Tomas Sedlacek: Beware of every new desire

Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 1 Timothy 6:6-9

“The more we have, the more we want. Why? Perhaps we thought (and this sounds truly intuitive) that the more we have, the less we will need…We thought that consumption leads to saturation, the saturation of our needs. But the opposite has proven to be true. The more we have, the more additional things we need…Every new satisfied need will beget a new one and will leave us wanting. So beware of every new desire that you acquire — it is a new addiction. For consumption is like a drug.”

Tomas Sedlacek in Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street (London: Oxford University Press, 2011) 227-228.

I came across Sedlacek’s book as it was cited in a presentation in Europe last week. That book, coupled with a recent blog post that I read by J.D. Walt on “Maturity Means Moving from Managing Sin to Discipling Desires” has led me to encourage readers of these daily meditations to “beware of every new desire.” and intentionally “disciple our desires.”

All manner of desires will try to sweep us down the path of discontentment to ruin and destruction. Godliness with contentment is resolving that if we have Christ we have everything we will ever need. As He provides for our daily needs, food and clothing, we should be content and thankful. Many lack even these basic necessities. Beware of every new desire and let us disciple our desires!

Today I fly to Seattle to preach tomorrow at CrossView Church in Snohomish, Washington. Jon and Jada Swanson invited me to come speak on “Irrational Generosity”. What a great series title! Anyway, I’d appreciate your prayers for a fruitful trip.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Luke 16:13

At the conference last week in Spain, Peter Briscoe of the Netherlands share these three points for overcoming mammon and the stronghold it can have in your life.

“Dethrone it! Desacralize it! Depart from it!

(1) Dethrone it! How? Recognize God’s victory and provision in your life. Money may not be a goal itself.

(2) Desacralize it! How? By giving and by bringing grace into the world. Choose relationships over money. Money may not be a priority.

(3) Depart from it! How? Avoid debt and learn contentment through thankfulness. Money may not make you it’s servant.”

Peter J. Briscoe in “The Challenge of Stewardship” presentation at the Compass Europartners Conference on 21 January 2016 in Malaga, Spain.

What I appreciated most about this counsel was the practical nature of it. Don’t make money a goal or priority or you will become enslaved. Same thing with debt. It’s another trap for making you a servant of money. At this point, let me speak frankly.

Most people, Christ followers or not, don’t overtly choose to serve mammon. It happens through a series of small decisions. So how do we get out? Change directions and make many small decisions rooted in biblical truth. Say yes over and over to God’s design for you.

“Give us today our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11

“Even bread, the most basic of survival rations, comes by God’s daily provision (Psalm 104:14-15; 27-28), and is thus a proper subject for prayer rather than to be taken for granted. If this is true even for bread, how much more for all our other physical needs…

This petition would remind a Jewish hearer of the provision of manna in the wilderness, enough for each day at a time, except for an extra supply when the following day was a sabbath (Exodus 16:4-5).To ask God for such bread “today” is to acknowledge our dependence on God for routine provision.

In modern Western culture where the provision of food is usually planned and assured for good time ahead, such immediate dependence seems remote from our experience. In many other parts of the world it is not so…Similarly for Jesus and his disciples during their itinerant mission, the daily provision of material needs could not be taken for granted…

The instruction not to worry about material provision in vv. 25-33 (which seems equally remote from most modern Western experience) is dependent on all such needs having been trustfully committed to God as this prayer requires. Jesus himself had to depend on God for food rather than taking the matter into his own hands (4:3-4).”

R.T. France in The Gospel of Matthew (NICNT; Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 2007) 248-249.

France spells out the significance of this aspect of the Lord’s Prayer — it points to daily dependence on God — and rightly notes that such a posture is a foreign concept for most Westerners. Notice again his last line: “Jesus himself had to depend on God for food rather than taking the matter into his own hands.”

A couple days ago one of my former students (who reads these daily meditations) resonated with the Thomas Merton quote — “Money has demonically usurped the role in modern society which the Holy Spirit is to have in the Church.” — and asked that I expound on this idea more fully.

Merton is saying that since we, in modernity, have plenty of money, we’ve been fooled into thinking it’s the power for ministry. The temptation of control, or taking matters into our own hands, is the temptation that France notes here that Jesus resisted, and the condition Merton warned us about. We too must resist it.

To explore this verse from the Lord’s Prayer more fully, here’s a link to a sermon I preached on it at Bear Valley Church on January 17, 2016.

Also for further reading on resisting the temptation of control, subscribers to daily meditations can simply reply to this email with the word “CHOICE” and I will freely email you an ebook edition of my ECFA Press book, The Choice: The Christ-Centered Pursuit of Kingdom Outcomes.

Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 3:8-11

Today’s post is a template for Christ-followers who read the Apostle Paul (above) and resonate with the fact that “the church” is God’s channel for deploying the boundless riches of Christ to a broken and lost world, and specifically the body who must “make plain to everyone” how life fits together and works in God’s economy.

