Nehemiah Part Five - Debt. It's about debt.

I began my attendance at Calvin College in August of 2001. It was, as I called it, the semester of hell. Aside from your usual adolescent frustration dealing with the major life transition of leaving home and starting college, a few airplanes hit some important buildings, Calvin experienced a bomb threat, my grandfather died, and I became physically sick from anxiety. I’m 6 ft. 2 in. tall and I dropped to 126 lbs. That’s barely enough weight to stretch over the height.

When I went home for winter break, I sat with my parents in our living room and finally told them about my struggles. My father heard all about papers and tests and girls and loneliness and stress. After I finished, he said, “There’s something I need to tell you. The company isn’t doing well.” He then went on to tell me how financial difficulties forced the board to remove him as their CEO.

I soon learned that Calvin didn’t necessarily require payment for the semester before classes began. Instead, they let you attend and then required payment at the end of the semester. My family didn’t want to deal with school loans. At the time, I thought, why would we? Dad had a good job and helped my older brothers through school. We had enough to pay for the first semester of school but there were no guarantees for the spring.

Mom and dad insisted that I return to finish the school year, assuring me that we would make it work. Something in me knew it wouldn’t last. I mean, my parents prayed about sending back to school and felt certain God wanted me to go, but I didn’t feel comfortable with the possibility of debt. When credit card applications came in the mail or representatives vied for my attention at booths on campus, I ignored them. No way, you’re not going to put me in debt when I only work a part-time job. But society demanded I get an education for a job that paid well enough to eventually cover my oncoming school debt.

At the end of the 2002 spring semester, I got a few notices from the school about the money I owed. It came to something like $13,000 for the semester. As a 19-year-old kid, the number gave me a stomachache. Dad held the school off until a man donated the money we needed to pay the remainder.

Again, I told my parents that I was willing to drop out and work, or maybe attend the Community College. They prayed about it and felt that I should go back to Calvin. Dad hadn’t yet found steady work and this time there was no angel donor. The bill came like death during exam week. I managed to live on campus and “work” for one of the professors during the January term. The housing department busted me for living on campus without any registered classes. Eventually, they showed me the door.

My grades hadn’t suffered. Nobody ever had to discipline me for bad behavior. I was a dorm leader and helped lead a Bible study. But schools get pissed when you don’t pay them. I spent the next few days packing my room and explaining to the other dorm leaders what had happened. As friends showed up on campus to help me move, the boys in my dorm said their goodbyes. One kid physically blocked the door. “You can’t leave,” he said. I laughed at the melodrama but the scene still stung.

About nine months later, I sat in my basement watching the 2003 World Series when my mother handed me the phone. A man asked if I was Isaiah. He then began an assault of verbal abuse asking me why I hadn’t paid Calvin for my last semester. Admittedly naïve, I tried explaining myself. The collector ridiculed me and piled on the shame. Mom, standing by, realized what was going on and ran upstairs to get dad. He took the phone and left the room.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “If I knew who was calling you, I would have given it to your father first.” At the time, I was booking a tour for my band and she assumed a venue had called to confirm a date.

A form of hate bloomed inside of me. Who was that guy? What crime had I committed? People ran into financial problems like this all the time. The Kallmans weren’t deadbeats. We’d find a way to pay eventually.

When I last talked to a collector in December of 2007, the late fees and “miscellaneous charges” had pushed $13,000 up past $18,000. By then, I had moved to Nashville and wanted to live responsibly. So of course, I tried to reason with another collector. I gave her the estimated figures of monthly income to monthly expenses, which were nearly the same number, and asked if we could agree on some sort of payment plan.

The woman came back after talking to a shadowy “supervisor” and offered three different options. I laughed aloud into the phone when she told me these options. “Even if I were to sell everything I have tomorrow, I couldn’t make lowest down payment.” I told her I could sacrifice here and there to give twenty dollars a month until I got a steady job and increase my payments with the promise that they would halt any further fees. She refused. I told her I’d get counsel before making a decision. In the back of my mind, I knew those charges and fees were piling up as I waited for the situation to turn.

At this time, I’m still waiting for it to turn. But what can I do? They’ve refused my offer to chip away at the debt because, according to people like Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law, they will make more money in the end if I’m in debt to them forever.

