Jesus taught us a strange and radical doctrine: that we are not to accumulate wealth. He made two commands that together form this doctrine. The doctrine is further supported in Acts and in the Pauline epistles. The first command I will cover here in Part I. It is found in Matthew 6:19-20:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do
not break in and steal.
Since the Greek for “treasures” means “concentration of wealth,” Jesus is
clearly commanding us not to accumulate wealth assets on earth. This command is
radical—and seldom preached. Dr. William MacDonald, late president of Emmaus
Bible College, author of 84 published books, had this to say in his Believers
Bible Commentary about these two verses:
“…contains some of the most revolutionary teachings of our Lord—and
some of the most neglected. In verses 19-21 Jesus contravenes all human advice
to provide for a financially secure future … This teaching forces us to
decide whether Jesus meant what He said. If He did, then we face the question,
“What are we going to do with our earthly treasures?” If He didn‘t (mean
what He said), then we face the question, “What are we going to do with
our Bible?””
Most Christians don’t even think about the real meaning of the Matthew
verses; they are either reading their Bibles without asking the Holy Spirit for
interpretation; or their pastors, when covering this Scripture, have distorted
the teaching to make it more palatable--such as emphasizing our “attitude”
about our possessions. The pastor simply only cares that we don't get obsessed
with accumulating more wealth, or obsessed with protecting what we have. So
they often tell us that our sin is to “treasure in our heart” our possessions.
Unfortunately, that severely changes the verse, detracting from its clear
meaning of not accumulating assets; they
"redefine" the phrase to “not coveting,” a much vaguer concept--and
one easily dismissible by many nominal Christians--so, people conclude,
"I'm not sinning if I'm not coveting." Thus, they don't think
about the radical demand of the verse. We get into a complacent mood
(which we usually are). But the verse should be taken literally; it is simply a
command not to lay up, or “store.” To preach that we need to look
first at our heart to determine whether our possessions are our “treasure” is
the exact opposite of what the verse says: as Jesus says in verse 21: For where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Jesus knows (better than we
do) that if our treasures are on earth, then the heart’s desire focuses on
protecting it, and it grows avaricious as well.
For further proof, let’s go to Luke 12:16-20. Here is a man who simply wants
to be a saver, an investor, then retire—normal godly traits, we assume. If we
didn’t read verse 20 and following, we would assert that he is a model of wise
behavior:
"The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He
thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and
build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And
I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many
years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' 20"But God said to
him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who
will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
God put this man to death! What's the reason? Jesus' judgment is
contained in v.20: "Who will get what you have prepared for
yourself?" He has valued treasures on earth, which he cannot keep in
eternity; he places no value in treasures in heaven. Readers guess that the
reason is, he's complacent about the future. Well, accumulating leads you
to complacency; the real fault is the accumulating. Maybe some people
assume his sin was to eat, drink, and be merry. Not so stated. Note
that he has prepared for himself this wealth. Hmmm.
God evidently does not see the virtue of “saving” as we see it (not a surprise,
actually; see Isaiah 55:8).
So we conclude, what was the sin of the rich man? Was it that he
forgot to ask God’s advice on what to do with his riches? Was it his intent on
laziness? His pride? Well, Jesus answers that question in the next verse. Did
Jesus say, “So is he who forgets to seek counsel from God?” Or, “ so is he who
is proud?” No; Jesus says in verse 21:
“So is he who lays up treasure for
himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Not having "Riches toward God," is the same as not having
"treasures in heaven." We're speaking of giving away to
charity, to missions, to church, to needy people. It doesn't say that making
your kids rich is "rich toward God," by the way.
These verses are so clear as to be unassailable. Yet preachers
everywhere twist the clear meaning into something smoother, more
palatable--less radical. Let me emphasize this: His sin that made him a fool
and paid with his life--was laying up treasure, accumulating wealth assets for
himself and family--the same sin as quoted in Matthew 6 above. The verses point
out a radical and definite command from Jesus to us. Will we obey
that command, on faith? Meditate on what you're reading here. Let’s call
this concept Jesus’ command to Non-Accumulate.
Yes, this is a financial life-changing doctrine. (I suspect that pastors
generally don’t believe that non-accumulation is a genuine command, either.)
People say, “Jesus cannot be teaching us to be so imprudent. What if I lose my
job? If I haven’t saved some wealth, what could happen to me and my family?
They say, Jesus must be using allegory here; or, He doesn’t mean this for
everyone at all times. So, since it is not a real command, I can ignore it.”
Well, there are two answers to this train of thought. The first answer is: If
it’s a command, it’s a command to obey, no questions asked. Our job is to obey
it, not explain it away because it might leave us feeling insecure. Let's not
forget--God loves us. And He knows--and can manipulate--the future better
than us. We can’t always know why. Even if it doesn't make sense, we should
obey. We should have faith in a loving God as His children that He will
sort out the repercussions of not saving, to our best spiritual interest. The
second answer is: Where is your faith in God’s power? Jesus knows our concern
here and answers it only a few verses later—in Matthew 6:26 and 31-32:
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather
into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than
they?...So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?'
or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them.
In other words, trust in God, not in yourself (your savings). Look, we all
need to see God at work more, to know that He is real. What better way to
experience this than seeing God rescue us, as when we obey His command, and we
get into a financial tough spot? If He doesn’t rescue in a tight spot, maybe He
is telling us: Hey, how did you get in that spot? If we got there by
overspending, or spending money on some sin, maybe He is telling us, and
that's the only way He can get our attention. Most of us need to get less
worldly in the use of our money and time. A second possibility may be that He
wants to teach us not to buy an item yet—that would teach us patience, or maybe
we would use such item to indulge in some sin, or idolize it, pulling us
further away from Him. In any of these, if we just reduce God's pressure by
tapping our savings to pay for the item, we haven't learned anything or gotten
closer to the Lord. We should leave ourselves open to God speaking to
us—which He can only do if we don’t just fall back on our savings or credit
card, our own security, for rescue. Families with kids living with them should
get their children involved too. First, you teach them about giving 'til it
hurts,' as they say. Then, say you're in a tight financial spot. Lost
your job, say (hopefully through no fault of your own). If you and your
kids actually plead with God and then see God rescuing you, or if your family
sacrifices enough to cut away with expenses on worldly desires, and you do a
new budget, you—and the kids—are more likely, to see God's love for you in
raining blessings and rescue down. From that personal touch from Him, you
can, as a family, grow to being “sold out” for the Lord. Isn’t that where you
want your family to be? What would really sell the kids—and do good for
humanity—would be to use your extra cash to give to the needy (to be discussed
in second blog) rather than add to savings. By even giving away your savings or
extra cash above necessities, you test Him (Malachi 3:10). He will be happy to
show that He is your security, not your reserve savings. We need to make sure
that we are not insecure in Him. According to Psalm 37:25, you are not
vulnerable to poverty if you are in the center of God’s will. You can’t be in
that wonderful place by trusting in yourself rather than God.
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