The twitching and knee-jerk reactions I get from many (not all) “organic church” believers when the topic of money comes up, reminds me of what the Holy Spirit said to Saul of Tarsus: “It’s hard for you to kick against the pricks.”

The topic of money and finance has been very seriously abused in the past, and continues to be, in media and many church environments. This abusive “static interference” makes it hard for believers to “hear” God’s genuine frequency on this subject. What is heard stirs up echoes of a painful history and a reactionary protective (understandable) posture: “I’m not going ‘there’ again.” If our pain and desire to protect ourselves ends up desensitizing our hearts, we will be in a bad place. The Holy Spirit in us has to be, and is, greater than the pain of our past.

Many believers in non-institutional environments who experienced manipulation and coercion in the past have reacted and settled into a very unhealthy place. My good friend, Stephen W. Hill, says it like this: “For many, the freedom from the selfishness of tithing (giving to get, or to avoid a curse) has been replaced by the selfishness of not giving at all.” Well said. That’s the problem. Historical abuse is being used as an excuse to deflect any scrutiny or criticism of personal financial giving habits and disciplines by others.

If our alleged Christian liberty and understanding of grace results in the decrease of the life of Christ and personal disciplines, it is neither grace nor freedom, but self-deception. Our freedom is not to be used for self-indulgence, but to serve one another in love.

Since the accurate reflection of our Father in time in space is the definition of being “Spirit-led,” and since our Father is a giver, to proclaim one’s self to be “Spirit-led” and “free” and “spiritually mature,” and to be tight with our time, talent, and treasure (money) is not only oxymoronic, it is high-level delusion.(I have written on the joy of Spirit-led giving, elsewhere on this blog: Why I Quit Tithing: http://wp.me/pPFqI-Hk 

We do not need any special “leading of the Spirit” to obey simple scriptural mandates. The Spirit has already led us, through the scripture! Now, we can seek the Lord for specific details, but the FACT of the MANDATE to give financially and regularly, is not something we need to “seek the Lord” about. We just need to do it! (1 Cor. 16:2, etc.). I am no telling anyone what to give, or where to give. Seek the Lord for that, and be generous like your Father. But giving itself, and the disciplined regularity of it are scriptural non-negotiables. JUST DO IT.

I do not believe that our structures, meetings, meeting mechanics, what does or doesn’t happen in meetings, how they are conducted–open, closed, participatory, passive, “teaching vs. sharing,” “leading vs. facilitating,” etc., –have any bearing at all on how spiritual, mature, or “revelated” we might be. They’re all irrelevant to me. I’m more concerned about the cold love in my shriveled heart, than the spatial geography of my body during a meeting. There’s a better measure of the temperature of our love than futile OC/IC debates. That measure is our wallet. Closed wallets=shriveled hearts, regardless of how we do meetings. God looks on the heart, not our meeting mechanics.

Many try to rationalize their lack of financial generosity by saying: “Well, there are more ways to give than with just our money, and after all, Paul said that if I give all my money to the poor and have not love, I am a tinkling cymbal. It is true that you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. Giving includes the giving of all three dimensions of our life–time, talent, and treasure (money)—it’s not a take your pick buffet!

So, Paul is right, but so is James. What is the essence of true religion? Winning Facebook debates about the deficiencies of the institutional church? Hanging around in eternal do-nothing holy huddles in living rooms swimming in our own sense of superiority? Hardly.

Let’s try a simple experiment. Fill in the blank after each of the following regarding your giving of time, talent, and treasure (money), but particularly treasure, to what follows:

1. Widows __________

2. The Poor __________

3. The brotherhood in need _____________

4. Expansion of the gospel _____________

5. Other general opportunities for charity _______________

(Going to meetings/gatherings with your friends does not count as giving of your time! That is what you enjoy. I am talking about practical expressions to others that have NO derivative benefit to you.)

How did you do? If you have a computer and are reading this, you are able to regularly give financially to some, if not all of these. If you are not regularly financially giving, you’re self-justifying behind the “not all giving involves money” argument.

• Most westerners could do a garage sale of their “stuff” and feed a poor family for a month or more.

