Zach’s Theological Musings

  You and I are rich. By virtue of the fact that you are reading this blog, I can say with a very high degree of confidence that you are financially wealthy. You might not think you are rich. Almost nobody thinks they are rich. We compare ourselves to the next rung above us on the ladder of excessive wealth and bemoan our “poverty”. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bill Gates thinks about all of the countries and planets he can’t afford to buy and mopes about how poor he is. You may think, “Oh but I’m just barely getting by each month with the little that I make, and with the high cost of living who knows how I’m going to even be able to get by in the future.” But most people reading this come from America or other first-world countries. And an American who is “just getting by” is rich.

This is poor:

In contrast, you and I, my dear internet surfing friend, are rich.

Now that it is settled that you and I are rich, the question, for those of us who name Christ as Lord, is what instruction God has for us specifically as rich Christians. The word that is impressed upon me as I read about riches in the New Testament is this: tremble. As we survey the following passages on riches, it sticks out to me is that you and I, O rich friend, are in a very spiritually dangerous position.

Matt 19:23-24 And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Again I say to you, 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.”

Mark 4:19 [B]ut the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Mark 10:25 “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.”

Luke 6:21-25 And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied…. But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”

Luke 12:20-21 “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.”

Luke 16:25 “But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.”

Luke 18:22-25 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! For 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.”

James 1:11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

James 5:1-3 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!

Rev 18:3 “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”

It is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Here is one illustration. I used to belong to a church that was made up of mostly well-to-do university graduates. There came a point where I was distributing Bibles to Muslims and wanted to encourage others in the church to do the same. Well, in that country the church would risk losing their million dollar property if they became known as a church that was evangelizing Muslims. And some church members might risk losing their high-paying jobs. So in the end the elders of the church actually forbade me from distributing Bibles in the Muslim people’s language to my churchmates. Can you believe it? A church with a prohibition against Bibles!?! Of course, the elders tried to come up with excuses to justify such heresy, but in the end I believe that it ultimately came down to $$MONEY$$, and their unwillingness to risk losing it all.

Those elders still have time to repent, and I pray they do. But if a person reaches the end of their life and ultimately stands before God as one stubbornly guilty of prohibiting the distribution of the word of God and blocking the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to protect their pocketbook, then they have no grounds to expect to see God’s favor rather than His wrath.

Ephesians 5:5 No… greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

I’m not saying that it is impossible to be rich and still live as a disciple of Christ. God can bring camels through the eye of a needle. It is not necessarily the case that Jesus commands all of us, as He did the rich young ruler (Lk 18:22-25), to sell all that we possess and give to the poor, although that option should certainly be given serious consideration rather than being dismissed out of hand. Perhaps we would do well to start off by giving just half of all we possess to the poor, as Zacchaeus did and received commendation from our Lord (Lk 19:8-9).

In any case, it is Biblically clear that we absolutely, positively need to be ready to part with this earthly wealth at the drop of a hat for obedience to God and love for His glory. Most certainly, no doubt about it, 100% guaranteed, Jesus does demand that we at least be ready to part with all of our earthly possessions and property at His bidding (e.g. Luke 14:33, Matt 6:24). Will testifying to the truth cost us our high-paying job? Bye-bye job. Will standing in solidarity with a brother facing persecution result in the plundering of our own property? Bye-bye property, no questions asked. Will defending justice for the oppressed completely drain our bank account? Bye-bye bank account…. Bye-bye house, bye-bye church property, etc. “From now on… those who buy something, [should live] as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Cor 7:29-31).

There may be wisdom in managing our wealth for the glory of God rather than giving it all away immediately (see e.g. 1 Cor 9, 1 Tim 6:17-19, and even Acts 5:4). There are issues here worth considering. But this blog post needs to wrap up and come to an end while leaving many issues of money unaddressed. At present I wish to stress only one point: a Biblically aware Christian recognizes the danger that attachment to money and the desires of this world will at the very least make him unfruitful (Mk 4:19), if not possibly even send him on a path for hell if his lust for the things of this world remain so strong as to prove that he never actually embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ to begin with (I Tim 6:10).

