Rich Toward God - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Luke 12:13-21

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” 16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

Because of my education in business, I don't consider myself the most brilliant investor, but I know enough to be dangerous. Because I know enough to be dangerous, I stay away from certain things people sell, pretending to be investments. One of which has been cryptocurrency. 

Investors tout cryptocurrency as the currency of the future and are lining up to invest now before they become more valuable. But there is a problem: cryptocurrency is highly speculative. Just like real currencies, cryptocurrencies generate no cash flow, so for you to profit, someone must pay more for the currency than you did. This is what's called "the greater fool" theory of investment. 

We cannot put our money into things that won't last; we have to put money into something that will help the greater good. 

Jesus talked about money a lot in the Bible, but we don't talk about it a lot in church. 11 out of 40 of Jesus' parables mentioned money. In the Gospel, according to Luke, money is mentioned an average of once every seven verses. I recall many people getting worked up about Creflo Dollar and his comments on tithing recently; I did not participate in much of the back, and forth because I knew a hard fact, most people don't tithe. The average giver in the church gives somewhere around 2 percent to 2.5 percent of their income. 

Tithing Statistics 

• 5% of churchgoers tithe (Church Development).

• 1.5 million people tithe out of the 247 million U.S. citizens identifying as Christians (Sharefaith).

• 77% of tithers give more than 10% (Health Research Funding).

• If every Christian tithed 10%, faith organizations would have an extra $139 billion yearly (Health Research Funding).

• The giving preferences of those who tithe are almost evenly split between eGiving (27%) and traditional giving (28%) (Vanco Churchgoer Giving Study).

Average Giving Per Person in church

• The average weekly giving amount per churchgoer is $17 per week (Health Research Funding).

• That's $73.67 a month per giver.

• That's $884 a year per giver.

• U.S. Christians collectively make $5.2 trillion annually—nearly half the world's total Christian income (Health Research Funding).

https://www.vancopayments.com/egiving/church-giving-statistics-tithing?fbclid=IwAR0Ptlftjf0p2FsSYQ00VNtR02jrn5lmmLtUWMD-Cdb4KY5ogOZ0K03FJME

Jesus has been preaching to the crowd in Luke chapter 12, and a young man comes up wanting Jesus to resolve a dispute between the young man and his brother. Resolving disputes was common in the Bible; Moses did it, and there is also a book called Judges. The Book of Deuteronomy 21 tells us how the sons are supposed to divide an inheritance, and it seems like the young man in front of Jesus did not get his fair share. Jesus doesn't make a judgment or rule but instead takes the time to teach the people not about money but priorities. 

The rich fool in the parable had a preoccupation with possessions, put too much security in self-sufficiency, and was under the grasp of Greed. The rich fool thought he knew the future; he thought they would only get better because things were good now. Other people have this same thought. A large corporation turns a profit this year; they expect even more profit next year; if they don't get the increased profit the following year, someone is getting fired. We always expect tomorrow to be greater than yesterday, and so did the rich fool in the parable. 

Jesus was not anti-rich; he was anti-greed. "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions" (v. 15). The first warning, "Take care," is a Greek word meaning "to see," as in to understand and comprehend. Jesus is saying, "You don't get it! Open your eyes and guard against Greed in all its forms." Security was important in ancient times when thievery was common and easier than today with all our hi-tech protection options. "Peer into the darkness; make sure no one is lurking in an alley with a baseball bat. Keep your wits about you. Do not let Greed grab you by the throat and rob you of your life."

This is Jesus' meaning: Greed is a detour that quickly becomes a one-way street to a dead-end road. There's no cul-de-sac; you can't turn around. Once greedy, always greedy. This is the dark, dirty little secret about avarice: Once it's grabbed you, it's got you, and you're hooked. You will always be unhappy; what you have will never be enough. No wonder Jesus says, "For one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions" (v. 15).

