Get Greed Out of the House of God

"The Seven Deadly Sins" in this cartoon are depicted as funny beings we can laugh at and enjoy. In fact, Satan wants us to believe that gratifying our passions is the greatest good, the main purpose of life.

But God tells us - "Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry; for their sake the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience" (Col. 3:5-6). Greed is idolatry. That means greed is a false god. It should have no place in the Church, the house of the living God.

How many criticisms are leveled against the Church because of greed by the clergy and ordinary members? These critics reject Christianity because it isn't living up to its own standards. But in criticizing the Church, these critics are implicitly agreeing that such standards are correct. The issue isn't because our standards are wrong, but rather because of our failure to live up to them. Human beings, including the critics of the Church, are imperfect and sinful, which means we all fail at times to live up to the standards of what is good and right. The Bible is perhaps our greatest critic - let's take a look at what the Bible says about greed:

You may recall the Old Testament story of how Naaman, the Syrian military commander who had leprosy, came to the prophet Elisha for healing. After he plunged himself into the River Jordan seven times and was cleansed of his disease he offered Elisha a gift of money, which the prophet refused. So Naaman left. Here's the rest of the story -

"But Gehazi the servant of Elisha, the man of God, thought, 'Look, my master has refrained from taking what this Aramean Naaman brought from his hand. As the Lord lives, I will certainly run after him, and I will accept something from him.' So Gehazi pursued after Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he jumped off his chariot to meet him and asked him, 'Is it peace?' He said, 'Peace. My master has sent me saying, "Look, just now two servants from the hill country of Ephraim came to me, from the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing."' Then Naaman said, 'Be prepared to accept two talents.' So he urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing and gave it to two of his servants and they carried it before him. When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, then sent away the men so that they went. When he went and stood by his master, Elisha asked him, 'From where have you come, Gehazi?' And he said, 'Your servant has not gone anywhere.' Then he said to him, 'Did not my heart go with you as the man turned from on his chariot to meet you? Is it time to take silver, clothes, olive orchards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, male slaves, and female slaves? The skin disease of Naaman shall cling to you and to your offspring forever.' Then he went out from before him having a skin disease like the snow" (2 Kings 5:20-27).

Gehazi's greed cost him his position as Elisha's servant, and instead he got the leprosy that Naaman was cured of. It is very tempting to think that nobody will know if you take "just a little" for yourself from money donated to the Lord. A few chapters later, we read how the priests were taking for themselves money that people donated for repairing the house of God. So King Jehoash commanded better accountability - "So the priests agreed not to take money from the people without repairing the damage to the temple. Then Jehoiada the priest took a certain chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar to the right as a man enters into the temple of the Lord; then the priests who were keepers of the threshold would put there all of the money brought into the temple. When they saw a great deal of money in the chest, the secretary of the king and the high priest would come up, put the money in bags, then count the money found in the temple of the Lord. They placed the money, which was weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of the Lord, and they paid it to the skilled craftsmen of wood and to the builders working on the temple of the Lord" (2 Kings 12:8-11). Two unrelated persons, one from the king and one from the priests, counted and dispersed the money. This is proper auditing of finances.

When a rich young man came to Jesus and asked how he could inherit eternal life, Jesus first reminded him of the commandments, to which the young man said he kept them all. Then - "Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, 'One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.' But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions. Jesus looked around, and said to his disciples, 'How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God!' The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again, 'Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God'" (Mark 10:21-25).

The "needle's eye" was a small gate in the city wall that a man could barely go through by stooping over. The only conceivable way a camel could get through this tiny gate was if all its load of goods would be taken off, and the camel got down on its knees and crawled through. So the only way we can enter the Kingdom of God is to unload ourselves of trusting in this world's goods. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught -

"Don't lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don't break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon" (Mat. 6:19-24).

The "eye" here refers to the greedy gaze, looking at and desiring to have more and more money and things. On Palm Sunday, just after Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, "Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the moneychangers' tables and the seats of those who sold the doves. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of thieves!" (Mat. 21:12-13). Christ Himself recognized how easily we can make the house of God into a den of thieves. It is so tempting to misappropriate - steal - money that is donated for building up the Kingdom of God.

When the woman anointed the feet of Jesus with expensive ointment, Judas criticized the "waste" of such a valuable item... but actually he wanted to sell it and get his hands on the money. When this plot was foiled - "Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, 'What are you willing to give me, that I should deliver Him to you?' They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver. From that time he sought opportunity to betray Him" (Mat. 26:14-16). Judas sold out the Lord for thirty silver coins, and in so doing he sold his apostleship, forever losing his place in the Kingdom of God! What happened to Judas?

"Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.' But they said, 'What is that to us? You see to it.' He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the pieces of silver, and said, 'It's not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood.' They took counsel, and bought the potter's field with them, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field was called 'The Field of Blood' to this day" (Mat.27:3-8).

On the Day of Pentecost - "All who believed were together, and had all things common. They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need" (Acts 2:44-45). We need to dig deeper into this text, because it's often misinterpreted to imply a form of primitive communism. But it doesn't state that all at once everyone gave over all their possessions to the Church, nor that the Church demanded totally renouncing this world's goods. The Greek verbs "sold" and "distributed" are in the continuing tense, unfinished actions. It was a voluntary sharing economy. Later, Barnabas "having a field, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet" (Acts 4:37). He still owned the field, but voluntarily sold it and donated the proceeds to the Church.

In the next chapter, notice that Ananias and Sapphira still owned things, but when they sold a certain possession, they secretly held back part of the sale price, pretending to donate the whole sum to the Church - "But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While you kept it, didn't it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn't it in your power? How is it that you have conceived this thing in your heart? You haven't lied to men, but to God.' Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and died. Great fear came on all who heard these things" (Acts 5:3-5). The same fate came to his wife Sapphira, who also lied to God. Note that the principle of owning private property remained intact, but the sin here was telling lies to conceal their greed while pretending to be doing a good deed.

Just a few chapters later, we read how Philip preached the Gospel in Samaria and many believed and were baptized, including a certain Simon, a magician. Then Peter and John came from Jerusalem to pray and place their hands on the new believers to impart the Holy Spirit - "Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, 'Give me also this power, that whoever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.' But Peter said to him, 'May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn't right before God. Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity'" (Acts 8:18-23). From this incident we have the term "simony," trying to buy spiritual power and authority.

Sadly, Christian history tells of too many instances of this evil. Human nature remains sinful, fallen and weak, still prone to greed. St. Peter warned leaders in the Church against it - "Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly" (1 Pet. 5:2). St. Paul warned his disciple Timothy about corrupt people "who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Withdraw yourself from such. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can't carry anything out. But having food and clothing, we will be content with that. But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Tim. 6:5b-10).

Thus we see that greed is a perennial problem of our sinful human nature. I could go on, writing out many more Scripture texts that denounce the sin of greed, and here are just a few of them: Rom. 15:1-2; 2 Cor. 8:13-15; 1 Thes. 2:5-6; Heb. 12:13-15 and 13:5. Please read Chapter 11: Ministry as Moderation (epieikes) and Self-Control (egkrateia) of my book The Ministry Driven Church. As Christians, followers of Christ, we are called to a life of simplicity and moderation. Let us deny ourselves, take up His cross and follow Him!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 22 May. 2016.)

Work is Part of God's Plan

This debate has been going on for over a decade now: Should able-bodied people receiving public assistance be required to work? That is, should we have Welfare or Workfare? As you see in this photo, many protest against "workfare" as low-paying, menial, meaningless work that simply exploits these new members of the workforce.

It takes little insight to realize that the word "EXPLOITATION" is a fairly typical Marxist denunciation of workfare. The real purpose of workfare is to require able-bodied unemployed people who are unable to find and keep a regular job to perform at least minimum-wage work, so they are motivated to find better-paying work for themselves with a little upgrade of their skills, rather than sitting around and collecting welfare.  The phrase "REAL JOBS NOW" implies that they want better-paying jobs rather than minimum-wage work, but for this they need better skills.

If the minimum wage for unskilled workers is raised to $15/hour, it will cause many low-skill jobs to be eliminated by automation, and thus the minimum wage for those laid-off workers becomes $0/hour. What they need is a three-pronged approach of preparing job search documents, vocational education, and job search assistance: see points #2, #3, and #4 at www.Agape-Restoration-Society.org Homes and Jobs for how we are helping them improve their skills and find a job!

So as Christians, we must not let ourselves to be co-opted by leftist political rhetoric: we need to change the narrative to a Biblical worldview of work. After the Flood, God promised Noah: "While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Gen. 8:22). Notice the yearly cycle of seed time and harvest, man's work as part and parcel of sowing and harvest, day and night, the seasons of summer and winter.

In the Psalms we read - "You make darkness, and it is night, In which all the animals of the forest prowl. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God. The sun rises, and they steal away, and lay down in their dens. Man goes forth to his work, to his labor until the evening. O Lord, how many are your works! In wisdom have you made them all. The earth is full of your riches" (Ps. 104:20-24). Animals instinctively know how to gather food and hunt. Man is part of this cycle of life, rising when the sun comes up and going forth to his labor until evening.

