Latest Entries »
Jesus and the Rich Man: A Call to Radical Individualism
By: Joseph Sunde
About: Joseph Sunde is a political commentator, public speaker, and freelance writer from Minneapolis, MN. He is the founder and primary author of Remnant Culture and is a regular contributor to the American Enterprise Institute’s Common Sense Concept and Ethika Politika, the blog of the Center for Morality in Public Life.
Christ and the Young Rich Man by Heinrich Hofmann (1889)
Discussions of earthly systems almost always come down to disagreements over the use of capital — how it is distributed, created, or managed. Therefore, if we are concerned with the heavenly implications of our earthly systems, we must come to terms with how God views our earthly wealth.
Both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke include a story where Jesus addresses this topic directly. In the story, Jesus asks a wealthy man to give all that he has to the poor. Since plenty of people use the story as an excuse to demonize wealth and the creation of it, I wanted to clarify my thoughts on the matter.
The wealthy man begins the conversation by asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, to which Jesus answers with this:
You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’
When the rich man explains that he has done these things since childhood, Jesus responds with this challenge:
One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will havetreasure in heaven; and come, follow me.
Upon hearing this, the rich man becomes very sad and turns away, effectively rejecting the call of Christ. After the man leaves, Jesus explains the situation to His disciples with this now-popular refrain:
How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
It is here where most people end the story. The moral, they tell us, is that wealth is bad and sacrifice is good — for if it is so difficult for the rich to get into heaven, certainly Jesus would advocate a diminution or eradication of wealth.
But that is not what Jesus does.
The disciples seem troubled by Jesus’ response and ask, “Who then can be saved?” — to which Jesus responds by telling them that earthly challenges do not preclude Kingdom pursuits:
“With man this is impossible,” Jesus says, “but with God all things are possible.”
I have previously discussed the way God values obedience over sacrifice, and this is a similar lesson. Jesus was not bombarding the rich man with a list of good deeds to show him where he was going wrong. Jesus was pinpointing a weak spot in this man’s heart. He was testing this man’s obedience, and the rich man failed.
At a fundamental level, this story is not about money or riches or even the poor. It’s about keeping our hearts aligned to God’s will. It’s about listening to the voice of God and doing what He says no matter how foolish it appears in earthly terms.
The rich man had done his homework. He had gone to Temple. He had read his Scriptures. He had figured out his salvation. But what he hadn’t done was get his heart to a place that put God’s vision before his own. When Jesus told him to do something uncomfortable, he was not willing to follow through.
But even if the wealth itself is not the problem, Jesus is still saying that having more earthly possessions makes it more difficult for us to enter the Kingdom of God. Here is where the Christian socialist would note that equalizing poverty is preferable to maximizing prosperity, which is where I think we find the most pertinent element for our discussion.
As I mentioned earlier, Jesus is specifically honing in on the fact that earthly challenges do not preclude Kingdom pursuits. You can have all the wealth in the world, but with the grace of God and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit you have the ability to overcome such challenges and use your resources for God’s purposes.
Taking up such a challenge zeroes in on the very essence of Radical Individualism.
For those who would say that the rich man is the embodiment of individualism, they would be confusing self-interest with worldliness, for when we look at the rich man’s decision we see a drastic misalignment of self-interest. After all, Jesus put the initial challenge forth in the very context of individualism: “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”
It seems then that the rich man either lacks the wisdom or the faith to actually believe that obeying Jesus will bring him treasure in the long run. The ironic part of all this is that Jesus goes on to imply that the rich man would have had more of a reward because of his enormous wealth.
In Luke, Jesus puts it this way:
Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.
In Matthew, he puts it this way:
[E]veryone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
This is a point far too often missed by Christians. God is not calling us to a life of poverty or despair or isolation, just as he is not calling us to a life of masochistic libertinism. He is not asking us to cut ourselves off from the world and shield our lives from every earthly thing. He is telling us that we must strive to pursue earthly greatness in a heavenly context, despite the challenges that such a pursuit will throw our way.
The fundamental challenge? Staying true and obedient to God.
