Scripture:  Luke 18: 9-14
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The story goes that there was a woman who taught Sunday school.   While you do not know this specific woman, you probably have met her type.   She was quick to look down on others.   She had mastered the art of saying “bless your heart” or “I’ll pray for you” as a way to insult, put down, and belittle.   She had a pompous, self-entitled, and overall self-righteous attitude.   One Sunday morning she was trying to make the point that good Christians did not keep their faith a secret.   They made sure that everyone knew exactly what they believed.  With her head held high, nose up in the air, she strutted impressively back and forth across the room and asked, “Now class why do you think people call me a Christian?”    The teacher thought the answer to this question was obvious, but she was met with uncomfortable silence.   She started to show her disappointment at the class when one of the boys slowly raised his hand and said, “Probably because they do not know you.”  

I do not know about you but jokes and stories like that one are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine.  In movies and TV shows when the person who has been smug, arrogant, and downright mean spirited finally gets their comeuppance it is the payoff I have been waiting for.  I find it to be very satisfying when the smug get knocked down a peg or two, when the arrogant are humbled, and when the self-righteous are called out.   There are a whole lot of reason why I like Jesus, and this is one of them:  In the gospels he calls out the self-righteous all the time.  Time and time again across all four he calls out the Pharisees, the scribes, and the teachers of the law.  Jesus is regularly calling out the pharisees and the ways that the puffed themselves up instead of glorifying God.   This morning’s scripture seems to be part of that greater collection.  It even seems to immediately state up front who this scripture is directed to in verse 9: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable.”  

 However, Jesus is not telling this parable to the Pharisees of the teachers of the law.  Jesus is not addressing the religious leaders of the day that he so often sparred with.  In the parable that begins in Luke 18:1, Jesus is clearly talking to his disciples.  There is not a shift to the next scene in the narrative until verse 15, so this morning’s scripture is also addressed to the disciples.   This morning’s scripture was a parable addressed to Jesus’ closest followers, and it was intended to call them out.   The most honest way that we can approach this scripture is to read it as if Jesus were addressing us and see how we might feel called out.  

Unfortunately, within churches there are still plenty of people with self-righteous toes to get stepped on.   There is a study from Barna Research group that tried to quantify how big that number is.   It is an older study from 2013, but I imagine its findings still have a lot of relevance today.   For this study they surveyed Christians and asked them to rate their agreement on a four-point scale with twenty different statements.   Ten of these statements were meant to reflect a Christ like attitude.  These were statements like “I am personally spending time with non-believers to help them follow Jesus” and “I feel compassion for people who are not following God and doing immoral things.”  The other ten statements were self-righteous statements that would be in line with the Pharisee of this morning’s parable.  Statements such as “I like to point out those who do not have the right theology or doctrine” and “People who follow God’s rules are better than those who do not.”  Of the Christians surveyed it was found that 51% were in more agreement with the self-righteous statements than the Christ-like statements.   All this self-righteousness might be why a different Barna study found that only 21% of non-Christians have a positive perception of the local churches in their community. 

Despite what the research shows, it can still be easy to justify that self-righteousness is not a problem.  In some ways this scripture creates a caricature of self-righteousness.  The Pharisee in the scripture is a little over the top in how he calls out just who he is not like and how he brags about all he does.   The Pharisee in the parable is the absolute epitome of a “holier than thou” attitude.   This serves the story by creating a contrast, but it unfortunately gives us an out.  We can think to ourselves, well I am not like that guy, so this story does not apply to me.  When it comes to self-righteous behavior or attitudes, we often think of it as viewing oneself as “holier than thou”, but the reality is that is not the case.  Several years ago, a study from the University of Chicago found that when it comes to self-righteous attitudes a “holier than thou” outlook, is uncommon.   What is much more common is for people to believe they are “less evil” than other people.  So often self-righteousness looks less like “I am better than you and you know it” and more like “At least I am not as bad as you are”.  

  Unfortunately, this kind of self-righteous behavior that seeks to define others as worse than is all too common.  We see it everywhere today.   We see it in the polarization, which seeks to demonize people who disagree with a specific point of view.  So often it seems that people take those who they disagree with and cast them as evil.  It is not just that they disagree so often it seems people cast their opponent as hateful, deceitful, and morally wrong as if it were their nature.  It seems today it is common for someone to point to someone they disagree with and say “at least I am not like them.”  We need to call this current epidemic to divide into us vs. them groups and vilify the “them” as what it truly is: It is a way to be self-righteous-it is a way to look down on others. 