• Most of us could drink water instead of wine, soda, or fruit juice at our meals and times when we eat out (let alone other alcoholic beverages at $6.00+ a pop) and easily fund $50-$60 a month to one of the above.

• Budgeting $2.00 a day–the price of a cheap hamburger or small bag of potato chips–would enable you to give $50-60 a month to something . . . can’t? OK, cut it back to $1.00 a day. Are you really saying that you can’t find $1.00 a day to give on a regular, disciplined basis to something that really matters? How about 50 cents a day?

• Do you have any idea of what a $5.00 or $10.00 offering done regularly can do for the poor or someone in the third world?

• You used to “tithe” faithfully to the institution based on self-centered manipulation and guilt, and now that you are out in “freedom,” you are giving what to whom? Nothing? Little?

The –“there are more ways to give than just money” or, “you might be giving in the flesh” etc.,–arguments are all bogus sophistry.  It’s not that you can’t give financially. You won’t. Your love, personal discipline, concern for others, or creative thought  (or all four) are so meager, that you won’t.

Closed wallet=shriveled heart, in need of a refreshing touch from Jesus. If Jesus touches my heart, and my wallet, and touches others there also, everything else will be just fine, without the distracting hyperventilating on other things. I think “how we do meetings obsessiveness” is a giant distraction from the essence of “true religion.” So, maybe you’re “right” about “how to do church.” Big deal. What are you doing for others?

I pray you and I will have a heart-touch instead of making self-justifying arguments about why we may not be giving financially.

Yes, our use of treasure does reveal our hearts. Your wallet is a lighted highway that leads directly to your heart.

_________________

Copyright 2013,  Dr. Stephen R. Crosby, http://www.swordofthekingdom.com. Permission is granted to copy, forward, or distribute this article for non-commercial use only, as long as this copyright byline, in totality, is maintained in all duplications, copies, and link references.  For reprint permission for any commercial use, in any form of media, please contact stephrcrosby@gmail.com.

This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those who partner with us and believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible contribution through our Paypal button to help? Thank you and God bless  you.

If there was ever an issue that stacking up proof texts for or against is ineffective in persuading someone of the opposite persuasion, this is it. So, I am not going to do that. I would like to go beyond a proof-text shouting match. Besides, anything “theological” to be said on the subject, has already been said by others–pro and con. Resources are readily available. Tithe if you want to. There’s no sin in it. But lay off the sweeping pronouncements against others who don’t, and don’t think you are increasing your righteousness or favored status with God because you tithe. That’s an insult to the work of Christ.

And yet, like Paul, I think there is a better way . . . the way of love.

For me, any issue in the kingdom, that is not animated by love, relationship, and family, is suspect. My problem with tithing is relational. The way I see it, tithing hinders relationship with Father and anything that hinders relationship must be discarded. 

You see, the way tithing is normally taught, you do not need to relate to God, or engage God relationally at all about your giving. All you need to do is relate to a calculator, because allegedly, as long as I am giving 10.000000000000% I am in the goods with God, but if I give 8.487645345678%, I am in going to be cursed by God for disobeying Him. (Never mind that the total Levitical tithe obligation to avoid being cursed by God approached 22-27% of total annual income, not 10% . . . ah, but that is story for another day.)

I regret the thirty years I tithed, not because the money was wasted. Nothing offered to God in faith and sincerity, even in our sincerely ignorant faith, is ever wasted. No. What was wasted and missed was the opportunity to relate to my Father in my giving, and relationship is everything. 

Not once in those thirty years did I ever pray or engage Him about my giving, because, I was being a good, dutiful, little Christian making sure that the “open door to cursing” was closed by my faithful obedience. Thirty years of no relationship. I didn’t have to pray. I was “obeying” therefore, God was going to bless me whether I relationally engaged Him or not. Relationship is everything.

So sad. I doubt that I am the only one.

Since I quit tithing, I have not quit giving. Rather, I have discovered the joy of generous, Spirit-directed giving, out of my own need at times, as the overflow of my relationship with my heavenly Father. What a thrill it is to experience being the answer to someone else’s secret prayer. What a thrill to be the practical hands of God reaching out to others with my finances. What a joy to feel the relational knitting of hearts together in a community, in the bonds of love when someone’s need has been met through Spirit-led giving that I am a part of.

