How Much Is Enough?

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
August 1, 2004

How Much Is Enough?
Luke 12:13-21
Col. 3:1-11

Long before there was a Dunkin Donuts on every corner,
and well before Krispy Crème was even an gleam in its founders eyes,
there was a place to go for donuts
a great place, a special place:
Ferg’s Donut Shop.

Of course, you had to be a student at the Nichols School in Buffalo, New York,
for that is where this thriving little business operated.
Each morning, I sold 15 dozen donuts to my hungry classmates,
one for a dime, 3 for a quarter.
Day after day, week after week,
the donuts rolled out
and the money rolled in.
Business was healthy, even if the product I sold wasn’t:
I was pocketing about $5 each day, which for a 16-year-old
boy back in 1970 was serious money.
I had money for my car, money for music
(record albums cost $4 back then!)
and most important: I had money for skiing
which was my favorite sport.

Things hummed along for most of the fall,
until the day the president of the student council
informed me that the school controlled
all money-making activities.
As of that moment any and all money I made
had to be turned over to the school.

Now I didn’t think this was fair.
I explained to him that I had organized the business,
I had put up the original $10 in seed capital,
I was the one who had arrived at school early every morning
to set up my business in the school’s dining room,
I cleaned up afterward:
threw away all the trash and
wiped up the tables.
I had earned every penny I had made.

He countered by arguing that I shouldn’t think of myself;
I should be filled with spirit for The Nichols School,
ready to sing the school’s alma mater
as I gladly worked for the school’s success.
I don’t remember my exact response,
but I am guessing that I phrased it in words
that are not appropriate for a sermon.

I pocketed my profits, and walked away from the business,
telling the student council president he was welcome to take over.
The vast majority of my classmates were outraged
at the school’s ham-handed action.
They stopped patronizing the business.
and within two weeks of my departure,
the business closed down.

My brief tenure as a donut mogul –
gave me an appreciation for business.
I went on to major in Economics in college
and then received a masters degree in business administration
from the Wharton School and a law degree.
I spent 15 years in the business world before I went to Princeton Seminary.
I believe in the capitalist system.
I believe in the free enterprise system.

But I’ve been dismayed at the business world the past few years:
The incredible greed and arrogance displayed by the heads of businesses
The “anything goes” attitude that has been so prevalent.
The attitude that it is only a crime if you get caught.
Over the past ten or so years we have become a society
fixated on money and those things that we can buy with money.
We measure our success by what we have.
The cars, the large screen television.
Even our children have to have the right labels in their clothes
or they will be ostracized.
Donald Trump has become our hero
as everybody tries to outdo everybody else.

In the process we are becoming a society that is, to use the phrase:
aware of the price of everything
and the value of nothing.
As the advertisement reminds us,
there are certain things that money cannot buy,
but for everything else, there is Mastercard.
And we seem to put value only in those things we can
purchase with our mastercards.

We all need money; even ministers.
We all have mortgages and car payments,
We all have to buy food and clothing,
We all struggle to save for vacations and children’s education
And we are all concerned about whether
we will have enough when we retire.

But how much do we need?
How much do you need?
How much is enough?

I remember back in the summer of 1973,
I had just completed my freshman year in college.
I took a job as an electrician’s helper working construction.
The job was through the electrical workers union,
so I was paid union scale of $5.05/hour.
The previous summer I had earned the minimum wage
which was $1.90 hour
I felt rich, with money to burn that summer.
It was like someone had turned on the tap and money roared in.
Of course, I was only working to save money for school.
I had no mortgage, no grocery bills.
I didn’t even have a car, much less a family to support.

$5/hour works out to about $10,000 year.
Can a person live on that amount?
The minimum wage in this country is presently $5.15 hour
and chief executives have been ferocious in their opposition
to any attempt to raise the minimum wage,
crying that it would be detrimental to business.
Of course, most of those who howl,
make in excess of $1 million/year.
which, if you do the math,
works out to about $500 per hour.

It seems clear that $5.15 per hour isn’t enough.
But how much is enough?

Find someone who earns $30,000 per year
and they will tell you that if they only earned $40,000/yr
they would have enough.
Find someone who earns $40,000/year
and they will be tell you that that if they only made $50,000/yr
everything would be alright.
And then find someone who makes $50,000/yr
and they will be convinced if they only had $60,000/yr,
they would never be anxious about money again.
The person who makes $100,000 could fill the gap with just another $25,000.
Find someone who made a million and they will tell you
that they would sleep soundly with a million and half.
It never ends.

Jesus story about the rich man is one of many parables he tells
that deal with money and economic issues.
In fact, more than half of Jesus’ parables focus on money.

And what does Jesus tell us?
He wants us to learn is that life isn’t about our possessions
and what we have in our bank accounts.
Life isn’t about designer labels or the biggest SUV.

Jesus tells us clearly that our lives “do not consist in abundance”
It isn’t about having so much that we have to build a bigger home
to hold it all.
It isn’t about how much we can pile up.

Life is about what is in our hearts.
It is about where our treasure really is.
Do you remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven,
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
(Matt. 6:19)

Paul reinforces Jesus’ teaching in his letter to the Colossians:
“seek the things that are above.
Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on earth…”
Paul doesn’t mince words when he tells us to
“Put to death all those things that are of this earth.”
(Col. 3:1ff)

And we can do that, can’t we, as children of God
and disciples of Christ?
because we know – we know –
that God will look after us and take care us
God will see to our needs.

Now of course there is a distinction between
what we need and what we want.
As long as our needs – real needs – are met,
we will have enough.
We may not have what we want.
We may not have what our neighbor has,
but we will have what we need.

This meal is a perfect example of how God takes care of us.
In that small piece of bread and the drop of wine,
we are fed, fed completely, nourished
renewed, refreshed and restored.
In that small piece of bread and that drop of wine
we have a meal that is better for us than
a meal at the finest restaurant in New York City.

As you wait to come to the Lord’s Table,
and after you return to your seat,
I encourage you to turn to Psalm 23, page 435 in your pew Bible
and ponder David’s words:
“The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want.
My cup runs over.”

Our cup does run over;
it runs over with abundance in God’s love.
It runs over in God’s faithfulness to us
even when our own faithfulness to him is weak.

Our cup always runs over.
I may not be a donut mogul,
but that’s enough for me.

How about you?

Amen