The research shows that self-righteousness exists in unhealthy quantities in church settings.   Which is why it is worth remembering that Jesus told the parable in this morning’s scripture to his disciples, to his closest followers.   The message of this morning’s scripture and its warnings against self-righteousness are still intended for those who follow Jesus.  It is intended for us.  It calls us out. Fortunately, within the parable Jesus shows us how we can overcome our struggles with self-righteous attitudes.  Ultimately, this morning’s scripture is a parable about prayer, and it contains the life changing prayer that has been crucial to the Christian faith since the beginning.    

In the parable the tax collector prays, “Lord have mercy.” Lord have mercy in Greek, is Kyrie Eleison, and that phrase is one of the oldest phrases of worship in Christianity.   Almost back to the beginning of the church, Christians have prayed Kyrie Eleison as an act of worship.   To this day Kyrie Eleison is still used in Greek Orthodox liturgy. A slightly more developed version of this prayer, which is often referred to as the “Jesus prayer”, dates back to the 5th century Egypt but it could easily be older.  The prayer is ‘Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”     It is a fundamental prayer and expression of the Christian faith.   Because Lord have mercy is not about what we do for God, it is about what God is doing for us.    Lord have mercy is an acknowledgement that there is nothing that we can do to reach God.  It is a humble confession that on our own we are not good enough to stand in the presence of true holiness.   The prayer of the Pharisee is touting all of the ways that he has reached up to God, the prayer of the tax collector is the realization that it is God who reaches down to us.     

Perhaps because Jesus is talking to his disciples, he gives a little bit more clarity on what the takeaway should be in verse 14, “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled and all those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  We are humble when we refuse to think of ourselves as more important than we are.   Friends, as those saved by grace and offered forgiveness through Jesus Christ being humble is something that should come easy to us.  Because we know the depths of sin that Jesus has saved us from.   We know the wrong that we have been forgiven of, and we know just how much we do not deserve it.   We should not have any problems over estimating our own importance, because we should know it is Jesus and Jesus alone who has the power to save us.  We should know how much we need grace.  We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  We all, every single one of us, are in a position where we can stand at a distance, not even look up, hit our chest, and pray “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” 

Every single person alive today stands in need of mercy.  The University of Chicago found that the main way we exhibit self-righteousness is by thinking “at least we are not like those people”, but that is such a flawed premise.  The reality is that we are like those people, and it does not matter who those people are.   We all stand in need of grace.  As the old saying goes we all put on our pants one leg at a time just like everyone else.   Self-righteousness emerges from us looking around and comparing ourselves to other people.   The reality of grace and mercy should change how we treat and see people.   We should not see ourselves as more important than others or see others as somehow worse than us, because our need for grace is the same.   So, we should treat all people the same, we should treat them with the same compassion, gentleness, and kindness that we want to be treated with.  Instead of trying to vilify someone else we should seek to understand them and embrace that we need Jesus just as much as they do.  We should claim the freeing truth that the ground at the foot of the cross is level.    The rich the poor, the righteous and the unrighteous, the liberal and the conservative from every tribe, tongue, and nation bow at the feet of Jesus and pray “Kyrie Eleison”.  Lord have mercy on me a sinner.   Instead of finding people with differences that we can look down on or be thankful that we are not them, we should be beacons of grace that declare Jesus saves everyone, even a sinner like me.    We should always be checking our heart to make sure we love people like Jesus instead of judge people with smug self-righteousness. 

Make no mistake Jesus told this morning’s parable because he was trying to step on a few toes.  If we are being truly honest with ourselves, then there is a good chance that ours are some of the ones stepped on.  We live in a culture where we likely see a lot of actions and beliefs we do not agree with.  We live in a culture that is actively trying to polarize us and see others as a “them” to shun and judge.  Often it becomes very easy for us to say, “at least I am not like that”.  The reality is that it does not matter if we have followed Jesus for days or decades our payer should always be Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.  The Jesus prayer as it is called, is always an appropriate prayer for us.  So, when we find ourselves getting a little judgmental may we pray, Lord have mercy.   When we find ourselves getting a little smug and self-important may we pray, Lord have mercy.   When we find ourselves looking down on anyone for any reason may we pray, Lord have mercy.   Then may we live that prayer out as we show the same mercy and kindness to everyone else.  Lord, have mercy.    

