Some of you may have wondered what kind of economic disaster I have been warning you about. I have been urging you to set aside resources to share in hard times, and to practice a real koinonia kind of love now. What am I talking about? In the words of Amos, I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet, and I am not talking about anything that someone with common grace and a calculator would not warn you about. When it comes to fiscal insanity, you can be assured of this. Anything that can’t go on indefinitely, won’t. I am not asking you to hear anything that the Christians in Greece should have been hearing, and preparing for, twenty years ago.
That said, we can see that part of the preparation means repentance. This impending disaster is entirely of our own making—as homemade as apple pie, only not wholesome. The text for confession this morning has the Lord saying that He wants “no more of our abominations.” One of those abominations—and there are many—has been the attempt by our representatives (and they do represent us) to ascend to the position of God, pretending to be able to create wealth ex nihilo. Instead of saying fiat lux, let there be light, they say fiat bucks, let there be money, and free chocolate milk for everybody.
Lest there be any mistake, this is a grievous sin. God hates it, and we are called to repent of it. The way of the wicked is hard. The way of the righteous, when they have tried to make excuses for the wicked, can also be hard. That means we need to be preparing ourselves to live in love.