"What's Better than a Big Bank Account?"
1 Timothy 6:6-19
This past Thursday, I was busy...busy, busy, busy...
...well, what else is new?
Anyhow, someone knocks on the church door.
He looked to be in pretty bad shape, and I have to admit--to my shame--that my heart sank.
And not for him, but for ME!!!
I still had a lot of work to do to finish up for the week.
I knew that I might be asked to forgo everything, and perhaps even spend half the day trying to help this poor soul.
And I had been doing this kind of thing all week, and I was tired.
I was also feeling like sort of a failure in some ways.
It's easy to feel that way when you are in a world where folks compare themselves to others.
Sometimes I wonder if what we are doing is really making a difference.
Anyhow, I opened the door cringing at what I might be asked to do.
The man began telling me his story.
He lives under a bridge here in East Ridge.
He was asking me if we had any work he could do in order to perhaps be able to buy some food.
And I must admit, I tried to take the "easy way out."
I looked in my wallet, knowing that I had a $10.00 bill in there.
I took it out and handed it to him, saying, "This is all the money I have on me; you are welcome to have it."
He was thankful for it, but to my surprise, he said, "I'm wondering if you know where I might be able to get some canned goods?"
I told him that we have a small food pantry and he is welcome to anything we have.
As we were heading to the food pantry I received the biggest compliment that, perhaps, I have ever received in my almost 15 years in the ministry.
The man said, "People tell me that this is a good church. They say that you all do a lot of good--that you help a lot of people out."
I was floored.
Talk about a humbling experience.
Talk about a "God-experience."
Talk about someone "making my day!!!"
Within a one hour period of time, on Thursday morning, 4 people came to this building, as I was trying to finish this sermon that I'd been working on since Monday.
Three came for our meager food pantry which has been used by many, many folks this past week and is nearly empty.
One person was just a kid, really.
A 20 year old who was homeless.
He's fighting with a Meth. Addiction.
His mother sells pills.
His girlfriend is in Valley.
He wants to get his life straight.
He has attempted suicide three times, unsuccessfully.
He believes in God, but he's in a lot of trouble.
He needs a lot of help.
A guy named Warren Bailey died July 14, 2000, at age 88.
He had no family, and he wasn't much of a church-going man.
To the best of anyone's recollection in the town of St. Mary's, Georgia, Mr. Bailey hadn't been to church in the last 20 years.
He did, however, make annual donations of around $100,000 to St. Mary's United Methodist Church--a 350 member congregation.
It probably wasn't a great shock to the members at St. Mary's that the church was remembered in Mr. Bailey's will.
But the amount of money he left was a shock!!!
There was a stunned silence when Rev. Dereck McAleer broke the news to the congregation that the man who owned 49 percent of the area's telephone company had left the church $60 million dollars!!!
"It's all unreal to me," said the pastor.
"This is a number that doesn't have any reality."
Mr. Bailey's will included no instructions as to how the money was to be used, so the church set up an advisory board to decide how to handle its newfound and unexpected wealth.
The biggest fear that the pastor had about this situation was summed up in his lament: "How do we remain a Christian Church with this much wealth?"
There can be no doubt that the Church of Jesus Christ does not always make good decisions as to how to spend money.
Some churches spend huge amounts of money on their buildings.
Others buy digital signs that cost over $100,000.
Some pay their pastors hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Others build gymnasiums for "members only."
And many, many, many give to the poor, support local and worldwide missions.
But it never seems like we are doing enough.
If I had to count the number of times I have to say "No, I'm sorry, we don't have the funds" to someone asking the Church of Jesus Christ to help them pay an electric bill, a rent bill due, food for their children, gas for their car or a place to rest their head for the night...
...well, I would probably weep.
And if I had to count the number of times I have tried to find a safe shelter for a homeless mother and her children, or a family or an individual and have been unable to do so--since Chattanooga has no such places...
...except for those which have 6 month waiting lists...
...I would weep.
Jesus' mission statement can be found in Luke Chapter 4 beginning at verse 18:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to liberate the oppressed,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
In Matthew Chapter 25, Jesus gives the criteria for judgment as to whether we will be known to have been doing God's work during our short stay on earth.
"I was hungry and you gave me food to eat.
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink.
I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear.
I was sick and you took care of me.
I was in prison and you visited me."
It's no wonder that Jesus was able to identify Himself so closely with the poor, naked, and hungry.
Our Lord, was a Homeless Man Himself when He walked this earth!!!
He depended on the generosity of those who followed Him to pay for His food, and find Him a place to "rest His head."
And all throughout the Bible, the most consistent theme that runs from the Old Testament through the New is that God calls us to take care of the widows, the orphans, the poor and those who are unable to take care of themselves in our land.
And the biggest of all sins--the worst thing we can possibly do--is to fail to do this!!!
This is what Christianity is about.
Loving God; loving neighbor.
According to survey after survey after survey: Nothing discredits the work of the Church and the message of the Cross more in the eyes of the world than financial greed, corruption and the misallocation of funds through wasteful spending!!!
Our Scripture Lesson for this morning, is part of a warning from Paul about false teachers in the church.
