Sermon 11/4/12
Luke 15:11-24, Proverbs 21:5 & 20
(Much of the structure for this sermon is suggested in Adam Hamilton's Enough Stewardship Guide, and adapted for use at Liverpool First UMC.)
Enough: Wisdom and Finance
The Parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the most-loved
of the parables of Jesus. I’m not sure exactly why that is, except that maybe
we all pictures ourselves to be a bit like the prodigal, wandering away from
God, making foolish choices, and hoping, and finding that God welcomes us back with joy no matter how foolish
we’ve been. Personally, I would admit I am much more like the older brother in
the parable than the younger son, and I suspect that is true for a good many of
us, especially in the life of the church, but I’ll save all that for another
sermon! Today, we’re really only focusing on the first part of the parable, and
this younger, prodigal son. Prodigal is one of those words that we use
incorrectly so often that most people are starting to understand a different
meaning for it than originally intended. We often hear or use prodigal to mean
wandering, or lost. A prodigal is one who has wandered away, gone off life’s intended
course. But actually, the word prodigal means extravagant and wasteful, one who
spends recklessly and without control. The parable’s title refers not to the
son leaving home, but to the son squandering his inheritance. With the correct
understanding of this key word, our focus on the parable might change. It isn’t
primarily, perhaps, a parable about wandering away from God, but a parable
about being wasteful with the gifts God gives us. With this reading in mind,
perhaps we are all more like the prodigal
son after all. What are you doing with the good things that God has put into
your hands to have care over, to be stewards of?
Last week we talked about Affluenza and Credit-itis –
which I think we can sum up into wanting more, and wanting it now. And somehow,
even we attain close to the degree of financial security we’re looking for, we
are still not careful with our money, and actually waste it here and there and
everywhere until we’ve lost the bit of security we thought we had. I don’t know
about you, but I find that paying with debit cards instead of with cash
sometimes makes me shockingly mindless of what I’m spending. Just a quick, easy
swipe of the card. I know, I know, you’re supposed to be careful, save all your
receipts, budget, balance, and so on. But, frankly, well, let’s just say those
kind of details are not my strong suit. Not too long ago, though, my bank
unrolled a feature online where I can look at a lovely pie chart that shows me
what categories I’m spending my money in. It includes categories like
utilities, gasoline, groceries, a new rather large category for me: mortgage
payments, and then categories like restaurants, general merchandise,
entertainment, and “other.” This month we’re working through Adam Hamilton’s
book called Enough, and he suggests
that the two primary ways we waste money are on impulse buying and eating out. He’s
got me pegged, certainly. If I added up all the money I spent on eating out in
a year, well, I shudder to think of the total. Do you find yourself wondering
what happened to the money you had? Are you making wise decisions with what
you’ve got? What would your pie chart look like? How much are you wasting of
what you’ve been given? How much of a prodigal are you?
Creating new patterns for ourselves when it comes to our
money and resources starts with clarifying our purpose, our priorities, and our
relationships. Why do we exist? What are we here for? Despite all the messages
society shouts at us, we are more than consumers! Our purpose is not to consume
and accumulate and spend. We were created by God, who loves us, to care for
God’s creation, to love God, and to love one another, to care for those in
need, to glorify God, to seek justice, and do mercy. That’s our purpose. And
that means that everything that we do, everything that we have, is meant to
help us fulfill our purpose. Our money, our gifts, our possessions – all this
is meant to be used to help us fulfill our calling – “to serve Christ and the
world through the church, missions, and everyday opportunities.” (1)
What are your goals? Hamilton suggests that if we have a
sense of what God is calling us to do, then we need to start planning to
respond to that call. What is your purpose? What do you want to do for God? And
how are you going to start doing it? If you are really compelled by these
questions, Hamilton has some resources for seriously asking and answering these
questions for ourselves, and I would love to see where God is leading us. I
think we also need to ask these questions to ourselves as a congregation. What
is our purpose? What is God calling us to do? And then what’s our plan? Are we
using our resources in the best ways we can to serve God’s purpose for us?
“Barbara Glanz is a motivational speaker who conducts
workshops for large companies. One day she was speaking at an event for the
employees of a grocery store chain. She talked to them about how they saw their
life purpose, suggesting that their work was more than stocking shelves or
ringing up customers' food purchases or delivering supplies. She told them that
every person they met was an opportunity to bless someone, to live out a higher
calling or mission.
The
employees were inspired by her words, including one nineteen-year-old grocery
bagger named Johnny. Johnny, who has Down syndrome, took her words to heart. He
went home and tried to think of ways he could be a blessing to others. Finally,
he came up with a plan. Each night he would search the Internet for a positive
saying that would encourage people. Then he would print out 300 copies and
carefully cut the sayings into individual strips. The next day, he would put
one of the sayings in the grocery bag of each of his customers while saying,
"I put a saying in your bag. I hope it helps you have a good day. Thanks
for coming here."
A month
later, the manager noticed that Johnny's line was much longer than the others.
Even when he announced that there was no waiting in lines 2 and 3, no one
budged. People wanted Johnny to be their bag boy. He touched them and filled
them with hope. Johnny got it. He was pursuing a mission that was bigger than
his personal satisfaction.” (2)
Can we
say the same for ourselves? Are we pursuing a mission that is bigger than our
personal satisfaction? Can we articulate our mission? Do we use all that we
have been given to support what we’ve said we’d set out do?
Today, we are celebrating All Saints Sunday, a day when
we remember members of our congregation, as well as the loved ones we carry in
our hearts, who have died during the last year. It may seem like a strange
combination – All Saints, with a conversation about how we use our resources.
But maybe it’s not such a stretch at all. When I think of the saints in my
life, I think of people who were remarkably content, regardless of how much
they had stored up for themselves. I think of people whose lives were marked by
giving of themselves freely for the sake of others. I think of people who were
pursuing a mission in life that went beyond their own satisfaction.
Today, our Chancel Choir sang an anthem, which is also a
favorite hymn of mine in our hymnals, “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God.”
Listen again to the last verse: “They lived not only in ages past; there are
hundreds of thousands still. The world is bright with the joyous saints who love
to do Jesus' will. You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store, in
church, by the sea, in the house next door; they are saints of God, whether
rich or poor, and I mean to be one too.” Saints of God, loving to do Jesus’
will. God helping, let us mean to be Saints too, sure of our purpose, and
striving, every day, to live in ways which let us carry out our mission of
service in God’s kingdom.
Amen.
(1)
Hamilton, Enough Stewardship Guide, 73.
(2)
Hamilton, Enough, 48-49.
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