America has been, considering the wealth of the median-income person, the richest nation on earth—so it is our unique responsibility to obey our Lord’s Words regarding the use of money. The first two radical commands to do that I previously outlined in Parts I and II: stop storing up excess assets; and, for those you have now, sell them and give to the world’s truly poor. There are two steps: (1) Sell all our excess possessions and give the cash raised to the world's poor; and (2) live frugally enough (buying only necessities), so that income exceeds expenses—then give the difference for that, too, regularly to the truly poor.
Let’s clarify one thing: When Jesus was quoted in Luke 12:33, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” this order was not directed to the "rich young ruler," as some assume. Read it: it was to ALL of us that have wealth and income in excess of necessities.
Was He wildly suggesting that we sell all our possessions, thus making ourselves poor? No; read Luke 3:11:
He (John the Baptist) answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
Thus, we are to keep the necessary item for use, and give away the extra item--or items--i.e, the “excess beyond need.” We should do this with our savings funds, too, not thinking about “only having only a small account means I don’t have a backup if something goes wrong.” God sees you; He will find a way to take care of you if something disastrous happens. (I'm not against a normal insurance, by the way.) So, resolve yourself to sell your past accumulation of cash and property that isn’t truly necessary, as Jesus commanded.
Men, do you really need two complete sets of tools, if you're not in that profession? Sell one. Give away the proceeds. And keep the remainder of your tools that remain, organized, so you can live on one set. Ladies, is it essential that you have even one set of chinaware—if you only use it once or twice a year, for the real purpose of impressing others, why not sell even the one? Are you worried about using average utensils at Thanksgiving? Make your impression to relatives all year round by your godly character (Gal. 5:22-23), not by showing off luxury items. Men, do you need that boat—after all, don't you take it out many Sundays so your family doesn’t even attend church regularly during the summer? Do you need six sweaters, five heavy coats, twenty shirts, ten pairs of pants? Ladies, does God really care if you show up in church wearing the same outfit twice? Will people talk? Who cares? By giving to people in need, you have given glory to God--that's what counts. Should we care that much for people, if their only measure of us is how classy and conformist we look? Shouldn't we care more about God being more offended by our extravagance? And who is more important here—your friends of influence, or Him? Your eternal Judge, of course--please Him. Here’s a big issue for married couples in the U.S.: Do you need two cars? Can’t one spouse drive the other to work, or can’t one of you use public transit? Or carshare to work? Or even Uber? Is your evening schedule, or the kids' schedule so hectic, that you need both cars to meet everyone's appointments? Well, maybe you should slow it down by cutting some things out--are you the type who can't say "no" to every suggestion of assisting someone? Be at home, have Scriptural time. Family life could be improved if the kids are at home doing homework and everyone is there for dinner and getting to know your family's inner lives through discussion at dinner.
And for those whose expenses always manage to exceed income, so nothing goes to God, or even debt collectors: Have you set financial budgets, or goals in life--other than thinking about your next worldly purchase? Is your only concern when buying, how low is the down payment? Have you searched determinedly for ways to be more frugal? There are plenty of helps online for you. Another argument people raise against giving to the Lord is telling Him if we give away our frills, we will deprive our children of some enjoyment. But what if you obey His will, give your frills away first, and tell your kids why they need to give things away--then what do your children see in you? Sacrifice. Then the lesson they learn is Love. Instead of Materialism. They learn that true love includes sacrifice. And we Christians are nothing without God's definition of Love (I Cor. 13: 1-8). The problem with America is, many families have enough money to satisfy each person in the family to do their own thing, without anyone sacrificing for another. The problem with that is, with no sacrificing, there is no sharing, no real love being learned. And with everyone doing their own thing, there is no bonding, no teamwork, and the children learn nothing about the importance of another’s feelings or likes—which makes them far less prepared for marriage, and close relationships. So yes, discard that second car. One of you stay at home. Get rid of that second house, too—that one in upstate Michigan or down in Florida. And stop the cruises. How can we go to God on judgment day, when I can imagine He will show a split screen video—us on one side, living it up, and on the other side, people in impoverished nations that we ignored, scratching for subsistence? How then are we different than the rich man ignoring the poor Lazarus in Luke 16 (see my Radical 2 blog)? Will our final destination be any different than his? Are you absolutely sure that your salvation won’t be affected by our uncaring frivolity, since God sees all. There are many Scriptures indicating beneficence to the poor and people who need help is essential to show that you truly are saved. Just by not having a second car, your family can save over $6,000 a year, even if your second car is an older one (this dollar figure also realistically considers depreciation’s hidden cost as well as gas and maintenance and insurance). Do you realize the difference you could make by giving that kind of money to the worldwide poor instead of making your life a little more indulgent, or a little more convenient?
