Money, Stuff, and Peace

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on May 5, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Luke 12:13-34.

            Have you ever been really worried about something?  Something that was really important to you, something that was weighing on your mind?  Something that you just could not stop thinking about, and could not stop worrying about, no matter how hard you tried?  And then you tell someone what’s on your mind, and they say, “Ah, don’t worry about it.  It’s no big deal.”

            How did you feel when you heard that?  Did it make you stop worrying?

            Probably not.  It probably just made you mad.  Or maybe it made you upset.  Or maybe you felt like this person just did not understand what you were going through.  But whatever it made you feel, it probably did not stop you from worrying.  

            It’s so easy to tell someone else, “don’t worry.”  But that’s actually what Jesus does in our reading for tonight.  Jesus looks at the common concerns of life, and he tells the disciples, hey, don’t worry about that.  Don’t worry about any of it.

            But let’s look at the context in which Jesus says this.  A guy comes up to Jesus and says to Jesus, “Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

            I would think Jesus had to feel really frustrated when he heard that.  Maybe even kind of annoyed.  I mean, think about it.  Here you have the divine Son of God standing in front of you.  You can talk to Him.  You can ask Him anything you want to.  You can ask Him what God is like.  You can ask Him what heaven is like.  You can ask Him how you can get salvation and eternal life.  You can ask Him what some of the scripture passages mean that you’ve always wondered about.  And what does this person do?  He asks Jesus to help Him get more money.

            And when I read Jesus’ response, He really does sound a little frustrated and annoyed.  He says, it’s not my job to deal with stuff like that.  Then he tells them, “Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

            That, in and of itself, kind of convicts us, right?  I mean, none of us here would be considered rich, but we all have some money and some stuff.  And that money and that stuff is pretty important to us.  In fact, we probably wish we had more money, and more stuff.  And that’s not necessarily wrong, but it is if that money and that stuff, and the acquisition of more money and more stuff, becomes too important to us.

            Jesus then goes on to tell a story.  Jesus did that a lot, of course.  Jesus told lots of stories to illustrate his points.  Here, he tells a story about a guy who owns a lot of farm ground.  Now, I don’t know how well people who live in New York City or someplace can relate to something like that, but it works pretty well for us around here, right?  So this guy owns a lot of farm ground, and he gets a really good crop this year.  So much that he does not have enough room to store it all.  So, he says to himself, I’ll build some bigger grain bins.

Again, that’s something we can relate to, because when you drive around this parish, you see a lot of grain bins. In fact, there may be more grain bins than people in this county.  So, the man says, I’ll build bigger grain bins, I’ll put the crops in there, and I’ll be set for life.  I won’t have to do anything the rest of my life.

And God says to him, you’re right.  You won’t have to do anything the rest of your life, because you’re going to die tonight.  And what good is all that stuff you have going to do you?

It’s after Jesus tells that story that he tells people not to worry.  His point is that money and stuff are not what life is all about.  In fact, he says that worrying about that stuff really shows a lack of trust in God.  He says, look at the birds.  Look at the flowers.  You think they care about money and stuff?  Of course not.  They don’t even know what that means.  The birds just fly around and live their lives.  The flowers just sit there and grow.  Birds don’t worry about whether they’re going to have enough tomorrow or next week or next month.  Birds live in the present.  They focus on today.  Flowers don’t worry about whether they’ll get watered tomorrow or next week or next month.  They grow today.

Jesus goes on to point out an obvious truth, but one that so often we forget.  He says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?”

Now, understand, Jesus is not saying it’s a sin to worry.  What he’s saying is that it’s a waste of time.  It does not do us any good.  All it does is make us miserable.  We cannot enjoy today, because we’re sitting there worrying about a tomorrow that, for all we know, may never come anyway.  Just as it did not come for the landowner in Jesus’ story. 

Jesus says, people who don’t believe in God are the ones who worry.  They’re the ones who sit around worrying about money and stuff.  Jesus says, look, God knows that you need certain things to survive.  If God takes care of the birds and the flowers, and gives them what they need to survive, then surely God will do the same for you, because you’re worth a lot more than the birds and the flowers.  So don’t worry about it.

What does Jesus tell us to do?  Seek after God’s kingdom.  If we do that, we’ll get all the rest, too.  In fact, Jesus says, God is pleased to give us the kingdom.  So, Jesus says, get rid of your stuff and focus on seeking God’s kingdom

Now, Jesus does not say get rid of all of your stuff.  That’s not practical, and Jesus knows that.  He did not demand that the disciples get rid of all their stuff–after all, in Matthew Chapter Eight, we read about Peter having a house.  And we’re told in the gospel of John that Judas was in charge of the money for the disciples.  

The point is not that we are not allowed to have anything.  The point is, where is our focus?  And to sum it all up, Jesus says this:  “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

So the question is, where is our treasure?  Is our treasure in money and stuff?  Or is our treasure in seeking God’s kingdom?

If our treasure is in money and stuff, we will never be free from worry.  Because we will never have enough money, and we’ll never have enough stuff.  We will always want a little bit more.  And we’ll always be afraid of losing what we have.

Why is that?  Well, because when our focus is on money and stuff, what does that mean?  It means our focus is on ourselves.  Maybe on our family, too, but mostly on ourselves.  We want to take care of ourselves.  We want to make sure we have enough.  And again, we never feel like we do have enough, so we always want more.  And we always worry about it.  Our hearts, our life focus, are all on ourselves, and we will never find peace that way.

Not only that, but we know, deep down, that in the end, our focus on money and stuff will be futile.  It will have been a waste of time.  Because, as with the landowner in Jesus’ story, the day will come when our lives are demanded of us.  And none of that money, and none of that stuff, will help us in the slightest.  Someone else may benefit from it, but we will not.  We’ll have spent all the time, and worried all that worry, on money and stuff that, in the end, is meaningless.  It’s no wonder money and stuff cannot give us peace.

            How do we find peace?  We find peace by having our treasure be in seeking God’s kingdom.  Because when we seek God’s kingdom, our hearts, our life focus, automatically go off of ourselves.  Because, after all, how do we seek God’s kingdom?  By doing what Jesus told us to do.  And what did Jesus tell us to do?  Love God and love others.  

            Love is never a waste of time.  Love benefits others, but it benefits us, too.  And love, the love of God and the love of others, can give us peace.

            When we love God and love others, we know we are pleasing God.  And when we please God, we feel God’s Holy Spirit being poured out onto us.  God’s Holy Spirit works in us and through us, helping us to please God even more.  And when we know we’ve pleased God, we can find real peace–the peace that can only be found with God’s Holy Spirit.

            When we seek God’s kingdom, when we love God and love others, two things–well, at least two things–happen, and they give us peace.  One is that we don’t need to worry about the results of what we’ve done.  When we love God and love others, we can turn the results over to God.  And we can be confident that God will bless what we’ve done in some way.  It may not be the way we had in mind, but God will bless what we’ve done in some way.  Just knowing that should give us peace.

            But another thing happens, too.  In Jesus’ words, we provide a purse “that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail.”  And that treasure is worth more than any treasure that can be found on earth.  The knowledge that we have treasure in heaven should give us complete and total peace.

            We can have money and stuff with us on earth, but we cannot take it with us when we die.  But we can have the love of God and the love of others on earth and in heaven.  That love gives us treasure in heaven.  And there can be no greater peace than the peace that’s found in heaven in the presence of God.