Dependence on the Divine (Part 2)
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In his book, Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts the News, Bernard Goldberg recounts a pivotal moment in television news. In the early 1970s, CBS president Dick Salant told staffers, "I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is, for the first time in history, CBS News made money last quarter. The bad news is, for the first time in history, CBS News made money last quarter."
Goldberg writes, "Salant knew, everyone knew. If news could actually make money, the suits who ran the networks would expect just that. Sure, they would want quality in theory. But they wanted ratings and money in fact."
In the words of Don Hewitt, creator of 60 Minutes, "Before they would say, 'Make us proud.' Now they tell us, 'Make us money.'"
Here we go… another sermon on money. And why not… are not our minds consumed with the almighty dollar?
Writing in the Atlantic, author and researcher Arthur C. Brooks says, “Money is one of the things Americans worry about most in the world.”
One survey found that even when the US economy is thriving more than half of Americans felt anxious or insecure about money sometimes, often, or all the time. And during the COVID pandemic, another survey found that workers were almost five times more likely to worry about money than their health.
But many of us really don’t need to worry about money. Only 11 percent of Americans live in poverty. And yet, according to a recent survey, more than half of Millennials with a net worth greater than $1 million feared losing their wealth “a great deal” or “somewhat,” as did more than a third of similarly wealthy Baby Boomers.
Brooks concludes, “For millions of people, then, worrying about money is not a reflection of whether their basic needs are being met. In fact, this anxiety reflects deeper concerns that money can’t solve.”
It is the American dream it is the American way. The reality of the love of money is not a figment of our imagination. It is the way it goes. When it comes to even politics … they saying goes, just follow the money. Money money money. We are living in a material world and I am a material girl.
Mark Twain wrote, “What is the chief end of man? To get rich. In what way? Dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must. Who is God, the one and only true? Money is God. Gold and Green Backs and Stock; Father, son, and ghosts of same, three persons in one; these are the true and only God, mighty and supreme.”
Fred Allen wrote, “There are many things in life that are more important than money. And they all cost money.”
Yeah that all makes sense. It is the world. That what do with money that is how they are with money. Its not the way we do things in the church… right?
Warren Bailey died July 14, 2000, at age 88. He had no family. And he wasn't much of a church-going man. To the best of anybody's recollection in the town of St. Mary's, Georgia, Mr. Bailey hadn't been to church in at least 20 years. He did, however, make annual donations of around $100,000 to St. Mary's United Methodist Church—a 350-member congregation with an annual budget of less than $300,000.
It probably wasn't a great shock to the members at St. Mary's that the church was remembered in Mr. Bailey's will. But the amount of the bequest was indeed a shock. There was stunned silence among the assembled parishioners when Rev. Derek McAleer broke the news that the man who owned 49 percent of the region's Camden Telephone Company had left the church $60 million.
"It's all unreal to me," said the pastor. "This is a number that doesn't have any reality." Mr. Bailey's will included no instructions on how the money was to be used, so the church has set up an advisory board to decide how to handle its newfound and unexpected wealth as good stewards.
Rev. McAleer reports that he has been besieged by calls asking for money. And he admits to a worry that greed could consume the congregation. This was his lament: "How do we remain a Christian church?"
Money is just one of those things… it is the enigma. It is the mystery. It is why Actor and comedian Jim Carrey said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.”
And why King Solomon declares...
Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
So lets take a look at our passage of scripture today...
Give me an eagerness for your laws
rather than a love for money!
Turn my eyes from worthless things,
and give me life through your word.
The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.
The Love of Money
Worthless Things
The Good News
The first thing we will look at today is the reality of the love of money in our culture and church today. The second thing we will explore is our nature to be fixated on worthless things. Finally, we will see how life comes through the good news of the Word of God; the life and life more abundant life.
Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to put our hope in the Idolatry of money and worthless things, it is the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to see the life and life more abundant we receive from the Word of the living God.
I. The Love of Money
- The root of all kinds of evil.
A. This is of the things we have got to come to grips with when it comes to money and the love of it. It is in our nature to love it. It is part of the essence of sinful man to love money. This is why the Psalmist asks the Lord to “Incline my heart...” which could also be translated … make me willing to, give me the desire to. We need the Lord to change the disposition and or motivation of our heart to yearn after the words of God instead of dishonest gain.
B. This is the picture of what is in our hearts. By nature we are inclined to love money more than the word of God and we need the power and grace of God to change our disposition. God please give me the desire for your word more than our love for money or for dishonest gain. Remember the Twain quote… dishonestly if we can, honestly if we must.
C. We gotta be honest about how we are when it comes to the love of money. There is sooo much deception when it comes to this topic. There is sooo much justification when it comes to this topic. There is sooo much disillusionment when it comes to this topic. Many times many are emphatic about pointing out that the problem is the love of money being the root of all evil not money is the root of all evil. Which is true, but those who do this are those who love money.
D. It is not a hard thing. Anytime the acquisition of money supersedes obedience and knowledge from the very Word of God. It is the love of money more than God. You cannot have equal love for both.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
E. But Shane you called it Idolatry… absolutely.
So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.
F. This is why the love of money is a bad thing… it is a cruel god.
But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household,
but he who hates bribes will live.
Trust in your money and down you go!
But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
G. This is why the author prays...
First, help me never to tell a lie.
Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!
Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”
And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.
H. A horrible master, but yet we are by nature inclined to love money. We are by nature inclined to ignore the word of God to acquire more and more gain. We gotta be honest with ourselves today. We know that money is not the root of all evil, but the love of money. Do you know that you don’t love it. Do you know that you are inclined more to the Word of God than Money? Pray to the Lord that He will incline our hearts to the Word instead of the love for money.
II. Worthless Things
- Turn my eyes from beholding vanity.
A. And yet another thing we are inclined to do. To look and behold vanity. Maybe another way to understand verse 37 is Avert my eyes from pointless images. Maybe. And this is important… the eye is the window to the soul. Or better yet the lamp of the body.
“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
B. It is not prudent for the Christian to allow these worthless things to naturally catch our eye, because it will infect the heart with worthless vanities.
Calvin writes, “The disease of covetousness not only lurks in our hearts, but spreads over every part, so that neither eyes, ears, feet, nor hands, have escaped its baneful influence; in a word, nothing is exempted from corruption.”
C. We have got to make it clear in our minds… ALL of the honors, the pleasures, and the profits of the world are the vanities, which draw multitudes away from the godliness. And there are so much of it in this world. So much of it that draws us away from the Word of God.
III. The Good News
- Grace upon grace.
A. It is clear … the reality. Our hearts and eyes are inclined to the love of money and worthless vanities. And this is the reality of our nature, our flesh. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God