Audience: Spotsylvania Ward
Location: Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States of America
Date: 18 June 2023
Introduce Myself and the Topic
Hello everyone. For those of you that don’t know me, my name is David Mitchell. I speak today on assignment as a Stake High Councilor. Allow me to briefly introduce myself. My family and I have lived in the Massaponax Ward for about 11 years. I live with my wife Rachael, and with 5 of our 6 children. I have 5 sons from the age of 24 to 10. And our daughter is 5. My wife and I grew up in northern Virginia and met in middle school. Since being married, we have lived in West Virginia and Alabama, and now back in Virginia.
For the topic I am speaking on, I was asked to speak on a principle or two from the Sermon on the Mount. I understand this has been the theme in your Ward this month. I apologize in advance if my talk overlaps with those previously given. Whether my message today is new, or a repetition, my hope and prayer is that The Spirit can be our teacher today and can prompt in us the messages we each uniquely need to hear.
The Sermon on the Mount is Extreme
If I were to read aloud the Sermon on the Mount from beginning to end right now, it would take about 12 minutes. Arguably, this Sermon delivered by Jesus relatively early in his ministry, in the area of Galilee, is the greatest ever given. In preparing this talk, I have wondered if the best use of our time would be for me to just read it, and if I could possibly say anything of greater value than the sermon itself. My thoughts were drawn to a particular verse though, so my hope is I can share something meaningful from that.
Just a few days after receiving the topic, a Catholic friend of mine sent me a link to an essay written in 1923 by the German theologian, Eberhard Arnold. The essay is one of seventeen he wrote that are compiled in a book entitled, “Salt and Light“, and subtitled, “Living the Sermon on the Mount”. I felt this was too much of a coincidence to ignore. The essay was written in the wake of World War 1 and the Bolshevik Revolution. Although bullets were not flying at the time, the war between the ideologies of capitalism and communism had begun. In this backdrop, Arnold rejects both and espouses the values taught in the Sermon on the Mount as the only correct construct for a society to be aligned with God. If you read Arnold’s essay called “The Religion of Mammon“, you will find my talk today pulls on some of his threads.
The Sermon on the Mount shows how the Kingdom of God should function. It describes how the people of that Kingdom should behave, act, feel, and believe. When put up against the kingdoms of men, the things Jesus taught in this sermon are really quite radical. Just a few examples:
- Speaking to a people who were being persecuted, and who were eager for a Messiah to avenge their wrongs, he says it is blessed to be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. That members of His Kingdom are comprised of those persecuted for His sake.
- Jesus says that if your right eye offends you to pluck it out. That if your right hand offends you to cut it off. Rather than looking at something you shouldn’t, and rather doing something you shouldn’t, it would be better to remove the body part than let it lead you to hell. It is quite extreme. And even if it is just an extreme metaphor it is still difficult to do. But it is clear, we must remove from our lives anything that keeps us from God.
- If anyone takes you to court and sues you and wins a judgement against you, you should give them MORE than what the court ordered!
Not only are the teachings of the sermon radical, they set a new standard. Perhaps an impossible standard. Who do you know that is and does all of the following:
- Is meek, merciful, and pure in heart.
- Is a peacemaker and rejoices in the hardships that come with being a follower of Christ.
- Would be willing to pluck out their own eye to end an addiction to pornography, or at least the spiritual equivalent action.
- Somebody who truly loves their enemies.
When somebody wrongs us, we are all so quick to want justice. To demand it even. When we are offended we sometimes even see it as our moral imperative to call it out, to stand for what is right. We want the world to know that somebody or some thing is bad and wrong. And yes, we are told to be light to the world, and to let it shine for all to see. But when somebody has hurt you, when was the last time you had the attitude, “I’m going to let it slide. I’m going to take this one on the chin. I’m not going to judge.” This is not to say we should in any way tolerate ongoing abuse. But when not ongoing abuse, perhaps the next time we feel an injustice, for the glory of God’s sake, we just swallow our pride.
Because the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are so difficult, I discovered a few dozen different Christian groups and scholars offering their own interpretations. I think they can be broadly put into a handful of views:
- An more radical view from the early Reformation era is that it is all very literal and we should expect of ourselves to live it perfectly just as Jesus taught it.