He may ask you to give up your wealth. He may ask you to leave your comfort zone. He may call you to a third-world nation. And if you’re rich, it will probably be more difficult. But that is an opportunity to show your love for God, not a danger to cower from.
Whether rich or poor, what we need to realize is that following God’s voice will always bring more fulfillment than what the world offers.
This is properly aligned self-interest.
All of this is somewhat difficult for us to understand, particularly because God’s ways are higher than our ways. Our human viewpoint is vastly limited, even though we’re tempted to think it’s profoundly comprehensive.
In Matthew, Jesus ends the story by reminding the disciples of the counterintuitiveness of the Christian pursuit: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
It is this understanding — the upside-down economics of Christianity — that should drive our pursuit of God and our stewardship of earthly resources. It’s a difficult journey, so let’s not confuse foolishness with self-interest along the way.
From Remnant Culture.Com at: http://remnantculture.com/?p=1221
Phantom Needs: Projecting Poverty Where It Doesn’t Exist
Mincaye doesn’t care about your cars and credit cards.
Steve Saint, author of End of the Spear and missionary to a tribe that killed his father, has some marvelous insights on the West’s tendency to project its “standards, values and perception of need onto others,” particularly when it comes to material needs (HT). When we do so, Saint argues, we often impose the opposite: poverty.
Unfortunately, this tendency has been evidenced no more energetically than by Western Christians.
From Saint’s own experience working with the Waodani people, the material needs are far less impending than the typical Westerner assumes. Indeed, the hustle-and-bustle of such outsiders is often deemed distasteful by the very people the West is attempting to “rescue” through material “fulfillment.”
As Saint explains:
When people visit the Waodani, they look around and think, “Wow, these people have nothing!” People from the outside think the Waodani are poor because they don’t have three-bedroom ramblers with wall-to-wall carpeting, double garages so full of stuff the cars never fit and, I guess, because they never take vacations to exotic places like Disney World.
Mincaye, on the other hand, sees the way we “Outsiders” live here in “The foreigner’s place” and makes comments like; “Why, never sitting, do the foreigners run around and around in their car things speaking to each other on their talking things but never hunting or fishing or telling stories to each other?” After traveling and speaking with me in the U.S., Canada and Europe, Mincaye is always greatly relieved to get back to his thatched roof hut, with the open fire wafting smoke in his face, eating whatever happens to be in the cooking pot.
As I have been arguing quite aggressively (here, here, and here), we mustn’t ground our views of mission or vocation or work or needs or productivity or value through our debased, earthly perspective (Romans 1, anyone?). By doing so, we will only dwell in our individual pride and arrogance, whether we think we are “doing good” or not.
By arbitrarily and impulsively acting for the sake of acting (not a good idea), we actually reject the true source of life. There is a reason that the Bible says that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” for without actually denying ourselves and submitting to him, we are nothing but fools shooting (or shouting) in the dark.
As Saint explains:
From my life experiences with the Waodani—and other people groups in Africa, Asia and South America who live simply and materially contentedly—I have learned that it is unreasonable to evaluate their “lack” based on our distorted and exaggerated perception of need. When we try to meet phantom needs of people who live at a lower material standard than we have learned to consider “minimal,” we not only fall into a trap that keeps us from seeing their real needs but we also tempt them into a snare that can raise their perception of need beyond what their economy can support.
When we project poverty on people where it doesn’t exist, we also overlook the actual poverty with which they struggle. Solomon said it well, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase so do those who consume them” (Ecc 5:10–11).
After this, Saint gets a bit more specific, focusing more intently on the notion of handouts vs. transformation. This strikes at the core problem of Jim Wallis & Friends, who routinely promote materialistic tweaking over bottom-up “missionalism” (for lack of a word with less baggage).
After outlining the ill effects that something as seemingly beneficial as an orphanage might have (increased child abandonment), Saint sums up the problem as follows:
Giving handouts creates more problems than it solves. It is like casting out demons with long leases. Break the lease or they will come back and bring more roommates (Lk 11:24–26). Where the Church is being established among people that perceive themselves as powerless, there is a great need for deep discipleship, wrestling with the roots of poverty at the community level rather than concentrating on the individual.
