Serving Unrighteous Mammon

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Posted by Rob Borley | Posted on 18-05-2009

Category : Bible, Church, Money, Religion, Richard Foster, Society

Tags: ,

This post was originally written in Jan 2008 but for some reason I never published it. Having stumbled upon it now, especially in the ‘interesting’ financial times that we find ourselves in, I thought I would throw it out there. – Rob

I am currently reading a book by Richard Foster; Money, Sex and Power. Written some years ago now, it looks at how we can formulate a proper Christian response to these three issues. Three issues, he suggests, that are crippling the modern Christian as we just don’t know what to do with them.

I’ve just finished section one; Money, and it has given me some food for thought. The main thrust of the discussion is to challenge the most popular view of money in the contemporary Church. That is that money is neither good nor evil, and that all that matters is what one does with it.

A different view of money.

This has been my view on the subject so I have found it interesting, and somewhat uncomfortable to have it challenged. Foster suggests that Money has a spirit all of it’s own. That it does, but it’s very nature, seek to control us and seeks our service and worship. Foster goes on to how we, as Christians, need to discover how we can enslave money for the use of the Kingdom of God.

Which master do we serve?

How do we know then if we are serving the idol Mammon? Examine the financial decisions you make. Do you buy what you want or what you need? I did have a perfectly good Sony MP3 player but now have an incredible sexy iPod Touch so this is definitely one for me to consider. When buying a house is the first question; what can I afford? What area can I afford to live in? How many bedrooms / bathrooms can my budget stretch too? Or is the first question; where does God want me to live? How many bedrooms / bathrooms do I need? You can of course apply this to the new car or holiday destination etc etc.

Are such decisions dictated first by the size of our savings and credit limit or are they dictated by God? I’m not suggesting that new cars are bad, that we shouldn’t buy a bigger house or go on holiday. Not at all. But the challenge to me has been to look at my decision making process when I am using my money. If the amount of money I have is dictating to me how my money is being spent then Foster suggests that Mammon has a hold that he shouldn’t have.

Being a good steward

Having money in itself isn’t a bad thing (be clear too that it’s not necessarily a sign of God’s blessings either, though it can be). We are called to be good stewards and as both Lewis and Willard have impressed upon me previously (Mr Foster joins the list now too) if we simply give it all away then this cannot fulfil that calling. We cannot steward, after all, what we do not have. Giving, however, is how we enslave Mammon.

All the power that money has over us is derived from the fact that we strive to get it. By fair means or foul money is “earned”. If, therefore, we are able to give it away we can then break this hold and power over us. Foster discusses some interesting ways of giving; And not just to “Christian” causes. We are called to invest in the Kingdom; to invest in what lasts. Some suggestions included, of course, regular, planned, giving to your church. Also, to be able to give reactively is encourage. One suggestion that I hadn’t herd before was to have a long term plan or budget for giving. i.e. I want to give x pounds to such and such a charity over the next 10 years and I am going to make it possible by investing in y way. etc etc. Giving to individuals, maybe to help fund education, medical bills, or some other need is also an option. It’s also worth remembering that a key aspect of giving is not to have to dictate how it is spent.

Slavery for the Kingdom

Jesus makes it clear that we cannot serve two masters. We cannot server both God and Mammon. It is simply not possible. He commends shrude investment and even uses some very confusing phrases like; “make friends with unrighteous Mammon”, but there is not time to go into that one now.

Money is a dangerous customer that, when enslaved for the Kingdom, can be used to do a great deal of good. But always, Foster encourages, we must be on our guard. For even if we have conquered it; Mammon will attempt to counter attack. It is a dynamic spirit that will always seek to regain a foot hold.

Hopefully this has given you a taste. This first section has left me with some interesting challengers to consider. Be shrude, be eager to give, live simply thinking about what I need not just what I want, and be sure that my decision are made as a response to God and not as a result of how much money I think I have available. Money is there to be conquered and to serve me in my pursuit of the Kingdom of God, not the other way around.

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Church is Irrelevant – A Church for Tomorrow?: Part 1

Posted by Rob Borley | Posted on 11-05-2009

Category : Church, Religion

Tags:

A couple of weeks ago I introduced the idea that a decline in numbers in the majority of western churches was not only a result of a lack of new recruits or even because of a disappearance of the younger generations but increasingly because everyday, average Christians are staying away.

This is the first part in my promised “A Church for tomorrow?” series. I am going to look at the idea that the Churches relevance has somehow impacted the the membership and commitment of everyday Christians to a local congregation. 

