Luke 12:15 Marianne Niesen October 23, 2011
Today we have another one-verse scripture text! From Luke 12: 15 . . . and Jesus said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Or, from The Message: Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot. Jesus says this in response to ‘someone in the crowd’ who wanted him to settle a family inheritance squabble. The text is followed by a parable about a rich man who built bigger and bigger barns only to find he was soon to die. And that is followed by the wonderful passage about not worrying and how we should consider the birds of the air and how, if God takes care of them, surely God will care for us too. In other words, we move from greed and the inevitable worry that accompanies it - to an invitation to live contented lives.
So simple. And that is precisely the subject of today’s sermon. The antidote to the greedy life is the simple life – which is to say, the contented life. And this simple, contented life becomes possible only when we turn our focus from piling up an abundance of possessions to gratitude for the abundance we already possess.
Two friends met in the street. One looked sad and almost on the verge of tears. The other man said, "Hey my friend, how come you look like the whole world has caved in?"
The sad fellow said, "Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me 50-thousand dollars."
"That's not bad at all...!"
"Hold on, I'm just getting started. Two weeks ago, a cousin I never knew kicked-the-bucket and left me 95-thousand, tax-free to boot."
"Well, that's great! I'd like that."
"Last week, my grandfather passed away. I inherited almost a million."
"So why are so glum?"
"This week - nothing!" [1]
Someone asked John D. Rockefeller (of all people) "How much wealth does it take to satisfy a person?" He replied, "Just a little bit more." The Romans had a proverb: "Money is like sea water; the more you drink, the thirstier you become." [2] Our Enough Stewardship Series calls this the ‘restless heart syndrome.’ We’ve heard of the ‘restless legs syndrome.’ RLS is a condition in which a person has restless twitches and contractions in the legs and it can be so bad it keeps one from resting or sleeping. Restless heart syndrome (RHS) affects the heart, the soul, and its primary symptom is discontentment.
To be sure, not all discontent is wrong. There is a kind of discontentment that is virtuous. Over and over, the Bible reminds us that we ought to yearn for a closer relationship with God, a more active prayer life, wisdom in our dealings with others. We ought to be concerned about issues of economic justice and poverty in the world. We ought to be restless about the growing disparity between rich and poor. The problem comes when the things we should be content with – or at least be working toward contentment with - are instead the things with which we are hopelessly unhappy. We find ourselves not good enough, our children don’t do enough, our spouse isn’t attentive enough. We don’t have enough, aren’t smart enough. We are discontented with our stuff, our jobs, our churches, our communities. We pick at little things, often ignoring the big things altogether.
The story is told of evangelistic pastor, Tony Campolo, who was speaking to fundamentalists about 3rd world famine victims. He said: “They’re starving, and you don’t give a damn. And what’s worse, you are more upset that I just said ‘damn” than that these people are starving!” [3]
There is indeed a place for discontentment in our lives but we ought to use it wisely and for the right things. Discontent that leads to social change, a better world, a more equitable distribution of wealth – we probably need more of that. But, the discontentment that leads to simply wanting more – more stuff, more attention, more prestige – that’s discontentment that leads to RHS, Restless Heart Syndrome. And it is quite common in 21st century USA. I was walking through the UMW sale last week and I remember thinking – and actually saying to someone – if I don’t know what it is, I probably don’t need it. Of course most of those things were a quarter or so but how many times do we find ourselves taken in by clever advertising and a desire to ‘keep up’ and so we accumulate more stuff and sometimes haven’t a clue what on earth we’re going to do with it?
I was intrigued to read recently of a family that put up a hummingbird feeder with four feeding stations. Almost immediately it became popular with the hummingbirds that lived in the area. Two, three, or even four birds would feed at one time. The feeder would be refilled at least once a day.
Suddenly the usage decreased to almost nothing. The feeder needed filling only about once a week. The reason for the decreased usage soon became apparent. A male bird had taken over the feeder as his property. He was now the only hummingbird who used it. He would feed and then sit in a nearby tree, rising to attack any bird that approached his feeder. Guard duty occupied his every waking hour. He was an effective guard. The only time another bird got to use the feeder was when the self-appointed owner was momentarily gone to chase away an intruder.
That hummingbird was teaching a valuable lesson. By choosing to assume ownership of the feeder, he forfeited his freedom. He was no longer free to come and go as he wished. He was tied to the work of guarding his feeder, his STUFF. He was possessed by his possession. [4]
Apparently, even those ‘birds of the air’ can have trouble in this regard! And it is what often happens, isn’t it? When protecting our stuff becomes the main thing, we lose the really main things we most desire – freedom, joy, security – contentment. We develop RHS. Which is why Jesus warned: “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
So, how do we begin to live in such a way that we cultivate contentment? What are the strategies for simplifying our lives? There is plenty of advice on this. There are strategies in the Enough book, which I again recommend to any of you who might not yet have purchased one. I also found “Ten Simple Living Tips From the Amish” which were good. But the most helpful thing for me personally was from a website called “christiansimpleliving.org.”[5] There was far more there than I can share here but let me give you the highlights. And, I’ll begin with a definition. It is this . . .
