Generous Resurrection

Text: Rev 22:1-6, 17

Focus: Resurrection

Function: Mercy

Form: Story Telling

Intro: I am almost always reluctant to preach out of the book of Revelations because of all the dogma around the book.

So let me give you a little bit of history about understanding the book from my personal perspective.

At about 12, I began to be serious about studying the Bible and Theology. By this time, my father had had a heart attack and was not pastoring a Church. So, we attended a church in the city, a Missionary Church. A block away a new church was built. It was a Missionary Baptist Church, which is an historic black denomination.

For all the wrong reasons, that new Church in the neighborhood caused a problem in my church. But it opened my own questions. I saw Missionary, and I was just recently baptized and I wondered why there were two of us a block apart from each other.

Now, the Missionary Church was essentially an evangelical Mennonite denomination. And for those who study theology, the Mennonites followed the teaching of salvation from the perspective of Wesley -from the Methodists- and Joseph Armenius. It was called Wesleyan Armenian theology.

I want to bog you down with the details, but Wesleyan Armenians, among conservative theologians are almost the polar opposites of the Baptists, even though they both baptize believers instead of infants.

And my very simplistic understanding was that Baptists, who followed John Calvin believed that once you got saved, you could do anything you wanted to, and God was obligated to save because a contract had been made. I was wrong, but that was my understanding at the time.

So, I asked if they were true Christians, to which I heard this: “well, we will see them in heaven, but there are things about them that just aren't as good as what we believe.”

“Hmmm,” I thought, “the possibility of who was a Christian was bigger than I had previously imagined.”

I looked into it to see if maybe they were indeed, the ones who were better. It wasn't that I disagreed, or didn't trust my father and my church, it just made/makes sense, to know more and more.

After a while, I came to the conclusion that although there were others who were truly saved, we were probably the ones who got it “the most right.”

it is no biggie that this happened and I am glad that I was given the freedom by my father to explore and challenge my own understanding and that of others.

I became fascinated with the history of the Church's teaching on salvation. Of course, at that time, salvation meant that when we died we went to heaven instead of hell.

As my understanding has grown, I realize that I missed a bigger part of sodzo, The Greek word for salvation. Jesus said: “I came that you may have life to the fullest.”

Salvation is restoration to God and others through God's love. It's a healing. It's a welcoming back to God and it doesn't start when we die, it starts now.

But, I didn't understand that at the time. I was thinking only of heaven and not going to hell.

I remember the gratitude, and I guess, pride, that God had brought me into the very best church.

However, there was something else that I thought I learned that really shocked me.

It was the discovery that up until about 1830, nobody “got saved.” My mom, who also didn't understand, believed that somehow from the time right after the New Testament had been written until about 1880, no one was being born again, saved, people didn't ask Jesus into their hearts to save them so that when they died they would go to heaven. (And for good reason, by the way, because the Bible doesn't say that).

Now again, when I asked Jesus into my heart, I felt Him come in. He did that.

But, I didn't question this lack of a true Church that it got it best until many years later when, I realized that God has always had a Church full of God's faithful men and women who knew and loved God since the Church began.

This is a Child's understanding of faith development from my unique perspective. When I realized that Mennonites and Brethren gave their lives and property for their faith, when they lost everything to help fight slavery, I had to adjust my understanding.

So, what happened in 1880 that changed things?

A theologian named John Darby came along who had a different explanation of the book of Revelation based on a new system of theology called Dispensationalism.

Again, I am not going to bog us down with the details except to say that for better or worse, the doctrine of the end times that was popularized in the Left Behind series of books is a relatively new doctrine.

Now, I am not going to discount it because it is new. Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit will continually work in the Church to help us see more and more what God wants.

We see that growth probably most clearly in the way that the Church was the biggest opponent of slavery and the Church effectively worked on the conscious of governments and people in power to make it illegal everywhere in the world even though slavery is not condemned in scripture.

Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will continue to reveal God's truth to us. God's people, following God's Spirit caused that to change by teaching the value of every single person regardless of sex, race, religion, culture, wealth, or education.

