2003 Issue 1 - On the Christian and Wealth - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 2003 Issue 1 - On the Christian and Wealth - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Restoring Christian Wealth:

n the Christian

and Wealth

Brian Abshire Ph.D.

Chapter

one i

Brian

b s h i r e ~

unpublished

book (Wealth

and

Poverty:

Restoring

Christian

Wealth)J new

chapter

will appear in

each

future issue.

iscussing wealth and poverty can be tricky

in Christian circles.

On

the one

hand

are the

"health, wealth and prosperity" heretics who

sucker the gullible with deviant theology

in

order to

prosper themselves at the expense

of

their "pigeons."

On

the other

hand, pietism and neo-gnosticism

have so subtly inf1ltrated the

modern evangelical church that

many Christians have unwittingly

adopted unbiblical presuppositions

on

the issue. "Pietism"

is

the belief

that the essence of true Christianity

is

a private, personal and subjective

religious experience, personally

meaningfully,

but

socially irrelevant.

Hence, pietism has little to say about the "real" world,

especially

how

to achieve material blessings in it.

"Neo-Gnosticism" is an ancient offshoot

of

Greek

philosophy that sees matter

as

inherently bad and

spirit

as

inherently

good

(with the idea that the

path

to true godliness is through secret knowledge). Thus,

any concern about prosperity in this life

is

simply

"unspiritual," "worldly"

or

even "sinful " No, far better

to

spend our time poring over

our

prophecy charts

trying to discern the next candidate for the anti-Christ

than waste one's time

on

filthy "mammon."

As a result, many Christians implicitly believe that the

richer one is, the less holy one must be. Yet, because

the average American Christian is actually quite

affluent, they often suffer a vague sense

of

guilt and

a type

of

spiritual "schizophrenia." While most will

never do anything to change their affluent lifestyle,

they do

support

Christian schools, colleges and

seminaries where their kids are indoctrinated into

various forms of socialism; i.e., contempt for the very

economic mechanisms that allowed their children

to

go to an expensive private school

in

the first place.

Christians are thus whipped-sawed back and forth,

as

they try

to

live righteous lives in an unrighteous

world. Some become affluent, and then do

not

know

how to handle the prosperity; others are consumed

with materialism and live only for the comforts and

pleasures

of

this life. Some use the wealth

God

gave

them to fund charities, colleges and seminaries (not

to mention politicians) that capitalize

on

their sense

of

guilt

but

promote godless philosophies.

nd

there

are those who recognize the serious warnings in

Scripture about loving wealth, who live desperately

close to the financial edge and condemn themselves

and their children to a lifetime

of

hard, unrewarding

labor "digging in the dirt."

Yes, there is

in

Scripture a lot

of

concern for the poor (and

the Christian's responsibility

for them)

as

well as the dangers

of placing one's trust in wealth.

Jesus Himself said that we would

always have the

poor

with us and

specifically gave the parable of

the foolish rich man who planned

only for this world and

not

the

next. Clearly, the Scriptures tell us

that the saints will sometimes suffer affliction in this

life. Furthermore, "Christian" socialists will point

to

"communalism" early in the Book

of

Acts suggesting

that private property

is

somehow less than optimal

for the covenant community. Furthermore, the

Apostle Paul specifically warns about those who want

to get rich in this life, and so fall into the snare of the

devil and reminds Timothy that the love

if J J O l ~ is a

root if all sorts if evil 1 Tim

6:9-10).

However, I will argue throughout this

book

that

when

Scripture puts wealth in a bad light,

it is

addressing

the fundamental problem

of

wicked

men

seeking

riches and power for their own personal glory, rather

than for the Kingdom and glory

of

God. Yes, indeed

there are real warnings that must be taken seriously

about

men who

place their trust and confidence

in

wealth;

but

we will also see that

if

we have

our

hearts

right, and we are seeking the Kingdom, then God can

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Oil

the Chlistiall alld

Wealth

and normally will bring prosperity to us.

