Sermon by Rev. Rev. Dr. Michael J. Hoyt Fourth Presbyterian Church 26th Sunday after Pentecost November 17, 2013 “Your Money or Your Life!” Luke 12:13-21; 1 Timothy 6:17-19 “Your “Your money or your life!” If someone approached you on the street, thrust a gun in your ribs and gave you that choice, what would you do? Most of us would turn over our wallets! Of course, some might say that coming to church during stewardship season can feel like being mugged by mugged by your pastor who issues the threat from the pulpit! “Your “Your money or your life!” The threat works because we value our lives more than we value our money. Or do we? 1 This is the question posed by a national bestseller, entitled Your Money or Your Life, that came out a few decades ago and has enjoyed multiple re-printings and revised editions. The book apparently hit a nerve with a large segment of the American public with its promise to “transform your relationship with money” and to help you “achieve financial independence.” That is a nice thought, isn’t isn’t it? Financial independence. For most Americans, that really would be b e a new relationship re lationship with money. No worries about how to finance anything. No credit cards with whopping interest rates. No auto loan. No mortgage. No worries about college tuition for the kids. A solid investment portfolio to keep you in luxurious living well into the future. Some of you here today actually have achieved achieved “financial independence”. You’ve reached the age of retirement, or close to it, and found that your hard work and diligent saving has paid off. Or perhaps you’ve received a nice inheritance, and you’ve invested wisely. You know you’ll be able to support yourself comfortably for years to come. For others, financial independence seems an unreachable dream, a mirage in the desert.
Just as you think you’re drawing closer, that beautiful oasis fades away to reveal the same hot sand you’ve been plodding through for years. The promised American dream is always a few more miles, and a few more dollars, away. Still others are under no illusions whatsoever. You know you will ever reach it. So I suspect that when we hear Jesus tell the story of the rich man building larger barns to store his abundant produce, we each hear it a little differently. Some may be able to relate to the man who has more than he knows what to do with. Others can only imagine – and, perhaps, resent.
The challenge of this parable of Jesus is the challenge faced by any sermon or conversation about money. There is always a great deal of room for misunderstanding. And our understanding is easily distorted by the fact that the mention of money is one of the most anxiety-producing topics in our culture. That’s why we’d rather not talk about it, but Jesus keeps bringing up the subject again and again! To grapple with this story – which appears only in the gospel of Luke – we have to understand Luke’s theological perspective that riches, wealth, possessions, and elite economic status are not neutral, but inherently negative. The economy of the first century world was a zero-sum game , meaning that if one person became richer, another became poorer; if one keeps getting richer and richer, then other get poorer and poorer. Today, we understand economics in a different light, in terms of investment , in the purest sense of the word. I mean investment, not as a concept stripped down to the question, “How much can I make in interest and dividends?” but investment that asks the question of whether this or that work, this or that endeavor, is worthy of my life’s energy. That’s what makes our modern economies work well: when people invest not only for a financial gain but because they actually believe that what they are investing in is a good thing, a thing worth pursuing,
a thing that benefits humanity and blesses God’s good world. The beauty of our modern economy is that it is possible to enrich ourselves while enriching others and enriching the world – I say, possible, but not automatic. If we are only asking the question, “What is the monetary return on my investment?” that is, how much profit can I make – if that is our only concern – then we are no better than the drug lord or the slave trader, or the the Rich Fool of Jesus’ parable. What Jesus shows us in his many candid parables and sayings about money is that economics always means relationships. The gaining and using of money always puts us in relationship with others. Even the very word “economy” comes from the greek work oikos , which means “household.” As Christian, we believe that the gaining and using of money is always, always , carried out in the household of God, in relationship with God and the others God loves. The Rich Fool seems to have no awareness of this. He is not aware of anything other than his riches. In fact, God is not even mentioned or thought of in this parable until God inserts himself into the picture in a sudden and stark word of rebuke. God says, “You fool, you had the choice between your money and your life and you have chosen your money. For you life is being demanded of you this very night.”
The parable reminds us that our money is nothing more than a symbol of our priorities; money is simply a measurement of what is important to us. For those will only a little money, just enough to cover the essentials, money is a symbol that you value the life God has given you and that sustaining that life with food and clothing and shelter will be good for God and good for God’s world. In that case, spending it on yourself is not selfish, but part of God’s good purposes for you and for the word. For those with discretionary income, how you spend your money beyond those essentials becomes a symbol of what matters most to you – your relationship with others and with God, or your own comfort, luxury, entertainment, and public esteem?
That is to say… when you whisper to your own soul, what do you talk about? Do you say, “Soul, you have ample resources laid up for many years,” or, “Soul, how can you be closer to God?” or, “Soul, how can you bless others?” or, “How can you ‘Bless the Lord, O my Soul and forget not all his benefits ?”
So the point of this parable, and, truly, the point of our whole annual giving initiative, is for each of us to go to the quiet of our homes, to the quiet of our souls and ask, “Soul, what does it mean to be rich toward God?” Taking the next step is not about meeting a church budget, it is about each of us asking our souls this question: Am I rich toward God? Is my family rich toward God? Luke helps us examine that question: Are we learning to pray as Jesus taught us? Are we seeking first the Kingdom of God, trusting God with the rest? Are we sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening carefully as Mary does? Are we using our resources to help our neighbors in need, as does the Good Samaritan? Are we giving up our attachment to possession and giving alms like Zacchaeus comes to do? Or are we absorbed in attaining the next item on our shopping list, so that we can have more and more of the so-called American Dream? In the end it’s not really a question of your money or your life, but your money as a symbol of your life; or to carry the parable forward, it is a question of your time, and your energy, and your gifts and talents. Are you investing yourself in the advancement of God’s purposes? The fact that you are sitting here this morning is a very, very good sign! And from what I see happening in this community of faith, I am encouraged. I am encouraged that we are discovering the wealth of God’s storehouse, and the riches of God’s kingdom, the bountiful harvest of life, life that is truly life,
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift!
1 Joe
Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Your Money or Your Life , Penguin Books, 1991, p.1.
