What are we to make of the church of today? This is a very subjective question since you'll think of your church or group if you're a Christian and you're likely to think of the church whole if you're not. I would guess that in both cases there will be things you don't like; maybe your church is too boring or inward focused or you'll think of the legal cases against the Catholic church and mark us all as hypocrites.
And we are. We're as messed up as everyone else in the world. We're human and we fail. The only difference is we have accepted the forgiveness of Jesus. We should be living like He did, but we often don't.
In
The Irresistible Revolution Shane talks a lot about the church today and how he and his compatriots are growing new communities. I would recommend it as an interesting read, just don't try to cram it into 2 weeks like we have. He writes about the Simple Way, how they reclaim old buildings, distribute food, how he went to Iraq and Calcutta and how he sees Christianity today (and a lot more).
Running through all the book you get a real sense of his heart for the poor and I use the word heart deliberately because he goes to great lengths not to present the poor as an issue but as people that he loves. He backs his viewpoints on how we should treat the poor with scripture and for this report I want to dig into some of those scriptures (and others).
As usual I'll preface this with:
- This is my personal opinion
- I am not a bible scholar
- I wrote this in a few hours and haven't had time to properly review it
- Therefore, this could be wrong
- I welcome comments and discussion about this
The following thoughts have come from me reading the book and are not the main focus of it. The main focus is on communities and loving others, but Shane does a very good job of discussing this that I wanted to write something new rather than repackage his book. After all, you can read that yourselves.
So, I want to focus on some of Jesus teachings about money, specifically the teachings about selling all that you have and look at what giving is and start to look at how blessings fall into it.
Sell what you have
Luke 12:33 is a rather challenging verse for Christians (myself included). It has Jesus commanding his disciples to sell what they have and give the resulting money to the poor. Now, how many Christians have you seen following this scripture?
Now, we can water this down quite effectively and The Message bible [1] is a good start - "
Be generous. Give to the poor." (Note the lack of "Sell what you have"). We can also say that this was a message for the disciples and not us, but aren't we called to be disciples?
The following are my own personal thoughts, though Shane does cover this topic in his book too and comes to a similar conclusion (that's not an attempt to endorse my opinion, it's a clarification so people don't think I'm just rephrasing his book). Jesus had 12 disciples but many more followers. Having 50,000 people following him around would make for a nightmare situation. Even if we assumed 50,000 people could get along and not fight and even if we assumed that these people could move from place to place in an orderly fashion then how would they help others to get to Jesus? They would swamp a town.
Jesus deliberately kept the number of disciples he had small for practical reasons. Right now I'm in a room with 4 other people and the dynamics here are enough to keep things interesting, 12 others will be very interesting (hello outreach, I'm looking at you).
However Jesus and his disciples needed to eat and sleep. During this time and what they ate and drank (and where they did this) largely relied on supportive people in the towns they went to. These people had houses and food, things the disciples had been asked to give up. When the disciples arrived they were looked after (consider 13 people coming to your house in the evening asking for a meal). Without these people they would have gone hungry. The people who supported Jesus in this way were necessary. Jesus didn't call all these people to be disciples, instead they served through hospitality.
In
Matthew 19:21-24 we hear of a rich man who asks Jesus what he must do to enter Heaven. Jesus covers the basics, which the man has done, then Jesus says that in order to follow Him he must give his money to the poor. One thing that stuck out to me this time was that if the rich man had given up all his money he would have made disciple number 13. Jesus offered him the same "follow me" that the other disciples had been given and he turned it down, returning to his wealth (and probably family, though we're not told).
Now, did Jesus love him less than the disciples who had given up everything? No. The same goes for the places Jesus stayed at. These people were serving as they knew best. So, not everyone is called to sell everything they have and give all their money to the poor. That said I believe some certainly are (the rich man was) and I believe those that aren't should practice hospitality and giving.
That said, we don't earn our place in heaven through our deeds[2] and Jesus tells us how hard it is for rich people to enter heaven, what's up with that?
The camel through the needle
I confess I've never understood the camel through a needle analogy. God is all powerful so he can put a camel through a needle and this is the same God who shows mercy to all the sinners on earth[3]. This being the case, he can very easily put a camel through a needle.
