Thanksgiving 2008
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:19-23(24)
There are demons all around us. Not the dollar store demons, the cheap knock-offs with wings and fangs, making a Halloween appearance, bumping around in the night. The clever, successful demons have mastered the art of camouflage, in order for you to fall under their control. Manipulated and massaged as babes, we grow up tame, willing to be led around by creatures who hate us. Where can we find them? How can we see through their cover? Jesus points them out. Today the demons are hiding behind the mammon.
Mammon is not a demon. It is a choice. It is whatever we trust the most, whatever we cling to first. For Jesus, the things of this world are not the demons. Perhaps with a laugh, He tells us to make friends with unrighteous mammon (Luke 16:9). It is as if he were saying, “Don’t let the demons take charge of your desires.” To love the God of Abraham more than our money, our loves, our dreams, is the end of unrighteous mammon, the liberation from the demons. This allows us to use the things of this world with pleasure without placing them before the God who is so pleased to give them to us.
How can we find the demons hiding behind the mammon this morning, and thereby have some hope of not letting them have their way with us? We can find the demons hiding behind the Mammon by asking ourselves, “What is it I prefer?” This morning we might ask, “Do I prefer the Thanksgiving meal over the thanksgiving?”
Many labor this morning over dead birds, more concerned about feeding their guests than about lifting their voices in praise to the God who gives food. The demons hiding behind the mammon are using the mammon to lead us away from the Giver of all good things.
Martha is hard at work in her kitchen. She makes her choice, but Jesus does not respect it. Standing up for Martha, our protest is obvious. “If you want a nice meal in the afternoon, you must sacrifice, give up and give in”. But to whom are we giving in? Not Jesus. The love of mammon will never allow you to give in to Jesus. You cannot serve two masters.
To give up God in the morning in order to please your family and friends later in the day means simply this: you have chosen mammon over the Lord. And the point of this day is lost. Martha is caught out as an idolater.
There is much to say about being caught out. Caught out on thanksgiving, outside of the lines over in foul-ball territory, we get shown up for the way we store up treasures. We are convinced they will save us. If we are convinced that things will save us, then we will always be afraid to lose them.
Being afraid to lose your things means you have chosen no longer to be in the hands of God. You have chosen to place yourself into the hands of mammon, which really means that you are trusting the demons who are hiding behind the mammon to save you.
A horse is a poor thing to rescue you from battle; a tank, not much better. Diplomacy does not always avoid war. A bank account does not stay full, and a job may disappear without warning. Friends and spouses may expect you to choose mammon. These do not save. The demons would convince you that they do. They hope you choose them over Christ as your companions.
Of course, the demons are never really very good companions. Demons have no interest in giving you your food and clothing. They are more interested in keeping you on a leash. If you are afraid about what you will wear or where your next meal will come from, then the demons have you right where they want you. Using things, they mean to drive a wedge between you and God. Anything to keep you from calling upon Him for help. And if God does not give you what you want and when you want it, when you become angry with God because the things you have are not enough, the demons are there beside you, happy to remind you to curse God and die. They are most pleased when you are so addicted to things that you cannot live or be joyful without the mammon. If you cannot walk away from mammon, you are under the demon’s thumb.
Repent! When the stock market falls and we are ruined, we still have not lost the riches of heaven. When our house is foreclosed, we have a better home with Jesus. The Lord takes care of his beggars, his serfs, his people. He is there when the demons are made clear to us, the choices are seen for the sin they are, the worry and greed that keep us from sharing our goods are finally brought to light. He is there. He takes care of the worrier and the miser, the self-righteous believer in his own ability to accomplish all things and the lover of himself choosing first whatever pleases him first.
Mammon becomes our friend whenever we recognize that God is the giver. The demons cannot use mammon to make us afraid or selfish when we finally see that the big giver behind all of our things is God the Father. There is no coming short with Him, because whatever He gives us is for our benefit. Since there is not coming short with God the Father, Jesus points out that we no longer need to be afraid. No longer being afraid means that we can give ourselves over to a life of thanksgiving to God -- which also means a life of sharing His kindness towards us with others.
The amount of mammon we receive will not matter after we have seen the way it went for Christ on the Cross. We need not doubt that the gifts of food and friendship, be they in small or great amounts, are enough for us: we have seen how He was willing to die for us. Whatever we have is coming from His good, wounded hands. It is enough to have the attention and love of such a God.
Jesus is not the sort of God who holds anything back from His people that they need. He held back nothing on Calvary. He will not hold anything back from you. Your food and your clothing and your future are secure. Whatever the good God gives you will be enough.
That is the reason for thanksgiving. If the Lord gives us a scorpion, it is good for us. If He gives us a stone, it is a blessing. If He takes something away, it is for our benefit. The food, the clothing, the home, the family, the sickness, the cross, the poverty, the loss -– all gifts from God the Father, made holy by the Blood of the Son, given to you so that you may recognize who gives you all things -- so that you may recognize his gracious hand and be saved.
“Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Amen.
The Reverend Sean M. Smallwood
cruxprobatomnia -- the cross tests everything
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