The Poor Inherit Rest

The Burden of Work, Money, and the Curse

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to.

St. Mark, the 10th chapter. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples how difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, children how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God.

It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And they were exceedingly astonished and said to him, well then who can be saved? And Jesus looked at them and said, with man it is impossible but not with God.

For all things are possible with God. And Peter began to say to him, well see we've left everything and followed you. Jesus said, truly I say to you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundred fold now in this time.

Houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first. This is the gospel of the Lord.

In the name of Jesus. Amen. Ah money, money, money, money, money, money, right? Man this is a complicated subject. Have you ever noticed that life just seems to wear you down? I know it seems like I'm off topic here but work with me for a minute here.

Have you noticed like we wake up tired? We have our coffee or do whatever our morning routine is. Maybe pour ourself a cup, a bowl of cereal, maybe make some eggs or whatever. Head off to work. We put in our hours.

In the middle of the day we get 30 minutes for a lunch break if we're lucky, right? Because there's a labor shortage now, right? And everyone's working hard. And so then you get home and you're tired and if you have kids well you know the kids they've got homework to do.

They've got to be fed. They've got to be bathed. They have to have stories read to them. And then if you're lucky you know you get to peck your spouse on the cheek while crawling into bed exhausted after watching maybe 45 minutes of the television.

And then what do you do? You get up and you do it again. And you do it again. And then you do it again. And then with some frequency somebody sends you a check, right? The boss pays you. And when the boss pays you, have you ever noticed it's never quite enough, right?

I don't know what it is. And so we all strive to, you know, the world values wealth. We want to be wealthy. We want to figure out how to, I don't know, bring ourselves out from under the curse a little bit.

Because have you forgotten that, well, we're all under a curse. Remember what happened to Adam and Eve in that Garden of Eden. Here's what God said to Adam. Cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

Thorns and thistles it will bring forth for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you are taken. And we know how this all works, right?

And have you noticed that it's kind of like being on an escalator or like one of those moving sidewalks. Once you're on it, there's no going back and the thing is always constantly moving forward. So every morning you wake up.

You go to work. You do the thing. You wake up. You do it again. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month. And then you have the cycles. Winter, spring, summer, fall. Winter, spring, summer, fall.

And every time you look in the mirror you start to notice that things are getting worse. And you never seem to have enough toil and work and hardship and pain and anger and strife. And oh, isn't there any way to get out from under this?

It all just seems like a laborious meaningless existence. And you wake up and if you have five minutes you think to yourself, what is the meaning of life? Oh, I'll get to that later. I've got to get to work.

I'm already running late. And so you'll note that money is all tied up with that curse about toil and stuff like that because in order to get work done we had to diversify. We had to specialize. You farm.

You do accounting. You do processing. You work in the stores and stuff like this. And have you ever thought how weird it is that we train our kids to participate in this toil by fooling them into thinking that it's all a game.

I saw a CNN thing the other day. During COVID people were really sad that they were stuck in their houses and kids missed going to the store. And so one family, what they did is they created a store inside of their house.

So they had a checkout stand for Target in their house. And guess who was doing the checkout work? Their five-year-old girl. You're already teaching your five-year-old to work behind a cash register.

Right? That's not a game. That's work. Think about it. It's a mess. And so when we hear the words of our Old Testament text, Ecclesiastes. And boy, Ecclesiastes will really, really make you depressed if you read it in a bad mood.

And here's what it says. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. It's all vanity. It's chasing after the wind. Have you noticed that enough is never enough?

You ask a rich person. Jeff Bezos, you have a bazillion dollars in the bank. How much more do you need? Just a little more. Just a little more. Right? And of course they point out the inequity between Jeff Bezos and his bazillions of dollars and the people who work for Amazon, who work hard for Amazon to deliver those packages to you.

Right? It's all vanity. The whole thing is a chasing after the wind. And you'll note that when you read Ecclesiastes, that the same fate, the same fate awaits the wealthy and the poor. The powerful and the rich and the beautiful and the haggard, worn out, sunburnt day laborer.

The same fate awaits them. You know what it is? Death. And here's the thing. A hundred years from now, nobody's going to remember any of them. Nobody. Nobody's going to remember you. Nobody's going to remember me.

You might show up in an ancestry .com search. A hundred, two hundred years from now. Some kid off in the middle of who knows where will say, you know what, I had a relative named Chris Rosebro. Apparently he was born in Southern California, died in the sugar beet fields of Minnesota.

