Sunday
10/14/18 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “A camel through the eye of a needle”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 22:1-15
New Testament
Scripture: Hebrews 4:12-16
Gospel Lesson: Mark
10:17-31
Welcome again my friends, my brothers and sisters in
Christ, on this our Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost.
Today we have interesting topic in our gospel of Mark
reading. In this gospel reading for this morning, Jesus Christ says once again:
“How hard it will be for those who
have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at
these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mk. 10:23b-25, NRSV).
I have heard before, depending on who that I talk to, that
Jesus and the Bible condemns people that are financially rich. How many of you
think that Jesus and the Bible condemns those who are financially wealthy?
The reality is, is that the Bible does not condemn people
having financial wealth, instead it is condemning an attitude or a mentality
around that financial wealth. I don’t know about you, but I want the folks that
are financially wealthy in this country and worldwide to be good and moral
people. Don’t you? From a Christian perspective then, being financially wealthy
can be seen not as a great gift, but rather as a great burden. For if God has blessed
you with a large amount of money as a Christian, well then what do you do with
it? Sure you will have enough to live the way you want to live, but then you
have the burden of figuring out where to put some of the money that God has
given you.
It is when we are unloving, ungenerous, and uncaring, this
is when having financial wealth is bad. Wealth, I would say then, can be a
great burden if you are generous, loving, caring, and kind. I have had a couple
of church members at the different churches that I have served though that have
jokingly said, “Wealth might be a burden, but I am willing to try it out for a
few years”.
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says in 16:13:
“No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate
the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and wealth” (Lk. 16:13, NRSV).
So wealth is bad? No, wealth is not
bad, but greed is. Having wealth is not a sin, but if you try to accumulate
wealth and hurt and harm as many people as you can in the process, then yes
that is a sin. Having wealth as a Christian is a burden, as it says in Luke 12:48:
“From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be
required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be
demanded” (Lk. 12:48, NRSV).
How many of us here would love to be
financially wealthy? How many of us here would like to have millions and
millions of dollars? I wouldn’t. How many of us would like to have enough to
live, and if God blesses us with more than we are ok with that?
How many of us have heard of the Christian
financial expert Dave Ramsey? Dave Ramsey, has helped tens of thousands of
people get out of debt, grow closer to God, build wealth, and work hard to be
in a position to help others. He is generous, giving, caring, compassionate,
and he has a net worth of 55-million dollars. That is a lot of money, but look
at what he is doing with what God has blessed him and his family with.
Some of us have heard the term “my
rich uncle” before. Some have said things like, “well why don’t call your rich
uncle to help you with that?” Has anyone here ever heard a statement like this
before?
Well in my case, I have a rich uncle, or at least I did. My
uncle Frank who grew up in extreme poverty, founded a construction company with
his brother in Northern Illinois, where I am originally from. This company grew
into a massive operation, and my father worked for him for over 30-years. My
dad had a good job, but wasn’t paid anything that would make him fabulously
financially wealthy.
I
remember when my uncle Frank and my aunt Diane has just completed building
there 1.2 million dollar 6,000 square foot home. It was the largest house that
I had ever been in. Their front doors looked like large wooden castle doors, and
there living room was big enough to play football in. I think if was 40-feet by
45-feets. This house had three furnaces, for each of three zones in the house.
I also remember that there shower in their master bedroom was so big, that it
didn’t even have walls. It was like a waterfall and the stone floor came about
15-20 feet long, and about 10-15 feet wide. It was so long and wide that it didn’t
even need walls. In my Uncle Franks garage was a massive collection of cars and
antique tractors.
I found out later when my Uncle Frank lost all of his money
in around 2008, during our last recession, that he lost all 30-million dollars
he had amassed. I didn’t know he had that much money, but I knew he had a lot. My
Uncle Frank had owned various properties and he owned various stakes in
companies. He had also told my father Ken in Northern Illinois that when he sold
the company one day that he would reward my father’s decades of hard work with
a cut of the sale of the company. When the company sold, and then my Uncle
Frank lost everything, he gave my father nothing.
