A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

THE ROOT OF ALL ... GOOD

1 Timothy 6:6-19, Preached at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, September 30, 2007

An older lady gets pulled over for speeding: “Is there a problem, Officer?” “Ma'am, you were speeding.” “Oh, I see.” “Can I see your license please?” “I'd give it to you but I don't have one.” “Don't have one?” “Lost it, 4 years ago for drunk driving.” “I see...Can I see your vehicle registration papers please.” “I can't do that.” “Why not?” “I stole this car.” “Stole it?” “Yes, and I killed and hacked up the owner.” “You what?” “His body parts are in plastic bags in the trunk if you want to see.”

The Officer looks at the woman and slowly backs away to his car and calls for back up. Within minutes five police cars circle the car. A senior officer slowly approaches the car, clasping his half drawn gun. “Ma'am, could you step out of your vehicle please!” The woman steps out of her vehicle. “Is there a problem sir?” “One of my officers told me that you have stolen this car and murdered the owner.” “Murdered the owner?” “Yes, could you please open the trunk of your car, please?” The woman opens the trunk, revealing nothing but an empty trunk. “Is this your car, ma'am?” “Yes, here are the registration papers.” The officer is quite stunned. “One of my officers claims that you do not have a driving license.” The woman digs into her handbag and pulls out a clutch purse and hands it to the officer. The officer examines the license. He looks quite puzzled. “Thank you, ma'am. One of my officers told me you didn't have a license, that you stole this car, and that you murdered and hacked up the owner.” And she said, “Bet the liar told you I was speeding, too.” Now who can you trust these days?

Our text this morning is about trusting in God. Now trust is not an easy thing these days. Perhaps not ever, but honestly, we have to admit that American society has become extremely individualistic. We deal with machines like ATMs and computers much more than we deal with people, and living in South Florida means having a difficult time finding and making friends. A lack of the precious commodity of trust can really hit home and heart, like it did for the man who comes home one day after a hard day at the office, fighting traffic. He greets his wife and little 3-year old daughter. Stooping down in front of her, he says, "How about a kiss for Daddy?" She must have had a hard day, too, cause her only response is "NO, no." Seeing the hurt look on the father, mom, says "Oh, Janie. Your Daddy works hard all day to bring home a little money and you behave like that?" Taking the cue, daddy asks again, "OK, honey, come on now, where's that kiss?" The little 3-year old looks him in the eye and asks first, "Where's the money?" Now if that sounds a little Boca I can’t disagree too much. But here’s the thing: We have to trust something or someone. Even atheists trust that there is no god. We will turn to ourselves if we find nobody else to trust. Perhaps the only one who doesn’t trust is the one who attempts to end his or her own life. Find nobody to trust in, not even yourself nor God, and life appears worthless and feels painful. But there is a much better way. As Proverbs says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Commit yourself to the Lord because “blessed is the one who makes the Lord his trust.” Ps.40:4

What we want to see this morning is that trust is the most important ingredient in our lives.

Who you trust will determine the direction and the outcome of your life. Did you know that Psalm 118 is the middle chapter of the entire Bible? The Bible has 594 chapters before Psalm 118 and 594 chapters after Psalm 118. Psalm 118 verse 8 is the middle verse of the entire Bible. Shouldn’t the central verse have a fairly important message? This verse says: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” That’s a pretty good one. Now it doesn’t have to be a man or woman precisely in which we place our trust for this passage to be true. It can be any thing human made or oriented. When our passage from Timothy for example mentions “those who want to be rich,” it’s really talking about people who trust in money more than in God. To love anything is to entrust it with your heart and hope. What this truly central and crucial scripture is saying is that there is only one who deserves our heart and hope. Give your heart to God. Place your hope in the Lord’s hands. Start with your heart turned in the right direction and everything else will follow correctly. There is only one kind of real wealth, and that’s the soul who loves its maker and redeemer and receives God’s blessings.

