If God were King # 3... We Would Treat Money His Way

[This series is the product of a study of Deuteronomy I did for my church earlier this year. While journeying through Deuteronomy, I came as close as I ever will to cultivating a theology of government. Some of the results I share in this blog.]

            God's laws are rooted in his love. God took the initiative.

            God delivered his people because he loved them; therefore, God called upon Israel to respond in loving obedience.

            God's laws grew out of his personal, intimate, and daily relationship with people. God gave these laws to guide people to live in a manner that was most in keeping with their personal relationship with God, which would help them be kind to individuals whom God created in his image.

            With that in mind, remember that God told his people to tithe off what he blessed them in a given year, “Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year” (Deut. 15:22.)

            Two main uses for this “money” were:

1) to help those in need (the poor, widows and orphans) and

2) to care for the religious leaders—the Levites.

            We’ll talk more about those in need later in this series when we discuss the subject of justice, but I want to say a word about the religious leaders.

            This is not original with me. In fact, you may have heard it before.

            In Israel, the Levites, directed the spiritual life of the people. They did not work in manual or farming, nor did they serve in the military. Their job was to protect Israel from her greatest enemy—Israel. If the religious leaders failed, Israel would ultimately fail.

The nation gave a tenth of what they had to protect itself at the grass roots level.

            This is the background for Paul’s famous charge to Christians to “not muzzle an ox….” He noted that even though he surrendered his right to be a fully supported minister, it was a right.

            This principle is of the reasons why our country gives churches and ministers tax breaks. Our founding fathers understood that for our government to succeed, citizens must be virtuous. Religion was an essential component in providing for the virtue of its citizenry. To help the citizens live religiously, ministers were deemed essential. 

            Now, concerning debt.

            God says much about debt in the Bible, including in Deuteronomy, and it is never positive. In ancient Israel, borrowing was typically practiced by individuals in a worse case scenario; it was not typically a practice of the nation’s government.

            Regarding individuals, a loan might be offered when a natural disaster occurred and suspended normal income. Also, a loan might help a poor family carry on until they could repay it.

            I think I can safely say that God never intended his government in Israel to go into debt itself in order to help individual Israelites find a better life. I’m not sure all of the reasons why, but I would guess the law of cause and effect would have something to do with it.

            Surely God would have viewed ancient Israel as being immoral had she enslaved her future generations to debt for the same reasons we do today in America.

            Moreover, as I wrote last week in another blog, it is immoral for a government’s accumulating debt to lower the value of the dollar. It is stealing. As our national debt grows, the value of the dollar will inevitably be reduced.

            Cause and effect.

            This is not a problem of politicians. They will do what we demand of them.

            This is our problem.

            We the People.

If God were King # 2... We Would Treat His Blessings His Way (Deut. 1-6)

             I read a while back that in trying to build up the Roman Empire, the emperors needed soldiers. To motivate volunteers, recruits were told that if they served the required length of time, they would be granted full Roman citizenship. The catch, however, was that they were required to inhabit special cities called colonies.

            The thought was these former citizens were to create a “little Rome.” Paul wrote a letter to one such colony—Philippi. Perhaps it raised the antennas of the Christians there when Paul wrote,  “But our citizenship is in heaven.”

            Paul was calling the Philippian Christians to create a little heaven on earth.

            In Deuteronomy, you have the vision of what a nation would look like if God were King. Israel, on the verge of entering the Promise Land, is reminded by God through Moses that their citizens were to serve as representatives of Jehovah. As one commentator put it, “They could, by their spiritual behavior and devotion, appeal to the hearts of their neighbors. On the other hand, with spiritual disobedience, they could become caught up in useless and destructive pursuits.”

            Within this context, words were spoken, which you know well:           

5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength. 6 These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds. 7 Recite them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol. 9 Write them on your house’s doorframes and on your city’s gates.

             We typically teach that this passage is talking about teaching our kids spiritual lessons about loving and serving God faithfully. Certainly, it is.

             But we forget this teaching had a very practical component. For the Israelites, what did loving God look like? Among other things, it meant being a good steward of God’s gracious blessings. And before they entered the land, the Lord warned them to beware of forgetfulness after their homes were full of good things.

