*****
Arriving here in Akron, Ohio this afternoon after a seven-hour drive from Chicago, I stopped in at my mom’s local library branch to use the bathroom and decided spur-of-the-moment to stretch my legs a few minutes in the magazine section. I picked up a random copy of Christianity Today.
A quote from an
article on Christian wealth, attributed to theologian Ron Sider, author of
“Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger,” read, "For Christians in the
richest nation in history to be giving only 2.43 percent of their income to
their churches is not just stinginess, it is biblical disobedience—blatant sin
. . . Over the last 40 years, American Christians (as we have grown
progressively richer) have given a smaller and smaller percent of our growing
income to the ministries of our churches. Such behavior flatly contradicts what
the Bible teaches about God, justice, and wealth.”
*****
While in the Old Testament economy under
Moses it was a good thing to be rich and actually a sign of God’s prosperity,
being rich was NOT a good thing at all during the earthly ministry of Jesus
Christ.
Jesus said, “It is easier for a
camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God.”
In the same passage from Luke 18, Christ urges, “Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.”
We’re told in Matthew 19 that when
the rich young ruler heard these things from Christ, “he went away sorrowful:
for he had great possessions.”
Jordan reasons, “I would suggest that the ‘great possessions’ had the young man, too, because it says ‘he was very sorrowful’ (Luke 18:23). And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, He said to His disciples, ‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!’
“I have never yet heard one prosperity preacher—I don’t care who it
is—quote Luke 18. They’ll quote that verse from III John 1:2 (‘Beloved,
I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy
soul prospereth’) and tell you God will give you wealth, and make you prosper in
your finances just like your spirit prospers in Christ, but there’s none of them
who quotes that passage.
“Now you tell me, from Luke 18, does
it sound like a good thing or a bad thing to be rich? Sounds kind of tough to
be rich, doesn’t it? ‘It’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye’?
That’s an impossibility, isn’t it?
“That’s why all the new Bibles re-translate that to ‘the gate of the city’
and all that kind of stuff. . . so the guy can wiggle through. But, no,
Christ is saying it’s impossible. It’s as impossible for a camel to go
through a needle’s eye as it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
god.
“Well, if that’s true, and He said
that to the Apostle John—John was one of the people who was standing there when
Christ taught that—then do you think III John 1:2 is talking about money? Being
rich in material things?”
“The doctrine in the verse says that
your soul would prosper in Christ, does it not? In Christ, all spiritual
blessings are yours upfront, and John says, ‘I pray that you would prosper in
the material realm and in health, just like your soul prospers spiritually.’
*****
In I Corinthians 16:2, Paul says the standard for a Believer’s giving is “as God hath prospered him,” meaning, “As God has given us material wealth, therefore we should give on that proportion; on that basis.”
The first thing a reader of III John
must recognize is that it was the Apostle John who wrote it. In Galatians 2:9,
we’re told that John, along with Peter and James, came to understand that
Christ had given Paul a new and advanced revelation over what He’d given the
apostles, and they, in turn, extended to Paul “the right hand of fellowship,”
recognizing the further disclosures in God’s plans revealed through him.
Jordan says, “If John stood here
today, on the basis of Galatians 2:9, he’d tell you III John was written to the
circumcision about Israel’s program, and God’s plan and purpose for the nation
Israel, and that you shouldn’t try to steal their mail.
“Every piece of mail that comes into
the post office doesn’t belong to you; only what’s delivered to your box with
your name on it. And when you come along and treat God’s Word as though you can
just go in there and dip your hand in and pull out anything you want because it
says something you like, that’s nothing but spiritual larceny!
“You wouldn’t go down to the bank and run in and try to grab money that wasn’t yours and go out with it thinking you could get away with it. Well, you’re not going to get away with it spiritually and it will break your spiritual neck! It will bring disaster to your Christian life if you treat God’s Word that way.”
*****
In I Corinthians 16:2, Paul is
instructing the Corinthians about their giving to the “poor saints who were in
Jerusalem,” and told them they were to give systematically—“as a man purposeth in
his heart, let him give.”
Jordan explains, “They were to have
understood what the (financial) need was and then systematically, on the first
day of the week—not just when Paul came and found out what they had—but
systematically each week, lay aside an amount so that when Paul came there
wouldn’t be a panic to figure out how much they should give.
“They were to purpose in their heart
what their giving was to be. It was not to be a lackadaisical thing. It was not supposed to be, ‘Well, let’s just
see what kind of disposable income I have next month and how much of that I’m
willing to give to the ministry.’
“It was to be a thoughtful,
determined kind of a thing, systematically. They were to give sacrificially.
But they were also to give proportionately as God hath prospered them. That is,
according to their sense of God’s goodness toward them.”
*****
While people usually think about the
word “prosperity” in the sense of money, in the Bible it has more the context
of being successful.
When Joshua’s taking the nation
Israel into the Promised Land in Joshua 1:8, for example, the word “prosperous” is referring to a
prosperous journey for the successful outcome of taking over the land.
So in their case, prosperity, or success, was to go in and take the land of
Canaan and live in it, dwell in it and possess it.
In Genesis 24:21 is another example
of this same type of thing: “And the man wondering at her held his peace, to
wit whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not.”
Jordan explains, “It’s a journey where he found the wife for the boy. It didn’t have anything to do with money. In fact, it’s going to cost him money. You know, it’s like Barney Google said, ‘When I was single my pockets did jingle.’ It wasn’t a matter of making money; it was a matter of fulfilling the job that he had.”