In Second Corinthians 9:14, the ASV states that one of the overflow benefits of Spirit-led giving is a “longing for each other.” I must say, that in all my years of tithing to a machine, an institution, an entity, never did I experience a longing for my brother or sister. No, it was all clinical, duty-based, and selfish . . . so I could avoid being cursed. Fear-based preaching about money will never realize God’s kingdom intentions for finance . . . never.

The best thing that ever happened to me in my giving was to quit tithing. Some say that 10% should be the baseline of our giving. I say . . .  put the calculator away . . .  PERIOD! Relate to your Father. Do what He says. He values you and your relationship more than your money. What you do with your money will just be a reflection of your love quotient. In love with Him, in love with the brotherhood, and in love with a world that needs Jesus, should be all the motive we need to be cheerful, generous, disciplined, regular givers of time, talent, and treasure.  How could it be possible if we are extravagant lovers in these three arenas that we would not be givers? Closed wallets always indicate cold hearts.

Let’s love extravagantly, including through our finances. 

___________

Copyright 2013,  Dr. Stephen R. Crosby, http://www.swordofthekingdom.com.Permission is granted to copy, forward, or distribute this article for non-commercial use only, as long as this copyright byline, in totality, is maintained in all duplications, copies, and link references.  For reprint permission for any commercial use, in any form of media, please contact  stephcros9@aol.com.

This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those who partner with us and believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. If this article has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible contribution through our Paypal button to help? Thank you and God bless you.

It’s always a good time to bless others with what the Lord has blessed us with. There is much need in the World but how do we give responsively? The biggest problem is usually having the time to get to know or (vetting) a Not for Profit who will properly use the funds that we want to give. Nowadays everyone is asking for a handout and it is hard to make up your mind which way to go.

In my experience I have found that the most legitimate not for profits are not mounting a professional marketing campaign or sending out letters asking for help. Usually they are too busy helping others because they do what they do not for financial reward but because they have a real passion and a burden to help others.

As a rule I have found most of the true gems are helping people overseas. Mind you most of my contacts are American but they are usually connected to a Native person from that country that is doing the hands on work without the usual administrative waste. The truth is no one can help another person better (and cheaper) than those who have been through or are going through the same circumstances.

I prefer to give my money to not for profits that are helping the poor to come up and out of their financial condition by helping them become self sustaining and follow their dreams. You would be surprised how far your gift can go as the one who was helped now turns around and helps another. It is a joy to watch God multiply my gift in the lives of others daily.

Have you been blessed by God in 2012? Are you thankful and do you now feel you would like to invest in the lives of others? I have many contacts that really could use a helping hand from as far as India, China, Africa, Europe, Central and South America. I even know some wonderful leaders doing great things here in the United States. Contact me, tell me what is on your heart and let’s connect to change this World one life at a time.

Blessings,

Jose Bosque

JaxChristian1@aol.com

(904)-434-0144

If we define the Kingdom of God as the domain of God’s uncontested rule, then no amount of human ingenuity, creativity, entrepreneurship and connectedness can substitute the core issue: how would Jesus spend his money that is on our accounts if we would not contest it.  

Kingdom principles are, in their original Hebrew, pre‐secularized and pre‐democratized form, ethical absolutes that Jesus the King both modeled and taught. The economic principles of the Kingdom are no exception and demonstrate that there are two radically different and opposed sets of economic systems: Kingdom economics, and the economics of Babylon. The validity of Kingdom economic principles are, in addition to this, compounded by the historical fact that the early church as recorded in the New Testament lived by those principles without intervention or rebuke from the King ‐  which he would have surely done if they were off the mark, setting a false example for those that follow in the course of history. Historic progress and cultural or political change does not replace eternal Kingdom values – it simply requires a wise and culturally relevant re‐application of unchangeable financial principles in today’s world. As in any Kingdom, there are values and specific issues that require prioritization. This is why the following list follows Kingdom order:

ONE) Orphans and widows in the Kingdom. Principle: Family first. We must demonstrate supernatural and practical love and mercy (diaconia) towards our own poor – or we dare not call ourselves a family. As long as some of our own family members need to crawl whimpering, cold and hungry into a street corner or are unprotected and lost, any lofty idea, vision or investment plan becomes cruel (see 1 John). The most vulnerable citizens of the Kingdom are widows and orphans. We are required to “do good to everyone, first and foremost to those in the family of believers” (Gal 6:10; see also John 13:2 and Gal 2:10).

