(2 Sam 7:1-14; Eph 2:11-22) J G White

10:30 am, Sunday, July 21, 2024, FBC Amherst

Allow be to begin with a hundred-year-old story by Rev. William Barton, one of his tales about Safed the Sage, a very wise, old fashioned preacher. PHILOSOPHY AND MONEY.

There came to me a Rich Man, who spake unto me, saying, What is a Philosopher?

& I said, As is his name, so is he; one that loveth Wisdom.

And he said, Art thou a Philosopher?

And I said, Humblest am I among the most humble of her servants; yet am I a lover of Wisdom.

And he said, I am no Philosopher, but I am a Rich Man. What dost thou consider a Rich Man to be?

And I answered. As one whom God hath blessed so richly with abundance of Soup whereon he filleth himself so that he hath no room nor appetite for the Ice Cream, so is many a Rich Man; but also there are Others. Of which sort art thou?

And he said, If thou art a Philosopher, thou shouldest know. But art not thou thyself a lover of Money? Yea, doth not every Philosopher love Money more than any Rich Man loveth Philosophy?

And I said. That question hath been asked of old. And there was a Rich Man in Olden Time who thus asked a Philosopher wiser than I. And that Philosopher answered. The reason that Philosophers care more for Money than Rich Men care for Wisdom is that Philosophers know what they Lack, and Rich Men know not.

& he said, The Philosopher who said that was a Wise Old Boy.

And I said, O thou Rich Man, thou art not altogether hopeless. Even like unto the Big Monsters of the Deep that yet are Mammals and not Fish, so hast thou something besides Gills; yea thou hast Lungs that are fitted for More Oxygen than thou canst extract from the Salt Water of Business; and now and then must thou Come Up to Breathe.

And he said, Thou art indeed a Wise Old Boy.

For a long time I have realized that money can have a hold over us, whether we have it or not. It gets people’s attention all the time. When we don’t have it, don’t have enough, we are wanting it, seeking it, looking for ways to get the things we need. Dreaming of the luxuries we don’t ever have. Looking with envy or dislike upon others who have more than we do.

If we do have some wealth, we pay a lot of attention to keeping it, protecting it, growing it, and using it in big ways to please ourselves. No wonder Jesus spoke so often of money.

Or the apostle Paul, who was known for saying of himself: I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. (Phlp 4:12) What a secret to learn!

The grand story of accumulating possessions and lands and wealth and all is a powerful story in human culture. It is one of these six stories that can be so destructive and controlling. The story of God’s love, sometimes called lovingkindness, is greater. There are other loves, of course. Such as the love of money and of things. Scripture tell us these words of Paul: the love of money is the root of much evil. (1 Timothy 6:10) And a wise, old friend of mine used to warn about loving things and using people, instead of using things and loving people. (MRC)

Our New Testament scripture today, from our summer, semi-continuous reading of Ephesians, speaks of how the non-Jews and the Jews were being brought together by Christ. People who felt far off from the promises of God were brought near. A new humanity was created by Jesus – all are welcome. No more us and them. And that metaphor of a building gets used. With Jesus as the cornerstone or capstone, the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

We, First Baptist, and you, Trinity-St. Stephen’s, we each have spectacular, stone buildings. We’ve got what, well, what King David of 3000 years ago wanted: an impressive temple for God and for our worship and our congregations.

There are advantages and disadvantages to having a grand building. We think this is the Church; when we are, you and I the place in which God dwells.

I noticed this month that a gentlemen I knew, of Hants Border, died at age ninety: Reg Harrison. He was a real gentleman, a Christian, an educator and sometime preacher. He was a Springhiller. He once told the story from his youth of a time the congregation of Springhill Baptist gathered all around, shocked and weeping. Their church, their building, was burning. The church was destroyed, wrecked, gone, the people cried! But no. Someone spoke up, he remembers. No, the Church is not gone. It is us – we the people. We are the Springhill Baptist Church, and we will live on! So they have.

When we possess some wonderful things, expensive things, we do get rather attached to them. How does God guide us? Just a few years ago I heard tell of a fairly new Christian organization called ‘Wisdom and Money.’ Their website says:

W&M is a web of people of wealth who seek to align the flow of their financial resources with the Holy Spirit in service of Divine Love and Justice. Our work is rooted in ancient Christian traditions, contemplative and prophetic, and modern social movements for justice.

Perhaps none of us are rich enough to join this, but what an interesting concept. Here’s another quotation about it: What would you do with your wealth if you made financial decisions from the mystical heart? That’s the question asked by Wisdom and Money, a non-profit whose mission helps transform an ego-driven relationship with money into a sacred contract.

The group asks questions like this: How does a person of faith, possessing disproportionate material privilege, live with integrity? This begs the question: So, living right in the world as a wealthy person, with Jesus, is possible? How about a wealthy organization? Even a wealthy congregation, a Church?

It is good for us to ask, once in a while: what riches do we have in this castle of a building, here, First Baptist Church? What spiritual glory could we have, represented here, that is so amazing that is requires such a beautiful structure?

What God established in the days of King David was the promise of his great offspring, who would be the great Messiah, Christ, Jesus. Not that David knew all that. And what the Holy Spirit established in Trinity Church, and St. Stephen’s Church, and First Baptist Church was the sort of fellowship of people who are home to God, and have a great peace for human souls. We are not, first and foremost, about locally quarried sandstone and beautifully crafted woodwork. We are not founded upon investments and endowments in the millions. We are not about accumulating. We are about giving and sharing and blessing.

Now, to end, ‘Listen, children, to a story, that was written long ago.’ It is in this song...