The alternative to Greed is generosity — like the widow whom Jesus and the disciples watched as she donated the temple. She taught the disciples that generosity is more than an amount — it's an attitude. It's measured not by how much we give but by how much it costs us. "Truly I tell you," Jesus said, "this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in all she had to live on" (Luke 21:3-4).

Jesus doesn't pull any punches; the word used for a fool in the text not only means without reason, senseless, foolish, or inconsiderate. The word for fool is closely related to the word which refers to the diaphragm and midriff and the breathing process — inhaling and exhaling. It's as though Jesus is saying to the fool: "You big bag of wind! You're partying like there's no tomorrow when in fact, for you, there's no tonight. This very night, your soul is required of you. It's over."

Luke 12:13–21 invites us to place our trust in something more durable than the volatile fluctuations of a global economy. Instead of banking on more and larger storage barns, God invites all into the eternal economy of Christ's grace and mercy. That is good news in every season of the year. 

Being rich and possessing an abundance of belongings isn't the problem. Forgetting God - forgetting to get down on your knees and thank God, the giver of life and all things - is the problem. Jesus notes the irony. The man thinks he is the creator of his wealth. Jesus says, "Not so." It was the land that produced the abundant crop. The rich man had little to do with it. God gave him his blessings! 

Being rich toward God entails using resources to benefit one's neighbor in need, as the Samaritan did (10:25–37). Being rich toward God includes intentionally listening to Jesus' word, as Mary did (10:38–42). Being rich toward God consists of prayerfully trusting that God will provide for the needs of life (11:1–13; 12:22–31). Being rich toward God involves giving alms to establish a lasting treasure in heaven (12:32–34).

Ecology for Christians - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Colossians 2:6-19 NRSV

2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 

2:7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.

2:9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

2:10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

2:11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ;

2:12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

2:13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,

2:14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.

2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths.

2:17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

2:18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,

2:19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

I get fascinated with the process of development as I get older. I think about what goes on behind the scenes before we see the big show. When I listen to a musician play an instrument, I wonder about the hours of practice they put in before the performance. When I see an actor on the stage, I wonder how long did they rehearse? I will look at a business being successful or relocating to a new city, and I wonder about the negotiations that took place to get the company there. 

Why? Because I learned that no matter where you see someone standing, they did not get there by themselves and did not get there overnight. We are looking at a finished product without knowing how much work it took to get there. 

For that very reason, I appreciate trees more now than I did in the past. I have learned that trees work together. Suzanne Simard, an ecologist, has studied trees extensively and discovered that underground, trees communicate with one another with their roots and fungus underground. Trees in the sunlight send nutrients to trees in the shade. Trees will let other trees know if there are bugs nesting in them so that the other trees can produce more sap to keep bugs from climbing the other trees. 

Mycorrhizal (Mike oh rise ah) networks create a community in the forest. In them, a fungus assists the trees by helping to supply their needs, and the trees help the fungus by providing it with sugar. 

The bottom line is this: Trees are not competitive organisms. Instead, “each tree invests in the well-being of the forest as a whole

When Paul was writing to the followers of Christ in Colossae, the apostle Paul sounded a great deal like a forest ecologist: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him” (Colossians 2:6-7). Christians are not to live as isolated individuals but to be rooted in Christ, nourished by Christ, and built up in Christ. Paul was writing his letter to the Colossian church because deceitful philosophies were going around and other views on how religion was supposed to operate. People were promoting the deceitful philosophy that the knowledge of God was supposed to come from within the individual. Paul, however, is saying that knowledge of God comes from God. 

Paul is preaching against the myth of the self-made person, the rugged individualism, and the thought that we all suffer alone and the only way out is to do it yourself. Paul says that we have to do more than just live together; we ought to communicate and help one another on the Christian journey. 

Paul is saying this Christian Journey is not an individual journey but a communal one. We are in this together, with one another, loving and helping one another. Not only are we supposed to work together, but we are supposed to work together right now. Paul says not to worry about ascending to God. Paul wants the church to take action right now to help your neighbor live in gratitude. 