But I do hesitate to preach Revelation because the book itself gives a warning about adding to it our own doctrines and, the interpretations about how this world will all end are so varied, that inevitably, I am going to miss something.

However, on September 11, 2001, I was pretty sure that the Rapture was soon to take place.

As I overcame my anger toward our nations enemies and started obeying God by asking God to bless our enemies and truly love them, I realized something really big.

God wants everyone back. Everyone.

In my own prayer time and spiritual disciplines, it felt like I was actually seeing into the heart of God and I realized just how much God agonized over and loved the people in Islam.

Did you know that a valid case can be made that Islam grew out of Christianity?

Maybe Darby was right and the modern understanding of Revelation is correct and all of that is the way it will happen and God just keeps delaying it because God knows that just a few more will trust God and join God's family. Maybe God is waiting for more to come in.

And that leads me back to the last verse of this morning's passage: ¹⁷The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!”

Everyone who hears this must also say, “Come!”

Come, whoever is thirsty; accept the water of life as a gift, whoever wants it.

I realize something else about this passage.

John describes a Revelation, a Vision, that Jesus gave him when he was praying one day.

And when I see the tree, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, I realize that this is not at all some description of a future event at this point of the vision.

John sees what is already happening in heaven.

Right now, God has a tree in heaven whose leaves are given to heal whole nations and the only real way to get to it is to come.

It is both a future revelation and a description of what is currently happening.

And again, that theme, LET EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO: COME!

Oh for the day when men and women will gather in the city of God and enjoy God's grace.

Oh God, in us, Let that be today as well.

Generous People

Text: Mark 12:38-44

Focus: Giving

Function: To help people be generous with mercy

Form: Bible Study

Intro: Last week, we began the November study of Generosity. Last Sunday, Generous Grace, next week, Generous Resurrection, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Generous God, and today, we will look at the result of God's generosity, Generous People. God's Generous People.

It starts with God.

It does indeed start with God's grace.

In one way, if one was to try to place one central theme to most of the parables, then the central theme would be this: “Since God has given mercy to you, you must give mercy toward others.”

Must? Or should? Or will?

If we must give grace, if we should give grace, if we have to give grace in order to receive grace, then we haven't been given grace at all.

Grace is free.

Grace is God's expression of God's generosity and God's love.

And you know that.

You know that the only part of what we call “The Lord's Prayer,” in the 6^th chapter of Matthew that Jesus explains is the part about forgiveness. And Matthew sort of describes like Jesus is giving us a contract for forgiveness. A contract is an agreement between two parties whereby both parties agree to certain actions, services or payments in exchange for something from the other party.

In this case, the Lord's obligation is to forgive us for all our sins as His part of the contract. And, our part is to be just as generous with forgiveness to every person that hurts us.

If it is merely a contract, then, the moment we choose not to forgive, we place our own selves outside of God's mercy because we refused to give the same mercy back.

The parable of the 10,000 talents is an example that may seem exaggerated. But it isn't exaggerated when we think of what it would actually cost to ransom a soul. There is no amount of money. But, for the example, a talent would have been about 15 years wages for the average working man. So, the man was forgiven a debt of 15,000 years wages.

The money owed the man, the money that he refused to forgive, was a lot, a year's wages.

I know that I would be really upset of someone stole a years salary from me. But we are talking 15,000 years compared to one year of labor.

Jesus makes the amount absurd to emphasize the fact that no man or woman can actually ransom their own soul. That, my friends, is the gift of God.

All of us would indeed be angry if we lost a years wages to someone for no good reason. We work hard for our money.

But God has given us so much more.

And, Matthew makes it sound like it is indeed a contract that we might very well fail at.

As a matter of fact, I don't really know anyone who is perfect in their ability to forgive. There may be, I know that almost all the Christians I know are trying, but even in that, we need God's generous grace.

So, is it a contract that we can fail at?

Are all doomed?

And what about the text for today?

What does the story of the widow's two mites tell us about generous people?

Well, let us look at the context. Jesus explains the resurrection and then the scene changes to the Temple. Jesus points out the religious leaders who do their religion for a show.

