{"id":630,"date":"2014-02-09T09:56:11","date_gmt":"2014-02-09T09:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiescent.wordpress.com\/?p=630"},"modified":"2014-02-09T09:56:11","modified_gmt":"2014-02-09T09:56:11","slug":"sermon-fifth-sunday-after-epiphany-9-february-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rad.net.nz\/radiescent\/2014\/02\/09\/sermon-fifth-sunday-after-epiphany-9-february-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"SERMON: Fifth Sunday After Epiphany (9  February 2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/standrews.org.nz\/assets\/Uploads\/Orders_of_Service\/2014-02-09-Epiphany-5.pdf\">Order of service<\/a> (PDF) for 9\u00a0 February 2014 at <a title=\"St Andrew's on The Terrace\" href=\"http:\/\/standrews.org.nz\/\">St Andrew&#8217;s on The Terrace<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Readings selected from those set down for the Sunday closest to Waitangi Day in the &#8220;Lectionary and Calendar, 2013-2014: Year A &#8211; Matthew&#8221; (Methodist Faith and Order Committee, 2013)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Deuteronomy 10:12-21<\/li>\n<li>Matthew 6:19-24<\/li>\n<li>1 Corinthians 1:26-31<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h1>SERMON<\/h1>\n<p>My confession this morning is that I have chosen to preach on something I barely come into contact with, and know about distantly, if at all.<\/p>\n<p>My topic is \u2013 Money.<\/p>\n<p>However, in these times, which values opinion over knowledge, ignorance is not something that prevents people from having and sharing their thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>Here, however, we have something that the preacher needs to be especially wary of \u2013 that the balance of one\u2019s bank account influences one\u2019s opinion of money.<\/p>\n<p>This temptation is one Kiwi writer Joy Cowley, describes well in her Psalm on this topic:<\/p>\n<p>I am not sure where I am with money.<br \/>\nWhen I\u2019ve had very little of it,<br \/>\nI\u2019ve been full of theories about sharing;<br \/>\nbut when I\u2019ve had more than enough,<br \/>\nthe money changer in my temple<br \/>\ntends to label the surplus \u201cmy\u201d and \u201cmine\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>With this caveat, I wish to focus this morning on Matthew chapter 6, verse 24, which in the New Revised Standard Version reads as follows:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This, I\u2019m sure is a very familiar text to you. It is also known widely outside the church, even in this age of widespread biblical illiteracy. Perhaps for the church it is too familiar; for the familiar is no longer news. This should concern us, for as the famous monk, Thomas Merton, warned: \u201cif it is not news it is not Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look in more detail at this familiar verse from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, especially this statement of Jesus:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou cannot serve God and wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is much packed into these six simple words.<\/p>\n<p>To those who say the Bible is illogical or unscientific \u2013 we should observe that we have here a clear logical statement. Just as a person cannot travel North and South at the same time, one cannot simultaneously serve both God and money. Jesus does not suggest that we might not be able to serve both. Or that we may not serve both \u2013 but the emphasis is on CANNOT serve both.<\/p>\n<p>A second thing to observe is Jesus\u2019s assumption that we humans have to serve somebody. We are the slaves or servants of God or money. Servanthood is not something we can opt out off. We comfort ourselves that we are the masters, but we are not \u2013 we are servants. In his song \u201cGotta Serve Somebody\u201d, Bob Dylan sings:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord<br \/>\nBut you\u2019re gonna have to serve somebody\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As servants we cannot master God. God never becomes our servant \u2013 God does not exist for us, serve us, and do our biding. Our prayers are not \u2013 or should not be \u2013 commandments for God to obey. If that were so then we would be god ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>Rather we are to serve God. How do we serve God?<\/p>\n<p>The service of God is to do what God requires of us. What this is is described in one form by the familiar verse of Micah 6:8:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has told you, O mortal, what is good;<br \/>\nand what does the LORD require of you<br \/>\nbut to do justice, and to love kindness,<br \/>\nand to walk humbly with your God?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This verse from the Hebrew prophet Micah is justifiably famous as a statement promoting justice. But sometimes Christians too readily throw the word \u2018justice\u2019 around as if everyone knows what it means.<\/p>\n<p>Doing justice has become a slogan with the assumption that everyone knows what justice is and what it demands of us, the church, and the government. Too often \u201cdoing justice\u201d makes us avoid the difficult task of thinking through what God\u2019s justice would look like in a particular situation.<\/p>\n<p>With this in mind let\u2019s return to our text from Deuteronomy, which also guides us to know what God requires of us, while helping us flesh out what justice demands. The text begins with the simple yet profound question:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does the LORD your God require of you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And it proceeds to answer in this way, possibly offering a more complete guide on what God requires:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly to fear the LORD your God,<br \/>\nto walk in all his ways, to love him,<br \/>\nto serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,<br \/>\nand to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and his decrees\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Later in the reading we hear that God\u2019s justice means care for the widow and orphan, loving the stranger by providing them with food and clothing.<\/p>\n<p>That is what the service of God looks like.<\/p>\n<p>But what does the service of money look like?<\/p>\n<p>Some of you might be surprised to learn that money is a master at all. You might say \u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201chold on a minute, isn\u2019t money something we master? Isn\u2019t money a servant of humanity, being a useful tool for trade in the marketplace? Isn\u2019t money something we earn, save, and spend as we will. It\u2019s ours to dominate, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Such a response is a common cultural assumption. A major NZ bank, for example, has the slogan \u201cBe good with money\u201d, suggesting that we are, or could be, in control of money. The bank and its helpful staff can help us save, borrow, and spend money. Money is to be managed, and something that we manage we are surely the master of. Right?