Our Lavish God - Conversation 1

The Selling Jesus Podcast and the Call to Abolish the Jesus Trade

This is the Selling Jesus Podcast where we seek to confront the commercialization of Christianity and spread the biblical teaching that gospel ministry should be supported but never sold. In other words, we want to abolish the Jesus trade with truth and in love and help communicate as clearly as possible why Jesus' command to freely give applies to us today and what the implications are for the evangelical monetization of ministry that we see all around us.

Beginning with God and a Lavish Vision of Generosity

This is the first of a series of episodes where we invite you to listen in on a conversation between a guy named Tim and his pastor about many things related to money and ministry. We begin where everything begins and ought to begin with God.

We want to set the stage for all other discussions by cultivating a biblical, gratitude-saturated, joyful vision of our lavish God who is the most radically generous being in the universe.

So I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about generosity and I feel really convicted. I've heard that God prospers us mainly to raise our standard of giving, not our standard of living. But honestly, I haven't been very good at that.

Yeah, you're not alone. We all fail in this area. But it's rare that people in rich countries like ours ever come to this conviction actually.

So what do you think helps produce change towards more generosity?

So I'd say that we have to start with beholding the best example of generosity in the universe God himself. If we start with guilt or some other motivation, our attempts to change will be short-lived.

But if we anchor ourselves in a God-entranced view of giving, driven by marveling at the beauty of God's lavish heart, we'll be empowered to escape the pattern of this world and be transformed. Right, I like that approach.

It's important to remember that the goal of our giving is ultimately to reflect God's generosity so that people will see our good works and give glory to our Father. So the obvious place to start is with a focused meditation on God's generosity in Scripture.

God Richly Provides All Things for Us to Enjoy

Do you mind reading 1 Timothy 6, 17 -19?

Yeah, sure. It says,.

So it's clear in that passage that God richly provides all things for us to enjoy. So God's generosity is the foundation for us to be generous and ready to share. And one result of such generosity is being able to take hold of that which is truly life.

So that part about being ready to share bothers me because I'm usually not ready. I get fixated on earthly goods instead of looking around for opportunities to share what I've received. I think I have more of a natural selfishness than an eager readiness to be generous.

Receiving Freely Before Giving Freely

Yeah, I've felt the same way many times. I have to keep reminding myself that my generosity must begin with gratefully receiving from a great God. I don't know if you remember 1 Corinthians 4, 7 where Paul says something really simple, but I want to keep this at the forefront of my mind.

He says, What do you have that you did not receive? Again, I don't want to miss out on taking hold of true life.

True, that is a good point. So what other verses should I consider?

The Father Who Gives the Kingdom

Well, let me read Luke 12, 32 -34. Don't be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that won't wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So notice that right before Jesus tells His disciples to sell their possessions and give to the poor, which sounds really hard, He says, Your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

That's really helpful. So I guess that when we struggle to be generous and lay up treasures in heaven, we have to remember that we have a Father who has adopted us and is delighted to give us His kingdom.

Exactly. The King Himself is holding an unimaginable inheritance for His children. And most importantly, He Himself is our inheritance. He gave His only Son to make it possible and loves us as a devoted Father.

And if we're His, 1 Corinthians 3 .21 says, All things are ours, whether the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are ours, and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

God Gives Life and Breath and Everything Else

Oh, what about that verse in Acts that talks about God giving mankind everything?

Yeah, Acts 17 .25. He isn't served by human hands as though He needed anything because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. So everything we enjoy comes from Him freely. He didn't create the world and then make humanity take out a loan to be able to live in it.

He has showered us with innumerable priceless treasures in His creation. It's amazing.

True. And yet we often take those amazing blessings that we've received freely and then treat our own brothers and sisters with stinginess.

Every Good and Perfect Gift Comes from Above

Yeah, I'm afraid so. James 1 .17 is another verse worthy of meditation. It says, God's every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights. So God's constantly giving magnificent gifts, both material and spiritual, to His children.

It's incredible how Romans 8 .32 puts it, He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him freely give us all things?

That's really powerful stuff. But it doesn't seem to be reflected in how Christians commercialise their faith these days. I see it more than ever. Everything you can imagine to do with God, truth, scripture or worship is somehow turned into a product and sold in a way that doesn't really reflect the generosity of the God who gave us everything.

You're absolutely right. It's ugly and tragic when the children of God receive everything freely from their Father and then turn around and refuse to share with their neighbours or brothers unless an exchange of money happens.

I'm talking mainly about spiritual things here like the things you just mentioned, scripture itself, truth, whether that be exposited in books or audio sermons or even songs written to exalt Christ. We live in a world where it's rare to find those things freely shared.

The default is to monetise ministry of all kinds.

I've heard some people refer to modern western evangelicals as being sick with affluenza. They're so affluent that they've become entranced by materialism and whitewashed the sin of greed and serving money, even at the level of ministry.

I'm afraid that's exactly what's happened. God is a marginal reality for so many and there are others who have good intentions but are stuck in a system that keeps people focused on the wrong things and never forces them to re-evaluate what they're doing.

As I said before, the only way change will happen is by a God-entranced, Bible-saturated view of all things, including money and ministry. We've got to endeavour to see everything through the lens of eternity and truth rather than the lens of pragmatism and fear.

Maybe we can talk more about that next time. That sounds good.