Storing Eternal Treasure
This is the fourth article in a series on
generosity, one of Vineyard Boise's seven core values.
The Light Side of Money
The issue of money
would be much easier to deal with if it were all bad. Our task then
would be to denounce it and withdrew from it. That, however, is the
one thing we cannot do if we want to be faithful to the biblical
witness. Though the Bible gives repeated warnings about the dark side
of money, it also contains a stream of teaching on the light side of
money. In this tradition, money is seen as a blessing from God and,
even more startling, as a means of enhancing our relationship with
God.
The Old
Testament Witness
The Old Testament
bears repeated witness to this reality. In the creation story we are
struck by the refrain that this world that God created is good. The
garden of Eden was a lavish provision fro the original pair.
God’s great
generosity can be seen in his care for Abraham. God said that he would
make Abraham’s name great and prosper him. And he kept his word, for
we read that” Abram was bery rich in cattle, in silver, and in
gold” (Gen. 13:2). Isaac was blessed in a similar fashion, so much
so that we are told that because of his great wealth” the
Philistines envied him” (Gen 26:14).
The list could go
on for some time, from the promise of a land flowing with milk and
honey to the promise of the windows of heaven opening to pour out a
material blessing beyond what we could contain (Mal. 3:10). Material
things are neither antithetical nor inconsequential to the spiritual
life but intimately and positively related to it.
The New
Testament Witness
Nor is the New
Testament devoid of this emphasis. Money is often seen as a way of
enhancing our relationship with God an d expressing our love for our
neighbor. The wise men brought their wealth to the Christ child as a
means of worship. Zacchaeus gave generously, and the poor widow gave
sacrificially. Wealthy women helped support the band of disciples
(Luke 8:2-3). Both Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus used their wealth
in the service of Christ (Matt. 27:57-61; John 19:38-42).
By teaching us to
pray for daily bread, Jesus brought the concern for material provision
into intimate relationship with the spiritual life. Material things
are not to be despised or thought of as something outside the
parameters of true spirituality. Indeed, material provisions are the
lavish gifts of a bountiful God.
The Good Earth
Throughout
Scripture the provision of those things necessary to carry on human
life adequately is seen as the gracious gift of a loving God.
Everything that God created is good, very good. It is meant to bless
and enhance human life. How thankful we can be for these bountiful
signs of God’s goodness! As I write these words, the birds outside
are singing, perhaps in thanksgiving for the bounty and beauty of sky
and sea and land. We can join with them in cheerful song, for God has
indeed given us a good world to enjoy. The very bounty of the earth
can draw us closer to God in thanksgiving and praise.
Most wonderful of
all is how so much of what comes is not the result of our doing but a
gift, unearned and unearnable… This is, of course, nothing more than
the confession that we live by grace. Through it is a wonderful truth
to know that we are saved by grace, it is equally wonderful to know
that we live by it as well. Though we labor, just as the birds of the
air labor, we do not need to grasp and grab frantically, because we
have One who cares for us just as he cares for the birds of the air.
And so, as we learn
to receive money and the things it buys as gracious gifts from a
loving God, we discover how they enrich our relationship with God.
God’s
Ownership
Closely tied to
God’s provision is God’s ownership. There is hardly anything more
clear in the Bible than God’s absolute right to property. To Job,
God declares, “Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine” (Job
41:11). To Moses, he says, “All the earth is mine” (Exod. 19:5-6).
And the psalmist confesses, “The earth is the Lord’s and the
fullness thereof” (Ps. 24:1).
God’s absolute
rights as owner and our relative rights as stewards are unmistakable
clear. As absolute owner, God puts limits on the individuals ability
to accumulate land or wealth. For example, a percentage of the produce
of the land was to be given to the poor (Deut 14:28-29). Every seventh
year the land was to lie fallow, and whatever volunteer grain came up
was for the needy (Exod. 23:11). Every fiftieth year was to be a
Jubilee year, in which all slaves wee to be set free, all debts were
to be canceled, and all land was to return to its original owner.
God’s rationale for so violently upsetting everyone’s economic
applecarts was – very simply – that “the land is mine” (Lev.
25:23).
God’s ownership
of everything also changes the kind of question we ask in giving.
Rather than, “How much of my money should I give to God?” we learn
to ask, “How much of God’s money should I keep for myself?” The
difference between these two questions is of monumental proportions.
The Grace of
Giving
The grace of giving
is often a tremendous stimulant to the life of faith. This is why the
offering is correctly placed as part of the worship experience.
Money is an
effective way of showing our love to God because it is so much a part
of us. One economist put it this way: “Money as a form of power is
so intimately related to the possessor that one cannot consistently
give money without giving self.” In a sense, money is coined
personality, so tied to who we are that when we give it we are giving
ourselves. We sing, “Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord
to Thee.” But we must flesh out that consecration in specific ways,
which is why the next line of the hymn says, “Take my silver and my
gold, not a mite would I withhold.” We consecrate ourselves by
consecrating our money.
Controlling and
Using
Although giving
must have a large place in Christian experience, the control and use
of money must have an even larger place. Believers who are rightly
taught and disciplined are enabled to hold possessions without
corruption and use them for the greater purposes of the kingdom of
God.
The truth is that
total divestiture is usually a very poor way to help the poor.
Certainly it is vastly inferior to the proper management and use of
resources. How much better to have wealth and resources in the hands
of those who are properly disciplined and informed by a Christian
world view than to abandon these things to the servants of mammon!
Believers can and
should be called into positions of power, wealth, and influence. It is
a spiritual calling to take leadership roles in government, education,
and business. Some are called to make money – lots of money – for
the glory of God and the larger public good. Others are called into
positions of immense power and responsibility for the same purpose.
Banks, department stores, factories, schools, and a thousand other
institutions need the influence of Christian compassion and
perspective.
But as I noted
earlier, all this must be done in the context of a people who are
“rightly taught and disciplined.” You see, we need instruction on
how to posses money without being possessed by money. We need help to
learn how to won things without treasuring them. We need the
disciplines that will allow us to live simply while managing great
wealth and power.
Practicing the
Light Side
We celebrate the
light side of money by learning to cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving.
I say “learn to cultivate” because it seems that thanksgiving does
not come naturally to human beings. (Anyone who has children needs no
further elaboration on that point.) However, we do need ways to help
each other grow in gratitude. Often we miss the lavish provision of
God – the air, the sunshine, the rain, the magnificent colors that
delight our eyes, the many friendships that enrich our lives. The very
rhythms of the earth are gracious gifts from the hand of the Creator.
This
article was excerpted from the book, “The Challenge of the
Disciplined Life,” by Richard Foster, Harper San Francisco, 1985.
Used by permission from the Author.
