This sermon was first preached 3rd July 2025 at St Grabriel's Acton. It builds on some of my previous sermons on the topic preached elsewhere especially "Frenchie upsets his dad"; "Baking bigger cakes - wealth creation the Wesley Way" and "Generous Wallet Happy Heart"
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A very wealthy man came to his vicar and said, “Father, I’m having a problem with this tithing thing. You see I made £500,000 last year. If I gave 10% then I’d have to give….”
No - before I finish that anecdote - lets do a poll- who here thinks they are rich and who here thinks they are poor?
- hands up for rich ?
-hands up for poor?
OK those of you who didn’t put your hands up – I’m not going to let you chose in between – on balance do you think you basically poor or basically rich?
Frank Frulio is someone who thinks he is poor. He was really worried. This year his employer didn’t pay him any bonus. His basic pay just wasn’t enough. How was he going to pay his bills? How was he going to survive? He was so desperate that he took them to an industrial tribunal.
The judge I am afraid was not very sympathetic to Frank. This could be something to do with the fact that Frank’s basic pay was £250,000. (1)
"Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’
Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
[Luke 12:13-21]
‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’
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For one year I was vicar of St Peter’s Church in Eaton Square Belgravia. Many of the people in the congregation thought of themselves as not very well off. Almost all of them lived in properties costing around £1-£2 million pounds each. They earnt salaries with probably an average of £70-80,000 per person (not per household per person) But they thought of themselves as poor. I even had someone on a salary of over £50,000 try to apply for a bursary from a charity I was a trustee of. They thought of themselves as poor
Why? Most of the congregation came about 5-10 minutes away from the church from Pimlico. There flats cost astronomical sums - £1-2Million (and this was eleven years ago) but they were ex council flats in an expensive area.
The church itself was situated in Eaton Square – full of mansion flats belonging to Russian Oligarchs, the formula 1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, the TV megastar Nigella Lawson and the like – each flat costing £7-8 million pounds or more – and each earning seven or eight figure salaries a year.
The Pimlico folks who came to church didn’t compare with themselves with the average person worldwide or the average person in the UK – or even the average person in London. They compared themselves with super rich people whose houses they walked past on the way to church and in comparison they felt poor.
A very wealthy man came to his vicar and said, “Father, I’m having a problem with this tithing thing. You see I made £500,000 dollars last year. If I gave 10% then I’d have to give…. £50,000! I can’t do that!”...
The average salary in Mozambique is £1,800 a year
The average salary of the bottom 10% of people in the UK is £10,600 a year – six times what middle-income Mozambicans earn – and that is the poorest people in the UK
The average (median) salary in the UK is £31,600 – three times as much again.
And how about a salary of £70,000 a year – well even today that places you in the top ten percent of wealthiest people in the country – let alone what it did in 2014.
And yet my Pimlico parishioner thought of themselves as poor. But then again so did poor Frank Fulio on his £250,000 a year.
According to a recent article in the Independent – “money dysmorphia” – where you think you are poorer than you are – is very common in the UK, and particularly common amongst richer folks.
And of course if you feel poor – you will do everything you can to save up – just in case! Just in case!
‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’
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In another parish where I was vicar- They had (in today's terms) £108,000 sitting in the bank account. They had had a huge legacy – and everything that could be repaired or renewed in the building was now as good as new. But could I get them to spend anything on worship or mission – “oh no we have to keep some aside for a rainy day”. Then after a few years – the Victorian plaster ceiling fell in. And we discovered the insurance policy was based on household insurance policies – it would cover the repair but not the scaffolding needed to reach it. “Ah well we have the money set aside” – yes – but we also discovered that there were grants available that would have covered the entire cost if we had not had so much sitting in our bank account.
"Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’"
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In the 18th century a vicar would earn about £30 a year. That was what John Wesley earnt at the start of his ministry. Not rich, not poor. You know John Wesley? The great preacher who saw how cut off working class people were from Church, so he went to the factory gates preaching God’s love. He’d get up early, go to one factory and preach as the people went into work. Then he would ride on to the next factory, and preach as they came how to lunch, then he would ride on to the third place, and preach as they finished at the end of the day. And thousands heard his message. Well he would publish those sermons - and people paid to buy them. By the end of his life he was a very rich man. By the end of his life he was earning not £30 but £1,400. The equivalent of over a million pounds a year. Just from his sermons going viral. Surely that is a sign of God’s blessing? Certainly a sign of wealth…
That’s the attitude that the disciples had when they heard Jesus - if people are rich, surely it is a sign of God’s blessing.
Any one every been to a certain type of Pentecostal Church (or watched on You Tube) where they preach “Health and Wealth” - Where they tell you that God wants to bless you - and that if you have enough faith you too will be a millionaire?
Well that was roughly the attitude many people in the time of Jesus – including the disciples had. if people are rich, surely it is a sign of God’s blessing. And Jesus shocks them “life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” He uses a word that is much ruder in Aramaic than in English “You Fool!” . Indeed elsewhere he says it is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle”
And the problem is:
The average salary in Mozambique is £1,800 a year
The average salary of the even bottom 10% of people in the UK is £10,600 a year – six times what middle-income Mozambicans earn.
Just by living in this country we are all rich.
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So what is a Christian take on wealth? There are lots of different takes – that of St Francis of Assisi, that of St Dominic and many others – do ask me about some more of them over coffee
I mentioned how John Wesley, the great evangelist towards the end of his life earnt £1,400 a year - the equivalent of over a million pounds a year.
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!”
Now that sounds a justification for extreme wealth.
But it wasn’t just “gain as much as you can” - his full teaching was “gain as much as you can, save as much as you can, give as much as you can”
How much money do you think John Wesley gave away? [take answers]
In 1731 Wesley began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give away. That year he earnt £30, lived on £28 and gave away £2.The next year his income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds to give to the poor. In the third year, his income jumped to 90 pounds. Instead of letting his expenses rise with his income, he kept them to 28 pounds and gave away 62 pounds. Eventually his income was a little over 1400 pounds. He allowed himself a little luxury - or maybe inflation - he lived on a whole 30 pounds… and gave away nearly 1400 pounds!
In the first year - he didn’t even tithe - just £2 out of £30. But by the last year he was giving away an astronomical figure. [2]
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A very wealthy man came to his vicar and said, “Father, I’m having a problem with this tithing thing. You see I made £500,000 dollars last year. If I gave 10% then I’d have to give £50,000. I can’t do that.” And the vicar took him aside and said, “would you pray with me, “Dear Lord please reduce this man’s income so that he can afford to give. Amen" [3]
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If you found this helpful you might also enjoy:
“Frenchie upsets his dad or would you rather be very poor or very rich” which covers the same ground but goes into more depth
https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/frenchie-upsets-his-dad-or-would-you-rather-be-very-poor-or-very-rich-fr-mund-cargill-thompson-sermon-on-money-284885
also
"Baking bigger cakes - wealth creation the Wesley Way"
https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/baking-bigger-cakes-wealth-creation-the-wesley-way-fr-mund-cargill-thompson-sermon-on-money-156909
and
"Generous Wallet Happy Heart"
https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/generous-wallet-happy-heart-fr-mund-cargill-thompson-sermon-on-stewardship-151068
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REFERENCES
[1] full details about Frank Frulio and what Money dysmorphia is https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/lifestyle/why-people-think-they-are-poor-money-dysmorphia-b2732780.html and https://theweek.com/personal-finance/money-dysmorphia-why-people-think-theyre-poorer-than-they-are
[2] https://www.eaforchristians.org/blog/john-wesley-the-use-of-money-12#:~:text=He%20lived%20on%2030%20pounds,given%20them%20money%20to%20aid
[3] from a sermon on this site by Ken Kersten
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