He warns them of being fake about giving, trusting, serving and loving.

I mention this because generosity is a response, a love response, to the generosity that God gives us.

And it is simple, God gives to us and we respond by giving to others. And remember, we cannot out give God. We can't.

So, it takes place in the temple and we see this woman giving her last bits, all that she has to live on.

And we assume that this is good, that she is praised because she chooses to live by faith and she gives away all that she has because of her love and devotion to God.

But maybe we should re-examine that.

They are in the Temple and Jesus first criticizes the whole idea of this abusive religious system that is more concerned for buildings and appearances than the people involved.

The Chapter breaks are not part of the original text.

The passage starts with criticism of the religious leaders, and then Jesus goes into the temple building itself.

This woman gave all that she had to live on, in an act of faith, toward a temple that Jesus prophecies will not stand in 50 years.

And indeed, in 70 AD, that temple, one of the world's ancient wonders, it was more fantastic than Solomon's temple, that temple, all that money, time, effort and the widows 2 cents, are all destroyed.

Could Jesus have been praising the building? Or, was He praising the woman's faith? Or was he condemning the false generosity of those who making huge gifts from their excess while the woman gave all that she had.

There is a big difference between sacrificing our excess to show off for others and giving what we need to live on because of our love and devotion to God.

I have no doubt that God provided for the needs of this woman who gave everything.

But, I am not sure that Jesus calls all this a good thing. Jesus praises the woman's devotion while at the same time He decries the religion that seeks opulence instead of helping the poor.

As a matter of fact, because of the context, condemning the leaders of this opulent religious system immediately before the story, and then the prophecy that the very temple she sacrificed, maybe even her own life for, was going to be destroyed seems more of an indictment on religion that does not focus on the hurting and suffering of the poor.

I'll let that sink in while we go back to the generosity of the woman.

I have had the privilege of serving the poor in many different places. I have spent a lot of time with Bittesweet ministries and Gilbert Romero in Tijuana. I have spent a lot of time in Haiti. I have spent a lot of time in the ghetto of Atlantic City, NJ. And, one of the things that I have noticed, that is noticed by everyone who comes in to work there and who also has their eyes open to what is going on spiritually is that the poorer people are, percentage wise, they are almost always more generous.

Maybe because they know what it is like to do without and they care. Maybe because they have worked as hard and as intelligently as they can and for some reason or other, bad luck has happened to them and it didn't turn out so well, or maybe because they really have nothing else to lose and losing 2 cents is just as hopeless to them as losing 10,000 talents. I don't really know why. But they are.

This woman was completely generous. Maybe the religions system that took her very money to live on to build a building while people are starving to death in its shadows is to be clearly indicted in the story,

Or maybe the woman had complete faith and was generous to a fault.

I know this, every time I experience the magnitude of God's grace, God's Spirit, She lives inside of us, and She compels us to give back as we have received.

Now, this passage is about money, but it has much, much more to do with life than money.

God's people are generous with God's grace.

One of my favorite books is Les Miserables. And M, the mayor is caught stealing red handed from the Priest at the Church. The Priest tells the man who caught him that he didn't steal, but instead it was a gift, and in order to prove God's generosity, the Priest gives M, even more silver.

He buys his soul with generosity. And God takes his soul. And M becomes the same man of generous principles as God.

It is our reaction. We give because God has given to us. And when we give, just like the widow, we give trusting that God will provide.

Now, about the Religious system that exploited the woman's generosity. Obviously that is wrong. So,

I am glad that the woman gave. I am glad that they accepted her gift because by giving, she also got to participate, on even a higher level than the rich who were giving out of their abundance instead of their livelihood, because she too, got to participate. It wasn't the amount given that is praised, it is the willingness to give, to participate for the glory of God instead of her own glory that excites me about her.

This is what it means to us. God provides. We cannot outgive God.