Please understand me, I don’t want to shame my old college. I know that they want to run the school well and pay their staff. A few Isaiah Kallmans could make it hard for them to function financially. I get that. What hurt was the thought, “These people are a part of the church and they’re coming after me!” Something felt so wrong about this. Like, things shouldn’t work this way. And yet, this is business as usual everywhere.

The Outcry

There’s something else I want you to understand. I’m not poor. Sure, I live paycheck-to-paycheck and I only started intentionally saving money at the age of 26. That’s kind of dumb. But I’m not poor.

My friend Josh told me about conversations he would overhear at Skelletones. These punk kids would always talk about how poor they were. They would sew patches on their clothes with dental floss and talk about how they needed to be resourceful just to make ends meet. Of course, they never thought about how dental floss costs about as much as your typical sewing kit but with less thread.

Then, these kids would talk about getting drunk on forties and how they could score cheap drugs. A lot of these kids weren’t living on the street. Some of them had families or other people who would take care of them. None of them were starving. They chose this life. Josh was so upset by this he designed a T-shirt with a picture of a punk holding a forty and a caption reading “Broke Is the New Poor”.

I became friends with the drummer of a punk band in Nashville while they recorded an album at the old Make Your Own Records house. He recently told me about the struggles he had with old credit card mistakes. “I was young and dumb,” he said. “I got my card and thought, ‘Sweet! I’ll get a Macbook! Dad’s recliner is worn out. I’ll buy him a new one!’ I’m still dealing with that stuff.” This happened years ago, but it still haunts him. He and his wife have begun to cut down on their expenses in hopes they will slowly pay off a little more each month. It’s hard, but he wants to live righteously in his finances.

That’s why I’m telling you, I’m not poor. At this moment, I’m just living on little money. My situation is temporary. Things will get better. I also want to live righteously in my finances and I know God will continue to bless me.

Maybe I’m getting that right, but I also must take care not to condemn all the people who got themselves in over their heads. Maybe I don’t have as much school debt as, say, a law student, but I also don’t have a degree. And their job will eventually pay off the loans. I may not have credit card debt, but I also never built my credit. As a no-credit non-student, it could be far more difficult for me to get a car or home unless my situation changes.

I had to keep humility in mind the first few times I read Nehemiah 5:1-5.

“Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, ‘We, our sons and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain that we may eat and live.’ There were others who said, ‘We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our houses that we might get grain because of the famine.’ Also there were those who said, ‘We have borrowed money for the king's tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our children like their children. Yet behold, we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters are forced into bondage already, and we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others.’”

The outcry in verse 2 could at first sound like a socialistic demand. “Why do the rich Jews have more money while we’re starving? It’s not fair!” But this was not a tantrum. This outcry came from true desperation. Think of this, someone is so poor that they get a credit card with a 14% interest rate just to buy their basic groceries. Bread, milk, maybe some toilet paper. Real necessities.

People were even going into debt just to pay their taxes. During a time of famine. So now imagine using that same 14% credit card to pay a 12% State Tax. The immediate problem isn’t solved, just aggravated and postponed.

Others were mortgaging their homes and land. As a man who well knew scripture, Nehemiah would have been familiar with the laws in Leviticus. God had given the Jewish people rules regarding the sale of land. Leviticus 25 made it clear, the land did not belong to the people but to God. He wanted them to steward it well and handle their real estate in a way that set them apart and glorified Him.

If a person could not financially support himself, he could temporarily sell the land. Then it was the responsibility of a relative to buy back the land so it stayed in the family. In the event that no kinsman could do this, the buyer was obliged to sell the land back to its original owner only. If the seller could not pay off his debt within fifty years, God had appointed a “year of Jubilee” where all debts were canceled and properties returned. God took this so seriously that when the kings neglected the laws surrounding Jubilee at the time of Jeremiah, the prophet foretold of Jerusalem’s coming destruction and their inevitable exile.

Some experienced such financial hardship that they even sold their children as slaves to pay the high interest exacted by their fellow Jews. This went directly against Leviticus 25:39-41. “If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee. He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers.” God meant for this to go against the norm of common business practices as a reminder of Israel’s freedom from slavery in Egypt. Not only as a reminder to themselves, but as a testimony to the rest of the world.

