15th Sunday after Trinity 2015
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
Rev. Stephen E. Stults
13 September, 2015
This is the third and last Sunday that St. Paul
speaks to us on the topic of law vs. grace, from the epistle to the Galatians. As
you will recall, this was the theme of the last two weeks’ epistles.
Why is this worthy of notice, you may ask? Put another way, in the great scheme of
things, why is this important? The answer
to this question is only important to those who meditate upon their metaphysical
state and salvation. That is, those who consider weighty questions such as:
what is the nature of the human soul; why am I eternal; and, does my soul truly
live forever?
If one will make a positive response to all three
questions, then all these questions have value; in fact, in the truly long view
of existence they are the only questions that matter.
It is this context that St. Paul speaks to the
Galatians (and to us) about the weighty question: who will be our master? Looking at the Galatian
Church , St. Paul
Over time, the primitive church prevailed and grew,
only to face other dangers and persecutions, most notably from the Roman
authorities themselves.
Thus, the question is, will we be guided by grace
or by law? In short, which will be our
master?
Turning from St. Paul the Apostle to Our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, we see a similar question posed to us by the Gospel
selection from St. Matthew. Now, Law and
Grace have become Mammon and God. Yet,
the question is the same: who will be our master?
Our Gospel selection comes from
that great body of Christ’s teaching called the Sermon on the Mount. In this famous sermon, recorded in Matthew
over three chapters, Jesus covers a host of topics including: prayer,
almsgiving, fasting, marriage, divorce, hypocrisy and our material life. It is truly one of the great discourses of
all time, known for its wisdom, its simplicity, and its breadth. This particular section of Scripture shows
Jesus in his role as Teacher, a role that was especially admired during the
Enlightenment. It was because of this
emphasis on Christ the Teacher that Thomas Jefferson produced his own version
of the Bible, one that emphasized the rational teachings of Jesus, in line with
Enlightenment thinking, and expurgated the miraculous aspects of Jesus’
ministry. You see, miracles have no place in a universe ruled by pure reason.
This section on the Sermon on the Mount was one that Jefferson admired because
it was one of the finest examples of Jesus the Teacher.
Jesus does indeed teach us as he says: (Mat 6:24) “No man can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” This topic has been
attacked from every angle for hundreds of years, and deals with our attitudes
towards money and our material success.
Christ is certainly not
putting down material goods, or success, or even wealth. You’ll recall that Jesus never does this in
any of the Gospels. Instead, He attacks our attitude towards wealth,
bringing out the concept of divided loyalties. Thus, Christ talks about “serving”
mammon as opposed to using or even creating wealth. Herein lays the crux.
The whole question, then,
comes down to our loyalty. Whom will we
serve, Christ and His Kingdom, or “unrighteous Mammon” and the World? The
choice is ours. Just keep in mind that we must choose. Neutrality is not an option.
What’s fascinating about
this sermon is that Christ moves directly from a discussion of
mammon to trust and God’s
Providence. Simply put, this is a teaching about faith and all that it entails. Just as the lilies of the field grow without
worrying about their height or their splendor, and just as the ravens of the
air are fed by God without worrying about sustenance, we too are to trust in God for all that we need.
This leads us to consider
what we think we need versus what we really need. Although Jesus brings
it to a very basic level in this teaching, it is equally applicable to every
aspect in our lives. Christ says, “Do
not worry about food, or drink, or raiment.
Trust in the Lord and these things will be provided. “What Jesus is
really saying here is if we live in Covenant with God, He will provide for us.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to own understanding, as
Proverbs says.
Thus, Jesus addresses our
needs, but how about our wants? Ah, this is always the catch. While our needs are finite, our wants are a
different story. As you all know, most
of my corporate life was spent in the area of sales, sales management or sales
training. We were always told to focus
on our wants when visualizing our goals. We were told to do this so that we
would visualize ad infinitum. After
you’ve sold enough for one material object, there is always more. Thus, the
modern sin of always more, more, more.
Enough is never enough, especially in sales.
Applying this to our lives,
just what and how much of “what” do we truly need? This is a question that only the individual
can answer. I will submit for your consideration that the Christian’s answer
will be vastly different than the non-believer.
The Christian’s answer will, or should be, tempered by the Holy
Spirit. Again, I am not speaking against
material abundance at all, but rather, just how close are we to it? Christ says to our spirit, “Do you love this
more than me?”
The point is, of course, how healthy are we,
spiritually, in regards to our material goods?
It may be time for a spiritual “check-up” in regards to our possessions.
Always remembering that we are but stewards of all that we possess, as good
stewards we are called to accumulate, manage and safeguard what we have. But,
we cannot let our “stuff” consume us. On
the other hand, we should not waste our abundance or mis-use it.
Christianity is not a call for rapacious
accumulation of “stuff”, under the guise of covenantal blessings or conversely,
to carelessness regarding material things, but it is a call to Godly
wisdom. When we recognize that all
that we have belongs to God and not to us, that is wisdom. When we know that we
are simply stewards of all we have, that is wisdom. When we agree with the
Prayer Book on page 587, as it says, “Almighty God, is whom we live and move
and have our being”, that is wisdom.
Consider what is elegantly stated in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom.”
I pray that we understand and give
thanks for the knowledge that all things belong to God. When we make an offering, remember that we
are merely returning a portion of what is His. Amen.
“You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Matt. 6.24.
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