2007-09-28
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week the Holy Spirit directed me to continue writing about setting priorities in regard to mammon. All of this arises from Christ's words in MT 6: 24-34, the part of His Sermon on the Mount in which He speaks of not being able to serve two masters, worrying about material wealth, and setting godly priorities with regard to mammon. You'll also remember that the original passive meaning for mammon is "material wealth entrusted to another's possession." Common usage altered this meaning to the active expression "that in which trust is placed."
God's teaching is crystal clear as to where our priorities should be with regard to mammon. We've already seen a lot of the teaching from the book of Proverbs [PR 10: 21; 12: 24, 27; 13, 25; 18: 10-11]. Now we'll look at more of Solomon's wisdom. PR 21: 17, "Indulging in luxuries, wine, and rich food will never make you wealthy." An example of a former neighbor comes to mind. This man and his wife had 3 children. Every Sunday, they would put on a crepe Suzette breakfast for a group of people, often borrowing chairs etc. from us. I wondered why they were having to live in a rented home, if they had enough money for such costly entertaining. Later, I heard that this man worked putting on Dale Carnegie seminars and was barely scraping a living together for his family. Tragedy struck when their oldest daughter contracted cancer and died at the age of about 17. After we moved away to GA, we lost contact with this family, but heard that they were forced to move away. When they left their home, the word was that the owner had a tremendous amount of repairs and replacements to make. This is surely not being wealthy in the sense that God means.
PR 21: 25-26, "A lazy man who refuses to work is only killing himself; all he does is think about what he would like to have. A righteous man can give and give generously." This one caused me to think of Christ's parable of the talents [MT 25: 14-30]. This is the story where a man leaving home for a trip puts his servants in charge of his property temporarily. In (15), He gave to each one according to his ability. One got 5000 talents [silver coins], one got 2000 talents, and the last one got 1000 talents. Each servant acted differently with the money. The first two servants invested and got back twice what they were given. The last one had dug a hole and kept the 1000 talents there, thus, preventing himself from earning any more money. When the owner returned, he told the servants who had managed the money well, they could be trusted to manage larger amounts. However, the one who had not managed the money well was "thrown outside in the darkness" where he would "cry and gnash his teeth." MT 25: 29, "For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." This parable, when combined with the principle of a cheerful giver in 2 COR 9: 7, completes the analogy from the NT of the teaching in PR 21: 25-26. 2 COR 9: 7, "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." The good manager of mammon has the money to be a cheerful giver. His righteousness from God will lead him to make that decision.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the intangible aspects of this teaching. Christ is looking for us to make decisions that show how well we are willing to learn from His teaching. This is not just about making money. It is about making righteous decisions based on walking away from our natural, sinful inclinations that will allow us to put our real riches in heaven [MT 6: 19-21]. People who do this will enjoy a blissful eternal fellowship with the Father and gain His Kingdom. The consistent rejecter of God will end up in the lake of fire. The term "crying and gnashing of teeth" are clear indicators of hell being a conscious, eternal, and painful torment there, from which there is no escape. GAL 5: 16-17 is clearly seen here in this contrast between a self-centered ethic and a God-centered one. Review this important passage, if it is not familiar by now.
The more I study God's word, the more I feel those who assert that the OT is too harsh have missed the boat. The consistency of God's teaching when one reads both the OT and the NT shouldn't be missed. In stepping back and looking at the real sweep of human history revealed in the Bible, we can see the tremendous task that God is doing in civilizing mankind and bringing them to a place where He can make good on His mission statements [JN 6: 39-40 and EPH 1: 4-5] about bringing as many of us as possible back to His side for eternal life in His Kingdom. Notice that I said, "is doing" rather than "has done." That is very much on purpose, because the sanctification [purification and perfection] of believers is an on-going process. And yes, it is quite right to say that even though we are believers, we are still sinners. It won't be until that Day of Christ, the day that Christ appears for His "meeting with us in the clouds" [the rapture-1 THESS 4: 13-17], that our glorification ["God's sons revealed," that Day we are brought back to His side in heaven (RO 8: 19; 1 COR 15: 42-56)] will happen. We have this hope of the resurrection because of Christ's Atonement on the cross. I, for one, feel we owe it to Him to make His righteousness in any context our first priority. How about you?
PRAYER: O Lord, only You could act to make it possible for such sinners as us to have the hope that we can enjoy eternal life with You in Your Kingdom. LK 17: 21b is so right when it states, the Kingdom of God has already begun and is in the hearts of those who believe in You. Every day, we must struggle in making decisions that go against our natural, sinful inclinations. Yet, through the death of Your Son on the cross and our faith in Him, You have given us the choices we have, the choices not to sin. Mammon, in particular, is fraught with temptations. We live in a very materialistic society in North America. All around us are people who flaunt their wealth in the form of lifestyles full of luxuries. All of this is going on while people right here in our own country, not to mention outside of it, are in desperate need. Our Lord Jesus and You, through Paul, have instructed us with regard to the payment of taxes [MK 12: 17; RO 13: 6-7]. Many righteous people share their wealth with the needy. Other people don't. When the Day of Judgment comes, each person will be reviewed. You will see if their names are inscribed in Your book of the living [REV 20: 11-15], and "whoever did not have his name written in the book of the living [will be] thrown in the lake of fire" (15). It is by Your grace, Dearest Father, that You are patient and give us the time to make the changes in our lives necessary to walk away from our sinful pasts [2 PET 3: 9]. Moreover, You instructed the Lord Jesus to teach us to manage the material wealth that we have according to Your ethics. Many problems with doing this remain. Businesses and individuals too often aren't honest, putting the profit margin first over serving customers and caring for employees, for example. Another example are politicians who don't prioritize, allotting the government's funds according to Your teachings. And yes, Lord, there are many more. We, as believers in Jesus Christ, pledge to do what we can to place You and Your teaching at the very center of our lives. You are a faithful, loving, and wise God. We love, praise, and thank You for every blessing we have. In Christ's holy name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, I'm led to continue discussing and supporting Christ's teaching on mammon with Scriptures from other places in the Bible. How can we not see the consistency of God's teachings throughout His amazing word? Our God is immutable [unchangeable], which is a great benefit to us. It means He can be counted on to keep His promises, His end of our Covenant of Grace relationship. HE 6: 18b-20, "So we who have found safety with Him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us. We have this hope as an anchor for our lives. It is safe and sure, and goes through the curtain of the heavenly temple into the inner sanctuary. On our behalf Jesus has gone in there before us and has become a High Priest forever, as the Successor of Melchizedek." Surely this gives us huge impetus to make righteous decisions with regard to being a good steward of our resources in every realm of our lives. Our responsibility to the Lord does not end there. We must also set an example through which others can learn to do the same. And yes, Dear Ones, God has equipped believers and shown them how to do this through the teaching of His Son, Jesus Christ. Certainly this is true of all He said in the Sermon on the Mount, among other places in Scripture. Do we believe that God loves each of us and that He, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three personalities of one magnificent Deity? If we do and are willing to expunge sins from our lives, we will be the brothers and sisters who will follow our "First among many brothers" [RO 8: 29] to eternal life of bliss and fellowship with the Father in His Kingdom. We will also rule with the Lord Jesus as "joint heirs" to that Kingdom [RO 8: 17]. Praise be to our loving God!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn