"Money Troubles" Mark 11: 12-25; Matthew 19: 16-30

I must not have had the sermon totally finished by the time I preached it because I freelanced quite a bit.  I don't believe i have ever preached on Jesus clearing out the Temple before yesterday.  These two stories are complicated, with lots of of different places to dig into the text.  I had initially thought I might tie the fig tree story into the sermon, but that never materialized.  

I knew the sermon was going to be challenging, so I intentionally began with a fun little reflection.  I also reminded the congregation about the preaching series before I read the text so I did not have to start the sermon with it.  One of the challenges in preaching sermons is how to remind the congregation where you are in the series without every sermon starting out with the same type of rehash of the previous sermons.

Our preaching series during our stewardship time looks at different stories dealing with money or resources.  Started with the story of the rich young man; now we turn to another familiar story of Jesus in the temple.

Mark 11: 12-25 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?

    But you have made it a den of robbers.”

18 And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 19 And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples[a] went out of the city.

20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 Jesus answered them, “Have[b] faith in God. 23 Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received[c] it, and it will be yours.

25 “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

“Money Trouble” SAPC;  September 17, 2017; Matthew 19:

Move 1:  The Membership sub-committee of Jesus’ disciples drools at the sight of the rich young man who comes to meet Jesus and ask Jesus a few questions.

a.  Okay, there is no mention of the disciples having a membership sub-committee, but if they were Presbyterian, they would have had one.  

1.  Their goal would have been to put the word out about Jesus and get people to come meet him.

2.  and to invite them back.  They would not have had postcards or emails, but they would have tried to figure out a way to contact them.

3.  Maybe they would have instituted a Follower of Jesus 101 Class.

4.  The young man in our story would have been a catch for them.

5. he had it all.  

6. Living a good life — I know we only have his words to prove that he was living such an obedient wonderful life, but no one in the story questions that he is living a good life.

7. And he reached into a demographic, the wealthy and powerful, that the disciples surely wanted to reach.

b.  But the young man runs into trouble when he asks Jesus what ws next on th road to discipleship.

1. Money troubles.

2.  Money troubles we discovers when Jesus engages him.

c.  “if you want to be perfect,” Jesus tells him.

1. Stop there for a moment.  

2.  When Jesus uses the word perfect, he does not mean without defect or sinless.

3.  Greek word used for perfect done not mean, “without defect, sinless.”  

4.  the word in the Greek is better translated as “undivided devotion.”  

5.  For example, this same Greek word was used in translating the Hebrew from the story where King Solomon is told his heart was not like David’s.  We know David’s heart was not sinless, but he had undivided devotion to God.  (227, Douglas Hare, Matthew from the Interpretation Bible commentary series).

6. Jesus does not demand perfection; he demands undivided devotion.

d.  If you want to have undivided devotion, Jesus says, “Sell everything; give to the poor; then, follow me.”

1.  That’s a problem for the young man.

2. That would mean everything was not about him.

3. Do you notice that in his conversation with jesus, the young man is focused on himself, on the way he lives his life, on what he can do to have eternal life.

4.  the young man is focused one himself, and he identifies himself with the wealth, the power, the stature that he has.

5. the question was not money, exactly.  Jesus engaged the rich and the poor.  One of his good friends was the wealthy Joseph of Arimethea.

5.  The question was about discipleship that called for one’s undivided devotion to God, which might mean giving up his place in the world — his status, privilege, and economic power.  he was identified by his wealth; did he want to give that up and be identified as a follower of Christ?

Move 2:  Let’s shift for a moment to the story of jesus in the Temple.

a.  this story is found in all four of the gospels.

1. Perhaps it gets so much play because this image of Jesus getting angry is so memorable.

2. Or maybe it’s so important a story all the gospel writers include it.

3.   The birth story is only found in two of the gospels.

4.  money changers in the Temple found in all four canonical gospels

b.  Sometimes we too quickly hear this story and jump to the conclusion that Jesus was mad about the way the money-changers were ripping off those who were coming to worship.

