Ecclesiastes 5:1-8,10-12
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen
is better than the sacrifice offered by fools; for they do not know how to keep
from doing evil.
Never be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be quick to utter a
word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your
words be few.
For dreams come with many cares, and a fool’s voice with many words.
When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it; for he has no
pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you vow.
It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not
fulfill it.
Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the
messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words, and
destroy the work of your hands?
With many dreams come vanities and a multitude of words; but fear God.
If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of
justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is
watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.
The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of
wealth, with gain. This also is vanity.
When goods increase, those who eat them increase; and what gain has their
owner but to see them with his eyes?
Sweet is the sleep of laborers, whether they eat little or much; but the
surfeit of the rich will not let them sleep.
Matthew 16:24-26
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let
them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose
their life for my sake will find it.
For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit
their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
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The book of Ecclesiastes begins with this well-known phrase:
“Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”
Throughout the book, this term, vanity, can be found over and over again. The
Hebrew word that is translated as “vanity” in the New Revised Standard Version
of the Bible that we heard today, is “hebel”. The NIV, The New International
Version, another common translation, says “meaningless!” rather than
“vanities!” “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” Studies of this
word by scholars has concluded that the closest equivalent of this word in
contemporary English would be “absurdity” – a thing that makes no sense
whatsoever.
So when we hear in today’s passage, “the lover of money will
not be satisfied with money, nor the lover of wealth, with gain”, these words
are followed immediately with “this also is absurdity”.
This makes no sense.
This is foolishness, unexplainable, meaningless.
Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”
Absurd, right? And also true, right?
How do we know when we have enough?
There were studies done in 2014 about what annual income it
takes to be happy. Interestingly, these studies were called, “The American
Dream” poll. Here is a description from CNN about some of the results.
They said,
“Most people know in their heart of hearts that making gobs
of money can’t guarantee true happiness.
Then again, most would acknowledge that you need to have at least a minimum income for a shot at well-being - if only so you don't have to scrounge for every meal.
In between gobs and a bare minimum, of course, is where most
of us live.
And it turns out many Americans don't think they need a CEO
paycheck to be happy, or even six figures.
When asked how much would do the trick, just over half of
people surveyed in CNNMoney's American Dream poll said it would take less than
$100,000.
Nearly a quarter of the people who took the poll, conducted
by ORC International, said between $50,000 and $74,999 would work. That calls
to mind the results of a Princeton study, which found that emotional well being rose with income,
but not much beyond $75,000.
In other words, past a certain income level, your happiness
comes from other factors.
Interestingly, some people really don't care about money: 10%
of those polled said somewhere north of a buck but south of $30,000 would be
their minimum requirement.
And 6% said money can't buy happiness, period.
On the high end of the scale, 23% said they'd need between
$100,000 and $199,999.
And nearly 6 in 10 Americans polled by CNNMoney say the
American Dream is impossible to achieve.
So if the majority of us believe that the American Dream is
impossible to achieve, then the Teacher in Ecclesiastes is really on to
something when he says,
Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This is absurdity.
Turning to the gospels, it seems strange to hear Jesus talking
about profit and gain, doesn’t it?
But Jesus talked more about money, and specifically our
relationship with money, than anything. I won’t even attempt to quote the
litany of passages and stories where Jesus tells us how to (and not to) relate
to money, but I will summarize it with this: Jesus says to us, “you cannot
serve God and wealth.” This, too,
according to Jesus, is absurdity.
Here in this passage we heard today, which is found both in
Mark and Matthew’s gospels, Jesus is nearing the time when he will take up his
cross and give up his life for our sake. When the gospels were written, the
early disciples of the church were facing great persecution, and so the act of
taking up their cross to follow Jesus was a very real possibility.
For us today, especially in the Western world, this is almost
impossible for us to understand as anything other than a metaphor for how we
should dedicate our lives.
And for those of us who still find ourselves in the unending
pursuit of the American dream, we must confess that we still too often see the
act of following Christ to be more on the periphery of our lives than anything
like taking up our cross, losing our life for Christ’s sake, even asking
ourselves the question of what we are willing to give in return for our life,
our true life in Christ? If we were to be honest about the answer to that
question, it would likely be, well, not much. I
wouldn’t really want to be asked to give up much for you, Jesus, so
please don’t make me.
I think we are secretly thankful that we don't think we
really have to choose.
We’d rather keep pursuing the American Dream. It feels
logical, sensible, “right” to do so. Not really so absurd at all.
It is the opportunity to pursue more than what we have, to
gain more than what we have, and to meet success. We tend to measure our
success by the stuff that we possess.
