Tag: money

Devoted?

🔎 Focus

‌“The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you haven’t been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches? And if you haven’t been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Luke 16:10–13 NET

‌You cannot serve God and money. Money is the translation for the Aramaic word mammon. Mammon can be defined as an abundance of material possessions and resources. Mammon can also be defined as wealth and riches.

‌‌✟ Devotion

‌When we read this passage (or its parallel in Matthew 6:24), we tend to get hung up on money. A lot of that has to do with the hard decisions translation teams have to go through balancing equivalency, adequacy, and length. When we expand our understanding to that which is beyond money, we can see a bigger picture.

‌For decades, the US (and other so-called first world nations) have sent their cast-offs to other nations.

You Can Have It

‌An example is the standard tongue depressors in a doctor’s office (i.e., those big flat pieces of wood that look like large popsicle sticks). In the US, per government regulations, they have an expiration date, as do beds and other equipment. Depending on the item, and shipping costs, the expired items (perfectly functional) are sent to other nations, where they receive a second life.

‌This is wasteful. Yet, we often demand the latest and best, so such waste is a result of our demands. If such waste is reused, it can be considered okay in our culture, but such waste is also a love of stuff…the latest and greatest.

We Want More

‌We are deluged with advertisements for the latest smartphone that the mobile operator will give us for free (but we’re really paying for it in 24 monthly installments). Such ads and promos work because we love our stuff.

‌However, what if it really isn’t about stuff or even our love of it? What if we tweaked it a bit to recognize that while Jesus is talking about material goods and worldly wealth, it is all about our hearts?

Not Yours?

‌“…if you haven’t been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you your own?”

‌The often used parallel is that it is all God’s, and as God gave it to us, we are using God’s property. It’s not just about an employer or shareholder or spouse or family, it’s about God.

Your True Mammon

Tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) is the beginning of Lent. It is a time set aside to deliberatively think about where our lives are not in line with God’s and to self-reflect on it. What, you may ask, does this have to do with mammon? The first resource that God gave you is…you. Your life on this earth is not only what you make of it, but what you give of it to God, and how you serve God with it.

‌🤔 Reflection

‌Have you ever given something to someone and watched them mistreat it or destroy it? How did that make you feel? How did you respond?

‌If indeed God gifted you yourself and your stuff, how do you think God feels about the mistreatment and destruction that God’s witnesses?

‌‌⏏️ Act

‌It has been said by many that your checkbook (or bank transactions) shows where your heart is. Yet, if you give all your worldly wealth to evangelism, compassionate care, building funds, to a local church, but you don’t give yourself, then are you where God has called you? Where do you shortcut giving yourself to God, and what small step will you take to fix it?

‌As Lent begins, you may or may not be giving up something. Regardless, think through what God gave up and how that applies to your life.

‌🙏 Prayer

‌‌Gracious God, you have given us so much, and we live in such a blessed state that we are now condemned to only see what we want to keep and what others have that we don’t. Help us to see your gifts as you want us to see them. Help us use your gifts as want us to use them. Guide us to see that these gifts are the extension of ourselves and the state of heart and the state of our relationship with you. Amen.

2024 02 13
Successfully Unsuccessful

Psalm 144; Song of Solomon 8:5–14; John 11:45–57 ISV

‌⁜Focus⁜

A great deal of water cannot extinguish love,
rivers cannot put it out.
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,
he would surely be viewed with contempt.
Song of Solomon 8:7 ISV

“…You don’t realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” Now he did not say this on his own initiative. As high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but that he would also gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
John 11:50–52 ISV

When we look at people’s lives and the result of their lives, we ought to be looking from God’s perspective rather than the world’s (or the earthly) perspective.

‌⁜Devotion⁜

‌The comparison trap is real. Are my kids as successful as yours? Are your kids as well-adjusted as mine? Is your career doing better (financial, influence) than mine?‌

It is an easy mental and emotional trap to fall into because others are the only way we believe we can measure our lives. There is, of course, a problem with that. Who decides what makes for success?‌

The world looks at tangible (money and stuff) and intangible (influence and power). God looks beyond even the intangible.‌

In many respects, God’s baseline measurement is based on nothing we’ve done, nor anything we can do. God’s measurements begin with Jesus.

‌The High Priest, Caiaphas, had prophesied the death of Jesus. Not a good marker of success for Jesus, or anyone. Death is rarely a measure of success, but of failure.

In the Song of Solomon, the bride says, “If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love, he would surely be viewed with contempt.” Jesus gave up the wealth of his house for love…his love for us.