We begin by being rooted in Christ. Nothing is more important than Christian formation, which starts in childhood and continues until our lives on this earth end. Most of this happens in the home, where parents are challenged to show their children. Christlike love and spouses are to be as faithful to each other as Christ is to the church. The church can help families do this by assisting them to form the qualities that Paul lays out for the Colossians: “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (3:12).

Then we communicate with each other. Like the fungal fibers, we carry information between different parts of the body of Christ. This is done best in face-to-face conversation, but it can be done carefully and gently through other forms of communication as well. We must be willing to speak to one another, not just the pastor. It is much easier for 100 people to have conversations with one another than for the pastor to have 100 different conversations. 

“Faith communities speak lovingly but truthfully to their members,” wrote journalist Robin Givhan in a column about congregations. “In that way, they are, one hopes, like family. None of that is possible without a willingness to take a risk, to open oneself to a wounded ego, slings, and arrows, a broken heart.” When we do this, we try to take people at their word and avoid being judgmental. We make room for everyone’s flaws and failures and try to build each other up.

Then we nourish each other and sacrifice for each other. Mycorrhizal fibers carry water, carbon, and nitrogen from tree to tree. In the same way, we are to carry encouragement, guidance, and support from person to person. We do this when we lift the spirits of people who are feeling discouraged, mentor teenagers, struggling with their faith, and support people who have lost their spouses.

As members of the Christian community, we invest not only in the welfare of individuals but in the well-being of the church as a whole. This involves gifts of time, talents, and money given in support of the mission and ministry of the church. In all of this, we follow the sacrifice of Jesus, who was killed when people “put him to death by hanging him on a tree” (Acts 10:39). Growing deeper and larger: That is “a growth that is from God” (v. 19). We grow deeper when we study and reflect on the Bible, when we ask the Holy Spirit to help us pray “with sighs too deep for words” (Romans 8:26), and when we enter deep-spirited friendships with people around us.

But we also need to grow larger by planting seeds in the community around us. We do this by sharing the gospel through podcasts, blogs, and live-streamed services of worship, and we do it by knocking on doors and getting to know our neighbors. And we do it best by sharing the love of Jesus with our family members and friends.

Just Words - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Psalm 52

1 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?

2 You who practice deceit, your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor.

3 You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.

4 You love every harmful word, you deceitful tongue!

5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living.

6 The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at you, saying,

7 “Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!”

8 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.

9 For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good.

Something I've been working on is watching what I say and resisting the urge to say something right away. There are meetings where I will purposely let multiple people speak before I provide my input, and there are situations where people ask me for advice, and instead of giving them direct advice, I ask questions. The reason is that I am working on controlling my speech and being more measured with my words. I want to get the most bang for the buck when I speak; to do that; I realize I have to spend a little more time thinking about what I want to say and how I want to say it. I spend time reading psychological counseling and business leadership/coaching books, and they say the same things; less is more. The tongue is powerful, and we should care how we use this organ. It is amazing what one of the smallest organs in our bodies can do. 

Just think of what the tongue can do. It's more flexible than any other part of the body. It can enlarge, it can contract, and it can twist itself into any number of shapes. The tongue is essential to the digestive system. When we eat, it churns food around in our mouths, coating it with saliva. Then, when we swallow, it pushes the food on its way down the throat to the stomach. The tongue is also home to our taste buds; it tells our brains whether food is sweet, sour, salty, or bitter. The tongue is an early warning system, helping us avoid harmful foods and leading us toward foods that foster health.

The tongue resembles a muscle in many ways — mainly composed of muscle tissue — but it doesn't function like any other muscle in the body. It's not anchored to bone by ligaments like the muscles that move the skeletal system. The tongue moves freely on its own. The tongue has another, completely different purpose besides its essential role in the digestive system, and it's our principal organ of speech.

We all can be better about controlling our tongues or controlling our speech. I know I am not the only one who has had something happen and later thought, "I wish I had not said that," or maybe, "I wish I would have said this." We are all at some level, thinking or rethinking what we let come out of our mouths at a particular time. We can all think of someone we feel does not talk enough, or maybe someone we think talks too much. 

