In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South.
Genesis 13:1–2
Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
Abram, our exalted father, was rich. He was rich but was not possessed by his riches, he was rich yet he was generous, he was rich still he placed his trust in the living God rather than his wealth. And because of his faithfulness, the Lord said to him,
Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
Genesis 22:17–18
In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.
Yet I stand before the Lord and I place all my hope and trust in myself. I examine myself and I conclude that I do not kill, I do not commit adultery, I do not steal, I do not bear false witness, I honour my father and mother, I love my neighbour as myself. “All these I have observed,” I declare as I place myself at the centre of my life. But my riches are a barrier against following God and the words given through the Prophet Hosea apply to me.
What shall I do to you, O Ephraim?
Hosea 6:4–6
What shall I do to you, O Judah?
Your mercy is as a morning cloud
And as the early dew that goes away.
Therefore I have cut off your prophets;
I have slain them with the words of My mouth,
And My judgement shall go forth as the light.
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God
More than whole burnt offerings.
My own faithfulness disappears as the dew in the morning, it is skin deep, and while I protest my faithfulness I lack mercy, while I assert my loyalty I lack virtue, while I state I am a Christian I lack love.
And yet the Lord does not give up on me: “I have not come to call the righteous,” Christ tells me, “but sinners, to repentance,” (Luke 5:32) and He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (First Timothy 2:4) He honours my tiny fraction of faithfulness and encourages me, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” The Lord is saying to me, “Give up all which possesses you, give up placing your hope and trust in money, in belongings, in family, in status, in jobs, in anything and everything that separates you from me—give up all these and follow Me.”
And, dear brothers and sisters, He is saying the same to all of us: “Give up what possesses you and follow Me.” And if we serve our money rather than our money being a way that we glorify God then give it up, and if we serve our possessions rather than our possessions being a way in which we glorify God then give them up. Moreover, if our care for our families is more about how we may boast rather than demonstrating sacrificial love, if our jobs are where we derive meaning, identity and self-worth, if our qualifications are a cause for us to boast, then we have missed the Gospel, we are strangers to Christ and we are lacking in faithfulness.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Christian life is not just challenging, not just hard, it is impossible: our lives in this society are centred on holding onto possessions rather than that which is needful. Or, at least, the Christian life is impossible by our own strength: to take up our own crosses by our own strength is preposterous.
If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Matthew 16:24–25
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
And in denying ourselves, in giving up that which possesses us, in letting our money, our possessions, our talents, our energy, our all, be the tools by which we draw closer to the living God then we will be truly glorifying Christ and His Resurrection, glorifying God, and thereby we will be shown as citizens of the Kingdom and heirs of eternal Life.
Let us deny ourselves, let us take up our crosses, let us separate ourselves from that which ties us to earth, let us centre our lives on God that we may live—here and now!—the Life of the Kingdom.
That we may offer true praise, glory and worship to our incarnate and risen Saviour Jesus Christ, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-creating Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. For a tent was prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence; it is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain stood a tent called the Holy of Holies, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go continually into the outer tent, performing their ritual duties; but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people.
— Hebrews 9:1–7
At that time, a young man came up to Jesus, kneeling and saying, “Good Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you call me good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which?” And Jesus said, “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have observed; what do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
— Matthew 19:16–26