1.  At this point in Temple history, money changers were indeed part of Temple life, situated in the outer court of the Temple.

2.  Those who were coming and wanted to give coins often had to change their coins that had images on them for coins that had no images because of the commandment to have no other images before you.

3.  this led to a brisk business of changing money.

4.  you could also buy sacrifices in this area.  

5. some biblical scholars argue that Jesus was upset at the exorbitant prices the money changers were charging.

6. Other biblical scholars argue that it was not a question of unreasonable rates, but the whole idea of all this taking place in the Temple.

c.  I suppose I lean toward the idea that Jesus’ anger was directed in a broad sense at what the Temple had become, not just directed at the business practices.

1. Remember, the Temple was the most identifying aspect of the Israelite faith.

2.  When the Israelites return to Jerusalem after being in exile, what’s the first thing they do — rebuild the Temple.

3. People would travel great distances to come to the Temple.

4. Temple was supposed to be the symbol in the world of God’s presence.

5.  Remember Israel’s charge from God — be a light in the world.

6. Temple was supposed to be the tall light post, if you will, that shined forth God’s presence.

d. instead the Temple had come a business.

1. With elaborate rules.  

2. Rules that created insiders and outsiders.

3.  Rules that put into play business practices that could be used to enrich the leaders and create economic inequities.

4.  As the Temple business grew,  the Israelites lost focus on God and their role as a light to the world.

    e.  they had lost their identity along the way.

1. Now, here comes Jesus.

2. he drives out the buyers and the money changers.

3.  he challenges what the Temple has become and calls for it to reclaim its identity as God’s presence in the world.

Move 3:  money troubles.

a.  with the recent winning of a 1.5 billion dollar lottery ticket, there have been articles about how lucky a person really is to win the lottery.

1.  when winners of the lottery win, they do not plan on getting in trouble with their money.

2.  But studies show that nearly 70% of people who win the lottery will have financial trouble or go bankrupt within five years of their winning (according to the National Endowment for Financial Education).

3.  I read an article that tried to explain why. "People who were little, ordinary people all of a sudden become extraordinary," said Steve Lewit, CEO of Wealth Financial Group in Chicago. "They're euphoric. They lose all sense of reality. They think they're invincible and powerful. They think they're Superman."http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2016/01/why_do_70_percent_of_lottery_w.html

Money troubles

4.  their self-identity shifts, and they lose sight of who they are.

b.  As we hear these familiar stories about money trouble, that the question we might ask ourselves.

1. do we identify ourselves with the riches, power, and wealth we have (or maybe we do not have, but want)? Or do we lay claim to our identity as children of God and disciples of Christ?

2.  how we answer determines how we live our lives.

3.  Is our top priority the pursuit of wealth and power, or undivided devotion of God?

4. The answer makes all the difference in the world.

Amen.

Reflections on "Resources Matter" Genesis 25: 29-34; Luke 15: 11-24

I have never preached on the Genesis passage, although I have preached on the Luke passage several times.  We are spending our stewardship campaign sermons reflecting on interesting (my term) money stories from the Bible.  I am accustomed to thinking of Jacob as a scoundrel who steals from his brother.  I was surprised to read and think about Esau's role in giving up his birthright.  I should have made it seem more ridiculous to give up his birthright for a bowl of soup.  as you read it, you might see that I tried to point out how crazy it was, but as I preached it, the congregation did not seem to see the humor (or I could not project the humor!).  I actually liked this sermon and the three approaches to using our resources, but the sermon did not seem to energize the congregation yesterday.  

One of the interesting aspects that I have preached before with Jacob, is why does God insist on using a scoundrel like Jacob.  I did not follow up on that in this sermon, but Friedrich Buechner is noted as saying something like Jacob was a better choice than a dullard like Esau.  

