FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Sermon by Dr. William G. Enright

Executive Director of the Lake Family Institute on Faith and Giving at the Center for Philanthropy, Indiana University

FOCUS Sunday

September 24, 2006

BLESSED FOOL…BLESSED SAGE?

“Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who give you power

to get wealth, so that you may confirm his covenant.”

Scripture: Deuteronomy 8: 18

Old Testament Lesson: Deuteronomy 8:11-18

New Testament Lesson: Luke 12: 13-23

This past summer Warren Buffett made news when he gave away 85% of his wealth to charity. Most of that money he gave to Bill and Melinda Gates. Don’t miss the irony hiding in that headline: Warren Buffett, the second-richest man in the world, gave $37 Billion to the richest man in the world! Why did Buffett do that? In part he did it because he is getting old. He knows that caskets do not come equipped with luggage racks. Buffett is seventy-five years of age; he planned to leave his fortune to his wife but two years ago she died. Why did Buffett choose to give $37 billion of his assets to the richest man in the world? In an interview with the editor of Fortune Magazine Buffett said that he gave his money to the Gates Foundation because while he is good at making money, he’s not good at giving money away. He said: “I’m not cut out to be a philanthropist!” And this question walks across my mind: is Warren Buffett a blessed fool or a blessed sage? Was this a dumb thing to do or a smart thing to do?

Blessed fool or blessed sage? That is the question sitting behind the story Jesus tells in our New Testament reading from the Gospel of Luke. Two brothers are in an argument over an inheritance: Who is going to get what? Both are blessed with what our story calls “abundance” or “more than enough.” Greed, however, has lassoed the souls of the brothers. Their father has died; one would think they would be grieving instead all they worry about is money. The brothers have gained an inheritance but in the process have lost their souls. Now, they want Jesus to referee their family squabble. Jesus refuses. That’s Jesus! Whenever it comes to money-talk Jesus never settles financial arguments, never tells anyone how much to give. When confronted with delicate economic questions Jesus does two things: he asks questions and he tells stories.

“Teacher,” one of the disgruntled brothers says, “tell my brother to share the family inheritance with me.” Smiling, I hear Jesus saying: “Let me tell you a story.”

Jesus begins: Once upon a time there was an old farmer who at harvest season was blessed with a bumper crop leaving him with “more than enough.” Instantly, the old farmer was caught in a conundrum; what was he to do with his more than enough? What is more than enough? How do you know when you have more than enough? Never before had the old farmer had so much. Overnight he finds himself at that crossover point in life where his income far exceeds his expenses. What is he to do with his “more than enough?” “Ah,” he says to himself, “I know what I will do, I will cash in on my investment and use the proceeds to secure my life. Why, I think that I now have enough money so that I’ll never again have to worry about anything! Once and for all, I can buy myself security!” And that is when it happens; amidst his musings, his soul-talk; God pops up with what is the punch line of the story. It’s in the middle of the night when the old farmer’s soul talks back to him and God calls him “Fool!” “So it is,” Jesus concludes, “with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:20)

Think about this story; the farmer is one blessed man, he has more than enough. God calls him fool? Not fool because he’s a bad guy. Not fool because he is doing something evil with his money. Not fool because he wants to secure for himself a comfortable retirement. Rather fool…idiot… buffoon…jackass…blockhead…nitwit… because he thinks that he can buy himself security. Fool because he thinks that money can solve the problem of human existence.

In a sentence, the man’s foolishness is in his vision as to what money is ultimately about; money, he thinks, is how he can secure himself against the adversities of life. Blessed fools are people who have been blessed with abundance – more than enough – but don’t know what to do with it. The upshot is they live trapped in the cul-de-sac of a one-dimensional world with a financial portfolio, which has no eternal dimension mistakenly believing that their self-worth is to be measured by their financial worth.