The Response

The point was not “We shouldn’t have rich people and poor people. Everyone should be equal.” God had ways for poor people to work and survive (Leviticus 19:9-10) and didn’t demand sacrifices beyond their means (Leviticus 14:21). These rules were put in place to make sure people used their wealth with compassion, acting honestly and righteously with what God had given them. Leviticus 19:15 made it clear to leaders like Nehemiah, “You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.”

Clearly, the wealthy Jews had acted unrighteously, ignoring God’s law and financially cannibalizing their own people for profit. Nehemiah realized the gravity of this injustice. I love Nehemiah’s emotional honesty in 5:6, “Then I was very angry when I had heard their outcry and these words.” It’s okay to get ticked at this sort of thing. I spent a summer studying debt, both personal and national, and I got downright pissed. Most people are in debt and creditors want it to stay that way.

Instead of acting out on his emotion, though, Nehemiah took time to consider the matter.

“I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers and said to them, ‘You are exacting usury, each from his brother!’ Therefore, I held a great assembly against them. I said to them, ‘We according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?’ Then they were silent and could not find a word to say. Again I said, ‘The thing which you are doing is not good; should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? And likewise I, my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let us leave off this usury. Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain, the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them.’” (Nehemiah 5:7-11)

A few things are very significant about Nehemiah’s response. First, and most notably, Nehemiah repents of his own sin. It would have been too easy for him, in his anger, to blame the rich for their sin. Having removed the plank from his eye, he could see clearly and address the speck in theirs.

This probably inspired the second point in his response. He bought back those sold into slavery. If he bore the same guilt, that would explain his desire to set an example of financial repentance. It does no good to say sorry without demonstrating a change of heart.

Third, Nehemiah presents an opportunity for the men assembled to follow his example. He pleads with them to cancel the debts and return the property. I believe he did this in part to address one of the three areas of brokenness in Jerusalem. The walls and gates weren’t the only parts of the city in disrepair. Hanani had first told Nehemiah all the way back in chapter 1 how the people were held in contempt. By not following the law of God, which they called their own, meant to set them apart, they invited the criticism they found so disheartening.

What follows absolutely amazed me when I realized its significance. When reading verse 8 of chapter 5, one could compare the people to those assembled on Mount Carmel in 1Kings 18 when Elijah challenges the people to choose between God and Baal. Would they choose God or the promise of wealth and prosperity? After Nehemiah’s appeal, the men promise to return the property without further payment or interest. They also want to repent financially. The priests come in as witnesses of this promise and stand as accountability.

In verse 13, Nehemiah makes the oath, “I also shook out the front of my garment and said, ‘Thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise; even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.’ And all the assembly said, ‘Amen!’ And they praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise.”

This oath was serious business. Any man’s failure to keep his promise would result in the loss of all his wealth. Shaken empty. The very thing they tried to build through evil would crumble. And please note that their promise to cancel the debts was monumental. Consider a similar situation today. What if all the banks and credit card companies were to say, “We’ve bled the American people nearly dry. We’re going to forgive all the debts and start over.” As of 2008, that would mean $13.8 trillion dollars of household debt erased. But the casual reader could easily pass over the end of Nehemiah 5:13. The people actually fulfilled their promise.

The New Generosity

True repentance isn’t a simple “I’m sorry”. It requires a change of heart, a dedicated difference in thinking. Where Nehemiah once financially oppressed the poor along with the wealthy Jews, now he operates in a lifestyle of generosity and hospitality. Nehemiah 5:14-16 reads,

“Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my kinsmen have eaten the governor's food allowance. But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God. I also applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work.”

In these three verses, Nehemiah describes very countercultural attitudes and practices. First, he did not take advantage of the living expenses guaranteed to the Governor and his staff. They denied this benefit to relieve the people of tax burdens. Previous rulers had extorted the people to such poverty that even their servants were better off than the common free man.

Second, it seems the position of governor would have allowed Nehemiah a life of comfort and ease. Instead, he and his staff dedicated themselves to working alongside the people in their effort to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This was not merely delegated responsibility. He didn’t take on a series of program development and reform. He had a passion to restore the city and dedicated himself to its needs.

