Possessions, Progress and Godly Success.

Can a healthy relationship exist between material goods and God's kingdom? What does plastic, metal and glass have to do with accomplishing God's goals? Is it possible to possess things and yet not be drunk with love for them?

Many will go so far as to admit that God does not need man-made devises, no matter how much they facilitate our daily functionality. But how is this knowledge useful for daily living?

The most useful answer for us churchgoing Americans is: Our stuff is nothing more than a means to God's ends. The most useless answer is to compare ourselves with other people throughout the world until we feel so bad about ourselves that we do nothing. Some might even be misguided enough to try and manufacture humility in themselves by arbitrarily selling or giving their stuff away. So it goes that money issues seem straightforward enough and yet questions involving material goods confound and dismay most churchgoing Americans.

As long as we maintain a hopeful, eternal perspective in Christ, we can confidently put material possessions in their appropriate, negligible places. They are disposable means at best. Physical things, including our own bodies, will only turn back into the dust from which they came. Even this dust will be consumed by a heavenly fire someday.

In Christ, there is an eternally wise and spiritually effective way to deal with material things.

Average Americans are hopelessly dependent on the idea of owning certain things. Both churched and un-churched folks have been known to take out a second job just to pay for the car that they need to drive to their second job.

Even apart from unreasonable excess, many single people as well as responsible parents seem to be caught in a monetary catch-22. They are told that they are rich, but that statement is neither reassuring nor helpful for making legitimate ends meet.

Therefore, a reassurance that Americans and many westerners need is that, riches or no riches, neither one guarantees virtue in God's eyes. There are virtuous rich people, and there are blasphemous poor people.

Trying really hard to be a good Christian is good, but freedom to obey Christ in every circumstance is better.

God, who created all things, is free from any material dependency. So also, because we are an extension of Christ, we can enjoy a similar freedom no matter how little-faiths may multiply and swarm all around.

If we seek Christ, then our goal has nothing to do with man-made inventions or goals. But rather, our goal is to conform ourselves to Christ's example, who lives and breathes confidence in God. We should live after the manner of Christ, who always trusts the Father, in comfort and in discomfort, in life and in death.

If Christ looks to God the Father to procure His heavenly success, then how much more should we mortals depend on God! Just as God has endorsed Christ's ministry on earth from the beginning 'til now, so also we, as Christ's followers, should depend on heavenly endorsement for our earthly lives.

Jesus only spoke as the Father told Him to speak, therefore GOD'S WORD is still more powerful than anything else here on earth. And Jesus only acted as the Father commanded, the fruit of which is the most ground-breaking, world-redeeming life that has ever been lived. Therefore, if we surrender ourselves to Him then He might make our humble lives spiritually ground-breaking both in this world and in the world to come. And this is all to God's credit.

As we fellowship with God, His Spirit will teach us to adopt the worldview of Christ, who saw divine opportunities in raging, natural storms as well as in the whining, little tempests of men. He fed the hungry masses with physical food in order to point them back toward Himself, our Spiritual Food. He even trusted the Father to redeem the most gruesome tool of death that men could concoct and make it into a symbol of heavenly hope for His people forever.

God's Millionnairs!

And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold." Gen. 13:2

"He listened to, and obeyed God." Gen. 12:1-4

"He honored God, who prospered him." Gen. 12:7

"He was generous, and avoided strife." Gen. 13:5-9

"He was compassionate toward others." Gen. 18:24-33
Solomon understood the principals of prosperity. He was one of the richest men who ever lived. His proverbs reveal many truths regarding finances.

"Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst forth with new wine." Proverbs 3:9-10

"He who gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes [from their want] will have many a curse." Proverbs 28:27 AMP

But in order to have true riches, the motive of your heart must be pure, to bless others and establish God's covenant.

"And beware lest you say in your [mind and] heart, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. But you shall earnestly remember the Lord your God, for it is He Who gives you power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day." Deuteronomy 8:17-18 AMP

God does indeed want to be involved in our finances. Most Christians who are defeated in their finances are defeated because they believe and confess the words of the enemy, and those words hold them in bondage. What we believe and speak affects the natural world, including our finances. God has given us His Word so that we can understand these spiritual laws. When you work with these laws, they work for you. When you work against God's spiritual laws, they work against you.

When you speak negatively about your financial situation, you have what you say and believe. Here is a very important spiritual law: You can have what you say. With your words you can choose life or death, poverty or riches, sickness or health. You may tithe 10%, work hard, and pray for prosperity every day, but if your words are negative and contrary to God's Word, you could stay in debt, struggling to make ends meet.

