Dear Brothers and Sisters, Shalom.

I am Won KIM voicing Pastor Caleb Soo Lee Chong. Glad to meet you in cyberspace again. Let us take up from where we left off in our last session on “Wealth View of a Disciple”.

Jesus said, “… it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven”, and “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” He pointedly said so because the rich generally feel that they do not need God since they possess great wealth. These people enjoy an indescribable sense of independence as well as empowerment. They feel that the world is at their beck and call as they have the money to gain instant access to goods and services at will. As such, they do not need God.

The other reason for this is that quite a number of Jews had misunderstood the teachings on money at that time. They held that money was a blessing from God, and were not able to accept its negative aspects pointed out by Jesus. They believed that the wealth of the young man symbolized special blessings conferred by God and, as such, were naturally shocked by what Jesus said. When the friends of Job in The Book of Job in the Old Testament learned about his losses, they were certain that it was Job’s sins that had caused this to happen. Jesus clearly pointed out in the New Testament that possession of wealth is not proof of one’s blessings from God. That someone is rich cannot be seen as being in God’s favour. Jesus pointed out that their old understanding is fallacious. Now, dear brothers and sisters, while it is good for one to be rich, there is no need to feel downcast if one isn’t. What is more important is for one to know the Gospel, worship God with great awe, and ready ourselves to receive the gift of eternal life from Him.

The power of Money

Jesus took a step further to characterize money: it possesses an uncanny influence to command loyalty from Man to replace God with itself. You can see this the moment you read the book of Matthew chapter 6 verse 24 in the Bible: No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. (Mammon means wealth). It is clear from these words that money has the influence to make you bend your knees and pray to it; in other words, put in the place where God should be. Do you recognize that?

Since a long time ago, many people have seen money as a neutral object without any character of its own, and thought of it as “a media of exchange.” The Bible teaches us that God gives us money for us to use, manage and to cover expenses incurred in the course of serving Him. As a result, we have been focusing on playing good steward and utilizing this gift from God so that this cause is well served.

While this seems to sound good, we notice that Jesus put Mammon (Or money) on the same footing as God and even personifying it as a deity that demands loyalty from Man in place of God. The message from Jesus is as clear as broad daylight: Mammon is not a mere medium of exchange without any persona whatsoever. Plus, there is an issue here on the spirituality and morality of the Christian. Money is not the simple resource that it seems to be; there is a need for us to contemplate over its use in a fitting manner. What is more, we are talking about a “being” here that is waiting for every opportunity to dominate our lives. At the same time, it will stir the pot and make us go crazy over it, even cling to us right down to its final breath. We saw how the young officer ended up in an abject condition under such influences. Our ending would be a most tragic one if our spiritual life gets hijacked with no chance of redress whatsoever as a result of an earlier misjudgment on our part.

In his book “The Christian View of Money” Richard J. Foster pointed out that Money shows certain characteristics of a “deity”. It can accord us a sense of security and freedom, empowers and tempts us to sin. It can even be present everywhere as well. However, the scariest thing about money is that it will try its hand at becoming an omnipotent “god”, seeking to acquire unparalleled power and to drown out everything but its own self from our lives.

One who goes all out to seek money will ignore everything else standing in his way. Social injustice, inequalities, the plight of the downtrodden, underprivileged and so on -- he is unable to see or hear any of these. The only language he understands is money, money, money. It hogs his mind, his space and all of his waking hours and even sleepless nights. In short, it has become the centre of his worship. Dear brothers and sisters, how true Jesus’ words are, indeed! We need to stay vigilant: at all times stop thinking of money as an ordinary neutral object, see it instead as something that is trying to exploit and maneuver us to work for its own benefit.

God provides material goods to Mankind

On the other hand, there are many verses in our Bible that speak of how God has provided Man with all his material needs. Our God gifts us with His choicest and most bountiful blessings; go to the book of Job chapter 42 verse 10, the book of Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 15 and so on for more!

The New Testament, too, takes the view that money is a medium that deepens our relationship with God and consolidates the relationship between neighbours and ourselves. It is key to remember that it is a medium. This medium can help us establish better relationships with God, i.e., by tithing and serving Him. I can love my neighbours through monetary means and express my love and care to the needy ones around me. The Bible provides these exhortations:

In the book of Proverbs chapter 19 verse 17: Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.

In the book of Luke chapter 8 verse 3. Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others were providing for them out of their means.

In the book of Philippians chapter 4 verse 16: For even when I (Paul) was in Thessalonica, you (the churches in Philippi) sent me aid more than once when I was in need.

And in the book of Malachi chapter 3 verse 10: Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

These Bible verses show us how money can be used to achieve the targets mentioned above.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, first of all, do not let us be in doubt that all that we have today is the result of God’s wonderful provisions. As pointed out in the book of Exodus chapter 19 verses 5-6, “… the whole earth is mine.”

We see, therefore, that all of our wealth is gifted to us by God, in order that we will hold Him in awe, and be more aware of His Presence, just like the priceless wedding ring that the bridegroom slipped on the finger of his bride. In time to come, will the bride just treasure the priceless ring on her bride but forget her husband who has gifted her with this treasure? Alas, there are many people who love the plentiful material gifts from God, but ignore the Giver completely. Dear brothers and sisters, this should not be allowed to happen! Bear in mind that all of these are His blessings, and we are to tithe with thanksgiving, for “God loves and rewards a cheerful giver.”

