Luke 16:1-15
Money & Love
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We're in the third week of a series on Jesus command to love your neighbor as yourself.
Two weeks ago we talked about the foundation for loving your neighbor, which is
delighting in God. Last week we looked at the question "who is my neighbor?" and
I argued that my neighbor is the very person that I have the hardest time loving. The
person I am most tempted to hate -- the person I am most repulsed by, or most mistreated
by. That person is the neighbor Jesus calls me to love.
This week I promised that I would turn to the practical question: "How do I love
my neighbor."
As I looked at scripture to answer this question, one thing became clear very quickly
-- one of the chief ways that God expects me to love my neighbor is with my money.
Scripture is full from beginning to end of exhortations to give to the needy, to
care for the poor, to share my money, my clothes and my food with those who don't have
enough. We saw it in the parable of the Good Samaritan -- his was not a sentimental
love, it was a costly love. And we can see it in the scripture passage that I
just read: "Use your worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is
gone you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." (Luke 16:9)
So I thought that I would be preaching a sermon about how, if we really want to love
your neighbors, we need to be willing to put some money behind it. Real love is
costly love. I can't really say that I love my neighbor as myself if I'm unwilling
to put my money where my mouth is. Real love will show itself in generosity -- we need
to give till it hurts and all of that.
I thought I might begin with an object lesson something like this: See this one
dollar bill. List out for me some of the things that you might buy for this one
dollar bill. One cup of coffee -- as long as your satisfied with regular coffee
and don't go for the fancy stuff. Three postage stamps.
How about: Three days worth of food for an Ethiopian family? A months supply of
literature for an Indian evangelist? Medicine to save three children from dehydration?
A months worth of Sunday school supplies for a church in Mali? Feeling guilty
yet for having bought that cup of coffee this morning? Imagine what good that money
could have done in the world -- and you squandered it on your own comfort and luxury!
This is the normal way we think about giving to the needy. We are motivated by the
tremendous need, we are motivated by guilt, we are motivated by compassion. We
are motivated by the injustice of our own prosperity, and we are shamed by the wastefulness of our own lives. And these are powerful motivations and they lead people to
give all sorts of money to causes all over the world.
But there's a problem: When I look at scripture, I don't find any of this. I
don't find any appeals to the greatness of the need. I don't find any appeals to
guilt or compassion. I don't find anything about how much good we could do if
we would just save all of our coffee money and send it to Africa -- how many lives we could
save, or how many starving children we might feed. No. When scripture talks
about giving ALL of the benefits it lists are for those who give. Scripture talks
over an over again abot the benefits of giving for the giver -- and it hardly talks about the
recipient at all. For example:
It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35)
Happy is he who is kind to the needy (Pr. 14:21 -- not happy is the needy person!)
Give and it will be given to you, a good measure, pressed down shaken together and
running over will be poured into your lap (Lk 6:38)
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. [in this way you will] provide purses
for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven (Luke 12:32)
And the verse that always gets quoted when the offering is passed -- God loves a cheerful
giver. (I Cor. 9:7)
Now this is quite amazing. What God seems to be saying here is that our motivation
for generosity should have nothing to do with the needs that we see around us, and
everything to do with the reward WE will receive. Our giving should not be need
driven, or guilt driven or even compassion driven -- it should be reward driven. We
give because God has promised joy and blessing to those who give.
So instead of laying before you the needs of the world, and trying to arouse your
compassion and your guilt, what I want to do instead is to lay before you the tremendous
blessings of giving your money away. I want to persuade you that it really IS
more blessed to give than to receive. I want to convince you that it should be a tremendously
JOYFUL experience to empty your wallet for a homeless person, or to write a check
for a relief agency -- not because that money will accomplish some wonderful thing for someone else, but because of what the act of giving will accomplish for YOU.
So I'd like to lay out for you very briefly this morning three Scriptural Principles
to motivate your generosity -- or to make it more poetic sounding: Three Foundations for Joyful Generosity.
1. Having NEVER leads to happiness.
Now this can be shown to be true statistically. Here's a simple fact. People
in Ireland earn only half of what West Germans do. If having leads to happiness,
the West Germans should be twice as happy. But the Irish consistently rate higher
than West Germans on happiness surveys.
