What is Abundance?

Most days, I have a quiet time with God, a time when I consider God's Word and ask Him to reveal the truth He wants me to see in it for that particular day. To see how I approach quiet time, read here.

Look: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)

Paul continues here to write to the relatively wealthy Gentile congregation in Corinth about an offering they had once pledged to give for the relief of Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. The latter were impoverished and struggling.

On first blush, one might think that what Paul writes in chapter 9 of 2 Corinthians supports the “prosperity gospel,” which is no gospel but a heresy and is popular these days. NOT AT ALL.

Paul is NOT saying, as the proponents of the heresy say, that if you give a lot, God will make you wealthy. Jesus gave and He wasn’t wealthy. Paul gave and he wasn’t wealthy. Peter gave up what was likely a lucrative business in order to follow Jesus. So did Matthew.

Following Jesus, believing in Jesus, is no guarantee of wealth. The God we meet in Jesus makes no deals for His mercy or His grace. Both are things that He gives to us.

So what is the promise of God to “cheerful givers” (in the Greek in which Paul composed this letter, the phrase is “hilarious giver) that Paul offers here?

Listen: The pertinent passage is verse 8. Paul says: “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

The verse is bracketed by abundantly and abound. This English rendering from Paul’s Greek is accurate. In both instances, the root word is περισσεύω, perisseuo, meaning literally, according to Strong’s concordance, to be over and above, to exceed the ordinary.

The double use of that term, appearing near the beginning and near the end of the verse forms what the scholars call an inclusio (or inclusion). It tells us, if it wasn’t clear enough on the face of it, that the verse deals with the subject of abundance.

The verse gives God’s understanding, the Bible’s understanding of abundance, though.

This understanding of abundance doesn’t mean that you won’t sweat out paying the mortgage some months.

It doesn’t mean that you’ll have the nicest car or bling.

It doesn’t mean that care and struggle with finances will necessarily go away.

Some believers in the God we know in Jesus will be entrusted with wealth. Abraham was wealthy. So were Joseph of Arimathea and Lydia of Thyatira. But some have been poor. Joseph and Mary were poor. So were others already named, including God in the flesh Himself, Jesus.

Some believers in the God we know in Jesus are gifted with a capacity for generating greater wealth or have inherited it.

But with greater wealth comes greater obligations (Matthew 25:24-27).

It also present greater spiritual danger. When Jesus encountered a wealthy man who asked what “good thing” he needed to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus saw straight through the man. (The question itself was all wrong. The rich man wanted to know what he good work he needed to do to gain eternal life. But no good work, not even making big donations, will gain eternal life for us. We are saved by God’s grace through our faith in, our trusting surrender to, Jesus alone.)

Jesus understood that this man’s wealth was his idol. Wealth was a spiritual danger to him. Wealth deluded him into thinking that he had control of everything, even his own salvation. The rich man did many right things, but in his heart, he worshiped money, not God. Radical surgery was necessary.

When Jesus told the man that the only way he could get free of the idol he worshiped and get with God, was to sell off everything he owned, give the proceeds to the poor, and follow Him, the rich man walked away sorrowful. He was sorrowful because he knew that he would never have eternal life; his money was too important to him, more important than God.

This gave rise to Jesus telling the disciples: “I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:16-24)

Wealth might not be the idol or impediment for everyone that it was for that man. But Jesus’ words are a solemn warning against taking anything as our god but the one true God revealed to all the world in Jesus Himself. He’s the only One Who can give us life with God.

This kind of talk is anathema to the advocates of the “prosperity gospel.” They think that following Jesus is a matter of making deals with God: They will follow Jesus and He will put them on easy street. No financial worries. No sickness or disease. No hard times. But one look at the faithful Christians we have known in life will tell you that such immature heresies are all cow pie!

