{"id":10859,"date":"2025-07-29T09:04:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T16:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10859"},"modified":"2025-07-29T09:06:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T16:06:01","slug":"money-and-the-love-of-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10859","title":{"rendered":"Money and the love of money"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Select here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke 12:31-21<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this season of Pentecost, we are asking how does Christianity work with its feet on the ground? What does it mean for day-to-day living?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we come to the whole topic of money. Every three years we come to this text in Luke about the man who built these barns and did well so he built bigger storehouses. But then, all of a sudden, the Lord calls on him and says: \u201c\u2018Fool! This night your soul is required of you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201csoul\u201d is not a good translation (RSV). Instead, it should be \u201clife\u201d or \u201cyourself.\u201d Your life is required. What do you have? \u201cThe things you have built up, whose will they be?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are all kinds of jokes about this, the punch line of which is: \u201cYou can\u2019t take it with you.\u201d The problem is: People think they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are other texts from the New Testament are applicable. For example, 1 Timothy 6:6-10: \u201cThere is great gain and godliness with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare . . . For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not money that\u2019s the root of all evil, but \u201cthe love of money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another text we are told that Jesus, beholding the rich young ruler, \u201cloved him\u201d (Mark 10:21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should he do to inherit eternal life? He had followed the Commandments since his youth. Jesus told him to go sell all that he had and follow him. And comes the parable about money: \u201cHow hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God . . . it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God . . . Those who heard it said: \u2018Who then can be saved?\u2019 But he said, \u2018With men it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a well-known type of proverb from antiquity which is trying to describe the impossible. The camel and the elephant were the largest animals in antiquity, and to think of the largest animal going through this tiny eye of the needle is a way of talking about the impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What then about money?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We end up in several kinds of thinking about this. There is the view of the text for today in Ecclesiastes: \u201cVanity of vanities. All is vanity\u201d (Ecclesiastes 1:2). And (paraphrase): \u201cI worked hard all my life, and yet I must leave it to the one who comes after me, and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?\u201d (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All our money our time our power, though here today will be gone tomorrow. It\u2019s all vanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the comfort of Psalm 127:2: \u201cIt is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved while they are sleeping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another way Christians have gone is the way of monasticism. That means the Christian way is the way of poverty, chastity, and obedience. You can find this in the Biblical account, too. A nun tells of she wanted to live among the poor, to know poverty. Her Order sent her to a slum. She ate what the people ate, slept where they slept, did what they did. But after five years, she gave it up, saying she could not experience the desperation of poverty because in any crisis, her Order would always take care of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another way is the path of the Puritans. They lived a disciplined life, worked hard, prospered, and concluded: That means God is blessing us. But then they started to judge themselves and others based on wealth as a sign of being in God\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A different yet similar phenomenon today is found in the \u201cprosperity gospel,\u201d which promotes the idea that sickness and poverty can be healed by faith and effort, and wealth and health are signs of God\u2019s favor. Though we scoff at the \u201cprosperity gospel,\u201d it appeals to many struggling to get out of poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the modern Western world, where there is private property and the rule of law, wealth is not a zero-sum game, that is, a situation where for someone to win, someone else must lose, or for someone to make money, someone else must lose money. There is far more wealth of all kinds in the world today compared to previous generations. While \u201cthe poor will always be with us\u201d (Matthew 26:11, John 12:8), business and free markets have proven to be the fastest way to diminish poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, regardless of whether a culture is ancient or modern, sinfulness cannot be eradicated. Human nature doesn\u2019t change. Greed and laziness will always be with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, we know well how fragile things are, and how we can work hard, and then how quickly what we have worked hard for can be destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we say to all this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The major verse dealing with these matters in the whole New Testament is in the 2 Corinthians 8:5 where Paul is writing about the Macedonians who were very poor but who nevertheless gave help beyond their means to the Christians starving in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul writes: \u201cFirst they gave themselves to the Lord . . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real question is: \u201cWho is Lord of your life?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once that\u2019s settled, the rest comes by itself. And that means he\u2019s the Creator, and I\u2019m his creature. I\u2019m his subject, his steward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that it isn\u2019t as if God is a sort of hobby and we think: \u201cWell, when I find time, I\u2019ll get to him.\u201d  Or: \u201cI\u2019ll give God his due by tithing.\u201d That\u2019s the problem with tithing. Tithing makes it seem as if 90% is mine and 10% is the Lord\u2019s. The fact is that it is all the Lord\u2019s. He is Lord of all that we have, and we are stewards of his bounty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is: What is it to be a good steward? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answering that is a matter of using reason, common reason, and common sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s an old hymn that includes this line: \u201cOnly one life will soon be past, only what\u2019s done for Christ will last.<\/strong>\u201d It reflects Hebrews 13:14: \u201cHere we have no lasting<\/strong> city, but we seek the city which is to come.\u201d Our security is not in our possessions, but in him and his kingdom to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact is that in him we have something that lasts.<\/strong> He is the one who takes us and forgives us and sets us on our way so we can be his creatures, stewards of his bounty, in this world in which we are living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we have that as our focus, we have sorted things out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 12:31-21<\/p>\n

A sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n

In this season of Pentecost, we are asking how does Christianity work with its feet on the ground? What does it mean for day-to-day living?<\/p>\n

Today we come to the whole topic of money. Every three years we come to this text in Luke about the man who built these barns and did well so he built bigger storehouses. But then, all of a sudden, the Lord calls on him and says: \u201c\u2018Fool! This night your soul is required of you.\u201d <\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or select here<\/a> for a pdf version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10859"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10865,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10859\/revisions\/10865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}