What many Christians seem to miss are all those verses

that promise earthly prosperity because

of

faithful

covenantal living. This is NOT the "name

it

and claim

it"

New

Age theology of Napoleon Hill

et

a/, but rather

the clear reward

of

covenantal faithfulness found in

Deuteronomy 28;

God

vows to prosper His people

materially

if

they will obey His

Law.

The Proverbs

are full of references to God physically blessing His

people (c just for a start, consider Proverbs 12:9, 10:

22,11:4,15:6,19:4-7,22:7,22:1,22:4

etc.). A recurring

theme in

Old

Testament narrative literature is God

blessing the wombs, bread bowls, and flocks (hence

the wealth) of His people; and then taking all these

away when they are rebellious to Him. nd

in

the

New

Testament, Jesus said that

if

we seek first His kingdom,

and His righteousness, that all "these things" would be

given to us (Matt

6:33).

Paul

says

much

the same thing

in Romans 8:32,

He JJlho did flat spare His

OJJl l

5ott bllt

delivered Him tip for ti

all, hOJJl JJlil1

He

not

JJlith Hilll

freefy

give

tf

all things?

Clearly, the "all things"

that

bothJesus and

His apostle promise includes material prosperity.

Now, we can try

to

spiritualize all these promises

of

physical blessings

away,

but then we risk falling into that

neo-Gnostic heresy we mentioned earlier. The second

century church (and beyond) was deeply affected by

Greek philosophy and, as noted above, that philosophy

in various forms continues to exert a subtle but often

powerful influence

on

us to this

day.

But consider this; the effects of the atonement are not

just "spiritual"; they reach out

to

affect every aspect

of

creation. Let us never forget that

God

so loved the

WORLD

that He gave His only begotten Son. The

Greek word translated "world" in John 3:16

is

kosmos,

which means "system

or

pattern of things." t refers

not just to people

IN

the world, but the whole

of

the

present creation Thus,

God

redeems not just certain

sinful men in creation, but His entire creation

as

well

(cf. Rms. 8:19f)

Therefore, in the normal course

of

events,

as

the effects

of the atonement begin to influence every area of life,

we ought to expect that God will bless His people

pl?}sicalfy as well as spiritually. A personal God governs

this world and, through redemption, restores to

it

what

our sin took from it. nd thus over time, generally

speaking (with exceptions duly noted), we ought to see

increasing material prosperity for His people

as

they

14

the

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both learn to live in humble submission to Him, and

as

He blesses and prospers their labor.

Let me see if I can

put

this a slightly different way.

Every Christian would agree that the gospel changes

not just a man's heart, but also his entire life

as

well.

A liar who comes to faith in Christ becomes a truth

teller (Eph 4:25). A man full

of

anger

who

comes to

faith in Christ learns how to control his temper and

solve his problems (Eph

4:26).

A thief

who

comes

to

faith in Christ no longer steals, but becomes a hard

worker (Eph 4:28) and a giver to other men. Immoral

men, under the tutelage and power of the Holy Spirit

become, self-controlled moral

men

(Gal

5:19-24).

As

the gospel transforms the inner man, the effects of

regeneration flow from there to change every aspect

of

him.

In

fact, if a man's life is

NOT

changed after

becoming a Christian, we might rightly question

whether

in

fact he has become a Christian Christian

men do not live lives

of

willful rebellion, immorality,

self-indulgence, etc. The gospel changes a man's heart,

but it also changes the way

he

relates to others - his

family, his friends, and his work.

Now

if

we can show that God has promised in

Scripture a connection between certain behaviors

on

our part, and His blessing us economically, should we

not then expect financial prosperity to be a common

occurrence amongst His people? Take for example a

drunkard converted to faith in Christ who

then

sobers

up.

He no

longer sits around in a drunken stupor.

He

no longer is fired from jobs for poor performance,

showing up late or being incapacitated by a "hangover."

Instead, once he sobers up,

he

starts to work diligently

and conscientiously at his job.