Scripture: Luke 17:11-19

  In high school track longest running event is the 3200, which is about 2 miles.   Cross Country goes further, and the standard cross-country track is 5K.  At the national championships and Olympic level, there is a 10,000-meter track race, which is a little over six miles.  The half marathon more than doubles that at 13.1 miles and running a marathon requires running 26.2 miles.  For most of us, that probably sounds like further than we would ever want to think about running in a month, much less at one time.  However, for a small number of individuals they think they can still push themselves to go further.   For those people who want to take it to the extreme, there is the ultra-marathon.  While there are several different types of ultra-marathon events, one of the more common formats is a 100-mile cross-country race.  The world’s oldest official 100-mile foot race is the Western States 100, which takes place in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.   The most extreme of these extreme races is the Barkley marathon.  This esoteric event takes place in the mountains of Tennessee.  Over the entirety of the course, it gains 60,000 feet in elevation.  Unlike other races, this one does not use established trails or paths.  Instead, the racers must truly go cross country and find their own way through the Appalachian forest.  The race has been run every year since 1995, but it has only been completed six times.  More years than not all the competitors fail to finish the race within the 60-hour time limit. 

The Barkley marathon might be the most extreme race in the world.  It pushes even the fittest and best runners in the world to their absolute limit.  To have any chance of finishing the race a runner has to unswerving focus and unstoppable determination. While the journey may not have been as arduous as the Barkley marathon, this morning’s scripture features the same level of extreme dedication, but I think we often miss that.  Often the focus of this story is on verse 17 where Jesus asks, “Were not all ten cleansed where are the other nine?”  The focus we tend to put on the story is a simple one, we should be grateful like the one as opposed to being ungrateful like the other nine.   However, when we make the story simple, we overlook the profound point that is right there in the story.   This story is not just about gratitude; it is about the extreme lengths that one man took to show gratitude.  This story illustrates that giving thanks is not always easy, but it is always worth it.   Considering this morning’s scripture can have the ability to help us rethink how we go about expressing our own gratitude. 

One of the reasons why we might miss the extraordinary nature of this morning’s scripture is that we are not familiar with some of the cultural details.  The scripture states that Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem along the border between Samaria and Galilee.   From Galilee, where Jesus did most of his ministry, there were two main paths to Jerusalem.  The most common path was to follow the Jordan river down to Jericho and then take the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.   The other way was through the rugged hill country of Samaria.   The Samaria route is what we might call the scenic route.  Today it would be like avoiding the Interstate to take the state roads because you wanted to see the countryside.   That means this town that Jesus passed through was out of the way.  It was not the kind of place that a person would pass by often.   Despite that, it was a place.  It was a place where people lived and worked.  It was likely a small town where everyone knew everyone else’s business.  It was a small town that also had its group of marginalized and outcast. 

Leprosy in the bible is a bit of a catch all term. In Jesus day, leprosy could refer to the actual disease of leprosy, or it could refer to a whole host of skin conditions.  Having a disease that was exteriorly visible was the worst thing for a Jewish person at this time, because it clearly marked them as unclean.     Victims of these diseases were barred from living in towns and cities.  They gathered in colonies well away from where people lived.  For access, these colonies were often close to roads, but the lepers had to warn those who passed by to stay well away from them.  When Jesus passed by instead of yelling warnings, they asked Jesus for help. 

I find this detail of the story interesting, because remember this town is out of the way.  The word-of-mouth buzz on Jesus must have been going strong because the stories of Jesus, of a healer from Galilee, had made it to these afflicted individuals.   We do not know the details, but somehow these ten men had gotten word that it was Jesus who was traveling by.  So instead of yelling out their normal warnings of stay away, they said “Jesus master, have pity on us.”

That is of course, exactly what Jesus did.  Jesus did indeed heal them and told them to find a priest.  In the Torah there were rules for being cleansed of leprosy.  To follow the biblical law, when someone was healed, they were required to present themselves to the priest to be considered clean.     We need to remember these men could not google the closest priest, do a tele-health session and be declared clean in less than an hour.   It was a process and it was one that even under the best of conditions was going to take some time.  We do not know where exactly Jesus encountered these lepers, or how far the closest priest was.  However, we can safely assume that there was not a priest just standing there.  The healed men would have to go and see one out.  Once they reached the priest, and the priest was actually willing to take the time to examine them, it could be a full seven days before they are declared clean.  Under the most ideal circumstances it would likely take more than a week to finish this process. 