The bride of Christ has long been a term used to describe the Church (as a whole). It is somewhat ironic, then, that the bride is saying such words, for Jesus is the groom. According to the bride’s words, then, Jesus is understandably viewed with contempt.

No one reading this, I hope, views Jesus with contempt, yet it seems that many Christians evaluate success in the lives of others, and in their own lives, based upon what the world views as success.

We will often hear that history is written by the victors, except that isn’t entirely true, for Jesus and those who followed him were the losers. Yes, Christianity did eventually win in the Western World. We can see how the church is growing outside of the Western world, where becoming a Christian is a losing proposition, and should question the definitions of success we’re using.

‌⁜Reflection⁜

‌What do you think of as success? Do you ever wonder if you are successful? Who/what are you allowing to define success for you?

‌‌⁜Act⁜

‌Talk to a believing peer and discover how they define success. Talk to a non-believer and discover how they define success.

‌⁜Prayer⁜

Lord Jesus, your birth, life, death, and resurrection break every human model of success. Holy Spirit guide our thoughts to success as you would have us define under the authority and wisdom of God, the Father. Amen.

2023 10 11
Too Busy To Live
Exodus 5:7-9; Romans 8:5-8, 12-17

Recently, there was a song going around the internet called the “Rich Men North of Richmond”. It mostly speaks to the anguish of a working man who is striving and working and is not making ends meet, and, yes, there are some digs that many are questioning, and sometimes just questioning those who are supporting the song.

There seems a lot of truth, or a lot of perception of that this is the truth, that below middle-class wage earners (and many middle-class ones, too) are working their fingers, bodies, souls, minds off to make ends meet. How many are the like the Hebrews at this point in Exodus, who are trying to make ends meet without a basic component previously supplied, and now not.

In a culture that has idolized working hard to the nth degree, why are we surprised that rest and worship are viewed as a measure of luxury and a sign of laziness. There is, of course, too much rest, but our culture, at this point, does not value rest.

COVID seemed to have reset the rest aspect, but we are now watching it fade away. Mindfulness and meditation apps were all the rage during COVID. It doesn’t seem so now. As worship, especially the type depicted in the Pentateuch of no normal work (arguments over what defines normal, aside), is not normal work (which, of course, is the point), it must be rest, and rest is not to be trusted.

As the culture turns away from organized faith, it appears to diminish and deride worship as well. We can see this among people who used to call the church a home. We know that the human body itself cannot function without rest. Neither can the human mind. Binge-watching television, youtube, or tiktok, isn’t resting, or relaxing. It is, in so many words, medicating. It is helping us bury our lack of rest.

I wonder if many people are so leery of rest and so leery of a set time of difference, that times of gathered singing, praise, prayer, and thoughts (i.e., sermon or homily), are to be avoided. It may be that we are watching even many of whom were thought to be Christian walk away from gathered worship because it is different. And we avoid the different, and different includes worship and rest.

Whether it is the drive to make money, for person or corporation, would have fill our lives with activity without rest, we can see that we do not value rest, and that we are no different than pharaoh and looking at rest and worship it’s nothing more than laziness.

We can see it in the old (in internet age) FOMO (fear of missing out) and YOLO (you only live once). FOMO has fear in its name. YOLO is really the same, just with a positive twist. It seems we almost might fear rest.

Whether we’re looking at the world or reading the Word, fear is not always fully understood (or desired to be understood). The fear noted in Romans may seem different that the fear of FOMO and YOLK, but the fear is still fear. The paarticular type of fear of YOLO and FOMO can lead to parents, meaning well, burying their children in activities so that they don’t miss out on something. What if my child is a hidden talent? What if my child is the greatest gift to humanity in something? They must know!

However, perhaps they are missing out on what is most needed, us. What if, too, we keep them busy because we are to fearful of rest? True rest.

⁜ Reflection ⁜
- How do you view and experience rest? How does worship (gathered singing, praise, prayer, and thoughts) fit into that?
- Who in your circle of influence do you see as needing rest? How can you encourage them to take rest?
- What activities in yourself and others do you see as attempting to be rest, but actually aren’t?
⁜ Prayer ⁜

Jesus, you didn’t call us to work to the bone. You called yourself the Lord of the Sabbath while telling your disciples that Sabbath was made for humanity. Help us to continue to recover what it means to rest as was intended for us, not for how we see it. Give us the courage to say, “no” and help us not self-condemn when we seek rest. Amen.
2023 09 03
Be Our Guest

Psalm 111; Exodus 24:1–11; Romans 15:22–33

If you were invited to a US presidential affair, you might be surprised. Unless you roam such circles or are connected to them, usually you won’t have any expectation of being invited to sit at the table with the president, unless, of course, you decide to contribute to their presidential campaign and pay a lot of money to eat mediocre food. It just isn’t going to happen.

