rich’s blog

This is a not-exact copy of my recent message “Christianity & Cash.”  Don’t spend it all in one place. 

Last Week:

Last week when we gathered here in worship we talked about how we are to partner with the Holy Spirit, with each other, and even with Scripture in our attempts to become more like Jesus.  Being like Jesus, of course, is the ethical and all-around goal of our personal lives; being a church that together looks more like Jesus is the goal of our lives-in-community.  That was last week (and really, the week before…)

 

Today:

Today, we’re talking about Christianity & Cash, so I’m just wondering who here is ready to have me tell them what to do with their money?  What, nobody?  Weird.  I hadn’t planned on that.  (Hmm.  Does anyone have a pen?  Make some changes here…) 

 

I’m kidding.  I didn’t expect anybody would; and I don’t want to.  What I hope is that this morning we are reminded of our allegiances; we hear what Jesus asks of us; we acknowledge the distance between Jesus’ call and our own choices, and figure out some way to mediate the space between our behavior and what Jesus wants of us. 

 

But lets just acknowledge that cash is a touchy topic, even though it shouldn’t be.  And let’s not hate me if I start to say something that doesn’t apply to you, which will probably happen, okay?  

 

 

Now let’s pray: 

 

Prayer:

Father: still and soften our hearts.  Receive this message as on offering to you; and shut me down if I begin to speak untruth.  Receive the time we’ve taken to be here as an offering as well, and help us to recognize your Spirit among us and in us.  Thank you for each other, for this moment in history and this chapter in the life of our church.  In Jesus’ name we pray; amen. 

 

Context: Loyalties 

So there’s a reason that we started this morning with Jesus’ words “Anyone who does not give up everything he or she has cannot be my disciple” ringing in our ears.  The NRSV is even more blunt: “So, therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”  This is nice stuff, right? I’m sure this little quote was shared with all of us when we were first told about Jesus, right?  

 

That passage that was read to us, Luke 14:25-35–including the quote I just shared–is a passage about loyalties; about allegiances, about considering the costs–good word for today–that come when we cast our lots with Jesus, and are loyal to him before all else. 

 

The Point:

Here’s the point: Behind the question of everything in the Christian life–but especially cash and possessions, which form such a big part of our lives–stands the question of loyalties: Jesus says if you’re a Christian, your primary loyalty rests with me; no other commitments you make or things the world presents you with can trump your commitment to me.  

 

All this to say that Christianity declares you cannot talk about Cash (or much of anything, really) without talking about loyalties: Do we understand that:  just a few verses after this Luke passage Jesus just sort of informs us of the fact that “You cannot serve both God and wealth (or property–the word there, “mammon” means both).”  When Jesus speaks of service, he’s speaking of loyalties, allegiances, commitments. 

 

Christianity places cash, possessions, “stuff” within the arena of loyalty.  This is something we cannot forget: Whatever Christianity has to say about cash it says it after Jesus first says “any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” 

 

Context: Why Bother? 

But If we want to talk about cash, we have to give it a context, right.  We can either give it the biblical context it has–one that places cash within the context of loyalties and allegiances–or we can decide not to claim a context for this discussion.  

 

If we don’t claim a context for this discussion, we’ll end defaulting to whatever America says about cash and possessions: that we need to get while the getting is good, and when the getting gets not so good, hoard your stuff, cause you’ve got to watch out for number one.  

 

And do I have to say that as people who are trying to become like Jesus individually, and collectively, we should probably look to Jesus, to the Bible that tells us about him, to the Spirit that whispers counsel and wisdom to us as our information sources, and not look to Society at large or the media or the internet or our favorite bands or movies or whatever?  I don’t have to remind us about that, do I? 

 

Other things I don’t need to do: 

 

And we probably don’t need me to recite for us a whole bunch of little Bible quotes that reminds us how greed is bad, do we?  I mean we know it’s bad.  

