5/7/67

Scripture: Psalm 24.

Today I want to say something about our possessions. One could preach a sermon, or probably a series of sermons, on the manner and spirit in which we acquire our possessions. Or a whole college course in economics could be devoted to the subject. I do not expect to dwell today upon that, but rather to speak of the manner and spirit in which we hold and administer our possessions, and the attitude we have toward them.

G. K. Chesterton once made this statement: “Show me the stubs of a man’s check book, and I will tell you what kind of man he is.” This points up the truth that the use to which we put our money indicates what we really think is important in life. “Money talks” and what it says tells a great deal about each of us as we administer it. The way we use our money, the directions in which we spend it; the enterprise in which we invest it; the causes to which we give it, register with a good deal of accuracy where our enthusiasms lie. The nature of our investments in business or industry; public facilities for which we are willing to be taxed, our subscriptions to our churches, concert associations and public philanthropies; our attendance at theaters, ball games, and so on, give accurate evidence where our interest and our sense of human values lie. If I give a dollar a week to my church when I could give three or five or ten in my financial condition, you know whether there is anything basic about my convictions on the Christian church.

It is important for Christians to know what Jesus’ attitude and teaching was on the subject of possessions. He did have some very severe things to say to some people on the subject. Leaders of the church of his day, more interested in collecting the tax by which the temple and all its staff were comfortably maintained, than they were about mercy to the unfortunate, or the true spirit of worship, or the great inclusive principles of justice --- were flailed by his tongue. At the same time, he upheld mightily the principles of mercy, of worship, of justice. I do not think that Jesus pretended to offer any specific scheme for economic reform. He does not seem to have been committed to any particular system. When asked about the right of the government of Rome to collect taxes, he declined to define the right of the state at that point. Once he was asked to settle a family quarrel over an inheritance. Again he refused to offer any rules for the dividing of an estate or for redistributing wealth.

While there were times when he and his disciples seem to have lived from a common money bag as they traveled, he seems to have recognized the need for private property and ownership. And he had some piercing observations on the attitude one has toward the property he controls. He appears to have spent a great deal of his life earning his living, and probably much of the living of the family, by the craftsmanship of a carpenter. He seems to have relied on the private wealth of others in order to continue his work. The gospels refer to “many friends who ministered of their substance.” [Luke 8: 3]. Jesus made use of Peter’s home in Capernaum, and of the home of Mary and Martha near Jerusalem, as though they were his own. He depended on the private hospitality and support of others, without raising a question as to their right to own the means of that hospitality and support.

In the gospel of Luke there is an account of the excuses offered, in one of Jesus’ stories, by those invited to a great dinner. One said, “I have bought a piece of ground and must needs go and see it.” Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them.” In that story, Jesus rebuked the men strongly for their excuses, but he does not appear to have raised any issue about their right to possess the land or the oxen. After Zaccaeus had entertained Jesus in his home, at the Master’s request, he volunteered his desire to give half his goods to the poor, and to restore fourfold to any man he had taken from wrongfully (and he had been a grafter). Jesus said to Zaccaeus, “This day is salvation come to this house.” [Luke 19: 2-10]. But there is no evidence that he made any demand on Zaccaeus to give away his wealth.

But this is only one consideration in Jesus’ treatment of the matter of possessions. For he did talk more about the dangers of the love of wealth, and dependence upon it for life’s values, than of any other thing. What little he had to say of heaven and hell had its connection with the use of money. He clearly taught that the love of wealth, or the coveting of great possessions, is basically one of the greatest temptations to evil attitude which confronts all men. He was insistent that the love of possessions, the desire for money, must not become the dominant desire of anyone’s life. Kipling seems to understand that pitfall when, in The Light That Failed, he says: “Unless you take precious care, you will fall under the damnation of the checkbook, and that is worse than death.”

The silver coins of our own country carry inscribed upon them the words “In God We Trust” as if to remind us that the beholding of our money must never lead us to think “In money we trust.” Jesus can, and did say “No man can serve two masters ..... Ye cannot serve God and mammon” ... that is, “money” or “possessions” or “riches.” [Luke 16: 13]. He told of the man who was about to be at ease in his possessions with the contented musing - “Soul take thine ease. Thou hast much goods stored up.” Jesus exploded: “Thou fool! This night is thy soul required of thee.” [Luke 12: 16-21]. And then he added significantly, “Take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” [Luke 12: 15].

Now what about the warning signals which Jesus put up in the matter of our possessions? How did Jesus think of money in a positive sense? He talked about money as coming to us as a gift from God. He thought of money as a part of the whole of life. His understanding was that all our talents, abilities, possessions -- indeed life itself -- are gifts from God, temporary possessions, over which we are stewards or administrators, as it were. All that we call “ours” is really His -- God’s.

One of the characters in a fictional story has this to say: “I have always thought of myself as something to give, not as something to hold and be thrifty with.” (Something not to hoard but to spend.) In the long run, our happiness, our peace of mind, our inner contentment, our sense of salvation, come only when we learn to think of our possessions as God’s blessings, “Lent to be spent;” when we come to realize that we are held, by Him, accountable for their proper use; and when we learn to use them, for the short time they are ours, as opportunities for service. For, like a big breath of fresh air, if we hold them selfishly, we suffocate.

