Sermons

FILTER BY:

← back to list

    Oct 27, 2019

    Save All You Can – and a Surprise!

    Save All You Can – and a Surprise!

    Passage: Philippians 4:10-20

    Speaker: Rev. Vivian McCarthy, Pastor

    Category: Stewardship

    Having gained all you can, by honest wisdom and unwearied diligence, the second rule of Christian prudence is, ‘Save all you can.’ Do not throw it away in idle expenses, which is just the same as throwing it into the sea. ~John Wesley, "The Use of Money"

    At the 10:30 service today, the choir sang a refrain that repeated several times:  God knows what we need.  Last Sunday, in sharing from John Wesley’s sermon on the use of money, Pat’s message focused on the man who had a good year and decided that what he had to do was build bigger barns to hold it all.  He never gave a thought to what he needed – he thought only about what he had and keeping it all to himself. 

    Having gained all you can, by honest wisdom and unwearied diligence, the second rule of Christian prudence is, ‘Save all you can.’  Do not throw it away in idle expenses, which is just the same as throwing it into the sea.  John Wesley, The Use of Money

    Sounds great – right?  Save all you can.  But doesn’t this thought from Wesley kind of smack up against the parable from last week?  Wasn’t the man saving all he could?  Notice how the parable unfolds in the context of the story.  A brother wants Jesus to set his sibling straight and make him share his inheritance.  Then he turns to the crowd and says, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

    When he is talking about saving all we can, Wesley is not talking about just “storing up in barns.”  He is not talking about having just to have.  He is not talking about sving just to have more.  He is talking about a kind of frugality that is essential to a healthy spiritual life.  It was good advice in his day, and it is not only good advice today, it’s particularly good advice for the time in which we live.

    (Play the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ebAtftMHt0  Please STOP the video at 22 seconds, immediately after he says, “Somebody help me!”)

    Poor Stanley!  I think that grin is pasted on – don’t you!  Perhaps the most difficult thing he says is “I can barely afford the finance charges.”

    Stanley is a victim of marketing that says, “you don’t have to wait” or “Sure you can – you just need our credit card.”  Or “you NEED this!”  Even this morning as I say this, I can hear that jingle going through my mind from an investment company:  877 - CASH NOW

    Wesley is calling us to a more mindful way of living – one where we save by living out of those values that Pat talked about last week.  Now I know that people don’t like for the pastor to talk about money – or stewardship – but, as James Harnish says in the book that Pat and I read in preparation for these few weeks,

    Most people are surprised to discover that Jesus talked about money and possessions twice as much as he did about heaven and hell, five times as much as he talked about prayer, and that nearly half of Jesus’ parables deal with how we manage money and possessions.

    For many faithful people, it is equally surprising to learn that the vast majority of the Bible’s references to money and possessions have less to do with fund-raising for the church or the welfare of the poor than they do with the spiritual health and well-being of the people who are possessed by their possessions.[1]

    Possessed by their possessions.  Ouch!

    Remember that the Methodists had begun to move up in the world in the mid-eighteenth century.  Their economic and social life began to change as they followed Wesley’s teachings and that of the circuit riders.  They had begun to live “the good life” instead of being stuck in the cycle of poverty.  And what Wesley began to see was that “the good life” threatened to take its toll on the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of the flock – in much the same way as our own time can threaten our well-being when the messages all around us scream out:  more, more, more.  Have you seen that other ad where it’s just not enough to keep up with the Joneses but to out-distance them all?  Family after family, with dad using virtual reality goggles, have the same conversation saying, in effect, that the Joneses have to keep up with them!

    Over 250 years ago, Wesley was convinced that consumption leads to more consumption and can lead to addictive behaviors where money is concerned.  How do we know when consumption has become addictive?  One sure clue is when we are consumed with looking good to other people.  Wesley put it this way, warning us not to waste our money “to gain the admiration or praise of [others].”  Wesley “calls us to find identity in our relationship with God rather than in our relationship with our possessions; to seek the honor of God rather than the honor that comes from owning the largest house on the block.”[2]

    Just a few weeks ago, we heard the scripture for today as part of our study of Paul.  Adam Hamilton showed us the prison from which Paul probably wrote the letter to the Philippians and read this very text – where Paul talked about his joy coming from his faith in Christ – not in his circumstances.  He wrote of how his heart was filled with joy even though he was in prison.

    The key to Paul’s point is found in verses 11-13:

    I have learned how to be content in any circumstance. I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor. I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.

    Content.  Harnish says: 

    The purpose of Wesley’s instruction to save all we can was not for the sake of amassing a huge savings account or investment fund.  The goal of this spiritual discipline was contentment; the assurance that we can face whatever comes, through the power of Christ at work within us.[3]

    What we do often shapes our inner self.  The disciplines – particularly spiritual disciplines – shape who we are as we practice them.  Wesley knew that.  That’s why he insisted that Methodists gather regularly to answer the question:  how’s your soul today?  Methodists focused on the disciplines not to best each other or follow some restrictive rules but to shape themselves as disciples of Jesus – to in some ways, guard against those things that can lead to addictive behaviors that lead us away from our walk with Jesus.

    Now for the surprise! 

    I’m not going to say a lot today about Wesley’s third rule, but over the next two weeks we are asking you to consider making a commitment to the ministries of your church.  Next week is All Saints Sunday, and on November 10, we will complete our stewardship focus with the final rule, time for commitment, and communion. 

    I wanted you to know just a bit about what Wesley said about the third rule which is give all you can.  We have talked many times about tithing – a biblical standard which is an important standard.  And we’ve talked about putting God first.  But listen to what Wesley says:

    If you desire to be a faithful and a wise steward…First, provide things needful for yourself; food to eat, raiment to put on, whatever nature moderately requires for preserving the body in health and strength.

    First consider what is needful.  Of course he’s not talking about indulging our every whim.  He’s talking about what is needful.  We’ll unpack that some on November 10, but I wanted you to consider rule 3 as you prayerfully consider your gift to God through RUMC over these next couple of weeks.  Perhaps he was thinking of Paul’s words to the church at Corinth.  He was encouraging them to complete the offering that they had started to collect for the church in Jerusalem.  Apparently, their enthusiasm had waned.  Paul wrote, in verses 12 through 15 of chapter 8: 

    12 A gift is appreciated because of what a person can afford, not because of what that person can’t afford, if it’s apparent that it’s done willingly. 13 It isn’t that we want others to have financial ease and you financial difficulties, but it’s a matter of equality. 14 At the present moment, your surplus can fill their deficit so that in the future their surplus can fill your deficit. In this way there is equality. 15 As it is written, The one who gathered more didn’t have too much, and the one who gathered less didn’t have too little.

    Wise words, don’t you think?

    [1] James A. Harnish, Simple Rules for Money: John Wesley on Earning, Saving and Giving (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009)

    [2] Ibid.

    [3] Ibid.