"Money"
a condensed version of the sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore on Sunday, September 30, 2007 at Union Congregational Church in Somonauk, Illinois.

PODCAST of "Money"

"There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment."

Those sound like preacher words. Can you hear it?

(With my best ‘preacher voice.’) "There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment."

I think that means "Live a holy life and be satisfied with what you have."

Holy life?

Satisfied with what you have?

I’ve failed miserably on both counts.

And who really talks like that or responds to things like that. I read that sentence and hear that ‘preacher voice’ instead of good advice. Maybe it’s just me.

But there are a couple more sentences in this week’s Bible reading that I hear much differently. Unfortunately, it’s not better than the ‘preacher voice’ way. These two I actually hear as hollow phrases.

"We brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it."

"The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."

How can I possible say something like that? How could I call these phrases hollow? These phrases are some of the most quoted from the Bible!

Kind of like an overplayed pop song, I think.

Sometimes we hear something that might be really profound so often, and then we hear it so differently than it originally was, and it becomes completely hollow.

The reading this week is part of a teaching letter from a mentor to a learner. It offers pithy (look at me with the scholarly words!) advice on how to be a good church leader.

So why would I call these phrases hollow? Aren’t they pastoral advice?

Yes. These words are pastoral advice. But we’ve used them so much and edited them and changed them so many times and ignored them almost all the time. It seems as though we have rendered the advice hollow.

The first one, "We brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it." is most commonly remembered as "You can’t take it with you." And it reminds us that we can’t keep our possessions once we’re dead. But we still try to amass fortunes and pay precious little attention to the plight of most of the world. We may not be able to take it with us, but we sure want to give it to our kids. (Unless we’re angry about something and want to make a point – then we might leave it to our dog, right?) We know we can’t take it with us –but that doesn’t really stop us from trying.

The second one, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." is related – and is often rendered "Money is the root of all evil." Usually we preachers are quick to point out that the passage says, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." It’s not money itself – but the love of it. Wealth isn’t the problem, we say.

Wealth is the problem, I say. In our rationalizations that convince us that money doesn’t really drive us, I think we lie to ourselves. We are all too rich to think that money doesn’t drive our lives.

I’m gonna rant a little here:

• The poorest in our country have food to eat.
• The poorest in our country have access to shelter
• The poorest in our country have clothes to wear.

But we have poverty, don’t we? 47 million people in our country do not health insurance. Almost 9 million of those people are under 18 years old. We argue all the time about raising taxes and lowering taxes and what programs will do the best while at the same time not putting undue pressure on those of us with health insurance. And still 47 million people in our country do not have health insurance.

But wait -- there’s more! 854 million people in the world (more than three times the population of the United States) are undernourished (fao.org) – they don’t get enough food. 11 million children under the age of five in developing countries die every year. 1 billion people don’t have access to safe water.

We build up retirement accounts and savings accounts and acquire property and pursue other forms of wealth "so we can continue to do God's work."

I think we really do it because we like stuff.

We have a love-affair with money.

Rant over.

So what do we do about it? We need money. We like money. We are motivated by money.

Is anyone willing to give up the money-driven life to pursue a simple life of loving God and one another?

I know I’m not ready for that.

What am I – what are any of us ready for?

Maybe it’s just to begin to live more simply. Maybe it’s to start right where we are.

• Start each day with a prayer – "God, help me today to love and to love everyone."
• Give away the stuff we never use – but is still useful.
• Try to hold on to less – but appreciate it more.

We don’t have to be money-driven – or even purpose-driven for that matter.

Let’s take some simple steps and journey together in a life that is God-driven.

I think that’s right on the money.

Close with prayer.

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