I started Bible College while Kathy was pregnant with our 3^rd child. I went to school full time, and worked a few jobs part-time. It was hard work and we were dirt poor. Those were good times because they had the result of making my wife and I generous. But one year, one of the couples that Kathy babysat for fell on some really hard times. So, we decided to give $50 to them.

Someone gave us $100. So, we gave $200 to someone else. And someone gave us $500. So, we gave away a car to the first family that had none. And someone gave us $1,000 and finally we decided that we could not out give God.

We didn't give in order to get. We gave because we saw a need. And, I have not tempted God with that trick again. One cannot trick God into giving. I am pretty sure that the events of someone giving back to us was a life lesson given to a couple called to be ministers of the gospel.

But the thing is this, God's people are generous.

Generous Grace

Text: Revelation 21:1-6

Focus: Grace

Function: To help people be generous with grace

Form: Story telling

Intro: Back in the early days of the Charismatic renewal, some interesting things were happening. It brought me closer to Jesus and helped me to develop a deep and nourishing prayer life.

I spent a day in prayer, a week and a half ago. And, I spent it at the base of a waterfall, laying on the earth, connecting with the two elements that I am drawn to, water and earth.

I was having one of those odd days where I wondered if my prayers were doubts expressed out loud, our sincere questions brought before God.

And in that time, I realized a few things, a few moments that I can refer to where I know that God is real. One of them seems important to share, as a testimony of faith, to you.

My eldest son has faced some rather difficult medical problems with the bones in his right leg. It seems as if the bones are invaded with multiple nodules of nerve tissue which substantially weakened its structure.

The condition was extremely rare, and it had no effective cure.

There was an experimental treatment that might work for which he qualified. But the hope was very slim and it fell on me to tell him the news.

He was 6 with big, trusting eyes that looked at me as if I was a god to him. We were, and are, very close. I took him to the Muncie Mall and bought him some ice cream. As I was telling him that we were going to do everything would could to save his leg, I was also trying not to create a false impression of hope.

So, I asked him his permission to go ahead with the experimental procedure, a big, long, detailed process with the option that that if it didn't work, he might lose his leg.

I looked down the mall at a pair of young men walking toward us. This was back in the day of short, pleated, athletic shorts, the kind made famous by Tom Selleck in Magnum, P.I.

They guy on the right had a real athletic gate. Every step bounced with life and rhythm. He was beautiful. And athletes also wore these terrycloth sweat bands which accentuated the fluidity of their movements.

Except, the one on the right had a sweat band in an odd place. It was on his right leg, just above his knee.

But he kept on walking until as he passed us, I finally realized that the sweat band on the right thigh was actually a sock over the stump of a leg and from the sock down, his leg was artificial.

I cried out and asked the man to stop. I desperately explained that at that exact moment, I was informing my son of the possibility that he would lose his right leg below the knee and I had noticed his superior athletic gate and would he please give my son some encouraging words in case the worst case scenario occurred?

The man graciously and happily complied.

And the video tape of those two men walking and my raising awareness, my compulsion to keep staring at the men, I was transfixed on them when I should have been transfixed on my son, but something was burning in my gut, and I am convinced that on that day, God sent two angels to comfort, and I used to say, my son, but now I am pretty sure they came for me.

Angels? They may have been two gay men who, in that day and time, were boldly expressing their relationship, this was 30 years ago. But then, maybe of God did send angels, God would send them in the form of gay men.

They expressed kindness. Although they were athletic, they weren't macho. They had class.

And during that prayer time last week, God took time to remind me of that event and God's provision for me.

And at that beginning of the Charismatic renewal, there was this song we sang which was a mixture of the beautiful image of the river of water flowing freely and every single person can drink freely from this river.

Let me re-read the scripture: 21:¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and the sea vanished. ²And I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared and ready, like a bride dressed to meet her husband. ³I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: “Now God's home is with people! He will live with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. ⁴He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared.”
⁵Then the one who sits on the throne said, “And now I make all things new!” He also said to me, “Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted.” ⁶And he said, “It is done! I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end. To anyone who is thirsty I will give the right to drink from the spring of the water of life without paying for it.

Jesus said it at another place when He said, “Out of your bellies shall flow rivers of living water.”

