| "Why The Rich Get Richer” Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – November 13, 2011 Centenary United Psalm 123; Matthew 25:14-30 This morning we
are going to be discussing the well-known parable of Jesus that
discloses why the rich get richer. The one piece of information that
sets the stage for our
understanding of this parable is the way Jesus introduced it.
He said “The Kingdom of God will be like this . . .”
His introduction cancels any idea that Jesus was preparing his
listeners for a sermon on how they should manage their money.
There is always a
danger in describing spiritual
wealth by using material terms, particularly in our generation where
countless Christians take the Bible literally.
When people do that without an informed interpretation, they can
miss what the Scripture can teach them. For example, when
the Bible mentions that The New
Jerusalem has streets paved with gold (Revelation 21:21) or
believers make references to entering the
Gates of Heaven, what exactly
are they describing? Through
the years such descriptions have led people to believe that
Heaven is an
opulent piece of real estate
somewhere in the Cosmos.
They may believe this way because the Bible states that it is.
(Revelation 21:19f) When children hear
stories that the streets of Heaven
are paved with gold, it is confusing.
I remember asking my Sunday school teacher, “Are there also going
to be cars and streetlights?” She
said, “No dear, this means that
Heaven will be a very beautiful place.”
As for the
Gates of Heaven, I once asked
my Dad what the gates were
attached to. Innocently, I
asked, “If we believe the gates
are attached to walls, is God trying to prevent some people from coming
in?” I do not remember his
answer. What Jesus is
teaching in this parable is the age old struggle that each of us
experiences between faith and fear.
Both responses can happen to us on a weekly basis and are part of
the human condition. We
either trust that the flow of our lives has a distinct and highly
personalized purpose for our growth, or we become fearful that the flow
of circumstances has no rhyme or reason other than to make our lives
miserable. Jesus’ parable began
when a wealthy man gave his three servants a sum of money, “each
according to his ability.”
Two of them immediately put the money into circulation by investing it
in various business ventures, and the third one became so fearful of the
potential of his master’s wrath if something happened to it that he
buried it. He probably worried about the safety of the money during the
entire time his master was away. What happens next is
the lesson Jesus was teaching.
All three of them
experienced the consequences of their thoughts, emotions and actions.
The rich got richer and the one who became immobilized by
fear lost even the little that he had.
Jesus said, “This is what the When we are born, we
come equipped with something of great value -- the ability to create.
This is what is meant when the Bible tells us that we were
created in God’s image. In
essence, God is saying to each of us, “See what you can do with what
I’ve given you.” Two of them in Jesus’ parable produced and they grew
richer. The third one never
took any risks. He did not
even use his imagination to consider depositing the asset into a bank
where it would have drawn interest. There is a true
story that brings Jesus’ parable into even sharper focus for us.
Once again it is an illustration that describes in material terms
the same spiritual consequences that caused the
darkness, crying and
the gnashing of teeth
experienced by the third servant that did nothing with his master’s
money. Many years ago there
was a farmer that owned hundreds of acres on which he grew crops each
year. He began to hear
stories about people becoming wealthy by their discovery of diamonds.
While he was a successful farmer, he felt that farming was hard
work and he decided to seek his livelihood elsewhere. He sold his farm and
went in search of the precious mineral that had made millionaires out of
countless people in other parts of his country.
He never found a single diamond.
After spending the last of his life’s savings, he became very
despondent. As the story
continues, he took his own life by throwing himself off a high bridge.
What makes the point
of Jesus’ parable more clear is what happened next.
One day, the man who bought his farm was crossing one of the
numerous streams that wound its way through the property.
He saw the sun’s rays reflecting off a bright object located in a
shallow portion of one of the streams. That
object turned out to be a large raw diamond. In fact, the farm was
literally covered with them. The property
eventually became one of the largest and most profitable diamond fields
in This is one of the
saddest stories imaginable, but it happens repeatedly in so many
people’s lives. Jesus
concluded his story with words that reflect the title of my message, “To
everyone who has something, even more will be given.
Each will have more than enough.
To those who believe that they have nothing, even the little they
have will be taken away from them.”