In the same context, the Apostle
Paul talks about hoping for a prosperous journey in Romans 1:10.
“Now people say based upon that
verse that when you’re traveling you should pray for traveling mercies,” says
Jordan. “I had never heard that term until I moved to the Midwest.
“What did Paul think a prosperous
journey was? Not getting run over by a bus or having the airplane fall out of
the air? No, he thought a prosperous journey was to have some fruit among the
people he’s ministering to. So, for
Paul, to have a successful journey had nothing to do with getting there on
schedule and not losing his baggage.”
*****
Paul expands on the issue of giving in II Corinthians 8:2, lecturing the wealthy Corinthians, “Notice these people from the churches in Macedonia are giving a large amount even though they’re in deep poverty? You guys are in financial abundance, so you ought to be able to out-give them because you’ve got more, and it will allow for more equality.”
“Paul’s saying, ‘You know what, the
circumstances could get reversed; there’s going to come a time when you won’t
have so much and they’ve got a lot,’ " explains Jordan. “And notice he doesn’t say God’s going to change that?
“In I Timothy 6:17, Paul says, ‘Charge
them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in
uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to
enjoy.’
“When he says ‘charge them that are
rich,’ that’s not talking about MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover.
That’s, ‘Put them under orders, those who are rich—those who abound, those who
have financial prosperity and are rich in this world with physical things—that
they be not high-minded,’ meaning they don’t look down at people who don’t have
it, nor trust in uncertain riches.
“Can I tell you, friends, riches
don’t satisfy. That’s why he says in verse six that ‘godliness with contentment
is great gain’. . . I don’t care how
many material possessions you gather to yourself, contentment is a spiritual
heart attitude, and if you don’t have it with a little, you won’t have it with
a lot, because riches don’t give you contentment. That only comes from ‘the
peace of God which passeth all understanding.’
*****
“You remember Deuteronomy 28 when God said, ‘I’m going to make you the head of the nations and not the tail. I’m going to make you prosper and everything you touch is going to turn to gold. You’re going to have the Midas touch and you’ll have more than you can spend.’
“God said,
‘I’m going to give you that money,’ and yet to the same people later on, in
Jesus Christ’s ministry, He says, ‘It won’t be good for you to have any money
because if you do, you’re going to miss the kingdom.’
“Do you understand why if you don’t
‘rightly divide the word of God’ you’re never going to get that straight?
That’s God promise to Israel about the future abundance in her kingdom, but He
said, ‘Right now, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and
all these things shall be added unto you.’
“Israel had to find God’s
righteousness before they were going to get the things God was going to give to
them. You better be careful about quoting Matthew 6:33 yourself because, while
it’s a good thing to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
you’ve got no guarantee that those things are going to be added unto you.
“In fact, the instructions to us in
the dispensation of grace is, ‘Don’t expect them to be added—get a job!’ Go
back to Matthew 6 and see that He told those people, ‘Consider the lilies of
the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.’
“There’s going to be a time in the
future of the nation Israel, where in order to be a child of God you won’t take
the ‘mark of the beast,’ and, as a result, you won’t be able to buy, sell, have
a job, do anything.
“And God said, ‘When that time
comes, Israel, I’ll take care of you; you don’t worry about it. You just trust
me, and if you’ll seek me and my righteousness, you won’t need to worry; all
that other stuff will be added to you.’
*****
“As far as God’s concerned, your financial situation today is not an issue in your spiritual life. It’s not a gauge whereby you gauge God’s love for you and God’s blessings in your life. The love of God is tied to one thing for you and that’s the Crosswork.
“It’s not tied to how much money you
make or how much money you give. That proves something about you, but nothing
about God’s attitude. That demonstrates something about your attitude, not
God’s.
“God’s attitude toward you is consistent, and it’s always one where His love is commended toward you. And if you need God to physically intervene in your life to demonstrate His grace and goodness and welfare, He already has! You don’t need to wait for Him to do it tomorrow; He already did it 2,000 years ago on a rugged Cross! You couldn’t ask for more of an intervention in your life in human history!
“Every time you look for something else to demonstrate God’s love and
working in your life, you’re saying, ‘That’s not enough Lord; I want that plus
something else.’ And you know what you do? You do what that verse in Galatians
says—you frustrate the grace of God and make it as though Christ is dead in
vain; that His Cross wasn’t enough.
“The answer’s in resting in the goodness
of God’s grace to you in Christ and relaxing so you aren’t holding on to these
material things in the world that you try to get your security from.
*****
“Now, how does God prosper us? How does He make us successful in material ways? There’s two ways. One is what I call the natural things. We read in I Timothy that He’s ‘given us all things to richly enjoy.’ God gave you creation, folks, to make you rich so that you can richly enjoy the bounty of creation.
“God has fixed a creation out here that provides for your needs whether you’re a believer or an unbeliever. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that He ‘causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike.’
“That’s what Paul’s saying in Acts
14:15 when he says to the pagans in Lystra, ‘We also are men of like passions
with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the
living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are
therein.’
“You know what, the planet works.
The creation works and it provides for your necessities; it provides for what
you need in life to live and be successful.”
“In talking to the Greeks in Athens—the cultural elite of the world at that time—Paul informs them that neither is God ‘worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.’
“Paul’s telling these ‘sophisticated’
pagans, ‘Creation is dependent on God, and you know what, creation is providing
for you. God’s given you creation to make you rich so you can richly enjoy the bounty
of it.’ ”
(New article tomorrow)
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