Attachements: What do you Cling to?

Good morning and welcome to another week of church here at the bridge. I am so glad that we could be joined together this morning and worship together.

Now Many people will tell you that the church always seems to talk about money. It is the accusation that I have to confess that every pastor I know dreads. This stems from the idea that we are going to turn people off to church because we are talking about good stewardship of funds.

Yet, what is interesting about that we don’t always have similar feelings when it comes to preaching on sins and the things of life that challenge people in other ways. We don’t put a disclaimer before other messages. Well i must say sometimes we do. The point is that Money is an important topic for us to address. Believe it or not Jesus talks about money and he dealt with it multiple times in the Gospels and we can’t shy away from it because we worry that people will think we are money hungry pastors just looking for your tithe.

Are there some pastors who are focused on the dollar? Sure. They have Mad money their god.

Are there some members of the church who have focused on the dollar? Sure. They have made money their god.

Are there people out side of the church who are consumed by the pursuit of the dollar. Sure. They have also made money their god.

This is the problem that we don’t want to address and have a healthy conversation about how we should be with our money.

I said all this to say I am done apologizing for speaking on money. I am going to do my best to never apologize for speaking on money again because the truth is this is a biblical issue and we must address it.

Let us than look at some scriptures and a parable of Jesus about this topic.

Luke 12:13–21 NIV

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

The problem of Greed

If this story presents us with no other issue it presents us with the problem of Greed. One of the interesting things about the opening verse is the question that is asked of Jesus. To better understand it we need to have a better understanding of what Jewish culture was like when it came to the inheritance.

Deuteronomy 21:17 NIV

17 He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.

The brother that was asking Jesus to deal with this situation was the younger of the brothers. He felt that he was not receiving what he should. He wanted Jesus to tell his older brother to give him his fair share. This was common practice because religious leaders were often asked to settle disputes surrounding the law yet Jesus did something interesting.

Jesus wanted nothing to do with it

Jesus wasn’t ready to touch this problem with a 10 foot pole. It is interesting because this was not the norm in the culture. It is here though that we find the power of why Jesus didn’t want to address the issue with this younger brother. Jesus was not focused on securing more property or wealth for people. He was not concerned with what i like to call the mundane things of life. He was focused on bringing people to God. This wasn’t the only time that Jesus did this.

Mark 12:13–17 NIV

13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. 17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.

Jesus’ focus was God

Jesus focused on what was God not what was mans. He wasn’t concerned with the mundane he was focused on the relationship we shared with God. Because of this his focus in this passage of Luke is focused on Greed not people’s possessions.

The thing about Greed is that it is a common misconception that it is a sin of the Wealthy. Only the wealthy people could have possibly committed the sin or Greed because they have so many possessions. However, Jesus was clearly showing us that Greed was not limited to only those who have plenty. If we look at a basic dentition of Greed we get a better insight into why this is.

Greed-An intense and selfish desire for wealth, power, or food

When we look at this definition and the warning that Jesus provided in v. 15 to the younger brother who did not have because his brother did not share the inheritance we can see that even those without can be guilty of Greed.

Be Aware of Greed

Greed is not limited to the wealthy but is also a sin of those who have none. It reminds us that no matter where we are in life that if we are selfishly desiring after what others have we are not in line with what God wants for us.

In his usual fashion Jesus loves to use stories to help show us the importance of this message. In v. 16-21 he shares this story of the Rich Fool.

One of the challenges that we must address when we read passages is that there is a predominate view that comes from this passage. The common interpretation is that Storing up wealth is wrong. That the mans sin was because he had possessions. While this is certainly a warning against that there is a deeper and more powerful message that is in this passage.

It isn’t the abundance of his harvest that is the sin or even the process of building up a means to store that harvest.

It is attitude about the harvest.

His focus is centered on his own needs and wants. He is providing no consideration for God and for others. He is putting his selfishness or greed before all else.

Called to be Good Stewards

We are called to be good stewards with the blessings that God has given us. We are called to be generous and open with all that we have received. This does not mean that we are in the wrong if we receive more than others it just means that we have the ability to give more.

I always love to look to the Witnesses that have come before us to set the example.

In 1731, A young man at Oxford had just finished paying for some pictures for his room when one of the chambermaids came to his door. It was a cold winter day, and he noticed that she had nothing to protect her except a thing linen gown. He reached into his pocket to give her some money to buy a coat but found he had too little left. Immediately the thought strunk him that the Lord was not pleased with the way he had spent his money. He asked himself, Will thy master say “well done, good and faithful steward”? Thou hast adorned thy wall with the money which might have screened this poor creature from the cold!

As a result of this incident John Wesley began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor. He records that one year his income was 30 pounds and his living expenses was 28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year his income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds to give to the poor. Than it jumped to 90 pounds and he had 62 pounds to give away.

Now, This was the conviction that was placed on the heart of John Wesley. This is what God called him to do. He opened himself to God’s leading and he followed it when God called him to give as much as he could. This is also what lead to the famous saying of John Wesley.

Earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can

Now this wasn’t in foster inappropriate, selfish, or even harmful ways of earning money but it was a call to hard work and responsibility so that as a Christian we could be generous with our living. He encouraged simple living because it opened us to the opportunity to be generous to others. He pointed out that when we start spending money on things we don’t really need we begin to want more things that we don’t need. Instead of satisfying our desires we only increase them.

We are called to be generous. We are called to work with God first when we receive. We are called to ask God to guide us in how we use the money and the blessings that he provides no matter what level of income we may have. This is how we avoid the pitfall of the rich fool. We focus on What God has for us and how he directs us to lead our life.

Let us pray