Next, give all you can. We can build up relationships with our neighbours by helping others. Take Zaccheus the tax-collector for example. He made quite a lot of money, part of it through improper means. When he saw Jesus, he said, “… Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” From the book of Luke chapter 19 verses 1-10 we can see it was not only his life that underwent a transformation; his view of wealth went through a complete overhaul together as well.

Consequentially, this “change” showed beyond doubt that the relationship he built up was exceedingly healthy and harmonious. From this point onwards, he began his journey to set up relationships with people around him in a gradual but steady manner. By and by, he gained acceptance and respect from them. In the past, everyone hated the sight of him, and saw him as “that short fellah” in their minds. Along the way, people began to address him with more respect and even went into meaningful exchanges with him. Zaccheus became a new man after knowing Jesus; yes, his life was transformed in its entirety.

Tithes

Let’s move on and talk on the topic of tithes. To begin with, this refers to the minimum giving of one-tenth of agricultural produce offerings in the Old Testament. In fact, more than one-tenth of their produce would be offered as tithes if one is to read the OT more closely -- perhaps up to three-tenths. It was neither Jesus nor any writer of the New Testament who set the amount to be one-tenth. In the theology by Paul, Lord Jesus taught that the offering should go beyond this amount. Paul wrote: “Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God…” This includes your thoughts, intents, feelings, resolve and every action of yours – all of which must be offered to God, not just money alone. Are you ready to do that!?

In fact, tithing is the means by which the Bible teaches us how to help the people around us, and to breakout and walk away from our inner selfish mindsets. In other words, it offers a channel for us to shatter the inner greed within us. What a major and beautiful act indeed! We know that one’s love is genuine if he is prepared to give away his money. If that be the case, why are some Christians not doing their part when it comes to offering of tithes?

I would just say that tithing is an act that imposes the necessary discipline. Very often, people have a sense of fear or discomfort about them, especially those who have fallen into times of want in the past. They become very sensitized, turn unspeakably anxious and restless when it comes to monetary matters. As such, they are constantly squirreling away their wealth; it is a tough job to ask them to part with their money.

Thus, someone who wants to tithe will need to overcome this sense of anxiety and discomfort. In addition, he must build his own sense of security on Christ Himself, rather than on his own self or his own planning. I may have wonderful plans for tomorrow, but have just been told by the doctor that I have cancer, reducing my plan to a heap of junk. While one may have plenty of wealth, there is no happiness within his soul. Wherever you put your money is where your heart is going to go. Wherever your heart is going to go, that is where you put your money.

Today, we have to love both God and Man. We would be offering our tithes only when we have love towards Man, and would thus be willing to open our wallets accordingly. If this is the case, tithing would be something easy to carry out, indeed it would be natural for us to do so. When you do that, you will find that you did not lose anything on your part. Neither would you be feeling that you would not be able to get by tomorrow. We would still be blessed richly with provisions, and our faith in God would be built up. Let’s do that together, and break the fetters tethering us to our money.

Let’s pray

Dear Heavenly Father, we are indeed most grateful to you, for you have put us in this world, with its material benefits and manifold provisions. At the same time, you want us to be aware of those around us who are lacking in these material needs. These people need our help. May we be freed from the bondage of money, and instead become its owner, using this wealth to help those with such needs. O Lord, when we do this, money would then become the medium through which we build a harmonious relationship between ourselves and other people around us. Show us, O Lord, how to acquire such wisdom, and offer our money at your altar, so that the church will use it to help those in need. May you hear our prayers, O Lord, and give us our blessings. In your Holy Name we pray, Amen!

Recommendations by Rev. Dr Caleb SOO Lee Chong

The three books “The Gospel for the Modern Man”, “Faith of the Modern Believer” and “Values for the Modern Disciple” by Rev. Dr Caleb SOO Lee Chong are worthy books to edify disciples. In order to minimize differences in the qualities amongst Christians, our churches need to set up basic courses to address these issues. In turn, this will enable all disciples to incorporate their faith into their lives and allow changes to take place through renewal of minds. May God make use of these basic courses to edify more disciples to strengthen His soldiers and claim victory on His battle-ground!

The three books “The Gospel for the Modern Man”, “Faith of the Modern Believer” and “Values for the Modern Disciple” are suitable course materials for anyone who wish to acquire understanding of the Christian faith in a more comprehensive manner. The contents are easy to grasp and relate to the real world that we are living in. They are written with an eye for the man-in-the-street and explore how to make our faith come alive in our daily social interactions.

In particular, these are suitable if you  

1. are someone who wants to understand the Christian faith or,

2. are someone who has just accepted the Christian faith or,

3. have been a Christian for many years but still hungering for a firmer grounding in the faith or,

4. are a pastor or co-worker who plans to use these materials for teaching purposes.

If you need to take up learning or use these materials in a systematic manner, please us contact at this email address： [email protected]