Sun. Sept. 26, 2010 (Laura Eriksson)

Laura Eriksson spoke on the theme, "When is enough, enough?" Even though a very wise Arab proverb says "Enough is a feast", humans seem to be wired so that they always desire more. For centuries, most people have assumed one can never have enough/too much money. In this context, 1 Tim. 6 contains Paul's advice to a young pastor on how to deal with the wealthy members of his congregation. His observation, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" really does sum up much why so many of the teachings of the prophets and Jesus were necessary. Since money only has power if there is not enough to go around, believers with money have to ask themselves continually how to cultivate godliness while living in a materialistic world driven by the power of money. How can we strive for contentment (rather than focusing solely on pursuing money), learning to live with the kind of gratitude which can give us a greater reverence for life and open us to increased sharing. Paul advises pastors to flee from the lust of money and warns about being obligated to listen to the advice of the wealthy families--not because of their wisdom but because of their wealth (power). Instead, Paul encourages people to be extravagantly generous. [JEK] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, September 26th, 2010 using your browser's preferred media player.