As I indicated in the first "Radical Truth " blog, there are two commands by Jesus that form this radical doctrine, and I’ve only covered one--Matthew 6:19-21 clearly tells us not to accumulate excess assets:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven….
The other command is in Luke 12:33. In the NIV it is very plain:
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
These verses are paired (note the "thief" and “moth” illustration in both) in giving us God's will regarding money and assets. So here is our combined doctrine: In Matthew 6, we were told not to accumulate wealth assets. Now, if we have been accumulating assets, the Luke verse tells us to what to do with them; we are to sell them—and give the money to the poor. This doctrine will radically change how you handle your finances—if you’re interested in obeying every command of Jesus, and really WANT to have treasure in heaven.
But when I mention this doctrine to church folks, they get quiet and mildly uncomfortable, evidently not excited about building treasure in heaven. Overall, based on dollars given, versus income, it seems the plain fact about America is this: There are a lot of middle class people who call themselves Christian who really don’t care about giving serious money to the poor. (They may be thinking domestic poor, but I’m referring to the worldwide poor, those who die tragically early, without clean water or enough to eat, or in refugee camps, or suffering from easily preventable disease). It's also true that most peoples' giving that they do, will go to their church, so lots of it gets spent boosting the church facility and the programs and salaries. So little tithing goes for the worldwide poor, per se.
Does the images of starving folk bother church people? Does anybody in a Christian group say, “The Holy Spirit is definitely beating me up about something in my daily prayers—how many of these poor people worldwide dying every day from malnutrition or sickness could have been, or could be, my brothers or sisters? It just blows my mind that I could actually save their lives but I’m wasting my money on the unnecessaries instead. Let’s get together and discuss fasting on occasion and living frugally and pool the savings and give it to them. We could save lives!” Music to our Lord’s ears! But rare. Very rare.
American “Christians,” wake up! Consider again Luke 12:16-21, covered in Part 1 of this study, about what happens to a man whose sin was "he lays up treasure for himself:"
“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Are we that rich fool? Could God be angry at us--maybe even eternally angry--because we just want to build better, lay back and retire? We consume it, we stock it up, and are not thinking much about helping the poor, or what "treasures in heaven" even means. Read Luke 16:19-25:
“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell[a] from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
The rich man is in the bad side of hades, flames and excruciating pain and all, so don’t you think Jesus wants to tell us how to avoid that, or what one of his major sins was that got him there? Of course Jesus wants us to know! Are you going to say, “Well, we don’t know--because Jesus doesn’t say." On such an important issue, paradise vs hades, is God going to be silent? That doesn't make sense. No, the ONLY conclusion is, the rich man is in hades because he had no compassion for the suffering poor man, the only other person in the story. The problem is, he knew the man was there, “at his gate.” But he walked right by him whenever he left home, and whenever he returned. But he didn’t help him. Well, are we churchgoers in America a step above this today? Maybe you’ll say, “None of these poor folks are at my door.” But they’re on your TV, they’re on the internet; you may even get calls from charities on the phone or in your mail. That means they are at your "gate." Do you walk by too? Will you end up, surprised as this man was, at the same horrible final destination?
Jesus makes another related radical statement in Matthew 19:23:
Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
He even stresses the point by saying it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. The disciples were shocked at hearing that; they assumed (as we tend to do) that getting wealth is proof that God loves you. Jesus says completely the opposite. Jesus is really saying wealth will almost certainly distract you, obsess you, wrap your time up in material possessions, and tear you away from God so much that it's more likely you won’t make it to heaven. Think about that. That really makes gathering riches like gathering venomous snakes; here you are, making wealth as a precious goal, when in fact it will hurt you. (I’m not saying a high income is a curse. I’m saying plowing it into personal expenditures and excessive savings is a curse). Would you work hard and grasp something if you knew it would almost wipe out your chance at heaven? You’d think, “Nooo way.” But we do that very thing when we desire wealth. Now of course you might say, throughout this paper, “No problem; I’m not rich, in fact I have credit card debt, so I don't have a problem with this verse.” Well, in the Big Picture, almost all Americans are rich. We are the richest society, by far, in all of world history—in fact, our poorest 5% are richer than India’s richest 5% even now, to just give one perspective. So, you who are reading this—even if you’re middle class, even just below middle class, in America—you’re rich by world and historic standards. If you have credit card debt, it simply means you not only spent what God has lavishly given you, but you overspent and have not saved for short term emergencies. (There is no problem with saving a reasonable amount for short term emergencies). The big problem with our relative wealth is, we tend to be sinfully callous about the horrible lives that many people live.
Many Christians who don't give rationalize by saying those people got there because they're lazy, or they haven't got proper goals for their lives. But how far do you want to take that argument? Will you let them suffer malnutrition because we think they'll just waste it? Really? If you're rationalizing that their corrupt governments will prevent gifts of food from going to the poor people, so "I won't give," that's mostly a lie: It's a proven fact that most governments will allow safe transport of gifts to the proper destination--unless they are coldly practicing genocide (which doesn't happen often). It may have been a bad farm year, it may be that government's ideas about how to run the economy were wrong, it may be that water is compromised for some reason. But should we let the people suffer from someone else's incompetency? Maybe you decide not to give to a Communist country or a Muslim country thinking that's patriotic to the U.S. These are enemies; letting them die, that'll teach them a lesson! That sounds like stupid revenge. But which does Jesus require--revenge, or love? Let's not cop out, or rationalize our way out of this sacrifice for the Lord. That's what He did; He gave to the people who were disabled, people who had no hope, the low end of the income scale--since nobody else cared.
But when you don't give from your excesses, you are deceived into thinking a deadly thought--that you’re already fine with God, and you rationalize that more giving won't get you any more 'good with God.' But in reality you’ve drifted away from His commandment. You become complacent, you drift away from needing God. You could get to a dangerous place--no longer a branch feeding off the Vine for spiritual life (per John 15). And what happens to non-abiding branches? What happens to lukewarm people? They go to the fire or are vomited out of the body. Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 7:14:
“...narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it”
When you really meditate on these verses, how the few get to heaven, and how it's even harder for the rich to get to heaven, you get the radical idea that the odds are stacked against Americans going to heaven. Our relative wealth falls under the severe warning of Matthew 19:23 above. So if few people make it to heaven, even fewer rich people make it, could a large number of us be self-deceived into thinking we’re going to heaven when we aren’t? Consider His warning in Matthew 7:21-23:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
And what is "the will of My Father?" Love, mercy, justice, and--When you consider America--giving. The truly worldwide poor are your sisters, your brothers! They need it more than you do!
It takes a lot of faith to give away excess income, and also to liquidate excess assets and give away that money too. But that's what He wants. May God help us to do His will
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