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Vision for HT |
Sermon on 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Delivered September 26, 2004 at Holy Trinity, Vancouver, by John Oakes (Editor's Note: The following sermon is part of a series on "a Vision for Holy Trinity." It has been slightly modified for "New Vision.") 1. "Eternal Rewards" in Heaven. There is an old story about a wealthy man who once stood at heaven's gate, where he was met by St. Peter to be directed to his new home. Peter led him down streets of gold and through a magnificent area of mansions. The man paused, expecting to be shown there, but they continued on until finally, they came to a less luxurious neighbourhood. St. Peter stopped in front of a tiny shack and said to the man: 'Here's your eternal home?' But the guy became indignant and said: 'This cannot be? On earth I lived in the lap of luxury; I had everything anyone could desire. Now you want me to live here? Surely this is a mistake!' To which Peter replied: "Sir, you must understand that all we had to build this house with was the material you sent us while you lived on earth. We would have been very happy to have built you a spacious, well-decorated mansion, but you did not supply the proper materials!'" Some of the theology of this illustration may be a little questionable, but the general point is a good one. However we think of the next world, the Bible reminds us to make the most of this one to prepare for it. And one of the most important things that we can do is to take to heart the apostle Paul's main advice to Timothy in verse 12 of our first reading, which is to "fight the good fight of [our] faith" and to witness to its truth and power in our lives and in our church. 2. Two "Elective Realities." If I were to take a straw poll this morning on how many of us have worried about money over the past few months, I suspect that more than a few would raise their hands. There may be the odd one or two here who have their budgets so well balanced and their expenses so much under control that ordering their finances is a "no-brainer," but probably not many. Like it or not, we live in a capitalist market economy where the mighty dollar is the primary means of exchange. Most of us must earn a living of some sort or other, and all of us face competing demands on limited resources. Ours is also a very materialistic culture, of course, and that only increases the psychological pressures on us to earn and spend and acquire more. In modern-day Canada, it is all too easy to fall prey to the deception that unless we have attained certain standards of housing, or comfort, or transportation, we have failed. We live in one of the richest countries on the face of the earth, but we can still be led to believe that we are poor if we do not have the best of everything. Society was very different in biblical times and so were economic structures. Yet the problems and temptations associated with money were very similar. Jesus taught more about it than any other ethical topic, including sexuality, and there is plenty of food for thought on the matter in the rest of the New Testament. This morning's epistle reading is a classic case in point, as the apostle Paul writes to his young disciple, Timothy. For in 1 Timothy 6, the apostle contrasts two lifestyles - two elective realities, to quote my second heading: one of greed which is based on the evil root of money and the other of faith, which involves being ever ready to "fight the good fight." i. A Lifestyle of Greed - Based on the "Evil Root" of Money (vv. 6-10). Most of us have heard the saying that "the love of money is the root of all evil." And when we think about a lifestyle of greed, most of us would probably agree that this is true. Even if we did not learn it from the Beatles, we know that money can't buy any of the greatest goods in life, like health or happiness or love. We are familiar with the histories of billionaires like John Paul Getty or Howard Hughes who have ended their days in loneliness, bitterness and misery. When we read about a man like Buddy Post who reportedly won US$16.2 million in a lottery in 1988, we are not surprised to hear that he ended up convicted of assault, deserted by his wife, the target of lawsuits and virtually bankrupt in just a few years. The rags-to-riches-to-rags stories of Post and others like him only confirm our understanding that great wealth does not answer all of life's problems. In fact, it often brings a whole load of new ones. In that sense, we can probably all agree with Paul's words in verses 9 and 10. "People who want to get rich [can indeed] fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that [can] plunge [people] into ruin and destruction." Money may not be a bad thing in and of itself. It is simply a means of exchange. But "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" and this evil root has undoubtedly led some to "wander from" their faith and to get into all kinds of trouble. Vision for HT - pg. 2 | |
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(This page is maintained by Rev. Dr. John Oakes and Kirsten Oakes .) |
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