Verse 16 mentions a denial of real estate opportunities. On top of the ability to tax and extort the people, rulers could take advantage of the peoples’ desperation. They could buy land for very little money (say, as forgiveness for that month’s tribute) and later sell it for a high price after the restoration raised the property value. Again, as a man who knew the law, Nehemiah remembered God’s command to not move the boundary stones set by his forefathers (Deuteronomy 19:14).

The remaining passage in chapter 5 tells of a daily feast at Nehemiah’s table. Over 150 people every night came to his residence and ate one ox, six choice sheep, various foul, and several barrels of wine a night. Remember that this man refused the king’s food allowance. We can only assume then that Nehemiah paid for this generosity out of his own pocket for twelve years. Simple, straightforward math shows a staggering cost for this kind of hospitality. 4,380 oxen, 26,280 sheep and foul, and a new supply of wine for 150+ people ordered 438 times. That’s a lot of people for a long time. And not only important leaders. The text says other Judeans and foreign guests came and sat at Nehemiah’s table.

I think it was especially important for Nehemiah to invite foreign leaders to these nightly banquets. If the former practices of usury and extortion only added to the nations’ contempt of Jerusalem, the new lifestyle of generosity would silence the criticism. One more stone put in place for the restoration of the Jews as God’s chosen and special people.

Let this encourage you. Inviting people into your home for dinner or a party can seem like a simple thing but I want you to consider it as Nehemiah did. The new generosity allows people to see Christ at work in your home. This comes through how you freely give to your guests, as a visual example of how you interact with your family or roommates, and opens opportunities to speak into their lives with truth and wisdom.

People need to see the power of the living God at work in our lives. What with the stress of credit card bills and all.

Ten of the Twelve - Haggai and the attitude of poverty.

Tons of weblogs in the weblogosphere made Best Of lists for the last decade at the beginning of January. Even if I wanted to join the noise, it's way too late now. But if someone asked, I would gladly name Read Music/Speak Spanish by Desaparecidos as one of my favorite records from the last decade. It's the reason I might never enjoy Bright Eyes ever again. It's a trashy, scathing, unapologetic recording. The theme of the album deals with urban sprawl and hyper consumerism. One song, Greater Omaha, has a line that I still find myself humming. "We can't afford to be generous. There's closing costs and a narrow market." I've thought about that line for years. If a person had enough money to worry about housing costs, contracts, stocks, etc, what stops them from generosity?

Of course the song is sarcastic, but the chorus nails the attitude of poverty. "Just one more mouthful and we will be happy then." It seems that people can act impoverished no matter how much wealth they possess. When Babylon overtook Jerusalem, the invaders destroyed the Temple. Now in exile, God's people were completely brokenhearted. You can hear their sadness in Psalm 137. After 70 years, God brings His people back to the Promised Land but it took many years before they restored the Temple.

It's here we find Haggai prophesying to Governor Zerubbabel, Joshua the High Priest, and the former exiles. In 1:3-4, "'Here is what the Lord of Hosts says: "This people is saying that now isn't the time - the time hasn't yet arrived for the Lord's house to be rebuilt.'" Then this word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet: 'so is now the time for you to be living in your own paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?'"

Some of those hearing him were alive at the time of Judah's fall to Babylon. They saw the Temple in times of glory. When they returned, they saw their land poorly tended, the surrounding nations showed them hostility, and they had to pay high taxes in tribute to the government. They developed a spirit, or attitude, of poverty. Yes, they were poor. Yes, they were despised. But they forgot who God is and what He thought of them.

I've said the phrase "attitude of poverty" a few times now. Here's what I want to communicate when I say those words. When a person gets a dollar, they think, "I should spend this dollar now because I might not have it tomorrow." Sounds silly, but that's a common reaction poor people have to resources.

I work with a few people who grew up in the projects and other destitute neighborhoods. They honestly think this way. Guess how many of them have savings accounts? Any kind of bank account? Zero. None of them. I asked a couple of these co-workers what they do when they get their paycheck. They cash them at convenience stores. They request payday weekends off so they can go to the club or the beauty shop. With the exception of one guy I've found so far, none of them seem to save for anything lasting. Spend the money while you have it. Just one more mouthful.