He

no longer wastes

precious, limited assets

on

booze. He starts to get his

household in order because he can now make decisions

wisely, and "soberly." nd

if

he does all these things,

how can his economic situation NOT improve? Where

before his life was one of dissipation and excess, it

is

now one of industry and temperance; he can now hold

down a job and support his wife and children, who now

respect and look up

to

him. Where before there was

guilt, there is

now

confidence before God. In short, the

gospel changes EVERY

part of

his life. Granted,

not

every man

who

comes to faith in Christ starts at the

same economic level

as

the drunkard. But they do start

at the same moral level, a life of self-orientation. Sin

has consequences for every area

of

life, including our

economic situation.


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the

Chn stiall lld 7ealth

Of

course, there are times when

God

allows His

people to undergo trials, persecution, affliction and yes,

even poverty. But

as

we will show, these are unusual

situations, and the

norm

ought to be quite different.

In

fact,

to

the contrary, an argument can be made

that

if

a Christian finds that God

is

NOT blessing his

economic situation, it MAY be an indication that there

is

something seriously wrong.

f

God's Word promises

us THIS,

if

we do THAT, and

if

we are

not

receiving

the promised THIS then, logically, we must

not

have

been doing whatever

TH T

it was He commanded us

to do.

t is

not

God

who failed us.

It

is we who failed

God.

nd as

we shall see,

God

does make a direct

connection between certain actions

on

our

part

and

His material blessings.

Perhaps we can illustrate the blessings that flow from

the gospel using my doctoral studies

on

the effects

of

religious beliefs

on

social structures. As an addition to

my dissertation

in

the sociology of religion, I included

some observations

of

the differences

that same hospital were victims

of

gunshot wounds

from feuds).

Biblical Christianity

is

what makes the

profound

economic difference between Pagan and Christian.

The

Pagans believe in animism; tha t various demonic spirits

control every aspect

of

life. They see no connection

between work and prosperity and believe,

as an

article

of

religious faith, that the key to a

good

harvest is

propitiating the local spirits (see my essay, "Paganism

and Social Progress in Africa" for more details).

Therefore, they buy an expensive bottle

of

"magic"

juice and hang i t in the fields

to

ward

off

the demons.

Things like weeding, watering and fertilizing the fields

are never even considered and in fact ridiculed

How

could water ward

off

a demon

Christians

on

the other

hand

have been freed from

slavery

to

the demonic and the first generation has

learned that work

is

good. Therefore, they weed and

fertilize their fields, make sure the

that conversion to Christ makes in

the economic life

of

new converts

in Africa. For example, the Christian

Zulus

of

Tagula Ferry, KwaZulu,

Natal, South Africa

go

from desperate

poverty

to

economic dominion in their

communities

}}Jithin om geJ1eration

just

because they embrace the gospel.

if Christian finds

that God

is NOT

crops are watered regularly and evenly;

and because they work, the Christian

fields flourish while Pagan ones dry up.

For Pagans, cow manure is "holy" and

used to pave the floor

of

their huts; the

Christians take the manure and use

it

to

restore fertility to their fields.

The

Christians plant fruit trees that give

them a profitable cash crop; the Pagans

are afraid

to

do

so because they believe

blessing

his

econom-

ic situation it

MAY

be an

indication that

there

is

something

seriously wrong

You can literally see the difference I

even have pictures ) that Christianity

makes

in

bringing material prosperity to this little

village where Christians and Pagans live side-by-side -

in the same environment with the same resources and

opportunities.

The

government brought in irrigation a

number of years ago so that the fields could be watered.

Yet, the Pagan fields are barren dustbowls, overgrown

with weeds, producing only a few straggling stalks

of

corn, the staple food.

The

Christians however have lush

fields, neatly laid out, weed free and producing enough

food to feed

both

communities. Pagan children are

routinely treated for malnutrition in the local hospital.

The

doctors there stated emphatically that, in twenty

years, they had never seen Christian children admitted

because

of

lack

of

food. Furthermore, Christian

children are getting an education and improving their

economic situation over their parent's generation

while the pagan children are being trained in the more

traditional Zulu cultural activity; war (apart from a small

ward

of

tuberculosis patients, ALL the

men

treated

in

demons inhabit the trees and will afflict

their children.