- A view more associated with Martin Luther from that era is that fully living the teachings from the sermon are in fact impossible, but presents us an ideal to work toward.
- Some believe this describes a future Kingdom of God. How we will live during the Millennium, or perhaps in Heaven.
- A predominant Medieval view is that the Sermon is more reserved for clergy and monastic orders.
I don’t mean to call out or favor any particular school of thought. I bring it up only to illustrate that the demands given to us in the Sermon on the Mount really are difficult. So difficult that scholars and devout Christians have struggled since it was delivered, to know how to fully follow it.
I personally believe that if Jesus taught it, then he intended for us to follow it. I also know that, like with anything, none of us are perfect. It is important to remember that through Jesus Christ we can repent when we fall short, which we all do. That it is through Jesus Christ we change and that as we change through Him we will be more like who He wants us to be.
God and Mammon
I will now narrow down to one verse from the sermon. It is another principle that is extreme and hard. Maybe even impossible for us in this mortal world. But I think it is also something we can improve.
Matthew, chapter 6, verse 24, reads:
24 ¶ aNo man can bserve two cmasters: for either he will dhate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and emammon.
Mammon is an Aramaic word meaning treasure or riches. It is often used as the personification of those values. To avoid using an ancient word nobody uses, we can read the verse as, “You cannot serve God and money.”
At least for me, this seems impossible: I do pursue money.
For the most altruistic reasons, I need money to provide for my family: to house them, to feed them, to provide them with an education. Even to give them comfort and enjoyment. I want my wife and children to be happy. I also pursue money to provide for myself after I’m no longer able to work. Those all seem like noble pursuits.
But, if I’m honest, I may also pursue money for selfish reasons too. I think we all like nice things and like to have our toys and vacations. And we can even be selfish with the altruistic reasons I listed. The home I provide for my family could be humbler, but I like having a nicer and bigger one. Yes, I need a car for work and even for my church calling, but I could choose to drive something less expensive than I do.
I had a few questions that kept coming to mind as I pondered the message of this talk:
- What do the scriptures say about money?
- What should my relationship with money be?
- In what ways does money get in between me and God, and what should I do to remedy that?
Scriptural Teachings Of Money
I am not really going to answer those questions very directly. But let us turn to the scriptures to see what insights it can give us. I think that turning to the scriptures allows the Spirit to answer those questions for each of us, rather than me trying to.
Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verse 10,
There is a distinction between money and the love of money. Money itself is a helpful tool that we use to exchange goods and services. If I was a farmer and you were a blacksmith, perhaps I would exchange a bushel of wheat for your labor and materials to build me a new plow. This becomes rather inefficient in a larger marketplace, so money was invented, in part, to help us transfer services and commodities. We don’t need to possess the exact object each other needs; we can use money instead.
But money has become a commodity of itself. Money becomes the equivalence of power. It becomes a source of pride and of judging the worth of others compared to ourselves. A focus on money makes us forget the true worth and value each of us has as children of a loving Heavenly Father.
About 500 years before the time of Christ, the prophet Jacob, brother of Nephi, taught us our proper priorities. In Jacob, chapter 2, verses 18 and 19,
18 But abefore ye seek for briches, seek ye for the ckingdom of God.
19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to ado good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.
Our priority should be to God first. If we put God first, then any riches we are blessed with don’t go to our own selfish purposes, or to our pride, but we will naturally seek to help others with any bounty we may have.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus echo Jacob when he says in Matthew, chapter 6, verse 33,
33 aBut bseek ye first the ckingdom of God, and his drighteousness; and all these ethings shall be fadded unto you.
But earlier in the sermon, Jesus takes the teachings of Jacob and elevates it to a higher standard. In Matthew, chapter 6, verses 19 through 22,
19 ¶ Lay not up for yourselves atreasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves bbreak through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves atreasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor bsteal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine aeye be bsingle, thy whole body shall be full of clight.
The promise that comes from keeping your focus solely on the treasures of heaven is that you will be filled with light.
