Is God's Kingdom About Material Blessings Only?

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48b

When we look at this verse, especially without Biblical context, many are prone to think “material:” whoever has been given much materially....and whoever has been entrusted with much materially or professionally...must give back materially.

Is that what this verse is limited to? Because if it is, this is what it means: to everyone who has been given many things--a house, car, clothes, food, water, birthday presents, televisions, computers and iPhones--much will be demanded.

We think to ourselves, “Okay, it must mean that since I’ve got so many things, then I must give many things in return.

Following that line of logic, wouldn’t it imply that we give housing, food, clothing, iPhones and cars to others? 

Understanding this verse in this way, do people actually do that on a regular basis? Do the people who insist on this quite popular and common interpretation of Luke 12:48 buy two iPhones, one for themselves and one for someone who cannot afford one?

See, the main problem with the above interpretation of this verse is that, aside from being interpreted entirely out of context and outside of a systematic Biblical theology, it is transactional.

It gets back to the age-old quandary of good enough: how good do we have to be to get to heaven? Mother Teresa good, or Richard Nixon good?

The same quandary applies when we co-opt these verses to our personal, (and let’s face it, often self-righteous) construct: how much is enough to give? If I buy a boat, who is the recipient of the gift boat? Is fifty bucks in the collection plate at Christmas enough?

For every item we possess, are we to give the same and equal possession to someone else? Are we to not gain anything new for our self until we have provided equal material gain for our neighbor?

If we look at what directly precedes these lines in Luke, we find three entire paragraphs filled with Jesus telling his disciples (that would be us) to not worry about what we are to wear and what we are to eat. He tells us not to worry about our material needs because “your Father knows that you need them.”

God knows everyone’s needs (and those needs are more than just material). 

He knows how to meet those needs: physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. Here’s how: by instructing us, his disciples, to “seek his kingdom and these things will be given to you as well.” And that means that when we seek His Kingdom first, those less fortunate will be the recipients as well. 

See, when we seek the material, and make faith and church about the physical provision and reception of blessings only, we are not seeking the Kingdom of God.

Luke 12 is pointing out that people are worrying about the physical and material. God says to stop that and to seek His kingdom. 

This Kingdom, by the way, is the very Kingdom God has already “been pleased to give you” (Luke 12:32). 

So we are to seek what He has already given us! It’s there! Not transactional: the gift of God’s Kingdom to us has already been given! 

It is we who are either seeking it and thus receiving it, or not seeking it and thus not receiving it. The transaction, if there is any, is upon us to simply go after it. God does not withdraw it: the gift of His Kingdom remains for us whether we accept it or not.

And as we shall see, this Kingdom is primarily not simply material. A faith that lives and breathes only in the context of material void or gain is not faith in Jesus Christ, and does not live in the Kingdom of God.

The actual interpretation of the Luke 12:48 verse goes much, much, deeper, to the very core of what it means to believe Christ, not just believe in Christ. 

I’ll write more on that in the coming week.

copyright Barb Harwood

“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’

‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” Mark 12:28-30

The "Problem" of Evil

From a concise, Biblical study of evil provided by GotQuestions.org:

“Rather than creating us as amoral robots or dooming mankind for our sin or condoning our sin by leaving it unresolved, God chose the one and only way to settle the problem. He created us with the freedom to choose our actions, and then extended forgiveness to us. Forgiveness is the Christian answer to the problem of evil.

Forgiveness is different from condemnation—it releases the condemned from punishment. Forgiveness is also different from excusing evil—it acknowledges that there is wrong to be made right. The basis of our forgiveness, the cross, is the intersection of God’s perfect moral character, love, and omnipotence. Since He chose to take our penalty upon Himself, all suffering and evil can be overcome. According to the Bible, the evil we experience in this life has already been defeated, and everyone has access to that victory.

Taken as a whole, as it is intended, the Bible describes evil as something God allowed, but never condoned, for the sake of our free will. All through history, God has taken steps to limit the influence of evil. And, most importantly, God Himself took the consequences of our sin, so every person can have access to forgiveness and salvation. As a result, all sin, evil, and suffering will someday be completely ended. Beyond the philosophical or theological aspects of this issue, Scripture in and of itself goes a long way to neutralizing the power of the 'problem of evil.'” GotQuestions.org

Read the entire article, titled, What is the Biblical Solution to Evil? here:

https://www.gotquestions.org/problem-of-evil.html

The Evil in Judging Others—including based on their politics—and What it Reveals About Us

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship:

“...Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law. The Church is not to be a national community like the old Israel, but a community of believers without political or national ties. The old Israel had been both—the chosen people of God and a national community...But with the Church it is different: it has abandoned political and national status...”

“If the disciples make judgements of their own, they set up standards of good and evil...For, with my judgement according to good and evil, I only affirm the other person’s evil...Thus we remove him from the judgement of Christ and subject him to human judgement. But I bring God’s judgement upon my head, for I then do not live any more on and out of the grace of Jesus Christ, but out of my knowledge of good and evil which I hold on to. To everyone God is the kind of God he believes in.

Judgement is the forbidden objectivization of the other person which destroys single-minded love. I am not forbidden to have my own thoughts about the other person, to realize his shortcomings, but only to the extent that it offers to me an occasion for forgiveness and unconditional love, as Jesus proves to me. If I withhold my judgement I am not indulging...and (do not) confirm the other person in his bad ways. Neither I am right nor the other person, but God is always right and shall proclaim both his grace and his judgement...