Right? We think his grave is what's left of a small church in that part of the country. No one's taking care of it. No one's going to remember me. No one's going to remember you. It's all vanity. It's a chasing after the wind.

And yet that's the sad part. People put their trust in wealth. And worse, I want you to think about this. Money was created for the purpose of making it so we can diversify our labor so we wouldn't have to work as hard.

Right? So rather than having to do everything we can specialize and by focusing we can get a little bit more done together that way. And then money became the exchange so that your work and my work that we found ways of exchanging value.

And you'll note, I'm not a farmer. I don't work at Walmart. I don't do any of those things. And yet my house is filled with the fruit of other people's labor and how did it come to be in my house? Money.

Same with you. Right? But what has happened is that people have taken money and they've decided to play some games with it. You know, if I can rig the system just a little bit here, I might not have to work at all.

See, if I can scheme just a little bit, I can come up with some kind of a thing here, then what would happen is that I can take my resources and make them work for me so I don't have to work. The only thing I have to do is count my beans every week to make sure that they're all there.

Right? This is how people think. And then to make it worse, you think about the religious people. Oh, the religious people. They've come up with a way to kind of get in on the scheme too. Oh, you know, God, if you give to the church the required amount of money every week, make sure it's off the gross and not the net, then God's going to bless you.

And if you don't, if you don't do that, then, well, there's this thing called the destroyer. He lurks just on the other side of your screen. And while you're logged on to your bank account statement on the internet, he's going to zap that thing and curse your finances and leave you destitute if you don't give your money to God.

That's how people talk, right? All of it is a scheme. All of it is a scheme. And it's designed to try to get you out from under the consequences of your sin and my sin. And then, of course, what do we also do?

Oh, we're constantly comparing. Have you noticed that the grass is always greener in your neighbor's yard? That he always has a better car than you have? He has a better recreation vehicle. He goes on longer trips to more exotic places.

He always seems to have things that you don't have. It's all a chasing after the wind. And we covet and we scheme and we desire to get out from under it. It's all vanity. The whole thing. None of it means anything.

What the world values is absolute meaninglessness. So when goods increase, the people who eat up those goods also increase. What advantage has their owner except for to see his goods disappear? The only thing he can do is see them with his eyes.

But sweet is the sleep of a day laborer, whether he eats little or much. But the full stomach of the rich, oh man, it's not even going to let him sleep. Have you ever noticed that every day on the news we get a stock market update?

Right? I never understood that as a kid. Watching, you know, and always in green too. You know, it's up and down. It's like the heartbeat of our nation. It's like as if the very blood of our nation is, well, toxic nuclear green.

Because that's what it is. All we care about. Everything just seems to follow about money. There's a grievous evil under the sun, Solomon writes. I've seen it. Riches were kept by their owner to his hurt and those riches were lost in the bad venture.

We see that happen every time the market tanks, right? People sitting there going, I can put my money to work. And so they invest it and next thing you know the stock market crashes. Think of all those hedge fund guys that lost all that money because of that stupid GameStop thing.

Right? These are all cautionary tales for us. But remember what the scripture says. As a person came from his mother's womb, so shall he go. You came into this world naked, you're going out with nothing.

You can't take a thing with you. This is a grievous evil. Just as he came, he shall go. What gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all the days he eats in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and anger.

Bah! Humbug. Right? That's how this goes. So what's the solution to all of this? We are all tired. We're all worn out. Some of us have a little more mileage on the car than others. You younger folks, don't worry, you'll look like me in just a few days.

I hate to say it. You're doomed. It's going to happen, right? But all that being said, what's the solution to all of this? Well, you'll note that Christ takes the stupid notion of ours that somehow people who are financially wealthy, that wealth equals the blessing of God.

It doesn't. It doesn't at all. If you think that God's all about doling out Benjamins, you do not understand what God is about at all. We're still all under the curse and there's only one way out and the solution is not making you super wealthy.

The solution's way better than that. But consider what Jesus says. Remember last week we had that rich young ruler. The guy who was foolish enough to think that he was keeping God's law. He totally ignored Jesus' words.

No one is good except for God. You ain't good. And when Jesus pulls out the second table of the law, the guy goes, yeah, that's baby stuff. I've been doing that since I was a kid. My eyes are going to fall out and roll down the hallway here.

