And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Revelation 3: 14-22
From time to time I have the opportunity to teach a workshop on Christian financial responsibility. Now it really does not fit well within the confines of American revivalist piety, so it is not something a do all that often. After all, it is not the Christian thing to do, to confront the sheep in their slothful self indulgence. Especially when we pamper ourselves in luxury and let the rest of the world "eat cake."
This program begins with a series of statements concerning money, and how it is proper, and even the desired goal of all human culture, to seek more of it. Now if we all desire more wealth, why not see what the Bible has to say about the subject? Specifically in the parable of the talents we covered last time. So please review that section either from the last message or from your own Bible (Matthew 25:15-30).
Now the Bible really only talks about these talents as a monetary unit. It doesn't say whether it is gold or silver talents, but since gold is much more valuable than silver, we shall use that example. According to my sources, the old talent of the Bible is equivalent to 1500 troy oz., or approximately $420,000.00 @ $280.00 per troy oz. in the world today.
Every individual, couple, enterprise, gets an envelop which contains a check for one of the amounts contained in the parable, $420,000.00, $840,000.00, or $2,100,000.00. The directions are clear. This is your money given to you by God to invest however you see fit.
Now everyone who reads this essay on a regular basis, are members of a very exclusive club. Wise, intelligent, committed, the cream of the crop, your checks are for $2,100,000.00. Under the guidelines of the parable of the talents. Give it a shot.
Here are the results almost 100 percent of the time.
1. Give the tithe to the Lord.
2. Pay off the credit cards, vehicles, and other short term debt.
3. Pay off the house.
4. Duh???
Now it is safe to say that most evangelicals will have left over upwards of $1,680,000.00 no matter their life-style. You got five talents, you have spent one, or buried it in the ground of your own self indulgence. No big deal, you still have four talents to invest, in whatever God wants you to do. What is that now? The whole lump sum. Bury the rest in the ground, put it in the bank? Not an option. Go for it, what is it you think you were created to do, for the glory of God. Invest in your faith. The question then arises, "Do you have not, because you really have not spent the time and effort required to invest your talents?" That answer, of course, goes far beyond monetary units.
This brings us back to the church of Laodica again, quoted above. You have wealth but nowhere to put it for eternal rewards. The financial establishment of modern evangelicalism states that you could give it to them and they would use it to bless others. But if that is really what God wanted to have done, He would have given the money to someone to whom that amount was not a big deal, hence directly to the ministry. You are on the hook for it, begin to think about what you would really do with that amount of filthy lucre.
I once attended a church that received from an estate, $50,000.00 with the stipulation that it be used for missions. Now without that missions stipulation the pastor would have more than likely used the funds to fix up the kitchen in the fellowship hall, but....
In round numbers, in third world countries, that fifty thousand dollars would build, about five schools, medical clinics, or churches. You could have also built about fifty homes for peasants, or provide entrepreneurial resources to support perhaps 100 families. All good and worthwhile projects.
Now what the church board did with the money is not the only reason I left, but it was a contributing factor among many. They put the money in the bank and gave out a couple of $500.00 grants per year to various missionaries to help with some of their projects. The goal was never to exhaust the principal of the gift. This ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls is a true painful example of the talented omission. In the name of God, God's work is quenched in the name of worldly understanding. What is even more pathetic, is that this same board spent considerable resources, to promote the moving of the spirit and not to quench these emotions.
At the close of His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ gave the disciples, and by extension the church, the "great commission." This was the one directive given after He had completed His earthly task. In modern evangelicalism this has become the great omission. Promoted by all our sinful talents it has been miraculously converted, along with pitifully few individuals, into the true evangelical enterprise of the talented omission. We have developed all kinds of sophisticated marketing programs to promote our opulent life and ministry in our Jerusalem, while ignoring poverty and human oppression, and exporting a corporate free trade model of greed and corruption in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
George says, "What part of 'go' don't you understand?"
"Well, we really don't have time or resources to do that great commission stuff. We have to fix the kitchen in the fellowship hall. We have to seal coat the parking lot. The pastor needs a raise or he will go elsewhere. We want to put the Sunday sermons on Christian TV. We want the church to grow!" We want to follow the rules of our affiliation.
But George has got it right! This "go" thing is really the final rule, or rule of law in the New Testament. It is not the great exhortation, or the good suggestion. It is the rule for the church. In the context of our discussion, the refining process.
I once heard an excellent topical series about what happened to the church in Jerusalem. It was based in part on the Book of Acts, when they took this rule of God as an option. The church did not willingly go out side of Jerusalem, they were forced out by persecution, tribulation, and refining. Much of Paul's discussion of the poverty of the Jerusalem church stems from their inability to get the big picture. The gospel of Jesus Christ changed the whole world in the first century by those who decided it was wise to leave Jerusalem and not come back except for a visit. Could such a thing become true in America and our evangelicalism today?
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent
Just as there are no atheist in foxholes, there are no denominations on the front lines of God's work. You don't have to remodel the kitchen in the fellowship hall, when there is no church building. The same could be said for fixing the parking lot, especially when the brethren don't have cars to drive.
Now is it all that hard to see that if our first priority was truly the great commission, God might remodel the kitchen in the fellowship hall and seal coat the parking lot from some of His other talents? God only knows, He might send the pastor to some great church in Montana where his talents are really appreciated.
The only requirement, is that we stop trying to be God with our talents and convert the culture. We must truly invest our talents in kingdom work and not in a guilty attempt to stop western (American) culture from going to the hell of its own choosing. All the money in the world is not going to solve that problem. The church, like first century Jerusalem, truly cannot see its own future course, by direct revelation, or from the study of history. Take your choice. Without that understanding we shall not comprehend our rebuke and our chastening, but it is the consequence of our own choice of taking the easy road.
We may be the most zealous church in all history, but if we do not understand God's work (rule of law) in this world properly, all the money or earthly gold is not going to buy us anything but refining. Our zealous nature must be directed toward our weakness and focus upon repentance, and not our material wealth and worldly knowledge. That is our work. We must leave the work of salvation, regeneration, and sanctification to the Lord who is able to understand and control all the required parameters.
The true vision of the church throughout history is to be the love of the brethren (diverse from ourselves), by repentance of our sins, so that the sins of others may be viewed in the context of God's community of His children, in this time and space, and throughout history, past and future.
The 10 - 90 rules states, we invest our 10 percent in child like faith, using our God given talents. When we do that, God supplies a hundred fold return, by His grace, through faith, not in the (our) works but in the completed work of Jesus Christ, who forgives our sins, heals our land, adopts us as God's children, and gives us an eternal perspective. In sight of those opportunities, what adventures does this world and its pleasures truly have to offer.
Next week we wrap up this series, trying to focus upon the true healing that God provides has He completes our adoption, firstly in this world, and also in the world to come. It is the one choice that is completely ours to make. Rule and exhortation do not apply. The question is what is your choice?
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