In Spain last week I met Matt Bird, the founding director of Cinnamon Network. Brilliant brother in Christ! What I am putting forth today is Cinnamon Network’s seven core values, because they are mobilizing churches across the UK by the hundreds to mobilize volunteers by the thousands to deploy millions in keeping with NT teachings.

“The Cinnamon Network has seven core values which define its identity and way of working. We are passionate about:

1. Jesus – We are faith-based but not faith biased; motivated by Jesus to serve people of all faiths and none;

2. The Local Church – We work through local churches to deliver community projects;

3. Relationships – We value trust-based relationships and partnerships as the basis for successful working;

4. Professionalism – We are committed to quality, excellence and best practice;

5. Transformation – We are passionate about the holistic well-being of individuals, families and communities;

6. Simplicity – We prefer simple approaches whilst recognising that poverty is multiple and complex;

7. Speed and Scale – We believe community franchising is a powerful way of responding quickly, efficiently and at scale to urgent social need.”

If you like what you see, visit their website to learn more. And if you are a leader with a passion to champion these core values with and among those you serve, let me know and I’d be happy to connect you with Matt. He just had an article about networking published in the Harvard Business Review. Personally, I can’t wait to spend time with him again.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5

“Money has demonically usurped the role in modern society which the Holy Spirit is to have in the Church”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) as recounted by Richard Foster in The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex, and Power (New York: Harper Collins, 1985) 19.

Peter Briscoe quoted Merton in his presentation last week in Malaga, Spain. Briscoe serves as European Director for Compass Europartners and lives in the Netherlands. Oh that the Church would return to its roots by handling money with obedience: the only pathway to ministry fruitfulness and sustainability. Want to explore this idea further?

Check out the ECFA Press book, The Choice: The Christ-Centered Pursuit of Kingdom Outcomes, that I co-authored with R. Scott Rodin and Wesley K. Willmer. Deciding that God, not money, will be the driving force and power for ministry marks “the choice every Christ-follower must make”!

Today I speak on a video conference hosted by Bobby Thomas of the Arkansas Baptist Foundation. I am thankful that Bobby has shared this book broadly with fellow Christ-followers to urge them to make the choice. The Holy Spirit is the only power for ministry! Thinking we “need money” is called greed, and it is idolatry! The Apostle Paul beckons us to put that thinking to death!

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'” Acts 20:32-35

“Paul’s example of sacrificial service, emphasized here, dominates the entire speech: his ministry in Ephesus (Acts 20:20-21), his willingness to sacrifice his life in Jerusalem (Acts 20:22-25), and his approach to possessions (Acts 20:33-35)…In his farewell instruction, Jesus said that the greatest should be a servant (Luke 22:26), following his example (22:27). This teaching inverted the normal status expected of the teacher-disciple relationship. Paul, like Jesus, will serve rather than be served…

Paul claims not only to model working hard to help the weak but also to model following Jesus’ example…Acts, like Paul’s letters, does not regularly cite Jesus, but sometimes it does cite him at strategic points (such as in the climax here)…Although a citation of an authority would prove effective only among those who accepted his authority. Jesus would be the highest authority for Paul’s (and Luke’s) audience.”

Craig S. Keener in Acts: An Exegetical Commentary – 15:1-23:35, Volume 3 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014) 3007, 3062-3063.

Today Jenni and I bid farewell to Malaga, Spain. With God’s help and safe travel, we will return home via Paris and Chicago. Yesterday we were privileged to visit the Teatro Romano de Málaga, the ruins of the Roman Theatre that dates back to the days of the Apostle Paul. We have no record of whether or not he visited here but we know he made famous speeches in such settings.

I took a many photos and chose this one with the arch on the right as the new header for my daily posts. I did so with a specific purpose. If our time here on earth would be equated to a stage, we enter and exit with the sole purpose of playing our part in the proverbial theatre. Paul was adamant that his role would be to serve others like Jesus. That’s my aim!

What about you! Since it is better to give than receive, ask God today what it might look like for you to work hard, serve those around you, and help the weak. To do this we must say no to the many desires that tempt us to covet that which other people have. Don’t do it. God’s grace is able to build us up and help us exhibit his generosity toward others. Make it so, Lord Jesus!

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” Matthew 16:24-27

“In the life and stories of Jesus lies the potential for a way of life that can make real God’s intention of wholeness for all. The challenge for the individual disciple of Jesus is to be prepared to do whatever is needed to align him or herself with ways of living and giving that release rather than obstruct the flow of God’s generosity. Together we are called to establish a social order in which all enjoy provision for their needs in a way that sustains not only life but abundant living. As we do so, we allow God’s overflowing grace to permeate lifestyle and relationships, and demonstrate the abundant economy of the kingdom of heaven.”

