Westwood Presbyterian Church

WOW - August 13th, 2008

197 Browning  Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3K 0L1

REV. PETER BUSH's SERMONS

Proverbs - Wealth and Poverty/Money

 

     Anthropologists tell us that the things that a culture highly values – those are the things they have the most difficulty talking about. The social taboos indicate what it is that people really care about – what really matters.

     In our culture we claim to have no social taboos any more – we can talk about sex, religion, and politics in polite company. But there is one topic that it is still hard to speak of in polite company – and that is money. If you don’t believe me – try this at the next social gathering you are at. Start going up to people and ask them how much they have in their bank account. I guarantee that you will not get invited to many social gatherings after that.

     The book of Proverbs – in fact the entire Bible – has little difficulty talking about money. Issues of wealth and poverty are common topics.

 

     When we think about wealth and poverty – we tend to go one of two ways. Either we hold a position of wealth is good and poverty is bad – or we hold a position of wealth is bad and poverty is good. Let me explain what I mean.

     The wealth is good and poverty is bad position goes something like this. People have money because they work hard and their hard work has gained them the financial resources that they have. People who have little money therefore are people who are lazy, and if they just worked harder they could be wealthy as well. A variation on this approach is to say – “God rewards those who serve Him with financial benefit – if you serve God you will be financially blessed.” Therefore we can tell who has served God well, those who are financially blessed.

     It does not take us very long to figure out that this is not accurate – we know people who are lazy and seem to have financial resources and we know people who work extremely hard who have little of this world’s goods. We also know people who serve God and are poor, and people who have little interest in doing what God wants who are well off.

    So this approach does not work.

 

    The wealth is bad and poverty is good position goes something like this. People who have money must have done something shady or maybe even down-right wrong in order to have money. People who have money are crooks, they got to where they are by cheating. The poor are innocent people who have been caught in a bunch of situations over which they have no control – and they are really good people caught in bad circumstances.

     It does not take us very long to figure out that this approach is not accurate – we know people who are wealthy who are wonderful people who do amazing good in the world and who we are certain would never cheat anyone. And we know people who are poor who have made bad decisions in life – and whose decisions have led to their poverty.

    So this approach does not work either.

 

    Proverbs takes neither of these positions – choosing instead to hold the two of them in tension – as we can see from the three proverbs on this slide.

 

Slide 1            Proverbs 10:15

                                    The wealth of the rich is their fortress;

the poverty of the poor is their ruin.

 

Proverbs 18:11

                                    The wealth of the rich is their strong city;

                                                in their imagination it is like a high wall.

 

Proverbs 13:8

                                    Wealth is a ransom for a person’s life,

                                                but the poor get no threats.

 

Notice the fact that Proverbs is honest about the blessings and the difficulties of both wealth and poverty.

 

     While Proverbs is even handed about the status of wealth and poverty – Proverbs is clear that wealth does not save us. That money is but a passing reality which will one day be of no value.

 

Slide 2            Proverbs 11:4

                                    Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,

                                                but righteousness delivers from death.

 

Proverbs 11:28

                                    Those who trust in their riches will wither,

                                                but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.

 

This is a hard truth to get through our heads. While we may say that we believe that this is true, we have difficulty actually living as though we believed this to be true.

     One of the reasons for that is that no matter how hard we try we still use money, or the perception that someone has money – as a sign of whether someone has value. Let me give you an example. Monday afternoon I was making a run to get stuff for the VBS – and I was on my way into the SuperStore in the rain. Standing under the overhang that comes out over the entrance was a man wearing a long coat which was very dirty, he was about ¾ turn away from me and I could see his long straggly grey hair. I said to myself – “A street person – how can I avoid making eye to eye contact with him.” Then I noticed that he had his left hand up to the side of his head – like I have seen thousands of people do when they are talking on cell phones. “A street person with a cell phone – that can’t be right. He must not be a street person,” I thought. As it turned out he was using a handkerchief to wipe rain off his face – it was a street person. And that got me thinking – I had made an assumption about the man by the way he looked – then I had changed that view on the basis of something I thought he owned. It is very hard for us to not use what people have as a way of evaluating how important they are.

      We can count money – there is a way of measuring wealth. But there is not an obvious way of measuring righteousness. It is more subtle – more hidden – more interior. God spoke to Samuel – “Human beings judge by the outward appearance – but God looks at the heart.” These proverbs invite us to be people who lay up treasure in heaven – not on earth. To be people who trust in God not in wealth. To be people who recognize that in the end it is not about the money we have or had – but about whether we are rich towards God.

 

     Statements like that lead us to ask – so how can we be rich towards God? These next proverbs start to point us in the right direction.

 

Slide 3            Proverbs 22:1

                                    A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,

                                                and favour is better than silver or gold.

 

Proverbs 11:24

                                    Some give freely, yet grow all the richer;

                                                others withhold what is due, and only suffer want.

A generous person will be enriched,

                                                and one who gives water will get water.

 

A couple of years ago I was at an event sponsored by the school board in Perth County on values education – a short video was run of an interview with a machinist who was talking about the importance of values in his life. He said, “I would sooner have a good name than an increase in my pay.” The people around me laughed when they heard him say that. I was upset, because I interpreted their reaction as being a statement that they thought he was wrong. The machinist understood what Proverbs is saying here – a good name is more important than money. Living an ethical life is more important than the comfort in which we live. So part of being rich towards God is placing His values ahead of acquiring wealth. Choosing to follow God not money.

     If that is not radical enough – Proverbs pushes the case further – not only should we choose chasing God over chasing money – we need to be willing to give away even what we have. The second part of the second proverb talks about water – and we who live in a country where there water in abundance don’t get it. Think about what being rationed – there is only a limited amount of it – and a stranger comes and asks for some water. All that is available is the water that you and your family need. Water life giving – life sustaining water – we are being asked to share. Those things that are necessary for life are to be shared. The generosity that is being called for – is not a generosity out of the extra that we have – it is generosity out of what we need for survival. To give that way means that we are trusting in the abundance that God has and gives. To give out of what we need is to give trusting that God will supply our needs.

     To live this way is to hold tightly to God and loosely to money.

     Proverbs frames the whole conversation about money – about wealth and poverty – this way

 

Slide 4            Proverbs 22:2

                                    The rich and the poor have this in common:

                                                the Lord is the maker of them all.

 

Whether rich or poor – we are made by God. Whether rich or poor – our next breath is a gift from God – that no amount of money can buy and which a lack of money does not prevent. The rich and the poor together have this in common they are receipants of God’s grace. A grace that comes to all without any regard to one’s financial status.

    In this truth the rich can learn humility – in this truth the poor can take joy. The Lord God is the one who has made us – not we ourselves – we are not self-made – we are God made. And in that we find hope – for there is no hope apart from the amazing grace of God which comes to both the poor and the rich.