So what does he do? He pulls out the first table of the law. Tells him to sell everything he has, give it to the poor, and come follow Christ. And the man left despondent because he had much wealth. And now here comes the commentary.

How difficult will it be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God? I would note Christ in the book of Matthew says, blessed are the poor in spirit. And in Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, blessed are the poor.

Well, I guess I'm blessed. Poor in which way, though? So the disciples, they're amazed. Wait a second, what? How difficult is it going to be for the rich to enter the kingdom of God? Remember those Pharisees?

They were prosperity preachers. They absolutely were prosperity preachers, telling people that wealth is the sign of God's blessing. And if you're poor and you're having to labor and you don't have any extra money, of course we do, then you're cursed of God.

See, if you want to be like us, you need to obey and stuff like this, and God's going to make you wealthy like we are. And boy, they loved riches, Scripture says. They loved it. And Jesus says, they're all going to hell.

That's what Christ said. It's difficult for rich people to enter the kingdom of God. Why? So disciples were amazed. Say, wait, what? What did you say, Jesus? We thought that wealth was the sign of God's blessing.

He says, children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. That's a famous statement on the part of Christ, and there's a lot of debate as to what this means.

Think of it this way. In Jerusalem, there happened to be a gate for animals. It was called the eye of a needle. It easily fit sheep and goats, camels not so much. It's like a kennel for a chihuahua. It doesn't work with my dog, Luther.

You see what I'm saying here? That's kind of the picture. It's not talking about literal eyes of needles. That was a famous gate there in Jerusalem for animals. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

Then the disciples, hearing Jesus, Jesus made a shocking statement. They went, what? He doubles down and goes even harder. Then they go, mind blown. What are you talking about, Jesus, here? If that's true, and listen to the question, who can be saved?

Do you see the disconnect theologically here? The disciples had to come to grips like we all need to come to grips with. Money isn't a god, and how much money you have is no indicator of whether or not you are blessed with God and if he loves you.

If somebody is wealthy, that does not show that they are pious and holy and have an inside track with God. Far from it. Who then can be saved? So Jesus looked at them and said these words, with man it's impossible.

Remember last week, I kept harping on it. I'm still doing it. No one is good except for God. Who can be saved? Well, with man it's impossible. You cannot save yourself. It's not difficult. It's not something that if you watch enough self-help YouTube channel videos that you can sort it out.

That you can somehow get your life in enough order that you can save yourself. It ain't gonna happen. With man, it is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. And you'll note that Peter at this point starts to kind of work it out.

Come to think of it, Jesus, we've actually left everything and we followed you. And Jesus says some comforting words. Truly I say to you, there's no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mothers or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this lifetime.

And so you'll note that God does give us rewards now. But they're always mixed with these things. Are you ready? Persecutions. So, God's gonna meet your needs here. Don't worry. God is gonna feed you.

He's gonna make sure that you have a place to live. That you have family members. That you receive some good in this life along with persecutions. Oh, and you're still under the curse by the way of having to toil.

And when it's all said and done, your body's gonna wear out and dust you are made out of and dust you're gonna return to. That's how this all works out. But Christ makes it clear. Many who are first will be last.

The ones who exalt themselves and over and again the values of the world, we worship the wealthy. We worship the beautiful. We worship the young. It's the strangest thing. It's the strangest thing altogether.

And so we exalt and worship human beings. We worship money. We worship their wealth and opulence and think that they are blessed of God. But I will tell you, I will tell you that every one of those rich, wealthy, beautiful starlets and stars that they are just as screwed up as you and I are.

And I think that's part of what goes on as to why we have this weird fascination with gossip magazines. People, the Inquirer, right? It's always kind of a frightening thing if you think about it. There's one of the world's most wealthy men.

And look, he's been caught having an affair. His marriage has gone kaput. Right? Always and again you just sit there and go, what's going on here? Do you know why that happens? Because wealth doesn't satisfy.

It can't satisfy. The only thing that can satisfy is God. And the thing is you're at war with Him. And when you're looking for money to meet your needs, you're doomed. And so note, the fact that we even have this system at all is a consequence of our sin.

The New Earth is described as buying from God the things that you need without money. You won't need it. I've said it before, I'll say it again. I love the fact that the thing that we hold out as the most extreme example of wealth, gold, right?