Coming from people who haven't expressed any solid belief or trust in God, I can see why they think this way. But for God's people in Judah to have this kind of attitude supposes no trust in the One who fulfilled His promise to bring them home. Haggai lists out the different areas of lack and explains the origin in 1:5-9. "'Therefore here is what the Lord of Hosts says: "Think about your life! You sow much but bring in little; you eat but aren't satisfied; you drink but never have enough; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who works for a living earns wages that are put in a bag full of holes."' 'Here is what the Lord of Hosts says: "Think about your life! Go up into the hills, get wood, and rebuild the house (or Temple), I will be pleased with that, and then I will be glorified," says the Lord. "You looked for much, but it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" asks the Lord of Hosts. "Because my house lies in ruins, while every one of you runs to take care of his own house."'"

What do you think would have happened if God's people had achieved success while they had this attitude? They could have easily credited themselves, forgotten to place their trust in God, forgotten to give Him the glory for their restoration, and found themselves in pre-exile arrogance. So God made things hard and kept them at a level of subsistence until they learned to trust Him.

It's not just about money, though. The attitude of poverty is also self-effacing, making the person feel stuck and incapable. A few of the homeless people that sleep under the train bridge by my house feel this way. I've excuses as to why they won't work their way out of this life. They're old. They're sick. They don't have any skills. The one guy who told me he believes in Jesus seems the most downcast.

I pray for him to receive the kind of encouragement the Lord gives His people at the end of Haggai 1, "I am with you." In verse 14, "The Lord roused the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the High Priest, and the spirit of all the rest of the people; so that they came and began to work on the house of the Lord of Hosts, their God." This doesn't sound exactly like when God miraculously gave His people the means and ability to build the Tabernacle. From what I see, He merely encouraged them buy His Spirit. They were capable in theory but didn't know it until God roused their spirits to do the work.

Haggai talks to the priests in chapter 2 now that the work has begun to restore the Temple. Soon, they're going back to their jobs and need orientation. God tells Haggai to ask them what makes something holy and what makes it defiled. If something designated as holy like the meat of the sacrifice were to touch a common item of food, it becomes defiled, going from holy to common. If something particularly unclean were to touch either holy or common items, then those items would become unclean. God explains how this orientation also applies to the condition of the people. He called them holy and set-apart. They were to keep a distinction between themselves and the rest of the world. If they tried to mix themselves with the world and its practices, they would become defiled again.

One last prophecy is given specially to Zerubbabel. Haggai relays the message from God, "I will shake the heavens and the earth, I will overturn the thrones of the kingdoms, I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and I will overturn the chariots and the people riding in them; the horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother." At first this sounds like a repeat promise from earlier when God told the people He would restore their fortune from these destroyed kingdoms. But the prophecy continues, "'When that day comes,' says the Lord of Hosts, 'I will take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,' says the Lord, 'and wear you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,' says the Lord of Hosts."

Chosen him far what? He was already governor of Judah. He was already, in a sense, spirit-filled and doing God's work. We find the answer in Matthew 1:12 where the author gives Jesus' genealogy. "After the Babylonian Exile, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel was the father of Zerbbabel." This prophecy was a promise of the coming Messiah, Jesus. In all the work to be done on this Temple, the one God promised to be more glorious than the last, Haggai reminds Zerubbabel of the point. Yes, the Temple was good. God dwelt among His people there. But there would come a time when God would come as a man and walk among His people. After His resurrection and ascension, then we would experience the ultimate form of "God with us" during our time in this life when the Holy Spirit came.

Think about what this was like for Zerubbabel? "The Messiah is still coming, Mr. Governor, and He'll be one of your descendants." I wonder if this gave Zerubbabel a new perspective on the importance of what he and Joshua were asked to do. I wonder what his relationship with God looked like afterward. If it were me, I'd feel overwhelmed with humility. A short time ago, he was poor and couldn't do anything for himself. God gives him hope for future restoration, "your work isn't in vain. Not only that, but the One who will come and set everything right will be born of your line. You, Zerubbabel, are a part of my plan for salvation."

For those of us who have our trust in Jesus and see the Holy Spirit at work in our lives, we can also be certain of this. Our work for the Kingdom of God is not in vain. Be encouraged! We will make mistakes, we will find times when our energy begins to run low, but God has promised to set everything right through Jesus.

