“What Faith Is Not ”

Matthew 6:24-34

It’s been a while since I’ve done so, but I’m going to begin this sermon with a series of quotes, and then work from there.

First, from Billy Graham: “Tell me what you think about money, and I can tell you what you think about God.”

Then from Jason Byassee: “The only way to crowd out our fear of loss of face, status, capital, home, family, or self is to replace them with fear of Jesus.”

Ron Sider, commenting on today’s text: “Jesus’ words are anathema both to Marxists and certain kinds of capitalists: to Marxists because they worship mammon by claiming that economic forces are the ultimate causal factors in history; to some capitalists because they worship mammon by idolizing economic efficiency and success as the highest goods.”

Ron Sider again, this time commenting on I Corinthians 5:1-11: “Christians today are not at all surprised that Paul urged the Corinthians to excommunicate a church member living with his father’s wife. But we quietly overlook that Paul in the same paragraph, also urged them not to associate or even eat meals with those who claim to be Christians but are greedy.” Ron Sider, by the way, serves as president of Evangelicals for Social Action.

Christopher Elwood writing about John Calvin: “The Calvinist [work] ethic, needless to say, is worlds away from the ‘greed is good’ ethic of latter-day capitalism. So we should banish from our minds any sense that Calvin or an early Calvinist could have recognized the predatory practices of late modern financial wheeling and dealing as a reflection of a Christian vocation.”

Elwood again: “Calvin was a regular and energetic critic of the [businessmen] of Geneva, who, he felt were only interested in their own gain.”

From Matthew Myer Boulton: “We cannot, Jesus contends, have it both ways. That is, we cannot at the same time (1) trust ultimately in our own economic striving as the bedrock foundation of our basic well-being and (2) trust ultimately in God as that bedrock foundation. There can be only one ultimate foundation, only one ultimate trust. So we must continually, mindfully choose which of these we take to be the true bedrock of our lives, our own economic self-care or God’s care for us. Our choice will determine the ground on which we stand. Jesus puts it this way, ‘No one can serve two masters’.”

From Rosalind Banbury, a PC(USA) pastor, addressing the 17^th and 18^th chapters of Revelation: “While most of us would not consider ourselves rich, we may be subtly enticed by the highly materialistic messages of our culture. We yearn for the ‘good life,’ whatever that may be. Advertisements tell us that a product makes us more secure and happier and even give us joy! In such a materialistic culture, our allegiance may be divided between God and securing our future for ourselves and our children. We may give God only what is left over of our attention, our time and our money.”

Finally, the prayer we us at the close of every session of our Sunday night Bible study: “Righteous God: you have taught us that the poor will have your kingdom, and the gentle-minded shall inherit the earth. Keep the church poor enough to preach to poor people, and humble enough to walk with the despised.”

Today’s text is a tough text to preach, one of those things we sometimes wish Jesus hadn’t said. How do we apply to our lives these words that Jesus spoke to people centuries ago in a completely different cultural, economic, and political context? Some of those first listeners more than likely lived on the economic edge. The loss of one day’s wages, one coin, or one sheep could bring them to the brink of disaster. Talk about being anxious! Can anyone in this room identify with that?

How do we apply these words to our lives when billions of people, including many of our brothers and sisters in Christ, try to exist on one or two dollars a day? Such an existence has to be rife with fear and anxiety: real fear and real anxiety about horrible realities. Can anyone in this room identify with that?

How do we interpret these words to those doing battle in Wisconsin and other places over budgetary shortfalls, pay cuts, and benefits? Some say this is a battle about whose political and economic ideology will rule. There is no doubt that as a nation we face a financial crisis of almost apocalyptic proportions. Something has to be done - sooner rather than later. At some point everybody’s going to have give up something, else all of us will end up facing the threat of having nothing. And the great irony of all this, especially to those on the outside of our culture looking in, is that the battle looks to be a matter of one group of spoiled, privileged, and anxious people competing with another group of spoiled, privileged, and anxious people over who gets to hang onto the biggest piece of the economic pie.

From whence comes and of our present economic anxiety? What is the underlying basis of it? Greed, one of the seven deadly sins. This anxiety-based greed is a form of idolatry. And we all know what the Bible has to say about idolatry. It’s a sin. For Christians it all boils down to whom we will serve: God or mammon. Do we or do we not trust Jesus enough to take seriously his words about not being anxious? Can we or can we not put our financial anxieties in his hands, trusting him to do what is best for us? Do we have enough faith in the Lord our God to believe that the truly abundant life – the real “good life” - is defined by his Word and not the cultural message that more is always better? Finally, do we have enough faith in the Lord our God to honestly ask ourselves how much is enough – how much do we really need in order to lead healthy and holy lives?

To this point today’s sermon has offered a lot of quotes and a lot of questions. But along the way we have been reminded of the Beatitudes, more difficult sayings of Jesus. We have been reminded of what Jesus said in verse 24 about how we cannot at the same time worship God and wealth. We have been reminded of the overwhelmingly materialistic culture in which we live, a materialism that is quite seductive. We have been reminded that Marxism and certain types of capitalism are both idolatrous. We have been reminded that the sin of greed is as equally destructive as that of lust.

Parenthetically speaking, when was the last time any of us heard – or even thought – about someone in the church being disciplined for the sin of greed? Or shady business dealings? Or unethical profiteering? It’s almost always about sex, isn’t it? It’s as if the only sins we ever pay attention to are those of the flesh.

Paul Tillich defines the object of our faith to be that which is the ultimate concern of our lives: when push comes to shove where do we place our faith? If one is a Christian, the ultimate object of our faith can only be the Lord God Almighty, as in “you shall have no other gods – no other ultimate concerns - before me.” There is no other Lord and Savior but Jesus. He does not share equal billing with wealth, success, security, or any of the multitudes of other gods worshipped by our culture. We cannot serve God and mammon. Who said that? Jesus said that.

And that’s not all he said. Near the end of today’s text Jesus said, “But strive first for the kingdom of God, and his righteousness…” That is not a request. Nor is it a suggestion. It is a command. We are to put first things first. And what are they? Nothing less than the worship and service of our Lord. Nothing.

But with that command there also comes a promise: “… and all these things will be given to you as well.” Trust the Lord your God and put him first in your life and he will take care of you. Trust the Lord your God and put him first in your life and you will have enough. Trust the Lord your God and put him first in your life and you will learn from him what is and is not important. You will be set free from the tyranny of possessions. You won’t need to constantly fight for your piece of the pie. You will be able to resist the seductive temptations of materialism. And when you answer Billy Graham’s question about what you think about money, your answer, your very life even, will demonstrate that God comes first.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and you will be set free to pursue the concerns of the kingdom: an intimate relationship with your Savior, right relationships between you and those you love, right relationships with your neighbor and even your enemy, a world that is ruled by God’s very own justice and peace, a clear conscious, an easy mind, and a contented heart no matter what your circumstances. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all that is truly important will be given to you. And there will always be enough. Amen.