“Resources Matter” SAPC;  September 30, 2017; Genesis 25: 19-34; Luke 15: 11-24

Genesis 25: 29-34 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. 30 Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom. 31 Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Introduction:  Our stewardship campaign committee has started the fall by asking us to consider what good things God has done for us and through us as individuals and as a the community of faith we call St. Andrew.

Now, for the the next six weeks, we will add some reflections on biblical stories that deal with money and/or resources.  I told a colleague that we were kicking off six weeks of stories about money on Rally Day, and he said, “Are you trying to drive everyone away until Advent!”

I hope you come back next week for more stories.  here is my commitment to you — the stories are not geared to asking you to give more money or to maximize the pledges on commitment Sunday.

The stories we reflect on are designed to give us insight into how we live our lives as disciples of Christ as we explore how some of the biblical characters lives their lives.

there might even be some funny moments in the stories!

We being this morning with a familiar story - the one we call the Prodigal son and a less familiar story about the brothers Esau and jacob.

Move 1: We being with Esau, did not value his resources.

a.  By virtue of his being the firstborn, although not by much, Esau got the birthright.

1.  The family name and titles were to pass along to the eldest son. He would also receive a chief portion of the inheritance. But it was more than just a title to the physical assets of a family. It was also a spiritual position, and in the case of the people of God, God would lead the family through patriarchs, or fathers (Hebrews 1:1-2). Additionally, in the special case of Esau and Jacob, that meant the one to whom belonged the birthright was the one through who the covenant promise made to their grandfather, Abraham, would be realized. (http://www.bible.ca/ef/expository-genesis-25-29-34.htm)

2.  Big deal given the notation earlier in the chapter that  his father Isaac had inherited all of his father Abrahams’. estate. 

3.  Let me ask you a question:  If you knew you were going to receive the biggest share of your father’s possessions; you knew you were going to have the chance to be the family leader; if you knew you would be that presumably the covenant with God would pass; if you had all that waiting for you as a future inheritance, what would you sell it for in the present moment?

4.  Make it easier - think about an inheritance to which you might be entitled one day (mom?), and what would you sell if for today.

b.  Esau gives it all up for a good smelling blow of soup when he is really hungry.

1.  He’s been out in the fields, presumably hunting. 

2. tired and hungry.

3.  He is famished.  In fact, his hunger becomes part of his rationale — “If I starve to death, my birthright won’t do me any good.”

4.  There is Jacob….with some soup.

5.  “Mmm, mmm, mmm.  This soup sure smells good.  Brother Esau, I think it smells so good that you’d be willing to sell your birthright to me for a bowl.”  (somewhere some marketing group is thinking this sounds like a great commercial).

6. Like that, Esau gives up his birthright.

c.  Maybe Esau did not want the birthright anyway.

1.  all the responsibility those resources might bring.  He’d rather go hunting than deal with that.

2.  No covenant to deal with means someone else gets to talk to God and be the responsible party.

d.  Question for us as we remember’s Esau’s choice - how to we deal with the resources God has given us?

1. do we care for them?

2. Do we take responsibility?

3.  Or are we willing to give up those resources and just go do our own thing?

Move 2:  Then there is brother Jacob whose approach to resources appears to be grab them, steal them, take them - it does not matter how you get them, as long as you get them!

a.  Jacob seems to be born with this approach to resources.

1. the twin to his brother.

2. the second one coming out of the womb.

3. Named Jacob, which means “heel” or “supplanter,” begins he comes out of the womb gripping his brother’s heel; 

4. even at birth trying to pull his brother back and pass him up, which set the stage for Jacob to pull his older brother by his heel and pass him up in life.

b.  Jacob’s pattern of using trickery to gain resources continues throughout his life.

1.  As you may remember, not only does he buy his brother’s birthright for a bowl of soup, he will eventually steal his brother’s blessing from their by tricking his father on his father’s death bed.