A woman known as a harsh critic of other people once told John Wesley, "Mr. Wesley, my talent is to speak my mind."

"Madam," Wesley replied, "God wouldn't care a bit if you would bury that talent."

Words are the common coin of our social relationships. Sometimes we belittle them, disparaging political speech as "only rhetoric." We complain about trivial "small-talk" conversations, not realizing how subtly they function as the glue in many relationships.

Yet, words can be so compelling. Just think of what it means to hear someone say, "I love you" — or to hear that same person say, "I never want to see you again." Words can be as airy and insubstantial as dust motes floating in a sunbeam, or they can be deadly daggers, running us through to the heart.

Psalm 52 is what biblical scholars call a "psalm of imprecation." The target of the singer's righteous rage is anonymous, but it's not hard to discern that this enemy — "O mighty one" — is powerful. This adversary is treacherous in spirit and relentless in battling people of faith: a villain who loves evil and delights in "plotting destruction." Sometimes we need to verbalize our gripes and issues. Psalm 52 mentions a no-good, down, and dirty person. Someone who was a conniving politician that lied his way to the top, someone who loved evil more than good, someone who had a lying tongue, someone who trusted in riches and sought wealth. 

To understand Psalm 52, you have to go back to first Samuel chapters 21 and 22. David was on the run for his life, hiding from Saul. While David was hiding, Doeg told Saul where David was hiding. Doeg snitched on David; scholars believe David was talking about Doeg when he mentioned all those bad things about them. 

David was on the run for his life, and the priest Ahimelek helped David and gave David a sword and some food. Saul called for Ahimelek and got mad that Ahimelek helped David, so Saul had his conniving snitch/politician Doeg eliminate all the priests, women, and children in that town. 

Be careful of political leaders or leaders in general who want to punish the pastors, priests, and prophets that don't blindly follow their program. God is not beholden to a political party, and a politician that tells you otherwise is lying. Politicians and political parties switch sides and platforms at the drop of a dime, so they can't always be aligned with God.

We don't have to get revenge. The psalmist says that God will break them down, and God will snatch them from their tent; it may look like they won for now, but if we just wait a bit longer, the righteous will see victory in the end. Won't he fight your battles? Won't he make your enemies your footstools? You have joy in sorrow and hope for tomorrow when you know it is not your battle to fight. 

David says he is not going to trust the words of man; the psalmist says they will trust in God's steadfast love. We need to depend on God and God's love. The righteous reward is being grounded in God and connected to the source. We can choose to live for ourselves, or we can choose to live for God. The psalmist is like a green olive tree in the house of God. I have learned that green olive trees grow year-round in different conditions, and they don't get bothered by pests. 

David is going to trust in the words of God, not man, stay connected to the source, which is God, and not let the pests bother him. I can only think that some of what David lived in Psalm 52 rubbed off on his son in Proverbs 3 because the father says, "I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever," and the son says, "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding" we have got to stay connected to the source. 

I like the word in verse 8; some translations say unfailing love, some say loving kindness, some say steadfast love, and some say mercy, but the Hebrew word they use is hesed. We know hesed whether we have ever said the word out loud or not. Hesed is a solemn promise, a covenant, a devotion, a willingness to not only feel someway but make a record about it. 

Hesed is when I used to take my son to get haircuts, and they would be a problem; he would scream, cry, kick out of his chair, and try to grab the clippers, something about them and the haircut experience bothered him. So, when he got a little older and could understand, I would make a promise to him. I would say, son, if you don't kick out the chair or don't scream or throw a fit, I will take you to the toy store, and I will get you some candy after we leave the barbershop. So little Johnnie would repeat to himself all the way to the barbershop; I am the haircut champion, I am not going to scream, I am not going to cry, I am not going to kick out the chair. Johnnie would say this over and over until we got to the barbershop, and then he didn't scream, cry, try to grab the clippers, or kick out of the chair. After we both got our haircuts, I would take him to the toy store and buy him something, and then we would get lunch, and he would get what he wanted, usually ice cream or a cookie. 

