Capitalism is an economic system that
favors the concentration of wealth and ownership in the hands of a few, and
where hired labor usually mass-produces goods for consumption in a competitive
environment (the World Book definition). A capitalist is a person who has
achieved a position of power and wealth within this system, and enjoys the
responsibility, benefits and pleasures of his or her accomplishments. A
relentless entrepreneurial spirit in the hope of increasing business and
profits drives most capitalists. This accumulated wealth is usually
amassed in the hands of owners or shareholders, thus creating a social economic
distinction based on personal net worth. Those unable to achieve such a
position usually become the working masses upon which capitalism is
built. Those who cannot survive the competitiveness of society usually
become the marginalized poor of our land. I personally have experienced the
enjoyment of entrepreneurial success and it's trappings. Adventure and
youth fueled my desire to achieve riches. But I got caught in the
dichotomy of poverty and wealth by a God that never let me forget my roots or
His heart. I was born into a poor family and I came to understand what it
meant not to have things that could make life easier to survive. And now,
working at the ministry centre for the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard with poverty
staring me in the face every day, I am forced to hold up my capitalistic values
and accomplishments to the scrutiny of scripture. I found that my honest
reflection to the Jesus lifestyle left me bankrupt in response to the poor and
their needs. Jesus did not need my money, He needed me. It has ruined
me! It has reinvented my paradigms on wealth and made me quite
uncomfortable about it at times.
As I contemplate the material things that I
am responsible for, I tremble at the threat of misunderstanding God's truth
about riches. I keep asking myself the question, "Will the camel make
it through the eye of the needle before God approves of my responses to the
issues of mammon?” Certainly, He has allowed wealth to be controlled by
saints throughout history (the early church assumed the coexistence of rich and
poor in its communities; see, for example, Paul’s instructions to slave-owners
or James’ exhortations for the rich to learn humility). The unparalleled
increase of riches in recent times has not made the challenge any easier,
though. For me, all this has become a wrestle between my past experiences
and assumptions, and my more recent discovery of the biblical principles of
ownership, stewardship, generosity, and obedience. Here's how these issues
shake out today in my life.
Ownership
Many strive for ownership of
money, things and spheres of influence. Economic security is rooted in
ownership. It is a token of power and achievement. Determination,
discipline and hard work are rewarded by a comfortable living standard built on
ownership and pride. This pride usually becomes the unbridled bedfellow of
selfishness. Selfishness protects its own and has no room for another's
feelings or rights. This twisted delusion that "it's mine because I
earned it" eventually leads down the treacherous path of greed. Greed
feeds itself with more ownership, satisfying in turn the selfishness that
created it. This all becomes a vicious spiral away from the values of life that
God established. Economic pride, greed and selfishness have become the
creed of capitalism and the way to succeed. Caring for the enemy is never
acceptable in war. Capitalism is economic war where ruthless battles to
take more turf rage. In world commerce, the enemy is the next person or
competitor. To the victor go the spoils (and the profits and the
jobs). Making the Forbes "400 richest" list is a huge status
symbol in corporate America.
It
documents those who succeeded in comparison to others and even at the expense
of others. In short, competitive thinking and adversarial actions drive
world economics, not the biblical norm of loving your enemy, turning the other
cheek and forgiving without limit.
This paradox is almost insurmountable for the Christian trying to wrestle
between a passion for Jesus and the pressures of the world. Many of us
participate in this practice when we bid for someone else's job and take it
away in a union bumping process. It's competitive and is designed to
advance one person over another. For me, it took the mercy of God's
supernatural revelation to realize that I needed to begin a transcending climb
out of the mire of this thinking. Only when I let God's Spirit free me
from the addiction to wealth was I able to begin to serve his kingdom with
contentment and peace that comes with understanding the heart of Jesus in all
this. So, ownership is not the answer. Wealth will not
disappear. Pressures of this world will only increase. God will
continue to call us into a passionate and intimate relationship with Him,
increasing the discomfort in our spirits as we wrestle it out for
ourselves. However, there is a way that lets us come to a holistic resolve
for all this. It has worked marvelously well in my experience and I think
that it allows me to be everything I should be in all aspects of Christian
living. Here it is for your consideration.
