We find ourselves today in the twenty-first chapter of Luke, Luke 21:1-14. It is important that you know it is late in Jesus’s earthly ministry. By this chapter, Jesus has already entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and cleansed the temple. The only things that remain are the events of Thursday and Friday of Holy Week. In other words, Jesus’s time is running out. Every word counts and not even one can be wasted. Of all things Jesus could have mentioned, he mentions money.
The Master is standing near the temple, as people gave their offering. Prior to the pandemic, we passed the plate to collect the offering. Now, the plate sits silently in the back. One thing has not changed. The envelopes are placed in the plate to hide the amount given. In Jesus’s day, the offering was more public. There were thirteen large coned shaped boxes to give your donation. It is assumed the rich gave the largest amounts. That assumption is often wrong. Sometimes the rich are rich because they spend or give reluctantly. Through human eyes, the biggest givers are the most generous. Through the eyes of God, the biggest givers, give it all. There is a world of difference between the two. That is the case of the women in the text. Through human eyes, she gave next to nothing, two copper coins. Those two coins will not pay any bills. However, through the eyes of God, she gave the most, because she sacrificed it all. In verse four, Jesus said she gave all she had. No one can question her devotion. That line fills me with shame. How does this nameless woman make you feel? I always save some for me.
There is no topic in the church today more sensitive than money. It is true of both the unchurched and the churched. Regularly, I read articles about why people do not go to church. They are all different, but they are all the same. AmericanPreachers.com has a list of why people do not go to church. It is typical. According to them, people do not go to church because:
- Church is negative
- Church is boring
- Church is exclusive
- Church is homophobic
- Church is organized religion
- Church is limiting
- Church is time consuming
- Churches are always asking for money
The unchurched do not want to hear about money! However, the churched, the people who do come to church, do not want to hear about money either. Experience has taught me why. Regular attenders do not want to hear about money because they like their church being poor. It is an excellent excuse for doing nothing. I know that sounds harsh, but it is true. Try to start a new ministry to help someone in need and everyone cries poor. There are countless questions. Try to raise money to buy something for ourselves, and the money suddenly appears. We care about the needy in our world, but not that much. Money is such a sensitive topic! Can I be honest with you?
As a pastor, I like talking about money within the life of the church. I do not really care about what the unchurched say. They will just find another excuse not to come. I do not really care what regular attenders say about money. I am not an activities director of a senior citizen’s center, where everyone must be happy. God has called me into the ministry, and I only care about what Jesus said. If Jesus talked about money, then I should talk about money. So, with that in mind, let us answer the question of the day, what is money?
Years ago, I found myself in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. I have heard about it for years, but it was my first visit. It is located about fifty miles south of Tulsa and is the headquarters of the Creek Indian Nation. It was my mother-in-law’s hometown as a child and where she wanted to be buried. We did that sad job on that visit. We took that opportunity to explore the town. We drove by the empty lot where the family home once stood. We drove by the park where the grandchildren once played. We walked around the town green and reminisced at the church. Everyone had a story. Some stories made us laugh and others made us cry. The saddest story was about the death of my mother-in-law’s father. He died in his early forties of pneumonia. The family thrived until that day. After his death, the family struggled financially. He was not a husband or a father; he was the bread winner. Someone said, his wife, my mother-in-law’s mother, never smiled again. She died in a sea of depression. What is money?
Money is important! Do not tell me money does not matter. Money does matter! Just try to live without money and see how your life changes. In homes where there is a lack of money or in homes where the money is mismanaged, everything is a struggle, and everyone is unhappy. Guess what? The same thing is true at church. Where there is a lack of money everyone is unhappy. Let me ask you this difficult question. If everyone gave the same amount as you, would this ministry expand or contract? What is money? Money is important, but money is limited.
What do these people have in common?
Michael Jackson
Kim Basinger
Mike Tyson
Nicolas Cage
MC Hammer
Toni Braxton
Ulysses Grant
Willie Nelson
Larry King
Thomas Jefferson
The answer is each one of these successful people struggled handling their money. Each one of them either died broke or were forced to declare bankruptcy at some point in their life. This is the point. It does not matter how much money you make in your life money is limited. If you don’t believe me then ask Mike Tyson. He made $400 million and declared bankruptcy. If you do not believe me then look at Michael Jackson. He was $400 million in debt at the time of his death.