That promise I made to my son on the spectrum who does not like people touching his head was hesed; I, as a father, went on record with my commitment to my son because I had hesed for him. Your heavenly father has gone on record with his promises to you. 

God has given us tongues to use as tools of righteousness. The words we fashion, using those tongues, can serve the cause of justice or injustice; of kindness or callousness; of compassion or exploitation; of love or hate. In choosing our words, may we choose wisely!

Once we have chosen wisely, we can be thankful; the psalmist says that he will thank God forever, not for just a little bit of time but forever. Forever is a long time, but that is how long God loves us and how long we should praise him. 

Where Are We Going From Here? - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 

I prefer to leave things better than I found them for two reasons. First, I want to feel like I accomplished something, and second, I spend time thinking about the future. Whenever I buy something, I want to ensure that I don't have to make another purchase immediately if I grow. For example, when we purchased a new audio mixer for the church, even though we use about 20 inputs or less, I selected a 32-input mixer because I was thinking about future expansion. We have three cameras connected to the video mixer; I chose a video system that supports eight cameras because I was thinking about the future. I try to take that kind of approach to everything I am involved in, don't just plan for what we need now, plan for what we need in the future.

 

We all make plans, and even if we assume nothing will change or stay the same, we plan for the future.

 

When he wrote this letter to the church, Paul was planning for the future in Colossians.

Based on the first verse, some scholars think that Paul and Timothy wrote this book together. Paul did not start the church in Colossae, modern-day Turkey; Epaphras did. However, Paul had a close connection to the church, which is why he wrote a letter to them. Paul is an apostle, meaning someone sent out, and he is writing to the saints, which means someone set apart for holiness.

 

Paul wants to tell the Colossians how they are supposed to operate as a church; he is thankful for them and prays for them regularly.

 

The problem is that people are spreading false teaching around the area, telling the people that they missed the resurrection and there will not be another one.

 

In the apostle Paul's prayer for the Colossians, he asks that they "may be filled with the knowledge of God's will" so that they "may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work" (1:9-10).

 

We have to be able to pray for more things than just asking God to fix something; we can pray as a form of thanksgiving, we can pray just to be in the presence of the Lord, and we can do more than just bring our petitions to God.

 

Paul does not long for "the good old days." He is not fixated on the past. He does not ruminate on what happened last week, month, or year. Instead, he looks to the future, praying that the followers of Christ in Colossae will be equipped to face the challenges. He wants them to continue to be filled "with the knowledge of God's will." He prays that they "may lead lives worthy of the Lord." And he hopes they will "bear fruit in every good work."

 

Paul is creating a ministry for the future based on the conviction that decisions should be made today with an eye toward people's needs tomorrow.

 

Paul's prayers for the Colossians invoke the three theological virtues of faith, which initiates and sustains their friendship with Christ, love, which guides the ordinary life of the congregation, and hope, which directs them to their ultimate end in Christ.^[1]

 

So why are so many Christians reluctant to pray? For some, the reluctance results from experiencing persons who use prayer to portray themselves as "holier than thou." After all, Jesus warned against the hypocrites who prayed publicly to bring attention to themselves. Others may fear imposing their spiritual practices on friends and family members who may not believe as they do. Some view prayer as a quaint and outdated display of personal piety that more "mature" Christians have outgrown.^[2]

Either way, we must pray and keep praying.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 New King James Version (NKJV)

17 pray without ceasing,

 

Philippians 4:6-7 New King James Version (NKJV)

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

 

 

Holy people are missional people.

Paul prays they may "be filled with the knowledge of God's will." This is not philosophical knowledge; but instead, it is practical knowledge. This wisdom is "the ability to choose right conduct," says New Testament scholar Andrew Lincoln; 

 

At the same time, we are challenged to "bear fruit in every good work" (v. 10). This means following Paul's guidance to the Colossians in showing each other "compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience." It means bearing with one another, forgiving each other, and — most of all — practicing love, "which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (3:12-14).

