Mortify the Arm of the Flesh - Part 5
Money- Luring with luxury and Mammonistic manipulation
by Brett Jacobsen
This says the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm [zerowa- strength], and whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. (Jer 17:5-8)
Probably the most potent and public of carnal Christendom’s fleshly fruits would be the financial misconceptions and misrepresentations from God’s Word. This has muddied the Lord’s name on numerous occasions, as those who are said to represent Him prove to be equal or indeed more advanced than the world in the selfish pursuit of sensual success.
Largely due to human institutions and practices being commonplace in the church, we have seen all sorts of crooked dealings in the financial realm.
Is it any wonder when the Bible informs us that “the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted [oregomai- reach out after, desire] after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Tim 6:10).
Two areas will be examined here: “churches” and their leaders luring people with luxury and other forms of fairytale faith is the first. The second is the mammonistic manipulation of God’s people.
Firstly I will make it clear that I do believe that God blesses His servants (Heb 11:6) and that true leaders and God’s ministry through them, should be supported by the saints (1 Tim 5:17). However, there are drastic differences between what is biblical and what we’ve seen plenty of throughout the modern church.
It is a sad indictment on contemporary Christianity that so many leaders, “churches”, and Christians have used the ways of the world to try to win people to Christ [1]. It is a great lack of faith/trust in the Lord to presume that He needs our exciting methods and a compromised message to “draw all men to [Him]”. After all, He said He could do that (John 12:2). So, surely our part in the drawing of all men to Him would be to present Him to them as pure and real as possible.
It is the lack of the presence and reality of God amongst His people (due to the other aspects covered in this teaching series) that causes the cheap, shameless trickery which the modern church calls church growth.
Rather than preach “repent, for the Kingdom is at hand” and see the conviction of the Holy Spirit draw people to His grace, many preach “God wants to make you rich, happy, successful, pretty… oh and did I mention rich”. This is a wayward view of evangelism and church growth [2] which shows a great degree of trust in man and strength in the flesh which produces many “whose heart departs from the LORD”.
The other aspect of financial woe which I will address here (there are many others) is the mammonistic manipulation [3] of God’s people by so-called servants of he Lord.
Whether it’s the tithe or writhe messages [4], building funds, the business men’s group, inspiration with hype and stats, the give to get perversion or other tools of ministry money manipulation, the fact is that many employ these carnal endeavours.
Preachers have used many of these extra-biblical methods to raise funds for “their” church or ministry and it gets even worse. I just recently heard a guy say that if people would give an offering in the next thirty days the Lord would dispatch an angel to bless them and that family and friends would get saved. (Bought blessing and sold salvation).
Really it all boils down to a severe lack of trust in the Lord and a great degree of leaning on mans might. But why does it happen and whose fault is it?
In some cases these are just wolves in sheep’s clothing seeking their own gain [5]. Other times it's good people who have been swallowed up by the machine of institution building and religious success.
Then on the other hand it is at least partially because of the saints who wholly store up treasures on earth, not even contributing to the Kingdom financially. This is not to mention those who waste the Lord’s money, giving it to the wolves and the ministry machines.
So how do we fix these problems which now have become so public even in the worlds eyes?
The major part of the remedy would be to rid the church of extra-biblical:
Programmes- Sterile services and Flamboyant events
Leadership- Hierarchical and Humanly official
Church constructs- Cathedrals and Owned organisations
Ministries- Stage strutting and Went ones
Traditions of men- Set schedules and Patterned practices
Growth- Seeking statistics and Competing companies
Legalism- Written rules and Carnal codes
Individualism- Lone rangers and Scorned saints
If we put away the practices of fleshly religion in all these areas and more, we would be off to a good start. Just removing the cathedrals and the stage-based spectator church expression would be a good step towards rectifying the situation.
If we become the church out there in creation again, like Jesus taught us to be, it would help us to resist the urge to lure people with carnal concepts.
Of course we also will need to encourage (and support) ministries to go against the worldly flow in and out of the church. Ones who are about the Fathers business of equipping and overseeing the saints rather than building a name, a “church”, a ministry, a following, a building, a monument, or any other thing that gives kudos to men rather than just God.
Notes
[1] I do not believe that many of these “converts” are being won to Christ at all, but rather by a false gospel they are won to a false version of Christ. (Gal 1:6-7, 2 Cor 11:4)
[2] Biblical church growth is to see the “Lord [add] to the church daily such as should be saved”; that is His church not OUR “church” as in denomination, organisation, dissociate congregation (Acts 2:47). In stark contrast we see many organisations (church constructs) trying to grow themselves… and that usually through their own carnal methods.
[3] Mammonistic manipulation, meaning the manipulation of God’s people due to the love of money (mammon= money as God) and other forms of rapacity.
[4] I do see that first fruits type giving is a principle which flowed into the New Testament (1 Cor 9) and even giving ten percent to a legitimate biblical ministry on a regular basis is not necessarily legalism. But many overstep the mark by a great deal promoting legalistic tithing and commitment to their “storehouse”. To view another article on biblical finance called Tobiah in the House which brings out the balance of tithing go here- http://www.christisall.org/2005/08/31/tobiah-in-the-house-worldly-money-principles-in-gods-house-by-brett-jacobsen/
[5] Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw yourself. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Tim 6:5-10)
For more reading on New Testament community, unity, and leadership as well as other reformational insights, see the author’s book Heaven’s Underground Blueprint here- http://www.christisall.org/hub-book for a copy or a free PDF version.
Chapter seven of Heaven’s Underground Blueprint is a teaching on biblical community instead of man’s traditions and human constructs. It finishes with a brief picture of how ministry support should look amongst New Testament communities. You can read the chapter called Heaven’s Underground Community Blueprint here:
REPRINT AGREEMENT
Duplication and re-transmission of this writing is permitted provided that complete source and website information for CHRIST IS ALL is included.
Thank you.
www.christisall.org