            Are our homes full of good things today? You bet.

            Some estimates I’ve seen state that the U.S. occupies 6% of the world’s land, contains 7% of the world population, and 67% of the world's wealth. Certainly, most of us sit at tables loaded with good food, drive wherever we want to go, send our kids to college, and, when we are sick, have access to the best health care in the world.

            Do we appreciate our good things?

            Do we by our spiritual behavior and devotion appeal to the hearts of our neighbors, or, by our spiritual disobedience, have we become caught up in useless and destructive pursuits?        

            Do we harden the hearts of our neighbors?

            Do we carve out a little bit of heaven here on Earth?

            Call me idealistic, but if we will carve out a colony of heaven here on earth, our nation will be a good place to live.

If God Were King

             I have been interested in politics and government all of my adult life. In 2011, in anticipation of this year’s election, I attempted to cultivate a theology of government.

            That project didn’t last long.

            Later, I began studying the book of Deuteronomy. I had never preached Deuteronomy and desired to do so to our Sunday night group.

            While journeying through Deuteronomy, I came as close as I ever will to a compiling a theology of government. I preached it in detail in the spring. I thought I would share in this blog some of my amazing insights (he said tongue planted firmly in cheek).

            The thing about Deuteronomy is it comes the closest to telling us what God was thinking when it comes to running a country. God inspired Moses to preach sermons; in them, Moses is saying, in essence, God is King… here is how he wants his nation run. I believe Moses’ words offers us insight today, which we can apply to our own nation.

            [Disclaimer: In Deuteronomy, God was talking to an ancient people in the Middle East 3500 years ago. No direct one-to-one correlation should be made between that ancient government and the United States of America. Attempts to do so may cause arthritis, stomach cramps, high blood pressure, and irritation. If any of these symptoms appear, please consult a doctor.]

            Now, one thing I was reminded of in this great book: God shows his love for people by becoming involved in their lives. He showed his love for the Hebrews in Egypt by rescuing them from the tyranny of the Egyptians.

            He expected a response from these rescued slaves: wholehearted love and devotion to God. They were to offer God heart, soul, mind, and strength, and they were to offer it to God alone (Deut. 6:5-6.)

            The natural result of this commitment was love for one’s neighbor. As one has stated, since these people were loved by God, they were qualified to extend God’s love to their neighbors—Israelites or otherwise. (When Jesus was talking about the Great Commandment and how to live it out, this perhaps was what he was thinking.)

            Unfortunately, this did not occur naturally. To keep people from hurting and killing each other, God gave humanity government.

            Now, regarding us today, as God blessed those Hebrews, so has he blessed us. How will we apply those blessings? How do we love our neighbor?

            Doug McIntosh, in his commentary on Deuteronomy, illustrates the importance of this point. There was a fellow who lost control of his car and crashed into the front porch of another’s house. Rescue crews and other skilled groups arrived on the scene.

            A utility crew began checking for gas leaks. They discovered that the homeowner’s chimney and gas pipes were clogged by rubbish. As a result, carbon monoxide had been seeping into the house for a while.

            For two years, the homeowner had been experiencing flulike symptoms, trembling, headaches, chills, and nausea. He had also been blacking out occasionally. The owner had no explanation for any of this.

            Because of the accident, the homeowner was able to address the problems in his house, and his symptoms vanished. Without that wreck, he may have died as a result of the poisonous gas.

            Strangely enough, the homeowner had formerly made his living… as a building contractor. He knew the blessings of chimneys and furnaces, and he knew how dangerous furnaces and chimneys could be. He had always warned his customers to check them two or three times a year. Nevertheless, he had never checked his own.

            A lot of American citizens today are guilty of the spiritual equivalent. God has blessed us with a nation that is, compared to others, healthy and safe. However, provision must be made to keep things in check.

            Human nature produces a lot of “rubbish.” Unchecked, that rubbish—selfishness, greed, immorality, or whatever form it may take—can poison us all. God has given human beings government to address this problem and to facilitate the proper application of the blessings of God.

            May we the people apply the blessings of God in the proper way.