Daily Archives: March 6, 2013

Steep Yourself in God

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STEEP YOURSELF IN GOD

”What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, not to be so preoccupied with getting so that you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way He works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how He works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.” Luke 12:29-32 (The Message).

There is fervour in these words of Jesus. What He is talking about here is the very foundation of life. Until we get this right, our experience of God will always yo-yo between doubting and trusting. Our worries and cares come from our being so us-aware and so close to the circumstances that we cannot step back, as Jesus always did, and look at the big picture.

The first thing to settle in our hearts is the non-negotiable truth that God loves us. Since He has taken the trouble to come Himself to redeem us at the cost of His own life, our physical needs and wants are miniscule by comparison. He did this for one reason, to restore us to His family as His sons and daughters. Settle that one too! Everything God has promised and does for us fits into that context – family.

Jesus urged us to approach the Father as little children, not teenagers who always think they know better but as little children who are helpless without their father. This is the amazing thing about life in God’s family. He is not training us for independence as human parents do their children. God is training us for complete dependence; in fact, in His scheme of things, the more dependent we are on Him, the more mature we are in the faith!

Jesus insisted, “Without me you can do nothing.” John 15:6 (NIV). To God, maturity means going back to infancy! Why has He built such a contradictory principle into our relationship with Him? It takes us right back to His dream – to create beings who would be one with Him (ECHAD) because oneness in the Godhead is who He is. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4 (NIV), Israel’s creed.

Although He gave us the gift of choice, He knows very well where it takes us when we use it to enforce our independence. That same capacity to choose becomes a powerful tool when we recognise our dependence on Him and align ourselves with Him as helpless infants.

The benefits of this attitude are ‘out of this world’ – access to the limitless supply of God’s resources, a carefree life in the care of God, and the inexpressible joy of being responsible partners in His kingdom, bringing His rule of love and truth into the mess we humans have made because of our independence.

If we insist on viewing God as a blown-up version of our human fathers, we will forfeit the most unpredictably exciting life. Instead we will spend our lives chewing our fingernails, chasing ‘things’ as though this life were all that mattered, and missing the journey that takes us deeper and deeper into the heart of the Father.

If we are to be the disciples of Jesus we claim to be, then we have to learn to think like He did. Jesus was joined to His Father at the hip. He was a mature Son who depended on His Father like a new-born infant. That’s the paradox of the Christian life. Growing up means becoming more and more like little children. In this way, Jesus said, the kingdom is ours.

Save Your Skin – Lose your Life

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SAVE YOUR SKIN – LOSE YOUR LIFE

“‘Stand up for me among the people you meet and the Son of Man will stand up for you before all God’s angels. But if you pretend you don’t know me, do you think I’ll defend you before God’s angels?'” Luke 12:8, 9 (The Message).

What was Jesus getting at? Does He need people to defend Him? Is He like other religious groups that go hysterical and murder people who so-called ‘insult’ their religious leaders? Does He really want us to behave like that? Will it make any difference to His reputation if we don’t vehemently defend Him every time someone bad-mouths Him?

This is not so much about Jesus as it is about us. When we recognised and acknowledged that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead, several things happened supernaturally.

Our dead spirits were made alive by God’s Spirit and He reconciled and reconnected us to God, our Father. We were rescued from the dominion of darkness and made citizens of God’s kingdom of light. We became the slaves of a new Master, Jesus and set free from the law of sin and death. We were given a new nature and have a new destiny – life in the eternal realm of God’s presence.

All of these blessings are guaranteed and have already become ours because Jesus paid the debt of our sin on the cross to restore us to God and to His eternal purpose for us. God raised Him from the dead, gave Him a name above every other name and seated Him in the place of supreme authority above all powers that have made a bid for His place and lost.

So why then, did Jesus insist that we must acknowledge Him before men? It will definitely not make a difference to Him or His position but it will make a difference to us. To acknowledge Jesus, even if it costs us to do so, is to acknowledge everything He has done for us and to take our stand on His promises and in our position in His eternal kingdom.