Financial help that does not develop sustainable, local, financial self-sufficiency is much more likely to create poverty than it is to meet real needs. Until we realize that we can’t overcome poverty with handouts, we will never be much help in completing Christ’s Great Commission.
Then, in what might otherwise be a striking continuation of Andrew Byers’ recent piece on radical discipleship, Saint concludes by noting our real role as Christians:
As followers of Christ we must fight poverty through discipleship rather than covering it with spiritual frosting. Either we do God’s will God’s way or we aren’t doing His will at all. Discipleship means teaching others what we have learned so they can teach others to care for their community’s physical, economic, emotional and spiritual needs on a sustainable basis! (2 Tim 2:2, Mt 28:19–20)
For Byers, it’s “spirtualized escapism.” For Saint, it’s “spiritual frosting.” But whatever you call it, it’s spiritually depraved. For a love that has no concern for doing God’s will — regardless of its earthly “pro-poverty” successes — is really no love at all.
From Remnant Culture.Com at: http://remnantculture.com/?p=3661
Philippians 3
New Living Translation (NLT)
8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.[c] For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
Pressing toward the Goal
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,[d] but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Philippians 2
New Living Translation (NLT)
Philippians 2
Have the Attitude of Christ
1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,[a]
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];
he took the humble position of a slave[c]
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,[d]
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
What The Church Needs – A Holy Ghost and Fire Revival
Pentecost
By: Leonard Ravenhill
Lord Montgomery, that unpredictable British field Marshall, said recently that England went into the Second World War equipped to fight the First World War. This was a polite way of saying that in World War II England was way behind the times in battle equipment and strategy.
When Sir Christopher Wren designed the great St. Paul’s cathedral in London, he planned a thing of lasting beauty and unfading charm, but did not order it air-conditioned. When George Stephenson built his rocket engine, it was not smooth, herculean diesel, but a low-powered hissing machine. In other words, both Wren and Stephenson underestimated the needs of our day, and designed for their day.
Many today have a benevolent patronage of the church of Jesus Christ (or what they mistakenly think is the church of Jesus Christ). These “wise ones” think that the psalm-singing saints are as much out of line with the atomic age as a penny-farthing bicycle would be on a motor-crowded four-lane highway. Was Jesus Christ guilty, then, of underestimating the need of this twentieth century? Is the Church which Christ founded a cumbersome, slow-moving thing, badly needing a gigantic overhauling and a government subsidy to get her up to date and moving? No! The church does not need state support.
We concede, however, that the Church does need a mighty overhauling by divine Hands, that is, she needs the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire. When the Lord Christ ascended into heaven from Mt. Olivet, He charged the disciples that they should “wait for the promise of the Father” – the “baptism of the Holy Ghost” with its resultant power.
This promise was exclusive – “Yeshall receive power.” Who was to receive the promise? Only the followers of Christ.
The promise was exciting – “Ye shall receive power.” In eager anticipation of this blessed enduement, the waiting ones could see all their weakness evaporating in the baptism of fire.
The promise was explicit- “Not many days hence.”
The promise was expanding- This thing was not to be done in a corner, nor whispered among the redeemed. It would reach out through them to Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
This promise was exalting- In the whole world of created things there is no greater power than that of the Holy Spirit of God. They were to be filled with the Spirit of the living God. Earth has no greater honor than that.
Angels, behold and wonder!
Every thing in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters above the earth – all these are the work of His fingers and this Mighty one is He who condescends to come and indwell mortals.
But though Pentecost meant power to the disciples – it also meant prison to them. Pentecost meant enduement – it almost meant banishment. Pentecost meant favor with God – it also brought hatred from men. Pentecost brought great miracles – it also brought mighty obstacles. Pentecost brought anointing for the upper room preachers – it also brought appointing a deacon and under the enduement he turned Samaria upside down.
