Following Judah's Lion: Go Into All the World and Redistribute

Following Judah's Lion: Go Into All the World and Redistribute

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Go Into All the World and Redistribute

GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND REDISTRIBUTE

My previous dog loved to chew on a bone as do most dogs. But if anyone dared to take it from him, even for a moment, he would bite that hand. Most Americans are fully in love with their money and possessions. Let someone attempt to take anything from them and they will respond with predictable aggressiveness. And Americans certainly do not want the government taking our taxes and helping the poor and needy. “Oh but it’s not the poor and needy to which we object,” you say. “It’s the sluggards and deadbeats.” OK, I will deal with that wonderful Christian attitude later.

But the word “redistribution” has popped up again, so let me outline a pattern of redistribution on some level from God’s Word. I’m just guessing, but perhaps as we obey these verses and their principles some undeserving poor people will surely slip through.

Matt.19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.Lk.14: 12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. 13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

II Cor.9: 9 As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.

Gal.2: 9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
10 Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.

Jam.2: 6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

Jam.2: 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Prov.19: 17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

Acts 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
35 And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

There is much talk about “redistribution” in the political realm these days. Socialism and communism and all sorts of terms are meant to demean. The word redistribution is meant to infer a socialist mentality. Now here is where we as believing followers of the Lord Jesus must pause and sift everything through the teaching of Scripture. Nowhere in the New Testament are we exhorted to gain much wealth, in fact we are consistently warned against accumulating great wealth. We are commanded not to lay up treasures upon this earth, however those kinds of commands are pushed out to make room for a more capitalist mindset.

But to hear professing believers squawk about seeing their hard earned tax dollars go to poor and needy people, well that reveals a significant ignorance about the life and teachings of Jesus. Just the few verses I shared openly reveal a spiritual place for wealth that goes against this capitalist system. In fact, it reveals that the heart of God desires for His children to take care of the poor. The prevailing American theory of capitalist believers is that they should not be forced to care for the poor. It should be voluntary.

Oh please, who are we kidding? Can we really say with a straight face before God that we object to our money going to the poor because it isn’t voluntary? But yet we give our taxes to sports stadiums and roadway beatifications and parks and stocking lakes with fish, but when it comes to giving to the poor we murmur and complain? What kind of Christianity is that? It isn’t. Oh I know why we complain. It’s because our finances are so stretched because we give so much to the poor personally that there is no room to give anymore. And we believe God is going to buy that lie?

I do not vote, but if I did I could not vote fore President Obama or Mitt Romney. But as I hear how people castigate the notion of redistributing wealth I am forced to assume millions have no sense of the Spirit of God. To see and hear evangelicals spill their guts over having to share some of their wealth is an incredible spectacle and completely misrepresents the heart of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. How many meals have you missed in the last ten years because you have given all your money away to the poor? How many among us have never gone out and eaten in a restaurant in these last ten years? A sports event? A movie? A vacation? So what you are saying is that you fear that the entertainment aspect of your life may be constricted if you give to the poor?

The only way to avoid being found a hypocrite is to openly contend that God’s way is capitalism and entertainment for His people even if others suffer. Again, try and slip that one by the Father. And even more stark and disturbing, juxtapose that mindset upon the cross. Somewhere along the line we have lost all sense of spiritual direction and we now not only grasp harder and harder on this life, we fight alongside of unbelievers to secure it. This is not the faith revealed in Scripture.

We have even heard a recording attained surreptitiously where Mitt Romney openly demeans and disparages the poor, and even with this evidence believers still support him? And in a startling display of self righteousness, that is supposed to be the values party? The Democrats do not care about the unborn and the Republicans do not care about the poor. Go ahead, cast your vote for either one and then bring your gift to the altar. God will understand you were forced to choose the one who denies His Son and accumulated great wealth at the expense of others. Or you chose one who supports infanticide. God will understand, you must bow to the dictates of this fallen world.

But what if these poor people do not use their money correctly? Oh, you mean like us sometimes? God gives us air and yet sometimes we expel that air with caustic words of condemnation or complaining. Does that mean God should withdraw His air since we do not always use it correctly? Do you see how selfish we are and how we judge others who do things that we ourselves do as well? But yet we attempt to project ourselves as productive members of a capitalist culture consumed with pleasure, entertainment, and self worth. You know what? In that we are completely accurate. But self denying disciples of Jesus Christ? Perhaps we would have more success finding Sequatchie.

But Jesus earned redemption through His suffering and the shedding of His blood, and the very last thing he commanded of us is to go into all the world and redistribute that redemption. I for one am glad that deadbeats and miscreants and undeserving sinners were not excluded. That would have left me without hope.

Redistribution? They better read the 2nd Amendment before they come for my money. Jesus has prospered me enough to bear arms and protect my wealth. It’s God’s way, read your Bible! The love of money is the root of all evil. “But I don’t love money, I just want more”. Still searching for the Christian faith.