 

And by and large, we aren’t greedy people.  At worst, we are just people who want a little bit of pleasure, and what’s so wrong about wanting nice things, or new things, or a little tiny bit of luxury.  Anything? 

 

Our aspirations for things are generally not so high; but we do need to recognize them as aspirations for things, as desires for things.  I desire a 1980 International Harvester Scout II Diesel, and a veggie oil biodiesel conversion kit in my garage: what is so wrong with that, really?  I don’t care if it’s rusty. 

 

Except that we have these nagging rules, right:  Thou Shalt not covet:  A healthier paraphrase would be “Don’t want what you don’t have.” Don’t want what you don’t have.  

 

Listen, everybody, lean in: Don’t want what you don’t have.  

 

There.  That worked, right?  Are we cool?  Desires gone. 

 

No.  We’re not cool; the desires aren’t gone: I still want a Scout; go fig: and I can justify it for a hundred Jesus-like, ethical reasons. 

 

Being told to do something doesn’t really help us, does it?  And it isn’t our ethical call to obey the rules, but to become like Jesus.  But in case being told what to do does help you, even a little, let me read something: it may sound familiar.  Jesus is speaking, and he says: 

 

Luke 12: 27-34

“Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

Right before this passage he says: 

 

Luke 12:22-26 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

 

Did you hear all the things we were just told to do?  “Don’t worry.  God will care for you.”  “Don’t act like pagans–those who aren’t God’s people–and pursue more and more and more.”  We’re told to seek God’s Kingdom first, and we’ll get food and clothes and whatever.” Should I sit down know? I mean, Jesus told us to do this stuff.

 

And what about the facts he declares.  Jesus tells us to accept the fact that “Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” We’ll accept that one, you know.  God provides for ravens; okay (but we start thinking: yeah, but what they eat is a little lame, right?)  And flowers do look nice…but really you’ve seen one lily you’ve seen ‘em all, right?  What about the self-expression?  

 

Jesus tells us to understand that where our treasure is, our heart is; what we take the time to store, to protect, to keep safe reveals what we are truly concerned about. 

 

Jesus tells us to sell our possessions and give charitably, give to the poor, give alms; to sell our possessions and give.  

 

Do not worry; trust God to care for you; sell your possessions and give to the poor.  Remember the passage about loyalties we first read?  “None of you can become my disciple unless you give up all your possessions.” 

 

Confession:

I need to confess something. you may not need to; I do.  Here it goes:  

 

I don’t sell my possessions, if I ever have, they weren’t good ones, and if I did, they wouldn’t be ones I liked, and I probably wouldn’t give the money to the poor.  I need to confess that in my attempts to become Jesus’ disciple I have never “given up” all my possessions, much less their hold on me, much less my desire for more of them, not really. 

 

Theoretically I believe the things Jesus says Jesus says: Don’t worry–okay, I won’t.  God loves you, he’ll take care of you: I know he will.  Elsewhere in Luke, Jesus says “life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions.”  I know.  It doesn’t!  Right on Jesus.  Theoretically I agree with all this; I just don’t think that this belief has really impacted my soul.

Actually, I’m going to guess this isn’t just me–I’m not saying it’s you–but I’m going to guess it’s not just me. 

 

So… 

So, if we’ve been reminded that our loyalties always need to lie with God, with Jesus, and not with our wealth or our possessions or anything else, really, and we’ve heard what Jesus, who is our life, who I hope we are trying to become like, has said: give up your possessions and follow me; sell your possessions and give the money as aid to those who need it: 

 

What Now? Honesty.

What I think we need to do now, is start by acknowledging that we just don’t really listen to Jesus when it comes to this cash bit.  This possessions thing.  I just don’t think we really listen to what Jesus says about this stuff.  

 

I feel like if we don’t start here by acknowledging this, here’s what’s going to happen.  I’ll urge us all to listen to Jesus, we’re all going to agree that we should, but it’s tricky, and we’ll sort of end up feeling guilty, and go home glad to be out of that awkward scene; I think that today can be more meaningful than that.  