Application: 25% of our billion, $ 250 m,  goes to uncared for widows and orphans, especially family members of those killed for their faith in countries like Indonesia, India, Central‐Asia or China. Simply organizing people into orphanages is neither Kingdom policy nor would it be enough: God wants his most vulnerable children adopted (clothed, fed and socially integrated ).

TWO) Spiritual mothers and fathers. Principle: Those who have become mature trainers, coaches and equippers of others are, in other words, spiritual parents, and therefore “workers worth their pay” (Luke 10:7; 1 Cor. 9, Matth 20 etc.). People who fully invest themselves in parenting and equipping others (Eph. 4:11‐13), just like Jesus from age 30 onwards, have no time to do both business and parenting – with the exception of Paul’s brief time as a tentmaker or in an apostolic start‐up phase. Paul uses strong language in 1 Cor 9:14 and speaks of a not a suggestion but a command of Jesus that “those who preach the gospel shall live from the gospel.” The key group in expanding the Kingdom of God are, reflecting biblical priorities, not evangelists, but “apostles and prophets”. The church in Philippi raised a substantial and liberating sum for the needy apostle Paul who, lacking support from a church that should support him, had no other choice than to “make tents” for a limited time (Acts 18:1‐5; Phil 4:15) which vitally limited his explosive apostolic potential.

Application: 40%, $ 400 m that goes towards a strategic financial First Aid and global re‐instatement project, particularly for apostles and prophets.

Reason: most pastors and teachers (theologians) today are salaried, while most healthy “apostles and prophets”, the research & development wing of the Kingdom, are, in most countries, unpaid at the fringes or even outside the radar of  the traditional church for many centuries. This has created a backlog of thousands of unpaid (apostolic and prophetic) workers James 5 style, and if the mobilizers of others are themselves tied down, standstill is inevitable.

THREE) Apostolic projects and Kingdom initiatives. Principle: Paul arranged a financial collection for the aging grandmother‐church of Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16:3); the apostolic council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) needed someone to pay for the chicken; logistical challenges required money for trips.

Application: 25% or $ 250 m. The key area of Kingdom advancement today is long and painfully overlooked by a non‐apostolic church: the creation of models or Kingdom outposts that demonstrate the superiority of the Kingdom in areas like family, education, culture (technology, nutrition, sports, arts, media etc), business & finance as well as politics. Here we need to fund inventors, pioneers and Kingdom entrepreneurs and their initiatives, as they develop Kingdom solution for the worlds problems.

FOUR)  The outside poor. Principle: Diaconia to those outside the church.  Giving to the poor who were outside the Kingdom was not compulsory, but voluntary (Mark 14:7: “…and if you want, you can help them anytime”), a very wise emphasis for giving‐priorities by Jesus himself. Otherwise the never ending and screaming need of the poverty of this world would completely sap the entire budget of the church in no time – and leave not budget for any self‐preservation or advance strategies.

Application: 10% or $ 100 m. In light of many government and transnational initiatives like UNICEF, plus 10.000’s of NGOs with a social and philanthropic funding focus ‐  as well as initiatives like Bill Gates’ “billionaires give half their kingdom club”, the Micah Challenge or the Copenhagen Consensus, 100 or 200 m of additional Christian money will not swing the pendulum much at this point. Poverty has other roots than a lack of money. This is why social charity towards the outside poor is, typical upside‐Kingdom fashion ‐ at the end, not the beginning, of our list.

(More on this see Wolfgang Simson: The Starfish Manifesto, downloadable at http://www.whileweslept.wordpress.com)

Many are already being financially challenged, and there seems to be little hope on the horizon for things to turn around. The situation is ideal for us to learn how to walk out our faith with respect to community support.

This is a critical issue. Jesus amplified the conflict for Lordship by emphasizing, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” He went on to conclude, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Perhaps you will read Matthew 6:19-34. There is no timelier message for us to internalize.

