What Defines YOU?

Rev. Brian Weinberger

RCL Year B • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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Rich Young Man

One of the common theologies of early Judaism was that if you were rich, healthy, and had a large family then you were blessed by God. So when we see this rich man come to Jesus and ask him what he must do to inherit eternal life we learn a couple of things about him. We know that he is most likely a Pharisee because it was the Pharisees who believed that there was a resurrection for the Jewish people. We also learn that based on the fact that he carried out all the commandments that he is likely someone who was a strict adherent to the Law, and the text tells us that he was sad because he had many possessions which tells us that his man was wealthy. Jesus also then tells those who are following him that it will be hard for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God which also reinforces the fact that he was likely a wealthy person. So our text tells us that this man is a good Jewish man who follows the commands of God and it was probably a result of that adherence to the Law that made him wealthy.

One of the clearest examples that I can think of as another example of this idea that God blesses those who hold to God’s commandments and as a result is blessed by God is the Old Testament book of Job. At the beginning of the book Job has a huge family and livestock and everyone thinks that Job has been blessed by God. Job follows God and is a righteous man. But when Job is then tested by God and Satan everything is taken away from him. He gets sick, his family dies as well as all of his livestock and his crops go bad. His friends try to convince him that he did something wrong and that is why God is punishing him and all his health and wealth are going out the door. Job refuses to believe that and continues to hold his trust and faith in God while also maintaining that he never did anything wrong. There’s more to the story and it is a great one so I encourage you to read it but for our sake we see that all Job’s friends consider his beginning glory was a blessing from God and his dip into nothingness was a curse from God.

Abraham is probably another great example of prosperity in the Old Testament. God claimed Abraham and Sarah as God’s own and as a result they gained numerous cattle and servants along their long journey of following God.

Prosperity Gospel

The idea that God blesses those who live according to God’s commandments is something that persists today and continues to make its way into Christian theology as well. The most prevalent is known as prosperity theology or prosperity gospel. This way of interpreting the Bible follows the Old Testament idea that we see from our examples above.

The main points of prosperity gospel are based on the idea that God wants financial blessing and physical well-being for all of God’s people. Now on the surface I don’t disagree with this but then it goes on to say how that happens. Here are the ways to achieve financial blessing and physical well-being according to prosperity gospel:

Faith

Positive speech

Donations to religious causes

That means that we have a contact between us and God. If we do good God will bless us. If we don’t then we won’t see that return from God.

One of the biggest and most well-known proponents of the prosperity gospel is none other than Joel Osteen. His most popular work is called, “Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential” which also includes a calendar, a board game, and a study guide. Joel Osteen and other TV Evangelists maintain that idea that you need to show God your faith and commitment and then God will show you something in return.

I’m sure you’ve seen those old clips or even watched them live as pastors on television invite people who are ill or physically unwell to show a sign of faith by taking a few steps or donating money. It is through that ‘proving their faith’ that they are showing themselves and to God they have enough faith…because after all you only need the faith of a mustard seed to move mountains. This is all the idea of prosperity gospel and it tries to teach people that if we do things then God will respond in return, but if we don’t then God won’t. Or that God will but only in the negative.

I actually met with a woman while I was on internship back in 2006 who firmly believed that God was punishing her mother for the sins she as the daughter had committed during her wild teens and twenties, and she wanted to know how to go back to receiving God’s blessings. She had turned her back to God’s blessings and wanted to know how to repent and have God cure her mother’s disease, which is why she met with me throughout that hear and attended church each week. I was glad she attended but I couldn’t figure out how to change her mind from the idea that God blesses and punishes based on our actions to a God that blesses us no matter what we do in our lives.

A New Way of Thinking

Which is what I believe is part of what is at the heart of today’s Gospel. Today’s gospel is not about blessing the wealthy and therefore cursing the poor. Today’s gospel isn’t about prosperity in terms of our wealth. Jesus clearly points out that wealth isn’t the way into heaven. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

I also don’t believe that wealth is at the heart of the problem either. The question that I feel Jesus is asking us is what defines you? What defines me? If we think that who we are is based on our wealth or on the possessions that we have then that is where we receive our happiness and our joy from. If we lose those things then we lose who we are. Or if those things that we own no longer bring us joy then that joy and that connection that makes us, us goes away as well.

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

God doesn’t want the rich man to sell his possessions just to sell them, but to show that rich man that there is more to who he is than his wealth. His wealth is not his source of love from God. God’s love comes to him whether he is rich or whether he is poor. And as we have seen a lot lately in the past few weeks, God greatly cares for those who are poor and outcast. Those who are the least in society. God wants this rich man to see that caring for those people and even being one of them is not a sign of distance by God, but as a reminder that God loves all people regardless of how much they possess physically in this life.

Theology of the Cross

Martin Luther came up with the theology of the cross, which isn’t a complete theology covering all of the Bible., but it is an important theology to have in mind at all times. This theology says that everything that we know and therefore think about God must come from our understanding of what it means that Christ went to the cross for us.

If God sent Jesus to die for the forgiveness of our sins, someone who was sinless, then there is really nothing we can do to earn that forgiveness. If we can’t earn God’s forgiveness, based on what we do then how can we earn financial blessing and physical well-being? We can’t earn it from God and is it not something God bestows upon us. God truly does want nothing more than joy and happiness for us but we live in a broken world where there is famine, disease, war, and natural disaster. Those are facts of this world and not blessings and curses from God.

So when the people gathered were astounded that Jesus said wealth was not a guaranteed entry to heaven and they wanted to know how it was that someone would be able to be saved. Jesus very pointedly tells them that it is impossible for humans but not for God and that for God all things are possible.

That is the blessing we live with. It is not by our deeds, our actions or our own understanding that we are saved by God through Jesus. It is through the cross that he died on. There is no one else that could have done it but Jesus as God’s true son. For people it is impossible, but for God all things are possible. God has rescued us from the sting of death and the grave and given us eternal life. That is what defines us as Christians. God give us that relationship, and the gift of everlasting life, not for anything we did, but out of pure love for us as part of God’s creation. It is love that that defines us. To be more exact it is the love of God as found in Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.