(Matthew 25:29) Jesus
literally was teaching that the
rich only become richer and the poor become
even more so. Jesus lived in the This is why he
taught, “Those who strive to be first in this world will be the last in
my world.” (Matthew 19:30)
“What good will it do for some people to have power over the entire
world if they allow their spirits
to starve to death?” (Matthew 16:26)
“Where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also.
(Matthew 6:21) Jesus was not against material wealth; he
was teaching that
the currency
that makes the rich become richer is the constant use of skills and
abilities that can neither be bought nor sold.
Most of these treasures are
connected to our attitudes. Each one of us is
like a diamond mine. When we
are young we have no idea what we have until we begin to respond to the
material world.
When we learn to interpret all the abrasives
that we find in our world as
helpful agents to polish our people-skills, to polish our
imaginations and to polish our recognition that everything coming up for
us is an opportunity for our growth, we become wealthy beyond measure.
In one of my former
churches, I met a young man who lived on the streets of One afternoon while
we were visiting, I said, “I want you to try a new approach to your
future. Go across the street
and ask the owner of the gasoline station if you can clean his bathrooms
and clean people’s windshields when they drive in to fill-up their
tanks. Don’t ask for
anything. Tell him that you
need something to keep yourself busy during the day.
Show up everyday and do the best job you can on those bathrooms
and windshields. See what
happens.” Well he did that and I forgot about him. Several months
later, my secretary buzzed me on the intercom and said, “Dick, I’m
sending Lionel up to your office.
I would love to see the expression on your face when you see
him.” When I opened my office
door he was wearing an official shirt that said, “Exxon Mobil” and
underneath of those words was his name embroidered on that shirt.
I have never seen him so proud of himself.
Lionel said, “Rev. Dick, Mr. Jim is paying me.
He told me that his bathrooms
never looked so good.” Years later, after
my appointment to St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church in Bowie,
Maryland, Lois and I returned to our former neighborhood in Washington,
D.C. Lionel must have recognized us as we were walking toward the gas
station. The little guy was still
there. He came running out of one
of the service bays in the garage to greet us.
He said, “Rev. Dick, Mr. Jim has taught me how to become a
mechanic.” He went on to
tell us that he and his girlfriend have their own place.
He was beaming with pride and so happy with his life.
He had become a contributor by accessing and using his
inner treasure. It is absolutely
amazing what each of us has inside of us.
Of course, none of us has
a crystal ball that helps us to anticipate the future.
What we can do is use what we
find within us and invest our assets in serving others in some capacity.
Everyone in the work place is doing that even though they may not
view their tasks that way. Our wealth will expand and grow just as
Jesus’ parable described. We have all known people who have spent their lives just polishing one thing -- their people skills. They have learned how to make the little irritants in life become stepping stones to the place where very little bothers them anymore. They don’t complain. They never blame anyone or assign responsibility to someone else for what has become of their lives. One of the lessons
from Jesus that combines the best of our spirit and material worlds is
this one: “Seek first the In a collection of
my most favorite poems is one by author Helen Steiner Rice.
Listen to these words: We cannot all be famous or be listed in “Who’s Who,” but every person great or small has important work to do.
For seldom do we
realize the importance of small deeds or to what degree of greatness
unnoticed kindness leads.
For it’s not the big
celebrity in a world of fame and praise, but it’s doing unpretentiously
in undistinguished ways the work that God assigned to us unimportant as
it seems that makes our tasks outstanding and brings reality to our
dreams.
So do not sit and
idly wish for wider, new dimensions where you can put into practice your
many good intentions, but at the spot God placed you begin at once to
do, little things to brighten up the lives surrounding you.
For if everyone
brightened up the spot on which they’re standing by being more
considerate and a little less demanding . . .
This dark old world
would very soon eclipse the
Evening Star if everyone brightened up the corner where they are. Who could have
imagined that a humble carpenter and twelve uneducated men would
eventually change the world?
It is happening! Now that torch
has been passed to us. It is
our turn to let our lights shine and allow God to use us as part of the
design for God’s Kingdom to become more visible here on earth. |