Jesus never promises that following Him will ease the financial strains--or any other stains--of this life. “In this world you will have trouble,” He says truthfully. “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

And Paul warns Christians elsewhere: “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)

That’s why what Paul says in this verse is so important. He tells those who have made up their minds to give cheerfully, not under compulsion, but as a joyful response to the undeserved grace God gives to those who turn from sin and follow Jesus:

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

To be blessed abundantly by God because we divest our idolatrous attachment to money doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to be wealthy. But it does mean two other things:

“...that in all things at all times 

1. We will have all that we need. This is what Jesus calls “our daily bread,” what we need. 

2. We will abound in every good work. In other words, when we give to cause of God in the world, when we PUT GOD FIRST--loving God, loving our neighbors, making disciples, God will magnify our giving and living so that it glorifies God and points others to Christ.

We will have what we need. And what we give, whatever we give--our time, possessions, money, service--will contribute the growth of God’s kingdom. We will be empowered to use our lives and all of our gifts for the purposes for which God gave us life in the first place and for which He gives new, everlasting life through Jesus to all who trust in Christ. THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE AN ABUNDANT CHRISTIAN LIFE.

How do I know that this is what Paul has in mind when he wrote this verse?

In the previous chapter, when he begins this appeal to the Corinthian Christians to follow through on their public pledge to help the Jerusalem Christians, Paul mentions an incident when ancient Israel, having been freed from slavery in Egypt and heading for the promised land that God would show them, was in the wilderness. They had no food. But God daily provided them with something called manna, an edible substance like bread.

Exodus 16:1-36 tells about this incident. When God provided it, He told Moses that the people were to collect the manna when it appeared on six days of the week. On the sixth day, they would be enabled to collect more than they needed for that day, double the usual amount, in fact; the people were to prepare all of the manna to eat and not collect on the seventh day, the sabbath, a day of rest. They were all to collect the same amount, an omer. When they measured what everyone had collected, from the oldest to the youngest, “Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.”

(Some got greedy for the world’s version of “abundance” and went out collecting the manna on the seventh day. They trusted this stuff that they could see, touch, and eat, more than they trusted God. Even though God was the One Who had given it to them!)

Paul references this entire incident in 2 Corinthians 8, writing to a church that may be thinking that if they give away money, there will be less abundance for them:

“At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: ‘The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.’” (2 Corinthians 8:14-15)

Paul’s picture of abundance then, is the same as that of Jesus, Who taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

I love how Martin Luther explains this petition of the Lord’s Prayer in The Small Catechism:

God indeed gives daily bread to all, even unbelievers, without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that he would help us to recognize this so that we would receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

And then, Luther tackles the question of what is meant by daily bread:

Daily bread includes everything required to meet our earthly needs, such as food, drink, clothing, home, property, employment, necessities; devout parents, children, and communities; honest and faithful authorities, good government, seasonable weather, peace, health, an orderly society, a good reputation, true friends and neighbors, and the like.

In Biblical terms ABUNDANCE=DAILY BREAD.

And where it’s lacking, it isn’t due to a deficiency in God’s creation, but a deficiency in His creatures, His human creatures, the ones intended to be Creation’s caretakers, the ones made in the image of God whose fall into sin impacted the entire Creation over which it was to have dominion.

It’s the condition of sin with which the whole human race is afflicted at birth and from which only Christ can free us--and then only fully in eternity--that lay behind so many people getting their daily bread from God.

Famine and starvation, for example, are problems rooted in human sin. If those who have shared with those who haven’t more completely, including sharing technologies, no one on earth would go hungry.

Wars are the result of the human unwillingness to give a little.

It should also be evident that even many natural disasters are either the result of or are exacerbated by human sin. Climate change, which made the recent horrors brought to Texas by Hurricane Harvey worse, all the result of the hellish pursuit of more and of conspicuous consumption. Bad weather itself results from human sin, since the whole universe has been screwed up by the fall of the species who were meant to take care of it.  