I talk to young people about their futures. Everyone tells me how much money they will make. The real questions are, how much money are you going to spend? How much money are you going to save? How much money are you going to give away? It is important to manage your money wisely. You are only going to make so much money in your lifetime. Do you think your money is going to last your entire life? After all, money is limited! What is money? Money is important and limited, so money is revealing.
Recently, William Shatner (born 1931) became to oldest person to fly into space. He is ninety years old. If you have the opportunity, would you like to fly into space? According to the Pew Research Group, 42% of Americans say they would be interested in traveling into space. The world of commercial space travel is heating up and it is expensive. Jeff Bezos (born 1964) won a raffle and got a seat on the Blue Origin. He paid $28 million. Virgin Galactic said their seats into space start at $450,000. So let me ask you the question again. If you have the opportunity, would you like to fly into space? How important is space travel to you? We are all agree money is important and money is limited. It is equally true. Money is revealing. We only spend our money on things that are important to us. So, what is important to us?
According to the Washington Examiner, American spend annually:
$93 Billion on beer
$77 Billion on the lottery
$12 Billion on Pornography
$6.7 Billion on Taco Bell
$6.7 Billion on Snacks
$5.6 Billion on College Sports Merchandise
What are you going to spend your money on? Don’t forget money is important. It effects every corner of your life. Money is also limited. You are only to make a certain amount. That forces us to admit that money is revealing. We only spend money on things that are important to you. How important is Jesus to you? How important is this church to you? Andy Stanley (born 1958) once said, “Greed is not a financial issue. It’s heart issue.”
When I was in seminary, I was more than a poor seminary student. I was a destitute seminary student. Through my years in Kentucky, I had all kinds of jobs. For a while, I cleaned office buildings late at night. For a while, I worked at the local newspaper. For a while, I worked maintenance at the school. Through all those years, I served as the pastor of the Pleasant Grove Christian Church in Lancaster, Kentucky. The church was dominated by one family, the Sharps. They hired me to work on their tobacco farm.
The farm was owned by the father, Allen. The farm was run by his three sons, Horace, Fred and Lee. I know more about burley tobacco than anyone else here today. I have seeded tobacco beds, pulled tobacco plants, set tobacco plants, sprayed tobacco plants, cut tobacco plants, hung tobacco plants and stripped tobacco plants. Several times, I went to market to sell the tobacco. It was hard work. Prior to the Civil War, slaves did that work. In my time, poor destitute seminary students were hired to do the work. I learned a great deal about burley tobacco, but one thing still amazes me. All the money that it took to raise the tobacco for the next crop was borrowed. They hoped to pay it back once the crop was sold. On the Sharp farm, all that borrowed money was held in checking account with a green checkbook cover.
I worked hard but I was still destitute. One semester, I could not pay my bill. I think I still owed $300 from the past semester. If I did not pay it off, I could not register for the next semester. My personal life was complex at that time. I did not tell my family. I could not call anyone within the United Methodist Church because they had not accepted me yet. (They still do not want me.) There was no one, I was alone. To this day, I still do not know how the Sharps found out, I never said a word. One day after church, Horace stayed behind. I was locking the door of that ancient church, when Horace said, “We want to give you something, boy.” He pulled out that green checkbook and pulled out a check. He handed it to me and said, “Here.” It was made out to me for the exact amount I owed. I said, “I can’t take this, it is borrowed money.” He smiled and said, “Shut up you stupid Yankee. Take it, study hard and make us proud.” That check saved by future.
Do not tell me money is not important. Do not tell me money is not revealing. Do not tell me money does not talk. That check told me the Sharp’s believed in me and it gave me the courage to face another day. If this church has deemed anything positive from me, it is because of them. How you manage your money says a great deal about you. Andy Stanley was not wrong. He said, “Greed is not a financial issue. It’s a heart issue.”
Russ Adams 