Dear friends, what a coincidence to have this lesson in the midst of a campaign to finish funding our new building!  But let me set your minds at ease.  Today's Gospel lesson was chosen about twenty years ago when this three-year cycle of lessons was established, so it's just further evidence of the Lord knowing what would be happening today.  We recently discussed this lesson at our Men's Bible Breakfast from a booklet called, "Your Money and Your Life."

          Remember Jack Benny?  His trademark comedy routines were always centered on his stinginess.  One day Jack is walking along when suddenly a robber with a gun approaches him and demands, "Your money or your life!"  There is a long pause.  Finally the robber impatiently asks, "Well?"  "Don't rush me," replies Benny, "I'm thinking about it."

          We may laugh at this, but some of us may laugh a little nervously!  We live in an age when life without money is unthinkable.  In many ways, money is essential for life.  It buys us food and clothing and shelter.  Without it we would be unable to obtain medical care, transportation, education or public safety.  So if we cannot live without money, then how do we learn to live with it?

          Jesus was not against money, but He was against its misuse.  We humans value certain things and the more we value them, the more we will work to obtain them and protect them.  We live in a material world and a lot of us have become material people.  Money madness jumps out at every turn.  Advertisements convince us we must have it all, and now the Powerball Lottery promises we can have it all now - just buy a ticket!

          The problem with misuse of money and possessions is not out there on Madison Avenue, but in here - in our hearts.  Christians have focused a great deal of our attention on the things of the world, much to the grief of our Lord.  Some of us actually love money, and all of us, to some extent, love the things it can buy.  We love the comfort and pleasure we think it will bring into our lives.

          To some of us, it's become "money madness," in other words, materialism.  Webster's Dictionary defines materialism as "a preoccupation with, or tendency to seek after or stress material rather than spiritual things."  Thorndike and Barnhart define a materialist as a person who cares too much for the things of this world and neglects spiritual needs.  Sounds like someone writing dictionaries has been reading the Bible!

          A materialist is preoccupied with the things of this world.  He or she spends time dreaming of the next acquisition, and is frustrated if he can't get what he wants when he wants it.  If he can't buy it, he charges it and worries about payment later.  He's obsessed with the "stuff" of life.

          Jesus painted quite a picture of the materialist in Luke 12.  Please take out your Sunday Lessons insert and note with me all the pronouns, the "I", "me" and "my" words you find.  This is a man who's rich, but not rich towards God.  He's preoccupied with treasure for himself.  His house is full of riches but is really empty, because God has been shoved out the door.

          Contrast this with the writer of Ecclesiastes who says, "Meaningless!  Meaningless!  Everything is meaningless...  What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?" (Ecclesiastes 1:2&3)   Now there's a realist, not a materialist!  He's tried the money route and knows it's a dead-end road.  Many believe King Solomon wrote these words, and if so, they're the most ironic words in the Bible.  A man who's had it all says it's all meaningless.

          Materialism doesn't bring happiness or peace of mind, just a lot of discontent.  St. Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:10, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."  Some modern day joker has commented, "Love of money is the root of only half the evil;  lack of money is the root of the other half."  Whatever your thinking on this, materialism doesn't bring us much happiness, if any at all.

          It's important to note that materialism is not the mere possession of things, but obsession with possessions.  Nor is materialism a disease of the rich.  Rich or poor or average people can all be obsessed with wanting more and wanting it now.  It has nothing to do with amount, but everything to do with attitude.  St. Paul was hard on people trying to get rich because he knew wealth can so quickly corrupt.  But there are great blessings in wealth that is shared, especially when shared with the poor or given to expand the kingdom.

          Our Lord Jesus never said people should feel guilty about being rich, and St. Paul never told the rich to get rid of their wealth.  But Jesus and Paul did tell people not to put their hope in wealth.  "It's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom," said Jesus (Matthew 19:23), but it's not impossible.  It's just that wealth so quickly can separate a person from the Savior.  When you're successful and wealthy, it's really tempting to forget the One who gave it to you.  And if you're poor, your pre-occupation with getting money can drive you just as far away from God.

          But let's talk a minute to the real issue.  Few of us are rich.  Maybe none of us are, especially since, as someone from Wall Street recently said with tongue in cheek, "A million bucks doesn't go all that far these days!"  The real issue is in our hearts.  A member and I went to the International Golf Tourney last week and wondered aloud how much this or that house cost.  It's easy to get jealous, to envy those with more than we have.  I'm sure more than one of us has said, "Can you believe the cost of that house they built?" or, "How can they afford to take so many trips?" or, "Yep, he just crossed the line - he bought a BMW!"  But materialism isn't a matter of cost.  It's not determined by how much or how little we have.  It's a matter of our heart.

          Consider this a moment:  If materialism is so personal, what are some warning signs that show maybe we are materialists?  One man wrote these warning signs for himself:  1) when I go from managing my money to being anxious over it, I've crossed the line into materialism. (Ouch - that hurt!)  2) When I compare what others have with what I have, I know I'm on the wrong track. (Then so am I!)  3) When I no longer appreciate what I have and focus on what I don't have - then I'm preoccupied with material things. (Really close to home!)  and - here's the real test - 4) When I focus on keeping rather than giving, on building my personal worth rather than sharing it for someone else's good, then I have become a materialist.

          There you have them:  worry, envy, ingratitude, and stinginess.  Which of those is the most troublesome one for you?  Why not let's just save time and circle them all!

          The Good News is that we aren't all doomed to materialism.  We can be rescued from going down that road too far.  St. Paul once wrote, "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." (1 Timothy 6:6-8)   I've never seen a casket with a safe in it or a hearse pulling a trailer, have you?

          Our Lord Jesus had little or nothing during His life.  He sought no riches and owned no home.  "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head," He said. (Matthew 8:20)   Jesus had no 401(k), bank account or Social Security.  He didn't even have a regular job during the last years of His life.  The Son of the Living God who could have had it all, lived in true poverty, for "Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, so that we through his poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9)   Christ gave Himself completely for us.  He lived in poverty so that we might live with the Heavenly Father in glory.  Jesus doesn't ask us today to reject our wealth, just not to trust in it.  He wants us to trust Him first, to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and then He'll see we get the things we need.

          Albert Schweitzer was a medical missionary who died in 1965 at the age of ninety.  His standard suit of clothes was a white jungle helmet, white shirt and pants, and a black tie.  He wore the same hat for nearly 40 years and the same tie for twenty.  Told one day of a man who owned several dozen ties, he said, "For one neck?"  Mother Theresa of Calcutta was once given a light blue cardigan sweater, the kind she wore, to replace her tattered sweater.  She thanked the donor with a smile and later handed the gift to an assistant.  "Give it to someone who needs it," she said.  Imagine what our lives would be like if we were preoccupied with goodness and giving rather than materialism and getting!

          I think it's pretty safe to assume that you and I will not walk away from today's service with this problem all solved.  Overcoming money madness takes more than a sermon or a prayer.  It takes faith in our Lord Jesus.  The meaninglessness of materialism will probably hound us all our lives.

          May God give us grace to have the attitude of St. Paul who said, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:12-13)   May we, too, be able to do all things, not through money or goods, but through Christ our risen Savior and Lord.  Amen

Copyright © 2001 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.