A Sermon based on Matthew 6:25-34

Every person makes every decision they make about money based on either greed or fear. They’re either driven to get more because, no matter how much they already have, it’s never enough or they’re trying to protect themselves from some loss they perceive would leave them without what they need. Greed or fear, that’s it. At least that’s what my supervisor tried to drill into my head for five years when I was in sales. When we sat down at the kitchen table to do a deal, we were supposed to assume that our potential client was driven by either greed or fear, figure out which of the two it was as quickly as possible and work that angle toward the sale.

Recently, one of our church members told me that every time he and his wife write their tithe check to our church, which he said long ago came to mean more than simply ten percent, it was a genuine act of worship. He confirmed what I had suspected all along. First, when my sales manager gave us the greed-fear speech he was probably telling us more about himself than anyone else. Second, I had always wanted to believe that, especially in our relationship with the material world, we could be motivated by something higher, nobler, than the most base, even self-centered, human emotions, greed and fear. Jesus seemed to think so, too.

My sales manager said, “greed or fear.” Jesus said,“‘Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all (the) things (you need) will be given to you as well.’” If we will lose ourselves in pursuit of the highest of all human ambitions, finding, loving and serving God, Jesus said, everything else we absolutely must have would come to us another way as the providential gift of our loving father in heaven. Do you believe that?

The late Malcom Muggeridge came to the end of his life to say that he saw things differently after finally trusting the God he’d spent a lifetime trying to prove didn’t exist. “When I look back on my life, what strikes me most forcibly about it is that what seemed at the time most significant and seductive, seems now most futile and absurd. For instance, success in all of its various guises, being known and being praised; ostensible pleasures, like acquiring money or seducing women, or traveling, going to and fro in the world and up and down in it like Satan, exploring and experiencing whatever (it) has to offer. In retrospect, all these exercises in self-gratification seem pure fantasy. They are diversions designed to (distract our) attention from the true purpose of our existence in this world, which is, quite simply, to look for God, and, in looking to find Him, and having found Him to love Him, thereby establishing a harmonious relationship with His purposes for His creation.” (Malcom Muggeridge, “A Twentieth Century Christian Testimony) If what Muggeridge said is true, I sure hope I’m not nearly dead before I figure it out. How about you?

More… http://www.clifftemple.org/sermons/2002/2002-11-24.html