A QUESTION I WAS ASKED:
“Can you please explain Luke 12:33-34? Over the last 25 Years I have asked several ministers about this quote of Jesus, but have never yet received a truly satisfactory reply, in fact several times I have had an embarrassed response. One minister – can you believe - even told me he wished that Jesus had never spoken these words!”
MY REPLY
Luke 12:33-34 says this
(NIV):
'Sell your possessions and give to the
poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a
treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief
comes near and and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.'
Okay, first of all we need to back
off a little in order to check the context in which Jesus said
these things.
Context.
If the reader carefully checks out
Luke 12, the subject of the chapter changes from verse 13. The
first part of this chapter (1-12) was a warning about hypocrisy,
blasphemy and hell, but from verse 13 there is a clear change of
subject/topic. Now the overall topic is how Christians should
handle wealth and prosperity. The Parable of the Rich
Fool commences this section, the man in the parable wanted to
build bigger barns to store his wealth rather than share it with
others. The parable concludes with these words of
Jesus:
'But God said to him,
“You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from
you. Then who will get what you have prepared for
yourself?” This is how it will be with anyone who stores up
things for himself but is not rich towards God.' (Verses
20-21).
So the man in the parable would
die that very night and would never enjoy what he had saved for
the future. I'm afraid that this is very true and accurate of the
attitude of most wealthy people; they build 'big barns' of wealth
for their later years but frequently ignore the immediate needs
of those around them.
Jesus goes on to tell His
disciples that they should not worry too much about physical and
material needs since,
'Life is more than food, and
the body more than clothes.' (Verse 23).
He mentions how even ravens are
fed even though they 'do not sow or reap' - Then Solomon
is compared to the glory of lillies. Indeed, God is even
concerned to clothe 'the grass of the field' – so
why should people worry too much about such things?
'For the pagan world runs after
all such things, and your Father knows you need them. But seek
His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.'
(Verse 31).
So the message is: Christians must
be free of a materialistic, 'getting' approach to life! I have to
say that modern western Christians – in the main –
have become very materialistic, influenced by the societies in
which they live. But God assures us that He is only too pleased
to give us His kingdom (verse 32) – monetary, financial and
material considerations do not even enter into it!
The Teaching.
But now - in verse 33 –
Jesus spells out a radically different way which His followers
should seek to emulate: 'Sell your possessions and give to the
poor.' - Is Jesus telling us that we should own absolutely
nothing? No, I don't think He is, but He is showing us that if we
are Christians we should be committed to sharing what we
have. We should give willingly and generously – just
as Jesus generously laid down His life for us all!! It is an
attitude and an approach. Some charlatan “ministers”
have told their congregation that these verses mean that they
should pay them their tithes regularly – such outrageous
dishonesty!! The subject of tithes is not even under
consideration here.
Christians
should never give to the rich or wealthy, but should be generous
towards the poor.
'He that oppresses
the poor to increase his wealth and he that gives gifts to the
rich – both come to poverty' (Proverbs
22:16).
Some despicable 'Word-faith'
teachers have turned this on its head and tell their people that
they should give to affluent, silk-suited “preachers”
in order to make both themselves and those leaders richer. With a
complete disregard for spiritual truth - they then assert that
this is an important part of the Gospel!
The first Christians took Jesus
totally seriously and where there was wealth they did indeed sell
in order to support poorer Christians (many of whom were slaves)
and in order to finance the preaching of the gospel, but it is
clear that these two factors were looked upon as of more or less
equal importance. We also know from early non-biblical Christian
accounts that the first Christians were keen to support the poor
in general (including widows and orphans) in many towns in the
Mediterranean world – this often attracted people to the
Gospel who might not otherwise have even noticed it. Let us note
how we see these principles put into action in the Book of
Acts:
'Now all who believed were together, and had
all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and
divided them among all, as anyone had need'
(Acts
2:44-45)
This principle is seen again in Acts
4;
'Now the multitude of those who
believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say
that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all
things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon
them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who
were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the
proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the
apostles' feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had
need'
(Acts 4:32-35)
How sad that
in the modern world we often find wealthy and rather poor
Christians within the same congregation! All too often the
wealthy leave a Christian service and get into luxury cars and
drive to expensive restaurants where they share an expensive meal
with their equally financially-affluent friends, even while other
people leave the service and have to wait for the bus or climb
into their 15 year old car – just hoping that their old
'jalopy' will keep going a bit longer! Brothers and sisters in
Christ: These things should not be
so!!
So what did
Jesus mean by suggesting that Christians should 'provide purses'
for themselves which will never wear out - this leading to a
treasure in heaven?
He is saying
that there is no point in investing in this world - which today
is, but tomorrow will be cast into the oven. Rather, our Master
wishes to see those who are truly in the Faith using their money
and success wisely, building for the kingdom! This means showing
generosity toward the genuine poor in general, but especially
towards our poorer Christian brethren not only at home but
certainly including Christian overseas missions and orphanages
which so often really have to struggle for funds to keep going;
also being prepared to invest in the spiritual on a more local
level. Local evangelistic initiatives come in here but I am
perhaps a little slower to mention this because I know that a lot
of hard-earned Christian money has been wasted and
mis-spent on ill-conceived but expensive 'evangelistic
campaigns'! Christians must use wisdom and financial
accountability in their stewardship! By the way, I think the way
in which Jesus uses His words would rule out ensuring that the
pastor is driving the very latest 'state-of-the-art' automobile
or can afford that expensive (but uneeded) extension to his home!
Sure, 'the labourer is worthy of his hire' and his salary would
come in here, but no more importantly than ensuring that the
church financial help fund is in very good health for those
within the congregation suddenly hitting financial emergencies
– and it should be the task of several within any
congregation to be 'keeping their ears close to the
ground' since those hitting financial emergencies frequently
will not talk about it!! These are all areas in which Christians
can fashion purses, or wallets, which will never wear out. And
yet despite the examples of Christian commitment which we read
about in Acts, I am told that many churches in the U.S. and in
the U.K. do not even have a 'church financial help fund' for
members/attenders who hit sudden difficult financial patches. One
lady wrote me to tell me that she and her husband had to lose
their home when he suddenly (and through no fault of his own)
lost his job. That family asked the leaders of their large
congregation for the church to meet four mortgage payments until
their emergency was over. The church refused even though this
couple had been dilligent tithers for 15 years. When I hear such
things I feel real anger.
My honest
opinion is that Christians in the Third World uphold these
standards of generosity and giving far better than affluent
Christians in the developed world – even though it is the
latter group who have so much more which they could offer in help
and assistance.
Robin A.
Brace, 2005.