Sunday
09/29/19 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Greed vs. Generosity”
(“The Realities of Faith and Life”
Series – Part 5 of 5)
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-19
Gospel Lesson: Luke
16:19-31
Welcome again,
my friends, my brothers and sisters, on this day that is Sixteen Sundays after
the Holy Spirit moved in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, nearly two-thousand
years ago. On that day the Christian Church was born, and we are a vibrant part
of that legacy.
This morning I am finishing my sermon series called “The
Realities of Faith and Life”. In our lives and in our faith, whether as individuals
or as a church, we experience many things. Some of these things are good, and
some of these things are not so good.
In living our lives and in walking with Christ, we are
challenged, we grow, we struggle, and we thrive. There are countless topics
that I could discuss around “The Realities of Faith and Life,” but for this
five part sermon series, I have chosen just five of them to discuss.
Thus far, I have discussed, “Why is there is so much
suffering in the world?,” the topic of “How important is Jesus to you?,” the topic
of “Seeking the Lost,” and last week, Echo Adams discussed what life is like
“When it seems hopeless”.
We all live in a broken, sinful, and a fallen world. We are
capable of doing good, as many people do a lot of good every day. We are also
capable of sin and evil. Much of the suffering on this world is due to our
sinful and broken human natures, and how we treat one another. Some human
suffering happens, like natural disasters. In the world in which we live, we
inflict harm, and sometimes harm just happens. While there is evil in the world
however, we believe that there is good. The only way that we can know what good
is, is by knowing what evil is. For if we did not know what evil is, then how
could we ever know what good is? God is the source of all goodness, and is the
moral law giver. The world is broken, sinful, and hurting, but Jesus Christ is
the light of the world. We are called to shine that light into the darkness.
In the second week of this sermon series, I asked the
question of, “How important is Jesus to you?” I said in this message that our
answer to this question both individually and as a church, will dictate the
success of the church. If we are deeply committed to and connected to Christ,
and if we want to share him with others, the church will grow because of our
deep faith and outreach. It is good to plan and organize, but the places where
the Christian Church is growing, virtually always, have people who are strongly
connected to Christ, each other, and the Word of God. Jesus Christ is my Lord
and Savior, and because of this, I have great excitement for the gospel, for
the future, and for the transformation of Sidney and the world. Who we say
Jesus is, and how we live that out will have massive ramifications on our lives
and on the life of the church. When we go deeper with Christ, we grow, and the
church grows.
Two Sundays ago, I discussed that part of our faith, both
individually and as a church, calls us to “Seek the Lost”. The way that Christ
explained that a shepherd leaves a flock of one-hundred sheep, to go after the
lost sheep, is a model for us. Friends, not as many people go to church as they
once did. Yet has anything changed about our needed for God in our lives? Are
people still as broken, sinful, and need of Jesus Christ today, as years ago?
Of course they are! Are willing to reach out to those around us who are
suffering? Are willing to share our faith, serve, love, and help people go from
a bad situation, to new life in Christ? Jesus pursues us constantly. Are we
willing, with God’s help, to pull people up, mentor them, love them, feed them,
care for them, and show them who Jesus is? We must be willing to “Seek the
Lost”.
Last week in my absence, Echo Adams tackled the topic of
feeling hopeless, worried, and that of struggling to trust God. This means, once
again, we know the nature of this world. We are called to fully trust Christ in
all things, and we are called to “Seek the Lost”. What happens though, if we
have a moment or a period where we ourselves feel lost? It doesn’t mean we lose
faith, but maybe we have grown weary, or something has taken our joy. This
happens to all of us, and to me.
I had a moment like this, this past Monday night. I have
been so excited to see our church grow, to see our worship attendance return to
numbers that we haven’t seen in 6-8 years. I also know that our church has been
running a budget deficit for at least ten-years now. In this being my fifth
church that I have served, within a year of being in each church that I have
ever served, God has blessed those churches with growth in attendance, members,
and giving. Every church that I have ever served was financially solvent and
often had money to spare. Sidney UMC however, has a much larger budget than any
other church that I have ever served.