In a short story entitled The Wallet, John Updike tells about a retired stockbroker named Fulham. Fulham, like many of us who are retired, is one blessed man. He spends his retirement years enjoying life and managing his investments. His schedule is routine: every morning he goes upstairs to his office with the Wall Street Journal in one hand and a cup of decaffeinated coffee in the other. Unexpectedly, one morning his world turns topsy-turvy, he can’t find his wallet. He looks everywhere – under chairs, beds, he goes through pockets of suits he has not worn in months. Fulham goes berserk. After days of futile searching he announces at breakfast one morning: “I know that happened, someone slipped into the house while we were sleeping and stole my wallet.” His wife is taken aback; she replies: “Fulham, I’ve never seen you like this.” He snaps, “How am I?” “Well,” she replies, “you’re wild!” “Wild,” he says: “It’s my wallet, everything is in it, everything. Without my wallet I am nothing!”

Blessed fools suffer from mistaken identity; they confuse stuff with character and assets with self-worth. Like the farmer in this story they are often victims of their own abundance.

In their book “Your Money or Your Life” Joe Dominguez & Vicki Robin describe a phenomenon they call The Fulfillment Curve. The Fulfillment Curve occurs at the point where your income exceeds your expenditures blessing you with more than enough.

As we begin our journey through life the Fulfillment Curve is always on the upswing, it’s an upward curve heading north. Initially more possessions do not mean more fulfillment; possessions are the means by which we acquire those things that are essential to our survival as humans and our comfort as adults. In time, most of us ease past the point of basic amenities and we begin to chase and acquire outright luxuries. A car might be considered a comfort; a second car is then a luxury. A second home is a luxury. A nice vacation may be both a comfort and a luxury. Last year my wife and I took our two sons and their families to Norway where we observed the baptism of our newest grandchild in my wife’s family church that goes back to 100 A.D. That trip was a luxury!

Now, there is nothing wrong with having a few luxuries; only once we reach that point in life where we begin to purchase luxuries, we have also reached the perilous intersection in our journey toward fulfillment.

Blessed with more than enough how will we use what we have? Will we become consumers or creators? Will we satisfy our desires by acquiring more possessions and turning inward provide only for ourselves? Or, will we turn outward, beyond ourselves to the larger world and embrace the challenge and possibility of making a difference? It is at that point in life where our income begins to exceed our expenses that the Fulfillment Curve comes to a crossroads; either we can continue our journey north or we can turn around and head south.

In their work with thousands of people who have been blessed with more than enough, Dominguez and Robin observed that when the Fulfillment Curve heads downwards it is because individuals have allowed the clutter of excess to choke and dominate then. We now have three or four homes to fuss after…we have more money to worry about and lose…we accumulate more luxuries which in turn take more time away from the family as we tend to business…we have more taxes to pay and more tax accountants to meet with, we have more charitable demands to contemplate and mull over. What has happened to us? Our desires have mushroomed into obligations, which in turn overwhelm us with the responsibilities of excess leaving us lost in the cosmos of our own self-centered consumption.

By contrast, the Fulfillment Curve continues to grow and head north as we allow ourselves to become caught up in things that are bigger than ourselves; causes and interests that are larger than our puny self-centered desires and wants. It is as we begin to focus on giving to others and serving causes beyond ourselves that we find ourselves surprised by joy and fulfillment. It is in giving that we find fulfillment and it is serving that the fulfillment line goes “straight up off the top of the chart.” So Jesus said: “Don’t forget to lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven.” (Matt. 6:20) (Your Money or Your Life, pp. 23-27, 281-282)

And I’m back to this idea of more than enough. What is more than enough? There is no simple one-size-fits-all answer to that kind of question. Several years ago Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow conducted a survey on materialism. He discovered that:

· 89% say we are “too materialistic.”

· 74% say materialism is a serious social problem.

· 70% say we’d be better off with less emphasis on money.

· 74% say “I wish I had more money than I do.”

· 76% say that “having a beautiful home, a new car and nice things” are things they values.

Who are these 75% who say they’d be better off with less emphasis on money yet wish they had more money? They are you and me.

What is more than enough? How do we know when we have reached that point in the fulfillment curve of life when we have more than enough? A million dollar teardown bungalow in California where my son lives would be a luxurious five thousand square foot home in Indianapolis where I live with a hot tub and a movie theatre and a nautilus work out room. . If I’m young I may have mortgage payments to meet on a salary that may not be keeping up with inflation. If I’m a parent I have children and college to think about and I may wonder how I will come up with the thirty-plus thousand dollars in tuition fees. If I’ve been in the hospital there are medical bills to worry about and if I have high cholesterol there are prescription drugs to fuss over. If you’re my age you may wonder if you will have enough to see you through retirement to death.

