On Money: Ecclesiates 2:1-11 and Acts 2:43-47

Itʼs hard to talk about money right now.

Right now, one in ten Americans is unemployed and looking for work. If you add in the people who have
given up looking for work, or who have taken a part time desperation gig, the number gets closer to one in
five. A lot of people - Iʼm willing to bet a lot of people in this church - are worried about their jobs; are
worried about their bank accounts; are worried about their houses and their cars; are worried about their
credit cards and mortgages and student loans.

Itʼs hard to talk about money right now.

To be fair, itʼs hard to talk about money a lot of the time. In much of American culture, money is one of
those topics that is considered off limits: we donʼt talk about our salaries or our debts or our spending.
These are not topics of polite conversation. These are touchy subjects.

Itʼs hard to talk about money.

But thatʼs what weʼre going to do today.

Weʼre going to have a little talk about money.

Part of the reason weʼre going to talk about money is because thatʼs the subject for this week in our
current series.

Part of the reason weʼre going to talk about money is because itʼs stewardship Sunday... that special day
of the year when churches talk about money.

But the biggest reason that Iʼm going to talk about money today is because of this book, this collection,
this little library. Over hundreds of years, these stories and proverbs and poems and letters were written
and collected together. They have been read and preached on and commented on for centuries more.
People have spoken of them with great praise and with great derision. People have loved them and hated
them. People have struggled with them and tossed them aside and, sometimes, picked them up to
struggle with them again.

And they talk about money... and things... and possessions... a lot.

And if youʼve read this little library... and if youʼve paid attention to what it says about money and things
and possessions... then you might understand why, in a nation where we have huge institutions devoted
to buying and selling, where we have television programs and websites and books and magazines
devoted to getting more, where we pay a lot of attention to the stock market, churches donʼt talk about
money a whole lot.

To put it bluntly: what the Bible has to say about money and things and possessions does not always
mesh well with what our larger culture teaches us to believe about money and things and possessions.

That word - ʻbelieveʼ - is important. Weʼve gotten used to thinking of belief as a state of mind, but it wasnʼt
always. It was a state of heart. ʻBelieveʼ comes from the Old English belyfan: to love. When we talk about
belief, weʼre not talking about some mental state - some assent to the truth of a proposition. Weʼre talking
about what or who we love.

And I have no difficulty saying this: in a lot of ways, our culture distorts... corrupts... Iʼll even go so far as
to say perverts... our love.

We are taught early on what to value... what to love. We are taught to make a test of pleasure, to build
houses and plant vineyards, to make ourselves gardens and parks and pools, to gather silver and gold
On Money: Ecclesiates 2:1-11 and Acts 2:43-47

and the treasure of kings and provinces, to build larger barns... to say to ourselves - or aim to say to
ourselves - ʻI have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merryʼ. Or, to put it in more
modern language: we chase after the big house with the big yard; the nice, fast car; the big retirement
plan that letʼs us be done working at fifty. We believe in them. We place our love in them.

The Bible is quick to remind us that this is not where our belief belongs. Not only that, though - it is futile
to place our belief in these things. As the author of Ecclesiastes tells us: these things are vanity and
chasing after wind.

Thatʼs a lesson weʼve learned, right? Weʼve learned it before, weʼre learning it now, and Iʼll bet weʼll get
another lesson sometime in the future: we can build up all of the riches we want, and they can disappear
just... like... that.

This is a lesson that we should have learned - as a culture - in 1819, 1837, 1857, 1869, 1873, 1882,
1884, 1896, 1901, 1907, 1929, 1937, 1973, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000...
well, a lot of times. But, like the ancient Israelites, we have chased after idols. Not idols of wood or stone,
of course, but the idols of the market.

This is a lesson that weʼre learning right now as we see our jobs shrink or disappear, as we watch our
retirement plans lose money, as we wonder what more we can do to cut expenses or where we can make
a few more dollars just to keep the status quo alive... as, in short, we live the lives many of us are living
right now.

This is a lesson weʼll be taught again. Sorry. After the current crisis passes, weʼll remember this one for a
while and, eventually, like most of the twenty-odd financial crises I listed above, it will be forgotten. We will
again chase after the idols of the market. And in a few years or a few decades we, or people very much
like us, will go through the same things.

Weʼre not very good at learning this lesson.