Gold. If you've got gold, oh man, always money is depicted in that gold color, the color of gold, gold, gold, right? You think of Scrooge McDuck swimming in a pond of gold. In the New Earth, gold gets reduced to asphalt.

The streets of the New Jerusalem are paved in gold, which means those people who have horses and ride in the horses in the New Jerusalem, their horses are going to poop on gold. It's going to be glorious.

Right? The whole system collapses down. But coming back to the beginning, what is the solution to all of this then? Because we all know what I'm saying is right because I'm just speaking what the text says and our experience actually comports with this.

What hope is there? Because tomorrow is Monday. You're going to have to wake up, put on your clothes, eat your breakfast, and go to work. I saw your eyes there.

I saw it, yeah, yeah.

Unless tomorrow is your day off. And if it is, don't worry, Tuesday is coming. This is how this works. And we're tired and we're worn out and we're toiling and we know we're all heading to the grave and there's no way off of this escalator.

There's no way off of this thing. But there is. And that is this. We remember that Jesus Christ He is God in human flesh. King of kings, Lord of lords. He left His throne and humbled Himself. And He became a slave, a servant.

And even Jesus was obedient to death. And you'll note that Christ put Himself under the curse. He joined us. He had to labor like we did. He didn't have unlimited resources. He had access to that as deity.

But He didn't make use of it. He worked. He was hungry. He received help from other people. And Jesus Himself, in doing all of that, He was perfectly keeping God's law for us. Because Adam and Eve messed it up.

They had one command. One. And they didn't even keep that. And plunged us into the misery and the ruin that we're in. Christ though, He kept them all. He kept them all for us. And He Himself, He labored hard on a Friday afternoon.

Really hard. They nailed Him to a cross bearing your sins and mine. He carried the load of our guilt and shame. And then six hours labor on the cross. He suffered the wrath of God in your place and mine.

So that we can enter God's rest. He bled so that you can be forgiven. He sweat tears of blood in His passion. He bled and died and labored and aspired so that you and I can live. And He also rose from the grave.

And so we note then that the thing He offers us is the thing that we're striving for. Are you tired? I am. And here's what Hebrews says. The promise of entering God's rest still stands. It still stands for you.

It still stands for me. And let us fear lest any of us should seem to have failed to have reached it. For good news has come to us just as to them. I'm talking about the Jews who didn't believe the message that they heard didn't benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

For we who have believed we now enter into that rest already. So you'll note that by the virtue of the fact that Christ has bled and died for us and we've heard the good news of the gospel and we have been united with Christ in His death and His resurrection and we believe because of this we've already begun to rest from our labors by entering into the rest of God which is eternal life and it's given by grace through faith without cost as a gift and without works.

And so we have entered into that rest and God has said as I swore to those who do not believe that they shall never enter my rest although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For somewhere God has spoken of the seventh day.

Remember that Sabbath day of the old covenant? God rested on the seventh day from all of His works and again He says in another passage they shall not enter my rest. But since it therefore remains for some to enter it and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter it because of their disobedience He again now appoints a certain day.

God has appointed not the seventh day, not a Sabbath, not a Saturday. Today He has appointed a day and the day is today. Today saying through David so long afterwards and the words already quoted, today if you hear the voice of God don't harden your hearts.

Don't turn aside. See that's not practical. I need to go and look at my bank statement to make sure all the money is still there. Don't harden your hearts. If Joshua had given them rest God would not have spoken of another day later on.

So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God and that's you and I. For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from His works as God did from His. So let us therefore then strive to enter into that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

And the picture then is this. The salvation that you have presently now in Christ although not yet consummated and the blessings we receive from God in this life are also received with persecution. There is a day coming when the rest that we have and we receive by grace through faith we will see it with our eyes in a new world without end.

And you'll always and again note that tombstones have those letters on them. R .I .P. Rest in Peace. And those who are in Christ truly do rest in Him whether they are living now or they die. But those who have died and passed on they have stopped striving.

They no longer have to labor. They have truly entered into their rest and we know that that rest is given by God as a gift. You don't have to pay for it. And you can be rich and have it. And you can be poor and have it.

So the idea then is this. Repent of your striving. Repent of your idolatry. Repent of trusting in money. Repent of complaining about the work that God has given you to do and the toil. Instead understand this.

That Christ has labored perfectly for you to bring you to the rest that you so desperately yearned for. And you already have it in Him increasingly so. And then when you die forever in a world without end you will never again have to labor.

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

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