Our stewardship of our possessions requires of us, it seems to me, a proper care for the welfare of all those dependent upon us; the members of our own families during their dependency; certainly our care for those interdependent with us; those who work with us in productive enterprise (employees and employers); our care for those whom we expect to bring us special ministration -- those who teach us and our children, for instance. Our stewardship of our possessions ought to focus some of our concern on the institutions and causes that foster the knowledge and promote the purposes of God -- churches, Christian training, Christian missions of all sorts, philanthropies of mercy. We all ought to be giving with vision to these things, worthily, intelligently, proportionate to our interest and ability. Since our stewardship even extends, by our own direction, or by the processes of law, to the redistribution of our possessions after we are through with them, we ought to make provision in our wills for channeling of our goods to worthy persons and services. Our laws make provisions for this; provisions of which many of us seem strangely unaware. Our nation seems to assume that churches, for instance, are to continue supported not by the state, but by private interests. It is a fair provision, therefore, that our administration of possessions during life, and the provision of our legal wills, take full advantage of that portion of our tax laws which deal with charitable contributions.

Now I want to discuss another angle of our common stewardship. For something like 38 years, one Sunday in the Spring season has been observed in many churches as Rural Life Sunday. Today is so indicated on our denominational church calendar. There is ample reason why all churches, not only those in the rural parishes, but in urban centers as well, should mark the day. We of the cities are dependent, far more than we realize, on what goes on in rural areas. Our very means of sustaining life comes from the countryside where is grown our food, fibers for our clothing and comforts, and much of what goes into our means of shelter.

Our American stewardship of natural resources is not all that it should be. Soon after I came to this community, I talked with an older resident of this city, now no longer living. She told me zestfully and ruefully of the days when lumbering was the great livelihood of this place. She said it was great, but it was also wasteful. The best, only, of the log was used for lumber. Great slabs of it were thrown in a huge pile that burned, day and night, year in and year out without ceasing. In one generation the timber was cut and used -- and no growth was replaced. She recognized, in her later years, that the generation of her childhood had been prodigal in the extreme with timber.

In our generation, we hear of the need for conservation of topsoil. We are told by experts that about one third of the precious, fertile topsoil of our nation, which nature takes 1000 years to produce, is gone after an average of 150 years of use. It has washed away or blown away in our prodigal effort to grow crops from it quickly without caring for and conserving it. Now the remaining precious two-thirds of the topsoil must feed, and otherwise provide for, the greatest population the nation has ever had -- a population still growing with explosive speed. What goes on in that soil is the personal concern of every soul in this nation who wants to continue eating and have his children eat!

In the early history of our land 90% or more of the people worked the land. Now no more than a fifth of the population raise the food we all eat. How much more delicate, therefore, is the balance of our whole economic life -- that farmers raise well our great quantities of food, and that the rest of us provide the farm with the tools and services necessary to such great production.

There is another, more personal, aspect of our urban concern for rural life. Urban communities do not, on the average, maintain the urban population. The cities are constantly replenished by young people coming in from the farms. More and more young people must come to the cities; for proportionately fewer and fewer are needed to run the farms, or can be supported by the farms. Everyone is, therefore, vitally concerned with these rural children and youth. We ought to recognize that some of our best strength in the churches of the cities is fed by the incoming of those who grew up on farms and in the sincerity of rural churches. The well-being of those who live on farms and in rural areas is not only their own business, but is a concern of all who live in urban areas as well. For we are interdependent upon one another.

The stewardship of our soil, and the life thereon and therefrom, is a Christian concern for all. The stewardship of our wealth in money and other tangible possessions, of our abilities and gifts and time is a Christian concern of each one of us. The preservation of our natural resources, of our hard-won spiritual heritage, of the civilization that offers fair opportunity to all, is a Christian concern. “The earth is the Lord’s and (all) the fullness thereof; the world and (all) they that dwell therein.” [Psalm 24: 1].

There are other things that we enjoy far beyond material possessions and an appreciation of our dependence upon the good earth. There is the whole realm of what is beautiful that is also a Christian concern. During this year, we have had a great deal of fine music to enjoy -- and we look forward to more of it in the coming season. Now and then we see some painting that lifts us to a new appreciation of life. And all about us is the beauty that springs forth in nature. Spring has already brought forth the blossoms of shrub and trees farther south. They will soon be blooming here. It is right to be festive when the crabapple trees blossom. The Japanese make it a matter of special family appreciation to drink in the beauty of their blossoms. The birds come back from the south with their songs and their nesting. Along the Wisconsin River we are on one of their direct flight lines. A man I knew in northern Wisconsin would say at this time of year, “The birds are so glad to get back up here in the North woods that they’re ‘singing their heads off.’”

One of the fine church camps of our denominational fellowship is the one owned by the Colorado Conference at LaForet in the Black Forest near Colorado Springs. It is situated in a splendid growth of ponderosa pine trees. The main lodge and chapel of the grounds are so situated that they afford a magnificent view of Pike’s Peak from either building. Twice I have attended summer schools for ministers at LaForet. And, like others met together there, I have known more vividly than ever before the meaning of the 121st psalm: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” [verses 1 & 2].

We live in the midst of severe demands and constant crisis. Part of our ability to meet the requirements of living lies in our appreciation of the truth that “the earth is the Lord’s” and all the fullness thereof. We are given some of its substance to use wisely and well. We share, and will continue to share, the bounty of the earth with others. And there is beauty all around us to bring life and healing to our spirits. Let our lives praise the Creator by the way in which we expend ourselves in gratitude and service.

[Let us pray: O Lord, let us rejoice in our opportunities -- in the substance we administer, in the good earth where we live, in the beauty that surrounds us. Give us grace to use it rightly. Amen.]

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, May 7, 1967.