Furthermore,

if

by some miracle

of

God's grace the

Pagans

DO

manage to get a

good

crop occasionally,

the owner of the field will walk through with his

knobkerrie stick, smacking down the corn, lest he

become

too

prosperous and make the ancestor spirits

jealous

who

will then curse him. Christian Zulus

understand something about the nature of the world

that their Pagan neighbors

do

not; they then conform

their actions to the way

God

made the world

to

operate

and are

now

blessed.

The

Pagans live in superstition

and starve.

This incredible economic difference between the

two communities in the first generation

of

Christian

conversion ought

to

highlight the real-world applications

of

Biblical promises. We forget that Christianity in the

West has

had

two thousand years

of

influence

on

our

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the

Ch'7stiall

and Wealth

culture; even ungodly

men borrow

Biblical concepts

and practices, often without realizing that they came

from God

In

fact, let me go even further, if you see

a

man who

is wealthy and prosperous in his calling

(and did

not

achieve

it

through deception

or

theft) I

will argue that he

is

following and applying Biblical

principles, whether he realizes it or not

Modern Christians have

too short a memory, and

have been indoctrinated with too

much

humanism to

appreciate that without Christ all

of

us would be living

in

squalid poverty and slavery, just

as

our ancestors

did before the gospel came to our pagan cultures.

There would be a few wealthy

at

the top, oppressing

everyone else beneath them.

When

I preached before

Zulu congregations, they got a real kick

out

of me

telling them that two thousand years ago, my Scottish

ancestors lived in

mud

huts, painted their bodies blue

and were known for being wicked savages raiding the

"civilized" English south of the border. They really

roared when they learned that Hadrian's Wall was the

first attempt at "apartheid;" i.e.,

as

a means

of

keeping

the barbaric Scots up

North

where they belonged

The

experience

of

all Christendom since the first

century has been a gradual

but

significant economic

improvement over time, as the gospel extends out from

the inner man to affect every area of his life.

The

entire

progress of Western civilization since Constantine

formally declared the Roman Empire to be subject to

King Jesus in 325

D

is clearly an example of

God

blessing His people socially and economically

as

a

fulfillment of the covenant promises of Deuteronomy

28. Social, political and economic principles inherent

within a consistent understanding and application

of

the gospel have transformed tyrannical, enslaved and

poverty stricken societies into free and prosperous

nations for generation after generation (see the book

based

on

my doctoral studies, "Theology

as

Social

Philosophy" for

how

this

is

can be illustrated from

American history).

Thus, the gospel changed Scotland, England,

Switzerland, Germany

and

other nations.

The

gospel

built America and her unique prosperity. And the

gospel of Jesus Christ redeems

not

just the odd soul

here and there from the slavery

of

sin

but

also, when

applied to every area of life, brings great material

blessings. Granted, the last hundred years have seen

some serious defeats for the Church of Christ (and one

need look no further than our own covenant breaking

6 the COUNSEL

ofCH LCEDON

to see the reason);

but who

knows what great victories

may be just around the corner?

f

God

does promise material blessings to His covenant

people, why then does the New Testament seem to

spend so much time and so much concern for the

poor

and afflicted? I would argue that in context,

most of

the

verses so often used to justify "poverty," are writ ten to

Christians going through unusual periods

of

trials e.g.,

the persecution

of

the Church by

both

apostate Israel

and Rome during the first century). This was a major

transition time

in

Biblical revelation; the gospel was

going out from one particular nation, to bless the entire

world as had been promised to Abraham thousands

of

years before). f one assumes that these Christians

knew their Bibles (which for them would have been

the Old Testament), they would have understood that

God

had promised that the blessings of the covenant

would flow from the inner man to affect every area

of their lives. It

is

quite understandable then that the

New Testament would go to great pains to address

their current distress and reassure them; "No, you are

not

being cursed; these are unusual times. Endure and

you will

be

blessed.