Words are powerful, but God's Word is full of creative power. When you agree with what God has said about you, speaking His Word, your circumstances will begin to change and line up with His Will for your life.

As I give, it is given unto me, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Luke 6:38.

My God makes all grace abound toward me in every favor and earthly blessing, so that I have all sufficiency for all things and I abound to every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8.

I am blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed coming in, and blessed going out, my laying down, my rising up. I am blessed in the basket and blessed in my bank accounts, investments, health, and relationships; they flourish. The blessings of the Lord overtake me in all areas of my life and I receive them. Deut 28:1-14.

I am like a tree planted by rivers of water. I bring forth fruit in my season, my leaf shall not wither, and whatever I do will prosper. Psalms 1:3.

The blessings of the Lord makes truly rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22

The Lord has opened unto me His good treasure and blessed the work of my hands. He has commanded the blessing upon me in my storehouse and all that I undertake. Deuteronomy 28:8 and 12.

God delights in my prosperity. He gives me power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant upon the earth. Deuteronomy 8:18, 11:12

God has given me all things that pertain to life and godliness, and I am well able to possess all that God has provided for me. Numbers 13:30, 2 Peter 1:3-4.

I delight myself in the Lord, and He gives me the desires of my heart. Psalms 37:4.

The Lord rebukes the devourer for my sake, and no weapon that is formed against me will prosper. All obstacles and hindrances to my prosperity are now dissolved. Malachi 3:10-11; Isaiah 54:17.

The Lord is my shepherd, and I do not want. Jesus came that I might have life and have it more abundantly. Psalms 23:1; John 10:10.

SPIRITUAL WAREFAR....

Ephesians 6:10-17

Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace; above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

No battle was ever won without courage, perseverance, and strength. This is the challenge before us. In Ephesians six, Paul calls us to be strong in the Lord. He calls us to understand the nature of our enemy, those wicked spirits in high places who lie behind the insoluble problem of human evil. He calls us to put on our armor and “stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11); only those who put on the full armor of God can resist the advances of the demonic forces of Satan in the “evil day.” While the entire world is oppressed by the powers of evil, only Christians struggle against those powers. This is the consistent teaching throughout the Bible. The Bible indicates that all human beings are victims of these invisible forces, but only believers can resist them.

The Bible tells us that the world has fallen under the control of Satan. What does the Bible mean by the world? It is not the world created by God. The world the Bible speaks of is the world of organized human society, which has fallen under the control of Satan. As dwellers of this world, humanity is trapped within the domain of the evil one, and there is no possibility of escape apart from an intervention from without. There can be no threat from within to Satan's control. The reason for the continual failure to escape the domain of the evil one is the methods men and women employ to correct evils and wrongs. Human methods of reform fail because they do not come to grips with the essential problem. In all our efforts to correct the evil in the world, we fail to solve the problems when the power of Satan is ignored.

We fail to solve the problems in the world and correct the evil because of the methods we use to solve the problems that are a source of the evil in the world. We fail to solve the problems of the world because our number one method to solve the problems is reforms. The sources behind the human reforms that have failed to solve the problems in the world are the legislation, educational systems, and environmental reforms. The legislation has failed to solve the problems because they use the law in an attempt to control the behavior of the sinful men and women. The law deals with the outward behavior of sinful men and women, however, the law alone can do nothing to alter the inward man. It does not change the basic nature of man but merely restricts him under certain conditions.
The educational systems of the world have failed to solve the problems of the world. The Bible tells us we are all born into this world with a sinful nature. The educational systems do not address the sinful nature. Education does not change the nature of a man or woman it only makes him or her more clever, and potentially more destructive. An improved environment does not change a person either. When you take a man out of the slums, for example, and put him into a nicer environment, you do absolutely nothing to the man himself. In a little while, he will make that new environment the slum as well. So taking a man out of the slums does not necessarily take the slums out of the man. This is not to say that these reforms have no value. We should have laws for the sake of an orderly society. We should have education for the sake of a literate and effective society. In addition, we should improve the living conditions of all men and women, for the sake of a just, compassionate, and decent society. However, let us not make the mistake of thinking that these reforms will lead us to a society of love and unity. None of these reforms has the power to transform human nature. None of them can counteract the invisible spiritual forces that are at war against us.

