Money

...thoughts from Sunday.

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Our culture tells us in a thousand ways, big and small, that "money makes the world go 'round."

We are bombarded with images and slogans convincing us that we need the bigger grill, the better vehicle, the more expensive shoes, or the newer house; then we will be happy!

We are told we earned it; that the wealth we possess is our right.

We are taught to define ourselves by the income we make and the associated status symbols. Our individual and cultural identity is wrapped up in symbols of wealth.

Even those caught up in poverty often mistakenly believe that the solution to their problems is money!

“If your relationship with God doesn’t bring you into conflict with your culture, then you need to reevaluate your relationship with God.”
Pastor Rob Owens

The truth is that these things will complicate our lives and end up making us less satisfied with our lives! Once basic needs for food, water, shelter, health, and freedom are met, any increase in wealth leads to a decrease in felt happiness.

We operate from within a vastly unjust global economic system, and it is tilted in our favor! We haven't earned the wealth we have, it is a gift; the job, the economy, even the strength, health, intelligence, or skill that we possess that enable us to procure and maintain the levels of wealth we are accustomed to, are not things we are responsible for. They are a gift!

...and our value has nothing to do with the amount of stuff we control. We have value because God says we do! Our identity is in our reflection of His image, not in our hoarding of His possessions!

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The simple fact is that money is not central, it is peripheral. God is central. Whenever we allow our culture to convince us otherwise, our lives and our world suffers for it!

Even in the church money can gain the place of prominence. Churches command tithes to line the pockets of clergy, others preach a message that says "Jesus died to give you a big house and a nice car." Even the extreme ascetic streak that has run throughout the history of the Church can often be simply an unhealthy emphasis on the role of money (albeit a negative one) instead of putting money in its proper place.

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So what does God want us to do with money?

...a brief perusal of the way the topic was handled in the Jewish Scriptures is illuminating.

From the very beginning Jews recognized that all wealth comes from God. God is the creator of the earth, wealth included. He owns it all and has merely placed it in human hands to act as God's caretakers. We are YHWH's gardeners.

The wealth of the Nation of Israel was literally handed to them by God. They were a nation of slaves who left Egypt with the riches of their oppressors on their backs. God carved out a country from the surrounding nations and handed it to a people with no country.

The Law then proscribed that Jewish households were to periodically set aside 10% of their wealth for God and His purposes in the nation. (Some estimates are that this amounted to approximately the equivalent of a 25% yearly income tax) This was done for three specific purposes:

1) Maintaining the system of priests and Temple. This was essentially a tax to support the religious, educational, and judicial system of the country (as the priesthood fulfilled these roles in some capacity).

2) Redistributing wealth to those who had little or no capacity for generating income, orphans, widows, foreigners, etc.

The first two purposes fit well within our modern conception of taxation, the third, however, is uniquely surprising:

Deuteronomy 14:22-26

3) The Jewish People were commanded to use a portion of their Tithes to throw a tremendous nationwide party! Eating and drinking was not merely encouraged, but commanded!

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God loves stuff, that is why He made it! He wants us to enjoy it! Food, drink, beautiful scenery, physical pleasures, fine art, colors, smells, textures. Not only did God invent these things, He also designed us with the capacity to enjoy them! (Check this out.)

The problem is not with wealth. The problem is never in the stuff. The problem is in what we do with it, how we get it, why we want it, how much of it we use, whether or not we share it...

In short...

...the problem is us!

(More to come)