2.  he runs away and then is involved in trickery against his uncle as they battle with each other over who gets what 

3.  Frederick Buechner: Twice he cheated his lame-brained brother, Esau, out of what was coming to him. At least once he took advantage of the blindness of his old father, Isaac, and played him for a sucker. He outdid his double-crossing father-in-law, Laban, by conning him out of most of his livestock and, later on, when Laban was looking the other way, by sneaking off with not only both the man's daughters, but just about everything else that wasn't nailed down including his household gods. Jacob was never satisfied. He wanted the moon, and if he'd ever managed to bilk heaven out of that, he would have been back the next morning for the stars to go with it. (http://www.frederickbuechner.com/quote-of-the-day/2016/8/7/jacob?rq=jacob)

4. If you run into Jacob, you’d better have one hand on your wallet and not sign anything until your lawyer has looked at it.

c.  Not sure what motivates Jacob.

1.  is he after the power that comes with lots of resources?

2. Is it just a game where he tries to control others or show his superiority?  I suppose we could psychoanalyze the second twin fueling his desire to be on top.

3. maybe he driven by accumulation of wealth and resources.

4. Whatever motivates him, Jacob seems like the kind of person who will do anything to increase his own wealth and power, even cheating his brother.

c. question for us as we examine how we deal with the resources God has given us.  

1. how do we handle ourselves?

2. After dealign with us, what do people think about us?

Move 3: third person we discuss this morning is a familiar one - the father of the one we know as the prodigal son.  the father who sees his resources as opportunities for grace and new life.

a. You know the story.

1. the youngest son wants his inheritance as a young man.

2. he wants to go out into the world on his own.

3.  Some parents might use their money as a tool to demand that the young son stay home.

“You have to stay here and work to earn your inheritance.”

Or “do what I tell you to do, and then in a few years we’ll discuss giving you some funds so you can go live somewhere else.”

4. but not this dad.

5. he gave him his money and let him go.

6.  The son spends the money partying, and then he finds himself literally eating with the pigs.

7.  he heads home to daddy.

b. What does the father do?

1.  Does he ask for the money back?  No.

2. Does he demand groveling. No.

3. Does he set up a payment plan to make sure the son pays back all that he has wasted. No.

4. Nope - he welcomes him with a ring, a robe, sandals, and a feast.

c. Not sure what that means technically about the inheritance, but it seems clear  the father uses his resources freely to build bridges.

1.  He gives away when many would have a tendency to keep.

2. He offers more resources to build a bridge his son can walk across to be welcomed home.

d.  How do you deal with your resources.

1. are they tools used to make people do what you want, to exert your control?

2. Or do your resources become a tool to extend grace and invite people to new life?

Conclusion:  A final thought.  Eventually, Esau would extend grace to his brother Jacob and welcome him home.  

Eventually, God would continue to use Jacob to carry forth the promise.

We do not know what happened to the youngest son who received his father’s grace.

My point — God continues to be at work in our lives, calling us to grow as disciples of Christ.  How might we use our resources in ways that reflect our calling? 

Reflections on "Do You Need Convincing?" Romans 8: 18-39

As I reflected on this passage, I kept hearing myself reading this passage at various times through the years.  Usually, they were times of crisis, and when I read the passage, I would always emphasize "for I am convinced" in an effort to sound convincing to those who were struggling.  I decided to have that as the basis for the sermon.  If I preached it again, I would spend more time in the body of sermon building up the point I made in the conclusion, that is, if we cannot find the faith to proclaim nothing can separate us from God's love than we let Paul or others speak it for us.

“Do You Need Convincing?”  Romans 8: 31-39; Sept 2, 2017; SAPC, Denton

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.[w] 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all day long;

    we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Introduction:  The last month or so we have read through the first part of Paul’s letter to the Romans.  I trust you have been reminded, as I have, of the theological intrigue and insight found in almost any verse.  We can dig into almost any verse and find theological treasures.

But this morning, in the midst of more wonderful theological insights, I want to focus on four words that are decidedly less theological, but still carry tremendous power as we hear them.

Move 1:  “for I am convinced…”

a.  I have stood and looked into the gathered congregation and read those words of Paul and claimed them as words of truth and hope in a critical juncture.