Once again it is to take the long look at life. If our sights are only upon our safety and comfort in this life, to choose not to acknowledge Jesus will be the easiest way out to save our skin. But if we are secure in our awareness of who we really are, sons and daughters of the living God, we will be more troubled about dissociating ourselves from Jesus than about what people might say about him or us.

Jesus is not giving a warning that He will treat us like we treat Him. It is much more than that. The choice to acknowledge who He is lies with us. If we choose to confess Him before men in our hostile earthly environment, He will affirm our sonship in the environment of heaven. To deny Him is to cut ourselves off from everything He has done for us. He has no other alternative but to confirm our choice for or against Him.

Rich Toward God – The Outcome

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RICH TOWARD GOD – THE OUTCOME

“In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of life that is truly life.” 1 Timothy 6:19 (NIV).

It is quite shocking to realise that God has chosen the way we use our money, of all things, to be the measure of our spirituality in this life, and the level of our function in the life to come. What do I mean by that?

Jesus told many stories about men and money. In fact He seems to have a fixation about money. One of His stories illustrates this principle. In Luke 16:1-8, a shrewd manager was about to be fired for mismanaging his master’s property. He cut deals with the master’s debtors to ensure that he would have friends to take care of him when he was out of work. The master commended him for his foresight,

Jesus was not suggesting that dishonesty is the way to go. As He often did, He used contrast to teach the principles of the kingdom. This man used dishonesty to his advantage. In God’s kingdom we are to use generosity to determine our place in God’s eternal scheme of things. That might sound mercenary, but, once again we learn that God always confirms the choices we make.

This how Jesus concluded His story: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will be dishonest with much.

” So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” Luke 16:10-12 (NIV).

Jesus also had issues with the religious leaders because they used their religious piety as a cover for greed. He constantly warned His disciples that their focus was not to be on money and possessions. Their heavenly Father has pledged to take responsibility for those things if they took care of the affairs of God’s kingdom. They were not to be like the pagans whose whole purpose in life is to pursue ‘things’.

He taught them that their hearts would always follow their treasure. Generosity towards people in need is the way to put our treasure in the safest place where it can neither be stolen nor corrupted. Treasure in heaven, deposited by generosity and good works, guarantees that there will be a credit balance for us in our time of need.

He also warned that it is impossible to serve two masters. Serving one cancels out serving the other. God and Mammon, the powerful attitude of greed that characterises the dominion of darkness, are irreconcilable enemies because they represent the dispositions of two opposing kingdoms.

Riches are to be the servant, not the master. When we are rich toward God, we understand the responsibility God places on us to steward our resources to make the lives of others better where we have the power to do so. God has given us a way to do it which takes care of those who are our responsibility and frees us to use the rest to take care of our own needs without guilt. Because He teaches us to work in percentages, whether we have little or much, we will always have enough. When we are faithful with the ‘little’ God gives us now, He will be free to trust us with the ‘much’ in the life to come.

Rich Toward God – The Answer

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RICH TOWARDS GOD – THE ANSWER

Paul has an answer to the danger that owning stuff brings, and his answer to the question, “What is ‘rich towards God’?” is, “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” 1 Timothy 6:18 (NIV).

Being rich without the counter-balance of knowing how God intends us to use it brings with it three misconceptions – that money gives us status, that our money is ours to use as we please and that we have a long time to spend it. Paul’s counsel puts riches is their correct perspective in the kingdom of God and teaches us God’s purpose for entrusting it to us.

Three simple instructions summarise our responsibility to be faithful stewards of what we have been given: Do good, be rich in good deeds, and be generous and willing to share. This brings us to the issue of righteousness in Scripture.

According to God’s Word, wage earners have four groups of people to care for financially, our spiritual authority, our church, our families and the poor. In the Old Testament God taught them to give by percentage to discharge each of these responsibilities. The first one-fortieth of their harvest belonged to God. It was called the first fruits which God commanded His people to give to Him as a ‘terumah’ – an offering, which was then given to the high priest to support him and his family.

