The story of the “Rich Young Ruler” being unable to get into heaven and Jesus’ cautioning in Matthew 6:24 about idolizing mammon (money) that I closed the last entry with are things I have heard before, but God has shown me these lessons in a whole new light recently.
Rowell wrote in To Give or Not To Give? that “We could call this the ‘mammon principle.’ Jesus taught the disciples that riches are dangerous because they have a definite demonic power at work behind them.” He explained that, “‘mammon,’ is an Aramaic word defined in the New American Standard Bible’s footnote as ‘wealth, etc., personified as an object of worship.’”
Earlier in this installment of blog entries, I shared Proverbs 23:4, which advises, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.” Shortly before that gem is a more ominous piece of counsel in Proverbs 22:16, saying, “He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich – both come to poverty.” Based on the themes I have been learning from Rowell and the Elmbrook Church sermon, I imagine the poverty that type of individual comes to is spiritual. He is devoted to mammon, and thereby despises God.
In an especially poignant section of his book, Rowell explains, “If we are not alert to the delusions of grandeur induced by our relative financial strength, we may never gain, and we may not long hold on to, a proper understanding of God’s heart for the poor. We must remember that according to James 2 the poor—especially the believing poor—are to be viewed as spiritual assets and not as financial liabilities. They are with us in part because we need them to teach us about what it means to truly trust God for everything and to avoid the influences of mammon. They are in this sense richer in faith than we are. The poor deserve to be treated with dignity in the family of God. There is simply no room for partiality as we relate to those less materially blessed than ourselves.”
In re-reading it just now, I noted his distinction of “less materially blessed,” not less blessed. His words here also contributed to my conviction in the last installment that even my meager material wealth (compared to Western standards) does indeed hinder my spiritual affluence.
Rowell’s assertion that “the poor deserve to be treated with dignity” rings very true when you take Proverbs 22:22-23 into accord. It states, “Do not exploit the poor because the are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them.” Not only should they be viewed as spiritual assets to our own learning about God, but the Bible makes it clear that God is on their side. Remember we are called to take care of the poor, widowed, orphaned, etc.
How have we gone astray from that call when the Bible is very clear on the matter? Rowell strives to answer that question, but I wish to leave it a bit hypothetical. However, I was alarmed at some information in his book. For example, he wrote that “…even committed believers in North America appear to be keeping over 97 percent of their income. In 2002, only 6 percent of US evangelicals actually tithed” (according to Ron Sider in The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World?). Rowell quotes Sider again when pointing out that these facts lead to some other statistics that he shares, which amount to an “observation [that] is consistent with the general recognition that ‘the richer we become, the less we give in proportion to our income.’”
It seems almost as if people reach a point in their giving that they feel they are meeting a set quota rather than continuing to tithe based on a percentage, more specifically a tenth as established in the Bible. Ten percent is not that much! Only a dime from each dollar, and don’t tell me they add up, because that is precisely my point. It can certainly add up for a much greater good, but apparently most people cannot part with so little of their wealth, while it could help the poor so immensely.
Lastly, Proverbs 22:7 caught my eye, stating, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” The first half certainly applies here, and plays out almost subconsciously even when the rich does not stipulate it. Rowell described, “Undeserved deference heightens the sense of superiority that is presumed by the wealthy and conceded by the poor who relegate to the rich from a position of decided economic disadvantage. This is a natural dynamic, but it misses the kingdom expectation anticipated by James 1:9-10: ‘The brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.’”
I have been blessed to experience some degree of that situation in James. While there are certainly times that learning Swahili in advance would have benefited us, it has not been very detrimental that we did not. However, it is by that means that God has placed me in situations of humility when interacting with elders in the church and community here. For that I am thankful.
To close, Proverbs 22 proved to be a paramount chapter for enhancing these lessons, and verse 2 reminds us that “Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.”
So, whom will you serve – Mammon or the LORD?
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