In Romans 8:22, Paul writes that, “...the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time,” awaiting the final consummation of God’s plans in Christ. Christ will return, the old creation will be no more and the new creation--of which those who follow Jesus in this imperfect world are the “early adopters” who will populate the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)--will be brought in its fullness for all who have loved Christ’s appearing (2 Timothy 4:8).

Whether I am wealthy, poor, or of the middle class, I must not be dazzled by the finite wealth of this dying world!

I must use whatever wealth I possess not just for my own daily bread, but with gratitude to God for Christ’s cross and empty tomb and all the promises I have as I follow Him, learn to give. This is how the abundant life is lived.

Respond: Lord, in Your Word, You declare, “...my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). And sometimes, as one of Your departed saints, Rich Mullins, wrote, You are “hard to get.” But, Lord, help me to live the abundant life You have in mind for me and all of Your people, a life of usefulness and gratitude, of giving what I can from whatever means I have. Help me to be grateful for my daily bread and not to covet what others have. And where others lack daily bread, help me to do what I can to see that they have it. In Jesus’ name.

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

The Blessed Life

Matthew 5:1-12
The beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-12, our gospel lesson for today, are often misunderstood. They're often seen as a list of virtues we need to pursue. But that isn't really what they're about at all.

In them, Jesus isn’t saying, “Act this way and you’ll be saved.” Instead, He’s saying, “Because You have been saved by God’s grace through faith in Me, this is how You’ll be set free to live.”

The beatitudes show us what disciples set free from sin, death, and the darkness of this world, look like.

Disciples, Jesus will say repeatedly to us today, lead blessed lives. Scholars tell us that the word we translate as blessed, makarios, means to be favored by God. This blessed life is connected to having faith in the God we meet in Christ. To live in a faith relationship with Christ is to be blessed, now and in eternity. That doesn't mean that everything in this life will go well. Remember that Jesus has told us: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

But in Revelation 14:13, part of John’s vision of heaven, we’re also told: “‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.’”

According to Jesus, the blessed life depends entirely on faith in Him. So, let’s look at Jesus’ portrait of how He blesses the lives of disciples.

Matthew writes: “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. He said: ’Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”

When people spoke of being poor in first century Judea, just like today, it meant to be without, to be impoverished or beggarly. But Jesus here (unlike in Luke’s gospel, where Jesus' sermon on the plain is recorded) says that those who are "poor in spirit” are the blessed ones. What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”?

It means to be utterly dependent on God’s grace. It means to have no pretense of personal perfection.

In a parable in Luke 18, Jesus shows what unpretentious dependence on God's grace this looks like. Two men go to the temple. One is a Pharisee, who tells God: “I thank You I’m not like other people,” then goes on to catalog all the rotten things other people do and lists the good things he does. But Jesus says that in the temple is a tax collector, a member of a class of people known for their shifty ways and their vast wealth. The tax collector, Jesus says, is so humble before God that he can’t lift his eyes toward heaven and prays simply, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Jesus says in Luke 18:14: “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Despite his wealth, the tax collector was “poor in spirit.” We are poor in spirit when we recognize that we’re nothing without God, that we desperately need the crucified and risen Jesus to justify our existences.

Arrogance leads to hell; humble faith in Christ yields everlasting life with God.

Verse 4: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

The word translated as comforted is, in the original Greek in which Matthew wrote, paraklethesontai. It means to come close beside or to call, encourage, or exhort from nearby. To me, it brings to mind the image of a coach like John Wooden, his hand on the shoulder of a player, either exhorting him to do better or encouraging him to buck up under the weight of it all.

This word translated as comforted is related to one of the words that Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit, Paraclesis, the Comforter.

When disciples grieve over loved ones lost (or over any loss), the Holy Spirit comforts them with the promises of God, promises authenticated by Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Promises like: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." [Deuteronomy 31:6]

Or, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” [John 11:25-26]

Christians grieve their losses, of course. But we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” [1 Thessalonians 4:13] Even in our mourning, we are blessed, favored, by the reality that the Savior in Whom we trust has secured everlasting life for all who turn from sin and follow Him. That’s true comfort!

