You Can’t Love God and Money
Abridge Worship Provided By: Rev. Jacob Shaw (Please note that this is not a verbatim account of our Sunday morning worship, but rather a condensed version for those at home to study and enjoy, Blessing)
Opening Prayer:
Father in Heaven, it is out of the depths, we cry to you. Hear our prayers and supplications. Heed the anguish of our pleas. Our souls wait for you alone, O Lord, more that those who wait for the morning. We are here to worship you this day.
Amen.
Scripture Readings: 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 and Mark 5:21-43
2 Corinthians 8:7-15 read by Sheila Huntley
But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
Mark 5:21-43 read by Rev. Jacob Shaw
When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’”
But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Reflection:
We have two scripture readings of great importance. The first speaks of the charitable nature of giving as something that can greatly reflect our faith. The second is a portion of Jesus healing a woman and a girl, (the former plagued with a lifelong disability and the latter who had fallen into the sleep of death), through his willingness to heal as people approached in faith. The theme of this pairing is without a doubt, charitable love. We have giving as being an outlet and practical exercise for charitable love, and we have Jesus’ healing of these two people as a demonstration of God’s charitable love for humanity.
Let us think for a moment about giving. Now the context that is being spoken of in this letter to Corinth speaks of the idea of diminishing the comfort of one’s own life; materially and financially, not to create needless suffering for the charitable person, but to create a level of equality.
Now before I go to far, I want to take a pause and make it clear, that this charitable equalization is not the same as political socialism in a secular state. There are similar characteristics, but they are not the same thing. So, as I talk about this, I don’t want people to assume I’m making a case for or against socialism, rather I am speaking to the body of Christ living charitable, regardless of what the state is doing.
Now that I have that disclaimer out of the way, here is the question to bring us into reflection. Do you feel that we as Christians today are charitable enough? Do we as a people of God take the well-being of others with great enough concern and seriousness? Could we do more, could we given more, could we live with less and still be content with life?
Now when I ask this question, you might say, that it is an unfair question, and that we should not compare our charitable nature with others, nor should we guilt ourselves for not doing enough, we should just trust in Jesus, and be kind people and not worry about scaling our faith in this way.
And my response would be, well Paul does. He is in fact intentionally challenging people to look at themselves and others, to help them compare and contrast; to test their willingness to give up and to invest in other people at the cost of reducing their own wellbeing.
This comparing and contrasting forces us to ask the question, how much are you willing to live out the nature of Christ, who was beyond rich as the eternal Logos of the Divine in Heaven and who became humble, meek, and poor in order to lift you into the wealth that is the Father’s house? Are you willing to do for others what Christ has done for you ?
You know there is a very cutting passage in the Bible, Matthew 6:24, “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.” Paul, I feel is saying to Corinth and to all of us, are you ready to put to the test which master you really serve in this life. Do you serve the Spirit, or do you serve your comfort, do you follow Jesus or your desire and lust, do you Love God or do you love money?
I must admit, I am not asking these question from your from a pedestal. In fact it is the opposite, I struggle with this greatly. Every weekday morning, I get up, and I drive from my house to the gym. On that daily morning drive, I see at least 2-4 homeless people, and despite seeing that every morning, I have still yet to pull over and try to make them equal financially with me.
Now, I have done a lot of charitable work in my life, fundraisers, food drives, backpacks for the homeless, and more and more, but I have never once in my adult life, said, I’m going to sacrifice all my easements, all my luxuries, I’m going to cancel my subscriptions, I’m going to sell my car, I’m going to cancel my vacations and I am going to now live such a simple quiet life, (eating box mac and cheese and instant ramen), to ensure at least one other person does not have to sleep on the pavement. And I don’t think I am alone in this.
I haven’t done that because there is the critical voice in my head, that doubts the good it would do, would the person appreciates what was being done, would they as Paul suggests, rise to the occasion, and help others in the same way that I was helping them, or would they just take advantage of my generosity, would they use my charity, and take it for granted.
But then again, do we not take Jesus’ charitable love and grace for granted every day when we do not live it out for other? Do we not often welcome the gift that came from Jesus became poor for us as if we were entitled to it, not truly giving our lives to it and letting it overflow unto others?
Now, if I’ve done my job right today, you should be feeling a bit of that Spiritual conviction, right in the heart. And I’m going to add to it just a little bit more.
In our Gospel passage, we see people seeking out Jesus for his charitable nature, not a nature which deals with money, but a nature that deals with healing. We also see people seeking Jesus for his teaching, wisdom, forgiveness, and presence. You see Jesus became poor, so his charitable offerings to people were Spiritual giving. Jesus poured out the divine upon people. When he was ask by the faithful to come and heal, he went giving his power to the wellbeing of other, Jesus has such a generous nature, that his power flowed out to the women who bleed, before Jesus knew who had grasped onto him. His generosity had no question, it just gave first.
If we cannot bring ourselves to give up the material of money to be charitable to others on a material level, how can we begin to speak about being charitable by the Spirit.
How can we give up our time to be present with those who cannot give you your time back? How can one give up their pride to be humble before the world, when the world does nothing but demand and uplift pride? How can one give up resentment and anger, when forgiveness is requested and needed? How can one give mercy, when mercy is a gift given to the undeserving? How can we heal others, when we are afraid of getting sick? How can we free others when we fear shackles? How do we trust, when we need to give up control? How do we begin to understand the nature of the love of the divine, when our hearts still belong to the flesh? How can we become a live in Christ, when we fear our own death? How can we love God, when our hearts love money?
You see Paul doesn’t command Corinth to be charitable, because there are many things: material, mental and spiritual, that can rob us from being the Christians we ought to be. We are being called to be like Jesus, where God’s love flows charitably through us, and we take on a meek and poor disposition in pursuit of the Father’s will upon this earth.
Let us pray…
Lord Jesus, Your wealth is a wealth only know to you, it is a wealth of the power behind all existence. So you know the true wealth is not something that is made of silver and gold, but it is the Good Nature of the Spirit. Amen.
Homework:
Look at your life, ask yourself, what luxuries do I have that I could abandon in order to sacrifice my love of comfort and money to better serve God’s kingdom and his creation? Try giving up the luxury and then taking that money and giving it to a charitable program or a person in need.
If you need help on this reflective journey email: minister@mountainviewunited.ca
Closing Prayer:
Merciful God, misery and despair touch our world each day. Help us to bring gift to you, so we can best serve your will, that no one may suffer want. And if our fortunes are one day reversed, may we receive with the same grace and gratitude we have offered this day. Amen.
Meme of the Week:
Thank you for joining us this week. If you have any thoughts, feelings, or prayers, feel free to leave them in the comment section below. Please be respectful of others’ posts and make room for all those joining us.
Leave a Reply