. And when you give, give cheerfully, give cheerfully because God has given you so much and asks only that you place him first in your life.
God doesn’t talk about this or demand this for himself, after all God is beyond wealth or money, God is all in all. No, God speaks of money and wealth for your sake, so that you will not have worries, but will place him first in all that you are, so that you will not seek after wealth and find yourself in either a mountain of debt or find that you have no room for anything else in your life but money and the accumulation of it.
These matters are important not for God or the church, neither need your money, they are important for you, and what it is that you seek after, whether it’s the kingdom of God or the many other temptations in this world.
http://ilcep.org/ilcblog/public_html/article.php?story=20080602113539703