Adrian Van Kaam: Poverty of spirit

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

“We must be poor in spirit. Poverty of spirit is more than material poverty. We may be without many possessions yet possessed by cravings for countless things. That craving makes us restless. A restless heart is mirrored in a restless spirit in a mind flooded by vain images that ceaselessly emerge from uncurbed desires. The spirit of poverty frees our minds from the turmoil of idle musings by lessening our attachment to things as ultimate.

Material poverty is more familiar to us than poverty of spirit. Being reared in a materialistic society, we are inclined to understand all things–even religious poverty–in a merely materialistic way…Poverty of spirit makes us present to God alone. It carries us beyond the idols we have set up in life and breaks their hold on our feelings, thoughts, and fantasies…The more steadfastly we walk in the light of poverty, the more we gain in awareness that there is no other than He.”

Adrian Van Kaam in Spirituality and the Gentle Life (Danville: Dimension, 1974) 60-61.

Generally speaking, Westerners (as Van Kaam rightly notes) are really uncomfortable talking about poverty of spirit because of the materialistic society that permeates all aspects of our lives. We hold tightly to and think we can’t live without “things” and the irony is that Jesus offers the kingdom to those willing to let go of everything.

So what’s this have to do with generosity? Jesus is inviting us to embrace poverty of spirit, which means letting go of idols and holding on to Him alone. This becomes the foundation for our generosity. Only as we are content in Him, can we live open-handed and generous with everything else that comes to us.

Lent is coming. It’s a great season for learning to let go of things.

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! Matthew 11:15

“It is God’s intention that our lives should be a seamless manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). He has made abundant provision for His indwelling our lives in the here and now. Appropriate attention to the care of our souls through His empowerment will yield this rich spiritual fruit and deliver us from the sad list of “deeds of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19-21). We can be channels of the grace of the risen Christ, and through our ministerial activities–speaking, praying, healing, administering–He can minister to others. But we must attend to the means of His grace in practical and specific ways to experience His life into and through our lives.”

Dallas Willard in The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’ Essential Teachings on Discipleship (New York: Harper Collins, 2006) 124-125.

For our lives to exhibit the fruit of generosity we must give “appropriate attention to the care of our souls.” If you are like me, and you move at a fast pace, this calls for rhythms that teach you to slow down. These must be learned with practice.

We are only about ten days away from the season of Lent when we will practice such rhythms. Start thinking now. What you will fast from so that you can feast more on Jesus? What will you sacrifice so that you can share with the poor? What will cut out of your schedule so that you can spend more time in prayer?

With regard to the care of our souls, we must take care to practice such rhythms regularly to allow Jesus to fill us with His grace “in practical and specific ways” Why? So we are sure to become generous “channels of the grace of the risen Christ”!

For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 2 Corinthians 1:12

“Simplicity means using money without abusing money. In the power of the Holy Spirit we conquer and capture money and put it into service for Christ and his kingdom. We know that well-being is not defined by wealth, and so we can hold all things lightly–owning without treasuring, possessing without being possessed. We use money within the confines of a properly disciplined spiritual life, and we manage money for the glory of God and the good of all people.

Simplicity means availability. Freed from the compulsions of ever bigger and ever better, we have the time and energy to respond to human need. Some, like pastors and others, are freed full-time so they can minister the word of life. Others will release blocks of time to further advance the kingdom.

Simplicity means giving joyfully and generously. We give ourselves, and we give the product of our life’s work… If we take the biblical witness seriously, it seems that one of the best things we can do with money is give it away. The reason is obvious: giving is one of our chief weapons in conquering the god mammon. Giving scandalizes the world of commerce and competition. It wins money for the cause of Christ.”

Richard Foster in The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex, and Power (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1985) 72-73.

The Apostle Paul describes the life of simplicity only possible by God’s grace, and Richard Foster points the pathway for us to take hold of it. We must “take the biblical witness seriously” and choose “simplicity and godly sincerity.”

Simplicity is one of the points of my sermon today at Crossview Church in Snohomish, Washington. It makes no sense according to earthly wisdom and the economy of this world, but it’s the pathway to life in God’s economy.

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!