 

But we have to start by saying that while we’d agree our loyalties lie with Jesus, and we’d agree that practicing the things he says might help us become more like him, most of us would not be pleased if our children said they were selling a whole bunch of the stuff we’ve bought them over the years and giving it away to poor people they meet on the street.  

 

We’d probably try to talk them out of it.  

 

If I sold my house, and my car, and my cell phone and gave the money to the poor, and Carolyn and I moved into a studio apartment and I biked here there and everywhere, and you couldn’t get a hold of me unless I was in the church office, would we say: Man, Rich is becoming more like Jesus all the time, isn’t he?  He lives so simply and gives so much away? Or would we say, man, it’s time to get a new pastor. 

 

Most of us haven’t invited others to speak into our lives about where our money goes, we haven’t invited others to help us figure out if our loyalties really do lie with our possessions, we haven’t asked God to help us sell our possessions and give aid to the poor: For many of us, our perspectives on cash have been co-opted by society, not submitted to Jesus.   

 

You’re Wrong, Rich:

And if we don’t want to really agree with me, because I know now I’m just getting contentious, right? but if we don’t really buy this idea that our perspectives on money are at least a little more influenced by society around us than what Jesus says in the passages we heard read to us this morning, then let’s talk about what we do when I say “Sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and trust God to take care of your needs,” as Jesus says here.  

 

How do we respond? 

Our first thought is probably “you sell your possessions, champ.”  We react, don’t we? 

 

What else do we do?  We triumph over this verse & passages like it with other scripture!  Right!  Pull out some proverbs that talk about saving, about being “wise” with our money (cause proverbs trumps Jesus, you know).   

 

Or when we’re reminded of the story about that young ruler with a lot of possessions, who came to Jesus, and asks what he has to do to be in on what Jesus is all about; and Jesus says: you know what you’re “supposed to do”–and the guy says, yeah, I do all that.  

 

And Jesus loves him, Mark tells us: and so goes on to tell the man, “Just one more thing: sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor and follow me.  And the guy leaves sad, because he had a lot of stuff.  And we, with all our stuff, that we don’t really want to sell, automatically say, “Well, that was Jesus’ word to that guy, he says different stuff to us, you know.” We can’t make that one thing into a rule; Okay, are we sure?  I want to believe that too; it’s easier.  But I just don’t believe it; I can’t.  It’s not isolated at all; it’s pretty consistent.  “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” 

 

What else do we do?  When we’re reminded of how Jesus says in Matt 5 “Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you,” we respond with a well, but you know how much money some of these bums have saved up, we say, look, I give it to them they’re just going to blow it or blow it up their nose; I could put it to good use; a deeply ironic thing to say, really.

 

It’s just not practical. 

In certain theological circles they talk about how Jesus was mistaken, he thought the world was going to end, he got it wrong; doing the things he asks of us in these passages just isn’t practical, it would be chaos, it wouldn’t work; and while I hope we disagree with the perspective that Jesus was wrong about the way history would go, I think we need to agree that it’s not practical.  

 

It just doesn’t seem that practical to do this stuff, does it; of course, we’re not called to be practical, so much as called to become like Jesus.  Who knows if it would “work”–if the goal is to become like Jesus, and listen to him, maybe it works just fine.  And besides; anyone tried selling possessions lately? 

 

I think for us to move forward, we need to simply acknowledge the fact that we ignore these verses.  We ignore them. We’ll say and do all sorts of things in response to these verses; but mostly what we do is not deal with them and the ones like them salted throughout the gospels. 

 

So, I don’t want to waste our time today by exhorting us all to follow Jesus’ call to action in these passages, when I know we probably won’t.  

 

We do almost everything we can to excuse ourselves from listening to Jesus here; or we do nothing, and our inaction gets sort of overtaken by society’s views on cash and possessions. 