Our scripture passage comes from a section of the New Testament called the pastoral letters, which includes the three short letters of First and Second Timothy and Titus. In them, hard subjects are not avoided: the role of women in worship, problems of the rich and the poor, the relation between servants and those to whom they were beholden, policies concerning the support of elderly widows, and more. Some things have changed but much hasn’t since the time these were written and this is why scripture through the work of the Holy Spirit can still speak to us. We shall always face moral issues and have to deal with people who are considered less than the complete or ideal person, woman back then and still in some situations woman today; servants back then and people of different races still at times today, and gays and lesbians today with the issues of gay marriage, adoption and other legal rights. The more things change the more they stay the same. There is always the issue of wealth, which means how we get it vs. other people not getting it, and to what use money is put; and I don’t mean just individual wealth but national wealth, which means the questions of how much money we raise through taxes to how much we spend toward defense vs. education or health care, for examples, which leads to the issue of taking care of elderly widows, orphans, the poor, the underinsured or the uninsured, etc. Now someone might say that this is going beyond the scope of what was mentioned in our passage, but we all know that nothing has essentially changed when it comes to money, how it’s gotten and how it’s used. This is exactly why our Bible says it like this: “They (those who have) are to do good (with what they have), to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.” God bless those who having made much good of their financial life also make much good from their financial life. Remember, our scripture doesn’t say that money is the root of all evil; it says “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil….” There is still wiggle room for those who having acquired riches yet trust in God and in neither man nor mammon. But we are to show our trust in what we do. So let our faith take the lead. Live and give in ways that represent our heart and hope. As Jesus said, “Those who have much from them much will be required.” We each have much in our own way, and therefore we have much to give in our own way.

 In a recent poll of 272,400 middle- and high-school students, respondents ranked parents as the most important influence in their lives and religion as second. However, 36 percent said they feel that adults don't value what kids think. Our children trust us and God and of course they also want their parents to listen to them. They have their heart and their hope set on us. As someone wrote about our influence on our children:

When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little things can be the special things in life. When you thought I wasn’t looking, I heard you say a prayer, and I knew there is a God I could always talk to and I learned to trust in God. When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you take care of our house and everyone in it and I learned we have to take care of what we are given. When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw how you handled your responsibilities, even when you didn’t feel well, and I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grow up. When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I learned that we all have to help take care of each other. When you thought I wasn’t looking, I looked at you and learned who I wanted to be when I grow up.”  

Nobody has ever been born who doesn’t have the passion of hope. We hope for something, and because of this we must trust in something or someone who can help us realize our hope. And so even though you are sitting in a church on a Sunday morning, this act is based on psychological certitude, rather than intellectual certainty, a trust and not a proof, a loyalty and commitment and not a fact or demonstration. The source of all good in our lives is our trust in God. When it comes to trusting in God, it means we are committed to certain things, which we see in our scripture passage. We don’t want to make a god out of money or power or comfort or whatever it might be. Rather, we live from the soul and its desire to be good, like its maker, and so we “(p)ursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.” We fight for different things; we fight for our faith to thrive in a world that would blow out its flame. We believe in and seek a different outcome for our lives, an eternal one which we hope for and believe are destined for. We speak a different language, of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who would do anything to keep us out of harm’s way, who shows us who our God and maker is, and who calls us to build his kingdom of peace, justice, and righteousness. And so we don’t sit here for just any old reason. You are here because you have thrown your lot in with God. You are a believer in the Lord, and it is the best thing you have ever done and ever will do in your whole life. Trust in God. Love the Lord. Be committed to the kingdom.  

Jim Valvano took his North Carolina State basketball team to the NCAA finals in 1983 and won. Later, he discovered he had cancer. At an ESPY awards banquet in 1993, he gave a speech after accepting the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, and he said: “Today, I fight a different battle. You see, I have trouble walking and I have trouble standing for a long period of time. Cancer has taken away a lot of my physical abilities. Cancer is attacking and destroying my body, but what cancer cannot touch is my mind, my heart, and my soul. I have faith in God and hope that things might get better for me. But even if they don’t, I promise you this: I will never, ever give up. I will never, ever quit. And if cancer gets me, then I’ll just try my best to go to heaven and I’ll try my best to be the best coach they’ve ever seen up there.”

Jim Valvano never gave up when he was nose to nose with a ref, either. Once he asked a ref if he could give him a technical foul for thinking bad thoughts about him. The ref said, “Of course not.” Valvano said, “Well, I think you stink.” Coach went on to say, “And he gave me a technical. You can’t trust ’em.” It’s true. We can only truly, ultimately trust the Lord our God, and that is exactly how God made it to be.

Return to Sermons (table of contents)

Return to Homepage of the Congregational Church of Boca Raton