Richard K. Taylor: Join or start a community of sharing and love

“When Jesus asked the rich young man to sell his goods and give to the poor, he did not say, “Become destitute and friendless.” Rather he said, “Come follow me” (Matthew 19:21). In other words, he invited him to join a community of sharing and love, where his security would not be based on individual property holdings, but on openness to the Spirit and on the loving care of new found brothers and sisters.”

Richard K. Taylor in Economics and the Gospel (Philadelphia: United Church Press, 1973) 21.

As placing our security in individual property holdings and deciding not to follow Jesus are not viable options, may we all find a home in such a body of Christ-followers right away. If we can’t locate such a body, perhaps it’s time you start a community of sharing and love.

“Jesus does not demand great actions from us but simply surrender and gratitude…He has no need of our works but only of our love.”

Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) in The Story of a Soul (Washington DC: ICS publications, 2005) 316.

Let us deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus with hearts filled with gratitude and lives that spread His love everywhere we go.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34

“In short, you should know that it is not riches but men’s use of them which is blameless or acceptable to God. To realize this, read how the holy fathers Abraham and Job became dear to God by the use of their wealth. Indeed, in that Gospel in which the rich man in hell who despised Lazarus is unnamed, we note that the rich Joseph of Arimathea is cited by name.”

Paulinus of Nola (354-431) in a letter as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 179.

Let us be conduits of material and spiritual blessings to our neighbors, our churches, our communities, and the world. God sees our generosity and often like the saints of old, replenishes our cups. The world wants to attain riches. God cares how we use them.

“Although Christians across denominational lines often use stewardship language to describe our calling to live out God’s mission in the world, what we mean theologically by “stewardship” varies greatly across religious traditions. Some think stewardship is tithing; others think it means volunteering or living a simple lifestyle. Still others identify stewardship with environmental conservation, social action of some kind or another, charitable giving, or making disciples through evangelism.

Each of these good and necessary activities points to an essential facet of stewardship, but each—on its own—falls shy of capturing the inspiring vision of biblical stewardship as a form of whole-life discipleship that embraces every legitimate vocation and calling to fulfill God’s mission in the world. In this sense, holistic stewardship, transformational generosity, workplace ministry, business as mission, and the theology of work movement all share a common point of origin in the biblical view of mission as whole-life discipleship. In other words, the essence of stewardship is about finding your place—that is, all the dimensions of your many callings—in God’s economy of all things (oikonomia).”

Stephen Grabill in “The Church’s Call to Steward God’s Mission in the World” Gospel Coalition blog post for 19 August 2014 and Acton Institute blog post for 27 August 2014.

In plain terms, whole-life discipleship is about helping people shift from life in the economy of this world where our activities revolve around making money to furnish everything from necessities to luxuries; whereas, life in God’s economy is living on mission, using our gifts and goods to make known the gospel whether we are a preacher or a professor, a salesman or a shopkeeper, and a teacher or a truck driver. Our purpose for work shifts from making money to bringing glory to God. Our living and giving are rooted in His abundant provision. And our place in the geography of the kingdom is making Him know wherever He’s planted us.

“Godliness is not about acquiring better and more material things; it is instead an active life of faith, a living out of covenant faithfulness in relation to God, that finds sufficiency and contentment in Christ alone whatever one’s outward circumstances might be.”

Philip H. Towner in The Letters to Timothy and Titus (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006) 399.

Without a heart that is content with Christ alone, we can neither be godly nor generous. This is true regardless of our circumstances. Are we content with Christ alone?

“Generosity is a matter of the heart. Our hearts limit our generosity or unleash it…When your heart muscle ceases to be generous, it’s called heart failure. Some would say you’ve suffered a heart attack. When that happens, if you don’t receive immediate medical attention, you’ll die.

The same is true with your spiritual heart. When you cease to be generous, you are suffering spiritual heart failure and, if you don’t receive immediate spiritual attention, you’re going to die.

Our hearts determine the limits or limitlessness of our generosity. If our hearts are right with God, do you think we’ll be generous? Absolutely. That’s what God created us for: to be generous. So, if you and I aren’t generous, what does that mean? At the very least, it means we’re having heart problems and we better do something about it.

Generosity is not a matter of money. Rather, it’s a matter of our hearts. More money won’t make anyone generous. Generosity is a matter of your heart, not your bank account.”

Barry Cameron in Contagious Generosity: The Key to Continuous Blessing (College Press, 2006) 99-101.

If it’s time for a heart check up, thankfully each of us can call on the Great Physician anytime. More than generosity is at stake. Our lives depend on it.

“Luke begins this chapter with a parable about money, then moves to actual teaching about money, and the chapter will end with another parable in which money is both part of the story and part of the point. The passage contains some of Jesus’ strongest and most explicit warnings about the dangers of wealth, and experience suggests that neither the church nor the world has taken these warnings sufficiently to heart. Somewhere along the line serious repentance and a renewed determination to hear and obey Jesus’ clear teaching seem called for.”

