How To Get Rich – 3/01/09

Have you heard the story of Leonard Abess Jr.? He’s yet another CEO from the financial industry that found his way in to the headlines. I know what you’re thinking. “Oh, here we go again. Another story of greed and fraud where one person walks away rich and leaves hundreds of others standing empty-handed.” Those thoughts are to be expected these days, but that’s not what this story is about. Millions more people know Leonard Abess Jr. after the President’s speech this last Tuesday. Leonard was lifted up before the nation as a model of corporate loyalty and responsibility. Like many others, he sold his company and made millions of the sale of his stock, but that’s where his story and the others diverge.

Leonard made $927 million dollars of the sale of the bank that he owned. He had grown up in the bank and purchased it from his father. He had worked for many of the employees that now worked for him. Concerned that many of his employees were had lost their retirements, Leonard decided to take $60 million dollars and pass it out to his employees. Everyone from bank tellers, clerks, and bookkeepers to senior executives received a deposit in their account. Depending on how long they worked for the bank, some people received up to $100,000. Leonard even sought out 72 employees who had since retired.

At a time when many executives are having to explain themselves to the public, Leonard’s story is refreshing to hear. He even heeded Jesus’ advice to not let his right hand know what his left hand was doing; he didn’t publicize his intentions or the act itself. Word of his generosity did spread. And, despite his generosity, Leonard is not without his critics. $60 million dollars isn’t even 10% of what he got and it’s not like he needed the money. Even before the sale he had purchased a $23 million dollar estate down the street from Sylvester Stallone. Surprisingly, Leonard is among those critics. He recently wondered if he had done enough for his employees. Imagine that: giving away $60 million dollars and wondering if you should have given away more.

This is not the typical story that we’ve been reading in the paper these days. More typical is the kind of story that Jesus told before his disciples; stories of greed and abundance and frivolous spending; stories of striving after possessions and food and clothing. We heard Jesus tell one such story this morning. The Bible calls it the Parable of the Rich Fool. It begins with a family dispute. At this point in Luke’s gospel, Jesus had been speaking for quite sometime. When Luke mentions a crowd, he means a crowd. People had gathered by the thousands to listen to what Jesus was saying. According to an earlier verse, the crowd was so thick, straining so hard to hear, that they were trampling on one another.

Out of this crowd someone managed to find a moment of silence long enough to say, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” As Jesus usually does, he responds to the man’s question with another question and a parable. He asks the man, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” Typically, there would be a group of elders or well-respected people who would settle these disputes. Clearly, Jesus had come to be seen as a wise man among the crowds. He could have sided with one brother over the other. He probably would have divided the crowd who had also taken sides. But Jesus saw passed the dispute to the real issue. Jesus knew that settling the dispute between this man and his brother did not solve the real problem. The real problem was much deeper.

“Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable of rich man and his land. The land of the rich man produced a lot of food. His crops were abundant. So, the rich man gets to thinking, “What should I do with all of these crops? I have no place to store them.” Suddenly, it seems, he is struck by an idea, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’” The man sounds content. He sounds at ease. He doesn’t sound like a bad guy and his problems sound like good ones to have. Who wouldn’t love to suffer from having too much? Instead of talking to his soul, he should have spent more time talking to God.

The man seemed to have forgotten that the land belongs to the Lord and that God gives the increase. There is no such thing as my grain and my goods because the abundance of his crops was a gift from God. Since, he didn’t speak to God about this God had a few words for him. “You fool! This very night your lie is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” That’s the moral of the story for the crowds that day. Don’t store up your treasures on earth. Rather store up treasures in heaven. God had commanded everyone to tithe their produce and leave the edges of the field for those in need. If his own store houses were overflowing, no doubt the rich man had forgotten or neglected to follow these commandments. Jesus didn’t want the same thing for his disciples.

After finishing the parable, he turned to his disciples and said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.” Notice, Jesus didn’t tell his disciples, “Don’t be greedy like that rich man.” He said, “Don’t worry.” If Jesus knew that greed was behind the dispute between the two brothers, he also understood that worry was often behind the greed that led to such disputes. Many people of Jesus’ day didn’t have a lot. Not many people could relate to the rich man’s problems. His disciples had left everything to follow him, so they didn’t have an abundance of possessions either. Reminding them of the ravens and the lilies, Jesus told them that there was no need for them to strive for possessions; only strive for God’s kingdom. Apparently, that message is easily forgotten.

By the time that the apostle Paul is writing to his protégé, Timothy, the same issues had crept into various congregations. Timothy, it seems, was dealing with all sorts of disputes over words and wrangling for power in the congregation. Like Jesus, Paul saw right passed the disputes to the source of the problem. People were arguing because they saw a chance for gain in fame and fortune. There was only so much to go around, they imagined, and each one wanted the majority share. Paul doesn’t deny that there is great gain in seeking God, that there is great contentment in godliness. But at the same time he sees all sorts of temptation for those who want to be rich. He has seen too many people become trapped by senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. Then come those famous words, “For the love of money is a root of all evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.”

