Red Rock News Feb 14, 2025
- Rev. Dona Johnson |February 2, 2025
In our culture today, money is the No. 1 false god, and there are many people who worship at the feet of this god. In Sunday’s Super Bowl it is estimated that Americans will legally place bets on the game totaling $1.39bn. The money spent on pornography in the U.S. has reached pandemic proportions with a booming revenue estimated at $15bn. The Federal Reserve reports that household debt reached an all-time high at $1.79 trillion in 2024. These are only a few examples of a symptom to an underlying disease – greed. And this greed is fueled by our culture’s lust for power (influence), money and sex, which produces a fierce competition and selfishnessness.
Martin Luther, both a priest and reformer in the mid-1500s understood what money can do to a person’s soul. He claimed there was not one conversion a Christian undergoes, but three a person needs to go through: “The conversion of the head, the heart and the purse.” Luther understood that the gospel converts a person in all three areas. Most of us can understand why Luther would mention the importance of a conversion of the heart and mind, but why did he add the purse? Luther added the third conversion (the purse) because he understood that money holds a huge priority in our lives. Although our culture has made money a taboo and private subject, a sign of power and status, it is no less a spiritual concern of great importance. Money competes for our souls and it provides only a temporary relief, a false and superficial sense of security. In our current economy, a majority of us can purchase our way out of just about any situation or crisis.
Richard Foster said on Luther’s statement, “In seeking to work our way through a Christian Spirituality of money it is important for us to begin by seeing money in the context of the “principalities and powers” that Paul speaks about so vigorously (Eph. 6:12, Col. 1:16). Money is one of these powers.” Foster continues, “When Jesus uses the Aramaic term mammon to refer to wealth, he is giving it a personal and spiritual character. When he declares, ‘You cannot serve God and mammon,’ he is personifying mammon as a rival god.” In saying this, Jesus is making it unmistakably clear that money is not some impersonal medium of exchange. No, mammon is a power that seeks to dominate us (Matt. 6:19-24).
For Christians, how we live out our faith and how we view the world either through the lens of generosity or scarcity (stinginess) is truly a spiritual battle, an inner battle that plays out in the hearts of many of us. Luther had it right. We can be devoted to all sorts of faith practices, we can have all the biblical knowledge our minds desire to grasp, but if we are not generous with our wealth (money), material possessions and our God-given skills and talents for building God’s kingdom on earth and using them to express love to those in our human family, then in many respects we live shallow and divided in our loyalties. True conversion that moves from the head to the heart has nowhere else to go but to one’s purse, wallet and or bank account. And yet for many of us that is the last thing we want to let go of – money.
As Christians, no matter how much we possess, a little or a lot, if we hold on loosely to the things of this world and hold tightly to Jesus Christ then and only then can we defeat sin, death and the demonic forces of this world. Luther said about faith: “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” In what ways do you live daringly with confidence enough to freely stake your wealth and possessions on God’s mission and promsies? How deeply do we trust God will continue to generously provide for our needs as we loosen your grip on all the treasure we keep storing up on earth? Good guestion.
Let us never forget the amazing love God has for his people. He continues to bless us with grace upon grace. As some of us still struggle to be generous, Jesus still continues to abundantly love us, and without hesitation keeps providing for his people. God’s generosity is eternal! Amen.
- Rev. Dona Johnson |February 2, 2025