what to do with money and possesions

“Money and love are mutually exclusive. Where mammon rules, the possessive will is stronger than the will to community. The struggle to survive becomes stronger than the spirit of mutual help. Where mammon rules, matter is stronger than spirit, and self-assertion stronger than solidarity. Mammon never motivates people to work in a creative way for a life of fellowship. Instead, it engenders the enslavement of the soul to circumstance. It is the spirit of lying, impurity, and murder, the spirit of weakness and death.

“Jesus, the prince of life, declared war on this spirit, and we must declare war on it too. When our inmost eye has been opened to his light, it can no longer respond to what mammon demands. When our hearts are set on the future - when we expect God’s kingdom - we can no longer accumulate property. We will turn our backs on everything present and live instead for freedom, unity, and peace.

“Jesus entered the temple with a whip not to strike people, but to show his contempt for money: his father’s house belonged to God, not to mammon. In the Gospel of Matthew, he exhorted the otherwise blameless rich youth to confirm his love by selling everything: “Give all you have to the poor, and come follow me.” And when he was shown the coin of the emperor, he answered, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.”

“This attack on the order of mammon resulted in his death. Yet life had the final victory. The men and women who had gathered around him in life waited for something new after his death. They waited for the Spirit. They knew that the spirit of love, order, and freedom was the spirit of God’s kingdom. And this Spirit came upon them, bringing about a church: a fellowship of work and goods in which everything belonged to all, in which all were active to the full extent of their powers and gifts.”

Our brother Eberhard must have had a heart the size of Texas to live a life of sacrificial obedience, not convenient obedience.

The Lord led me to this commentary on Acts 4 where the first church shared it all. There was not one needy person among them, thousands in the city:

“The early church was able to share possessions and property as a result of the unity brought by the Holy Spirit working in and through the believers’ lives. This way of living is different from communism because (1) the sharing was voluntary; (2) it didn’t involve all private property, but only as much as was needed; (3) it was not a membership requirement in order to be a part of the church. The spiritual unity and generosity of these early believers attracted others to them. This organizational structure is not a Biblical command, but it offers vital principles for us to follow.” From the Life Application notes.

It has often struck me lately that with the advent of electronic media, email, and all the other modern marvels, we now have a responsibility second to none. We affluent folks have the ability to see the poverty and injustices in the whole world. What, therefor e, is the command to help?

1 John 3:16-17

We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his BROTHER in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

The rhetorical answer is we don’t love God if we bypass the obvious need in lieu of our comfort and convenience. One billion people in world (3 times the population of the USA) live on $1 a day or less. How much is that cup of coffee we buy on the way to work? Two billion others live on $750 a year or less. Why do we need a closet full of clothes when our brethren in Asia only have the clothes on their back?

I once visited with a pastor and his wife in central Russia for an afternoon. They were most generous with their meager food supplies, and the sausage and bread tasted like a banquet. Their income was $25 a month, a $1 a day.

What does the Word relate to us?

1 John 2:3

By this we know that we have come to KNOW Him, if we KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS.

1 John 2:5-6

but whoever KEEPS His word, in him the love of God has truly been PERFECTED. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to WALK IN THE SAME MANNER AS HE WALKED.

Oh my. What was the plight of Jesus economically, so we might walk in the same manner?

2 Cor. 8:9

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet FOR YOUR SAKE He became POOR, so that you through His POVERTY might become rich.

Why did Paul command ECONOMIC QUALITY from the carnal, self-centered, rich Corinthians? Why didn’t they finish the collection of the previously promised donation for their starving brethren in Jerusalem?

2 Cor. 8:13-15

For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of EQUALITY— at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be EQUALITY; as it is written, “He who gathered much (manna) did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.”

What was Paul like economically? What did he tell the Corinthians to do?

2 Cor. 6:1, 10

And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain…as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as POOR yet making many rich, as HAVING NOTHING yet possessing all things.

1 Cor. 4:10-13, 16 (can you hear the sarcasm of Paul below?)

We are FOOLS for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are WEAK, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are WITHOUT HONOR. To this present hour we are both HUNGRY AND THIRSTY, and are POORLY CLOTHED, and are roughly treated, and are HOMELESS; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the SCUM OF THE WORLD, the dregs of all things, even until now….Therefore I exhort you, BE IMITATORS OF ME.

We’re so quick to quote the “Love Chapter” of 1 Corinthians 13. And a wonderful passage it is. But look at how Paul frames the ultimate sacrifice:

1 Cor. 13:3

And if I give ALL MY POSSESSIONS TO FEED THE POOR, and if I SURRENDER MY BODY TO BE BURNED, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably encountered numerous saints who have made all sorts of theological gyrations to get around, under, or through the plain meaning. Notice he said is WAS the ultimate sacrifice to give ALL possessions and/or our very life. But the method must be in love. And if in love, it profits GREATLY. That’s his point, I believe. Let us not miss it, or we miss the life of Jesus, and perhaps eternity. Remember he who seeks to save his life….

And finally, Jesus Himself once again gives a general command to all his followers:

Luke 12:15-32

Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ‘ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

“And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your bo dy, as to what you will put on. “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! “And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? “If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! “And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. “For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need t hese things. “But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”

And what is His command at the conclusion of this parable? He knows where your heart is by how you handle the stuff of this age, or else risk a failed life with failed treasure:

Luke 12:33-34

“SELL YOUR POSSESSIONS AND GIVE TO CHARITY; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

admin @ May 20, 2007