THE GOSPEL OF GREED – Part IV
The key question for today is “What is the litmus test for determining whether (or not) we are
utilizing church or personal funds appropriately?” According
to the Time Magazine article, “Does God Want You To Be Rich?” the
Christian church is largely ‘split’ on the issue of prosperity teaching because (from
the authors’ perspective) the scriptures are vague or inconclusive regarding
money matters. Co-authors, David Van Biema and Jeff Chu, state the
following:
“Scripture is not definitive when it comes to faith and
income. Deuteronomy commands believers
to “remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get
wealth,” and the rest of the Old Testament is dotted with celebrations of God’s
bestowal of the good life. On at least
one occasion—in the parable of the talents---Jesus holds up savvy business
practice (investing rather than saving) as a metaphor for spiritual practice.
Yet he spent far more time among the poor than the rich, and a majority of
scholars quote two of his most direct comments on wealth: the passage in the
Sermon on the Mount in which he warns, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures
on earth ... but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” and his encounter
with the “rich young ruler” who could not bring himself to part with his money,
after which Jesus famously comments, “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.”
Both statements can be read as more nuanced than they at
first might seem. In each case it is not wealth itself that disqualifies but
the inability to understand its relative worthlessness in contrast with the
riches of Heaven. The same thing applies
to Paul’s famous line (as most people erroneously quote it), i.e. “Money is the
root of all evil,” in his first letter to Timothy. The actual quote is, “The LOVE of money is the
root of all evil.”
So, the Bible leaves plenty of room for an honest
discussion on the role (positive or negative) that money should play in the
lives of believers. However, it’s not a
discussion that many pastors are willing to have. “Jesus’ words about money
don’t make us very comfortable, and people don’t want to hear [them]” notes
Collin Hansen, an editor at Christianity Today.” [This concludes
the Time article quote].
From my perspective, the
message of scripture is never muddled or unclear.
All the teachings of Jesus emphasize advancing the Kingdom
of God. John the Baptist, the cousin and forerunner of Jesus,
declared prior to Christ’s public ministry, “Repent…for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2) It is no accident that Jesus echoed these same sentiments
(for they are originally His): “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to
say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) Fact
is, most Jesus’ parables focus on establishing the Kingdom of God in the earth.
(Matthew, chapter 13) Even The Lord’s Prayer (The Disciples’ Prayer)
emphasizes this concept. “Thy
kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” was the model
prayer of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 6:10)
At this precise point, the so-called ‘prosperity preachers’
skid off the tracks and collide with eternal truth. Their emphasis
on ‘the here and now’ directly
contradicts the Pauline prescription for true Biblical prosperity: “Set your affection on things above, not
on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2) For in the words of Jesus
Christ, “where your treasure is,
there will your heart be
also.” (Matthew 6:21)
While some Church leaders busily tout and display material
success via burgeoning bank accounts, palatial mansions, private jets, helicopters,
etc., there is a veritable host of
hurting and dying people that we fail to serve! I am not a
‘hater’—not at all—as some readers could conclude from my
commentary. However, sometimes I scratch my head and wonder aloud: ‘How much is too much? Do we
really need to line our pockets and live in the lap of luxury to affirm our
worldly status or to confirm divine blessings? Are we more about ego
gratification than about serving fallen humanity and ushering lost souls into
the Kingdom of God?’
A few decades ago, I was the Minister of Outreach at a
large urban church in a southern state. One day, an elderly and
infirmed lady called the church and asked for help. Her caretaker
(an adult daughter) was traveling on business and had forgotten to buy
groceries. The caller needed someone to assist her by driving her to
the bank and supermarket to pick up necessary food items. I responded
affirmatively and was on the way out the door when the senior pastor called
out: “Where are you headed?” I explained the elderly lady’s dilemma
and my intended mission to help. The pastor’s response totally shocked
me. “We don’t do things like that,” he remarked rather
casually. So, I returned to my office and decided that my wife and I
would respond to this woman’s urgent need (on our own dime and time) at the end
of the workday. John, the apostle of love, stated it more eloquently
that I ever could: “Whoever has this world’s good(s), and sees his brother in
need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of
God in him?” (I John 3:17)
I must pose two serious questions to the leaders and laity of The Church:
1) What is the biblical reason for our
existence…Kingdom-building or personal empire-building?
2) If our greedy quest for wealth sacrifices the salvation of
even one soul…what will CHRIST say to us?
This is entirely a matter of motives and priorities, i.e.
what we decide to “seek first.” (Matthew 6:33) Christ indeed promised to
add overflowing blessings to His people, whenever and wherever we seek the good
and growth of His Kingdom. Nevertheless, at the beginning of this
devotional, I posed a strategic question: “What is the litmus test for determining whether (or not) we are
utilizing church or personal funds appropriately?” The Answer: If whatever we are doing with our blessings
builds God’s Kingdom (not ours), we are most assuredly on the right
track.
If there is indeed to be an end-times redistribution of
wealth, as many prophets and prosperity preachers emphatically decree, what will the church DO with it? Bottom-line:
We are divinely blessed…to BE a blessing!
Why not let Jesus
Christ have the last word?
Matthew 6:19-20
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust do corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust do corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor
steal.
As God honors and favors your life with GENUINE PROSPERITY
(inclusive of spiritual, material, physical, emotional and financial
components), PLEASE REMEMBER TO USE YOUR BLESSINGS TO BUILD THE KINGDOM OF
GOD. In the process, you will be
demonstrably and doubly blessed.
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