N.T. Wright in Luke for Everyone (London: SPCK, 2001) 96. Here’s the text of Luke 16 in the J.B. Phillips translation, so today we get the perspective of two British scholars, and Jesus will get the last word today.

1-9 Then there is this story he told his disciples: “Once there was a rich man whose agent was reported to him to be mismanaging his property. So he summoned him and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Give me an account of your stewardship—you’re not fit to manage my household any longer.’ At this the agent said to himself, ‘What am I going to do now that my employer is taking away the stewardship from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I can’t sink to begging. Ah, I know what I’ll do so that when I lose my position people will welcome me into their homes!’ So he sent for each one of his master’s debtors. ‘How much do you owe my master?’ he said to the first. ‘A hundred barrels of oil,’ he replied. ‘Here,’ replied the agent, ‘take your bill, sit down, hurry up and write in fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And what’s the size of your debt?’ ‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. ‘Take your bill,’ said the agent, ‘and write in eight hundred.’ Now the master praised this rascally steward because he had been so careful for his own future. For the children of this world are considerably more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries than the children of light. Now my advice to you is to use ‘money’, tainted as it is, to make yourselves friends, so that when it comes to an end, they may welcome you into eternal habitations.

10-12 “The man who is faithful in the little things will be faithful in the big things, and the man who cheats in the little things will cheat in the big things too. So that if you are not fit to be trusted to deal with the wicked wealth of this world, who will trust you with the true riches? And if you are not trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?”

13 “No servant can serve two masters. He is bound to hate one and love the other, or give his loyalty to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and the power of money at the same time.”

14-15 Now the Pharisees, who were very fond of money, heard all this with a sneer. But he said to them, “You are the people who advertise your goodness before men, but God knows your hearts. Remember, there are things men consider perfectly splendid which are detestable in the sight of God!”

16 “The Law and the Prophets were in force until John’s day. From then on the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed and men are forcing their way into it.

17 “Yet it would be easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for a single point of the Law to become a dead letter.”

18 “Any man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery. And so does any man who marries the woman who was divorced from her husband.”

19-31 “There was once a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and lead a life of daily luxury. And there was a poor man called Lazarus who was put down at his gate. He was covered with sores. He used to long to be fed with the scraps from the rich man’s table. Yes, and the dogs used to come and lick his sores. Well, it happened that the poor man died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And from among the dead he looked up and saw Abraham a long way away, and Lazarus in his arms. ‘Father Abraham!’ he cried out, ‘please pity me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Remember, my son, that you used to have the good things in your lifetime, while Lazarus suffered the bad. Now he is being comforted here, while you are in agony. And besides this, a great chasm has been set between you and us, so that those who want to go to you from this side cannot do so, and people cannot come to us from your side.’ At this he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house for I have five brothers. He could warn them about all this and prevent their coming to this place of torture.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets: they can listen to them.’ ‘Ah no, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘if only someone were to go to them from the dead, they would change completely.’ But Abraham told him, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they would not be convinced even if somebody were to rise from the dead.’”

“The deeper the roots of humility are embedded in the heart, the higher rises the edifice of good deeds.”

Anthony of Padua (1195-1231), the first teacher of evangelism appointed by Francis of Assisi to train the Franciscans, in Sermones, as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 118.

Ever wonder how Francis and a group of dirt poor fellow Christ-followers rebuilt God’s church in their day? They did it neither with bricks nor with money but with humility of heart.

“To possess God in all, you should possess nothing at all. For how can the heart that belongs to one belong completely to the other?”

John of the Cross (1542-1591) in a letter as recounted in The Quotable Saint ed. Rosemary Ellen Guiley (New York: Visionary Living, 2002) 119.

Whatever we think we own, owns us. No wonder the Apostle Paul echoes Jesus in calling the rich to enjoy and share God’s blessings.

I spent last night with my brother, David, and a few generous friends who testified to the burden of ownership and the freedom of enjoying things without having to possess them.

God, help our hearts shift our affection from stuff to the Savior. Help us “use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them” (1 Corinthians 7:31a) by the power of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, Amen.

“Vision casting has replaced doctrinal teaching.

Instead of teaching Christians to give to please God, they’re being taught to give to meet a need – build buildings, feed orphans, dig wells, etc. Part of this trend is due to competition with non-profits. As the number of non-profit (para-church) ministries grows, so do the choices people have to give.

To compete with non-profits, churches have applied best fund-raising practices to raise money. This means videos, brochures, projections, targets, and of course…celebration Sunday! And after the campaign comes ribbon cutting ceremonies, ROI reports, metric discussions. Meanwhile the doctrine of giving takes a back seat…or for some churches, fades away entirely.”

Jeff Anderson in Acceptable Gift email on September 3. To hear other trends, visit his website or sign up for his free webinar on Sept 10, click here.

God forgive us for focusing on raising up gifts rather than raising up givers. Consequently, we’ve made it all about the spiel and not about the Scriptures, all about offering help and we have forgotten about the heart. God, help us get back to the heart of the matter, because that’s all that matters.