Luke 14:25-33 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: … “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

  Galatians is a book about the gospel – the true gospel versus a false gospel. Paul was an apostle, a herald sent to proclaim the gospel. Galatians 2 tells about a meeting between Peter, God’s chosen apostle to the Jews in particular, and Paul — set apart as apostle to the Gentiles. The meeting was about the core of the gospel that each was proclaiming. As they extended the right hand of fellowship to each other and bless each other on their way, something seems to almost come up “out of the blue” in this context:

They only asked us to remember the poor– the very thing I also was eager to do. - Galatians 2:20

  “Go Paul, preach justification by faith, preach the sufficiency of Christ and the cross, establish churches,… and as you go, be sure to remember the poor.”

  “But of course!”, he replies.

  This scene is so much more pleasant than some of the Christian infighting that frequently goes on regarding what form of ministry is most important. “Evangelism is more important than social action.” “No! Social action is more important than evangelism.” Whoa, brothers, hold on! It’s not a bad thing to be passionate about evangelism and church-planting missions. It is not a bad thing to be passionate about social action and domestic ministry. We’re not each other’s enemy.

  I really like this quote found on a particular page of the Desiring God website:

We do not want to compete for funding with churches, mission agencies, and organizations focusing on the poor and persecuted. We’d rather compete with McDonalds, Microsoft, and Miramax.

  Do you have a zeal to see the gospel reach the remote tribes of the world and you get frustrated to hear about a church “throwing away” their money on some domestic ministry project that seems not nearly so desperate? Or is it the opposite, do you have a zeal to help the poor in your community and you get frustrated when church members want to send money to some far off place while there are so many needs back here at home? Hey, don’t bite and devour each other. I dare say Christians will probably never be guilty of too much evangelism, too much social action, too much foreign missions effort, or too much domestic ministry. Too much time and money spent on videos games, vacations, and vehicles is entirely likely, but we can never love God too much, and we can never do too much to love fellow man for His sake.

  Oh sure, imbalances do exist. And they do need to be addressed at times. But in general, if you are passionate about something (anything!) that brings glory to God and is for the genuine well-being of man, then great! I want to be one who encourages you. Even if the area of service on your heart is not the same direction that I want to invest my limited time, talent, and treasure, if you are doing something more valuable that watching TV, then I salute you! (And if someone out there is truly watching TV for the glory of God, well then, um, please explain that one to me for my future reference.)

  I pray that within the church of Jesus Christ missions would not be the enemy of domestic ministry, and social action would not be the enemy of evangelism, but rather that all things which are good and righteous and pure would triumph over the frivolous, the sinful, and the shallow pleasures of this world.

  I have not received any prophetic words from the Lord. This opinion simply comes from reading the Bible and trying to understand the heart and mind of God as He has chosen to reveal it to us in Scripture. I could be wrong about this, but I do believe that the Christian church of America (as well as other affluent areas, but I’ll stick to talking about my homeland) is by-and-large, if not completely, “without lampstand.”

  First of all, what does it mean to have your lampstand removed, as in Rev 2:5? Well, in Rev 1:20 we are explicitly told that the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Commentators are agreed that this warning was indeed fulfilled and executed as seen by the fact that the church in Ephesus completely ceased to exist. But at what point was the lampstand of the Ephesian church actually removed? Was it when the last believer in Jesus Christ disappeared from the city? Or did Christians continue to gather in that city for many years after the Lord “removed their lampstand out of its place”?

  Many have observed that a lampstand in the Bible, with its oil, fire, and light, is closely associated with the Holy Spirit (compare Zech 4). Jesus promised His disciples that after He ascended to the Father He would send His promised Holy Spirit. And a major reason for that was to powerfully equip His church to be a witness to the world (Acts 1:8), a city on a hill, a lamp on a lampstand (Matt 5:15).

  It seems to me most in line with a complete Biblical theology to understand that the Spirit of God, indeed the presence of God, in some sense departed from the church in Ephesus just as the glory of the Lord departed on more than one occasion from rebellious Israel (see e.g. I Sam 4:21-22, Ezekiel 10). A gathering that considered itself the Ephesian church may have continued to exist for some time, just as the temple in Israel continued to exist, but it was desolate. Ichabod. The glory has gone.

  Second, is it reasonable to believe that this has happened to us as well? As Protestants we look to the Reformation as the return of the glory of the gospel of justification by faith out of a 16th Catholic church that was, to a large extent, spiritually dead (or worse). True enough. But fallen human nature is such that we are continually in need of reformation.