That is why the proclaiming of the Gospel message is the good news men and women under attack by the demonic forces of Satan need to hear. That is why Christians are perfectly justified by the Word of God when they say there is no other answer to the problems in this world and the existing evil. Many people say that there are many roads to God, that it does not matter what you believe or who you believe in, as long as you are sincere. However, only one who has come into the world capable of breaking the power of this darkness set us free from the evil one's dominion and domination, His name is Jesus. No one can come to God the Father and to freedom from the dominion of the evil one, except through Jesus alone (John 14:6). There is no other. Only He has the power to invade the devil's domain and liberate people so that they can become the cherished, prized possessions of God.

The writers of Scripture make this clear. Paul tells us, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4 NASB). Paul's letter to the Romans, opens with the same basic thought that human beings in their darkened state, under the dominion of the evil one, have engaged in all manner of evil practices, leaving God no choice but to give them what they demand (Romans 1:28). Paul suggests that the great hatred we see exhibited against God and His gospel does not come from the uneducated but from the educated: "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools" (Romans 1:22), and so they "exchanged the truth of God for a lie" (Romans 1:25 NASB).

Paul himself was chosen as an apostle to the Gentiles, and in a dramatic conversion experience on the road to Damascus, he said to the Lord whom he saw in His glory, “Who are you, Lord?” Jesus replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God” (Acts 26:15-18 MASB).

This is the principal purpose of the gospel. If we try to apply it first to social concerns, we only reveal how far we have mistaken its purpose. The gospel will ultimately find its way into the social condition of humanity, because the gospel of Jesus Christ is pervasive. However, the gospel must first make its impact on this basic problem of human life. Humanity is in the grip of an evil power, and we are helpless to free ourselves from bondage to that power by our own strength. The only one who can deliver us from it is Jesus Christ. He has already done this in His death on the cross and through the power and glory of His resurrection.

When a person trusts in Christ and commits himself to Christ, he discovers that the gospel becomes real and practical in his own experience. This is what we call conversion. However, conversion is only the beginning of the battle. Very soon, a new Christian becomes aware of the evil forces at work to destroy him. If he goes no farther in his new life than to believe his sins are forgiven, he will remain in bondage to those sins, living a life of conflict and frustration. However, the battle is fought on the ground that we have been delivered from the dominion of darkness that we have been brought out of the power of Satan and into the kingdom of God. It is not possible to take a neutral stance. Jesus says there is no neutrality. “He who is not with me is against me.” A person who does not receive total deliverance is still under the bondage and control of the dark powers of Satan. There are no exceptions. That is why Christ is the crisis of history. He spoke of Himself that way as the divider of humanity. As He looks at human beings, there are only two groups. There are those who are wholly with Him because they are of Him they have received Him, they know Him, they love Him, and they partake in His life. In addition, there are those who are against Him. “He who is not with me is against me.”

There is one thing that reveals whether you are with Jesus or against Him; the influence of your life. Jesus Christ has come into the world to gather the adopted children of God. His is a gathering influence, breaking down divisions, binding hearts together, reuniting families, making people live together in harmony, breaking down the barriers of race, healing wounds, bringing nations together, drawing men, women, and children to Himself.

The great question of your life and mine is, “What is the essential character of life? Is it self-centeredness or self-giving? Are you with Christ or against him? Are you gathering with him in a healing, wholesome ministry or are you a divisive force in your family, your church, or your neighborhood? Do you split people up or bring people together? Is your family drawing closer to faith in Christ because of your example? On the other hand, are they turned away by the example you set? Do your children and spouse see Christ living in you or see only you, your demands, your ill-temper, your pettiness, and your selfishness? These are crucial questions that each of us must answer.

The question you and I must ask is, “Am I a victor, or a victim?” In our own strength, we are helpless to escape the dominion of the evil one. We are not free. We are not able to carry out our own decisions, except in a limited area, and this illusion of freedom makes us imagine that we are free, unrestrained individuals. The Bible tells us that apart from Christ we are under the unbroken influence of an evil force that influences our thoughts and reactions. The only way of escape is through the One who has come to destroy the works of the devil.

Consider Your Ways

The Lord commands the people through Haggai to quit worrying about their own houses and get the temple – His house – rebuilt. “By means of a specific instance (the rebuilding of the temple), the book of Haggai is a relevant and timeless book on the need to put God's work first in one's life. For the prophet's society, rebuilding the temple would be the visible sign of the people's determination to put God first.” [ESV Study Bible, p. 1743]

The Old Testament temple was a building, a physical place. There was Solomon’s magnificent temple and Herod’s temple that Jesus knew, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. We can also include the portable Tabernacle with Moses in the wilderness. For Christian believers, however, there is no special building or particular location for the temple. For us the temple is a spiritual construction.