The love of money and the things money can buy is a primary
or secondary motive behind most of what we Americans do. We want to consume,
acquire, and buy our way to happiness—and we want it now.
(show video clip – the Economic
Crisis)
But the American Dream has become an American Nightmare due
to two distinct yet related illnesses that impact us both socially and
spiritually.
The first illness is Affluenza
- the constant need for more and bigger and better stuff—as well as the effect
that this need has on us. It is the desire to acquire, and most of us have been
infected by this virus to some degree.
· The average American home went from
1,660 square feet in 1973 to 2,600 square feet in 2014.
· Today there is estimated to be 2.4
billion square feet of self-storage space in America.
The second illness, Credit-itis,
is an illness that is brought on by the opportunity to buy now and pay later,
and it feeds on our desire for instant gratification. Our economy today is
built on the concept of credit-itis. Unfortunately, it has exploited our lack
of self-discipline and allowed us to feed our affluenza, which has wreaked
havoc in our personal and national finances.
· Average credit card debt in America
in 1990 was around $3,000. Today it’s over $15,000.
· The average sale is around 125
percent higher if we use a credit card than if we pay cash, because it doesn’t
feel real when we use plastic instead of cash.
· Credit-itis is not limited to
purchases made with credit cards; it extends to car loans, mortgages, and other
loans. The life of the average car loan and home mortgage continues to
increase, while the average American’s savings rate continues to decline.
· For families with mortgages, the
average mortgage debt is $172,000.
· For those with car loans, the average
car loan debt is $28,000.
· For those with student loans, the
average student loan debt is $48,000.
· And this all adds up to an average
amount of debt per American household of $132,000.
There is a deeper, spiritual issue
beneath the surface of affluenza and credit-itis.
Our souls were created in the image of God, but they have
been distorted.
We were meant to desire God, but we have turned that desire
toward possessions.
We were meant to find our security in God, but we find it in
amassing wealth.
We were meant to love people, but instead we compete with
them.
We were meant to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, but we
busy ourselves with pursuing money and things.
We were meant to be generous and to share with those in need,
but we selfishly hoard our resources for ourselves.
There is a sin nature within each and every one of us.
And the devil plays upon this sin
nature.
Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and
destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
The devil doesn’t need to tempt us to do drugs or to steal or
to have an extramarital affair in order to destroy us. All he needs to do is
convince us to keep pursuing the American Dream—to keep up with the Joneses,
borrow against our futures, enjoy more than we can afford, and indulge
ourselves. By doing that, he will rob us of joy, make us slaves, and keep us
from doing God’s will.
What we need to turn from this tendency toward the sin of
“not enough” is a heart change.
Although we receive a changed heart when we accept Christ, in
a sense we need a heart change every morning. What if every morning we got down
on our knees and prayed, “Lord, help me to be the person you want me to be today. Take away the desires that
shouldn’t be there, and help me be single-minded in my focus and my pursuit of
you.” As we do this, God comes and cleanses us from the inside out, purifying
our hearts.
Christ works in us, as we seek first God’s kingdom, and as we
strive to do God’s will.
As this happens, we begin to sense a higher calling—a calling
to simplicity and faithfulness and generosity.
We begin to look at ways we can make a difference with our
time and talents and resources.
By pursuing good financial practices, we free ourselves from
debt so that we are able to be in mission to the world.
A key part of finding financial and spiritual freedom is
found in simplicity and in exercising restraint.
With the help of God,
· we can simplify our lives and silence
the voices constantly telling us we need more
·
we
can live counter-culturally by living below our means, not above
·
we
can build into our budgets the money to buy with cash instead of credit
· we can build into our budgets what we
need to be able to live generously and faithfully.
A young adult who is a family member of this congregation
posted this on Facebook just this week:
“I don't need money to be
rich. I've got an education that feeds my soul and keeps me hungry for more.
I've got the heart and soul of a traveler and a brain that is always curious. I
have a job that even on the most stressful days, I love going to. I have a
family that gets my quirks and supports all of my ambitious dreams, no matter
how often they change or how outlandish they are. And I have the worlds best
friends from all over the place that fill my heart no matter how long we go
without talking. No, I'm far too blessed for money to be the only thing that
makes me rich.”
I pray that we continue
to turn, to repent, to change our hearts to understand that Jesus came that we
would have life, have it abundantly, and to do so is to understand what is enough,
and what is absurd, and what unending gifts have been made available in God’s
creation for us to share with one another.
Amen.
Sources:
Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity, Adam Hamilton; http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/04/news/economy/american-dream/
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