If I Were A Rich Man                    6/14/09

         I love “Fiddler On The Roof” probably because of Teva and his constant wrangling with himself and with God.  He reminds me a lot of myself and my own wrangling.  I can identify with him too at the beginning of the play when he looks up to heaven and says to God,

“I know You must love the poor.  You made so many of them.  I know, of course, that there’s no shame in being poor, but it’s no great honor either!  So what would be the harm if I had just a little money?”  Then he begins to sing a song we all know so well, “If I were a rich man.”

Most of us have dreamed of that --- of being rich.  It’s the reason why people by lottery tickets and enter the Publishing Clearinghouse Sweepstakes.  We want to grasp at the golden ring.  We want to have it all.  And I’m as guilty as the next person.  Quite frankly, I think I would have made a great “rich man.” 

I’d give quite a bit of it away and of course I’d tithe and buy the church a new roof and repair the damage in the sanctuary and help fund missionaries in far away places.  I’d be able to give even more to RAM and those in need in our community, and I could be a pastor for free instead of burdening the church with my salary and worrying about retirement and mortgage payments and medical bills.  If I were only a wealthy man. 

Some how we think that money will solve all our problems and set us up on easy street forever.  But far too often that’s not the case. 

Too often the people who win the lottery are broke and bankrupt in just a few short years.  Their marriages have ripped apart and their children barely speak to them.  They have lost most of their friends and are looking without success for a good paying job. 

And why?  Because money doesn’t solve our problems.  Instead, the Bible tells us it can seduce us into selling our very souls for the sake of things.  We all know that verse in I Timothy where Paul says, “The love of money is the root of all evil” and Jesus tells us that it is harder for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven than for a camel to go through a needle’s eye.” 

Perhaps the problem is summed up in Ecclesiastes with the warning, “Whoever loves money never has money enough --- whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”

Notice one thing:  It is the love of money that is the problem --- not money itself.  It is when we make money our god that we get into trouble.  It is when we think of money as our savior that things go wrong. 

Money can not save us.  It can not make us whole or quench the thirsting in our soul.  Only God can do that.  And He does it as we learn to fulfill two great commandments:  Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, and soul and thy neighbor as thy self.  The rich man in our parable forgot that. He stopped relying on God and relied only on himself, and he wanted all his wealth for himself and himself alone.  He never gave a thought to loving and caring for his neighbor. 

That’s the problem with the rich we say.  They’re always out for number one.  But, I want you to notice something about this man.  He was not wicked or evil.  He did not make his money by cutting corners or cheating others.  He did not exploit his workers and he did not cheat his investors.  The story would have been easier for us to handle if he had.  (Maybe that’s why we always suspect the rich have always gotten their money at the cost of somebody else.)

No.  This rich man is like so many other ordinary people.  He was a hard working farmer who had years of good crops that put him on easy street and now he wanted more places to store his grain, the source of all his wealth. 

That actually sounds sensible.  It’s a sound business plan, so where does he go wrong according to the kingdom of God?

It’s simple really.  The man in the story had enough and more than enough, but he never thought of giving any of it away.  He wanted it all and he wanted more.  His approach to every situation seemed to be how will this affect me and my place in the world?  How will it impact my possessions?  My prestige? 

This parable is full of I and me …. my and mine --- the aggressive, possessive pronouns.   In just three short verses they appear at least ten times.  The rich fool had staked it all on his own ability to save himself through all he owned.  He didn’t think of God because he didn’t have to.  He had no need for love in any of its forms.  He was certain that he had it all, that he had saved himself for all eternity.  His security, his future was in the number of barns he had built.  Surely he had achieved heaven here on earth.

He reminds me of the rich man who didn’t believe he couldn’t take it with him.  His plan was to buy himself into heaven, so he made his wife promise to bury him with all his money.  And she agreed. 

Not too many years later, the rich man died and at his funeral his widow looked down and put the man’s money in the coffin with a smile on her face.  She had written him a check. 

When we die, God will not look at the balance in our check books.  He will look at the balance of our lives.  When we stand in heaven, He will look in our hearts and ask “What did you do with the life I gave you?  Your time?  Your talent?  Your skills?  Your treasure?” 

The rich fool had no answer to those questions.  Do we?

There are several things that have surprised me with the current economic downturn.  One is the number of people who had, like our rich fool, put all their stock literally in stock.  Their identity was all tied up in Gucci handbags and fancy cars.  They invested their self-image in bigger and bigger houses, and when it all went bust they did not know where to turn.  They did not know who they were any more without their riches to define them.  The recession has forced them to re-examine and re-consider what truly is important.

And so there are those who say they have found an up side to this down economy that they never expected.  When the “barns” they had built collapsed with the stock market, their families drew closer together.  They discovered that high ticket vacations where everyone went in different directions were not necessarily more fun than a campout in the back yard.  That eating-in around a table gave them the chance to talk with each other – to laugh with each other.  They found that they no longer had to sandwich the kids in between their work schedules.  Some have discovered new talent and new opportunities to become the person they were always created to be. 

The other thing that has happened is that they learned to give again --- to look out for others who were losing everything just like them.  They were learning the joy, yes I said joy, of loving their neighbors.  Giving to charities has not necessarily dropped off – in some cases it has increased.  We can see that here in Buchanan. 

While the need for food at RAM has dramatically increased and they face crisis after crisis in the form of empty shelves, time and time again I have heard the board say that the community has stepped up to help meet the need.  Somehow we have done it --- maybe because when we couldn’t depend on ourselves we learned we could depend on each other --- and on God. 

Does that mean I think we should look at our financial woes with rose-colored glasses?  No.  There is nothing rosey about people losing their jobs and their homes --- about not being able to buy food for the table or pay the electric bill.  Those are real hurts and demand real answers. 

But the answers can frequently be found in the riches we do have as we learn once more to share --- to care --- to give so others can live. 

As I prepared this sermon and thought of my list of all I could do if only I were a wealthy man, I was reminded of how wealthy I already am.  I have friends who love me and a God who is constantly showing me how much He cares.  I have joy and laughter and money enough to live and give.  I am truly one of the most blessed of women, and I pray I will never forget that --- that I will not forget who is the source of all my wealth and blessings.  And I pray the same for you.  May we learn the blessings of true riches and the art of sharing, of giving, to those around us in need of a loving, helping, hand.