  I’m not talking about doctrine, at least not right now. Sure, there are theological weaknesses in much of modern evangelicalism and we yes we are in continual need of reformations of doctrinal truth. But thankfully, “faith alone”, “Christ alone”, and “Scripture alone” are at least holding strong in many branches of American evangelicalism.

  But here is the bombshell which I believe rocks our complacent American Protestant evangelical world: the Ephesians weren’t heretics either. The Lord in fact commended the church of Ephesus on some doctrinal points at the same time that He threatened to remove their lampstand. “You cannot endure evil men; you reject false apostles; you have persevered; you hate the sect of the Nicolaitans which I also hate.” God didn’t threaten to remove the Ephesian’s lampstand because they had turned to a doctrine of salvation by works. They hadn’t! They’d kept the creeds, but they had lost their first love.

  Let me restate the point for emphasis and clarity. In the Bible, we read of a church which apparently was doctrinally grounded, not heretical, and yet the Lord was so displeased with their love for Him being dispersed elsewhere that He threatened to remove their lampstand, the very thing which identified them as His own church.

  Brothers and sisters, judge for yourselves: have we lost our first love? Look at the height from which we as a church have fallen! Do we do the deeds that the bride of Christ did at first? Joyfully selling property in order to give to the poor… boldly proclaiming the Word of God in the face of persecution and accepting the consequences without backing down? Perhaps I am mistaken, and I don’t want to put words in the Lord’s mouth. But I do want to take seriously the words which have already come from His mouth. Do we love God more than our money? Do we love God more than the comfort and security that our nation has come to take for granted? Did we count the cost before setting out to follow Jesus:

“So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” - Luke 14:33

We still sing songs like, “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also…”, but do our actions show that we are ready to lose everything in order to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness?

  I hear stories that tell me that there are places in the world were the church, despite its many faults, sins, and weaknesses, does love the Lord first and foremost - above life and above possesssions. The lampstands have not been extinguished. God will always maintain a remnant witness on earth. But as long as we seek to serve two masters, and keep each foot in one of two kingdoms, our name here in America is Ichabod. The glory and the Spirit have departed.

  That is how it appears to me. If I have been too critical, may the Lord lead me to repentance. But if the bride of Christ in America really has left her first love, and lost her lampstand, then may the Lord lead all of us to repentance, that we may do the deeds she did at first; and may He have mercy and restore His glory and His Spirit to us, despite our waywardness.

  Lord, please have mercy on us and wean us from the deceitfulness of wealth and the worries of this world which choke out spiritual vitality and fruitfulness. Take away our riches, take away our earthly possessions and our property lest our hearts and affections rest in those things. Free us from the spirit-quenching bondange of maintaining a standard of living like the pagan world around us. Remove anything that is blocking us from repenting and returning to the “first love” that Christ’s bride had. Amen!

  In 1963 MLK Jr. declared his dream of racial justice and harmony. From the Bible we know that racism, like every other sin, will only be fully and completely eradicated in heaven. There the great diversity of people from every nation, tribe and tongue will bring great glory to God as the One and Only Lord of all peoples. Nevertheless MLK had a good dream, and it is perfectly Biblical to dream dreams like his. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven [emphasis added].” On the one hand we don’t let our hope rest in this ugly, fallen world, because we set our eyes solely on the treasure of heaven. But on the other hand we do pray and work and dream for more of heaven to come to earth.

  MLK Jr. had a good dream. And I have a dream too. A good one. My dream is a beautiful picture that plays clearly in my mind every day, and I certainly didn’t make it up. It was inspired by real life history.

[T]hey began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Acts 2:45

For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need. Acts 4:34-35

I have a dream of upper class, middle class, and even lower class American Christians voluntarily choosing a lower standard of living, joyfully sacrificing and doing without things that our culture deems as “necessary” for the sake of pouring our wealth into eternal-valued investments like feeding the poor and spreading the gospel to unreached nations. (Oh yes, feeding starving bellies does have eternal value, despite the claims of some people to the contrary. Perhaps we can look more into that topic another time; for now I’ll just mention Matthew 25.)

  Vague dreams are usually weak, and weak dreams are usually vague. MLK Jr.’s dream was powerful enough in his soul to fill him with specific images of former slaves and slave owners sitting together on the “red hills of Georgia”. He heard freedom ringing from “the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire”, “the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania”, “the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado”, and “the curvaceous slopes of California”, not to mention Lookout Mountain of Tennessee, and “every hill and molehill of Mississippi”.