Stewardship
Stewardship of mammon seems to
rank higher in God's list of approval than ownership. It is the management
of wealth, as opposed to the accumulation and hoarding of it. The servant
in the Luke 16 story was a manager (NIV). The servants in the Talents
story of Luke 19 were managing another man's money. The modern day
application seems to be that the servants are the managers and God is the
owner. I always twisted the truth of these teachings to rationalize my good
management for the increase of my own wealth, not God's. You really find
out if it's God's stuff when you are called to give it away. And what does
the dictum of Jesus mean to "sell all you have and follow
me"? Well, I haven't sold it all but I also don't consider it to be
my own anymore. Would I give it all away if He told me to? I think
so! I hope so! I'm not even bothered about how He might tell me to or
when. If I have an open-handed attitude to my stuff and freely "give
it away" when I'm supposed to, then maybe God is satisfied with my heart
on the mammon issue. Giving it away doesn't have to mean "cashing
out" or selling everything. But it does mean for me that all my stuff
is available for anyone in need.
For instance, if I give my fancy vehicle to a welfare mom to go up to a native
reservation to visit family, it tends to come back without a blemish because
God looks after His own assets better than I can. If I say no to that
request for help in fear of damage or misuse, I take control and lose the
opportunity to share with someone. The guilt and discomfort that I wrestle with
when I'm selfish is much more intense than the risk taken when I lend it out or
give it away. Managing resources from a posture of stewardship gives a freedom
from the temptation of selfishness and greed. We begin to delight ourselves
in the success of building the wealth of the kingdom of God,
rather than becoming anxious when the pressures increase and our ownership
decisions are required. Fear and anxiety on economic issues are
commonplace for all of us. They can be horrendous and cause numerous side
effects to our relationships and even to our physical health. Even more
important is the fact that God is much better equipped to bring acceptable
(even phenomenal) returns to our stewardship efforts. In His wisdom, He
can quickly determine what reward is appropriate for our efforts. He has
the power to bring supernatural returns (such as multiplication values) beyond
natural expectations. Each time this has happened to me, I know clearly
that this approach to resource management is much more favorable to all
involved than a self-centered mind set. God seems to like it also because I
have much more peace and contentment now than when I was driven to achieve and
accumulate more riches.
The whole realm of
"entrepreneurial risk-taking" is a controversial dimension of Kingdom
economics. How far do we push the RISK? Usually a more driven
entrepreneur (someone who thrives in the activities of business and financial
matters) will make more risky investment choices. Stupidity, of course,
must suffer its consequences. But responsible decisions, even risky ones,
can bring rewarding results that God is pleased with. The servant that
buried his talents was not only afraid to manage, he was fearful of losing it
by risking it. God's displeasure was with his laziness and unwillingness
to risk his security. God does call us in all aspects of life to risk in
faith, manage responsibly and steward, not own for ourselves. God is
pleased with the heart and mind that lets go of all things because then God has
claim to everything we touch. He delights in selfless actions that allow
others to reap the benefits of our talents. Accepting stewardship over
ownership as a motivator of our actions, talents and gifts seems to be a
kingdom prerequisite to experiencing God's heart, His voice, and answers to our
struggles with mammon. It also paves the way to a satisfactory expression
of our responsibility for generosity and obedience in our responses to others.
Generosity
As freely as God gives increase to our efforts, we are encouraged to give it
away (Matt.10). We receive from God by His grace and mercy because we
really have nothing of our own to claim. Now, if ownership, selfishness
and greed are not an issue, it becomes quite easy to let go and give
away. We have no reason to keep things for ourselves. This is the
upside down economics of the Kingdom--we have nothing, we keep nothing but we
manage Kingdom resources to maximize the results. Generosity becomes a
lifestyle. The ease of giving away replaces the greed of clinging on to
things. The fear of not having enough is replaced by the confidence that
we have more than enough to survive and the excesses don't belong to
us. We may manage them, but we don't own them. We have open hands to
receive and to give away. We cling to nothing. We hold nothing
tightly. We own nothing. We only strive to increase the value of what
belongs to God. This gives others access to wealth that they otherwise
would not enjoy.
