A Good God or a Goods God
For years there has been a Snoopy poster
that shows how he spends his week:
On Sunday, he dances, with the caption,
"Party-Time!"
On Monday, he scowls, with the caption,
"Don’t speak to me."
On Tuesday, he lies flat on his back as though dead, with the caption,
"God, get me through this day"
On Wednesday as the clouds of doom strike upon him the captions reads
"Please, Please, let me die."
On Thursday, Snoopy begins to sit up, with the caption,
"Life slowly seeps back into my body."
On Friday, his tail wags as the caption reads
"Anticipation!"
On Saturday, Snoopy is dancing again, with the caption,
"Party-Time!"
Snoopy’s work week
probably describes the world’s notion
of how to live our lives
dreading the “have toos”
and loving the “eat, drink, and be merrys”
like the rich fool
we are encouraged to store up for ourselves
we are encouraged to believe
that an earthly reward
fame, fortune, fun
has some redeeming (satisfying) value
and may even save us – redeem us - from some horrible ends like
poverty, sickness, loneliness, or work!
But our gospel lessons tells us that
goods cannot be God
Even though we know that God is the greatest good
we struggle with the problem of making goods into God.
Take the man from the crowd in the gospel
He came to Jesus asking him
to help him get part of the inheritance from his brother.
Probably he was a younger brother
and was unhappy with his part of the split.
The eldest son usually received the largest share of the inheritance
Jesus’ reply indicates that it wasn’t a case of injustice
that was involved
but a matter of greed!
“Take care,
Be on your guard
against all kinds of greed
for one’s life doesn’t consist in the abundance of possessions.”
And what about the rich fool
he makes the mistake of assuming
that bodily comforts were all there was to life.
He assumed that body and soul are the same.
“Soul … relax,
eat drink, and be merry”
Soul is more than body
Soul refers to the total of life
our thinking, living, being
When the Lord demands his life,
his goods failed him
goods are not God!
and a person is worth more than his goods.
What’s wrong with getting caught up in getting, having, possessing?
Our lessons put it this way
If we try to succeed like the world expects us to do
then we are going to fail to succeed in setting our mind on things above
we will fail in putting our trust and faith in God
Sooooooooooo what?
Well, when life ends,
you can’t keep what you have.
It gets passed on to the next generation.
The bumper sticker -- "The one with the most toys -- WINS"
is also seen reading -- "The one with the most toys -- STILL DIES!"
The world encourages us to make goods into God
But goods cannot help us out
in recession or depression.
Even in good times
we can be depressed while working for goods.
The writer of Ecclesiastes put it this way
Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NRSV)
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 2:18 - Ecclesiastes 2:23 (NRSV)
18I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun,
seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me
19—and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish?
22What do mortals get from all the toil and strain
with which they toil under the sun?
23For all their days are full of pain,
and their work is a vexation;
even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
The now famous “9-5” song1 by Dolly Parton
bemoans the efforts of making it in a 9-5 job.
Even in the best of times,
the goods God fails
“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself
and is not rich toward God.
God who is the giver of all goods
is the giver of the greatest good
The greatest good
is the one telling the story of the Rich Fool!
In Christ
God has been redeemed all of life and its goods.
He died and rose again
to release people from the bondage of goods
and to give freedom for life with him./
He was raised to the right hand of God
so that all might be raised with him.
Those raised with Christ set their minds on things above (Colossians 3:2)
so put to death
whatever belongs to your earthly nature
like greed which is idolatry.
No longer are goods God
but the good God transforms all of life through Christ.
Ecclesiastes also has this to say in ch 2, vs 24 – 25
Ecclesiastes 2:24 - Ecclesiastes 2:25 (NRSV)
24There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink,
and find enjoyment in their toil.
This also, I saw, is from the hand of God;
25for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
But what does that transformed life look like?
How can I find it in my own life?
In listening to a Chrsistan Radio broadcast years ago
I head an aconomist suggest
3 ways to Christian Financial Responsibility
Maybe it could be called
3 Ways to Curb Coveting
1) Live on less than you earn
Set aside a portion of each paycheck
for unexpected expenses.
Don’t be seduced by the easy credit
we are offered weekly in the mail.
But a corollary to Live on Less
is Trim Your Needs.
We are constantly bombarded with all sorts of objects to buy.
It is possible that “wants” become translated into “needs”
2) Develop and follow a budget
During your lifetime, over $2 million dollars
will pass through your hands.
If you work for 30 years at $50,000 per year is $1.5 million!
Why not have a careful well-thought out plan
for spending that money.
We do that for a house, a car, even a computer or cell phone.
Why shouldn’t we have a specific plan for our income and expenses.
There is a liberation from the goods God
that comes when we fell good about meeting bills
while having some extra to enjoy!
3) Make a will
What is going to happen to everything you have had in this life
after you die?
Surely we don’t need it where we are going!
But as the writer from Ecclesiastes says,
18I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun,
seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me
19—and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish?
A will sets up who is in charge of your children
should you die early
as well as providing for them
and for organizations and institutions that you
would also like to name in your will.
Without a will,
that state decides how and to whom your assets will be divided.
It is so easy to get caught up in the wants
in the coveting of the 9th and 10th commandments
with all of the TV, radio, and mail ads.
We have to work harder than ever
to set our minds on the things that are above
like Jesus and his love.
Should rich people feel guilty?
or poor people feel better?
NO.
The heart of the teaching is this:
Set your mind on things above, on Jesus and his love.
and you possessions will not possess you.
Be rich toward God.
Grandparents are often accused of spoiling the grandchildren
Why?
The children see grandpa sitting on the floor
playing with his toddler grandchildren.
The son or daughter is shocked and jealous:
"Dad, I’m surprised.
You never got down on the floor and played with me!"
And he probably didn’t.
He was to busy trying to be a success.
But grandparents have lived long enough to learn some things
To be a success seemed so important in those younger years,
The older you get,
the more you appreciate the quality time spent with loved ones.
When you’re a grandparent,
the quest for success pales in comparison
to enjoying the beauty and genius of your little grandchild.
We stand before the Lord
like a child with her hand in the candy jar.
who finds he cannot withdraw his hand
without letting go of the candy.
She is unwilling to do this
The candy represents everything we want in life
at that moment.
But he child is helpless
caught between 2 desires
candy vs. freedom.
As he cries, dad comes
realizing her helplessness
he offers a larger, better piece of candy
if she will let go of the piece in the jar.
Similarly
we call out in our suffering
caught between the goods God of the world
and the good God and his freedom.
God comes to us
presenting the perfect image of love and humanity
in the one we call Christ
Christ says, “Come to me, all I have is yours”
Take care!
‘Be on your guard
for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possession.
Without his call
we’d never give up the goods of the world
But thanks be to God who has given us that victory through Jesus Christ.
Amen.