  My dream, while not punctuated by such colorful adjectives, is equally clear, crisp, and specific. I have a dream of suburbian home owners downsizing to one or two bedroom homes, renting the basement in someone else’s home, moving into trailer parks or inexpensive inner city areas, and all of this in order to divert former mortgage payments towards humanitarian causes. The interest paid on a standard thirty year mortgage is approximately the same as the value of the house itself. Depending on where you live, that can be $100,000 to a quarter-million to a half-million dollars for a “middle class” home! Wow, how many missionaries could be supported and how many children crying from hunger could be fed with a quarter-million dollars over the next thirty years! What a wonderful dream!

  I have a dream of overflowing and abundant joy in Christ causing His disciples to say, “Hey, I don’t need that new technological gadget to play with, or that fancy piece of fabric to stick on my body, or that extra CD to add to my bulging collection. But hey, wouldn’t it be great to send money to rescue children forced into prostitution in Thailand, or to help families whose homes were destroyed in Darfur, or to support my local homeless shelter and crisis pregnancy clinic, or to help the wife of a martyred native evangelist in India, or to supply Zambian pastors with Bibles,… .” Wow, now that’s more like the kind of “shopping” I could get excited about. Isn’t it a great dream?

  I have a dream of Christian congregations voluntarily giving up their piece of real estate and channeling that massive monthly budget entirely into Word and people ministries. Where would the church meet? Good question. I don’t know that answer to that in all circumstances, but I do know that the body of Christ is full of very creative and resourceful members! I also know that Jesus spoke to 5,000 people (the size of a small/moderate megachurch) on a mountain/hillside without electronic amplifiers. How does that work? I don’t know, but I have a dream of congregations working and thinking hard to figure it out.

  I’m not saying that it is a sin to have a church building, I’m not saying that it is sin to live in a middle class suburbian house, and I’m not saying that it is sin to buy things at the mall. But those things certainly aren’t required for godly living. At best they are optional. So what I’m saying is that I have a dream. A dream about choices being made, not grudgingly or under compulsion, but from purposeful and cheerful hearts.

  See, the thing is, Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. And everything that Jesus says is true, because He is the Truth. I hope, dear affluent reader, that you won’t read about my dream and hear me pointing a finger of condemnation at you. All of us, including those who would call themselves poor, are certainly guilty of greed and gluttony to at least some extent, and that does demand repentance. But that is not what I’m going after right now. Law and conviction of sin have their place, but they alone have to power to fuel a transformed life. Christ, His cross, and His Spirit whom we receive when we trust in His gospel are the power for godly living.

  Look at the context of the two passages from Acts that I quoted above. Both of them follow immediately after words of gospel proclamation (in the form of preaching and prayer, respectively). Oh how futile and hopeless is my dream if it doesn’t flow from an overwhelming sense of awe and delight in Christ.

  The King of Kings has pardoned my guilt and granted me the gift of eternal fellowship with Him. We will dance on the streets that are golden. We will cast our crowns along the glassy sea. We will eat the healing leaves of the tree of life that grows along both sides of the river. Why would I want a video game or a Gucci armband? I’ve got all I need for eternity, and by God’s grace I even have three hearty, solid meals a day on top of it; let the money go to somebody who actually needs it!

  In my dream the recipients of the money aren’t the greatest beneficiaries, because Jesus is right when He says that it is more blessed to give than to receive. My dream is about much more than money itself. I have a dream of renewed spiritual vitality, long since choked out by the thorny “American dream” of success and prosperity (Matt 13:22). I have a dream of sleepy American evangelicalism being set free from the bondage of maintaining property and possessions, and even, by God’s grace, I have a dream of experiencing the kind of Christianity that I have read about in Holy Scripture:

And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:46-47

And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay them at the apostles’ feet; and they would be distributed to each, as any had need. Acts 4:32-35

  The church in Acts was not perfect. Oh no, no, no, no. Not by a long shot. But I dare say, there was a passion there unlike anything most of us have ever seen today. What happened? Well, I can’t claim to have a complete, authoritative answer. But I do see a principle in Scripture that wealth suffocates spiritual zeal (e.g. Matt 13:22, Mk 10:21-23, Rev 3:15-17). I have a dream of a church that casts off the burden of earthly possessions, and catches the fresh gust of wind that disciples were breathing long ago.