But you don't need statistics to convince you. We all know from personal experience
that the joy of possession just does not last. Just remember back to the last
time you were preoccupied about some purchase -- something that you just had to have.
How long did the joy of possession last? Having things simply does not make us happy.
So the first great blessing of giving money away is that when we give we testify that
our happiness is not tied to possessions. Jesus tells us, "A man's life does does
not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Lk 12:15) By allowing our money to flow freely to others we say to them and to God -- I will not allow my happiness
to be tied up with this stuff.
It is consistently those whose happiness IS tied up with their possessions who have
the hardest time giving. The wealthiest states consistently rank low in charitable
giving. Massachusetts ranks third in percentage of wealthy people -- people who
earn over $100,000 per year. Yet it ranks dead last among the states in charitable giving.
The states that rank highest in charitable giving are among the poorest: Arkansas,
Mississippi, South Dakota, Louisiana and Oklahoma.
Our willingness to give proclaims where our treasure really lies. I recently heard
a story of small a Sudanese child. His family was Christian and they faced the
prospect of severe persecution for their faith. His parents sought to warn and
to comfort their child, telling him "Because we are followers of Jesus we may be deported
and we may have everything taken away from us. But do not mind because God has
promised us great treasure in heaven." The boys response. He took out his toys
and gave them away to other children, saying, "I don't need these anymore -- I will have better
toys in heaven."
That is the message that we send when we give: I don't need these toys -- you can
have them. I will have much better in heaven.
2. Pursuit of wealth is suicidal.
This seems a strong way to put it, but scripture teaches very clearly that if your
heart is pursuing money, you cannot be pursuing the things of God. Luke 16:13
-- "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other,
or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
When we recently bought our house the process wall went very smoothly, but there was
a brief moment of tension when our attorney said, "you need to know that in our title
search we discovered that there are some restrictions on your property." These
restrictions were apparently put on the property on our street when the street was first
developed. The first restriction was simply that we must make every effort to
keep the value of our property above $6000. We are doing our best.
The second restriction is more interesting. We are not allowed to sell gasoline
or other fuel from our property. Any dreams of running a gas station have had to
be abandoned.
Now the reason for the restriction is obvious. Gasoline, when it is used properly
is extremely useful. Hoarded, collected and stored, it becomes a hazardous material.
Hence the restriction on running a gas station out of our home.
Money is like gasoline. Used properly it is extremely useful. Hoarded, collected
or stored, it becomes a hazardous material. Pursuing wealth -- setting your heart
on getting rich, is like stockpiling gasoline in your basement. It's just not
safe.
[As an aside: This is what is fundamentally wrong with lotteries and every form
of gambling. It is not just that they show that you are not good at math. They
arouse in us desires which are directly opposed to our pursuit of the things of God.]
Pursuit of wealth is spiritually suicidal.
So the second blessing of giving is that it turns our hearts away from the dangers
of pursuing and accumulating wealth. The only way for a Christian to safely handle
wealth is to constantly and joyfully give it away. By joyful and generous giving
we guard our hearts against the suicidal pursuit of money.
3. Everything I have is God's. I am only a trustee.
This is in many ways the most fundamental principle for how Christians handle money
-- and the easiest to forget.
Perhaps it would be helpful to think of yourself as the manager of a branch office
for the world's largest and richest charitable foundation. The foundation's resources
are unlimited -- and you have been promised that all of your needs will be taken
care of. So there is no need to be stingy because you are afraid the money will run
out.
The trust we are given is to act as channels, not as reservoirs. We are called
upon to constantly channel God's goodness to the world -- not to collect it for ourselves,
and not to use it to build kingdoms for ourselves.
Giving proclaims God's Lordship and his goodness. And when we give generously, we
proclaim the unlimited resources of God -- the abundance of his goodness -- and we
show that we serve a God who loves to give.
1 Timothy 6:17 -19 tells us: "Instruct those who are rich in this present world
[that is everyone here] not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty
of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct
them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up
for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they make
take hold of that which is REALLY life."
When we give:
We demonstrate that our happiness is not in having
We guard ourselves against the suicidal pursuit of wealth
We proclaim the goodness of God and that our hope is in Him.
My prayer for our congregation is that we will become a group that finds joy in giving
generously.