? ┤If you were invited and accepted that invitation, how would you react to those seated with you? Would you be on “good” behavior? Would you be yourself? Would you be absolutely frozen? What if, the president came to your table and spoke with you? ├ ?

Most of us think that we would react just fine. Depending on which president or former president, we might even believe that we would correct them and “tell them the way it is.” We might.

The 70 elders ate with God. They saw the floor of God’s abode. We could just write it off as some religious experience, but that sounds pretty significant to just “write off”. In fact, writing it off is just like writing off Communion because Jesus isn’t right there. Yes, people do belittle Communion when they don’t recognize the presence of God. However, based upon how this verse is often overlooked, perhaps we’re writing off the presence of God altogether.

Yeah, I said “ouch” to myself, too.

One doesn’t “just” have a meal with God. Culturally, a meal is a safe place; it can even be a place of transparency. Eating with God. What an amazing experience!

? ┤Can you imagine eating with God? ├ ?

If you can’t, then think back to Communion. While our theology doesn’t have us literally eating the body and blood of Jesus, we are still eating with God. You eat a meal with God! Those 70 elders, and even Moses (!), will never experience what you—as a follower of Jesus—get to do regularly.

? ┤ Have you ever thought of Communion as eating a meal with God? ├ ?

At Communion, we will hear phrases as, “you are welcome” or “a guest at the table” or “God’s feast”, but do we really recognize that means that the master of ceremonies, the Creator of the Universe, the Word through whom all things were made, and for who all things were made, and the Spirit of God that gives us a life unlike any other…is eating with us?

※Prayer※

Gracious Father, we give You praise and thanks for Holy Communion of the body and blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, the means of our redemption. We pray that the mercies of God may produce in us a grateful heart that finds expression through holy living and perfect love to God and to people. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [The Eucharistic ending prayer for the Eucharist Under Special Circumstances, The Church Rituals Handbook, 2nd Edition, Jesse Middendorf]

2021 07 27
Burning Call
Psalm 145:10–18; 1 Kings 19:19–21; Colossians 1:9–14

One of the issues that has come up in the last year in church-ish circles is the ordination of women. Saddleback took a bold step and ordained women which went against the predominant grain of their partner body (SBC). There was an unexpected explosion in certain circles against Beth Moore. Along with misogynistic proclamations and male misconduct issues in the SBC, Moore left that body that she had grown up in.

One of the claims against women being ordained are some contextually misused verses and the traditions of the Israelites. The Church of the Nazarene has ordained women since its founding, but over the years has struggled to fulfill that promise. It’s on the right track, but there is work to be done, still.

There is often a wringing of hands in Christian Complementarianism (where only men can be leaders/pastors/elders) circles that there aren’t enough faithful men to fulfill empty roles. The Roman Catholic church, on top of its complementarian issues also requires celibacy, is also experiencing this problem. Some churches in both groups are finding creative ways around their limitations, but the reality is that there aren’t the faithful men needed.

For me, there were two transformative experiences in this regard. The first was experiencing the preaching of Dr. Nina Gunter. Any person with any spiritual sense and without theological blinders could experience her spirit-led preaching. The second was during my “Discovery” weekend of my pastoral journey, where I had to preach to my peers, senior pastor, and District Superintendent. I preached from Luke 19:38–40, where Jesus was told to rebuke his disciples. He responded, then the rocks will cry out. When I was praying over the words to preach, it came to me; God will not wait for us to proclaim God’s glory.

In other words, in the tradition of the Church of the Nazarene (and our sibling Holiness denominations) already assumed there were faithful women (and, yes, there are deeper theological reasons). I came to realize that complementarianism may actually already have its answer. If the men won’t rise, perhaps the women will (see Judges 4:4–9). Not the most Nazarene answer, at the time, but it resonated with my heart (and its implications went far beyond the ordination of women).

Faithfully responding to God has long been an issue. It goes beyond gender. It goes beyond status. It goes beyond wealth. It is a reflection of sin.

