I don’t know anybody who has all they really want. Not really. Not everything. Oh, some of you will piously pretend to be satisfied, but, in my experience, all of us fantasize about having more. Occasionally I watch “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” and I will shout answers at a deaf TV screen, and will grumble that I’m not the one up there with Regis. I sure could use a million dollars, or even a healthy fraction of it. I don’t know anybody who has all they really want.
I do know any number of people who have all they really need, or all they can handle. I even know a few people who have more than they really need – not many, but a few. If you happen to be in that category – having more than you need – please meet me after the service and we will discuss how this church can relieve you of that terrible burden!
I don’t believe I know anybody, however, who has all they really want. But, thanks be to God, I do know people who, although they would like to have more, have found satisfaction and joy in what they have – people who have found the secret to contentment – people who are able to look at their lives and say, “Now that’s living!” “That’s really living!” Whatever the bank balance, “Now that’s living!”
Stories abound of those who were never satisfied, who never felt secure, even though their coffers were full. If you are of a certain age, you will remember all the stories about the Rockefellers and how they would grudgingly give away little dimes, ten big cents, to those in need, but no more. And if you are not of a certain age, you do know about Bill Gates and Microsoft and the charge that these folks are trying to monopolize the whole world and take us all over, lock, stock, and barrel! Takoma Park Microsoft Church – how does that grab you?!
Some, no matter how wealthy they are, do not think they have enough. They are insecure. They are without hope. They live in despair. But, praise be to God, others, without the millions, without the material things, without all the stuff, find security and life. Now that’s living!
Margaret Waddy had her share of concerns. Some while ago she began to deal with a degree of uncertainty about her resources. As the Alzheimer’s Disease that ultimately took her life began its course, she became concerned that her resources would not be enough and that having a place to live and the means to support herself were unsure. She was concerned. Would her resources last?
But despite her concerns Margaret was able to take hold of something real. Margaret is today, with her Savior, able to say, “Now that’s living!” How did this come about? Let’s find out.
I read today from the sixth chapter of Paul’s first letter to Timothy. It’s a rich passage. It would be made even richer if I were to read the entire context. But then I suspect you don’t really want to hear the entire context, this sixth chapter. It’s a little uncomfortable for the most of us who do not yet have everything we want. I mean, I don’t know that you want to hear Paul saying that there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; who wants to hear about being contented? Nor do you want to know this gruesome truth, that we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it. Oh, that’s not good news, is it? Let me skip that. So I am totally sure that you would not want me to read this verse, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.” No, no, you would not want to hear that, so I won’t read it! But I will read this rich passage:
I Timothy 6:11-19
“So that they may take hold of the life that really is life.” So that they may say, “Now that’s living!”. How did Margaret Waddy arrive at that place?
I
First, Margaret approached her needs in faith. She did not give herself over to despair, but she approached her needs in faith. As Paul admonishes Timothy in this passage, “Fight the good fight of the faith”. Don’t let adversity get to you; deal with it in the context of faith in the God who has brought you thus far and has never failed you yet. “We’ve come this far by faith.”
A number of months ago Margaret came to see me. She laid out some financial concerns. She spoke about what both her resources and her obligations looked like, but she did not ask me for financial help. She made no appeal for a gift or for a loan. What did she ask for? She asked me to join her in prayer! How simple, and yet how profound! How childlike, and yet how wise! To approach this need in faith.
Now it’s a good thing that that is all she asked, because I would have been something like Peter and John with the man at the gate of the Temple, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee.” I could not have rescued her financially. But Margaret knew that in prayer lay the answer, in prayer lay the resource that she needed. Margaret knew that she would be heard by the one who clothes the lilies of the field and sees the tiny sparrow, the one who knows our needs even before we ask. Margaret saw that the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills would care for her. She began her struggle in faith.
Now that’s living! When the circumstances are against you, to believe in the mercies of God, now that’s living. When your mind is a little clouded, and you cannot quite grasp what you used to grasp, still to believe in the love of God, now that’s living. When you feel some anxiety, to turn to the one whom you have known and trusted all your years – now that’s living! Margaret began by fighting the good fight of faith.
II
But there is more to living than having faith. The Bible tells us that faith without works is dead. And so Margaret found that living, real living, had something to do with the way she gave her heart and her life to serve others. Paul says it right here in this same passage, “Do good, be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share.” Now that’s living, when you can share with others and enrich their lives, not worrying about what you have or do not have.
Margaret Waddy spent her professional years in social work. That is not a profession for the faint-hearted or for the self-centered. Doing social work will bring you up against the harsh realities that thousands of people face in trying to survive against overwhelming odds. This Margaret did, serving the District’s people, in season and out of season. There are few financial rewards in social work, and, if you need stress-free living in order to thrive, there are few emotional rewards. But I have an idea that in these early years, Margaret caught a very special vision – the vision of becoming rich by empowering others. The vision of growing by giving. The vision of Francis of Assisi, who saw that it was in giving that we receive, in pardoning that we are pardoned, in dying that we are born to eternal life. Margaret learned that when you help others, now that’s living. That is, as Paul puts it, taking “hold of the life that really is life.”
In her retirement years, this way of really living did not stop. She found ways to help others. Sometimes that was the simple friendship and hospitality she offered her friends. Sometimes it was, with others of you in this church and in the community, serving in the Meals-On-Wheels program. She found that secret; that what you have, if you give it, comes back rich in blessings. Now that’s living! That’s life that really is life!
III
Paul asks us to take hold of life? Margaret took hold of life that really is life by fighting the good fight of faith. Margaret took hold of life that really is life by her generosity and her readiness to share. But, most of all, Margaret took hold of the life that really is life as she took hold of eternal life. She took hold, with all that was in her, of the ultimate gift of God, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul says to Timothy, “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good confession.” Margaret confessed Christ Jesus as her Savior and Lord, and took hold of that confession in good times and in bad.
I well remember that Christmas Day in 1986 when James Waddy died. He had been in the hospital for a while, and had always been physically challenged. But none of us knew that his condition was terminal. When I arrived at the Waddy home, I found Margaret, devastated, of course; but quickly able to affirm the goodness of God’s gift, able to know that her beloved husband was with the Lord, and very sure that she also would not be forsaken. In that crisis moment, as before, Margaret took hold of eternal life, and that got her through.
In recent months Margaret was not able to attend worship as much as she had before, but she did make a special effort to come whenever the Lord’s Supper was being served. It was as though this simple but profound act of Communion was one she looked forward to, as a sign of that eternal life that was already hers.
Eternal life. Now that’s living. Take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession. Margaret, you moved many times – from New Jersey to West Virginia to Washington; from Whittier Street to Edwards Way to Charter House to Collingswood. But take hold, now, Margaret; there is a mansion prepared for you, richly appointed and well furnished. Take hold, now, Margaret, for you dwell in a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Now that’s the life that really is life! Now that’s living!