Also, in Ps. 128:1-2 it states - "Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. For you will eat the labor of your hands. You will be happy, and it will be well with you." Receiving the reward of the labor of our hands gives us a sense of self-worth and makes us happy about life. In contrast, living off charity or welfare diminishes one's self-worth and sense of well-being. All this is part of the Lord's works and wise plan. The prophet Isaiah retells this cycle of seed time and harvest -

"Does he who plows to sow plow continually? does he continually open and harrow his ground? When he has leveled the surface of it, doesn't he cast abroad the dill, and scatter the cumin, and put in the wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in the border of it? For his God does instruct him aright, and does teach him. For the dill are not threshed with a sharp threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about on the cumin; but the dill are beaten out with a staff, and the cumin with a rod. Bread grain is ground; for he will not be always threshing it: and though the wheel of his cart and his horses scatter it, he does not grind it. This also comes forth from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom" (Is. 28:24-29).

There are different kinds of labor, depending on the season and the need. Again, this is wisdom, part of God's plan for mankind. We get a sense of goodness and satisfaction from being rewarded for doing good work - "Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion. Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor -- this is the gift of God" (Eccles. 5:18-19). What does the Lord tell us in the New Testament about this?

In the New Testament we find a repeated emphasis on work: "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward everyone according to his works" (Mt. 16:27). And in Christ's parable of the talents we read - "He also who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter. I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours.' But his lord answered him, 'You wicked and lazy servant! You knew that I reap where I didn't sow, and gather where I didn't scatter. You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest" (Mt. 25:24-27). Here our Lord equates the unwillingness to work - laziness - with wickedness. (And, by the way, He does not condemn here the earning of interest.)

St. Paul is often misunderstood to teach that faith is opposed to doing good works, but he wrote that God "will pay back to everyone according to their works: to those who by patience in doing good seek for glory and honor and incorruptibility, eternal life" (Rom. 2:6-7). When St. Paul downplays works, he is speaking of the works of the Law, in which the Jews had "refined" the Law of Moses into such tiny details as the number of steps one could take on the Sabbath, or tithing of each and every twig of spices such as mint and cummin. Thinking that one could gain eternal life by observing such tiny details of religious ritual rule-making is simply absurd!

The classic passage that Protestants quote against works is - "for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). By now it should be clear that St. Paul is referring to the ritual works of the Mosaic Law. But Protestants conveniently leave out the very next verse - "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). In the same letter, St. Paul goes on to write - "Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need" (Eph. 4:28). Refusing to work when one is able, and instead relying on "charity" or "philanthropy" is the same as stealing. We should work so we can give to those in true need, those unable to work.

In his letters to the church in Thessalonica, St. Paul wrote - "But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more; and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we charged you; that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing" (1 Thes. 4:10b-12). Also, "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: 'If anyone will not work, neither let him eat.' For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don't work at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread" (2 Thes. 3:10-12). Those who refuse to work, St. Paul says, are rebelling against God's established order of things. If they needlessly rely on "charity" they are in effect stealing someone else's bread. St. Paul taught his disciple Timothy thus -

"But if anyone doesn't provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man, being approved by good works, if she has brought up children, if she has been hospitable to strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, and if she has diligently followed every good work. But refuse younger widows, for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry; having condemnation, because they have rejected their first pledge. Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not. I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for reviling" (1 Tim. 5:8-14).

In the first verse quoted, the Apostle writes about the man's ("his" and "he") role as provider for his family. But in the event that the man dies and leaves a widow, Paul advises that she should remarry, not be an idle gossip or "busybody" - another word for "lazy" or "do-nothing".

At the start of this essay, we considered in Christ's parable of the talents how the man who hid his talent in the ground was condemned for being lazy and wicked. This set the tone for Christ's next parable, the one about the sheep and the goats -

"Then the King will tell those on his right hand, 'Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave Me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You; or thirsty, and give You a drink? When did we see You as a stranger, and take You in; or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer them, 'Most assuredly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers you did it to Me'" (Mt. 25:34-40).

From all the above, it should be clear to us that Christ is speaking of those who are either permanently disabled, or temporarily in a crisis situation in which they need immediate help. He's not implying that we ought to indiscriminately and continually give money and material support to a poor person in long-term, chronic unemployment. There are plenty of people in real need through no fault of their own, and these we should help. But for those able-bodied people who aren't working, our best help is to train them how to set goals, write cover letters, resumes and a list of references, help them improve their skills, then show them how to search for work. They need to find work! This is the clear teaching of Scripture.

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 07 May. 2016.)