 

Paul doesn't want us simply to talk the talk. He wants us to walk the walk. That means you honor your marriage commitment, care for the children in your family and the wider community, try to see God's image in people with a different point of view, and then work together for the common good.

That's the kind of ministry that will make for a better future. Ministry is based on the right conduct, grounded in wisdom with an ethical dimension.

So, where are we going from here? We need to make decisions as a church not just for Sunday but for the years to come, even if we don't think we will still be around during that time.

 

Christ redeemed us.

 

---

^[1] Gaventa, Beverly Roberts. The New Interpreter's Bible One-Volume Commentary . Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

 

^[2] Bartlett, David L.; Barbara Brown Taylor. Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 3: Pentecost and Season after Pentecost 1 (Propers 3-16) . Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

 

The Repairability Index - Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 5:2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife. 5:3 She said to her mistress, "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." 5:4 So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5:5 And the king of Aram said, "Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel." He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 5:6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy." 5:7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me." 5:8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel." 5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha's house. 5:10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean." 5:11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, "I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 5:12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" He turned and went away in a rage. 5:13 But his servants approached and said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, 'Wash, and be clean'?"  5:14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

If it's not broken, don't fix it. We're familiar with this time-tested adage, but why does it ring true? Because we know that when something breaks, it can be challenging to fix.

Usually, when something goes on the fritz, we know what to do. If the car breaks down, we take it to a car dealer or our favorite local mechanic. A bicycle goes to a bicycle shop, and we might even repair it ourselves if we're handy. Sometimes a malfunctioning smartphone or computer can simply be handed to the nearest teenager for a quick fix. Even if something more complex, like a marriage or relationship, goes off the rails, we can go to a therapist, counselor, or pastor.

But what do we do when a device isn't working, and we don't know how to fix it? Even if we find a skilled tech who can deal with it, we might discover that a repair is too costly and not worth the time and effort. We're better off shelling out the cash to buy a new device … which will fail within 18 months … and we swap out again, parting with more cash … until it fails, and the pattern continues. We know how it goes.

To break this cycle, France stepped to the forefront on the world stage in 2021 and, according to one source, began to require "makers of certain electronic devices, including smartphones and laptops, to tell consumers how repairable their products are. Manufacturers selling these devices in France must give their products a score, or 'repairability index,' based on a range of criteria, including how easy it is to take the product apart and the availability of spare parts and technical documents. … The repairability index represents France's effort to combat planned obsolescence, the intentional creation of products with a finite life-span that need to be replaced frequently, and transition to a more circular economy where waste is minimized."

It is easy to fix electronic items, but what about when a person needs fixing? Some people tend to believe that when a person is broken that they cannot be repaired. That certain sicknesses or issues make a person irredeemable. Leprosy was one of those types of illness in the Bible. 

Leprosy was a disease that made you a societal outcast. People did not want to be around someone with leprosy, nor did they want to be around someone who had been around someone with leprosy. Does that sound familiar? People had to announce they had leprosy when they were in public; they would have to go around yelling unclean! Unclean! The book of Leviticus devotes two whole chapters in the book, chapters 13 and 14, regarding how people were supposed to clean themselves after catching leprosy. Contracting leprosy in the Bible would turn your life upside down. No matter your education, social status, or position, anyone could catch this sickness. 

Naaman was a commander in the Aram military, and Naaman had leprosy. Naaman went to Israel looking for healing. Naaman put on fine clothes and brought gifts. Had a letter from the King of Aram. Ten talents 15-16k

6k shekels 13-14k

When Naaman arrived, the King of Israel was upset at the letter. He said, "am I God that I can heal this man?" The King of Israel feared war because Aram had already defeated Israel. Israel had a new King right now because the father, Ahab, died in the last war, and his son Jehoram was King now. The new King tore his clothes, thinking the King of Aram wanted the King of Israel to heal Naaman himself. After that miscommunication, Naaman got sent to Elisha. 