Try to imagine yourself in the position of these ten men.  These ten lepers that Jesus healed had their life given back to them.  Because they were sick, they were completely cut off from their friends and family.  For some of them, it could have been years.  Perhaps some of them had resigned themselves to believing they would never see some people again.  After being declared clean they would be allowed to return home.  After being away from those you love for so long, isn’t that what you would do?  It is not that they were ungrateful for what Jesus had done, but their lives had been given back to them.  They had so much lost time to catch up on.  I think most of us would have done something similar.   This is what makes the one who sought Jesus out so remarkable and his gratitude so extreme.

Remember Jesus was traveling on his way to Jerusalem when he encountered the lepers.  Also remember it could have taken well over a week for the lepers to be declared clean.  It was not like during that time, Jesus just stood in the same spot waiting for the healed men to come back.  In fact, the most logical assumption we can make is that Jesus continued traveling.   This is the element of the story we often overlook.  It is not just that one man came back to give thanks, it is how much effort he put into it.  He had to go seek Jesus out and find him in order to throw himself at the feet of Jesus and give thanks.   What is noteworthy in this morning’s scripture is not just one person came back to give thanks, but the lengths the man went to show his gratitude.  When we consider this, I think there are three big takeaways for us.

First, this scripture points out that gratitude is more than just words.   The way that the one leper expressed gratitude had a lot less to do with the words of thanks he said, and a lot more with the   actions he undertook.   He showed how thankful he was to Jesus by his actions.   Being thankful, truly thankful is a lot more than just the words we say.  It is probably not fair to think that the others healed were ungrateful, but only one was willing to undertake the extreme actions to find and give thanks to Jesus.  If we truly have an attitude of gratitude, then our thankfulness should influence and be evident in our actions. 

The ten men healed of leprosy received an amazing, divine gift from Jesus when they were healed.  The second point for us to consider is that every single person here has been extravagantly blessed by God.   For starters we have all been offered the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus Christ.   That alone should be more than enough to put us in a position of forever gratitude and thanksgiving.   However, God’s great love and provision goes even further for us.   James 1:17 reminds us that “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.”  We all have many good and perfect gifts in our lives to be thankful for.  The gratitude we have for God’s goodness in our lives, is something we need to be intentional about expressing and acting upon. If not, we can begin taking God’s gifts for granted- or worse start feeling entitled to them.
 
   This reminds me of an old story.  Two old friends bumped into one another on the street one day.  One man looked very sad, discouraged, and almost on the verge of tears.  His friend asked, “What has the world done to you?”   The sad fellow responded, “three weeks ago a rich uncle of mine died, and he included me in his will.  I received a check of $40,000.”
 “That’s terrific” said his friend, “That’s a lot of money.”
 “Yes but two weeks ago they sent me another check- this time for $100,000.”
  Amazed his friend replied, “That is amazing, you are really blessed!”
   “You don’t understand” the man whined, “Last week I got another check, this one was for a quarter of a million dollars.”
 At this point the friend was getting very confused, “You are right I don’t understand why then are you so unhappy?”
The man wailed, “Because this week I haven’t received anything.”
 
We too can fall into a trap of getting so caught up on focusing on what we have not received, that we are not thankful for what we have received.  When we focus on what we do not have, it leads to bitterness and constant sorrow.  When we instead focus on how we have experienced the goodness of God, then our gratitude can inspire us to acts of devotion and service.
 
The final point for us to consider is the response that Jesus gives to the man who returns to give thanks.   Jesus tells him, “Your faith has made you well.”  Jesus recognizes the man’s faith through his thankfulness.  Our faith in God and thankfulness to God for all that God has   done are closely linked.  The early church fathers and mothers recognized this.  When the early church met, they met around the table.  The basis for their worship was the taking of communion, and they called this act Eucharist.  Eucharist comes from Greek and it means “give thanks.”  Giving thanks to God is the basis of worship.   When we give thanks to God we make a connection with God.   We acknowledge the wonders that God has done on our behalf, and we humbly express our gratitude.     At its foundation when we worship God we should be giving thanks to God.  We can have faith in God because the ways that God has worked in our lives testifies to God’s goodness.  When we take the time to go out of our way and name those works and give thanks, then that cannot help but increase our faith.  When we thank God our faith grows, and when we thank God we are actively worshiping God. 
 