Maybe a little context would help though - in this time salvation was earned by obeying the laws, which the rich man had done. He had been earning his salvation since he was young, no doubt through self sacrifice and restraint. If I was in the shoes of this man, able to ask Jesus the question, I'd have asked it with the expectation that Jesus would tell me I had a place in heaven secured so long as I kept doing what I was doing. I'd want to be used as an example of a good Christian.
Instead what comes across as Jesus upping the ante is more of a playing field switch. Jesus wasn't after the money the man had; he didn't need it. He wanted the man to choose to follow him, for which there was a cost (or trade). I can imagine the man walking away grumbling that he followed all the laws and he still had to do more.
Maybe the camel and needle description is referring to our own efforts rather than our eligibility into heaven. Through his own efforts the man followed all the laws, yet he was rich and therefor he would find it hard to enter on his own merit? As I write this I feel like I'm missing something of the story here, but it's all I have right now.
Giving
"True generosity is measured not by how much we give away but by how much we have left"[4]. This sentence stood out to me, in fact it's the only one in the entire book that I underlined so I wouldn't miss it when I was writing this 'review'. After being paid and covering my expenses (board, petrol, server rent, etc.) I am still left with a comfortable amount with which to enjoy myself. After I enjoy myself I still have money I can save. I am very fortunate to be in this position, I know this. I find giving easy because I have extra to give.
Mark 12:41 tells us of Jesus sitting watching people giving money - a widow comes up and gives two coins (I don't know how much it translates to, but it could have been less than $1). Despite this small amount, Jesus says she has given more than anyone else from the whole day. This must mean the amount is immaterial, mustn't it?
Blessing
Now, we enter a gnarly area that the book doesn't cover and to be honest, I'm understanding why. A message I have heard a few times is 'if you give you will be blessed'. I have sat in conferences and been told this. I had a non-Christian friend with me. We discussed this after the meeting and he said he was going to give until this speaker made his comments, then he felt manipulated to give and didn't and I applaud my friend for his stance.
I gave something, because that's what good Christians do, because it had been a fun evening and because I know it costs a lot to rent the lighting rig they were using. I didn't feel particularly more blessed than before I gave and at the time I didn't dwell on this evening. It's amazing what you remember years after the fact and how you can analyse it later.
So where does this view of blessing come from? "Give, and it shall be given to you" and "Blessed is he who acts wisely toward the poor"
Luke 6:38,
Psalm 41:1 are just a couple or examples.
2 Corinthians 9:6-9 is also another good one.
We should not give out of a sense of "I have to" or a sense of "others are watching me" or as a deposit on riches in Heaven. At home I have a 'Heaven banknote'[5], which you can buy (with real money) and burn so that when you die you have that money in the afterlife. This is a transaction, God becomes an ATM we deposit into with a mind to withdraw later, like a pension plan or social security.
God wants willing givers, generous givers (remember, generosity is measured by how much you have left) but this isn't limited to money - time and energy can also be given.
2 Corinthians 9:6-9 is a favourite I've found: "God loves a cheerful giver". Can we abstract that God doesn't love a non-giver or a non-cheerful giver? No. Love does not require reciprosity.
The bottom line is that nobody should try to push you into giving for blessings. How God chooses to bless is up to him and how that manifests will be different for each person. We should not feel forced to give, we should give because we want to. I don't know how blessings are related to all this but I do believe that if we give for the purpose of receiving blessing then we are giving for the wrong reason. I also don't want to imply that these verses are therefore always misused - they are not.
For your own consideration I also present the Beatitudes, a series of statements by Jesus discussing who will be blessed: The poor in spirit, the meek, those mourning, those who hunger for righteousness, the persecuted and all sorts of people but not blessed are the those who give money.
Footnotes
There are resources on generous giving
all over the Internet. I realise that I didn't go into tithing in this post. I deliberately used the word 'giving' rather than 'tithing' in this post - tithing is a form of giving.
I didn't get into
Malachi 3 either, which would require another few paragraphs and time.
[1] The Message is not a translation, it is a paraphrase. It can help elaborate points in the bible or water them down. I wouldn't recommend teaching from The Message.
[2] Anyone who tells you otherwise should consult their bible.
[3] Yep, this means all of us, myself included.
[4] The Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claiborne, Page 164.
[5] A gift from a coworker as an interesting item from her holiday in Asia. I forget the religion that sells them, but it's not Christianity.