Of course again, we are running a budget deficit again this
year. The realities of reviewing this in our church Finance and Ad. Council
meetings last Monday caused me some grief and sorrow. For about an hour or two,
I felt like I was failing all of you, and all of Sidney. After praying, and a
good talking to from Melissa, I realized all that God is doing in this church
and in us. I also realize that God is faithful. God has blessed every church
that I have ever served. My wife and I give generously, believing in this
church, the people in it, and in this community. We believe that God will bless
us, this church, this community, and through us, the world. So convinced am I
of the promise of God, I am usually thinking that nothing can stop this. Yet
once and awhile, I have a moment “When it seems hopeless”. Then I remember that
we serve a God that walks through fire, calls out kings, shuts the mouths of
lions, and tells the dead to breath. I believe God is and will continue to
bless this church, even if we, even when I have moments “When it seems
hopeless”.
Today in the final installment of my “The Realities of
Faith and Life” sermon series, and today I want to talk about “Greed vs.
Generosity”. That is to say, thinking of and focusing on only ourselves, or
considering others.
In our reading for this morning from 1 Timothy 6:6-10 once
again from this morning, it says:
“Of course, there is great gain in
godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so
that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and
clothing, we will be content with these. 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. 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” (1 Tim. 6:6-10, NRSV).
If we work hard, we may very well get ahead. There is
nothing wrong with prospering, but if money is the only focus, then that is the
sin. If you have a business that you love and you become wealthy, but you have provided
hundreds of jobs and are extremely generous, then you have honored God and
helped others. It’s not the money, it’s not the possessions. Instead it’s if
the possessions possess you. If you work hard your whole life, you might
accumulate some wealth and possessions. We should thank God for blessing us.
Just don’t worship those possessions, and be generous.
Our reading from 1 Timothy for this morning ends once again
saying:
“But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 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. 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 to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the
manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. 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. 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. They are to do
good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 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” (1 Tim. 6:11-19, NRSV).
Pursue
God, and if you become financially wealthy, don’t worship your money and your
possessions. What has impressed me throughout my life, is when I met someone
with a great amount of financial wealth and possessions that are incredibly
humble. They love Jesus, and God gave them certain gifts, graces, talents,
skills, and intelligence. Maybe they started a construction company, and they
took good care of their workers. They paid them fairly, were generous, loving,
and yes they accumulated some wealth and possessions. Yet they saw those things
as blessings from God, and as things that they were looking after in this life,
knowing that these things wouldn’t follow them into heaven.
Jesus,
is calling us to believe in him, so that our hearts will be changed. In us
changing and in us spiritually being reborn, we are then empowered by the Holy
Spirit to change others. Some people are also called to sell everything and
have nothing. We can’t all do that though, or we would have no manufacturing
and no production. Some though, are called to do this, like nuns, monks, and
etc.
Beyond
just financial wealth though, we can be greedy in other ways. We can decide
that our time is ours and not others. A father or a mother can be wrapped up in
a game on their cell phone, instead of focusing on their children. There are so
many ways that we can take the blessings of God in our lives and then use them
for us and no one else. This is what makes the church so great! We are here, and
God has gifted us all differently. Are we willing to use and share those gifts?
Whether we have material gifts, financial gifts, or other gifts, we are called
to be generous, as God blesses us all differently.
This
leads me to our gospel lesson for this morning from Luke 16. This scripture is
commonly called the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Once again, here is
what the gospel says for this morning:
“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, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his
side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send
Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in
agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your
lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things;
but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between
you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass
from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said,
‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house—for I have five
brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place
of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should
listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from
the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the
dead.’” (Lk.
16:19-31, NRSV).
So there is a rich man who lived
lavishly, while Lazarus was hungry and suffered. This scriptures doesn’t say
that Lazarus wanted the rich man’s money, or even his house. Instead, Lazarus
was hoping that the rich man would give him the food that was left over from
his table. Perhaps this food would be discarded, and all Lazarus wanted was the
left overs.