By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”

“But if we are on the look-out for evil in others, our real motive is obviously to justify ourselves, for we are seeking to escape punishment for our own sins by passing judgement on others, and are assuming by implication that the Word of God applies to ourselves in one way, and to others in another. All this is highly dangerous and misleading. We are trying to claim for ourselves a special privilege which we deny to others.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Paul, in Romans, "to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints":

"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. 

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,' says the Lord. 'BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:9-21

"Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall." 1 Corinthians 10:12

"Pride goes before destruction, 

And a haughty spirit before stumbling." 

Proverbs 16:18

"For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." Galatians 6:3

"A just balance and scales belong to the LORD;

All the weights of the bag are His concern." Proverbs 16:11

How Does Evil Begin?

“The hardening effect of sin is amazing. You feel real bad at first. You feel kind of bad a little bit later, and a little bad after that. Then particularly in the case of moral sin, before long you hear, ‘Everybody’s doing it.’ And finally, ‘I’m only human.’”

Tony Evans in Time to Get Serious

As I said in my first post on evil, at its basic level, evil is separation from God. Evil is whatever is outside of His will.

So in the quote above, we actually get a pretty complete picture of the definition of evil:

     1.   It is sin.

     2.   It is sin we not only allow, but then justify.

The problem of evil, then, really becomes the problem of relativism:

“any theory holding that criteria of judgment are relative, varying with individuals and their environment.” (Dictionary.com).

Relative, according to Dictionary.com, means

“Something dependent upon external conditions for its specific nature, size, etc. (opposed to absolute).”

“Existing or having its specific nature only by relation to something else; not absolute or independent.”

“Depending for significance upon something else.”

Jesus, in John 14:6, tells Thomas,

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

For Christians, Christ is the Word; absolute truth is Christ; His Word is absolute truth.

Jesus, as He prays to His Father, God, in John 17, says,

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

No room for relativism here.

It follows then that Christians will go to God through Jesus and His Word, reliant on the Holy Spirit, for right doctrine on evil and God’s role regarding it.

Paul warns young Timothy, and us, that this path we have chosen will appear at times to be daunting, but we must not look at appearances, we must live within what is actual—absolute. 

We must not look at choices and circumstances as being relative, but as relative to Christ. In that dependence upon Him, we receive our answer as to how to proceed: whatever is canceled out when held up to the standard of Christ’s Truth, that is what we shun. That is what we say “no” to.

This is the work of sanctification in God’s Truth, otherwise known as becoming wise in the wisdom of God. This is how we ward off evil.

And yes, Paul readily admits, “difficult times will come” (2 Timothy 3:1).

But, confident that:

“God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7), 

We turn to:

“the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:15-17).

Jesus, too, does not gloss over the fact that

“In the world you have tribulation” (John 16:33). 

He encourages His disciples, and us, in John 14, saying,

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me....

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.”

In John 16, Jesus explains why He is saying this:

“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling” (John 16:1).

In addition to His Word, He gives us His Holy Spirit to guide us:

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:7-8).

Furthermore, Jesus assures us,

“...when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak...He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:13a-14).

There is no room for relativism here. 

No room for the disobedience that operates out of a normalized-and-rubber-stamped-by-the-world logic, “informed” by a darkened conscience.

And we have Christ to thank for that!

I mean, seriously, don’t we want to know? Don’t we want answers?

In spite of New Age and “world peace” pablum, which attempt to toss the ball back into our court of “anything goes if it satisfies you for the moment,” people are no happier or fulfilled than before. 

They do not see peace on earth, and certainly haven’t experienced it for themselves. And many don’t even realize this, because they don’t know what true peace even feels like (the peace found in Christ alone, John 16:33). 

In fact, many people may think they are doing pretty good, relatively speaking.

Jesus is not a relatively speaking kind of guy. That’s because He is Lord. He and His Word, as we’ve already seen, is Truth. Absolutely.

This is how evil begins: 

Ignorance of or indifference to God. 

Cheap grace that honors God with lips while the heart is far from Him (Matthew 15:8). 

A sentimental “love” for God--or acceptance of His generic love for us--outside of Jesus Christ, which never gets around to us loving God through obedience to Christ in return.

A.W. Tozer said it well when he said, of believers,

“The devil loves it when we say we believe then prioritize everything in our lives ahead of God.”

He adds that Christianity destroys itself “by not living in the light, by professing a truth it does not obey.”

He says that non-believers’ refusal to “walk in the light” is due to “rottenness within, carelessness, worldliness, evil, refusing to let the Light of God find and change my dirty little nest of iniquity. That’s what is destroying us...!”

Linus, in the famous Charlie Brown Christmas play, stands alone on a stage under a spotlight and informs the world as to what Christmas is all about.

It’s time to put the spotlight on evil: true, absolute evil. The evil that begins in each and every person’s heart and mind and is either nipped in the bud by obedience to Christ, or left to take root and entangle more and more of a person’s, and thus, the surrounding world's, life.

copyright Barb Harwood

“Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You, if you fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’ Then the devil left Him;” Matthew 4:8-11a