Sermon: Paper Money

17th Sunday after Pentecost, 2010

Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier

Amos 8:4-7

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Two weeks ago, we talked about the meaning of life. And as you recall, we noted that some people say that life is a game. In that understanding, the one who ends up with the most money wins. Now I was actually alluding to the board game called Life? You know the game with the little plastic cars, the colorful spinner in the middle, and all that paper money. In that game, you move your little car around the board trying to collect as much money as possible. The other players around the board are not seen as your neighbors; rather, they are the competition. There is no helping the neighbor in the game of Life. In fact, it is to your advantage when something bad happens to them. In that game, you see marriage and the acquiring of children as an advantage only because they add up to more money in the end. Thus, a spouse and family are just plastic commodities that gain more paper money. It’s all about the play money that can only be used in the game of Life. Try and take that money to the grocery store and you will see that it is totally worthless. It only has value in that game.

In a similar way, the paper money or plastic card that you have in your wallets and purses is only good in this life. You can’t take it with you when the game is over and you die. It’s only money; it is not life. It is only good for this life. Yet, for some reason, we seem to think that this paper money and plastic cards are the goal of life. We must never forget that they are only the means through which we live and dwell on this earth. They are not the end. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his soul?

The more things change the more they stay the same. Money and commodities have been an issue since ancient times. Of course, money is not the problem. It is the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil. Therefore, we learning the proper use of money in this life. Do you serve money or do you use money to serve others? Do you live extravagantly or do you live in modesty? Do you adorn your life with money or do you see your good works done for your neighbor as an ornamentation of your faith with? Do you serve God or do you serve money?

In our Old Testament text, the prophet Amos addresses both extravagant living and love of money. He confronts the financial prosperity of the northern kingdom. They view their success as a display of God’s favor. In their quest for success, they have walked all over their own people. They had forgotten the wellbeing of their own brothers. 

If I were to show you a stack of play money from the board game of Life, would you be impressed with me? Would you assume that God has favored me over my opponents? What if I told you that I played against my own children and showed no mercy until I had seized all the money? In a way, this is what the people in the northern kingdom were doing. God knows how they acquired their money and at what expense. Their status in society didn’t impress God. They were pressing down their own people. They were trampling on the needy in order to climb the ladder of success. They were causing the poor of the land to come to an end. 

Here Amos is playing on the word Sabbath. The Hebrew root word means to rest, to cease, or to come to an end. Thus, the Sabbath day is a day of rest in which you cease from working.   However, the rich were making the poor cease or come to an end. This is their preferred type of Sabbath. The contrast is made with their type of “sabbathing” and the Sabbath day instituted by God. They despised preaching and God’s word. They disrespected God. They mechanically observed the LORD’s Sabbath so that they could get back to their Sabbath of bringing an end to the poor. They did not keep the Sabbath day holy. 

They would say to themselves, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale.”   They viewed their attendance at the Divine Service as a religious duty of going through the motions. Their hearts were not in it. To them, time was money. They wanted the service to end early, so that they could go back to making more money. They had more important things to do than to hear God’s word. 

We too are warned so that we do not make attendance at the Divine Service a mechanical thing. Whether we want the Service to end early so that we can make more money, spend more money, or watch football it doesn’t matter. We are being taught to gladly hear and learn God’s word. This is the place and the time that has been set aside to hear from Amos. This is the time to listen to the voice of Jesus and find our rest in Him. 

After the mind has been renewed by the word of God, the people of God are supposed to see things differently in the market place. But, instead those unrepentant Israelites disrespected others. They thought to themselves in the Divine Service saying, “let’s end service early so that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?” They were using false scales to give small measure to gain larger profits. In this way, the rich unrepentant Israelites were selling their own flesh and blood into slavery. They were burying them in debt. They were cheating their own brothers out of their own money. They were hurting and harming their neighbors. They were not helping their neighbor keep the gifts that God had blessed him with.

We too are warned so that we do not treat others as a commodity or use them as a means to gain more money. We are learning to properly use money for the benefit of life and not for just playing games. After learning the word of God in this space, then we are to take what we have heard into the work place. We are learning to serve others in our vocations. 

You see the human heart is so depraved. I can even remember as a small child looking at the display case in a bakery. I thought to myself how a baker could make more money by making the glass in the case a magnifying glass. Then the pastries would seem bigger than they really are. Oh how depraved the human heart is. Even as a child I was thinking deceitfully. Then people would pay a price for something they thought they were getting. Instead, they would be cheated out of their own money.

Amos delivers the weight of the law upon their shoulders in their day and upon our shoulders in this day. God declares, “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.” (Amos 8:7, ESV) There are no ifs, ands, or buts. In the way of the law, the LORD tallies, counts, and records all evil transactions. When one violates the rules of the game of life, the ruling will come from the Judge. When God remembers sins, He punishes them. You don’t want God to remember your deeds. Your deeds are tainted with sin. The word of the prophet is a call to repentance and faith in the promises of God. In the last chapter of Amos, he promises that God will raise up the booth of David and repair its ruins. Amos was appointed to preach to the northern kingdom in those days and to us today for this reason. 

As Amos and the prophets of old promised, the Messiah would be the One who sees His brothers and sisters as more valuable than paper or plastic. He will perfectly keep the new moons and Sabbaths. In Him, the poor and needy will be blessed. In the New Testament scriptures, we rejoice in the fulfillment of these messianic promises. We sing with Mary declaring that God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. God has remembered His mercy as He spoke to our fathers. 

We sing with Zechariah declaring that God has raised up for us a horn of salvation in the house of His servant David as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets. He has remembered His holy covenant and the oath He swore to Abraham. The Baptizer was appointed to give to us the knowledge of salvation in the forgiveness of our sins. Likewise, Paul was appointed to reveal to the nations that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4, ESV) The holy prophets and apostles reveal this knowledge to us and continue to teach these promises of God so that we do not forget. 

Have you ever gone back to play one of those old board games and forgotten exactly how to play? You kind of just make up the rules as you go. Who wants to bother reading through the rule book. Well you see, in our lives we forget how to play the game of life. Thus, the law comes and shows us how we have forgotten to play by the rules. We have forgotten the poor and the needy. We have forgotten how to correctly use money in this life. Then, the gospel comes to show us that only Jesus has perfectly followed all of the rules. In this way, we are called to remember the King and His Kingdom.    Thus, we pray in to Jesus in faith saying, “Remember us in Your Kingdom.” 

In Christ, the word of God to us is this, “Surely I will never remember your deeds.” Because of Christ, our sinful deeds are not counted against us. Jesus dealt with the money changers in the Temple. He rebuked the Pharisees who loved money. He blessed the poor and needy. Then He was sold for silver. He was trampled on and He was brought to an end from the land. His body was given a Sabbath rest in the tomb. He trampled on the devil and has brought death to an end. He gave Himself as a ransom for all. Now He gives rest for our souls. Amen.