Lazarus according to this gospel reading,
then dies and goes to heaven, and the rich man dies and goes to hades. The rich
man, the scripture says, is in agony, and is suffering. Yet, he doesn’t
apologize to Lazarus. He doesn’t ask for Lazarus’ forgiveness. So bold is the
rich man, that he actually asks Lazarus to put his finger into water and cool
his burning tongue with his wet finger. Even in the agony of hades, hell, the
rich man seems unrepentant to Lazarus. Lazarus, who is with Abraham, does not
mock the rich man, does not condemn him. Even now, the rich man offers Lazarus
nothing.
The rich man then tells “Father
Abraham” to have mercy on him. Yet, according to the scripture, the rich man
won’t even apologize to Abraham. He certainly didn’t repent. It seems that it
is more of the rich man saying to Abraham, “look, can you just get me out of
here?”
Abraham then tells the rich man
that he lived a great and blessed life, and Lazarus suffered. The rich man
didn’t care. He wasn’t called to have nothing, but he was called to be
generous, and he wasn’t!
The rich man, seemingly still
unrepentant, wants Abraham to warn his living brothers to repent of their sins.
Maybe the rich man did repent here, but it doesn’t seem exactly like he did. I
have said a CS Lewis quote so many times, and I will tell it to you again:
Once again that
quote is:
We chose to be greedy or generous. I
really like what one of my Bible commentaries, the Africa Bible Commentary says
about the rich man in this scripture. It says:
“The sin of
the rich man is that he has no heart. He looks at a man with a name, but does
not ask him his name. He saw Lazarus’ hunger and pain, but did nothing about
it. He accepted the poverty of Lazarus as part of the normal order of things
and though it perfectly natural and inevitable that Lazarus should lie in
hunger, pain, suffering, and sickness ultimately in death while he wallowed in
luxury. There are none so blind as those who will not see” (Africa Bible Commentary, 1263).
This is why we have the Food Pantry housed at this
church. God isn’t necessarily asking us to give away everything that we have,
he is saying though, be generous. Should we help the poor, the oppressed, and the
hurting? Of course we should!
We don’t have to give away everything we have, but
God wants us to be generous. In the Old Testament the Tithe or the offering to
God was not 100%, it was 10%. God didn’t intend to always take everything we
had, maybe at times, but he wanted us to be devoted to him, and to be generous.
One of my favorite all time movies, is “Braveheart,”
starring Mel Gibson. In this movie, Mel Gibson portrays the historical Scottish
figure William Wallace. William Wallace led a rebellion movement to free
Scotland from being under the control of the English or the British in the early
1300’s. In this movie, if the depiction is accurate, and not just Hollywood,
Mel Gibson, playing William Wallace, has no problem with the Lords and the
King’s lands, estates, castles, and wealth. He does challenge them though. He
tells them that all they have from God isn’t just to give them comfort.
Instead, all they have is given so that might help their people, lead there
people, and give their people freedom. To whom much is given, much is required.
Working hard and getting ahead isn’t a sin. Lusting
after money and possessions, while turning from God is a sin. Working hard,
serving and helping others, is very much what the rich man did not do in the
scripture for this morning.
I remember reading and seeing television programs
about Henry Ford throughout my life. In these readings and programs, I read how
Henry Ford paid his workers well so that they too could afford to buy a ford.
Ford helped his workers, and by many accounts took good care of them. They were
provided for, given good jobs, and yes Henry Ford was very wealthy. The
difference though, is that he was generous.
One of our “Realities of Faith and Life” friends,
brothers and sisters, is determining whether we are being greedy or generous.
Do we care about the suffering of others? Or do we have absolutely no care
about the suffering of others? So let us remember every day who God is, what he
has done for us through his son Jesus Christ, and be generous. Jesus calls us
to be generous. For if we have all the blessings that we have, and if we do
nothing with them for others, well then that is the sin of the rich man from
this morning. Amen.