He says that these teachers have been "robbed of the truth," and in 6:5 he states that "They think that godliness is a way to make money."
And this leads Paul to say what he does in our passage for today about riches, wealth, money, contentment and real, true life.
It has been suggested that "these false teachers' primary purpose is to make money, rather than promote the gospel..."
And that they may very well be " proponents of a 1st Century version of the 'prosperity gospel.'"
How many of you are familiar with "the prosperity gospel"?
There are a number of people who are convinced that it is God's intention that Christians are to be rich.
And that if a Christian is rich that is a sign that they have found favor in God's sight.
A number of television evangelists preach "the prosperity gospel."
Many of them become incredibly wealthy by, basically, stealing from the poor people who send them tithes from their social security checks each month.
Can you imagine becoming rich by stealing from the poor?
Some would say that this is exactly what car-title pawn shops, a number of big corporations, and slum-landlords are doing.
But God is not a slum-landlord--and the Christian Church is not to be a slum-landlord either!!!
Paul says that "people who are trying to get rich fall into temptation. They are trapped by many stupid and harmful passions that plunge people into ruin and destruction."
How many of you all remember Jim and Tammy Faye Baker's Christian Amusement Park called "Heritage USA"?
The misallocation of funds for this place was why Rev. Baker went to jail for fraud.
The Bakers believed in the prosperity gospel, or at least, they preached it and lived in excess and luxury because of it.
If you ever get the chance, go to YOUTUBE and type in the search engine: "Heritage USA."
You will find videos of this place that has been standing vacant, somewhere in North Carolina, for nearly 30 years now.
The waterslide is now covered in weeds.
The luxurious hotel buildings are falling apart, and the buildings that were in the process of being constructed when the scandal broke stand unfinished.
It's quite a sight.
Millions upon millions upon millions of dollars were just thrown to the wind...wasted on this place.
Are you aware that there are one billion people in the world who do not have access to clean drinking water...?
What did Jesus say?
"Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels...
...I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink."
Did you know that every 7 seconds, somewhere in the world, a child under 5 years old dies of hunger, while Americans throw away 14 percent of the food we purchase...and 1/3 of the food we grow?
Jesus said, "I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat."
Did you know that more than half of the world's population lives on less than two American dollars a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150.00 American dollars a week?
Jesus said, "I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me..."
Just to be clear, Paul does not say that money is either good or bad...
...he says that: "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil..."
...and...
"Some have wandered away from the faith and have impaled themselves with a lot of pain because they made money their goal."
He goes on to say that Christians are to "run away from all these things..."
...and, "instead, pursue righteousness, holy living, faithfulness, love, endurance and gentleness..."
...and we are instructed to "be rich in the good things [we] do, to be generous, and to share with others."
And in that way we "can take hold of what is truly life."
Have we taken hold of what is "truly life"?
When Paul says that Christians who are trying to get rich..."are trapped by many stupid and harmful passions that plunge people into ruin and destruction," the word that Paul uses for "people" refers not only to the damage done to those of us who pursue riches, but also to the damage done to the lives of others due to our pursuit.
When Christians, when the Church of Jesus Christ is not doing as it should folks on the outside get a real bad taste in their mouths about Christianity.
They don't want to have a thing to do with it.
Just about everyone knows that Jesus Christ has taught His followers to love and serve...
...to be humble and gentle...
...to be giving, selfless and not greedy...
...to be a bit like the Jesus we claim to follow.
The term Christian does, after all, mean "little Christ's."
Someone put it pretty well when they wrote, "Jesus wasn't big on bling. His whole resume was one lifelong exercise in climbing down, not up the ladder.
God became poor.
God had no place to rest His head.
God was born in a cow barn.
He traipsed around with the lowest of the low: hookers, drunks, dealers, tax collectors, sinners, lepers."
This is hard.
Of course, being a Christian is hard.
Following Christ involves a Cross.
According to Time Magazine, 49%--that's the majority by a fairly substantial margin--since some had no opinion--49% of people surveyed said that Christians don't do enough for the poor.
What is that song?
"They will know we are Christians by how rich we are?"
No.
"They will know we are Christians by how fancy our church buildings are?"
No.
"They will know we are Christians by our love."!!!
It's so very easy to get off track.
We all do it.
Methodists, Baptists, non-denominational churches--we all make huge mistakes when it comes to being good stewards of money.
We all fall short.
I fall short all the time.
I often feel like I'm doing hardly anything for the Kingdom.
It's very easy to be "tempted by riches and false teachers."
The Word of God can be twisted in many evil ways.
So let's pay close attention to what we do, and why we do it.
Let's study God's Word very carefully and be especially sensitive to the plight of others.
Let's follow Paul's advice and put all our "hope in God."
We are instructed to "do good, be rich in good things [we] do, be generous, and share with others..."
This is what Paul calls "godliness."
And as he says, "godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it."
The only thing we can take out of it is "the life that is truly life."
And that comes only through trusting in Jesus and Jesus Christ alone for our happiness, our joy, our way of life and our eternal salvation.
Praise God, Praise God.
Amen!!!
