A Hope of Something More than Money

A Hope of Something More than Money

Good Morning Friends,

God wants to change our view of what money is really about. He wants to set our expectation realistically about what it can and cannot do. He wants us to beware of false teachings combined with the love of money. My, what a mess we are when it comes to money. If we are honest, we will admit that we want the hopefulness, happiness, contentment and love that we have come to associate with money. But we are to have hope of something more. God’s partnership is part of a plan to give us hope of living out the promise of what life can be when we abide in Him. It is a marriage that connects, changes and transforms. It is an offer God has made to come close to us… to abide with us. To close the deal, it takes a response on our part. Whether we think of it as a command or a welcoming request, it rests on what we are spiritually and physically persuaded to do when it comes to declaring our belief. The auctions of our very souls are on the block. Jesus has paid the price less what little we can bring. So be ready to answer if you want to come out of exile…out of captivity…be ready to discover A Hope of Something More than Money.

Scripture:
⁴Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jeremiah 29:4-7 (NRSV)

You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.

Job 11:18 (NIV)

At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.

Job 14:7 (NIV)

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

Isaiah 11:1 (NIV)

³Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Jeremiah 33:3 (NRSV)

55Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Isaiah 55:1-2 (NRSV)

Message: We today live in a modern day Babylon. We are all in exile but have been given words to prompt our actions: Build… Settle…Plant…Eat…Marry…Have sons and daughters: find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage…Increase…. Seek peace and prosperity for those around you. Friends, God has a plan for our lives that is designed to bring us close to Him… He is focused on our benefit not our demise.  But it is more than a plan to make money…it is a partnership in hope of a place so abundant that money no longer means anything. We may wonder at times if God is involved in the midst of all our challenges. Today’s scripture from the prophet Jeremiah assures us that opposed to the human view, God is involved. His partnership is the essential part of a plan to give us hope of living out the promise of what life can be when we abide in Him. It is a vision of a future that is so bright that the joy will never cease and the peace will never be disturbed. Our hope is not in an endless cycle of reincarnations or a wistful look back on the past, or of a man made utopia. Friends, we have a living hope in a new world. And this object of our living Christian hope is both redemption of nature, on the one hand, and of culture on the other. Friends, everything is going to be redeemed, reclaimed, transformed and glorified. Our laments are wrong… our hopes will be fulfilled. You may ask if there is any hope for the pilgrims on their way to God. And yes we are to seek righteousness now, but the new world is going to be filled with abundance so we should have hope in something greater than money. Friends, heaven has little to do with mansions, pearls and streets paved with gold. Joy comes not from where we live but in who we know. Money is useful now because it is as foldable time to develop relationships and experiences, but in the timeless Kingdom to come it will mean nothing.

Pray we realize that Christian hope is different from secular hopes because it rests on a secure promise of a relationship. Pray for those who are crying out for hope in a despairing world. Pray we in extending help to others find joy but also pray we are actually helping. Pray we have a hope and share a hope that is beyond the reach of death. Pray we are born again into a living hope. Pray the labors of the ages are not destroyed. Pray that culture is purged of evil and then transfigured with the glory of God. Pray we thirst for righteousness and the priceless gift of grace in this world and in hope of the next more glorious than we can imagine.

Blessings,

John Lawson