In Europe Pentecost Sunday is always called Whitsunday (White Sunday), and the children usually dress in white. The disciples were “made white” at the first Pentecost – that is, their hearts were “purifiedby faith” (Acts 15:8, 9). This purification is a lost accent these days in interpreting the Baptism with Spirit. Under the title of Spirit-filled churches, there are some weird and wanton things operating at present.
If too much stress has not been made of the gifts of the Spirit, then too little has been said of the fruit of the Spirit. Note how few books are available on the fruits of the Spirit, but how many on the gifts of the Spirit. Yet the Son of God said, “By their fruitsye shall know them.”
The first essential for the coming of the Holy Ghost into a heart today is that the heart should be cleansed from sin, for the Holy Spirit does not fill an unclean heart. What God has cleansed, He then fills. Finally, whom God fills, He uses. A holy life is the authentic sign of being filled with the Spirit.
Today we need a revival of holy living. Why do we have to hang a sign outside our church to announce that we are Fundamental and Biblical? Because without a sign, no one could identify us? When I passed through a town that a few days before had been torn apart by a tornado, I assure you I had not to be told a mighty wind had cleaved the place. A fire is self-announcing. A conflagration needs no publicity. When the fire of the Holy Ghost falls again and the mighty wind of the Spirit comes (I am positive He is coming), then our “bush” will burn too, and a Moses will turn again to see the great sight. Even so, come Holy Ghost! Come quickly!
Sermon By LeonardRavenhill – Found at: http://www.ravenhill.org/pentecost.htm
Hebrews 10
English Standard Version (ESV)
Hebrews 10
Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All
1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4Forit is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Consequently, when Christ[a]came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”
8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that willwe have been sanctified through the offering ofthe body of Jesus Christonce for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ[b] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offeringhe has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
15And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”
17then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
18Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
The Full Assurance of Faith
19 Therefore, brothers,[c] since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, andall the more as you seethe Day drawing near.
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37For,
“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Found at The Mad Jewess
The Mainstream Press Cannot Stand The Light of Truth
Pro-Lifers and the Truth-Phobic Press
Jan 24th, 2012 by Elizabeth Scalia
Photosource: telecare
Katrina Fernandez has pictures from yesterday’s March for Life, and she promises that more are coming.
Watching yesterday on EWTN, I heard estimates of nearly half-million people marching peacefully and cheerfully, in the freezing rain, in support of life, which is — at its core, as Tim Muldoon writes — a march in support of love:
Unfortunately, the “big picture” is hard to come by, particularly if you’re looking for “big pictures” of this well-attended march. We have reached a remarkable era of photojournalism, as demonstrated by the once-noble Washington Post — one where a half million people can march, the headlines can call it “thousands” and the pictures show you none of it.
Someone asked me on Twitter, “why don’t they just report the truth” and I thought, “because they have given themselves wholly over to a lie, and they fear the truth. Having built up the lie for so long that it’s become their foundation, they know they cannot withstand an assault by the truth.”
So they have become truth-phobics, our mainstream media. They can’t tell you the truth about anything, anymore — they can only do whatever it takes to sustain the narratives they’ve constructed.
That’s why you hear no reports about Fast and Furious, or a member of the DOJ pleading the Fifth about that. It’s why you don’t hear about Solyndra and the “green jobs” myth it’s why you hear no caterwauling from the press about the fact that we are 1000 days into this administration without a budget.
You want the truth? You think you deserve it? The press can’t handle the truth; they can’t bring it to you. The New York Times just ignores inconvenient truth, entirely.
That’s why 250 people camping out in a park gets thousands of stories, while half-a-million marching on Washington does not get reported at all, or if it does, the pictures are cropped; the attendees are caricatured, mis-named and under-represented while their opponents are over-represented.
The Washington Post’s ombudsman is Patrick Pexton, and you can contact him, here, if you want to point out to him just how badly his paper skewed the story away from the truth, and into the designated narrative.
You can try to hold them accountable, but they probably won’t think they need to be accountable to you.
From The Anchoress at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/theanchoress/2012/01/24/pro-lifers-and-the-truth-phobic-press/