Elizabeth M. Deibert 19
October 2014
Every day my husband Richard and our new friend Jane
Rhudy who is joining Peace today are caring for Hospice patients and their
families. At such times, when someone
is dying, one can hardly ignore the fact that we brought nothing into the
world, and we will take nothing out of it.
Richard’s been into homes on Casey Key, and you know what, they die too,
and usually have a harder time with it because of the way money fools you into
thinking you can maintain control of your life.
Or at least it distracts you from thinking about what really matters. I
have noticed myself that there are never Uhaul trailers behind hearses. Having stuff keeps us busy. And making enough money or managing the
money we have invested well so that we can buy more stuff keeps us even
busier. Then we don’t have to think
about dying. How can you think about
dying, if you are walking through the new mall? Shiny money. Shiny stores. Shiny gods.
We are easily distracted from the business of real living and giving,
because we have too much to accomplish, too much to achieve, and mostly, too
much to acquire and possess.
It is hard to feel contentment, if you are always
striving toward goals that are not fulfilling.
Studies show that we have this problem with food. When we eat foods that are not healthy, we
keep feeling hungry. We have to fill
our bellies with superfoods to get satisfied – vegetables, vegetables, fruits,
fruits, nuts, nuts, a few whole grains, a little fish and chicken. Same thing if we are filling life with the
wrong stuff. If we fill our minds with
thoughts that are not Christ (remember Philippians 2), if we fill our lives
with actions that are not pure and holy (remember the Ten Commandments), if we
fill our hearts with anxiety and fear, rather than trusting in God to give us peace
(remember Phil 4), then we will go after relationships, possessions, and
experiences that leaves us feeling like the old song that played on my
brother’s radio: “I can’t get no
satisfaction.” But we can get
satisfaction if we start putting our energy and time and money into God
first.
Listen for the word of the Spirit to her church
today in these words of the Apostle Paul who was mentor to Timothy:
1Timothy
6:6-19
6 Of
course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7 for
we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8 but
if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9 But
those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many
senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For
the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be
rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many
pains.
11 But
as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, endurance, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the
faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which
you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In
the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in
his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to
keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord
Jesus Christ, 15 which he will bring about at the right time—he
who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 16 It
is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one
has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
17 As
for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or
to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly
provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 They are to
do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19 thus
storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so
that they may take hold of the life that really is life. (NRSV)
Godliness and Contentment – that’s the life. Not a new Iphone 6. Not a new car. Not a new house. And definitely not a new shopping mall. No Godliness and contentment will come from
there – unless you go there to walk and pray and occasionally to eat. There is nothing you can buy at UTC that
will produce ultimate contentment. It
will be like a single potato chip, or a miniature piece of chocolate. Godliness and contentment come from making
sacrifices that benefit others – like Jesus did. So if you are seeking to make a lot of money
so that you can be generous like Bill and Malinda Gates, go for it. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist
Church, said, “Earn all you can. Save
all you can. Give all you can.”
We do not have to think very hard about those who
want to be rich falling into temptation, plunging people into ruin. Remember how we landed in a housing bubble –
too many people trying desperately to be rich – making loans than should not
have been made. Money is NOT the root
of all evil, but the LOOOVE of money.
Money is an extremely useful tool for good. Yet it quickly turns into a god. There are too many companies for whom profit
has become more important that business ethics. Ecclesiastes 5 says, “The lover of money
will never be satisfied with money.”
Jesus said we cannot serve both God and wealth. We have to choose. We have to choose God if we want to be in
the right, if we want to be content, if we want to live the good life. We have to choose God. Money is only for the purpose of serving
God.
But of course, we have to live. So first, we plan well, because poor planning
leads to waste. Richard and I know from
experience. We have had seasons of very
tight budgets. Remember when I told you
in a sermon that we had cut up all our credit cards. We had to learn to live within our means before
we could have a credit card. Living
within your means or living to become more generous means cutting out lots of
the dumb little purchases – five dollars here and twenty there. Fast food, coffee shops, seasonal clothing
and decorations, books and magazines you don’t have time to read, and frequent
meals out.
Hold back on all the unwise major purchases – new
cars or houses before you really need them.
All kinds of money can be saved!
