Herrick Johnson: Risks linked to riches

I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners. Ecclesiastes 5:13

“Get rich, if you will–you take great risks. But Christianity does not say to any man, “You must be worth only so much, extend your business only so far.” It says, “Use your riches for the glory of God.” If they once usurp His place, woe to you!”

Herrick Johnson (1832-1913) Presbyterian clergyman in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, 1895) 521.

How do riches usurp the place of God? Let’s learn from Solomon (and Johnson). When we hoard them rather than putting them in play in our business or through our giving, we end up like the rich fool.

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ Luke 12:20

And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16

“I expect to pass through this life but once. If there be any kindnesses I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow beings, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

A. B. Hegeman in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, 1895) 362.

Though our visit with Sophie in California was brief, we made the most of our time with her and her boyfriend, Peter. Sammy, Jenni, and I head back to Colorado today.

If you are debating whether or not to sacrifice or show kindness to someone in need, don’t flinch in response to the nudging of the Spirit. Just do it in the name of Jesus!

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17

“To the extent we try to merit the favor of God we will be unable to perceive it. To the extent we attempt to become something we are not, which was the original sin (trying to be like God), we forfeit the gift of whom we most truly are. To the extent we build our lives on any other foundation than the gift of our own belovedness before God, we build on sinking sands.

This is the challenge of grace. It’s really hard, because to accept the gift that comes with baptism means we must accept that we are just like everybody else. We are no better or worse. This is the baptism Jesus entered into, becoming just like us so we could become just like him.”

J.D. Walt in “Something in the Water” Seedbed Daily Text for 10 March 2016.

So here we are, visiting our daughter in sunny San Diego, and I get this profound daily text from J.D. Walt. He’s spot on! (Subscribe to his daily text if you have not done so already). Not only do we fail miserably when we try to be like God, in the words of my brother, J.D., we miss the point altogether. “We forfeit the gift of who we most truly are.”

Accept the gift, “the gift of your own belovedness before God.” Receive the gift of grace, and everything will change, including your generosity. Henceforth it will flow not from you as the source, for there is only one Benefactor God from whom all good things flow (cf. James 1:17). Only when we learn to gratefully receive can we grasp what it means to freely give.

God loves you and me. And we love our children (though they are not kids anymore!) It’s great to hear what Sammy and Sophie are doing, to hear how they are connected to Christ and to others in community, to get reports on school and friends (including Sophie’s sweet young boyfriend, Peter, who, like her, appears to love Jesus deeply), and to know that they are having fun on sinking sand (the beach, that is). What makes us most thankful, though, is that they are building their lives on the solid foundation of the gift of grace! Are you?

How could you show others the gift of their own belovedness before God today?

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

“The Bible calls the good man’s [or woman’s] life a light; and it is the nature of light to flow out spontaneously in all directions, and fill the world unconsciously with its beams. So the Christian shines it would say, not so much because he [or she] will, as because he [or she] is a luminous object.

Not that the active influence of Christians is made of no account in the figure, but only that this symbol of light has its propriety in the fact that their unconscious influence is the chief influence, and has the precedence in its power over the world.

The outward endeavors made by good men or bad to sway others, they call their influence; whereas it is, in fact, but a fraction, and, in most cases, but a very small fraction of the good or evil that flows out of their lives.”

Horace Bushnell (1802-1876) Congregational minister in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, 1895) 350.

Special thanks to Sophie and Jenni for the new Meditations header photo. They took this picture yesterday on a beautiful hike at Torrey Pines. Sammy and I arrived here late last night.

We are together as a family in Southern California and so thankful for how Sophie “shines” for Jesus out here! What about you? Does light generously flow out of your life? Are you a luminous object?

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. Matthew 6:24

“Jesus Christ and all the writers of the New Testament call us to break free of mammon lust and live in joyous trust. Their radical criticism of wealth is combined with a spirit of unconditional generosity. They point us to a way of living in which everything we have we receive as a gift, and everything we have is cared for by God, and everything we have is available to others when it is right and good. This reality frames the heart of Christian simplicity. It is the means of liberation and power to do what is right and to overcome the forces of fear and avarice.”

Richard Foster in The Freedom of Simplicity (New York: HarperCollins, 1981) 62.

Do you live in joyous trust? Elsewhere Foster says, “Stop trying to impress people with your clothes and impress them with your life.” The Christian life that is free of mammon lust is liberating and powerful. Could it be that the lack of power in the Church today betrays devotion to mammon lust rather than to God?

Today I am attending meetings in Indianapolis and will give a devotional to launch an ECFA church advisory group that will speak into the creation of a variety of Christian financial literacy materials and resources for God’s Church. Pray for me as I point the attention of the group to what the New Testament contains for followers of Christ.

When my meeting is over, I fly from Indianapolis to San Diego, while Sammy flies from Denver to San Diego. Tonight we connect with Jenni and Sophie to celebrate Sammy’s 20th birthday at In-N-Out Burger. Happy Birthday, Sammy! We thank God for the gift of three days together, and for a son who lives in joyous trust!

