“The only time you ever preach about money is when you are talking about tithing” - When somebody said that to me several months ago it hit home. Of course as a Christian Priest, I preach about Christian giving. You wouldn’t expect otherwise. And people clearly listen to those sermons because people in this church are generous in their giving and regularly raise their giving. But if the bible tells us to give 10% of our money back to God - what about the other 90%? It’s a fair point - why haven’t I preached on that? Christianity is about all our life, not just the bits we do in a church building. So what does God have to say about money? Not the bit we give back to him through our tithe - but the rest of it? There are so many issues surrounding the subject of money, and so rarely do they get preached on. So over this Easter season, we are going to have a sermon series on money.
Where do we start? Let’s start with making money. Good or bad?
Christians have never been united in their view of this.
Two extremes -
View 1 “It’s a sin to be poor”
vs
View 2: to be a”Gospel Christian” an “evangelical Christian” - is to have no money AT ALL; no posessions AT ALL, and to beg each day for food for that day’s meals
View one is the view of the “health and wealth” movement, very common in America, but also amongst certain Pentecostals in this country and the third world. The actual quote “It’s a sin to be poor” comes from Randy Gage, the so-called Millionaire Messiah.
View two was the view of the extreme Spiritual Franciscans. A true Christian, truly signed up for God would own nothing at all. That house of yours, that car, anything more than a single set of clothes, that food in the freezer, that money in the bank account, that pension that you’ll get when you retire. If you were truly signed up for Jesus, a Gospel Christian, an evangelical Christian, you would not have any of those.
Why might it be a sin to be poor?
If we are poor, are we a burden on other people? The homeless druggy on the streets gets a decent meal at night because of the donations of hard working people who are having been slaving away for long hours in the office. Is it right for him to sponge off them while they work.
If we are poor, do we fail to live up to our responsibilities? A man can father 9 different children by 8 different women, knowing that so long as he stays out of work, he’ll never have to pay a penny to support them. The state, ie tax payers, ie people who work responsibly, will pay for his mess. Look at what Jesus says about not providing for those we are responsible for in Mark 7:10-12
if we are poor, can we properly help other people? Bill Gates has given $30 billion dollars to charity. Could he have done that if he were not rich?
God promises to bless us - so does lack of money mean lack of God’s blessing mean God doesn’t approve of us?
Or is having money a sin?
The magnificat tells us God has “filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty away” (Lk 1:53)
“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven (Lk 18:25)
Is not putting money aside, saving up for a rainy day, getting insured, taking out a pension - is that not a sign of lack of trust in Jesus to provide. “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?” (Matt 6:30)
“one thing you lack - sell all you own and give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and then come follow me” (Lk 18:22) - was that just for him, or if we are to come follow Jesus,do we have to do the same?
Which is right then? I’m going to take my queue from the famous 18th Century Christian, St John Wesley, who taught “Gain as much as you can; Save as much as you can; give as much as you can”. This is a phrase I am going to come back to repeatedly over the next few weeks, and it is a phrase that is more that is more challenging than it first appears.
Wesley’s first rule about money was Gain all you can. Despite its potential for misuse, money in itself is something good. There is no end to the good it can do: “In the hands of [God’s] children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked. it gives to the traveler and the stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of a husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We may be a defense for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain. It may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame: yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!”
Poverty itself - not freely chosen monastic poverty - but starving hungry disease ridden shanty town shack next to an open sewer poverty - is not a good thing. The Magnificat says “The hungry he shall fill with good things” If it was good to be poor, God would leave the hungry hungry! God wants poverty ended. And as St John Wesley has pointed out - money is needed to end poverty.
But first - a cake.
here’s a nice yummy looking cake. If I cut it into slices and give it out to the children here, somebody is going to be saying “It’s not fair, his slice is bigger than mine....” And there’s two solutions to that. I can take away a bit from the child who has more to give it to the one who has less, or ….
I can bake a bigger cake.
If we think of the wealth of the world as like this cupcake here, then the moment Peter gets more Paula gets less. It’s clear then that every piece of wealth we have is taking away from someone else. All those poor starving people in Africa, all our wealth is stolen from them, so being rich must be a sin.
But what if the wealth of the world is more like cake baking. But what if I am making more cakes? So by creating wealth, there is more to go around for everybody? If I have the opportunity to bake more cakes and don’t then little Sarah is going to come up to me and say “It’s all your fault. Michael got a cake and I didn’t because you did not make enough”. And she’d have a point. Similarly, if I have the opportunity to create more wealth for the world, and don’t, then there is less to go around for everyone, and that’s my fault.