“Simple living is the radical idea of organizing our lives around Jesus’ mandate to love each other and applying it to everything we do each day. (It means) re-ordering our priorities based on (two) simple principles:
· Our purpose in life is to love and care for others;
· In our loving, as it is said by physicians, ‘first do no harm’ – to other people here and around the world, or to God’s creation.”[6]
In other words, simple living is fundamentally about caring for others, for ourselves, and for the world, with the love of God, in the spirit of Jesus. It is living in a way that re-focuses our lives away from greed, away from accumulation of more stuff for the sake of having more stuff and, instead, toward sustaining people, communities, and the earth. As Gandhi said, we “live simply, so that others might simply live.” By its very nature, Christian simple living begins with a focus on gratitude for the gifts we have. Remember - the hummingbirds had an abundance. Enough for them all. The scarcity was created by one bird’s greed. Simple living is predicated on the belief that there is indeed enough for all – for the birds of the air and the people of earth.
The first step, however, to a more simple lifestyle is to make the decision to try it. Then – and, again, this is inspired by that website – we continue by stopping some things and by starting other things. We stopthe thoughtless purchase, use, and discarding of all those things we don’t really need in the first place. Instead, we buy less of what we want, and buy only enough of what we actually will use. We ask do I really need this? before any purchase. The answer may be yes – but that question may also lead us to a new awareness of motives and desires that are more about keeping up and feeling important than true happiness of heart. Those aren’t the same thing. One strategy here is that when we find something we think we need, put it on a list and wait three days before actually buying it. It’s amazing how many ‘I-absolutely-need-this’ things become unimportant with time. We have no idea how strong and persuasive most advertising is. One New York Times blogger, Carl Richards, calls this a ‘mandatory holding pattern’ and he reflected on how, when he first signed up for Amazon Prime, he ended up with stacks of books on his desk he never even started. So he decided to put any book he thought he needed on the Amazon wish list and he waits at least five days before ordering one of those must-have books. Now he has a clean desk and a long wish list. [7]
So we stop buying or accumulating what we don’t need and then we start making new choices about what we do need. We need to get better at using environmentally, economically, and socially conscious values when buying those few things we actually do need - from large items (homes and cars), to small ones like detergent and paper. Another strategy is to recycle everything we can, because (according to this website anyway) in God's economy, there is no garbage and everything is valuable. Now, I think there probably is some garbage but the point is that learning to re-use and re-cycle would be helpful for us all and would serve to remind us that the value of things goes beyond us.
And, that all leads to the most important thing of all. As we stop using our time and money on stuff, we start to use it instead, on truly important things - like nourishing relationships with our families and communities, serving those who need our help, and working harder for justice, here and abroad.
This, after all, is the point of the Gospel, isn’t it? We are to love and serve others rather than manipulating the world, its people, and its resources, so we can have an easier life. The fact is there are changes we can all make that can and will make a huge difference in our lives. One of the things that has been part of my life lately is that I have lost a significant amount of weight and that means that lots of my clothes don’t fit. Taking things that no longer fit to the thrift or consignment store is a no-brainer. But, as I’ve been reflecting on all this stuff, I’ve found myself going through my closet and looking at perfectly good things that kinda-fit but really don’t and that I haven’t worn but, well, you never know. And, I’ve tried to balance that with maybe someone else could really use this sooner than I will. What are the things in our closets, garages, crawl spaces, attics that we might give so others might simply live? What are the things that we want but don’t need that we could not get so we have more resources to give away to make the world more like the reign of God on earth as it is in heaven?
An American businessman was at the pier of a small, coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while.
The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish. The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late; fish a little; play with my children; take siesta with my wife, Maria; stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos; I have a full and busy life, señor."
The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat; with the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats; eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York City where you will run your expanding enterprise."
The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, señor, how long will this all take?"
To which the American replied, "Fifteen to 20 years."
"But what then, señor?"
The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich; you would make millions."
"Millions, señor? Then what?"
The American said, "Then you would retire and move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."[8]
Perhaps what we really want in life is already in our grasp. Bigger is not always better. More is seldom enough. The Restless Heart Syndrome is real. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead, we can follow the way of Jesus, a simple way of life that allows us in the end to have more, enjoy more, and give more. For, life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.
Watch with me …. Video clip… What Would You Take from Enough Stewardship Program Guide.
Several years ago, Sheri Hostetler was on our staff as our Director of Small Group Ministries. Then she and her husband Jerome moved to the San Francisco area in California where Jerome teaches at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley and where Sheri became pastor of the First Mennonite Church of San Francisco. As I was contemplating this sermon, Lois came across a poem written by Sheri. It was first published in an anthology of poems and, I found out later, had been featured by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac on NPR. It is the best way I can think of to end today’s sermon . . .
Instructions by Sheri Hostetler
Give up the world; give up self; finally, give up God.
Find god in rhododendrons and rocks,
passers-by, your cat.
Pare your beliefs, your absolutes.
Make it simple; make it clean.
No carry-on luggage allowed.
Examine all you have
with a loving and critical eye, then
throw away some more.
Repeat. Repeat.
Keep this and only this:
what your heart beats loudly for
what feels heavy and full in your gut.
There will only be one or two
things you will keep,
and they will fit lightly
in your pocket. [9]