Tithing – Giving to God what He gave to us so He can give us more to give to others.

From the day I saw it and for the rest of my life, I will love Fiddler On The Roof. The father, Tevye, has a habit of weighing his decisions with the phrase, "but on the other hand…" I like the idea of balance. So instead of moving on from my last post, I'm going to give my opinion on the other side of the issue. Usually, I refer to the New American Standard Bible online, but today all of my scripture references will come from the translation I read every morning, The Complete Jewish Bible.

In his first letter to Timothy, a young church leader, the Apostle Paul makes an interesting statement about a few members of the congregation. The second paragraph of the sixth chapter begins in verse two. “Teach and exhort people about these things. If anyone teaches differently and does not agree to the sound precepts of our Lord Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah and to the doctrine that is in keeping with godliness, he is swollen with conceit and understands nothing. Instead, he has a morbid desire for controversies and word-battles, out of which come jealousy, dissention, insults, evil suspicions, and constant wrangling among people whose minds no longer function properly and who have been deprived of the truth, so that they imagine that religion is a road to riches.” This is already starting to sound like a few men I’ve seen on television. Swollen with conceit, having a morbid desire for controversy and arguments, and convincing people that religion is a surefire way to become wealthy. It’s enough to make a guy feel secure in his distaste for televangelism.

But then, to my surprise, Paul tags this bit on the end of his tirade, “Now true religion does bring great riches, but only to those who are content with what they have. For we have brought nothing into the world; and we can take nothing out of it; so if we have food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these.”

This calls to mind Jesus’ exhortation to his followers in Matthew 6:25-33. “Therefore, I tell you, don’t worry about your life – what you will eat or drink; or about your body – what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?” Then Jesus goes on to give examples of God’s provision. At the end of the chapter, He says this: “So don’t be anxious, asking, ‘What will we eat?,’ ‘What will we drink?,’ or ‘How will we be clothed?’ For it is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Jesus said that God will give us everything we need to live, such as food and clothes. And Paul says that we should be content with these. But the point Jesus made in Matthew 6 was not to seek the material needs God promises to fulfill. The point is seeking after Him and His righteousness. The point is service because, as Paul said, we didn’t bring anything into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. Nothing was ours to begin with, and we don’t get to keep it as our own in the end. Every good thing comes from God (James 1:17) and we get to take care of it while we’re here on Earth.

But in a later passage, Jesus teaches the significance of a servant’s stewardship of the master’s property. Consider the parable of talents told in Matthew 25. Beginning in verse 19, the master of an estate entrusts five talents to one servant, two talents to another, and one talent to a third. I’m not sure how this converts into modern currency, but I think that one talent was at least one year’s wages. After a while, the master returns from his journey and reviews the servants’ stewardship of his property. The first two servants used their talents wisely, and the master replies to them each in verse 21 and 23, “Excellent! You are a good and trustworthy servant. You have been faithful with a small amount, so I will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and join in your master’s happiness!” The third servant doesn’t do so well. Actually, out of fear, the guy buried his master’s talent in the ground. The master punishes him for his poor stewardship and gives the one talent to the first servant, who had proven himself most faithful.

The third servant did what many people in our culture do. They hoard their money. They hide it away. They put it in secure places. They try to prevent loss and “keep what is theirs”. But if nothing is ours, and God gave us everything, then we have a responsibility to give portions of our money back to Him as a sacrifice. It’s a way for us to say, “I serve you, not money.” And the language used in Malachi 3:8-9 is pretty direct. “Can a person rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tenths (tithes) and voluntary contributions (offerings). A curse is on you, on your whole nation, because you rob me.” Yowzer. When I read those verses, I’m pretty convinced that God means business. But then dig what God says in verse 10, “‘Bring the whole tenth into the storehouse, so that there will be food in my house, and put me to the test,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot (The Lord of Hosts). ‘See if I won’t open for you the floodgates of heaven and pour out for you a blessing far beyond your needs.’”

In respect to my earlier post, there are conditions to giving in 2 Corinthians 9:5-13. Paul says that gifts and offerings shouldn’t be “exacted by pressure” or given “grudgingly or under compulsion”. And when God does bless us, His blessings are for the purposes of charity and generosity as well as personal needs. So in a sense, we do “give to get”. But 2 Corinthians 9 says that we should give cheerfully, not greedily. And those blessings aren’t for us to hide away and bury in the ground. We take what we need and use to rest to bless others. Verse 13 says, “In offering this service you prove to these people that you glorify God by actually doing what your acknowledgement of the Good News of the Messiah requires, namely, sharing generously with them and with everyone.”