Where we are amidst the chapters of life shape our answers to the question as to what is more than enough. We are all trapped in this conundrum as to what is enough. Which I think is one reason why Jesus never answered tough financial questions; never told anyone how much to give. We all also have been blessed with more than enough!

Come back with me one last time to our story of the old farmer for there is something revealing sitting in the seams of this story Jesus told. The old farmer has allowed his more than enough to birth an anxiety attack. How, now, he says to himself, can I use my more than enough to shore up my life against adversity? So, Jesus then ends his story with these words: “I tell you don’t worry. Stop worrying about your life, whether you will have enough to eat, good enough clothes to wear, and enough money to see you through to death. Don’t worry about the future!” (Luke 12:22)

But worry we do. Our biggest fears have to do with the unknown and the future. Will we be able to afford this or that? Will we be able to survive life’s trying and tough times? So Jesus addresses the anxiety syndrome. Bottom line our anxieties raise the trust question: who/whom do we ultimately trust for our survival and well-being?

Allow me to share with you this solid research fact: people who worry are half as generous in their charitable giving as those who don’t worry. (Those who worry give $1,060 compared to $2,040 by those not worried.) The more people have the more their anxieties affect their giving. When worried, households with incomes exceeding $75,000 per year drop their religious giving two to six times more than those with incomes under $75,000. The conundrum of more than enough is that the more we have the more anxious and less generous we become. Bottom line: trust God, live generously and you will find your joy.

Let me tell you a story. Last month I made a new friend; an African-American woman named Gasby Brown. Gasby has her own media consulting company in Washington D.C. In an earlier chapter of her life she was a television news anchor. It was in that role that she paid a visit to an eighty-something year old black woman living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi named Osceola McCarty. For eighty-six years Osceola McCarty was a no-name who made her living taking in washing and ironing. In 1996, at the age of eighty-six she stunned the world, making the front page of the New York Times because of the six figure gift she gave to the University of Southern Mississippi. Where did she get her money? Every month, from the time she left school in the 6^th grade to support her family, she put something away in a deposit account at the local bank. One day her banker knowing that she was up in years called to ask her if she knew how much money she had and inquires how she might want to do with her money; it was over $250,000.

Osciola’s banker who told my friend Gasby the next part of this story. Osceola could not grasp the value of $250,000. To help Osceola McCarty get her mind around the situation the banker took ten dimes and placed them in a row on his desk. He asked Ms. McCarty how she might want to spend the dimes. She said, “I’d like to give three to my church, two to my family and five to the school down the street from where I live.” She really did not want to keep anything for herself; she didn’t need it. As she put it: “I’m happy with what I have; there is a difference between wanting and needing. I don’t need any more than I have.” Osceola McCarty saw herself to be one blessed woman, overwhelmed with more than enough.. I call her a Blessed Sage.

How does one tell the difference between a blessed fool and a blessed sage? One Sunday a black preacher put it well to his congregation. He said: “You know, there is only one thing that is certain in life; we all gon’na die! One day you gon’na keel over and you know what they gon’na do with ya? They gon’na stuff you in a box, plop you in a hole in the ground and throw dirt on your face. After they done all that they gon’na stand around for a time and some of them gon’na have tears in their eyes, but they not gon’na stand around for long. Pretty quick they all gon’na go back to the church for chicken and potato salad and that’s when they gon’na begin to talk about you. Now after they done gone back to the church and begun to talk about you, what is it they gon’na say about you? They gon’na talk about the titles you wore and the trophies you claimed, or are they gon’na start giv’in testimony to the difference you done made with your life and your more than enough?

Blessed fools collect titles and trophies. Blessed sages leave behind testimonies; and in time we call them saints!

BENEDICTION

Luke Timothy Johnson, who lives just down the street at Emory University says:

What God, it seems, wants from us is not a present, but our presence.

The only gift that is distinctively ours to give to God is ourselves, and

we do that by giving ourselves each moment to each other.”

As you go into God’s world and this new week live generously, give grace, share your more than enough with others and each other. And may the love of God, the grace of Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit make a home in your life and be with you; always and everywhere. Amen.