Verse 5: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

The word translated as meek doesn’t mean weak. To be meek is to be gentle, reserved, to exhibit God’s strength under God's control. Picture a jet engine that possesses enormous power. But that power is harnessed for the the purpose of carrying people or goods from one place to another. Jet engines are, except in tragic situations, subject to the will and the dictates of the pilots who fly them and the engineers who design them.

Meekness is like that. Jesus' disciples--you and I who believe in Jesus Christ--are filled with the power of God. But God calls us to only use that power for His purposes, according to God's will.

When the meek brag, it's only to brag about how good God is. Paul exhibits meekness in 2 Corinthians 11:30 when he writes: “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” Paul knew that God shines through, not our arrogance, but our weaknesses.

The meek don’t bully or gossip. They don’t need to play those games: The meek are confident of their place in God’s kingdom because they know what Christ has done for them and they place their total trust in Christ.

The meek look out for others because they know that God is already looking out for them.

Our world, our country, and our churches would be better off if there were more people who lived out the meekness of Christian discipleship.

Verse 6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

There is nothing a disciple of Jesus Christ more craves than being in a right relationship with the God revealed in Jesus. It's to give us and to keep giving to us that relationship that Jesus tells us to “repent and believe in the good news” of new life through Him. [Mark 1:15]

It’s why daily repentance and renewal--daily midcourse correction--is to be part of the Christian’s life.

Those who hunger and thirst for rightness with God pray with the psalmist: “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” [Psalm 25:4-5]

This is the disciple's prayer because disciples want nothing to stand between them and God. In Psalm 73:25, Asaph confesses to God: “earth has nothing I desire besides you.”

This is why a daily quiet time with God, in which we repent for our sins, read and reflect on God’s Word as it applies to us each day, and ask for God’s help has become like breathing for many Christians. It helps to satisfy the disciple’s longing for God!

Verse 7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

To be merciful is to be compassionate, living in the light of what God has done for us in Christ. The disciple says, “Because God is eternally merciful to me through Jesus Christ, I will be merciful to my neighbor.”

Verse 8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Disciples pray with King David: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” [Psalm 51:10] To be pure in heart is to be a sinner covered in the forgiveness God makes available to us only through Jesus.

Disciples know the truth of Acts 4:12, which says of Jesus: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Verse 9: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

From the perspective of heaven, a peacemaker isn’t someone who negotiates the ends of wars, important though that is. A peacemaker isn't someone who refuses to argue because, truly, there are some things worth arguing about.

To understand what Jesus means when He talks about being a peacemaker, we have to understand the Bible's understanding of peace.

Peace, or shalom in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, eirene in the Greek of the New Testament, is peace with God.

To have peace is to be in sync with God and His will.

We lay down our rebellion against God’s will.

We accept the Lordship of Jesus over our lives.

We accept that, as our Maker and Redeemer, the God we know in Jesus has every right to tell us what do in our relationships, our work, our leisure, our money, even our sex lives.

Peacemakers are ambassadors for Christ. One scholar says that a peacemaker “bravely declares God’s terms [for peace] which makes a person whole.”

Those terms are simple: Repent and believe in Christ.

Paul says that God “has committed to us the message of reconciliation [or peace with God]. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” [2 Corinthians 5:19-20] Peacemakers are evangelists, witnesses for Christ. That’s what peacemakers do.

Verses 10 to 12 tell us: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

It seems a strange thing for Jesus to say that we are blessed or enjoy God’s favor when we’re persecuted. We think that we’re blessed when everything goes our ways. But sometimes the things we want, the things that we’re sure are what’s best for us, aren’t the things that God says are best for us. “‘...My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD” in Isaiah 55:8.

Our ways are often easy, selfish, self-destructive.

But God’s ways always lead us life, to becoming our better selves. Jesus calls disciples to take an eternal view of things.