The fact is that God does bless people who take care of what they’ve been given. It starts with a total surrender to Him. Then, maybe, the blessing starts with food and clothes. We learn how to trust and be content with His provision there. Then He blesses us with increase, more than the basic needs of food and clothes. Remember what Paul said, this increase is meant for more than our pockets. It is also meant for helping others and it enables us to glorify God.

Charity – Give to Get? Or, a celebratory act of total trust.

Tony Campolo came to my high school in 2000 and gave a message during our chapel service. I knew his name, I’d seen his books, and pastors had referenced this guy as far back as I could remember paying attention to sermons. In my tiny, private school, in a highly conservative town, Mr. Campolo said, "The United Nations reports that over ten thousand people starve to death each day, and most of you don't give a shit. However, what is even more tragic is that most of you are more concerned about the fact that I just said a bad word than you are about the fact that ten thousand people are going to die today." I began to applaud. Back then, I did it because I had an ax to grind with the church. I didn’t expect to continue my applause almost eight years later.

In an interview last fall, a girl asked my opinion on the first sentence of Campolo’s famous oratory twist. Here is the first paragraph of my full-page response:

“Well, for the most part, Mr. Campolo is right. Lots of people starve everyday, and our culture thinks very little about it. I mean, that is, unless a few celebrities get involved in the campaign against hunger, then just about every college kid on campus will jump on board. They'll even hold their own rallies to talk about the situation, maybe raise some donations... but giving money is such a passive gesture. It might help, yeah, but the person making the donation hasn't really donated their time or energy or even head-space. They gave five bucks to a cause so they wouldn't look like a dick, but still don't think about the cause later on.”

Charity confuses me, especially having grown up in the Christian Church. It seemed like the pastor spoke about tithing once every month. My Sunday school teachers would hold tin-can fundraisers for children I would never meet in countries I would never visit. The only reason I knew those children existed was because somebody in the church said so, and Christians never lie. But even then, I didn’t care about the starving children. I wanted the candy bar promised to the kid who raised the most money.

My new friend Jason Elkins wrote, “We live in a society that recognizes achievement. We get credit for doing things right.” His post continues with a story about expecting credit from the IRS for his tithes. Then, referring to a conversation with a friend, he says, “We talked about how much more satisfying it would be if we gave without expectations. Gave for the sake of showing Christ to others.”

One of my favorite stories comes from the Gospel of Luke 21:1-4 where Jesus is teaching at the Temple in Jerusalem. “And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, ‘Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.’” My Sunday school teachers told me that the widow’s gift was significant because of the proportion of what she gave to what she owned. I think Jesus praised the widow because her gift was a sacrifice. Symbolically, she gave everything to God, trusting in His provision.

The church focuses so much on the blessings promised to those who give that they overlook the purpose of giving. It isn’t just to give the Levites something to live on, and it isn’t a way to connive a blessing from God. Tithes and offerings aren’t a game show where you’ll make a million bucks and get your dream home if you pick the right door. We give to God because He gave it to us. It’s not ours, it’s His, and the offering serves to remind us of His provision. Consider Deuteronomy 12:6-7, “There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. There also you and your households shall eat before the LORD your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you.”

Give to rejoice in how God has blessed you. The greatest blessing in a Christian’s life came from Jesus’ death and resurrection. New life! We died to our old selves and were raised in Him. Is anything really ours anymore? Does every good and perfect thing come from God (James 1:17), or do we succeed because of our own brilliance and hard work?

So now I look at charity in this light, and I hope I always give with this attitude, “It’s yours, God, not mine. Whatever you want me to do with my possessions, just say the word. However I can show the love of Christ with my time or money, tell me how. You want me to give all of my beer money to a Salvation Army bell-ringer? Done. You want me to give my car to a single mom? No problem. Take a stranger into my home for the night? If you say so, absolutely. I give for the glory of your name.

And if my only reward is your joy and favor, that’s okay by me.”