To worship God in thanksgiving takes effort and commitment.   In this morning’s scripture the one who sought Jesus out is an extreme example of what this means.  In the same way we should be so dedicated to giving thanks to God for all that God has done.   May we not take or granted or feel entitled to how good God has been to us, but instead may we make giving thanks to God a dedicated priority in our lives. Through thanksgiving may our faith grow, as we come to realize how good God is to us.     May our gratitude motivate us to action, as we give thanks to God and seek to share the goodness of God with others. With a grateful heart may we give thanks to God the Father, the source of all gifts.  May we give thanks to Jesus, who’s powerful mercy uplifts.  May we give thanks to the Holy Spirit who enables us to be a blessing to others.  With extreme gratitude, may we truly be able to proclaim thanks be to God.  
 

Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

               Since 1979 the research group Gallup has conducted an Ethics and Honesty study.  In this survey they ask people about the perceived honesty and ethical integrity of various professions.  While some professions rotate from year to year, there are others that are included in every survey.  One of those professions that has been asked about since the beginning are pastors, and the report is not great.  The 2025 report shows that public trust in pastors has fallen to an all-time low, with only 30% of respondents believing pastors have high or very high levels of honesty and ethics.   Twenty years ago, this was at 56% and this twenty-six point decline over that time is steeper than any other profession.  

 Unfortunately, someone does not need to look very hard into news sources to see why this is the case.  For instance, in May of this year Mitchell Summerfield pastor of Word of God church in Raleigh, North Carolina pled guilty to bank and wire fraud, where he leveraged the church to illegally obtain $400,000.   In August of this year Eli Regalados, pastor a Victorious Grace Church in Colorado was indicted on 40 counts of theft, racketeering and securities fraud.  He used his position to leverage more than 3 million dollars from congregants in a cryptocurrency scheme.  Amazingly, a different pastor in a different state was indicted for almost the exact same scheme in January of this year.  Those are just a few examples, from just this year!  

 The reason why public trust in pastors is so low is because every year there are dozens of stories of people who should know better, doing these things or worse.  Even though we are separated from the time that Paul wrote 1 Timothy by centuries, it seems his words are just as true today: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”  As this morning’s scripture points a love of money is ultimately empty, and it does not compare to the all surpassing love of God.  This morning’s scripture is about more than money, it is about the abundance of God and it is a reminder that for those who follow Jesus- generosity should be a way of life for all. 

1 Timothy, like many of the epistles in the New Testament, was not written to stand alone in a vacuum.  It was written to a specific audience, in a specific place, for a specific reason.  Paul wrote 1 Timothy as a letter to one of his protégés, Timothy, who he had commissioned to lead the church in Ephesus.  Much of 1 Timothy are encouragements to Timothy and instructions on how to lead a church.  However, chapter 1 begins by addressing an issue with false teachers that were causing problems and distrust in the area around Ephesus.  Exactly what these teachers are teaching is never explicitly stated, but Paul returns to the topic at the end of the letter.   We started reading at verse 6, but in verse 5 Paul alleges one of the motivations of these false teachers is to use godliness for financial gain.

From there this morning’s scripture picks up and Paul urges Timothy to not find motivation in accumulating wealth.  He points out that a love for money has not only brought about so much evil in the world, but it has wrecked people’s faith and caused them to wander away from the truth.  I think we know the truth of this.  The stories I already shared show that a love of money has brought about the downfall of multiple church leaders, and the fallout from those instances has damaged the faith development of many people. 

 Paul then encourages Timothy to put his focus and his energy on something more important than material wealth.  He encourages him to fight the good fight of faith, to pursue following God above all else.  Perhaps the biggest problem of a love for money in our faith is not the greed and the pain that greed can cause, the bigger problem is that it is a distraction.   If our main focus, if the thing that we put all of our energy behind is acquiring more and more, then we cannot pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.  We cannot fight the good fight, if we are instead fighting to get a bigger horde of loot.  Jesus himself said the same thing.  In Matthew 6:24 Jesus says, “"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money".   While I think many of us can get behind the idea of a love of money being the root of all kinds of evil, and we can fired up about the idea of fighting the good fight of faith, I also wonder if we do not pay attention as much to the next part. 

 In this morning’s scripture, Paul continued to write “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor put their hope in wealth” and “command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”  We might not pay as much attention to this scripture, because we might not think it applies to us.    But they do.  The command to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous is something that all of us can take to heart.  There are a couple of points about generosity that we should keep in mind.  