To understand, Elisha was, at minimum, plowing in a community, where people worked fields together (theirs and each others’). Some commentators believe that Elisha owned (or was the son of the owner of) all the oxen. That would be 24 oxen, so that would have been a lot of wealth (kind of like having 24 Jaguar cars). Elisha (and/or his family) owning 2 seems much more likely. That would still put him (in modern terms) in a very comfortable middle class.

Then some famous guy comes and puts his mantle (Elijah’s symbol of the prophetic office) on Elisha’s shoulders. Elisha understands that Elijah is declaring him the heir of the prophetic office, which was an unusual example in the Scriptures. Elisha’s response was (basically), “let me show respect and love to my parents.” Done. Then Elisha burns the equipment required for a yoke of oxen, then kills same oxen for a celebration.

Elisha opening, publically, severs himself from his old life. That is a lot of money to just be burning. It’s a great party, but there is no financial way of coming back from it easily. It’s similar to “burning the ships”. Hernán Cortés was famously said to have done this (he really just sank them) to keep his men from trying to return home or mutiny (there is a lot more to the story, and much of it not so positive). Elisha did it for himself.

One of the challenges that the Western Church faces is trying to return. This isn’t just buildings (So, let’s not burn them or just sell them). Actually, it’s more of a way of thinking. Looking back for guidance and encouragement? Yes. Looking back for the plan to navigate this new world? No.

You, too, have a call on your life. You, too, have oxen to burn and ships to sink.

※Reflection※
- What items/events/fears of your past or present are keeping you from living an on fire life for God? (Yes, that is a question worth asking daily)
- If there was one “thing” in your life that would indicate that your are moving on, what would it be?
- Why are we so attracted to stories like that of Cortés or Elisaha, but don’t put it into practice? What other cultural icons (generic or specific) are similar to Cortés and Elisha?
※Prayer※

Lord, there is no question that we are called to live for you. Let our lives be the bonfires that bring people into your light. Amen.
2021 07 22
Give It Up

Psalm 123; Jeremiah 7:27–34; Matthew 8:18–22

There was this guy who loved science. He loved nature. He pursued the academics to take care of the wilds. Except he was stubborn. You see, what he loved wasn’t the science, but Creation. In fact, he wasn’t good at it at all. He stuck with that choice for 4 years. Sadly, no one gave him wise advice (not that he would have listened) to give it up. It wasn’t meant for him. 4 years of misery and disappointment vanished into smoke. You might know such a stubborn person.

The basic gist of God’s words to Jeremiah: give it up. No matter what you do, they won’t listen. No matter what acts of penance and remorse they act out…they are acting and their hearts aren’t in it. The people of Judah seemed to revel in their disobedience to God. Blaspheming the Temple of God with idols of false gods. Killing their sons and daughters and giving them to fires.

Give it up, Jeremiah. They won’t see the errors of theirs ways until the places of these sacrifices are filled with corpses of war, famine, and pestilence, and these so-called sacred places of sacrifice are themselves blasphemed. Oh, and maybe not even then. Give it up.

We are in a time and place where even conversations with friends and acquaintances are “given up” as there can be no discussion or resolution. The hearts are hard and the ears are closed. Sometimes all we can do is give it up. That is until it comes to us.

Jesus’ words seem somewhat harsh to our ears. Yet, they hold a profound truth that much of Western Christianity, especially the US iteration, is in the process of rediscovering. Give it up.

The legal expert would have had a decent home and security. Jesus told him, basically, give it up. The disciple (since unnamed, probably not one of the 12) says, let me bury my father. In other words, let me wait to follow you until my father wouldn’t disown me or be ashamed of me. Jesus responded, who is your father in comparison to me? Give it up.

We have become far too comfortable. Whether it is being the majority confessed (rather than followed) religion, or the “majority” skin color (if you are), or the nice buildings, or our ties to political power, or our ties to monied power, or the practices we hold dear, or the ability to speak openly about Jesus, we’ve been comfortable.

Jesus’ point to these two was that comfort isn’t the call…Jesus is the call.

In certain Christian traditions that hold only men may be pastors/priests, they are struggling to find men to fill the roles. Often the response is that they should accept women. Those who respond that way will often point to those denominations (like the Church of the Nazarene) that do ordain women. Yet, the real question, the real deficit, is that people don’t want to give it up. They don’t want to give up their lives.

None of us do, really. Even those denominations that do ordain women still have a problem, and that is the people themselves who don’t want to give it up for Jesus. It is not a matter of men or women. It is not a matter of politics, money, race, or other things. It is that people don’t want to give it up for Jesus.