About Himself, Jesus says: “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here” [Matt. 12:6] (All Scripture quotations from ESV)

Paul tells the Athenians: “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man.” [Ac. 17:24]

Paul tells the Corinthian church: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? . . . God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” [1 Cor. 3:16,17]

Paul further asks the Corinthians: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” [1 Cor. 6:19a]

Paul tells the Ephesians—“In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” [Eph. 2:22]

What shall we say then? The universal church of Jesus Christ and each of us as individual believers is the temple, God’s house. God resides in us everywhere and always. But what have we done with Him?

In Haggai the Lord asks: “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?” [Hag. 2:3]

Anyone 65 or 70 years old might remember when America was still nominally a Christian nation, with our “house” in reasonable repair. We recited the Lord’s Prayer, sang some hymns, and observed the real Christmas and Easter, not the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Today, of course, a teacher would be fired and a student suspended or expelled for practicing what was once customary. The church no longer signifies. Jesus Himself no longer signifies. The worst is celebrated. The best is suffocated. Kids cannot share Jesus in public schools, but they can learn to put condoms on cucumbers and get pregnancy (abortion?) “counseling” if they forget how. Employees cannot share Jesus in the workplace, but they can lie, cheat and steal for the bottom line or for some political cutthroat.

In the August 1999 issue of American Family Association Journal, AFA President Don Wildmon wrote a quiet, but scathing indictment titled “That’s What Christians Do Now.” In it he outlines some of the major cultural outrages against Christian morality including abortion, pornography, no-fault divorce, homosexuality, illegitimacy, gambling and the dumbing down of the schools and TV. The article is spiced throughout with the refrain: “Me? I go to church, the minister preaches, I go home. That’s what Christians do now.” And he concludes, “[D]on’t blame me, I didn’t do anything.” You can find the complete article at the Journal. The pews are full; the people are empty. Most of us didn’t do anything and have not done anything to advance God’s house if it meant any personal risk. What did Jesus do? What did Paul do? What did the martyrs do? What part of “Go, teach and make disciples” don’t we understand? Scripture says we will be persecuted and hated anyway.

Here is a headline pulled from today’s newspaper, albeit written 2,600 years ago: “You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.” [Hag. 1:6]

Sound anything like our economy today? Could it be because we have forgotten God, put Jesus on the sidelines, and turned everything over to the atheist, secular humanists? Suppose we had kept the temple in good repair and followed the Christian virtues of honesty and thrift all along? Things might look a bit different. And talk about a bag with holes, I give you Washington, DC and Sacramento, CA. There’s more hole than bag. Is anybody on a fixed income? How do you like us so far? It helps to understand a distinction: charity is when you give voluntarily; altruism is when others take it out of your pocket and give it to whom they please, usually to get votes or pamper special interests.

Furthermore, says the Lord: “You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.” [Hag. 1:9] Looks like the Israelites suffered an economic downturn also, but it was clearly the judgment of God. We know because He says so Himself. Some, if not many, will argue that our current disastrous condition is the judgment of God. There is really no way for us mere mortals to know for sure, but consider – God is omnipotent. He can make things happen or He can just allow things to happen, particularly when we are doing it to ourselves. Draw your own conclusions.

God created everything by speaking it into existence. Certainly he could have spoken a new temple into existence for Haggai’s people and He could do it for us. But, no. He wanted them, and He wants us to work for it, in spite of our prayers for some miraculous intervention. Why do we pray for things we should be doing for ourselves? “Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts” [Hag. 2:4b] Hark back to Ezra and Nehemiah and see how difficult it was in that day. It will be difficult for us, too. Nobody wants to be hated. It is easier to go along and get along, to show our toleration. However, the ABCs of “tolerance” in America these days amount to Anything But Christian.

“’Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’”[Hag. 1:2] That was then, this is now. Guess what? Same, same. It really is time for us to get busy rebuilding our temple. Unfortunately, the kinder gentler, GAGA, personal piety brand of Christianity won’t get it done. We need up close and personal, in-your-face Christianity, using all the resources allowed us by Scripture and the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Like those in Nehemiah’s day working on the wall, we need to keep the trowel in one hand and the sword in the other.