But if you tempt yourself by looking at something often, you will
succumb to the temptation, so stop looking at the thing online. Don’t shop for it, until you’ve concluded it
is absolutely a necessity. Too many
people buy things they don’t need with money they don’t have to impress people
they don’t even know.
So first principle is to live within your means and
second principle is to start giving back to God more than you think you
can. That what generosity means – giving
more of your time, talent, and treasure than is easy. Think about it – can you say you’ve been
generous to someone if it did not affect you at all? Can I claim generosity to Richard if I never
sacrifice what I want for what he wants?
Can I claim generosity to the church, if I only give as much time,
talent, and treasure as you expect me to give.
Most of us have not really trusted God enough to give generously. Nearly every one of us can do more than we
are currently doing, but not if we don’t make some sacrifices and stretch
ourselves out in faith. One person’s
sacrificial pledge is going to be much smaller than another’s easy money. If you don’t feel a little crunch in your
giving, then I say, “maybe you have not been generous.”
Paul says to Timothy to fight the good fight of the
faith. Cling to the life that is really
life. Because this life here on earth
is very, very short. The life that
really is life is the life is life-giving – storing up treasures in heaven –
doing things that build God’s kingdom here and now, and leading more people to
see the eternal life of knowing Jesus Christ and his love. And we’ve been told parable after parable
and lesson after lesson in the scriptures about the disaster of being too
wealthy. There was the man building
bigger barns, and bigger, and bigger until he died. There was the rich man who was tormented
while Lazarus the poor man who had begged for help went to heaven, and the rich
man was tormented in a hell of his own making.
There was the rich young ruler who thought he had done everything – he
had followed all the commandments – except the charge to be generous, so Jesus
said, “Sell your stuff and come follow me.”
And the rich ruler could not see that that action would liberate him so
he was sad and turned away. Are you sad
because you have not sold out to Jesus?
Give generously and you will discover a cheerful heart comes with that. Paul says to Timothy to tell all rich people
to be generous, and by the world’s standards, we are all very, very rich. So we are to do good, to be rich in good
works, generous, and ready to share.
I have to end this sermon with an amazing story of a
generous heart. Some of you may
remember that five years ago I told the story of my struggle to love a new
neighbor who had yelled at me for the trimming the hedge between our houses – trimming
it too far. This encounter had so
injured our relationship that we just waved politely for five years – never
really talking again. Then the couple
split up, and this week, our neighbor (not the one who yelled) came over with a
gift. She said she’d like to start our
relationship afresh – that her heart had been wounded since that day. Mine had been too. We talked for an hour. It was the most amazing thing. It took a lot of courage for her, when she
is suffering still from a broken relationship with him, to take the first step
to heal the broken one with us. But she
did. This is godliness – to take the
generous step, to go further than you have to go, to give more than you have to
give. She gave us maple syrup from her
recent trip to Vermont. I’m sure it is
the sweetest maple syrup ever, because of the reconciliation that it
represents. The first three tablespoons
of it went into today’s communion bread.
We will never be satisfied with life, never content,
never whole, and at peace until we determine that our entire life is given to
God for God’s purposes – our hearts, our minds, our souls, our pocketbooks, our
fears, our desires – all of it. We must
turn it all over to God and be guided by God to a life as generous as God’s amazing
love of us. It is a process of giving
over more and more of your life, entrusting it to God. David and JoAnne Klement who are joining
today taught me a new acronyn INNW. If
not now, when? If not now, when will
you turn over more of your life to God?
Don’t wait until you go to the Hospice House when it becomes clear you
have no control left. Stop chasing
money and start chasing purpose and you’ll find contentment.
Choose now to operate by, in, and through the
generosity of God’s love which is ours by the power of the Spirit of Christ
dwelling in us. Choose now that
uncontainable joy that transcends fear, that peace that surpasses
understanding, and that hope that grows out of suffering. Why do you think an all-loving and
all-powerful Christ-God-Spirit would allow us so many losses and wounds and
griefs – except that it is good for us to lose the little idols. It guides us to let go and come to see that
Jesus Christ is truly the King of kings and Lord of lords, and that nothing can
come before him. Not our dreams and
aspirations, not our children or parents.
Nothing. Jesus Christ, is the
treasure that we seek. He is our all in
all.
No comments:
Post a Comment