Even

though

God

has promised to

bless you

in

the long term, temporary affliction

is

also

a

part of

his plan."

The book of

First Peter especially should be

understood this

way.

When Peter says, do not be

smplised t

the fiery ordeal aJllol1gyol/ 4:12) he is referring

to specific prophecies concerning the "last days"

of

the

Jewish dispensation

when God had

promised to bring

His wrath against Jerusalem cf. Matt

24:1ff).

Jewish

Christians were about to experience a great upheaval; the

holy city would

be

destroyed and Christians were about

to be scattered over all the earth e.g., you can already

see this happening

as

early

as

Acts 8:1). Therefore, they

needed to be encouraged to persevere through this

most

difficult time,

not

to give up hope and to endure

despite harsh circumstances (and historically, Christians

remembered the words of our Lord, and fled Jerusalem

just before the Roman armies destroyed it).

However, generalizing Peter's comments to apply to

the entire church, throughout her entire time

on

earth

is simply invalid and inappropriate; furthermore, it

is

inaccurate.

Yes,

we have endured times

of

trial

and affliction (just think of what our ancestors went

through during the great Reformation). Yet, Christians

made it through tl10se tough times and God has since

greatly blessed His church and His people. Think


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011

the

Chlistiall a/ld Wealth

about the incredible prosperity, wealth, convenience

and luxury Western nations have enjoyed over the

past three hundred years and ask yourself,

Can

God

hating, covenant-breaking sinners actually make life

BETTER?"

f

not, where did that prosperity come

from?

f

you answered,

God

then give yourself a pat

on

the back. Now, ask yourself the question, "Why did

God

bless us in the past?" Once you discover why

God

blessed them, you can then ask

what

YOU have to do

to receive the very same blessings

Yes,

we are

now

in a very sad time for the Christian

faith, and Western nations are risking their economic

prosperity, as did ancient Israel. Yet,

if

God's people,

who are called by His name, humble themselves, and

pray, and seek His face and turn from their wickedness,

He

will hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal

our

lands

2

Chrn 7:14).

N ow I freely admit that the above thesis may need to

be proved by some, rather than assumed,

miss them? t is true that many

of

my generation

had

parents who suffered through the Great Depression,

and started life in some cases, literally with nothing.

The

parents

had

little capital to invest in their children's

future (and therefore could not give them an economic

"leg-up" in the world) and therefore many of us started

behind the economic power curve. But the Depression

was

75

years ago, followed by irregular

but

ultimately

upward economic growth. Why then, two generations

later, are so many Christians still living as

if

they were

economically depressed?

The

problem is far more

common

than one might think.

Over the past twenty years as a pastor, I have found

that a considerable number of Christians, though they

do

not

necessarily live in abject poverty, nevertheless

struggle just

to

make ends meet. Stretched to the

breaking point,

all it

would take is a slight economic

downturn

to

destroy the very fabric

of

their lives

and cost

them

everything - their savings, house, car,

furniture, etc. A significant number of

but that

is not

our focus here (for

more information, please see my book

Rst01ing

Chnstian Civilizatioll .

Instead, let

us be a bit more practical;

if

God,

in the

normal course

of

events, does promise

to

bless His people economically as

well as spiritually, then why do so many

Christians today struggle financially?

Is there a reason why some Christians

are prosperous and affluent,

but

others

s there reason

why some Christians

are

prosperous and

affluent

but others

barely make

ends

meet

Christians are no better than economic

slaves; having such incredible consumer

debt that a significant amount

of

their

time, energy and effort has

to

go to

please their masters at the bank, credit

union or loan company. How and why

does this occur?

And

more importantly,

is there anything that can be done about

it?

barely make ends meet?

Now

let us leave aside for a

moment

those

who

are

being afflicted by the sovereign will

of

God, or those

living under socialist regimes, (or in pagan cultures

where the gospel has

not

yet had time to transform

the society).