The gospel reading we have had today (you wondered when I was going to get round to talking about it) - the gospel reading we have had today is the Parable of the talents. Now you are used to having this Gospel preached about for churchy subjects. If I stood up this morning, and preached a sermon about Sunday School, and how for want of just two volunteers we can’t do Sunday School properly, for want of just two people who don’t need to take on very much responsibility at all, we are failing failing the children of this church - and then asked - are you burying your treasure in the ground when for very little commitment you could be investing it to make a huge difference in the future of God’s Kingdom in Barkingside. If I preached that sermon - you wouldn’t be surprised at all. (And in case you had not noticed, we desperately DO NEED just two more Sunday School helpers) But what does the parable of the tallents have to say for the rest of our lives, outside the churchy bits?
Jesus calls us to have an Obama “Yes - we can!” attitude in whatever we do. We are called to be the best we can be.
Not the best someone else can be. Note in the parable that there are three servants. One gets ten talents. one five talents, one one talent. The middle one, the one with five tallents, isn’t criticised for not doing as well as the one with ten tallents. He is praised for doubling his money. We are not called to compare ourselves with someone else - we are called to compare ourselves with ourselves and be the best we can possibly be, to make the most difference we can make. We must never settle for second best.
If like Mr and Mrs Middleton we run a website business selling children’s party gear, we should seek to make that the best possible children’s party gear website we can make it. And if that earns lots of money that can be used positively - that is a good thing! We are not called to an easy life. Mr and Mrs Middleton are not meant to say “well - if I make 100 party bags a week, that will pay the mortgage - I’ll turn down all further business and sit in front of the TV”. We are called to be the best we can - Yes we can. Turn those ten tallents into twenty, those five tallents into ten.
By being the best we can - not just out of work - but in work, we make the world a better place. Mr Dyson, comes out of his office, late for a meeting with investors. Luckily for him, a taxi driver is there. The Taxi Driver gets him to the meeting just in time. Because he got to the meeting in time the investors invest. A new form of vacuum cleaner goes on sale that cuts the time it takes to clean the house. As a result hundred of thousands of people find themselves with an extra half hour to an hour a week - perhaps 1% of them - a thousand people choose to use that extra spare time volunteering and making a difference in their local community - 50,000 extra hours of volunteering a year, just because one Taxi driver chose that morning to work rather than to play golf. And of course the taxi driver got a generous tip, and with that money he was able to...... And so the story goes on.
We are called to be the best we can - Yes we can. Turn those ten talents into twenty, those five talents into ten.
It does not mean that everything is just about money money money. If God calls to be a teacher, we are never going to earn as much money as an entrepreneur inventing best selling vacuum cleaners. But that is no excuse for being second best. The entrepreneur has to be the best entrepreneur. The teacher has to be the best teacher. Results may be measured in the lives of children changed, rather than pounds earned. But ten talents have still been turned into twenty, the best we can - yes we can.
It does not mean that everything has to be about paid work. If we work three paid days a week so we can work two unpaid days a week, we can make a huge difference for the Kingdom. Ten talents have been turned into twenty - the best we can -yes we can.
As Christians I believe we are called to increase the wealth for the world - whether that is pennies earnt, lives changed or hours volunteered. A worker earning money can give a way; a teacher may educate someone who goes on to find a cure for bowel cancer; a volunteer giving hours can save a charity or chuch thousands of pounds.As Christians I believe we are called to increase the wealth for the world. Ten talents have been turned into twenty - the best we can -yes we can.
What we not called to be like is the third man in the parable. He is afraid so he hides his treasure in the ground. It is easy to be afraid. “I won’t apply for that promotion, because I might be rejected. I don’t really need any more money, I’ll stay where I am”. I can tell you that yes, lots of people who apply for promotions or new jobs don’t get them - but that EVERYBODY who doesn’t apply doesn’t get. if we were the best person for that job and out of fear we didn’t apply, the company is short changed. Who knows, someone might lose their job because the company did not earn enough, because we - the best person - were not doing that job. And we on the other hand are able to make less difference world - because we have less money with which to help other people. No - being poor is not a sin, but false humility is a sin. Not doing things because we are afraid of how other people will think of us is a sin.
We need to do everything we can - in church, at home, in the work place, as best we can. If that earns us more money - well then I leave you with St John Wesley’s wise words.
Gain all you can. Despite its potential for misuse, money in itself is something good. There is no end to the good it can do: “In the hands of [God’s] children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked. it gives to the traveler and the stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of a husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We may be a defense for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain. It may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame: yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!”
quotations and annecdotes about John Wesley taken from an article written by Charles Edward White, assistant professor, Christian thought and history Spring Arbor (Michigan) College available on the web
