Rev. Stephen E. Stults
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
15th Sunday in Trinity 2018
Sept. 9, 2018
“No man may serve two
masters.” Matt. 6.24, from our Gospel selection for the 15th Sunday
after Trinity. The accompanying thought is: “You cannot serve
God and mammon.”
What is “Mammon?” It is an Aramaic word used by Christ twice in
the Gospels, in Mat. 6:24 and Luke 16:13. It means “wealth or riches” and
implies the concept of something secure, on which one can rely.[i]
From these two statements
come the most difficult part of being a Christian on this fallen Earth. We are,
of necessity, placed here to live and to be shining examples of God’s kingdom
on earth. Yet, we must live in our economic culture. Money is, by necessity, the thing that makes
the world go ‘round. Despite being immersed in our secular culture, we must not
take our cues from it.
This is hard, nearly
impossible. While we cannot serve God and mammon, or serve two masters, it
seems that we must to do it. Obviously, it takes money to buy wine and
Communion wafers…
This brings us to the idea
our state in this world; dual citizenship. We are told by God’s Holy Word that our true
citizenship is in Heaven. We are told
that we will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven when we no longer exist on Earth. Hebrews 11:13 tells
us the great figures in the bible: “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth.” Also, Hebrews 11:16 says: “6 But now they desire a better country,
that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for
he hath prepared for them a city”.
Most of the evil in this
world comes from the misuse or “twisting” of God’s gifts to mankind. Everything
God gives us is good: food, wine, power, money, interaction between man and
woman, etc. It is man’s fallen-ness, along
with Satanic suggestions and temptations, that “twist” each of these gifts into
evils, in the form of overindulgence or exploitation. Healthful use of wine becomes alcoholism,
wholesome marital relations become adultery and pornography, and money becomes
the power to manipulate and enslave.
Everything man has is a gift
from a loving and merciful God. Even our
ability to achieve and to accumulate wealth is a gift. Yet, when we become
covetous of wealth, it becomes an evil. Thus, we should not accumulate to the
point of obsessiveness. To many who have
made wealth accumulation their life’s goal, whatever wealth they have is never
enough. Yet, Christ tells us in Mat. 6:25 to “Take no thought for your life…” While
we are to plan and prepare prudently, we are not to obsess over our wealth, or even
the lack thereof. We should not be
consumed by concern for our material well-being. Christ wants us to be “as wise as serpents
but as harmless as doves.” (Mat. 10:16)
Yet, Christianity is not
a call to stupidity or to carelessness, but it is a call to Godly
wisdom. When we recognize that all
we have belongs to God, 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 as
it says, “Almighty God, in whom we live and move and have our being”, that is
wisdom. Proverbs 1:7 tells us: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom.”
Let us 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.
“All things come of Thee, O
Lord, and of thy known have we given Thee.”
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