But when Jesus Himself spoke of the how the God, the Holy Spirit, revealed Herself to people Jesus quoted Isaiah 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. She has anointed me to bring about the recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the captives, make the lame to walk and to set free the oppressed.”

And the song we sang spoke of the river that is exposed here in Revelation. The song went: “There's a river of life flowing out of me, makes the lame to walk, and the blind to see, opens prison doors, sets the captives free, there's a river of life flowing out of me.”

To anyone who is thirsty I will give the right to drink from the spring of the water of life without paying for it.

Anyone. Praise God.

And this isn't just a future event that happens after time is done away with in Chapter 20. No. This is a real event today.

He sees the Holy City, which is a metaphor for the Church. It is a metaphor for us.

And out of the Church flows this river of life.

And ANYONE who wants to drink can come and drink freely.

Who does he mean when he says anyone?

Isaiah 58 tells us to give to the poor without judging them, or literally, without pointing the finger at them.

I was preaching that sermon one Sunday and this was the second time I am sure I saw an angel.

(Tell the angel story)

We are the river and water of life. God supplies our need.

Listen, this is grace. And it affects every aspect of life. It affects how we give, how we judge, how we help, and how we live.

Seeing

Text: Mark 10:46-52

Focus: Humble access to Jesus

Function: To help people be humble

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

Of the four gospel accounts that are in the NT, Mark is the first one. There is a missing one, called “Q” for some reason that is sort of the outline for Matthew, Mark and Luke.

They say that Matthew was written primarily to the Jewish readers. It points to Jesus as the Sacrificial lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

Luke was written by a Greek Doctor who traveled extensively with the Apostle Paul. His intent was to be as complete and historical both to the times, dates and events.

John was written with a completely different mindset. It was written to those whose world view was primarily Eastern instead of Western. A friend of mine taught English in a orphanage in Seoul, S. Korea and did research into the Christian roots of Buddhism. The concept of transcendence and detachment actually came from the ministry of the Apostle John, along with Jesus' mother, Mary, in India.

And Mark, they say, was written to the Western Imperialists like the Roman citizens and government.

Mark is a book of action.

In the Greek, the present tense is used to describe past tense events, sometimes with a sort of cadence like a sports announcer: “the Apostles are corned by the guards, wait, Peter is arrested! They are praying hard. Peter escapes! O My Nerves, he is running through the city...”

And even though in English we would never do that, the literary device was common. 43 times Mark uses the word “Immediately.”

It appealed to the powerful people of Rome because power was what they respected and worshiped. Caesar was a god to them because they worshiped power.

I have a friend who used to be what she called a real live witch who became a Christian after reading the gospel of Mark. It is the gospel of power and action. And so, Mark highlights the miracles that happened around Jesus.

And that is what makes this story, and where it is placed in the gospel of Mark remarkable.

Mark talks about power. He attracts people to the power in Christ Jesus. But soon, very soon, he introduces them, especially the powerful, to a who different kind of power.

He introduces them to the power of love that comes from God.

And that power comes from a humble relationship with Jesus Christ.

Mark places this story immediately after the apostles were fighting for supremacy and Jesus contradicts the world's view of power by commanding them to become servants, even to the lowly position of servitude expected in slavery, toward one another.

They were jockeying for position with their personal influence and embellishments of their own worth.

“Are you worth something?” Jesus says, “Then show it by serving others.”

Contrast those 12 apostles with Bartimaeus, the other actor in this story.

Jesus! Have Mercy!

Now, the story tells us that there was a crowd, Jesus was trying to get away, and the man who was blind was yelling over the noise and confusion of the crowd and again, he, in his need, becomes an inconvenience.

The crowd admonishes him to be quiet. But the man if nothing else is, is persistent.

Jesus! Have Mercy!

Jesus! Have Mercy!

I guess this is the way to get to the heart of God: Cry out for mercy.

Lord, Save me!

Lord, Help me!

Even “God help us” when born out of faith is powerful.

I suppose that in the crowd it was a miracle that he got Jesus attention, or he was really loud.