How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you. Psalm 31:19

“All we want in Christ, we shall find in Christ. If we want little, we shall find little. If we want much, we shall find much; but if in utter helplessness we case our all on our Christ, He will be to us the whole treasury of God.”

Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901) in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, 1895) 95.

In fasting during Lent I am learning afresh that I can do without anything but Christ, and in Him I have far more than enough. More than I could ever imagine! In pausing repeatedly in the Psalms, I too am learning that often my prayers are too little.

The culture tells us if we do anything in “utter helplessness” that we are weak. Christ reminds us that such a posture is our strongest one. What do you want in Christ? Are you finding what you are looking for? I find He over-delivers good things!

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 5:10

“The first of all English games is making money. That is an all-absorbing game; and we knock each other down oftener in playing at that than at football, or any other rougher sport; and it is absolutely without purpose; no one who engages heartily in that game ever knows why.

Ask a great money-maker what he wants to do with his money–he never knows. He doesn’t make it to do any thing with it. He gets it only that he may get it. “What will you make of what you have got?” you ask, “Well, I’ll get more,” he says.

Just as as cricket you get more funds, there is no use in the runs but to get more of them than other people in the game. And there is no use in the money; but to have more of it than other people in the game.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, 1895) 18.

Ask yourself this question as you consider your work on this Monday in Lent: Do I work to accumulate money or do I work to have something to return to God, to care for my family, and to share with those in need (cf. Ephesians 4:28)?

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 1 Peter 2:11

“The New Testament does not present a come-see religion, but a go-tell religion . . . The implications of this are huge for the way we live and the way we think about money and lifestyle. One of the main implications is that we are “sojourners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11) on the earth. We do not use this world as though it were our primary home. “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

This leads to a wartime lifestyle. That means we don’t amass wealth to show the world how rich our God can make us. We work hard and seek a wartime austerity for the cause of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. We maximize giving to the war effort, not comforts at home . . . The emphasis of the New Testament is not riches to lure us in to sin, but sacrifice to carry us out.”

John Piper in Let the Nations Be Glad!: The Supremacy of God in Missions, third edition (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010) 29.

Are your finances aligned with the spiritual war that is raging around us? Lent is a great time to adopt a “wartime lifestyle” linked to money. As Piper puts it, “The emphasis of the New Testament is not riches to lure us in to sin, but sacrifice to carry us out.” Sacrifice is about forgoing financial expenditures so the funds can be in deployment on mission. Remember, we are “temporary residents and foreigners” here. Our home is in heaven. Let’s store our treasures there!

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6

“Let us not rationalize hoarding and comfortable living as if they were essential to provide the energy and peace of mind we need in order to minister. Good stewardship of abundance resources may greatly advance God’s kingdom, but spending all of our resources on personal security, comfort, and pleasure tends to have the opposite result. History attests to this fact.

Times of growth and great need and suffering among Christians often result in rapid church growth and spiritual revival, while church prosperity tends to yield little growth … “Persecution can have harmful effects on the church. But prosperity, it seems is even more devastating to the mission God calls us to…we should be vary wary of prosperity and excessive ease and comfort and affluence.”

Alan and Katherine Carter in “The Gospel and Lifestyle” in Theology and Practice of Mission: God, the Church, and the Nations, ed. Bruce Riley Ashford (Nashville: B&H, 2011) 142-143.

“The Gospel and Lifestyle” is a great chapter on missional living. This couple, Alan and Katherine, bring to light the value of pursuing contentment and simplicity rather than comfort and prosperity. The former pursuits will keep us on track, while the latter ones will seek to destroy us.

If you have treasures stored up on earth for security or to attempt to ensure a certain standard of living in perpetuity, from God’s perspective, you are hoarding. Put those resources in play. As you faithfully serve God and more resources come to you, become a joyful distributor.

Lent is the time for learning this. If you have not practiced some form of sacrifice this season, ask God today what that might look like for you. Take time today to consider what resources you have that may need to be put in play. Why do this? It’s how we learn contentment.

And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25:30

“Oh God! What unutterable horror must be in store for those who, entrusted by Thee with an overflowing abundance, disregard the misery around them in guilty selfishness and indolence, or expend it in sensuality and profligacy.”

Samuel Warren (1807-1877) English physician in Day’s Collacon, comp. and arr. by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 4.

During Lent, it is not a pleasant thought, however, it is a necessary one to think of the implications for those with “overflowing abundance” who fail to serve the poor: “unutterable horror” awaits. My mind is drawn to the poor today as I am up early to have breakfast with a Latin American ministry leader down in Colorado Springs.

Father, open our eyes, lest we “disregard the misery” around us. Free us from indolence (laziness), selfishness, and sensuality (focusing on our own pleasure), when many suffer around us. Transform us from foolishly careless managers (profligacy) into faithful and generous stewards of your abundance. Do this by the power of your Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus. Amen.