Download 10 August 2014 - Heathmont Uniting Church

Sermon
Sunday 10 August
Heathmont Uniting Church
Values for Money
Don't store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy them, and thieves
can break in and steal them. Instead, store up your treasures in heaven, where
moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in and steal them.
Your heart will always be where your treasure is. Your eyes are like a window for
your body. When they are good, you have all the light you need. But when your eyes
are bad, everything is dark. If the light inside you is dark, you surely are in the dark.
You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be
more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money. I tell you
not to worry about your life. Don't worry about having something to eat, drink, or
wear. Isn't life more than food or clothing? Look at the birds in the sky! They don't
plant or harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven
takes care of them. Aren't you worth more than birds? Can worry make you live
longer? Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don't
work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth
wasn't as well clothed as one of them. God gives such beauty to everything that
grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow.
He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith? Don't worry
and ask yourselves, "Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink?
Will we have any clothes to wear?" Only people who don't know God are always
worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of
these. But more than anything else, put God's work first and do what he wants.
Then the other things will be yours as well. Don't worry about tomorrow. It will
take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today
– Matthew 6.19-34
++++
“I have enough”.
Simeon, in the temple when Jesus was presented, takes the savior of the world in
his hands and says, I have held the salvation of the earth. I have enough.
There is something rather beautiful – there is something very beautiful – about
this prayer, which just says, ‘I have you, Lord. I have enough.’
Think for a moment: what possessions of yours do you really value at this
moment in my life? Imagine yourself writing them down.
Now ask yourself this: in five years’ time, which of these possessions do you
think will still hold the same importance for you?
Beyond your valued possessions, what is really important in your life that you
would like to continue, to endure?
Imagine yourself in the group listening to Jesus. Imagine him looking directly at
you as he says, “Don't store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy
them, and thieves can break in and steal them. Instead, store up your treasures in
heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy them, and thieves cannot break in
and steal them. Your heart will always be where your treasure is.”
“I have enough”.
It is an interesting reading this Sunday, as we go through this series called
Spirited Generosity. To start to dig again into what the scriptures understand
about the things we own, our possessions, money and ‘stuff’. And what might
last.
Think about Treasure in terms of …
Moth
Rust
Thieves
& Heart
Think about the things we look at and our eyes
A Lamp
Our Body
Healthy Light?
Unhealthy Darkness?
Thinking about what we serve
Masters
God and Wealth
Hate and Love
Devoted and Despise
Think about Worry.
Birds?
You are of more value.
Think about Worry.
Flowers?
They have all they need.
Don’t worry.
Strive for that God-space
Don’t worry.
Today.
It is a different type of economics theory that deals with questions of the heart, of
anxiety, values, security and the way we look at things.
I cringe when our politicians describe our nation as being “an economy”. As if we
describe ourselves by the way money decisions are made, rather than by
communities, neighbourhoods or terms that describe people and their
relationships. Yes, I may sometimes be a consumer, but I am always a citizen.
We have an economy, not, we have one. There is no such thing as
“Compassionate Capitalism”, only compassionate people.
This statement by Jesus about attitudes to money is in the middle of the famous
Sermon on the Mount.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, the humble, the merciful,
the peacemakers.”
It is a statement about the creation of a new community, around Jesus.
This new world that God is creating, this Kingdom of God, this “God-space” is
characterized by people whose attitudes and values will look and feel different –
and a community who model those values.
So, while it is scary, it is not surprising that Jesus includes conversation about
money, and our attitude to money. He never talks about money as an evil thing –
nor does he talk about having too much money. But he describes Values for
Money.
If you have your bibles open to Matthew 6, you will notice that this is no random
collection of sayings of Jesus plonked on a page.
There is a flow that starts with Alms-giving (or charity).
Jesus’ values of money start with giving some away.
Then general instructions on prayer and not being showy
Then the Lord’s prayer – which starts with God, God’s coming realm, God’s will
being done on earth … Forgiveness of debts (yes a money word is used there as a
parallel for “sin” or penchant to stuff things up), we have been forgiven our
debts.
Times of testing or temptation (Money?)
Rescue us from the evil one or from evil (Wrong choices?)
Forgiveness of others
Then fasting (going without food or stuff)
Then treasure and the heart
What the eyes look at reflecting and affecting what is going on in the heart
Serving God. Serving mammon
Do not worry.
One of the very bright threads that runs through that is that of our attitude or
values of “stuff” – money, wealth, possessions. It is the Love of Money that is the
root of all kinds of evil according to both 1 Timothy 6, and Hebrews 13 “Don’t be
trapped by the love of money”.
But the word often used here in this Jesus-saying is “Mammon” – a warning
word.
Mammon is not money – as in dollars and cents. Nor is it a demon lurking around
a corner waiting to grab us. Mammon is about the “meaning” of money and
possessions. Mammon comes into being when it becomes a ‘master’, something
to be served.
Writers such as the philosopher Jaques Ellul, theologian Stanley Hauwerwas, and
quaker John Howard Yoder all agree that using the word “mammon” is both risky
and necessary. Necessary, because it takes the phrase away from just money,
just posessions, just house or car. It is risky, because we can put it ‘away’ from us
because we can say that we haven’t seen a Mammon today.
Money, wealth, posessions, these all have a potential to take over our lives. They
are what the apostle Paul calls “Principalities and powers” – Not having inate
power in and of themselves, but because of our human nature to give them that
power.
Jesus talks about choosing; Mammon or God. Submission to “mammon” in
opposition to submission to God. It is not a one-off choice, but something we all
face with many of our financial decisions, and many of our day to day decisions –
as we heard earlier in our service, people making choices for the good of others,
community or the earth. And it can be a decision that leads to freedom and
lightness and hope for ourselves, our families and communities.
Which in the end comes down to the place of the heart, and how we seek that
Kingdom, that “God-space”. When we talk economics, we don’t often talk about
the heart. And yet, in the financial collapse of 2011, one of the largest
conversations was around the greed of the politicians, business leaders and
CEOs. The heart.
How we use our money may reveal more about our values than what we say.
The question Jesus asks is not how much money we have … but how our values
shape our decisions. For where your Treasure is, there your heart will also be.”
Seek first God’s kingdom … is about making sound financial decisions based on
what is most important to us in this God-space – and not letting worry drive that.
What are our values for money.
We pause again and consider…
Jesus says to me, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Can
I open my heart and speak to Jesus for a moment about my innermost thoughts
and feelings? About my treasure and where my heart is?
Seek first God’s Kingdom.
Amen