The communal aspects of church family life
are highly valued and achieved only when everyone can contribute either as a
giver or as a receiver. Usually the recipient teaches the giver more than
the giver could learn by holding on to it for his own pleasure. Did Jesus
not say in Matt 25:40 that He was to be found in the needy? Could we learn
anything more significant from a needy person than the realization that Jesus
is a recipient and that giving has a profound impact on our eternal destiny and
the pleasure it brings Jesus as our friend? This happens to me on a daily
basis when working with the "least". Their appreciation of
generosity in the face of hopelessness motivates me much more than 35 years of
corporate profits. It might even help me beat the camel though the
needle's eye.
Our openhandedness to the resources in our
control has a profound impact as an invitation to the grace of Jesus to a
skeptical world of unbelievers. The body of believers can invite the outsiders
to consider the claims and culture of Jesus by simple generosity. If
someone needs a car, someone else may be motivated to provide one. If
money is needed, those in control of excess resources share to meet the
need. If healing is required, those with faith and anointing bring the
blessing. The value of sharing is a huge invitational resource for
evangelism. These acts of kindness are confounding to the world because
they are unexpected and irrational. But when the world begins to trust a
faithful church community, the floodgates open and the unsaved come in
hordes. When a church "buys into" the values of community,
justice, generosity and stewardship, the blessing of God's supernatural
provision become quickly evident. Everyone's needs have a chance of being
met, even in the face of natural improbability. The community's faith is
enough to expect and experience the faithfulness of God to his
promise. Did he not say that we were more important than the birds? He
can and will supply all needs as we walk this journey of faith risk and
confidence in His good pleasure. Only when we manipulate, control and
hoard mammon to feed sinful desires, does he break the chain of blessing and
leave us to our own devices. Generosity then, supplants the tithing
standard. The issue is not how much we give but if and when we give
everything. We've seen enough evidence of all this working at the ministry
centre beyond our wildest imagination. Why sacrifice proven results for a
lesser standard? God has always provided everything just when we really
needed it, but we find that this does not happen if we try to establish
security systems.
Obedience
The teachings of Jesus are not to be messed
with. The life of Jesus is not to be ignored. The biblical value of a
nurturing church family, where lives intersect with each other and people care
for one another, are as close to the heart of Jesus as I can find in economic
terms. It's not about wealth, money or possessions. It's really about
the Passion of Jesus to see that "no one should perish" and the part
we each play in achieving that goal. Lovers of Jesus arise and obey the
call to economic justice! Obedience is a very personal issue and our responses
are determined in the secret place of intimacy with God. Nothing I can say
can influence anyone on how to do this. Obedience is a supernatural
response initiated by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but it only
comes when we are enlightened by God to consider His heart and his favor on our
lives. It's not a bargain with God, but obedience does invoke God's
pleasure and an enjoyment of life that nothing else gives. So, how hard is
it to give up world standards that encompass capitalism and mammon
issues? By now, for me, it's quite easy because I see the amazing
difference in my confidence that I'm in the right place in the
kingdom. Capitalistic striving is usually driven from discomfort with
one's current position.
Today I strive, but it's for the Kingdom
and serving others. It's a wonderfully peaceful realization when you are
in your rightful place before God. Some find it early in life. I
found it later because of my addictions and environment. But now I know
God's pleasure because He reveals it everyday in the poor I serve and the
miracles he purposes for all of us. I've been ruined, but it’s not from
economic disaster that I've been ruined, but rather from an excitement in what
generosity will achieve for the Kingdom of God.
John Rademaker is on the pastoral team of Winnipeg Centre
Vineyard together with his wife of 43 years, Violet. After a business career of
30 years, they decided to cash out and spend their remaining years working in
the Kingdom.
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