This is a common reason given by Christians  for not being an active member of a local congregation. Before we even attempt to look at it’s validity I think we need to first ask a couple of questions and try and put down some definitions.

  1. What do we mean by Church?
  2. What do we mean by irrelevant?

Church

The Biblical idea of Church is the collection of people that act as Christs physical body on earth. I think we would be hard pressed to find any Christian that would suggest that is an irrelevant idea. The world today, maybe more now than ever, requires a physical outworking of the grace and love of Jesus Christ. This, therefore, cannot be what people mean when using this reason for non-committal to a local Church.

So what is the alternative?

I think this must be the weekly gathering of people that, generally speaking, happens on a Sunday morning.

Irrelevant

So a dictionary definition is; “Unrelated to the matter being considered”.

Where church is concerned; “the matter being considered” can only be one of three things (or more probably a combination of them).

  1. God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
  2. The world “out there”
  3. Me

Using our Biblical idea of church, I don’t see how being Christ’s physical body on Earth is unrelated to any of the above.

How about the weekly gathering being unrelated?

I would suggest that a weekly gathering of believers is indeed related to God. I would find it difficult to argue against this.

Whether or not it’s related to the “world out there” is possibly contentious. Different models of Church will have a slightly different emphasis. Some will strive to be welcoming to “outsiders” while others will strive to equip their members to be ready for their interactions during the rest of the week. In reality I’d imagine most are somewhere between these two extremes.  So, with that said, I would suggest that Church, is indeed related  to “the world out there”.

So what about me? Is the Church related to me? I think that here lay the crux of the issue. Is the Church doing what I want, in the way I would want it to happen, when I would want it to happen?

I fear that, while all individual Churches will have varying degrees of success in it’s relation to the first two points it will never be exactly what I would want it to be.

Challenge

Is the Church irrelavant? I would suggest no. I would even suggest that it is possible more relevant now than it has ever been. However, as a western Christian it is becoming increasingly challenging to commit to a local body of Christians.

Apart from finding it difficult to commit to anything at all we are increasingly mobile.  Almost approaching nomadic in movements from place to place and therefore not having any great ties to a particular location. 

We are persistently encouraged to shop around in every other area of life. If the product we are consuming is not quite to our taste, or we simple fancy a change, we shop elsewhere.

We are increasingly busy. Work, friends, family, hobbies, etc. All put massive pressure on our time. Being part of a Christian community takes investment and our time is precious.

Please don’t misunderstand me. Church needs to stay in touch with the modern world. A valid charge can be leveled at many a Church door, of all denominations and styles, that it lives its life as though it was still the 20th century (or worse). But this issue is only increased when Christians dissociate themselves.

Being a member of a local Church can be a challenge. It is certainly effort (even hard work) and requires time and commitment. But let us all be clear that these are the issues. Irrelevance, I would suggest, is not.

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Beer and Bible: Luke 6 (a)

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Posted by Rob Borley | Posted on 01-05-2009

Category : Beer and Bible, Luke

Tags: ,

There were slightly less of us on Wednesday but that didn’t dent our enthusiasm. If anything it made for a better evening and a more in depth discussion. The original plan was to tackle all of Luke 6 but we were so enthralled by the discussion that it got to 10pm and we were only half way through.

The great thing about our time together is that we don’t really have an agenda. We don’t need to blitz a whole chapter every week. The passage is a catalyst for discussion as we seek to get to know other better and get to know God a little better too.

Once again we dipped in and out of other Gospels as we sort to find some context for what we were reading about the calling of the disciples. We also spent some time in Exodus in an attempt to work out what all the fuss is about the Sabbath.

Questions

The main questions that came up were;

  1. Why is the calling of the disciples seemingly in a different chronological place from the accounts in other Gospels.
  2. What is a Sabbath? Should we keep it? How does that work today?

Discussion

Some discussion surrounding the make up of the Bible and how the books were constructed. Who was Luke written for and how that affects is contents. Context is key.

A long discussion followed about the Sabbath. Why is such a big deal made of it? Even in the ten commandments it seems to get more real estate than any of the other nine.  We talked about the disappearance of a collective, national sabbath and whether or not the church should be doing anything to try and reverse this trend.

A large focus of discuss was on what it means for us to keep a Sabbath. Should we? Why? How? etc.

We didn’t get as far as chapter 17 so this will wait until next time.

Drinks consumed were: Guinness, 6x, and Landlord.

Next week

Reading: Luke 6: 17 – end

Venue: The Northcote Hotel (lounge bar if its not full again)

Time: 20:00 

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