 

I’m not excusing us, you know, not excusing myself. But we have to start somewhere; so let’s start by acknowledging that we just don’t want to hear Jesus on this one.  We don’t listen, and it’s not great. 

 

Alternative: Get Close

So if we aren’t going to be people and a community that sells our possessions and gives as charity whatever we earn, what are we going to do with ourselves? 

 

I think if we can’t do it, we’ve got to get as close as we can.  And that may feel a little wishy-washy, but it’s sort of the way we live our lives, right?  We get as close to acting like Jesus as we can–and hope that someday we act like him.  If we’re not going to go out and sell our possessions this afternoon, we need to begin to get close to doing that sort of thing. 

 

We also need to admit some things. 

 

Getting Close: Admitting something 

We need to admit that our perspectives on cash are not totally related to our desire to become like Jesus.  Sometimes even when they are informed by Scripture, they are not taken from Jesus’ words to us, but usually somewhere else, a place a little less challenging, or even places that highlight how if we just give money away we’ll be sure to get even more back!

 

Let’s admit, though, people have given away fortunes in the name of Jesus and not gotten fortunes back.  They’ve not gotten jack back.  It’s not because their faith is weak; it’s because Jesus doesn’t promise selflessness as a surefire investment strategy.  

 

He does tells that if we give up everything we’ll have a hundred times that amount in this life and our resurrected one: many scholars agree he’s talking about the church–and in Acts we can see how people who wanted to do so gave stuff to the church, and the church ensured that everyone was cared for, and it was all hunky dory.  Who of you wouldn’t care for Carolyn and I if all we possessed burned up or rotted away.  

 

We’re also told that by giving away our things we’re storing up “treasure in the heavens”–treasure where God is; and I don’t know what that means, because when we see what the world will be like when Jesus gets back, say in Revelation 21, and 22, it’s a world where treasures is all over the place–gems on the streets and in the walls.  All over.  I am sure that what it means is that when we do as Jesus calls us to do here, when we give our treasure away now, it’s a great witness to our hearts that we’re headed toward that place. Maybe it means we get to help pave roads when creation is restored, I don’t know. 

 

But we do need to admit that Jesus’ words don’t always inform our perspectives on cash and possessions. 

 

Getting Close: Remembering

And, in our attempts at getting as close as we can to actually listening to Jesus on this one, we do need to remember that “sell your possessions and give to the poor” isn’t something Jesus says without telling us a whole bunch of truths around it.  We need to remember these truths.  

 

We need to remember, particularly, Luke 12:29-31:

“And 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 talked earlier about how being told something doesn’t mean our souls are changed; knowing something doesn’t make it “real” to us.  But remember for me when you have had what you needed and not much else.  Do you remember?  Do you remember getting by?  Do you remember having what you needed?  Do you remember someone coming to you and giving you just what you hoped for?  I hope so; if not, we as church need to help create these memories in the lives of one another.  But most of us can remember having what we needed.

 

But this idea of having what we need; let’s give it a name.  Let’s call it “enough.”  Okay?  What do we need?  We need “enough.”  Not more than enough; not less than enough; we just need enough, right?  

 

Seek first God’s Kingdom; let your loyalties first lie with Jesus, and becoming like him, and acting like him to the world, 

 

seek first God’s kingdom; let your loyalties lie first with Jesus, and not with your wealth, not with your possessions, not with your property.  

 

Seek first God’s kingdom and what are we promised?  Enough. 

 

Getting Pretty Close: 

Do you think that we could actually trust God for enough.  (And maybe, once we reached “enough” we could unload the rest?  That would be getting close to sell your possessions and give alms, wouldn’t it?  It would be pretty close…)

 

Concerning Enough:

Consider again what Paul wrote to Timothy: 

 

1 Tim 6:6-10

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

 

This is a description of “enough.” Being okay with having food, having clothing.  And this more or less summarizes everything Jesus says in Luke (except, interestingly, for the sell your stuff part, right?)  

