You Can't Have It All

You Can’t Have It All

1 Timothy 6:6-10

November 11, 2018 • Mount Pleasant UMC

[SLIDE] Every year, Forbes magazine publishes the list of the richest people in the world. I’m not sure why they do that; maybe just to make the rest of us envious, I don’t know. By the way, I checked, and none of us are on it. This year, the top 5 richest people in the world are:

5. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook ($71 billion)

4. Bernard Arnault (I had to look him up) of Sephora and Louis Vittion ($72 billion)

3. Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway ($84 billion)

2. Bill Gates, retired from Microsoft though still involved on their board ($90 billion—and that’s after his Foundation has given away a whole lot of money)

And, the richest person in the world today (and the first to break $100 billion on this list) is Jeff Bezos from Amazon ($112 billion)

I know I’ve done my part to help Mr. Bezos get to where he is. I purchase far too many things from Amazon! I read over the list, and I got curious as to how Indiana fares, so I looked up the richest person in Indiana. That title goes to Gayle Cook, who lives in Bloomington and made her fortune by developing a medical device with her husband. She is worth $6.2 billion and has invested millions in remodeling French Lick and West Baden Springs hotels.

So then, all this thinking about wealth made me begin to wonder where the poorest place on earth is. According to 2018 numbers, that title belongs to the [SLIDE] Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, whose residents make the equivalent of about $468 a year. Granted, the standard of living is different there, but that’s not much money no matter how you frame it; it's about $9 a week. By the way, the top three poorest countries are all in Africa, and Haiti, where we have sent several teams and continue to partner, is number 5, with an estimated $874 earned per year. All of this, of course, reminds us how much (pardon the pun) value we put on wealth, on material gain, on stuff. We look up to the people who have a lot and we think little of those who have…well, little. Of the top 5 wealthiest individuals, there was only 1 I had not heard of, and that’s probably only because I don’t pay a lot of attention to the fashion world. Reports and statistics like these are just more evidence of the incredible influence money and wealth have in our daily lives.

[SLIDE] We’re right in the middle of this short series of sermons called “God vs. Money.” As the title implies, and as the video said, there is a battle going on, a battle that centers in our soul. The battle is really about what or who we call “Lord,” and so last week we spent quite a bit of time establishing the problem, the challenge, and the reality that money really does have an impact on our souls, on our spiritual lives. Today and next week, then, we’re going to begin moving toward a solution to the problem, and toward developing some strategies for winning the battle. To do that, we start with words from the Apostle Paul, a man who was once destined for worldly greatness until he met Jesus, who turned his life around. Late in his life and ministry, he wrote a letter to his young protege, Timothy, who was pastoring in the city of Ephesus. Paul had a lot of pastoral wisdom to share with Timothy, and his words come down through the centuries, shockingly relevant to us still today.

[SLIDE] Ephesus was a large city in Paul’s time, situated on the coast (though today, it sits 3 miles inland, since the harbor has filled with silt over the centuries). It was a thoroughly Roman city, the fourth largest city in the Empire, boasting somewhere around 250,000 inhabitants. So, roughly four times the size of Terre Haute. [SLIDE] The city was a center for the worship of Artemis, a Roman goddess of fertility; in fact, when Paul visited here, one of the accusations leveled against him was that he was interfering with Artemis worship by advocating a different God. That caused a riot with a huge crowd filling the amphitheater and shouting their allegiance to Artemis (cf. Acts 19). [SLIDE] I’ve stood in that amphitheater, and even just what’s left today is impressive. When it was fully standing, it would have seated 25,000 people. Add to that the huge temple complex, the various baths, a large market and stadium for Olympic-style games, and a concert hall, and you begin to get the sense of Ephesian wealth. In addition, homes have been uncovered (you can see them today) that were basically apartments for the wealthy Ephesians. [SLIDE] They are decorated with elaborate artwork on the floors and the walls, and they are situated above the city (so that you can look down on the ordinary people). These “Terrace Houses” included indoor plumbing, heating systems, and private water storage (Price, Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, pgs. 311-314). Ephesus knew wealth, and it was also a city where the Christian faith took root, so much so that in the book of Revelation (written at the end of the first century), Jesus sends a letter to the church there. He says this to the believers there: “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance…You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first” (Revelation 2:2, 4-5).

That is the danger of wealth, isn’t it? Forsaking your first love, or confusing your “first love” with the world and the culture around you. Priorities can get all messed up. That’s what Paul is confronting in this letter to Pastor Timothy. To combat the mindset in Ephesus, Paul uses a word that he has used elsewhere. [SLIDE] He instructs the Ephesians to “be content.” Listen again to how he puts it here: “We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (6:7-8). He uses that same word over in his letter to the Philippians when he’s thanking them for the support they sent him. He is grateful, but he goes on to say, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Philippians 4:11). The word he uses in both instances was used by the Stoics of the day to refer to “self-sufficiency,” that everything you need you have “within yourself.” But believers have always known that’s not really true. Whatever we have is a gift from God to begin with, and so Paul takes that word and fills it with new meaning. What he means by being “content” is what we might call “God-sufficiency.” It’s recognizing that God is the one who provides and gives everything we need (cf. Willard, Life Without Lack, chapter 1). The word really is best defined by its opposite; it is the opposite of “greed,” so everything you imagine “greed” to be, being “content” is 180 degrees in the opposite direction (Liefeld, NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Timothy/Titus, pg. 204).

