One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?…You cannot serve God and money.
Jesus of Nazareth
We continue the Reflection began three weeks ago, looking at the day Jesus confronted the Pharisees about their love of money that is recorded in Luke 14:1-17:10. The passage above, which we reflected on in detail last weekend, is central to understanding everything that Jesus taught that day.
Jesus accused those Pharisees of exalting what is an abomination to God: that is, their unrighteous mammon. Although they purported to love and serve God, they loved and accumulated material wealth – treasures on earth, not treasures in heaven. Unfortunately, a 'Christian' theology was evolved that seeks to justify the same sort of belief and behaviour today.
The meaning of the verb 'to prosper' has changed with the growth of the consumer society. It used to mean to be successful or to do well and that's the sense when it is used in the Bible. It probably derived from the idea of doing well on a trading expedition. But in the past 50 years or so has ‘to prosper’ has come to mean being rich.
John wrote, ‘Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.’ (3 John 1:2) That accurately conveys John's meaning but older translations of the Bible say, ‘I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper…even as thy soul prospereth’. But to put a modern meaning on a translation from the past, and to conclude that God wants us to be rich, is misleading.
Having said that, I want to assert that Christians don't serve a mean or miserly God and that God wants his people to do well. Even the traditional vow of poverty taken by 'spiritual' people was only to give up personal possessions and disproportionate luxury: they don’t take a vow of destitution and expect to starve! Generations of Christians have trusted God to look after them without expecting to be materially wealthy!
There are promises of having an abundance of material blessings in the Bible but they are directed to communities, not to individuals, and the wealth the people enjoyed was to be worked, not hoarded. Deuteronomy 28 is a good example of this, where God sets out comprehensively both the physical and material blessings that God has for his people who obey him and the trials and hardship that will come upon them if they disobey.
There are promises of having an abundance of material blessings in the Bible but they are directed to communities, not to individuals, and the wealth the people enjoyed was to be worked, not hoarded. Deuteronomy 28 is a good example of this, where God sets out comprehensively both the physical and material blessings that God has for his people who obey him and the trials and hardship that will come upon them if they disobey.
A passage in the prophecy of Malachi goes further and invites people to 'test' God on the issue. The prophet criticised people for leaving the Temple unfinished while fashioning nice homes for themselves and passed on to them God’s challenge: ‘"And thereby put me to the test", says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need."’ I think this is the only place in the Bible where God invites people to test him but we have to treat the promise carefully.
In light of all this, I think it worth digressing briefly to say that generous giving does not necessarily indicate a spiritually alive church or faithful church members. It is the case, however, that poor giving does indicate a problem. Some Christians may not give generously because they are not sufficiently committed to God or do not value their church fellowship as they ought. Others may be handling their money badly, giving only a little because they are over-committed in buying lifestyle accessories or paying interest on redundant credit they cannot afford to clear. Others may genuinely be poor: not poor relative to the others in their fellowship but objectively poor and unable to pay for everything they and their family need to function in modern society where almost everything has a price tag. None of these problems should be ignored! Some of the Christians need help in rethinking their relationship with their Lord; some need to curb their desires and learn how to budget; some need practical help and be given the opportunity to be able to share in the good things their neighbours take for granted (see, for example, Acts 4:32-34).
But generous Christians are not necessarily spiritually sound Christians. Some of them may have bought into the belief that God will reward their giving exponentially with material wealth and give from what is essentially a selfish motive. Some may be trying to mitigate their guilt for a secret sin, like pornography or adultery. Some might be trying to raise their status or 'buy' influence within the church. Others may appear generous only by comparison with the rest of the fellowship and could easily give significantly more than they do. I'm not suggesting that we should be suspicious of generous Christians, only that we don't make the same mistake as the rest of the society by reading too much into the wealth and perceived generosity.
In light of all this, I think it worth digressing briefly to say that generous giving does not necessarily indicate a spiritually alive church or faithful church members. It is the case, however, that poor giving does indicate a problem. Some Christians may not give generously because they are not sufficiently committed to God or do not value their church fellowship as they ought. Others may be handling their money badly, giving only a little because they are over-committed in buying lifestyle accessories or paying interest on redundant credit they cannot afford to clear. Others may genuinely be poor: not poor relative to the others in their fellowship but objectively poor and unable to pay for everything they and their family need to function in modern society where almost everything has a price tag. None of these problems should be ignored! Some of the Christians need help in rethinking their relationship with their Lord; some need to curb their desires and learn how to budget; some need practical help and be given the opportunity to be able to share in the good things their neighbours take for granted (see, for example, Acts 4:32-34).
But generous Christians are not necessarily spiritually sound Christians. Some of them may have bought into the belief that God will reward their giving exponentially with material wealth and give from what is essentially a selfish motive. Some may be trying to mitigate their guilt for a secret sin, like pornography or adultery. Some might be trying to raise their status or 'buy' influence within the church. Others may appear generous only by comparison with the rest of the fellowship and could easily give significantly more than they do. I'm not suggesting that we should be suspicious of generous Christians, only that we don't make the same mistake as the rest of the society by reading too much into the wealth and perceived generosity.
When Jesus likened the Pharisees who confronted him to men who divorce their wives to marry their mistresses, he hadn’t changed the subject. To think that he decided to insert some teaching about marriage into the discussion of money is to to miss his point entirely.
The Hebrew word for adultery and fornication is used about 100 times in the Old Testament but in over half the passages it refers to spiritual, not sexual, sin. Often, this spiritual adultery had a financial motive. Read Psalm 72. The King James (or Authorised) Version of verse 27 has ‘all them that go a whoring from thee’ but it has nothing to do with sex because the entire Psalm is about people who prosper in spite of their wickedness.
Jeremiah had previously used the metaphor of adultery to expresses God’s astonishment at Israel’s greed (see Jeremiah 2-3). James was later to use it in his letter, calling his readers an ‘adulterous people’ as he dealt with the disloyalty, divisions and discord in churches caused by financial sin.
This way of thinking about disloyalty to God is the consequence of the image of believers as being married to God. This relationship was implied in the Old Testament but is clear in the New Testament, where the church is described as the bride of Christ. The use of such a strong metaphor as adultery is why Jesus said, ‘You cannot serve both God and mammon’. And yet if we see financial riches as a blessing that God wishes for all his people or as a reward for faithfulness, we may well be guilt by making the same mistake as the Pharisees and exalt what God sees as an abomination!
Not all the Pharisees who Jesus met were pious hypocrites, trying the fleece the people of God. Some were devout and sincere but mistaken. It should be a warning to all of us not to blindly accept the standards of behaviour in society or in our local church, not to be complacent about our own giving or our generosity.
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Can I encourage you to follow this link and listen to a
sermon preached by Dr Kendall at Kensington Temple in London last month about the last days revival he expects. Dr Kendall was my pastor during the five years I attended
Westminster Chapel in London, although I had been learning from him for 20
years before that and have continued to since he retired in 2002; he is the minister who has most
influenced my theology and thinking. The link should take you straight to the
MP3 recording of the sermon or you can watch the video on Kensington Temple’s
media page.
© All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans 2014.
Please feel free to copy, print and share these Reflections on a non-profit basis.