We know that he was desperate.

We know that even though he is desperate, he clings on to his hope.

Lord! Have Mercy!

These guys were vying for Jesus attention, and the man who gets it is the man who, in humility, cries out to God: “God, have mercy.”

And the lesson is taught through the one person that everyone else is dismissing.

So often, God works in these mysterious ways through the unlikely source.

I love the story of the woman at the well.

She was at the well at a different time than the rest of the women from the town.

She was a Samaritan, a racial half-breed, according to the disciples. And she was a wanderer. Married 5 times and living with a 6^th man.

Perhaps the women in the town were threatened by her seductive ways. I imagine that then needed no one else to gossip about.

And she convinces the town to come and find Jesus.

She was the most unlikely source, the one that God decided to go through to reach the entire town.

The town itself had to forgive her in order to be lead by her toward Jesus.

I find interesting. The disciples were vying for power, the man was vying for mercy.

The Samaritan town that finds Jesus gets to Jesus through a woman of ill repute. In giving her mercy, they find mercy themselves.

I want to see.

I want to understand. I want mercy.

There is a lot about this faith that even though I spend my time studying it, I find I miss a lot.

I don't understand why we don't see the miracles today that they saw then.

Some people dismiss miracles as embellishments to the story.

But, I believe that I have seen a miracle or two.

I don't know why I would experience one when starving kids across the world need one much worse than I do.

Maybe, just maybe, all of this is true and the miracle that they need is bound up inside of our own prosperity.

At least, that is what God told Abraham, “I will bless you, my servant, so that you can be a blessing to others.”

There are things, I said, that I don't understand, but this much seems true.

God is near to the cry to God for mercy. It seems as if that humble position before God is what moved God in this story.

Now again, faith isn't about figuring out ways to manipulate God, that isn't the point.

The point is the cry out to God, “Save me.”

Riches

Text: Mark 10:17-31

Focus: Riches

Function: To help us be in better tune with finances.

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

We just finished the book of James. I am reminded that it too speaks about faith and riches. I think that it's description of riches is a little telling for our culture, he identifies the wealthy as those who could afford a gold ring, which, is almost every married American male.

Sadly, we are going into another political season and a lot of it is about the rich and the poor and the perceived savior of either side.

I remember hearing a strategist in 2011 talk about a viable candidate as one who would be able to deliver “zingers” under pressure.

“Gotcha's,” they are called. When the sin of pride runs strong in a person, and that is one that is hard sometimes for Christians to hide -that is, the sin of pride, when it runs strong in a person, they can be proud of the times they made their opponent squirm because they were able to deliver a “gotcha” against someone they disagreed with.

Well, being proud of it is sin, it is the sin of broken community. I love the first ever contemporary Christian song I ever sang: “Pass it on.”

We sing the line in there: “we will guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride.”

Isn't that a great way for Christians to be noticed? Isn't that Pope Francis did so well in his speech to congress?

He said hard things with love, and who knows, maybe the love he demonstrated will indeed conquer a multitude of sins.

He could have used “gotcha's” to ridicule the most powerful nation in the history of humanity, but instead, he believed in us enough to try to win us over.

And, I believe that he won the hearts of many people. We have seen a crack in the armor of those who misuse this passage about wealth as a means for justifying wealth.

I suppose of there was one passage of scripture whereby those outside of Christianity could judge those inside Christianity and expose “gotcha's” between our lifestyle and the teachings of Jesus, it would be over this passage.

I have heard it assassinated by many people. One person said this: “the needle gate is a small gate in Jerusalem and not only is it narrow, but it is short and camels have to be have their loads removed and be hobbled to move through the gate. So, it is hard, but not impossible.”

I believe the more obvious word picture, a camel being threaded through a sewing needle, and impossible task is exactly what Jesus said.

I could say, “gotcha” to that preacher, but I think I might have said it myself once. Maybe.

Jesus was speaking about our relationship to money. That part is pretty simple and pretty obvious.