Naaman was upset that Elisha didn't come out. Naman was a part of what I would call the pastor-only crowd. The people who feel like if the senior pastor isn't giving them direct personal attention that it doesn't matter. The pastor-only crowd thinks only the pastor is supposed to care for them and visit them when they're sick. Only the pastor is supposed to call them and check up on them; only the pastor is supposed to give them their undivided attention. 

The pastor-only crowd wants to know which week the senior pastor is preaching because those are the only weeks they want to attend church. Sometimes the church folk need to take care of the church folk, and you can't leave everything up to the pastor. Sometimes, you might also need to take a hit to your ego. You look at the Bible, and nowhere does it have the pastors doing everything for everybody; through the Bible, the people worked together to make something happen. In the Old Testament and the New Testament, the priest, prophets, pastors, etc., were out front, but a group of people was behind them. Naaman went to Elisha, and a messenger came out and told him what he needed to do for healing. 

Help can come from unexpected places, 

There is a play on words when they describe Naaman in Hebrew, they use phrases that mean big man, and this big man has to get help from this little girl. You never know who is around you and what they are capable of doing. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. How many good ideas have we shot down because they didn't come from the person we expected? How many opportunities have we missed because the opportunity didn't fit in the box we made for it? Naaman, by most social standards, would have ignored the servant girl and kept looking elsewhere for healing, but this big man got help from this little girl. We have to be open to getting help from unexpected places. We don't even know the girl's name, but none of this stuff happens without her. 

God does not leave us when tragedy strikes

God does not leave us when tragedy strikes; God does not cause tragedy to happen to us. God is here to tell us that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. God is grieving with us. God is supporting us when we are hurt. Elisha wanted to ensure that Naaman knew there was a prophet in Israel. God will never leave you nor forsake you. The Bible says he who has begun a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Christ Jesus; God was with Naaman, God is with you. 

Do common things consistently 

Naaman got mad at Elisha, telling him to dip himself in the water; Naaman expected a bunch of bells, whistles, and some sort of performance to get healed. The prophet said dip yourself in the Jordan River. Sometimes, the simple things get the job done, not the complicated ones. When I was working as an engineer, I was introduced to something called the universal troubleshooting process. The universal troubleshooting process had a bunch of steps that you could take to fix any piece of broken equipment, and we were supposed to apply the universal troubleshooting process to our day-to-day duties. One of the tenants of the universal troubleshooting process was to keep cutting the problem in half; as long as you kept cutting the problem in half, you would get down to the root issue that caused the object to break in the first place. Every time we broke an issue down, the solution became simple. Naaman was ready to leave until one of his men stopped him (another unnamed person). They said if the prophet asked you to do something complicated, you would have done it; why not do something simple? 

God loves all his children

God loves all his children, Naaman is the main character in this story, and God heals Naaman by Naaman following Elisha's instructions. Something we forget is that Naaman is not a believer before this situation. God loves all his children; God did not say well; Naaman is not a believer, so Elisha doesn't have to heal him; God healed Naaman anyway, and later on in the same chapter, Naaman becomes a believer. We have to be willing to help people before we worry about conversion because we didn't worry about conversion first. Naaman was healed. 

And so, the mighty Naaman, reduced to humbling himself before the God of Israel, enduring the snub of a prophet of the Most High, walked down to the muddy Jordan, removed his clothes, and in so doing, revealed his scabrous and broken body to his servants, and then lowered himself into the water until he was seen no more. Then, he shot up out of the river, gasping for air, and took a second plunge and repeated this until the seven-fold baptism was complete. Naaman was not too broke to be fixed.

This is good news for those who feel their relationship with God is broken or beyond repair. Rather than attempting a repair, the owner is issued a completely new phone, or, as the Bible puts it, a new nature, a new creation — a fresh start with an entirely new outlook and perspective.