Sermon Tone Analysis
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Luke through Lent
LUKE 18:18-30
Lent 5 – Hard Hearts
Rev’d Chris Johnson
When couples come for marriage Lynda and I use a marriage preparation programme called PREPARE.
It deals
with many different aspects of the marriage relationship including finances.
In the Couple Workbook there is
an exercise where they answer 16 questions,
which helps each partner discern the meaning of money for them.
There are 4 categories for understanding the meaning of money.
• Money as status
• Money as enjoyment
• Money as security
• Money as power
The survey treats all of these categories as neutral.
The aim of the exercise is simply to help the couple
understand where they have similar or different attitudes to money.
So what does money mean to you?
Money can mean Status.
Why is it that billionaires keep working?
They obviously have enough money to
meet all their basic needs for housing and food and clothing.
They have enough money for security and
enjoyment, so why keep working?
I'm sure there are many reasons, however for some it is probably status.
When the richest 200 list in Australia comes out each year is it only the masses who read it or do the
billionaires read it as well.
Money can mean prestige, it gives you a certain place in society, money is about
status.
But money can also be for enjoyment.
Why do some people make their millions of dollars by the time they're
35 and retire.
They make their money in the first half of their life with the aim I've enjoying it in the second
half.
For these people the status of having a lot of it is not the most important thing, enjoying it is.
But then there is also money as security.
People in this category are savers not spenders.
Here the goal is to
be a self funded retiree and not have to depend on the government pension.
The goal is about moderating all
the risks associated with living.
People in this category probably spend a lot more than the average on
insurance premiums with minimum or no excesses, they put money aside for a rainy day, they look for
conservative investments, the meaning of money for them is security.
Money as power.
Power is not necessarily a negative motivation.
Power can be simply influence and
influence for good as well as bad.
So people who find the meaning of money in this category love giving their
money to causes to make a difference.
It may be various charities, to members of one’s family or political
parties or movements.
I think of someone like Clive Palmer who is putting millions and millions of dollars into
advertising for the coming election.
I bet the primary meaning of money for him is power and influence; you
can decide for yourself whether you think that is for good or ill.
So you might like to think for a minute, what is the primary meaning of money for you?
Is it status?
Is it enjoyment?
Is it security?
Is it power?
1
So this morning we come to the story of the rich ruler.
What did money mean to him?
I think status would have been important not so much for him as an individual but for his family.
In his
cultural context the family would be all important and being a part of a wealthy family would have given him
status in his community.
Possibly also the security of owning your own home and having property.
Land is very important in Jewish
culture and a sign of God's blessing.
In fact having land that you could trace back through your family line
would give you both status and security.
Jesus demand to sell everything and follow him is an enormous ask given the nature of his culture.
The
demand is shocking for any culture.
The presuppositions of every culture about the meaning of money are
being severely challenged by Jesus at this point.
The rich ruler is shocked by Jesus’ demand.
It would appear he goes into a deep depression.
The text says he became very sad.
In Mark’s version it says his face fell.
And it says the reason was he was very wealthy.
He thought eternal life was simply a matter of keeping the ten commandments in a good respectable way.
All
these he kept since he was a boy.
But now Jesus is saying that eternal life is not about the goodness that
comes from keeping the law but the goodness that comes from a changed heart.
And questioning his wealth
went right to his heart.
We can only begin to imagine how deeply this cut into this fellow’s life and challenged
him to the core of his being.
Jesus goes on to give the metaphor of the camel and the eye of the needle.
He says, “How hard it is for the
rich to enter the Kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
Not only is the rich ruler shocked by Jesus teaching but those who were listening in are also shocked.
V26 “Those who heard this asked who then can be saved?”
It may be these people are thinking that if a respectable wealthy Jewish leader can't get into the Kingdom of
God then what chance have we got.
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