Wednesday, November 8, 2017

1 Timothy 6:17-18 "Moving Out of Scare City: Staying Put"

         Though no one really likes to admit a mistake, I need to tell you that I have led you astray. I have misdirected you these past three weeks as you have attempted to move out of Scare City!  You see, all the while, we have had it all wrong!
         It started that first week of our worship series when we focused on how we build towers and monuments to our wealth and how we cannot seem to escape our obsession with wanting more, more, more.  We gotta leave Scare City, I told you, and get away from that!
         The second week we turned our sights on the deep-seated fear that causes us to believe that we will never have enough, that we need to take care of ourselves first, that there will never be enough to go around.  We gotta leave Scare City, I told you, and get away from that!
         And last week, we reflected on the barriers and walls we build to protect ourselves from others in the world – often people different from us - who might make a claim on us and on our resources. We gotta leave Scare City, I told you, and get away from that!
        All the while, I led you to presume that we had to depart, move on, get away from those impediments to realizing God’s dream of abundance.  And so we tried to light a path for ourselves.  We figured that we had to move out of Scare City and set down roots somewhere else. 
         However, the fact of the matter is that we do not need to move anywhere.  We do not have to transplant ourselves or go somewhere else in order to discover a theology of abundance rather than a lifetime of scarcity. 
         The truth is that we can stay right where we are – in this broken and divided world.  In fact, the truth is that we need to stay right where we are. Our focus should not be turning our backs on the jaded, greedy, crazy and unpredictable world around us.  In a way, our focus should not be on changing the world at all. 
         Our focus should be on changing ourselves – because when we change ourselves and become people with generous hearts, people who live their lives with open hands rather than clenched fists, people who understand that their power comes not from what they possess but rather from what they give, then all those we touch, all the world we live in, will change as well. 
         That is what the author of this first letter to Timothy is telling the young and eager church planter and leader.  The author writes under the name of Paul but most likely was not the Apostle Paul.  The writer was simply someone with good things to say who wanted to put some power and credibility behind his words.  So – he used Paul’s name – it was a common practice in those days - and therefore we will too as we focus on this passage.
         Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus after putting him in charge of the new church there.  The grizzled experienced evangelist later wrote to the equally inexperienced, wet-behind-the-ears preacher with some instructions. 
         In his letter, Paul wrote about community ethics and good living.  He also warned Timothy about false teachers.  These folks would be like first century televangelists who spouted the classic line:  “If you give me your money, guess what?  God will bless you.” 
         It was as appealing a message back in the first century as it is today for many folks.  However, all that focus on the gifts rather than the Giver did not work back then, and it does not work now. 
         And so, Paul imparts to Timothy his thoughts on the right attitude toward money and possessions.  And because his letter was read and re-read down through the ages and because it was cherished by the faith communities it touched, it became sacred Scripture.  Consequently, it surely has something to say to us today – in our small church with its big heart. 
“Tell those rich in this world’s wealth (Timothy reads from the parchment he holds, tell them) to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous.”
         I guess you cannot get around it when it comes to advice on community ethics and right living.  It always comes down to….”Tell those who are rich….” 
         It is difficult to talk about generosity (which lies at the core of Christian community ethics and right living) without talking about possessions.  It is difficult to talk about material wealth without contrasting it to the longer lasting  - albeit intangible - wealth God offers us –
the wealth of joy we feel when we do good, the wealth of connectedness we experience when we help others, the wealth of well-being when we know in our hearts that we have chosen to be generous in sharing and giving away what we have. 
         All these are topics, of course, that few preachers like to preach about and even fewer of you Sunday morning faithful like to hear about.  You see, in the end, when it comes to attitudes about money and our priorities for how we choose to spend it, that conversation can make us feel really uncomfortable. 
         Theologian Frederick Buechner had this to say about money:  “The more you think about it, the less you understand it.
         The paper it's printed on isn't worth a red cent. There was a time you could take it to the bank and get gold or silver for it, but all you'd get now would be a blank stare.
         If the government declared that the leaves of the trees were money so there would be enough for everybody, money would be worthless. It has worth only if there is not enough for everybody. It has worth only because the government declares that it has worth and because people trust the government in that one particular although in every other particular they wouldn't trust it around the corner.
         The value of money, like stocks and bonds, goes up and down for reasons not even the experts can explain and at moments nobody can predict, so you can be a millionaire one moment and a pauper the next without lifting a finger. Great fortunes can be made and lost completely on paper. There is more concrete reality in a baby's throwing its rattle out of the crib.
         There are people who use up their entire lives making money so they can enjoy the lives they have entirely used up.”
         I have now openly used the “M” word – money – making my thoughts this morning a money sermon – a topic, by the way, that Jesus was not afraid to talk about, In fact, did you know that in the Gospels, one out of ten verses (288 in all) discuss money?
        Now, I hope you have not convinced yourself that all this talk about riches and money does not apply to you because you are not wealthy.  Not! You see, we are all considered rich by global standards. 