To be so focused, again, to me seems very hard. And I know I’m not the only person to feel this way. We have an example of one feeling the difficulty in Matthew, chapter 19. Beginning in verse 16,
16 ¶ And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have aeternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none agood but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into blife, keep the ccommandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no amurder, Thou shalt not commit badultery, Thou shalt not csteal, Thou shalt not bear dfalse witness,
19 aHonour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt blove thy cneighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be aperfect, go and sell that thou hast, and bgive to the cpoor, and thou shalt have dtreasure in heaven: and come and efollow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had agreat possessions.
I do take comfort in a few other passages though.
Jesus was asked if it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? Caesar and Rome very much represent the world. And It was a clear trap. If he said they should pay taxes, then he would be accused of denying the sovereignty of God over Israel. If Jesus said they should not pay the taxes, it puts him in clear conflict with Rome. Either answer worked for the Pharisees. And we know the story, Jesus took a Roman penny and asked whose image and name was on it. After the answer that it was Caeser, Jesus replies in Matthew, chapter 22, verse 21,
aRender therefore unto bCæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.
So, there is an acknowledgment, that while in this earthly realm, we do need to sometimes give to the world what the world asks and demands of us.
I also think about other laws of God that involve money. Things like tithing and fast offerings. To enter the temple we do not need to give all we have, we only need to give a tenth. Tithing is an acknowledgment that everything we have actually belongs to God. He wants us to acknowledge that, but he is also willing to share. He only asks for 10% of our increase to help us remember.
And the blessings of obeying the Law of Tithing are taught by the prophet Malachi. In Malachi, chapter 3, verse 10,
10 Bring ye all the atithes into the storehouse, that there may be bmeat in mine house, and cprove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not dopen you the ewindows of heaven, and pour you out a fblessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
I know the blessing of obeying tithing are real. I will share a personal story that I have never shared in a setting like this before. Closer to the events, I was too embarrassed to share, but I don’t mind so much now.
Before moving to Virginia from Alabama, about 11 years ago, I had a few periods of unemployment. The first time devoured our savings. The second time put us deep in debt. The third time had me and my family needing help from extended family, the church, and the government. There were miracles during that third period where I knew the Lord was looking after my family; but still, it was a very humbling and difficult time.
A reprieve finally came when I found employment in Virginia. We were still under a burden of debt and living paycheck to paycheck. Paying tithing seemed impossible to me if I wanted to meet all my other obligations. So, when I began my new job, I never paid tithing.
Then, a couple of years after living here, my Bishop brought me into his office, and said that he noticed I had not declared my tithing status since moving here. I shared with him my struggles and he encouraged me to start. It was difficult, but I began.
After several months of consistently paying, I went back to my Bishop to say that since his first encouragement I have been paying a full tithe. The very next day, a new boss I had just started working for after an office shuffle invited me to meet with him. He told me that he had been reviewing my compensation and he felt that I was being severely underpaid. He told me that in my next pay check I would see a significant pay increase. The windows of heaven were opened upon my family. I have no doubt that through obedience to the Law of Tithing, that the Lord was able to bless me and my family.
The blessing is not always so immediate. And I know paying tithing doesn’t ensure you never face financial difficulty. I had been a full tithe payer before my unemployment. But, I do know that when it became a real test of my faith, a real test of who I would put first, that I was blessed for the effort.
Conclusion
In conclusion, do we serve God or mammon? As Joshua demanded, “choose you this day whom ye will serve.” Jesus says we cannot serve both. But, unfortunately, I think everyone that I know who does try to serve God, also feels compelled to serve mammon.
The good news is we can all improve, and while on Earth, there will always be room for improvement. We can review our own feelings and our own actions. Perhaps ask ourselves:
- How do I put God first?
- How do I make Him more of a priority in my life?
- Can I be more generous with my Fast Offerings?
- Do I remember, as King Benjamin taught, that we are all beggars?
- Do I show mercy and love to my fellow beggars?
I bear my testimony that I know God loves and cares for each of you deeply and personally. I know that as we turn to God, and repent and change through Jesus Christ, He will lighten our struggles and make things that are hard for us now seem easy.
I say these things….