Generosity is not about quantity; it is about quality.   A while ago, I heard a story about a United Methodist Church in Indiana from decades ago.  It was a small-town church in a poorer area.   Often, the church struggled to meet its annual budget.   In this town the only real factory was owned by two brothers, and every Christmas Eve one of the brothers would come to the church.   Before the service began, he would loudly ask the preacher how short the church was this year.   When the offering plate was passed, he would wait until the plate was to be handed to him.  In big gestures he would get out his checkbook.  This paused the whole service as everyone watched him write his check.  Every year, it would then be announced at the January ad council meeting that the church met its budget for the previous year, and everyone knew why.   There is no reason why this rich factory owner could not quietly give that money, or given it regularly throughout the year.  It was an intentional choice to wait until the 24th day of the last month to make a public display of giving.  It does not matter how many zeros that check had, that was not generosity.  The goal of generosity is to be a blessing to someone else, to make the world better for another.  That is the motivation that makes an action generous. 

Second, generosity is not just about giving to an institution like a church.  Generosity is an approach to life.  Unfortunately, American Christians do not always make generosity a way life like perhaps we should.  For instance, if you know someone who works as a server in a restaurant, then there is a good chance that their least favorite time to work is the Sunday lunch shift.  It is common knowledge among servers that church-goers give the worst tips.   This is such a prevailing thought that studies have been done to see if this is true.  The good news is that the studies found that the majority of Christians going out to eat for lunch after church do tip in line with national averages.  However, one study found that on average, non-religious people are slightly better tippers than churchgoers.  Another the same study found that a church goer was much more likely to give a tip of 5% or less on Sunday when compared to a non-church goer.  If we collectively took seriously the command of this morning’s scripture to be generous and willing to share, then that attitude would be present in all areas of our lives.   Sunday afternoon should be the best time to be a server, not the worst, because the people of God should be the most generous people on the planet. 

Often one of the hindrances to us being generous is that we feel it is hard to share when we can barely cover our bases.  We can fall into the trap of thinking that we will be more generous when we get a little better off, but often when we reach that milestone, we end up moving the goalpost a little further down.   We can get stuck in the trap of feeling like we never have enough.   This is why this morning’s scripture starts with the wisdom of “godliness with contentment is great gain.”  We can struggle with generosity because of an attitude of scarcity that informs us we do not have quite enough.  However, when we reframe how we think about wealth, we can move from an attitude of scarcity to one of abundance. 

This morning’s scripture focuses on money, and because of that we often associate generosity with sharing financial wealth.  Money is not the only way to be wealthy.  This year business coach Sahil Bloom’s book The 5 Types of Wealth made the New York Times Bestseller list.  In this book Sahil lays out a framework to think about wealth differently, because we can be rich in more than just money.   There is financial wealth, but Sahil also identifies social wealth- the strength of friendships and quality of one’s social network.  He identifies time wealth, the ability to have time to spend on things you value most.  He also lifts mental and physical wealth because our health has a large impact on our overall wellbeing. 

When we consider wealth as more than just money, then we can all be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share.   So perhaps you are on a fixed income, but you are retired and have a lot of time wealth.   Then perhaps you can be generous with your time and show up to serve, show up to encourage, and show up to make a difference.   Perhaps life is busy and there seems to only ever be enough money to just make it, but you are the kind of person who seems to know everyone.  Perhaps you can use that abundance of social wealth to help other people.  You can help connect people who need help with those who can help, or you could mentor a young person.   When we think of wealth as more than just money, then we realize most of us are likely to be far wealthier than we often think.   When we think about wealth as more than money, then we likely get a better picture of how abundantly God has provided for us.   If we can claim we blessed by God’s abundance, then we should share that generosity with others. 

This morning’s scripture contains one of the most well known and most misquoted scriptures in the bible:  A love for money is a root of all kinds of evil.   However, this scripture is about more than just money.  This morning’s scripture is a call to faithful discipleship.  It is encouragement to pursue righteousness, goodliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness over something as fleeting as money.  It is a call to fight the good fight of faith, and it is a command to be generous.   May you realize that wealth is more than the number in your bank account, and may you realize just how much wealth you truly have.   May you be willing to share that abundance with others generously so that you are rich with good deeds.  In this way, may you lay up treasures as a firm foundation for the age to come so that you may take hold of the life that is truly life.