As much as we would like to believe that we love God with all our hearts, and are committed to serving Him with our entire lives, mammon – material matters – have ways of monopolizing our thoughts and activities. We w ill focus upon worldly issues unless we discipline our thoughts. How will Father lead us in these practical matters?

There are many similarities between our day and the early days of the church following its birth at Pentecost, A. D. 33. Can you imagine more than three thousand people, many of them visiting Jerusalem for the celebration of Pentecost—“Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs.”

No Holiday Inns. No McDonalds. Travelers by foot, without much in the way of financial reserves, find themselves parts of an entirely new creation and community. No jobs. No church in their home place. What to do?

Is it any wonder that those who believed were together, and had all things in common? While they may have hoped to get some inkling about the future, it wasn’t going to happen in an hour or a day.

We who have been raised in the security of our normal circumstances have no idea how we will react when our circumstances change and we find ourselves out of control. Hopefully we will do what our brethren did in that day—find ourselves together in community, selling our possessions and goods, and dividing them among all as anyone had need.

We should be practicing organic life in community, both on local levels and also on a global level. Our challenge is even greater. We are not all in Jerusalem! We have not been raised in a culture of hospitality and servitude!

Yet, in one way, our challenge is easier—if we believe and act—because we do not need to be caught by surprise. We can prayerfully prepare! We can become communities that include hospitality and servitude as our kingdom culture.

I pray that you and your community will be proactive in discussing these matters, even establishing minimal structures necessary to steward resources on your local level.

The believers in Jerusalem freely and willingly brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. We see the extension of the apostles’ servant leadership when they appointed seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, over the business of caring for the widows. Such needs are to be administrated in each local community.

Don Atkin.com

1/ Even a casual reading of I Corinthians 8 & 9 reveals that the purpose of the giving was “ministering to the saints” (not salaries or a building program)

It was so that there could be “equality” among the saints- that one’s lack was met by another’s abundance. What does this mean in our global village?

I am sure it does not mean that some buy bigger and better toys or build bigger buildings while others cannot feed their children.

2/ That same casual reading of Paul’s Acts 19:32- 35 instruction to the Ephesian elders shows that Paul considered his example of self support to be the standard for them as well and to be the fulfillment of the words of Jesus that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”

In every disciple making movement across the earth, in every area where the Kingdom of God is advancing, self supporting or bi vocational workers are the norm thus giving practical proof to this model.

Why is this model ignored so often in the West? Is that one reason that there is little Kingdom growth in the West?

3/ Many have very rightly come to see tithing as a modern expression of legalism much like circumcision was in Paul’s time and have rejected tithing as a New Covenant requirement.

We are correct to reject the twin evils of fear (of curse on our finances if we do not tithe) and greed (giving to get the promised multiplication blessing) as motivations for giving but have we embraced sacrificial compassion?

Do we see that serving the least is serving Jesus? Or is the basic selfishness of giving out of fear and greed now being expressed by not giving at all?

????????

Your brother

Steve

www.harvest-now.org

[He is] the hard-working farmer [who labors to produce] who must be the first partaker of the fruits.

Think over these things I am saying [understand them and grasp their application], for the Lord will grant you full insight and understanding in everything.[1]

It seems that the farther we move away from institutional churchianity, the farther we also move away from an understanding of corporate responsibility and accountability.  The farther we move away from the law, the farther we also move away from the integrity of the body and the stewardship of material goods.

Hard-working kingdom farmers who labor to produce kingdom fruit in kingdom people no longer enjoy the benefits of righteous protocol.  Yes, the “system” has many righteous protocols, even the proper support of those who lead and feed.

Right now, there are brethren—those who lead and feed—who are suffering great financial struggles.  Some have lost their homes; others live under the daily pressures of having only a short time for something to happen if they are to keep their homes.

Some have given their entire lives to the ministry of the Gospel, have no retirement, and do not or will not qualify for Social Security.  At one time, they relied on God to care for them through the “system.”  Conscience no longer allows them to function within the “system.”  Scripture exhorts us to take care of the widows and the orphans, and seems to assume that those who lead and feed will be the first partakers of the fruits.