2021 07 03
Knowing Limits
Psalm 88; Leviticus 21:1–15; 2 Corinthians 8:16–24

What is your limit? Or, perhaps, who is your limit? Republicans? Democrats? Communists? Libertarians? Capitalists? Roman Catholics? The homeless? The hungry? A different skin color? A different nationality? A different religion? Neighbors? Friends? Family? Children? Spouse?

Relations and relationships are some of the biggest variables in human existence. One child may sacrifice everything to take care of their parent. Another child may do nothing at all. The driver of the car in front of you may give money to a panhandler, and you may not (a description, not a judgment).

For early and non-Western cultures, the family was a critical relationship. Not having a family was risky. The family was what defined and supported you. Unless that is, you were the High Priest of Israel.

Commentators come to different conclusions about what was meant by leaving the temple. Some commentators interpret verse 12 as only apply when family died to keep them safe from defilement. Other commentators propose that the High Priest never left, though none of those commentators could figure out ultimately how that worked.

Regardless, the COVID-era gave us an idea of the kind of sacrifice required by the High Priest. People lost loved ones they could never visit. Loved ones died and funerals and memorial services didn’t happen. Many people were angry, sad, and hurting for they lost the opportunity for closure. A taste of the High Priest’s sacrifice for us all.

It may be a stretch, but there is a similarity between the passage of Leviticus and 2 Corinthians; doing right in the eyes of God.

Paul definitely was concerned about “doing right” in the eyes of others. It was, though, secondary to doing right in the eyes of God. What is the point of being right in the eyes of men, if you will be wrong in the eyes of God? Of course, one has to be careful about that.

In our era, a person such as the High Priest would be looked down upon for abandoning his family to serve God in such a way. Granted, our understanding of things has somewhat changed, both in regards to family, priests, and ritual holiness. If we were to meet such a man today, we would probably think there was something wrong with him.

※Reflection※
- Where have you found conflict in your life in pursuing God’s glory versus the acclaim of man?
- Have you experienced what you thought was following God’s plan and then discovered it was not?
※Prayer※

Lord, help us to know your will. Holy Spirit, guide us to learn the right things before you and our fellow humanity. Amen.
2021 06 28
Fairly Cruci-Formed
Psalm 30; Lamentations 3:22–33; Mark 5:21–43; 2 Corinthians 8:7–15

Grace. Unmerited favor. Overwhelming love. Not words that would usually be associated with Lamentations. With the content of Lamentations being a result of the fall of Israel (and in particular, Jerusalem), it is peculiar to think of grace.

Lamentations is poetry, lament, and theology all wrapped into one. In Lamentations, probably more than even in Job, someone (or someones) wrestles with grief, loss, death, the (un)fairness of life, and other things that people question when in the throes of significant pain of the heart.

Despite all that they have gone through, including their recognition of their sin and transgressions, God hasn’t abandoned them. For a time, they would be wandering in a new kind of wilderness, but God would not let that way remain forever.

The world really isn’t fair. We often aren’t fair to the ones we love, or even ourselves. One of the biggest and most painful lessons we learn as children is that the world is not fair. What makes that even more interesting is that no matter how deep that wound is, there is something that we cannot tolerate about things not being fair.

Even in the verses of Mark, there are “not fair” examples. Some leader gets to ask Jesus into his home. Normal people wouldn’t get to do that. Some random woman touches his outer garment and is completely healed. There were probably others touching Jesus’ garment, and they didn’t get healed. It’s not fair.

Then Paul dares to ask the Corinthians to send money. He doesn’t demand it. He puts it in nice gentle language. He still wants our money. It’s not fair.

Except, Paul’s point, God’s point isn’t fairness. It’s not even reciprocity. It’s doing right because it is right. Not because it’s fair (or unfair, honestly).

Fair and right are often at odds. When we add time to the mix, it becomes even more difficult, for the long-term consequences may well change what is truly fair and right.

With this in mind, it is important for us, as followers of Jesus, to pursue fair and right from the perspective of God. Of course, what that means is up for debate in the current era, which is a problem in and of itself. When we are no longer able to determine fair or right, or we really the children of God?

※Reflection※
- What does fair mean to you? How does “fair” reflect the nature and/or character of God? What does a “fair” Christian do that a non-Christian wouldn’t?
- What does right mean to you? How does “right” reflect the nature and/or character of God? What does a “right” Christian do that a non-Christian wouldn’t?
- How do you learn and discern fair and right in your daily life?
※Prayer※

God of judgment, may the Holy Spirit shape and form us to be reflections of you in how we see and do fair and right. Amen.
2021 06 27