There is a character in C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia named Eustace Scrubb, and, as the narrator says, “he almost deserved it.” He’s not a nice boy, and in the third book of the series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace discovers a stockpile of gold on one of the islands. Eustace is a greedy person, so he…well, let’s just see what happens to him.

VIDEO: “Voyage of the Dawn Treader”

[SLIDE] Lewis was on to something with this image. Greed turns us into dragons—not literally, but it does turn us into people who lack the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (cf. Galatians 5:22-23). Later on in the story, Eustace realizes he doesn’t want to be that way anymore, and he tries to “un-dragon” himself, to tear off the dragon skin that has grown around him, but he can’t. Under each layer of dragon skin is just more dragon skin. That’s when Aslan, the Christ figure in the Narnia stories, tells him, “You have to let me undress you.”

Just so, we can’t rid ourselves of greed and instantly become content all by ourselves, in our own power. [SLIDE] Even though the Stoics of Paul’s day talked about “self-sufficiency,” they knew it wasn’t really any more possible then than it is now. The Stoics believed in logic, in rationality, and generally trusted everything to fate (cf. ZPEB, Vol. 5, pgs. 518-519). It wasn’t that they were emotionless, as some people portray them. They weren’t Vulcans! But they did believe that everything was already decided, fated, so why worry about it or bother trying to change anything? Just roll with whatever happens. And so self-sufficiency was huge to them; the “self” is all that is guaranteed. So as I said a few moments ago, Paul is actually pointing beyond the self to something that might be better called “God-sufficiency.” Paul is calling the Ephesians (and us) to trust that God, not the self, will provide what we need. Now, he also doesn’t mean that we should just sit around and wait for God to drop it on us. This is the same Paul who says things like, “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Of course, by that, he’s not talking about those who are unable to work, or who are retired, or any number of other similar situations. He’s specifically addressing in that letter people who were being idle, who were just sitting around and expecting others to take care of them, who were, in fact, being disruptive to the larger community. He says those folks are “not busy; they are busybodies” (2 Thessalonians 3:11) and calls all people (especially believers in Jesus) to “never tire of doing what is good” (3:13). Here’s my point: Paul expected people then—and, I believe, would expect us now—to put our trust in God rather than in ourselves but to continue to work and serve and provide as much as and as long as we’re able. Maybe the best summary of Paul’s thought is this: live like it all depends on God, and work like it all depends on you. But really, the call is even larger than that. It’s a call to trust that God is involved in and cares about your life—all of your life. Sometimes we want to box God in and only give him Sunday morning. But as one author puts it, the question is really this: “Is our trust in God limited only to ‘spiritual’ things, or is He the Lord of all of life?” (Demarest, Communicator’s Commentary: 1, 2 Thessalonians, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, pg. 221).

[SLIDE] Paul specifically says if we have food and clothing, we should be content, knowing God has provided everything we need. Food and clothing—the essentials. Isn’t it interesting how many more things have become “essentials” today? Things that used to be luxury items? Most of the homes in my hometown, including my house, did not have air conditioning, at least not what we now think of as “central air.” We had, and in fact my folks still have, a window unit that is mounted in the wall, but it did not get turned on very often. And my brother and I slept upstairs where there was neither air conditioning nor heat. I am such a wimp; I can’t imagine buying or living in a house without central air these days. Or a microwave. I remember when we got our first microwave. It was an investment, and it was huge. It took up a whole section of the counter. But how would I possibly cook without a microwave today? In just a few moments this week, I came up with this list of things that were once luxuries that are now thought of as essentials: power windows in your car, automatic transmission in your car (my first car had a stick shift and I’m not sure I could drive it today), internet access in our homes, garages with power doors, self-propelled lawnmowers, credit cards, debit cards, cell phones, computers, drive-through windows at Starbucks—and Starbucks in general! Am I right? No one I knew ever said the word “latte” as if it were normal when I was growing up! Paul says, “If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (6:8). Will we? Can we anymore?

It’s desire that we struggle with. [SLIDE] Desire is what gets out of hand. And in fact it’s always been that way. Sometimes you will hear people quote Paul this way: “money is the root of all evil.” But that’s not what Paul says. Did you notice that? A Christian theology of money says that money itself is not evil. It’s not bad. It’s necessary. It’s really tough to get along without it. It’s when it takes over our lives, when we desire it so much that it becomes the primary thing we think about, that’s when money can become an evil force in our lives. What Paul actually says is this: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (6:10). It’s when desire overtakes us and consumes us—that’s when we begin to run into problems. “The issue is not having wealth, but desiring it. The very desire is the trap” (Demarest 223) because “consumerism is an infectious lifestyle” (Demarest 221). Paul described it this way in his own day: “Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (6:10).