And

yes, there are those even in Western

nations who are persecuted for their faith or being

tested and refined by suffering. All these Christians fall

into a special category.

But instead, let us focus for a bit

on

those Christians

who live in a wealthy land where the gospel HAS had

a significant sociological effect and therefore they have

had every opportunity to become prosperous but they

are still living

on

the precipice

of

financial disaster.

Granted, being wealthy in and

of

itself is

NOT

an

indication that

God

is happy with someone, but

if God

DOES

promise economic blessings to those faithful

to the covenant, why

do

so many Christians seem to

This little book

is

written to answer

just these questions.

It

is not

what

one

might call a "serious" academic study on economics,

but rather more

of

a practical handbook

on

what God

says

about the Christian and wealth from the book

of

Proverbs. I did

not

write this for economists,

or

those making a six figure salaries

who

need investment

advice; but rather for you. That's right, I said YOU

You know, the guy with a mortgage, and car payments,

who

struggles each month to pay all the bills and whose

idea

of

eating out includes talking into a clown's face. I

want to help the Christian who sincerely wants to obey

God,

but

somehow seems to have missed the blessings.

Let's figure out what

went

wrong, and what needs

to

be changed.

Let me be blunt. Normally when I

meet

Christians

having a hard time economically, they have acted like

fools in the past and are suffering the consequences.

They

do not

seem to understand the connection

between their lifestyle, their values, their daily practices,

the

COUNSEL of CH LCEDON

17


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t ;e

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and their lack

of

prosperity. They sometimes flagrantly

violate the wisdom

God

gives in the Proverbs, and then

wonder why

He

does

not

bless them.

Now

the problem

is

that

most

pastors

do not

spend a

lot of

time talking about these kinds

of

issues (apart

from those heretics we mentioned earlier).

The

only

time you ever hear the average pastor talk about money,

it

is to convince you to support some

pet

project. But

how can people support God's work,

if

tlley themselves

are struggling just to make ends meet?

nd if

the

pastor

is not

teaching God's principles of finances, how

will people ever learn what

God expects them to do,

so that

He

can bless them? Consequently, the average

Christian has never been taught to see finances from a

Biblical perspective.

It

seems to me that Christians need

help to understand why

God

is keeping them

on

the

edge financially and what they need

to

do differently

to

achieve His blessings.

Thus, after some preliminary considerations, we will

examine various Proverbs that illustrate oft-neglected

principles

of

economic dominion.

t

the end

of

each

chapter, I will include other relevant Proverbs for you

to

meditate

on

and consider.

But

let us remember,

intellectual understanding is only the first step;

if

we

want to receive the blessings we have

to

actually apply

the information to

our

lives. This

book

CAN literally

change your life,

IF

you are willing to

DO

what

God

requires. Seriously, isn't it really a

lot

easier to obey

God

and be blessed than to live

in

frustration, pain,

stress and worry? Not for a

moment am

I promising

you riches or five easy steps to becoming wealthy.

But I am promising you God's blessings,

if

you read,

understand and apply God's principles. Now, read on.

Proverbs for

Further Study

22:4 The relvord

of hlltlliliry

and

the

fear

of the

Lord are

17 ches, hOllor

and life .

..

J

15:6 Milch

lvealth

is ill the

hot/se

of the lighteolls,

bllt trol/ble

ill

the

income

of

the lvicked. J

19:4 '1f7ealth

adds IJItlI )1 fiiends,

bllt a poor

l1Jall is sepamled

from

his

J;ieJ1d. J

The Rev.

Brian

M.

Abshire,

B. A., M. A.,

Th.M., PhD. )

lives in Spokane, \VA where he pastors Highlands

Reformed Presbyterian Church. He has been married to

Elaine for 24 years and has six children.

8

he

COUNSEL

of

CHALCEDON

THE NEW

S O l J T I ~ I R N

PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW

www.chalcedon.org/review

2003 Issue 1 - On the Christian and Wealth - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Transcript of 2003 Issue 1 - On the Christian and Wealth - Counsel of Chalcedon