And what is not as obvious is that Jesus does not condemn wealth in this passage. Yes, Jesus poses an impossible scenario, threading a camel through the eye of a needle, but then, the text is clear to add that with God, anything, including the salvation of the rich is possible with God.

God can save even the rich. That is grace, my friends.

So, the preacher who did mental back flips with the image Jesus pictured came to the right conclusion, but all he needed to do was read a little bit later in the passage.

Jesus does not condemn wealth in this passage, but He certainly places an huge restriction on it.

St Francis of Assisi took it literally, and stripped himself naked in front of his father, renounced his wealth and went off to sainthood.

Jesus is teaching about the way that wealth becomes our god. Remember, God said, “You shall not have any gods before me.”

For the first 3 centuries, Christianity spread quickly across the Roman world. It didn't spread because of apostolic miracles, those did seem to die off with the 12 Apostles.

It spread because the Church was consistently taking serious the teachings of Jesus and was giving away its worldly possessions to the poor.

Almost all the welfare was done by the Church and the church did it well until it was taken over by the State in the 3^rd Century.

And as always, states become corrupt, so the system became corrupt and we have not been able to return it to the Church, yet.

When the people in the church lived sacrificially for those who are not in the Church, and when the people in the church did continued the work of Jesus Christ with simplicity, with peace and in community, the church grew because the world around it felt its blessing in very tangible ways.

Remember my favorite part of this passage: ”²¹Jesus looked straight at him with love and said,...”

We know that He can save the rich because He looked at this rich man and loved him also.

I know that my perspective sounds odd here, but remember, Christianity was not popular among the rich, the wealthy and the powers that be.

Jesus message was one of love and the bible says they hated Him because He didn't love money.

Jesus was telling them that more and more was not important. Enough is indeed enough. Love others.

So, the people who loved money killed Jesus. For the most part, the people who had money did not follow Christ.

Nope, it seemed that Christianity was for the oppressed, the poor, the weak, the marginalized, the dispossessed, the outcast, the illegal, the refugee. For the most part, rich people didn't follow it because of the demands placed on them with their wealth.

But Jesus loved this man. Jesus makes it clear that they can be saved.

The first will be last is the end of this passage. In Luke's story of the Rich man and Lazarus, the rich man is in hell because he didn't share his wealth with the poor man who died on his doorstep. And the poor man is saved and in heaven and if we were to learn about salvation from this passage alone, the poor man was saved simply because he was poor.

The bible makes it clear that God loves the poor.

The Bible makes it clear that God sides with the poor, the weak and the dispossessed.

So, when Jesus is reported as “loving” this man, and then actually declaring salvation possible for the rich, those words shocked most of the people who were already Christians because Christianity was historically, a religion for the poor.

Remember our study in James when James says “Isn't it the rich who oppress you...”

It is almost as if there is class warfare, or an acceptable prejudice, against the rich.

Yes it is possible Jesus is saying. The author noticed also that not only did Jesus speak kindly to the man, but his body language communicated deep regard and affection for him.

Jesus loved the man.

We also believe that Jesus loves the wealthiest nation in the history of the world.

So, with His love spoken to us, let us hear what Jesus said to the rich man: “Sell it and give it to the poor.”

Hmmm.

He was speaking of the controversy of wealth.

And it is our problem.

First, we have to admit that it is indeed our problem.

Do we sell it?

Then, we would be poor.

I suppose that there is a lot to be said for Job's statement of faith: “naked I came into the world, naked I shall leave it, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the Name of the Lord.”

That is really the question, especially for the Christian: “Who owns it?”

The text tells us the man left because he was very wealthy and he didn't want to give that up. We know that there is nothing that a man can give in exchange for his soul.

The soul, and all that it owns belongs to God.

To me, the problem was not wealth, but faith.

The wealthy do tend to trust their wealth instead of God. The very idea of having to depend on God for our daily bread is contrary to our culture.

Anyone who does that today would be guilty of not planning very well.

But here is the thing. It all belongs to God. Even if we earned it, it was God who gave us the strength to earn it.

And the moment we recognize that, the better off we will be.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.