There must have been enough structure in the local churches of Paul’s day to assure the care for those who were widows indeed.  Structure that serves us within the will of God is good.  Structure that takes on a life of its own, and we end up serving, is bad.

There should be some form of facilitating corporate church responsibilities in every city and region.  The new covenant has plenty to say about stewardship that is by the Spirit and yet allows for planning and preparing ahead. 

I ask only three things: 

That you consider the above Scripture,

That you seek out from among you some men and women of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;[2] and

That you give cheerfully and liberally.[3]

I ask not for myself, but for those who are not yet surrounded by the fruits of their own labor.

Don Atkin

www.DonAtkin.com

Many scriptures can be difficult to understand and apply. However, the mutual exclusivity of serving God and mammon is not one of them. Jesus was clear:

No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he said unto them, “You are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” – Luke 16:13-15

No worker can serve two bosses: He’ll either hate the first and love the second or adore the first and despise the second. You can’t serve both God and the Bank. When the Pharisees, a money-obsessed bunch, heard him say these things, they rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. So Jesus spoke to them: “You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what’s behind the appearance. What society sees and calls monumental, God sees through and calls monstrous.” – Luke 16:13-15, The Message by Eugene Peterson.

Just what is “mammon?”

Mammon isn’t a common term for us. Historically, it’s an old Syriac name given to an idol worshipped as the god of riches. Ambrose Bierce called mammon “the god of the world’s leading religion.” The pursuit of money is the religion of this present world, and mammon is its god. Why? Because, as the old pun on the Golden Rule goes: “He who has the gold, makes the rules!” When it comes to money, too many Christian fingers are coated with Super Glue, rather than Teflon. I do not believe there will be any large scale “wealth transfer” until we develop “Teflon fingers.”

Mammon is any controlling, coercive, dominating power (church, legislation, economics, military, etc.), fueled by money: “controlling” my own life, or through force controlling others. When we are in control, we are lord, not Jesus. There can only be One King. That is why Jesus was so stark on this matter.

I believe mammon is the prevailing principality/prince in the West, and the claw of mammon has four talons. Every believer intent on growing into the full stature of Jesus Christ will have to face and overcome each of these in his or her life.

Religion

The church long ago sold the birthright of spiritual riches for the allure of money, control, and power. The church played the harlot with Constantine, and has yet to fully recover. Preaching “silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give you . . .[1] will not get you invited to this year’s “Keys to Success” conference! Between the influences of the modern “prosperity gospel,” “self-help/success” teaching (masquerading as the gospel), and the control factor in many institutional constructs, it has reached the point in the West that preaching the acquisition of wealth is considered the very essence of what it means to be a Christian, and it is a sad, sad situation.[2]

Wherever money, control, and power aggregate, a spirit of mammon is at work, yes, even in the ekklesia of God, living room or sanctuary! Dealing with a mammon problem, is like bad breath and body odor, it’s always “the other guy’s issue!” It is more like hypertension: my problem, but I just don’t recognize it! It can be neutralized quite simply: practice giving all three away! The kingdom of God is built upon scattering a death and resurrection seed, not the aggregation of resources. God’s family is built by releasing resources, not hoarding them.

There are many who find themselves in various forms of “de-churched expression” who feel they have extracted themselves from the grips of the machine-like control of institutionalized religion. Perhaps, they have. There can also be a sense of naïve superiority in these climates, thinking being extracted from institutional religion is of itself, some great spiritual triumph. It is not. Merely being extracted from institutionalized religion is not an end in itself. It is the removal of but one of mammon’s talons from our soul, and the easiest one! If I have been set free from a coercive tithe to an institution, and my kingdom giving has dried up or vanished, all that is proven is that one talon has been removed from me. At least one of the other three remain deeply entrenched in my soul while my posterior is entrenched on a sofa.

Politics

Jesus is Caesar[3] is fundamentally a confronting political statement. The apostles were not martyred because of how nice they were as people, or because of their teaching about what one had to do to go to heaven when one dies. They were killed because they advocated a king and a kingdom in opposition to, and exclusive from, what Caesar had to offer. Jesus and Caesar are incompatible.

