Two Thousand Verses

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

August 30, 2015

Two Thousand Verses

Selected Texts

Angel Falls in Venezuela –

the highest waterfall in the world,

water rushing down the river to the precipice

and then dropping,

dropping down,

nothing to stop the fall,

water dropping 1000, 2000,

almost 3000 feet,

straight down,

and then even at the base of the falls,

the water continues its downward path,

down, down,

nothing to stop its downward rush.

That was rather like the stock market this past week

as it plunged at the beginning of the week,

down at one point more than a thousand points,

a fall so breathtaking,

the news even managed to push politicians

out of the spotlight.  

You don’t have to be a Warren Buffett

to be affected by the stock market.

Most of us have funds invested in the market,

either directly or indirectly:

retirement and pension funds,

perhaps a part of a college savings fund,

or a small inheritance.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) headquarters

has an investment portfolio

for retirement funds

for me, other pastors,

and other church workers.

I don’t know what investments they have

but I do know the portfolio is actively invested

in both stocks and bonds.

Obviously, I want it to do well,

as do all my professional colleagues,

so even we in the ministry were awestruck

by the drop and subsequent gyrations

in the market this past week.

My interest goes deeper, though,

because of the business career

I had before I went to Princeton Seminary.

I earned my masters of business administration

degree in finance back in 1978,

and while I was in school

I worked on Wall Street,

and thought about a career there.

So I read with both interest,

and some degree of amusement,

the opinions of many “experts”

as they reacted throughout the week

to the market’s ups and downs.

Some said the drop was

only the beginning of a

major financial implosion,

while others said it was a healthy correction

in a frothy market.

More than a few said that the drop

made it a good time to put money

into savings and retirement portfolios.

I’m no stock market expert,

no Warren Buffett,

but like all of us, I think about money.

After all, we all need money to pay for housing,

cars, gas, insurance,

utilities,

the food on our tables

and the clothes on our backs.

Even as we pay our bills,

pay for the basics,

we all try as well to set aside money

for special things,

including vacations,

retirement,

children’s education,

or even some special splurge –

new furniture,

remodeling,

a boat.

                                   

As women and men of faith

we sometimes struggle with how

we should think about money.

We want nice things for ourselves

and our families,

but we don’t want to feel guilty about success,

or the occasional luxury.

Happily, we Protestants tend

to go light on the guilt,

so that’s not a problem.  

Yet still we hear people say,

“Don’t you know that the Bible says that

‘money is the root of all evil’?”

That’s not what the Bible says, though.

What it says in the first letter to Timothy

in the New Testament is,

“For the love of money

is a root of all kinds of evil”.

The love of money

is a root

of all kinds of evil.

The writer is warning us how easy it is

to find ourselves consumed by money,

to find ourselves too focused on money,

on accumulating more and more,

on thinking that we don’t have enough,

that we are not satisfied,

that we want more,

we need more.

The result is that in our eagerness to get more,

it is easy to lose our way;

it is easy to stray from the path of faith.

(1 Timothy 6:10 ff)

The Bible in both Old and New Testament

warns us repeatedly

about the dangers of focusing

too much on money.

too much on accumulating

money, wealth and material possessions,

even if we don’t consider ourselves rich.

                          

In fact there are more verses in the Bible

that deal with the subject of money

than any other subject or issue.

Scholars estimate that there are

more than 2000 verses

that speak to money.

And virtually all are verses

with flashing yellow lights:

“Warning!”

“Be careful!”

“Caution!”

“Danger Ahead!”

You may recall what our Lord said

to the rich young man,

“Go, sell what you own

and give the money to the poor,

and you will have treasure in heaven;

then come, follow me”
(Mark 10:21)

We hear that and,

if we are honest about it,

we’d have to admit we don’t like it.

Is that really what we are supposed to do?

As followers of our Lord Jesus Christ,

are we really called to give away

everything we have,

everything we’ve worked for?

Is that really what our Lord expects of us?

No, not at all,

say those popular preachers

who preach what has become known as

the “prosperity gospel.”

“On the contrary”, they say,

“God wants you to have a Mercedes,

Jesus wants you to live in a large house.

Believe and your faith will make rich.”

I won’t ask for a show of hands,

but who wouldn’t want to hear

that message preached from the pulpit

Sunday after Sunday?

That sounds a lot more appealing than

the story of the rich young man.

That sounds a lot more appealing

than a sermon built around the words of our Lord

from the gospel of Luke, where he says,

“Woe to you who are rich

for you have received your consolation.

Woe to you who are full now,

for you will be hungry.”

(Luke 6:24)

Wouldn’t we all prefer instead these words:

“See your business taking off…”

see your family prospering…

With God on your side you cannot lose…

Think increase,

think abundance

think more than enough!”

These are words from one of the most

well-known, popular televangelists,

a man who is, not surprisingly, very wealthy.

But doesn’t our Lord teach us,

“Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth,

where moth and rust consume

and where thieves break in and steal;

but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…

for where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also.”

Jesus was not teaching anything radically new

when he spoke of money.

He knew the many lessons in the Old Testament

that flashed warnings,

words like these from Proverbs:

“Do not wear yourself out to get rich;

do not trust your own cleverness.

Cast but a glance at riches,

and they are gone,

for they will surely sprout wings

and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”

(Proverbs 23:4-5)

“Believe big”,

counter the prosperity gospel preachers,

believe in abundance,

believe in riches,

and they will flow.

“What you receive is directly connected

to what you believe”, they say.

But didn’t Moses warn the children of Israel

as they prepared to enter the Promised Land,

“When you have eaten your fill

and have built fine houses and live in them,

and when your herds and flocks have multiplied,

and your silver and gold is multiplied,

and all that you have is multiplied,

then do not exalt yourself,

forgetting the Lord your God,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

out of the house of slavery”

(Deuteronomy 8:12)

Recently Pope Francis decried what he calls

the “idolatry of money”.

For that, he was roundly criticized,

condemned,

and told to keep his nose out of

economics and business

and stick to theology.

But don’t you see:

that’s just what the Pope was doing –

calling the Roman Catholic faithful

and others who read or heard his words

to remember the words of the gospel,

the words of scripture,

the teachings of our Lord,

the warnings, the perils.

Jesus calls us to new life,

a life rich in grace and love,

a life of abundance,

not in mutual funds,

not in things,

not in private jets and yachts.

Things turn to dust,

but faith endures,

peace endures,

contentment endures,

love endures.

There is nothing wrong with having ambition;

and there’s nothing wrong with

achieving success.

What Jesus wants us stay focused on is

how we achieve our success:

do we do it with honesty and integrity,

with honor and decency?

And then what do we do with our success:

is it about indulging ourselves,

buying all things we want,

using money as a measure of value,

throwing a few dollars here and there

to charity to ease our conscience?

If we go back to that first letter to Timothy,

we can find some guidance,

the writer telling us all,

but especially those with wealth, to

“do good,

be rich in good works,

generous,

and ready to share…

so that [you] may take hold of the life

that really is life.”

(1 Timothy 6:17)

All we have comes from God,

and we are called to share what we have,

share especially with those who struggle,

who lack even the basics,

share generously;

we are to be rich in good works,

each of us, all of us,

regardless of what we have in the bank.

Jesus calls us to keep ourselves

in the love of God,

not in cashmere and caviar,

not in Mercedes and material possessions,

for God’s love is a gift we been given freely..

                          

Two thousand verses guide us,

warn us,

teach us,

steer us,

help us to understand

where true abundance,

where true riches lie.

AMEN