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Limited Prosperity Unlimited Poverty

          I am tired. All the advice about saving and investing. All the blessings that money can’t buy are mine by faith, if I want them. All the wisdom about big ticket purchases and everyday costs not really filling legitimate needs but filling holes in my identity, feeding a hunger in me to be somebody. It’s all true. And I am tired. Not of all the warnings but of my refusal to heed them. I am tired of myself. I know better and I believe more than trying to buy happiness, and like you I have repented for this short-sighted, live-for-the-moment lack of faith. But it chases me like a shadow. I confess in the words of Ecclesiastes, “Whoever loves money never has money enough” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

          Sure, I’ve heard the stories about the lottery winner who wastes it all and ends up poorer than she was before. I’ve seen a father or two work way too hard to pay for the toys, the cars, the education for his children when all they wanted was his attentive approval. I’ve counseled those who don’t have – or don’t want – the discipline to curb a sinful habit. I say I’ll never do those things and Satan laughs when I do. With whispers of regret and roars of guilt he drives the knife of my sin deep into my soul. He knows I know better. You have heard the wisdom and the warnings, too. And the laugh of Satan in your guilt and shame. Because you knew better.

          Knowledge, however, is neither the problem nor the cure when it comes to sin. You can drill the 4^th commandment into your child – buy a lunchbox with the 4^th commandment written on all sides, begin and end each mealtime with your child reciting the 4^th commandment forwards and backwards, and even put your child to sleep in sheets and pajamas and bedroom wallpaper imprinted with the 4^th commandment, “Honor your father and mother” – but your child will still disobey. Knowledge is the scalpel of the surgeon, it cuts but it doesn’t heal. The skills of the surgeon, the time of recovery and rehab, and mostly the physical blessing of God make a person better.

          So when the Bible talks about money, it’s more than another piece of financial advice, more than knowledge. When the Bible talks about money it’s life and death. It’s surgery. We’re filled with deadly greed, deadly self-delusion about true treasure, and a lack of faith we actually enjoy because it lets us feel like the somebody the world says we’re supposed to be. We need more than an operation. We need a transplant. Better yet, a resurrection. Today our Surgeon, Sacrifice, and Savior gives us just that, as the one “who died and came to life again.”

          The words “credit limit” seem like an oxymoron because credit card companies insist on raising your credit limit thousands and thousands of dollars. Is there really a limit? Sure. At some point different for each of us we will become too much of a risk for even a credit card company. Even our great American prosperity is limited. Money can only buy you so much. And debt buys you a lot more than you bargained for because interest and depreciation obligate you to more cost than what you paid for the purchase, and add in a bunch of unwanted stress. So how much of a spiritual credit risk are you to Jesus? If you want him to loan you some spiritual treasures, some heavenly value, some faith or hope or love, at what point does he do the math and say, “Too much of a risk”? He answers that question. “I know your afflictions and your poverty.” Jesus has full access to a spiritual credit report with all the bad debts of sin and the late payments of trying but not hard enough. He sees the poor past performance and the risky future. And he says, “You are rich!” How can that be? Listen to three solid reasons in Revelation 2 why Jesus can say you are rich.

          Jesus Christ is “the First and the Last.” Before Visa or MasterCard, before crowns and kingdoms and church offerings given to him, before mountains stood up to praise him or oceans rolled before his feet, before the beginning Jesus Christ was … God. He needed none of creation’s wonders to make him God. And believers need none of the world’s wealth to make us rich. After the world’s powers crumble, after the world’s economy collapses for the last time, after your home and your bank and your safe deposit box and satin-lined casket all burn up on the Last Day, Jesus Christ will stand still the same. He doesn’t need any inheritance of this earth to make him God forever. And believers need no income or investments to be rich forever with him in heaven.

          Jesus Christ is the one “who died and came to life again.” Jesus said previously that he knows our affliction and poverty. And we know his: his suffering and death. Jesus became poor even before that in his humiliation, when he set aside the riches of his glory for the dirty manger, the unclean leper, and the filthy sinner. When he died he didn’t leave those poverties behind, either, like a bad chapter of his life. He brought them to the cross. The wood of the manger saturated with animal spit saw its fulfillment in the wood of the cross soaked with God’s blood. The leper lived clean of leprosy but also clean of sin because Jesus took the anger of God for him and paid the price at the cross. At the cross our sinful self died. At the empty tomb our new spirit came to life. By Jesus’ poverty we have become rich!

          “Do not be afraid,” Jesus reassures us. Those spiritual riches will pay the bills when we suffer, and we will suffer when we trust God, not riches. Saving and spending with a faith that trusts God above all else brings suffering. We don’t feed our wants and they cry out in pain. We don’t keep up with the Joneses and our ego complains. We restrict ourselves with discipline and it feels like we’re in prison. “Be faithful,” Jesus commands with a promise – he always commands with a promise, “and I will give you the crown of life.” Prosperity is limited. The American dream promises just as many nightmares. Riches can’t buy happiness or eternal life. But poverty – living like Jesus, trusting God the Father and following his way – is unlimited. Hosting a bake sale to help those less fortunate or walking to raise money for leukemia research, donating 10% of your eBay profits to a charity or 10% of your income to church might be seen by your accountant as depleting your limited resources but is seen by Jesus as tapping into his unlimited blessing. “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper (Proverbs 11:24,25).

          I hope nobody here today activates a free credit card in the pile of mail that promotes itself by offering, “Free and Unlimited Credit!” What is free today won’t be free tomorrow, and the unlimited credit will seriously limit your lifestyle when the interest is charged. Prosperity is limited when we live “under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 5:18) chasing riches like people without faith. See instead what Jesus limits. He limits death and afflictions, he limits Satan and suffering. These will come, but only on Jesus’ terms and time, and then only in serving his gracious purposes. More than that, as we live in what looks like poverty to the rest of people –following our Father’s will like Jesus – we find life to be unlimited. How unlimited for you? Well, how far are you willing to explore? “Do not be afraid … be faithful.” Amen.

Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on September 19, 2010

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Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1209 North Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 | (414) 271-3006

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