Jesus on money from Luke

On Friday night, YF finished a series of 7 Bible studies on Luke 9-12. We looked at the rich fool of Luke 12, and Jesus' subsequent teaching on life and money. It's no accident that these two accounts / teachings are next to each other; super-intended by God's Spirit, Luke is highlighting for us readers that greed breeds anxiety (as opposed to dependence), and anxiety can breed greed. How necessary and merciful of God to provide the antidote to both; I love verses 32-33 and remember writing about them in a College New Testament essay.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor.

Our loving Father has blessed us with the greatest riches that exist, and so we of all people in the world can afford to hold onto material possessions loosely - so loosely we can even freely give them away! The blessing of receiving the kingdom rids us of anxiety over our futures and thus over our possessions, and in this greed is done away with also.

But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

...

Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We talked about what it means to be rich toward God, how it has to do with ensuring we are wealthy in the 'currency' God values - a Christlike character and all that this is measured by. But it was when we were responding in prayer that I had (a.k.a received) an aha! moment - like during the writing of Bible College exams when what the Holy Spirit illuminated to me about God as I wrote it, was so wonderful I just wanted to sit back and sigh and smile (or shriek) with the joy of it.

I was thanking God that His goodness is so great, not only does He bless us so we can be generous, He blesses us as we are generous. In God's extravagant kindness, the act of obedience that is our generosity, stores up a treasure in heaven for us that cannot be taken away. He doesn't just command our obedience because He is God and He can, but because He wants to bless us through it.

Note though, that this is different from the 'prosperity gospel' that says God wants us to be rich and if you just tithe in faith, God will open the storehouses of heaven and pour out on you all the material things that you desire. Here, God's blessings are contingent upon something we do, almost as if He exists to serve us. God is (crassly) our puppet on our string; pull this string and blessings fall out of heaven like a 20cent chewing gum dispenser. Moreover, this 'gospel' bases itself largely upon Old Testament promises from God to Israel that are continued in the New Covenant to God's people through Christ, but in a spiritual rather than physical way. Our blessings in Christ now are primarily spiritual riches, not the OT's physical markers of land, offspring, and material wealth.

God blesses us as we give, not out of a crass us-centred system, but because He is good and knows what is good for us (generosity and dependence on Him). In His immeasurable grace, He has ordained it so that when we are dependent on Him and thus generous, He multiplies our spiritual and eternal blessings and causes us to rejoice in Him (not our earthly possessions). Isn't this reward so much better than an anxious greed that is never sure and never satisfied?

May we love God and lavishly give!