<\/p>\n<p>But consider how this notion becomes a system of both justification and condemnation.<\/p>\n<p>On the one hand, the wealthy can believe that they are rich solely because they have mastered money, and manage it well. They are justified by the money system to think themselves more worthy or blessed.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand the poor are condemned to be poor because they don\u2019t manage their money well. And because they are bad with money, they only have themselves to blame for being poor. This is the dark side of this notion that money is ours to control. And if we fail to control it well we deserve the consequences.<\/p>\n<p>To all this Jesus says, \u201cNo!, Money is a master\u201d. Money can enslave you. And if we are servants of money, we are not serving God. In fact we begin to serve a different god altogether.<\/p>\n<p>Money can appear to be god-like. In our capitalist economy, money is all powerful, and everywhere at once. It alone appears to have the power to create and to destroy. Almost nothing gets done without money.<\/p>\n<p>Yet despite its omnipresence, money remains a mystery. Who knows where money comes from? Who creates money? Where does it go when wasted?<\/p>\n<p>These days most of us have our money in banks and know how much they have by seeing a line on a bank statement or computer screen. But we cannot see, touch, or smell this money as we can cash. It exists as entries in computers somewhere.<\/p>\n<p>These are modern mysteries to many people \u2013 even bankers. The global financial crisis happened in part because bankers invented sophisticated products that they themselves did not fully understand. Truly enslaved to money, some bankers were so controlled and disciplined by money that it ultimately had the last word, with devastating consequences. Perhaps linked to a financial downturn are the last week\u2019s spate of banker deaths in the world\u2019s financial capitals.<\/p>\n<p>In light of this, those who maintain that money is still merely a tool are fooling themselves. As the Catholic social critic Ivan Illich once said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA tool can grow out of man\u2019s control, first to become his master and finally to become his executioner\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>How many people have been killed by money or been sacrificed to it?<\/p>\n<p>Closer to home, how many children live in poverty in New Zealand because to provide their families with adequate wages or benefits would be fiscally imprudent? It could be said that we are sacrificing our children in service to the demands of money.<\/p>\n<p>This is an election year. By the end of the year we will most likely have a new government of one form or another. People have told me that key election issues for them will be how money is distributed in society. And I think it\u2019s fair to say that issues of poverty and inequality are very likely to be issues in this election year.<\/p>\n<p>Those who advocate a more equitable redistribution of wealth are sometimes accused of holding to a \u201cpolitics of envy\u201d. They are accused of being envious of the rich and this envy translates into a desire to redistribute the wealth which, as the theory goes, the rich alone have created.<\/p>\n<p>Those seeking a more equitable distribution of wealth aren\u2019t always envious, they might be simply concerned with the direction of society and giving a fair deal to all.<\/p>\n<p>But we should not dismiss this accusation of envy altogether. We can appreciate the warning that we should be careful of being envious. Envy is one of the seven deadly sins and can destroy our very soul.<\/p>\n<p>But we should also remember that other deadly sins are gluttony, greed, and pride. Those with wealth need to remember that money will tempt them to display their wealth in a prideful manner, and by doing so encourage the envy of others. As Christians we need to be careful that our actions do not lead our brothers and sisters into sin.<\/p>\n<p>Such care for our neighbour is counter-cultural in an age of the cult of celebrity which promotes the accumulation of wealth in order to emulate movie stars and corporate high-fliers.<\/p>\n<p>Such imitation of the wealthy are acts in the service of money \u2013 money becomes upheld as the way to gain acceptance, fame, influence, and as the quickest way in which to enjoy the good life.<\/p>\n<p>These are, perhaps, extreme examples. Closer to home we can be tempted to think that once we have enough money, either as a household or as a nation then, and only then, can we afford to serve the needs of the poor in our midst.<\/p>\n<p>Another way in which money is a false god is offering itself a medium of justice. Money can nowadays be used to buy justice, but never God\u2019s justice.<\/p>\n<p>This last week we saw how money can be used to try to attain justice for Maori. Whether you think Treaty settlements are too low or too high, the idea that justice for Maori means monetary compensation buys into the notion that money can do the work of justice. The focus on money risks ignoring issues of Maori sovereignty, iwi autonomy, and the protection of taonga. Money alone can never bring justice to Maori.<\/p>\n<p>But where there are signs that past wrongs are being acknowledged and new relationships built, we can celebrate these as steps towards a fuller notion of justice.<\/p>\n<p>In our own lives we are called to serve God in joy and in serving God we find our freedom and true human fulfillment.<\/p>\n<p>We can, each and every one of us, serve God and our neighbour directly and whenever we encounter them.<\/p>\n<p>This is our calling today.<\/p>\n<p>Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Order of service (PDF) for 9\u00a0 February 2014 at St Andrew&#8217;s on The Terrace Readings selected from those set down for the Sunday closest to Waitangi Day in the &#8220;Lectionary and Calendar, 2013-2014: Year A &#8211; Matthew&#8221; (Methodist Faith and Order Committee, 2013) Deuteronomy 10:12-21 Matthew 6:19-24 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 SERMON My confession this morning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,43,52,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-money","category-poverty","category-sermon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rad.net.nz\/radiescent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rad.net.nz\/radiescent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rad.net.nz\/radiescent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rad.net.nz\/radiescent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rad.net.nz\/radiescent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rad.net.nz\/radiescent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rad.net.nz\/radiescent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rad.net.nz\/radiescent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rad.net.nz\/radiescent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}