Ok I am going to warn you. Brace yourselves. More than half of Jesus teachings are about money. I can see your eyes roll from here. The church always talks about money. Father so and so only cares about money. All they want is money why they talk about money so much we should talk about something more spiritual.
Hear me again, over half of Jesus teachings are about money and about two-thirds maybe three-quarters depending on how you count of Jesus’s parables have something to do with money.
Why does Jesus talk so much about money. And a better question I think really its why does talking about money make you and me so uncomfortable. In fact I have zero doubt that if you asked people what’s the subject you want to hear least about at church the answer unanimously would be money. I know I served for over 45 years years, I heard the sighs, I seen the crossed folded arms, I encountered the resistance of rolling eyes, shrugs and frown faces. If it’s the subject that makes us most nervous, most anxious, most resistant and yet Jesus continues to insist on bringing it up. Maybe, just maybe, he knows something. Maybe Jesus realizes that the greatest competition He has for our hearts is our stuff. The greatest competition that God faces for your heart isn’t Satan it’s money. Maybe Jesus knows that if you are not careful and I can grow so attached to things and money and possessions that we become detached from Him.
So hear me, Jesus doesn’t want your money, He wants your heart and He makes it clear that money is a spiritual issue. Why? Because your heart follows your money. You think it’s the other way around that your money follows your heart. But no, your hearts follows your money. let me sharer this cute story.
At 15, when his family moved to Florida a young man discovered something fantastic, girls. God’s best work, Wow! He began to do extensive study on guys who got girls and he realized that they all had a car. He didn’t have a car. So he went to ask his dad who said, you better have a plan because I’m not paying for your car. So he got a job selling tennis shoes at a sporting goods store and saved his $3.35 an hour pay that he was earning. He began to save and scout out the car and found just the right car, a beautiful Volkswagon rabbit and it only had 300,000 miles on it. He was $500 short, so he went to his grandmother who first was going to loan him the money but then decided to give it to him with one stipulation that he make her a promise that anytime he ride in a car he would wear his seatbelt. So he made the promise.
He loved that car. He started getting up every Saturday morning before he went to work and at 6:30 in the morning washed that car in the driveway, he would turtle wax clockwise, and he get Armorall and spray the dashboard, he gets Windex for the windshield. He couldn’t get enough of that car. Pretty soon, he couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and spend time with his car. All his energy, all his attention was on his car. Why because he had sucked very single penny in the universe in that car.
Your heart follows your money. That’s why Jesus says in this gospel you can’t serve two masters. You can’t serve God and mammon. Mammon is a fancy word for stuff. You will either hate one or love the other.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who realize that Jesus doesn’t want your money, He wants to capture your heart.