That’s why, as I said last week, money is a key discipleship issue. This green stuff we chase after has everything to do with how faithfully we follow Jesus. When money is simply a tool we need to live, there’s no problem. When it becomes the reason that we live, then we have big problems. Again, Jesus himself told us we can’t serve two masters. We can’t serve God and money. We will choose one or the other.

I don’t know of a time, certainly in my lifetime, when it’s been more acceptable than today to have the love of money as your highest goal, your greatest good. It’s acceptable today, when asked, “Why did you do that?”, to answer, “Because I could make more money by doing that.” As I said last week, we give lip service to the idea that “money can’t buy happiness” but we give life-service to the belief that it just might (cf. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Pastoral Letters, pg. 70). So the key question for us this week, as we pursue a more faithful discipleship, is this: “How much of my time and energy today was spent in thinking about my finances?” (Demarest 223). That’s a question we can use each evening as we evaluate our day. And it’s not question meant to induce guilt, but rather to be a corrective for the next day. Did you not get it quite right today? Did you spend more time planning how to get more money than you did with family and friends? Then make changes for the next day. Again, this is not about honest work that provides for your family and for yourself. That is Biblical, important and good. What a Christian theology of money speaks against is when making more money becomes the highest goal over providing for your life. You can’t have it all, you don’t need it all, and you shouldn’t have it all, nor should I. What is essential? What is necessary? What are things we can do without? And what are things that, if pursued, will distract us and, to use Paul’s words, “pierce us with many griefs”?

There are a couple of ways to combat the roots that money tries to dig into our hearts, and we’ll focus mostly on that next week, but this morning I want to end by mentioning what we might call the first weapon against greed: gratitude. [SLIDE] We’re about a week and a half out from the official holiday of Thanksgiving, but I know some of you have taken the month of November to express something you’re thankful for each day on Facebook or other social media. That’s a good exercise, even if you’re not on social media, to write down something you’re thankful for every day, but why stop with just November? Why not spend some time every day giving thanks? Do you think you could come up with 365 different things you’re thankful for? Sure you could, though you might not be able to think of them all at once, right now. But here’s the key: what we sometimes call “an attitude of gratitude” corrects the way we see life and helps us focus on the many, many, many blessings God has already given us. It combats greed because it causes our hearts to focus on what we have rather than on what we don’t have. Paul tells us to “give thanks in all circumstances.” In fact, he says more than that. For all those times we complain that we don’t know what God wants us to do, listen to this whole verse: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). In fact, let’s say that together: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” God’s will for us is to give thanks, no matter what happens. I heard about a man who had an argument with his wife, and he got so mad that he stormed out and walked about half a mile, grumbling the whole way. Then he started to pray, and at first, he was telling God everything that irritated him about his wife. But after a while, he began to thank God for the things in his wife that usually caused irritation. It was many of those things that had attracted him to her in the first place. Eventually, by the time he got back home, his prayers were for other characteristics that he had grown to love in her. Gratitude changes everything, even when we pray through clenched teeth (cf. Hamilton, Enough, pg. 62).

So if you’re not already involved in an exercise of gratitude this week, I want to challenge you to start. Spend some time every day thanking God for the things you have. When you find yourself tempted to let money root down into your heart, begin giving thanks for all the blessings God has poured out on you. Allow me to start: I am thankful for my family, for my beautiful wife who is better than I deserve, for my son who finally has an adult job, and for my daughter who is giving a talk this morning on the Chrysalis Flight, in the footsteps of her father! I am thankful for a comfortable home in a wonderful neighborhood and a great town, and thankful to be able to preach in this pulpit every week. I am thankful for a year that has passed since my heart surgery, and I am thankful for the doctors, nurses and techs who keep a close eye on my health. And that’s just scratching the surface, I assure you. I could keep you here all afternoon if I really got going. But I want you to practice this morning, so turn to someone near you, or a couple of someones, and each of you share something you are grateful for this morning. You won’t have long, so think quickly! Go!

SHARING

Now, can you continue that practice throughout the week, the month, or even the year? If you do, you will find gratitude growing stronger in your heart and pushing out the roots that money and greed are constantly trying to plant in your heart. Gratitude will grow and there will be no room for other things.

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So, next Sunday we will be focusing on what it means to be stewards (an important part of our discipleship) and asking each one of us to make a commitment of our generosity for the coming year. I tell you that now so that you can be in prayer about what that looks like for you and your family. I also tell you that so that, as you’re reflecting on the blessings God has given you this week, you will also be prayerfully considering the ways this church has blessed you and the ways you can and should be a blessing back. We’ll talk more about that next week, but I wanted you to be prepared.