After the terumah was deducted, the balance of the harvest was divided into ten portions. One portion, one tenth, was taken to the temple to take care of the needs of those who served in the temple. After paying their taxes out of the balance, it was again divided into tenths, and one tenth was set aside to take care of the family’s needs in the future, it could be eaten or sold and the money saved for the children and grandchildren. Every third year, the family tithe was given to the poor.

The balance of the harvest was theirs to be used in whatever way they chose without guilt. In this way, collectively, if everyone played their part, everyone in the nation was provided for and no-one was excluded. This was called ‘tsidaqah’ – tsidaq (righteousness) + h  which became tsidaqah (righteousness revealed).

God is smart. He knows that the love of money closes our hearts and destroys society. His economic system breaks the cycle of greed as well as takes care of the needs of everyone in a nation. The Apostle Paul was trained as a rabbi. He understood God’s economic system and how it worked in society if the people faithfully carried it out. His counsel contains the principle which the Old Testament constitution has already fleshed out in detail.

One of the first indications of transformed hearts in the early church was the generosity among believers that took care of everyone’s needs in the believing community. “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their goods and possessions, they gave to anyone as he had need.” Acts 2:44, 45. There was an infectious joy in this community born of generosity which attracted outsiders to them and swelled the numbers of those who believed in Jesus.

Could this not be the missing element in the church today? There has been a subtle shift from being rich to getting rich which is, unfortunately, fuelling the very spirit of greed in believers which God’s way of generosity is intended to overcome.

(To be concluded…)

Rich Toward God – The Question

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RICH TOWARD GOD – THE QUESTION

“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.” Luke 12:21 (The Message).

Rich toward God? What does that mean?

There is a great deal of difference between getting rich and being rich. Endless numbers of people within the community of believers are eager to tell us that it is our God-given right to get rich, and how to get rich. Strange that the Bible doesn’t give us the ‘Seven Steps to Getting Rich’ but, throughout Scripture we are told, even urged how to use what we have to bless others.

The state of being rich is not easy to define. There is no standard by which to measure wealth. To someone who is hungry, a loaf of bread is ‘rich’. We can never answer the question, ‘How much is enough?’ because ‘enough’ always moves, depending on our insatiable wants. A simple definition of rich would be ‘enough for my needs and some over to share with others.’ That puts richness within the reach of people who would never see themselves as rich.

The Apostle Paul has some specific counsel to Timothy for those who recognise that they are rich. In 1 Timothy 6:17 he says, ‘”Command those who are rich in this present world neither to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain…” Now that is wise counsel. Paul encapsulates in a few words the danger of having riches in this world but not being rich – an arrogant attitude and a false hope. Funny how owning ‘things’ gives us the false idea that we are better than those who don’t have them! What is it about ‘things’ that adds to our intrinsic worth, especially since we can’t take them with us?

Secondly, what is it about ‘things’ that makes us feel secure? Does our connection to God as our Father mean nothing without some numbers in our bank account? Do His infallible promises mean nothing if we don’t have figures in our current account? How secure are we near the end of the month? This is the acid test of our confidence in God.

Paul goes on, “…but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” Now that’s security that does not depend on the exchange rate, the stock market or the state of the world’s economy! It’s a fine balancing act to live in God’s kingdom and, at the same time, to navigate the world’s system to do it. We are ‘in the world but not of it.’ Therefore money and possessions should always be our servant and never our master.

God is neither stingy nor a killjoy. He means us to enjoy the material blessings He showers on us but, and here’s the twist in the tale, God has another agenda in His economic system. Why is He so generous to us? Why does He shower His bounty on us? Not because we deserve His generosity. After all we are the rebel race. If we miss this, we have missed the reason for our existence. He does it for His glory!

God governs His world by universal laws which never change and always apply. God’s provision for us always comes in the wake of our giving first. The simple rule is, ‘Give, and it will be given to you…’ Whatever we need, we are instructed to give away and it will come back to us in abundant measure.

(To be continued…)