         You can go on any number of websites that will compare wealth in our nation with every other country on earth.  Even those of us who hide behind the idea of being on a fixed income (And by the way, aren’t any of us getting a paycheck on a fixed income – no different from people drawing social security or disability or dipping into their 401K?), even those folks or those who feel that they are living paycheck to paycheck in this country are considered wealthy.  And all those websites take into account the variable cost of living – so there is no excuse there either. 
         As one blogger I read this week wrote, “You probably don’t feel (rich) – people rarely do. You probably wouldn’t call yourself that. And in our culture, you may not be regarded as wealthy. But in the global scheme, you are the 1%. You are wealthy. You are rich. Maybe you just didn’t know it….Most of us would count ourselves as middle-class. There are plenty of things we can’t afford, and far nicer places to live that we can’t afford.
Yet we are able to provide a good education for our kids, and have enough food to eat. When unemployed, the government, community and our family help us get by. When aging, we have access to life-sustaining medical care.”
         Our blogger continues:  “So biblically, if you have (access to) a car, can change your clothes a few times, and have some money in your wallet or bank account (at any time during the month), then you are wealthy. You are the one Paul is speaking to when he says, ‘Instruct those who are rich in this present age.’”
         But please also understand that Paul does not tell Timothy that being rich is bad or sinful.  It’s OK to be a rich American – really! 
         However, Paul does outline how we ought to approach our money.  He tells us that we should not become obsessed with how much we have or - more likely – do not have.  Our focus should be on our priorities, that is, how we choose to use our money. 
         And Paul writes emphatically that Christian ethics dictate that our money is to be a means to “go after God” as he puts it - to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous – exactly the attitudes that Jesus, before him, emphasized throughout his ministry, exactly the attitudes that are difficult to embrace today in our culture of unending materialism.  Think about it:
         Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, 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” 
"Visa, it's where you want to be."
         Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
"There's always something more to discover with your Discovery Card."
         Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there will you heart be also.”
"American Express -- Don't leave home without it.”
         However, for us who say that we are followers of Jesus, author Phillip Yancey noted, “Christians can do no better than to follow the example set by Jesus” – and that would be to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. 
         Surely that is the mission of a Christian church.  To do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous:  That is what must lie at the foundation of our motto – “small church, big heart.” 
         And so - to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous is what the ministries of our church strive to achieve. We work to do good by offering creative and musically amazing worship services that sometimes challenge and sometimes comfort but in the end bring us closer to God and to one another.  We work to be rich in helping others through direct financial assistance, putting together 16 Church World Service emergency clean up buckets, and gathering the contents for over 25 Thanksgiving baskets.  We work to be extravagantly generous – with our time and talents at Maine Seacoast Mission, in the offering of our space to AA, Scouts, line dancing, qigong, and the newly formed Raymond Arts Alliance.
         We need all of you – whether you consider yourself wealthy or not – we need all of you to be part of the mission of our church. We are all in this Christian business together.
         Consequently, your Council needs each one of you to carefully read the letter and pledge information you received this week.  Your Council needs each one of you to prayerfully consider and discern where this church fits into your priorities for how you spend your money.  Your Council needs each one of you to make a financial commitment to the ministries of this church.  Why?  Because this church is too important in these troubled times not to support.  Because this church is also on a fixed income and can only live the Gospel message to the extent you allow it to.  In this case, money does indeed talk.
         And, trust me, I am not saying it will be easy for any of us to pledge for the first time or to increase a pledge for 2018 – even a few dollars.  To do so involves an awful lot of trust in God and in the value of the intangible wealth that God provides when we choose to give – and give until it hurts. 
         There was once a man who wasn’t giving as he should. His pastor pushed tithing, giving 10 percent, but this man didn’t see how he could give that much and still meet his bills.
         The pastor said to him, “John, if I promise to make up the difference in your monthly bills if you fall short, do you think you could try tithing for just one month?”
         As a moment’s pause, John responded, “Sure, if you promise to make up any shortage, I guess I could try tithing for one month.”
         The pastor shot back with, “Now what do you think of that! You’d be willing to trust a mere man like myself, who possesses so little materially, but you couldn’t trust your God who owns the whole universe!”
         We only leave Scare City behind when we trust in God’s abundance.  We only leave Scare City behind when we decide that we are going to live with different values than those put forth by our culture, when we affirm that church means more than cable TV and more than Starbucks.  We only leave Scare City behind when take to heart what our blogger noted, “In contrast to the life that this world offers, Paul says that wealth, wisely used, will lead you towards a life that is richer, sweet, more peaceful and luxurious than anything you can imagine.” 

         We only leave Scare City behind when, with the help of God, we embrace the irony that it is only when we change ourselves do we change the world in Christ’s name.  In the end then, leaving Scare City does not mean moving out.  It means letting God and the Gospel message in.

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