Let’s talk about America’s appetites to buy more, our continual grasping to raise our standard of living. Did you know that this is covetousness? Most people define that word as “wanting what belongs to another.” But as Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words points out, the Greek word translated "covetousness" is “pleonexia.” But the word simply means "a desire to have more… always in a bad sense" (e.g., wanting more possessions or power).
Let's discuss an unfortunate byproduct of the American economy: In truth, the growth of our economy is founded upon advertising and consumption. That means our government blesses spending, and loves it when we are covetous. They even makes it our patriotic duty to be bathed in materialism. We talk about the latest trinkets, smartphones, and trucks with our friends constantly, so these things are on our mind constantly. What is real love? What we think the most of all. We live in materialism, we breathe it. We want more--we covet.
But covetousness is a serious sin. Let’s look at Ephesians 5:5:
For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Read that definition of covetousness again: It is idolatry, loving something more than our God. (What we think about, what we talk about, wanting it to satisfy our desires--these are the true meaning of "love.") Is that you? And where is the eternal destination for this idolatry? NOT in the kingdom of God. That means hell. That radical idea is confirmed in Colossians 3:5-6:
Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.
As the superb commentary Precept Austin puts it, “covetousness is synonymous with idolatry because it places selfish desire above obedience to God…it is basically people doing what they desire, rather than what God desires. This in turn amounts to worship of self rather than worship of God, and this is the very essence of idolatry.” Note the verses above; covetousness invites the wrath of God. Because America is so deeply ingrained in this sin, I would like to suggest that many (perhaps most) Americans are idolaters, as defined, and bound for hell, without sincere repentance. There are a LOT of people in this country who think they’re saved because they “believe in Jesus”—but they don’t obey Jesus, because they accumulate superficial assets, spend frivolously, and ignore their poor brothers and sisters in the world who are dying unnecessarily. Remember, again, my Radical Part 2: the fact that the rich man was blissfully unaware in Luke 16 was no excuse for him. He still was judged for hell.
Here's another thought: What else does Jesus say on this subject?
“Woe unto you that are rich!” (Luke 6:24).
(“Woe” is a word of denunciation, used for the unsaved, such as Luke 11:43-47). In Matthew 19:23ff, Jesus says, in part:
“it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven….It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
I remind you, we cannot argue that “I’m not rich.” God isn’t comparing you to Americans—He’s looking at the entire train of world history, in which most Americans would have to qualify as “rich.” (I have a different blog that discusses that subject). Let’s not deny our responsibility. Look at the threatening words again for being rich and getting heaven: “It is hard.” What does that really mean? We Americans, richness has taken us away from God. To overcome the disadvantages our wealth has given us, (how it makes us idolaters, selfish, and independent of God), to get to heaven, we have to be more passionately determined to be holy. We have to really discipline ourselves to bully the desires of our flesh out of the way, to persevere in seeking God’s heart, to fight against the natural tendency in wealth to be complacent, or not depend on Him. We need to fight against the FALSE theology that “I’m doing well, and I know this comes from God, so God loves me.” (Most Americans have that belief.) We have to fight against placing all our trust on this world, depending on our savings--and not thinking about the next world--which is a lot longer in duration! We too easily fall into the trap of Revelation 3:17, spoken to the church at Laodicea:
“You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
The severe denunciation of this church was because of their lukewarmness, their deception (well-off people who figure they do not need God every day--and complacency and self-deception, go hand-in-hand). But what does Jesus do to these lukewarm people? Vomits them out of His mouth. They don't belong in His Body.
May God help us to see us as He sees us.
No comments:
Post a Comment