But thatʼs okay. Itʼs hard to learn lessons about money - itʼs hard to learn that the market our society
spends so much time worshipping isnʼt ultimately reliable. Itʼs hard to learn that the economic system in
which we believe to wholeheartedly - to which we give so much love - isnʼt really worthy of that belief.

Now, I need to take care here. I need to take care because if I were to ask you, “Do you love the market...
do you believe in it... do you worship it?” You would say, “No.” You might even be a little offended. You
might even be really offended.

But, like I said, belief isnʼt about the head. Itʼs about the heart. It isnʼt about what we think. Itʼs about what
we do. If we want to look at what we believe, if we want to look at who or what we love, we donʼt look only
at those thoughts floating on the surface of our minds, but at the things that we do... even if theyʼre the
things we donʼt usually pay attention to.

If I look at my own life - my own practices, the things I do - I know how much belief I put in money and
things and possessions. I know that I do not do what I want. I may not do the things I hate, but I do at
least do things that, when I catch myself, I would rather I hadnʼt. As Paul says: with my mind, I am a slave
to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:25)

So, itʼs no surprise that we chase after the idols of the market - that we worship at the alter of mammon -
even if we donʼt think thatʼs what weʼre doing. We might like to think that we donʼt do that. We might like to
think that weʼre above that. But sometimes we have to look at ourselves and face who we are - and, in
this case, we need to face that we are heavily involved in economic systems that are unjust and
untrustworthy.
On Money: Ecclesiates 2:1-11 and Acts 2:43-47

We know, as Amos did, that the righteous are sold for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. That the
heads of the poor are trampled upon as the dust of the ground. That justice is denied to the oppressed.
(Amos 2:6-7) We know, as the author of Ecclesiastes did, that everything we build up may disappear in an
instant and that, one day, the processes of nature will separate us from the things of this world for sure.

But we still, far too often, put our belief in those systems.

But thatʼs okay.

We live under a covenant. A covenant is not just a set of rules that weʼre not supposed to break. It isnʼt
some law that stands looming over us. It is not a threat. Covenant is about our relationships. Covenant is
about our relationship with God and with one another. We do not enter this covenant alone, but as a
people - as the church, as the community of the Holy Spirit, as the body of Christ.

And, like any relationship - any healthy relationship - it isnʼt a set of rules. When we break the
relationship, we donʼt end it. When we put our belief in the wrong thing, that doesnʼt mean that God stops
believing in us. When we are weak, when we show ourselves as slaves to the law of sin, we have a
community that can help us. We are, quite simply, all in this together.

Which brings me to this passage from Acts. This is one of those passages that is often glossed over... and
it is very scary.

Because, it is hard - Lord, it is hard - to talk about money.

“Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who
believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and
distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the
temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and
having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were
being saved.” (Acts 2:43-47)

Now, there are those who would call this way of life unrealistic - there simply arenʼt the resources to give
to all as they have need. I happen to disagree. I happen to think that we often get our desires confused
with our needs. I happen to think that, if everyone really wanted to, if everyone would just turn their belief
towards God and towards one another, we could easily provide for everyoneʼs needs.

But my point is much simpler. I am not alone. You are not alone. We are not alone.

Day by day, we spend much time together. We break bread at home... together. We eat our food with glad
and generous hearts... together. We praise God... together. And our numbers are added to. Or, to turn
again to the author of Ecclesiastes: Two are better than one... if they fall, one will lift up the other... if two
lie together, they keep warm... and though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one... a
threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

My message is simple, and it is this: It is hard to talk about money. In this time of fear and uncertainty, it is
hard to talk about money. It is hard to talk about something weʼve put our belief in when that something
has failed in so many ways. It is hard to face up to the fact that we cannot do this alone and that the
market will not bear our weight.

But we are called to something better... there is good news. If we need support through these tough
times, we have it in one another. If we need a shoulder to cry on or a hand to hold, we have it in one
another. But more: if we want to see a changed world, we can see it together. If we want to turn away
from belief in mammon, we can do that together. If we want to believe in God and in one another, we can
do that together. If we want to spent time in the temple, we can do that together. If we want to break bread
On Money: Ecclesiates 2:1-11 and Acts 2:43-47

and eat food with glad and generous hearts, we can do that together. If we want to praise God and have
the goodwill of all people, we can do that together.

If we want to love... we cannot do that alone... we can only do that together.

What a sign and wonder that would be.