1 Timothy
There is an old song that goes Money makes the world go around…the world go around …the world go around. Money makes the world go around…that clinking clanking sound” from Cabaret. /it reminds me of how society is today. If you don’t have money…you have nothing, are nothing, you have not accomplished anything in life. What a way we live today...all stressed out because we have too little money and stressed out because we have too much and have a new set of issues we have to deal with because of it. How can we find balance…find peace…be truly happy in this life we live?
The Epistle reading from 1 Timothy this morning is a wealth of information for us. It tells us of the problems with earthly treasure but it also tells us what the true treasure we should be looking for…aspiring to find. It is a road map for us on the road of “Christian Perfection” that John Wesley talked about so many times. It gives us a guide line to live by.
The text tells us that “there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment”. We need to be content with what God has given us. Oh sure…someone else might look as if they have more than us but…what is the cost they are paying. Someone might have a better job than us but at what price. Are they in poor health because of the stress of their job? Do they have quality family time…do they even have a family…because of their jobs demands? Are they truly happy in their life or are they just “faking it until they make it”?
This reminds me of one of my favorite Children’s movies…have any of you ever seen “Finding Nemo”? It is a story of two clown fish in the ocean…Marlin, the dad, and Nemo, his son. It is all about their adventures in the ocean. Well…there are these seagulls in the movie…they crack me up every time I watch the movie. My daughters always say “here’s your favorite part mom.” Every time they see something they consider food, they are always going around saying “mine…mine…mine…” This reminds me of how some people are in this day and age when it comes to possessions. Everything is “mine” and if it is not “mine”, they have to figure out a way to make it “mine.” What a sad way to live…having to posses all that you see and not being able to enjoy what you have.
We brought nothing into this world and take nothing when we leave and go onto glory. Everything we have is a gift from God. God has “loaned us” what we have and when we are gone…it goes to…it is gifted to...someone else. The only thing that we actually bring into the world is our sinful nature but praise be to God and God’s great mercy…we are forgiven through the blood of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ and we are able to go on to Perfection and glory.
We need to be content with what we have…food…clothing…roof over our heads…our Spiritual gifts. Everything is a gift from God and when we are not content with what we have…we walk that fine line of telling God that He is unfair. It’s like saying that management is unfair to its employees. We need to be careful of this attitude because what God gives us…God can take away. It’s His right…it belongs to Him anyway and then where would we be. We would have even less than what we were complaining about in the first place.
This reminds me of children. Being a mother of 3…I have seen the “management is unfair attitude with my daughters.
Ø Story of someone having more than the other.
Many of us fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge us into ruin and destruction.
Ø We need to keep up with the Jones’
Ø We have credit card debt
Ø We love money more than our fellow man
Ø Having more stuff but being stressed out because we have to get more stuff or have to keep our stuff safe from harm.
I was watching “the Chronicles of Narnia” with my oldest daughter the other night. I don’t know how many of you have seen it but it is a great movie. There was a character in the movie named Edmond.
Ø Edmonds story.
Many people…in their eagerness to be rich have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains. Unfortunately we see that even in some of our churches today. They are more concerned with the growth of their church that they don’t see the people in the world around them. They don’t see the lost chances to minister to those right in their own backyard. They miss the opportunity to share the love of Christ with those closest to them.
This reminds me of the Luke scripture we read this morning about the rich man and Lazarus.
Ø Luke Parable paraphrased.
This story illustrates how difficult it is to love God and your neighbor when our treasure is great wealth and possessions. You will love one and hate the other…you can’t have it both ways.
What can we do to avoid the fate of the rich man? How are we to live in a world that is obsessed with money and power? In today’s Epistle from Timothy…it tells us what we should do and how we should live our lives. It is found in vs. 11-12 and 17-19. We are told to flee from all this…this way of thinking. We are to purse righteousness, godliness, faith and love. We need to pursue endurance and gentleness.
We as Christians…are to fight the good fight…look to eternal things not the temporal things around us. Temporal tings are nice but…they don’t last very long…they are here one moment and gone the next. Eternal…heavenly things…are made to last an eternity.
WE are not to be arrogant or put our trust and hope in the wealth we have…be it either money or power or Spiritual gifts. These were given to us by God…not of our own making. God provides us with everything for our enjoyment. We need to be rich in good deeds and be willing to share what we have…what God has so richly lavished upon us…to those around us. We need to reach out to those around us with these wonderful…undeserved…gifts and not keep them to ourselves.
We have a choice to make in life…we can either be like the rich man in Luke’s Gospel lesson and receive our reward in the temporal world or we can share what we have therefore storing up our reward in heaven. We can either be like society with its “dog eat dog” way of living or follow the example of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ and His “all for one…one for all” attitude that leads to eternal glory.
AMEN
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