Paul’s point is simple: we didn’t bring anything into the world and we can’t take any of our possessions with us, so we mind as well take hold of those things that will lead us to eternal life. Just as Jesus urges his followers to strive for God’s kingdom, Paul writes, “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith.” For those who are rich he writes, “Command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches (how timely are those words?), but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of life that really is life.”

“Sell your possessions,” Jesus said to his disciples who already had few possessions, “and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also.” It’s striking how consistent the Bible is on this message. “You cannot serve God and wealth,” Jesus says in another place. Someone once asked me, “Is it a virtue to be poor?” In other words, does God automatically approve of or show favor to people just because they are poor. Or, in other words, “Is it bad to be rich?” So, let’s make it easy. There is nothing in the Bible that says it’s good to be poor and there is nothing in the Bible that says it’s bad to be rich. However, the Bible does say there is great temptation in wealth and seems to say that there is value in living with less. That’s because if we live with less we can give more. If we depart with our treasures on earth, we store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. What we hear all around us doesn’t make it any easier to share that message.

First, we are bombarded with advertisements that tell us how much better life will be if only we have the newest technology or the latest fashion. Even if it’s not a direct invitation to something new, commercials show us what the good life is supposed to look like, so that even family struggling with debt can drive away down a tree-lined cul-de-sac, in a fully-loaded SUV with bikes on top to go spend the weekend at the cottage. What sense does that make? We say that we don’t believe it, but when people are asked how much money they need to be happy virtually everyone, from the upper class to the middle class say the same thing: just a little more than I have now. Over the last 30 years average home has doubled in size and the average home in America is twice that in Europe. And, they are overflowing with stuff as evidenced by the booming storage facility and portable storage industry. At the same time, the average family has shrunk in size. So, it seems, as a nation we have bought bigger homes for fewer people and filled them with stuff and we are not any happier for it. Depression, suicide, and divorce have all gone up. Is that the life we want? Despite the evidence, there is some small part of us that believes more money equals greater happiness. No doubt for some that is true.

Leonard Abess wasn’t the only one the President mentioned in his speech. He also spoke of a young girl named Ty’Sheoma Bethea, a middle school student in South Carolina. Her school was the focus of a documentary called “The Corridor of Shame.” She attends class in a building that was built in 1896 and is now falling apart. She wrote that she in her letter that she and her classmates are just students like any other trying to become lawyers and doctors and public servants, possibly President. For millions of undereducated, uninsured, hungry and homeless, more is definitely better. But it’s not long after we have food and clothing that more stops making us happier or healthier.

Still, we have politicians who talk endlessly about greater wealth for everyone. There are those conservative voices who continue to say that if we just let the market work there will be great wealth for everyone. On the opposite side are the liberal voices who want the government to redistribute wealth. They are just like those two brothers arguing over how to divide their inheritance. Jesus sides with neither of them because they are both wrong. An endless wealth, no matter how it gets distributed, is not an answer to our struggles. Out of this great crowd of voices comes Paul who says that contentment is not found in wealth or possessions but in eternal life and Jesus who says, “Strive first for God’s kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” Wait! Stop right there Pastor Peter! Didn’t you just say that if we seek God’s kingdom God will give us all those things? Doesn’t God reward us with wealth if we are faithful? Those are good questions. Here’s your answer.

When Jesus said “these things” he was referring to food and clothing; things that are essential for survival. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he taught them to ask God for their daily bread; for enough to get them through the day. In the same way, Paul wrote to Timothy that if he had food and clothing he would be content. That’s because he had taken hold of something more valuable: the eternal life to which we have all been called and for which we have all made a good confession before many witnesses. Today, more than ever, the world needs a witness who will part easily with possessions, who will be rich in good works, and give generously to others. As Christians we can show rich and poor alike that life, real life, eternal life, is not found in striving after earthly treasures, but after those treasures stored up in heaven.

There are two groups of people that make that message hard to share. There are those who are on their way up the economic ladder. There are those who have studied hard, worked hard, made sacrifices and played by the rules and climbed their way out of poverty. Who wants to be the one to tell them that they should live with less? At the same time, there are those who never had a lot, but now have less because of the current economic conditions. There are those who were never extravagant, but now wonder what tomorrow holds for them and their families. Who wants to be the one to say that less is more when it comes to possessions? As hard as it is to share that message, it is still the message. But let’s make sure our focus is right.

The message for this first Sunday in Lent is not, “Don’t be greedy.” Rather, the message is “Do not worry.” Do not worry because God is one who feeds even the smallest of creatures, who neither sow nor reap, nor have a POD unit in their front yard. Do not worry because God is one who clothes the lilies who neither toil nor spin; flowers whose simple beauty is more glorious than anything Solomon wore. Do not worry because God is one who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Do not worry because God is sovereign, King of kings and Lord of lords, who gives life to all things. Do not worry because God is our Father who finds great pleasure in giving us his kingdom and those things we need. This Lenten season, do not worry, but do good, be rich in good works, and ready to share, thus storing up for yourselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that you make take hold of life that really is life. Amen.