John Preston serves as National Stewardship Officer for the Anglican Church. It’s been good to interact with him this week in Malaga, Spain. Today’s post comes from Giving for Life 4.3, a report by the National Stewardship committee of the Anglican Church.

Few quotes sum up our role in God’s economy better than this one. Read it again!

Next time I return to the UK, it will be good to reconnect with John and perhaps train clergy from the NT to model and teach this way of living. It’s brilliant!

“This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ Zechariah 7:9-10

“Kindness goes further than money. Zechariah 7:9-10 is one of many verses in the Bible to explain the gracious nature of kindness as an attitude of giving time, talents and indeed our all to God…In kindness, our very lives are engaged with Christ’s purposes in our world, and Acts 1:8 reminds us that the Holy Spirit will assist us in those purposes, reaching others for Christ to the end of the age.

Those laboring in the Great Commission not only must receive Christlike kindness in all its forms but also must know how to give so that their communities and nations see Christ in the flesh. Thus, what we are calling “Faith Reliance” is more than a message about giving money generously. The Western church will never, on its own, reach the ends of the earth. It will take every believer’s participation to accomplish the biblical goal of reaching every ethnic group with Christ’s message of love. As our forefathers in the faith knew, the local church in every community will need to practice and disciple others as examples of Christ.

Faith Reliance is a call not for dependence on funding plans administered abroad but for reliance on God for every kindness in every nation.”

Barbara Shantz champions this message as she serves as TWR’s Global Fund Development Strategist and as the Lausanne Catalyst for Resource Mobilization. Today’s post appears in “TWR and Faith Reliance: Promoting Global, Generous Christian Living” 5-6.

It’s been good for Jenni and I to interface with Shantz among so many other wonderful fellow workers in God’s Kingdom in Malaga, Spain this week. To enjoy and share God’s kindnesses requires faith. Let’s resolve to live this way wherever God plants us. Amen? In so doing God is glorified through our humble obedience and His kingdom is expanded through faith reliance.

For those who grasp definitions best by contrasts, faith reliance is the opposite of “financial sustainability”. Those who lead ministries according to the economy of this world (cf. “The Common Path” as Willmer, Rodin, and I refer to it in our book The Choice: The Christ-Centered Pursuit of Kingdom Outcomes) look to money and financial models to fuel and sustain mission.

Faith reliance is about functioning in God’s economy. His work is advanced and sustained through the humble obedience of faithful servants who enjoy and share His kindnesses and by faith rely on Him to fuel mission.

Tell those who are rich in this present world not to be contemptuous of others, and not to rest the weight of their confidence on the transitory power of wealth but on the living God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in kindly actions, to be ready to give to others and to sympathise with those in distress. Their security should be invested in the life to come so that they may be sure of holding a share in the life which is permanent. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (J.B. Phillips)

“The plentiful provision of good things is not meant to be a basis for self-security but is a pointer to the goodness of God who supplies them…God thus appoints that riches are to be enjoyed, but also shared generously. They are not for self-indulgence but for thankful acceptance and helping people.”

I. Howard Marshall in The Pastoral Epistles (ICC; London; T&T Clark, 1999) 672.

Jenni and I are NOW (pardon the typo in my earlier post today which read “not” this morning) attending the Compass Europartners conference with leaders from 15 countries across Europe. The various seminars are exploring ways to help people understand a New Testament view of handling money in post-Christian Europe.

As Phillips notes in his translation of the famous command to the rich, and as Howard notes in his commentary, our tendency is toward self-indulgence and finding security in our financial resources. God has appointed them for a different purpose: “thankful acceptance and helping people.”

Such thinking is countercultural in post-Christian Europe where culture dictates the rules for enjoyment and charity. We must retrain our minds to follow instead the Bible’s teaching so that our lives reflect God’s design. Make it so Lord Jesus.

But since you excel in everything–in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you–see that you also excel in this grace of giving. 2 Corinthians 8:7

“There is still a long way to go on the journey of the faithful steward for Western Christians, but there is hope if only the free grace of God will be preached more powerfully and linked with the new life that is to flow from it. The European context is not especially conducive to a culture of generosity, but Christians should take this as an opportunity to live counterculturally and to show how the grace of God can change a human heart and community. If we do this, it will surely benefit the church, the mission, the poor, and many in need.”

Daniel Hillion in “Christ-Centered Generosity and Western European Christians” in Christ-Centered Generosity: Global Perspectives on the Biblical Call to a Generous Life (Colbert: GGN & KLP) 37-49.

Hillion is from France and spoke at the European Generosity Consultation. I deeply appreciated his emphasis that there is hope for us to grow as faithful, generous stewards only as we grasp the grace of God. Think about it. Whether we live in the East or West, North or South, if we do not understand that all our blessings–materially, spiritually, and otherwise–have come to us as gifts of grace from God, we will never live countercultural, graciously, and generously toward others.