When it comes to politics, I know there are no simplistic answers for a people who live in a representative democratic republic (something that did not even exist in Jesus’s time). Teddy Roosevelt wrote a book called: Fear God and Do Your Part. That seems reasonable to me, and is about the extent of my political fervor. My concern is for the illicit wedding of the church in America to right-wing politics, and the venom that often accompanies the ungodly union.

Apparently for some, it is alright to act like the devil to represent Jesus! Russell Moore said: “American Christianity has been a political agenda in search of a gospel useful enough to accommodate it.”[4] I agree. We will never “change the culture” or “win a nation” by trying to out-Caesar Caesar with Caesar’s resources, values, and methods. Force in any form—money, militarism, consumerism, authoritarianism, morality, legislation, etc.—is not Jesus’s method for cultural transformation. The power of Jesus’s kingdom is about a life laid down for enemies, even unto the death.

Finances/Commerce

If talons had toenails, commercialism and materialism would be two. We make rationalizations to ease our conscience, but very few of us in the West are able to be content in either abounding or abasing when it comes to money. Few would consider themselves “blessed” in a season of dire economic distress, a condition that is abounding these days.

It’s easy to believe one is free of the influence of mammon when the checking account if full. It’s wonderful to talk about the “Lord providing” when I am drawing a government unemployment check or other benefits from the hand of Caesar.[5] It is a different matter when there is no paycheck, and the impossibilities of this life are looming over your financial solvency, and Caesar is nowhere to be found, or asking something of you that will compromise your worship. Who is Father then?[6]

I have a good friend who taught “faith” and “financial faithfulness” for years. When the church he led closed, and the paycheck he had been receiving ceased, he had a nervous breakdown. When he got on the “resurrection side” of this issue, he candidly confessed to me that what the Lord was trying to teach him through it all was that his faith was in his bank account and in his biblical principles of finances, not in the person of Jesus. Mammon had a death grip on him and he didn’t know it.

Few in Jesus’s kingdom know how to make money a servant. In most cases, money is Lord[7] (in spite of all our denials to the contrary). You make money a servant by practicing liberality—by giving it away.

Health and Medicine

Power has been defined differently throughout our nation’s history and culture. A generation ago it was defined by the equation: military + industry = power = control. That’s no longer true in modern Western societies. Today’s power equation reads: information + capital = power = control. There is an emerging power structure that has the potential to control our very existence by creating physical dependency upon it. The formula is: medicine + money = power = control or more specifically: pharmaceuticals + healthcare + government + money = power = control.

Because of the collusive elements of the above equations, and the skyrocketing cost of medical care and insurance premiums, there are literally millions of people who cannot afford to be sick. The choice for these is either complete financial ruin or dependency on the state. The day is coming for many believers, when we are either going to have to experientially know Him as Healer, sell our soul to the gods of this age, or die. The whole matter of the gifts of the Spirit will move from the fringes of Sunday morning enthusiasms into life and death realities.[8]

When it comes down to it, we will know what we really believe, we will know the fabric of the reality of our belief systems, we will know who our god really is, when either our health or our finances is put to the test. If our God is God only when we are well and wealthy, we have no god other than our own self-interest. A veneer of Christianese, applied with a Bible brush and some systematic theology glue, on top of an iron self will, is not the faith of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Jesus’s kingdom is not fueled by mammon. It’s fueled by love, forgiveness, and death and resurrection. The precious indwelling Holy Spirit, the power He brings, and the daily disciplines of the cross, are the means by which the believer can extract each of these talons from his or her soul.

I’m not saying it’s easy. On the contrary, it is costly. Dying daily is always costly. Nor am I saying that having legitimate, temporal needs met through finance is outside of God’s economy. It’s not . . . when He is truly Caesar of that economy and not us!

I know in my own life, the hold of these talons in me is being exposed and challenged . . . for my benefit and maturity in sonship. My flesh hates it, but the new creation man in me can only rejoice that my Father is so faithful that he ignores my cries as they are being extracted, and heals and fills the place they once occupied. To be truly free from these talons is to be free indeed. Ultimately, it is about worship. These four talons represent the major arenas of what it means to be alive as a human being. Whoever rules those arenas in me, and over me, is Lord, and a Lord is worthy of worship.

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[1] Acts 3:6