August 3: The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Leave a Comment / Sermons / By
Dan’l Markham is the Church Partnerships Director for the Everett Gospel Mission. The sermon for August 3, 2025 was preached in response to Luke 12:13-21 based on the notes below.

“ALL is Vanity”, But is it?

Today’s Scriptures from the Lectionary (RSV). Thematically, the readings are about money, but more so about the lust for money (materialism) and the vanity of money.

Our culture, in fact history, has been dominated by class, based upon material wealth

  • Uber wealthy
  • Upper Class
  • Middle Class
  • Lower Middle Class
  • Materially impoverished 

Where the materially poor are seen as “less than” and the materially flourishing are seen as “more than” – as smarter, wiser, more powerful, etc.

Lk. 12 – “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

Ecc. 1- “it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.”

Ps. 49 – “4 Why should I be afraid in evil days, when the wickedness of those at my heels surrounds me, 5 The wickedness of those who put their trust in their goods, *
and boast of their great riches?”

Col. 3 – “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). “

Let’s circle back to Ecc. 1.  Is “ALL vanity?” 

  • No. Even “all” regarding money is not vanity.  It’s similar to when TV was introduced when I was a kid, or when computers and social media were launched, and now AI is being introduced.  Such things always bring two primary reactions: The fear of evil and the anticipation of good coming from these culturally altering inventions. 
  • Similarly, money is neither intrinsically good or bad.  It’s what we do with money that can be sinful or worthy of praise.  Right?

So what might be a reverse of the vanity of money, that is, greed and materialism and abuse of the powerful upon the less powerful?

One opposite of greed and materialism is the utilization of our financial resources for others in the name of Christ our Lord.

Here’s a little challenge I often throw out to a congregation when I’m sharing about the work of the Everett Gospel Mission, about coming alongside our neighbors in need, about those affected by poverty, homelessness, and disabilities.

Power Point Slide #1

  • Quote from a homeless person 

“my friends and I are hungry and thirsty. We wear ragged clothes.  Sometimes we are physically assaulted and are cursed at.  We are homeless. In the eyes of many we are the scum of the earth and treated like garbage to be thrown away.”

  • Actually, it is a paraphrase from the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians:

Power Point Slide #2

They Are Not Who We Often Think They Are 

“To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12 We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.” – I Cor. 4:11-13 (cf to II Cor. 11:23-27)

  • ‘this very hour’ = ‘Just now, this very minute’.  As Paul is writing this letter from Ephesus to the Corinthians this is his life.
  • ‘buffeted or brutally treated’ = literally ‘to strike a blow with the fist’, literally “to be slapped in the face”
  • ‘homeless’ = vagabonds, hobos, “strolling about” (Vincent)
  • Pulpit Commentary – “This homelessness was among the severest of all trials”. See Matt. 8:20 and 8:23
  • “slandered” = personally verbally abused
  • ‘scum of the earth’ = waste water after mopping a dirty floor
  • ‘garbage of the world’ = scraps or refuse, that which are thrown out; rotten, good for nothing

Thus, Paul and his band of brothers were treated with utter contempt.

  • Do you think Paul smelled? Maybe even looked scary?

Did you know that Jesus was a part time “couch surfer”.

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” – Matthew 8:19–20; Luke 9:57–58  

Jesus and crew, we’re what we call “couch surfers” or “sheltered homeless” for some of their ministry time. 

  • Sometimes they were unsheltered vagabonds, like on the night Jesus was betrayed.

Keep in mind that Jesus, Mary and Joseph where refugees into Egypt for a season.  

Abraham was an immigrant. 

Joseph was a slave. 

Jesus, and his mom and dad were part of what we call today the working poor. 

Power Point Slide #3

35% in Snohomish County can’t make ends meet – includes those below the poverty level (7%) and ALICE households (28%)

  • 7% of our Snohomish neighbors live below the poverty line 
  • SnoCo ALICE –28% of our SnoCo neighbors are ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) Households earning above the Federal Poverty Level, but not enough to afford a bare-bones household budget.
  • ALICE Households represent the growing number of families who are unable to afford the basics of housing, childcare, food, transportation, health care, and technology. These workers often struggle to keep their own households from financial ruin, while keeping our local communities running. – United Way

 Thus 35% of our neighbors.  Meaning roughly 1 of every 3 people are struggling financially and are at the tipping point of becoming homeless.

Power Point Slide #4

What does it take to go from being an ALICE household, i.e., the working poor to being homeless? Not much. 

  • One huge bill
  • One major accident or sickness
  • One job loss
  • One spouse abandons the family
  • Divorce
  • Increase in rental costs
  • Expensive care repairs

Power Point Slide #5

They are in your neighborhood?

  • They probably sleep in a car, van, or tent.  Some double up with relatives or friends.
  • They probably served you in the local grocery store or some other retail store or waited on you in a restaurant.
  • They probably mowed your lawn.
  • They may be working on a local farm.
  • The working-poor rate for women was higher than that for men in all major occupational groups in 2018. – Bureau of Labor Statistics

Power Point Slide #6  A Poverty Alleviation Benediction

  • May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships

So that you may live deep within your HEART

  • May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,

so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace

  • May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war

so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

  • And, May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world,

so that you can do what others claim cannot be done,

to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the materially poor.

Power Point Slide #18

Ideas of moving forward for the local church as a force against poverty.

  • Ask yourselves, “How might the church prepare to more effectively serve ALICE households?”
  • Take Poverty 101 Class
  • Best way to mitigate homelessness is to intervene before tipping into homelessness from poverty, e.g. helping students below the poverty line through local elementary and middle schools.
  • Become a 211 Ally and Advocate for person in need. Identify and designate a qualified volunteer and/or staff member with passion about people on the margins.  Have that person(s) become the most knowledgeable person in the church on the issues of poverty and homelessness and local resources. Make the church aware of this person to contact as a resource. This person should be well engaged with the church leadership and outreach committee. 
  • Chalmers Community Asset Analysis –  see Mobilize My Church video course.  Energize your entire church, get unstuck from frustrating or ineffective ministries, and move forward together to effectively love your neighbors. https://chalmers.org/resources/courses/mobilize-my-church/

Power Point Slide #19

Resources for the Local Church

What Can We Do?

  • make a list of aspects of your neighborhood which appear to be good, right, true, and beautiful—aspects where you see glimpses of wholeness, hope, redemption, and restoration. Mapping community’s and church’s assets.
  • make a list of aspects of your neighborhood which appear to be most in need of wholeness, hope, redemption, and restoration.
  • Figure out how  you might come alongside people below the poverty line and ALICE households.  
  • Examples: serving in local public schools to help the schools work with children who qualify for free or reduced meals. From there build relationships with school employees, and poor and ALICE parents.  Use a robust food bank program not only to assist financially but with the intention of building relationships and being inclusionary. 
  • Then develop a strategy accordingly depending on your church’s bandwidth and where you can apply sufficient human and financial resources to make a difference.

Leave a Comment