1.  The Sunday after 9/11 as the congregation gathered, knowing their world had changed in unimaginable ways; people desperately seeking to know what God is doing in the face of those horrific acts:  “For I am convinced…”

2.  As the congregation gathered in the small town where I served, everyone there aware that  a fellow member’s nephew had awakened one morning earlier in the week and killed his parents and two younger sisters in cold blood.  Most of us were living immediately following worship for the funeral service that would have four caskets on display.  What can God’s read hold for them that morning:  “for I am convinced…”

3.  After natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and now Hurricane Harvey and people ask questions about where is God in all this.  What can we say?  “FOr I am convinced…”

4.  In those moments, we need to hear Paul, not so much his keen theological insights, but his core belief that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

“For I am convinced…”

b.  Paul may makes this statement both from a theological perspetive, but we know that it grows out of his personal experience.

1. We remember Saul on his knees on the road to Damascus, blinded in the moment as he hears the voice of the Lord, “Why do you persecute me.”

2.  Paul can do the theology with the best of them.

3. But his conviction grows out of his own experience of how God has been at work in his life.

c.  Dr. David Read, Presbyterian minister who served as pastor at Madison Ave Presbyterian Church in NYC, was raised in Scotland and served as a chaplain in WWII.  

1.  He was captured by the Germans at Dunkirk and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner.  he ministered and preached in the prisoner-of-war camp.  In fact, his rise to fame came with the publishing of the sermons he preached while imprisoned.

2. He said that he did not spend a lot of his sermon time on stories like Jonah and the whale.  Instead, he preached on how someone in their midst could believe God was real.

3.  In one of his sermons he noted,  “I don’t believe in my dearest friend simply because someone told me he existed, or because I am intellectually convinced that there is such a person.  I believe because my friend has revealed himself to me and I responded” http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/11/nyregion/david-h-c-read-dies-at-91-pastor-to-a-far-flung-flock.html

4.  Paul’s conviction grows out of his having discovered God in his midst previously.

d.  How have your discovered God in your midst in the past?

1.  the one whom you found in that crisis years ago is still at work in your life and the world.

2.  Even if we cannot fully explain the God we have come to know, our personal experience confirms for us that God will continue to be present for us.  

3. and if you are not sure, lay claim to those whose experience reveals God’s presence in our midst.

“For I am convinced…”

Move 3:  Paul’s words are more a comment on God’s intentions than anything else.

a. Earlier in the letter we heard Paul say, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God,”  

1.  Those words reveal God’s desire for good to come out of any and every circumstance.

2. that is not to say that God made Hurricane Harvey happen so that something good for someone could happen.

3.  But it does remind us that in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, God is there working with us and through us to bring good out of it.

4.  As we hear the stories of people risking their lives for others or giving of themselves to help people in need,  we see glimpses of how God is at work in difficult situations.

5. We may wonder at the mystery of why things happen, we find God with us at work.

b.  when Paul tells us that “Nothing can separate us from God’s love in jesus Christ” he is pointing us to the God who will not give up.

1. the God who keeps coming after us.

2. the God whose pursuit overcome all things.

3. Paul gives us a short list that coves a lot of territory, but filling whatever you want, and you still end up where Paul is.  

For I am convinced…nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Move 3:  A final thought — now we act on our conviction.

a. Blue Like Jazz,  Donald Miller, 107 discusses the challenge of really believing because if we believe it carries with it the responsibility to act accordingly.

b.  If nothing can separate you from God’s love, what could possibly hold you back?

1.  you are free to live risky lives that dare to do new things.

2.  You are free to imagine new ways of being in relationship with other.

3.  You can dare to forgive and work toward reconciliation because God is with you in all things.

Conclusion: What is your calling as a Christian?  to stand in the face of the world’s uncertainty and declare for all to hear:  “for I am convinced…”  

And if you cannot summon the belief to say it as your own words, announce to the world what Paul says, “ For I am convinced…that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.