Follow Me… and NOT Money

“No 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”. Matthew 6:24

Dear Friends,

Last Sunday, my gospel monologue was as Matthew telling about how he accepted the call to follow Jesus. One of the main undercurrents was his desire to prosper. In my telling, that is what drove him to pursue being a tax collector. Some of the consequences of this decision was that it pulled him away from his faith community and caused him to embrace the lifestyle and values of the other tax collectors and--to a great extent--the lifestyle and values of the Roman Empire. This struggle of money, career, and faith is one that we all have to deal with as Christians.

Whenever we start talking about money and faith, people will often say, “Money is the root of all evil.” This is not actually what the Bible says. The accurate quote that we find in Paul’s letter to a young, Christian leader is:

But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. [1 Timothy 6:9-10]

Money in and of itself is not evil. Money is just a way that society has developed to quantify and transfer value. Without money, we would do all of our transactions in some kind of bartering system. Monetary currency greatly facilitates the exchange of products and services. It is hard to imagine our economy without money. As Christians, we are called to be good stewards of our money and all of the things God has entrusted to us. That means we are called to be responsible, generous and compassionate caretakers of money, property, gifts, abilities, talents, time and relationships.

The faith problem with money comes into play when we start trusting in money and wealth BEYOND being good stewards of it. When we start relating to money as THE thing that can give US value, worth, happiness, power, and security then—in essence—it has become our master and our god. This unfaithful relationship with money shows up in our behaviour as: selfishness, greed, obsession, overindulgence, desire for status, insensitivity and ruthlessness. These are all words that are in the neighbourhood of evil…

During our Wednesday Wisdom faith discussion, we have been watching a video interview of Parker Palmer (a well-known Quaker theologian). Last week, he made the observation that the most prominent religion in America is consumerism. The context for this statement was a discussion about Christianity and how it seems to have aligned itself with capitalism. Christianity and capitalism are almost held as inseparable. This association of the two seems to bless the desire to accumulate wealth, the prioritization of money over people, and an every-man-for-himself mindset (the masculine language is intentional). The “blessing” of this kind of relationship with money is a very curious since the thing that Jesus warned against the most as an impediment to faithful living was the desire for wealth!

You might hear this as an anti-capitalism rant. That is not my intent. Capitalism has proven to be a very effective economic system for generating growth, spurring innovation and motivating people to work to contribute to society. But just like ALL other economic systems, it is not perfect. All systems require constant vigilance and ongoing management to ensure that the benefits of the system are available to all and to counteract the weaknesses and negatives of that particular system. From my viewpoint, Canada seems to have done a better job than the States of moderating unfettered capitalism with appropriate socialist safeguards. The prime example is universal health care. You don’t have to be a successful capitalist to have access to good health care!

This is all to say that following Jesus can—and should—have us come in conflict with aspects of the dominant culture. Being a Christian first and foremost is about committing to and trusting that a life of love is the real access to abundant life. In the conversation about money, one might simplify it to Loving one’s neighbour instead of loving money! I invite you to begin noticing the ways that you’ve been drawn into our selfish values of our culture and, in prayerful discernment, begin taking the next steps in your faith journey… in following Jesus.

Peace,

Pastor Phil