 

We can’t know contentment, can’t know what it’s like to be really satisfied, and pleased with what we’ve got; until we have only had enough.  I think we learn contentment not in a context of plenty; we learn it in a context of enough–if we give it a shot, we can even learn it in a context of need now and then.  But once we’ve spent some time with just enough–neither more or less–and have learned contentment, we become positioned for something that is really miraculous considering what society tells us about cash and possessions.  

 

Still Closer: 

Contentment positions us for generosity.  When we have enough; and we learn how to enjoy our enough, and not wish for more, enjoy our clothing, and not wish it were “more,” enjoy our food, and not wish it were “more,” then we are able to take the “more” that comes our way, and offer it to others. 

 

It isn’t quite the same as liquidating all our property and giving whatever we earn from it to the poor; but it’s closer than hoarding, and if we aren’t going to do the liquidation thing, the least we can do is get enough, and practice giving our “extra” away. And we’ll discover over time that we don’t really need to worry; that God really is trustworthy, and that all the things Jesus told us are true: that God really will ensure we have food and clothing and “enough” of both of them. 

 

Work:

This takes, of course, work.  Sorry.  It does.  It takes work to be okay with just food, and just clothing; not with nice tasty food, and designer clothing.  

 

It takes hard work to simplify our lives so that “enough” becomes over time a smaller and smaller amount.  That takes work. Does this make sense?  I mean, I could tally up my debt and say, look, Carolyn and I have a lot of needs; “enough” is not small.  Many of us could do that; but what would happen if we all started to work at being contented and satisfied in what we have, and avoid the “many griefs” that come from pursuing cash, and property and possessions instead of pursuing Jesus.   

 

Learning how to live with “enough,” living in a way that shrinks “enough” down to the most basic things is work.

 

Imagine a life:

But imagine that life; a life in which we pursue “enough”–not more, not less, and we give whatever comes along after our simple needs have been met, to others, so that their simple needs might be met as well.  It’s not quite what Jesus says; but it is really close.  

 

We could call that sort of life a generous one.

 

A Generous Life:

But we need each other to become Generous; we need the examples of one another; we forget somehow the example of Jesus, who gave up life and family and possessions on our behalf, because he loved us.  We forget somehow that, as Rich Mullins said, “the hope of the whole world rests on the shoulders of a homeless man.”  We need each other to remember that we, each other, are the promise Jesus leaves us with, that no matter what we give up, we will have each other to care for us.  

 

Generosity breeds generosity: And it takes hard, intentional work, to say “no” to the desires and wants of a society, and it cannot happen unless we help each other.  I cannot say no to buying something I don’t need unless you remind me that I don’t need it; unless you say, take mine for as long as you need it.  I cannot remember how far I am past “enough” unless you remind me of your needs, of what I have and what I have taken for granted.  

 

Generosity is something that is always being formed; always being tested, always being shaped.  And I want to believe that somehow if we practice generosity long enough we might end up right where Jesus wanted us to be in the first place; selling even our possessions that we might give to those in need, 

 

Conclusion:

We have this morning been reminded of who we are supposed to be most loyal to; we have heard what Jesus asks of us; we have acknowledged–I pray–how we are just not willing to listen to him when it comes to our cash and our possessions; but I have suggested that one way to mediate the distance between what society tells us about our cash, and what Jesus says about our possessions and what we’re supposed to do with them, is to seek to have only enough; no more or no less, and to practice enjoying enough.  I suggested that we start simplifying our lives, so that enough can become less and less; and we can have more and more extra.  We talked about taking our extra–our “more than enough”–and beginning to try and give it way, so that others might have enough, too.  We called this becoming generous.  

 

If we can become a generous people, in this way, living simply, with enough, and giving of our extra so that others can experience “enough” contentedly, then we will go a really long way in living out Christianity’s cash ideal.