My Uncle Frank then ended up living with my Aunt Debbie,
until he went to a nursing home. I remember the last couple of times that I
visited her, none of the rest of the family really ever spoke to him, but I
came in and would chat with him for a few minutes. He always talked about the
money and the possessions that he had once had. I was told that he rarely if
ever had a visitor, as he really had no friends. He ended up penniless, lonely,
and by himself. It was sad to see and watch. As far as I know, he is still in a
nursing home.
I bet though, if someone like Dave Ramsey that I mentioned
above lost everything that many people would be there to catch him when he
fell. Wealth is not the sin, but rather greed and selfishness is.
I remember studying and teaching about Henry Ford, and his great
auto manufacturing. Did you know that Henry Ford paid his workers very well? So
well in fact that they could themselves afford to buy one of his Model-T Ford
cars. Henry Ford was wealthy, but his workers loved and respected him. While he
was wealthy financially, he took care of his workers, paid them well, and he was
generous. I can’t imagine the stress that Henry Ford carried knowing that all
of those employees were counting of him for their livelihood. Wealth is not the
sin, but greed and selfishness is.
I really like what our Book of Hebrews reading for this
morning says. It says once again in 4:12:
“Indeed, the word of God is living
and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul
from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart”(Heb. 4:12, NRSV).
Jesus therefore, doesn’t pull any
punches in the gospels. Let’s look yet again at what our gospel of Mark reading
says again for this morning. It says:
“As he was setting out
on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher,
what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me
good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You
shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false
witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him,
“Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved
him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure
in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went
away grieving, for he had many possessions”
(Mk.
10:17-22, NRSV).
At first glance, one would think that Jesus took issue that
this man was financially wealthy. Yet the fact that this man was financially
wealthy, was not the real issue. The real issue was that Jesus wanted him to
fully have faith in him, and the man might also have been arrogant and condescending.
To test him then, Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions and to give
away all of his wealth. In that moment, the rich man showed Jesus that his loyalty
was not to him, but to greed and his money. Wealth is not a sin, but greed and
selfishness is.
For example, do we remember Bernie Madoff? He’s the guy
that “Madoff” with 40-billion dollars of other people’s money. He stole
billions and billions of dollars from many. My guess is, is that he doesn’t get
many visitors in prison. I believe that this was the type of man that Jesus was
talking to in the gospel lesson this morning. What I am saying to you
therefore, is that if you chose Christ, God can chose to bless you with
financial wealth, if he wants.
The gospel then goes on say:
“Then Jesus looked around and said to his
disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom
of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to
them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to
enter the kingdom of God.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then
who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is
impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible” (Mk. 10:23-27, NRSV).
At first
glance once again, one could argue that Jesus is saying that rich people are condemned.
What I believe that Jesus is saying once again, is that if you are rich,
greedy, and selfish, then it is most assuredly hard to enter the kingdom of
God. For example Jesus never condemned Pontius Pilate’s wealth.
For example, in
the gospel of Luke in chapter 16, we have the story of Lazarus and the rich
man. This story starts by saying:
“There was a rich man who was
dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at
his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to
satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs
would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the
angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented”
(Lk.
16:19-23).
This scripture
says that Lazarus, “longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich
man’s table”. What is a sin that the rich man was rich? No, it was a sin that he
was greedy, selfish, uncaring, and uncompassionate. Do you see the difference?
Our gospel of
Mark reading ends this morning by saying:
“Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything
and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left
house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my
sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now
in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields,
with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will
be last, and the last will be first” (Mk.
10:28-31, NRSV).
So my brothers and sisters, may we first seek first and
foremost to follow Christ. May we then in whatever ways that God has blessed
us, use some of those blessings to help bless others. I don’t know about you,
but I don’t want to stand before almighty God one day and have Him ask me, “Paul,
how come I gave you so much, and you did so little for others?” Instead, may
God say of us all, I blessed all you with much in different ways, and thus you have
blessed others. May we enter his gates with the words, “well done good and
faithful servant”. Amen
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