“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Jesus asks [Matthew 16:26]

The world may applaud or even reward people for being self-promoting egotists. But all the money and security this world may give to those looking out for number one will vanish the moment we draw our last breaths.

And eternity is a terrible place to go without God!

Sometimes, those who follow Jesus are persecuted or put down for their faith. They may lose their lives. They may have to make sacrifices of their time, money, or status with others. They may run into opposition when they tell others about Christ, read God’s Word, pray in public places, stand against injustice, fight on behalf of those who can’t fight for themselves, feed or house the homeless, or welcome those hated by others. But Peter, one of the first to hear Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, writes: “...if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.” [1 Peter 2:20]

Disciples know that the God Who has saved us from sin and death through Jesus Christ will have the final say in our lives. We are blessed!

Let’s pray each day that God will help us to display God’s grace and goodness through lives devoted to loving God, loving neighbor, sharing Christ, and making disciples. Around here, we call all of that reaching up, reaching in, and reaching out. That’s the blessed life for which Christ has saved us.

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. This was the message during worship this morning.]

Building on Christ Isn't Easy

Christ tells us that wise people build their lives on Him.

That makes sense. Christ is, after all, God in the flesh. God alone can give life. And God designed us in His image, meaning that He clearly has a better idea about how to live optimally than we do.

He also went to a cross and rose from the dead to eliminate the power of sin over our lives. When we trust in Christ, building our lives on Him, He gives us life with God that lasts for eternity. We can also enjoy His presence with us in the midst of the pain of this imperfect world.

But as deeply as I believe these truths, they aren't easy to live out. Not. At. All.

The world says, "Follow your heart," "Trust your instincts," or "Think it through." Sometimes, I believe those messages myself. And there are places for our hearts, instincts, and brains, of course. The God we know in Christ gave these gifts to us too.

Yet, we need to be wary of our hearts, instincts, and thoughts. The reason is simple: The Bible insists that our whole beings are born captive to sin and death. Left to our own devices, sin darkens and distorts everything we think and feel and sense. "There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death," Proverbs 14:2 says.

This is why Jesus tells us to build our lives on Him, to follow Him, to trust in Him. Our Creator and Savior needs to be our true north, the One Who can lead us into life with God, away from death and separation from God.

Life is hard.

And often it seems that we could make our lives a little easier by using other foundations--our own impulses, the standards of the world, the stuff of the world. Maybe our lives would be easier if we built our lives on those things. In fact, it almost certainly would. "To get along," my cynical grandfather used to advise me, "you have to go along." "Eat, drink, and be merry," the unimaginative lot who think the world must end with a ride in the hearse tell us.

But, given the witness that Jesus rose from the dead, how much good will our getting along and going along do us when we face the Lord Who called us to lives of significance when He said, "Follow Me"?

One of the reasons we crave easier lives in this world is that we know, deep in our psyches, that life lived under the shadows of sin, death, alienation, and darkness isn't what we were made for. We know that we're meant for more than simply slogging along in a world that can be "nasty, brutish, and short." We're meant for full, abundant, joyous life with God that never ends.

To get that kind of life in eternity and to gain those wonderful foretastes of it that God offers to those who believe in Christ through things like His Word, the sacraments, and the fellowship of the Church, means saying no to the things God says are harmful to our souls (you can find those in the ten commandments, among other places in the Bible) and say yes to His freeing love.

True confession: Sometimes I suspect that I know better than God. Many times. Lots of times. I struggle with God a lot. (In the Old Testament, Jacob wrestled with God. Compared to me though, Jacob is a nobody in the wrestling with God biz. I'm a WWF superstar.) The path God seems to have marked out for me isn't always my first choice. But God has called me to trust that He actually knows more than I do and that though His ways aren't my ways, His ways lead to real life. My ways, by contrast, lead to death.

In my heart of hearts, it's life with God that I want.

God, uncloud my heart. Clear away the garbage of self-will and of death and help me to build my life on You.

"Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." (Psalm 51:10-12)