Biblical Prosperity

One of the first things God promised His children was a land flowing with milk and honey. Of course this was a blessing, but God also had a long term plan for his children to prosper.  He knew land owners would think in a different way than wandering nomads.

Land is important to God’s plan for His children. One of the first things God did in establishing a covenant with Abraham was give him land. Previous to this Abraham did not have a homeland. Abraham’s father and his family were pastoral nomads, wandering from place to place for varying periods of time. His father worshiped idols in a city dedicated to wickedness. Abraham was told by God to go out into a place in which he would receive his inheritance. It was later referred to at the Promised “land.” It was land! In Genesis 12:1 it refers to the “land” God had for Abraham.

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”

God gave this nomad a land to call his own and to build in with his descendants. He gave Abraham and his family the Land of Israel as a unique homeland where his descendants were supposed to create the nation that was the model for the world. Physical land was central to God’s plan to prosper Abraham.

It is important to note that this in stark contrast to the economic systems of socialism and communism. In socialism the means of production and distribution are owned, managed and controlled by the government. Karl Marx, the founder of modern day communist philosophy, espoused abolishing all private property. We will continue to see in future blogs that socialism and communism are in contrast to the Biblical worldview where land is intended for private individuals for them to steward and to prosper with their families.

The early dealings God had with the Children of Israel began to develop what we refer to today as the Biblical Worldview. When God said, “I am one God”, it shook the existing pagan world with its hopeless understanding of many gods that could never be known or pleased. When God said mankind was created in His image it raised the standard of human dignity. In the ancient pagan world, no other group of people had an understanding of the nature of humanity that was nearly as positive as the Hebraic veiw. It gave them  a sense of dignity and significant identity.

But then it got better…God said, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it…” (Gen. 1:28). Not only were people created by God in his image, but the purpose of their existence was fixed by God. They were to be fruitful and rule over the earth. They were told to work six days a week. Each person was to tend their own garden and take care of their own sustenance and provision. After their own personal care was taken care of then they could steward the earth.

We know that since Adam was later told to dress and keep the garden in Genesis 2;15, that there was work to be done in that great, wonderful creation. In the original Hebrew this word for dress means literally “to work and to till”. Perhaps Adam tilled spots to grow certain things in greater abundance. Perhaps he trimmed or pruned plants to produce them in a greater quantity. Adam’s incentive was that it was a blessing to be fruitful and not unproductive. Also through his obedience Adam could experience the pure joy that comes from relationship with his Creator. He was invited to help manage what God had created and to help establish God’s order on the earth. He was assigned activities like naming the animals.

Many today look at work as a curse or a necessary evil instead of a wonderful gift from God. This is not a Biblical view. Man was created to be productive. Next God taught his children about land ownership….

In our study of God’s initial discipleship of the children of Israel we find he created everything, including his children, to grow and reproduce. In Genesis we find that God created plants that produced after their own kind…plants with seeds in them and fruit with seeds. This is a part of his divine nature that he wants Christians to take part in. This truth was central to the Biblical worldview he was teaching his children. It is his will for Christians to advance. People without an advancing mindset will not innovate and improve their life. Dennis Peacocke has studied this and has some profound thoughts in this area.

Poverty is rooted in the rejection of Christianity, its view of reality, and it discipline. Without the foundations of the biblical worldview, society’s attempts to alleviate poverty are doomed….Poverty is a spiritual problem more than an economic one. Paganism produces poverty; obedience to God’s covenant produces wealth.

People who do not live in a covenant with their Creator will not invest in the future, because it is too unpredictable. Instead, they will live in constant fear of the future. That is why free enterprise systems flourish only where the biblical worldview flourishes. Prosperity comes to societies where people invest current resources in the future; and this best happens when people trust the faithfulness (predictability) of a covenant-keeping God who promises to reward your investment if you invest, work hard and obey Him.

God incentivized his children with a good reward.

One of the things that God instilled in his children early on is the idea that they were created in the image of God. This was so different than the pagan idea that they were pawns being pushed around by the gods. It gave them this confidence in their identity. Among other things, this raised a desire in them to prosper. God taught his children incentive and reward. They were inspired to hard work because they know God would consistantly reward them for hard work. It gave them the opportunity to advance. Incentive and reward is a good and godly thing.

If a businessman sells a good product at a fair price to his customer, they will come back to buy more. The customer will also likely tell their friends to come buy as well. If the businessman asks too much for the product (more than market price) or gives a product that is subpar or inferior to other product in the market, the customer will not come back and buy again, and he will tell his friends not to buy from the businessman. So the businessman has the incentive to be honest and he is rewarded with a prosperous growing business. Though most businessmen are honest, the dishonest ones are flushed out over time but the principle of incentive and reward.

The one created in God’s image has a sense of holiness and the fear of God on all their financial affairs and finances, and so they prosper. Some piously think this idea of incentive and reward is not very spiritual, but God in fact created it. It is how he has hard-wired mankind. He used it with Adam and he is still using it today.

As God was teaching his newly adopted children to prosper the first thing he taught them is that He is one God. What is the big deal? It was a big deal because all the peoples in this time believed in many gods. They looked at the sun and thought their must be a sun god, they saw the rain and thought there must be a rain god, etc. Basically everything they could not understand or influence they believed was controlled by invisible spirit beings.

If there are many gods controlling the universe, then the world is unpredictable. The ancient Greeks believed thunder was the gods getting angry and arguing with each other. It really was a part of the ancient pagan worldview. So if there are many gods randomly controlling things then people will spend their lives endlessly trying to please these gods and always be a victim of them.

But if the world is set in order by one God, that is a different story. That one God has laws that govern the world. Can you say “gravity”? Mankind can learn these laws and actually manage the world in a way that allows them to prosper. God revealed himself to Abraham as the only God who had a consistent and unchanging nature.

Harold Eberle says, “We cannot overestimate the significance of this revelation. It was more profound for the advancement of civilization than the discovery of fire or the invention of the wheel.” The revelation that there was only one God allowed the children of Israel to begin to understand and manage this world.

It is true. It allowed them to prosper. It’s a big deal.

I love to hear stories of how God teaches His people to prosper. Here is a true story from my friend Harold Eberle as he tells it:

“About 20 years ago I traveled to a remote region of the Phillipines where I met a native pastor named Eddie. He was training 16 young people. Most of the lived in his home which was a bamboo hut supported on stilts, surrounded by huts and rice fields. It was beautiful but they seemed to own almost nothing by the standards of my own country.

Through the following years of working with pastor Eddie, we wanted to help him be successful. At first we just provided financial support, but it soon became apparent that his ministry should be self supporting and not forever dependent on gifts. 

One of the first things Pastor Eddie did was purchase a refrigerator. This may sound simple, but being the only refrigerator in the area it soon became a central feature of the village. The pastor divided the inside of the refrigerator into several compartments and rented out the compartments to people living in the area. Hence that refrigerator became a source of income and it was a blessing to families throughout the region. 

Our industrious Filipino pastor experimented with several other businesses, having varying amounts of success. He tried to rent out power tools which he provided but the tools did not last long in these difficult conditions. The pastor and his students were more successful in operating bicycles and motorcycles as taxis serving the locals. Also the ownership and operation of a rice mill provided finances for the pastor and his ministry; plus it provided a necessary service to the people throughout the region.

Other ministries joined us in helping the work in the Philippines but most of the credit belongs to Pastor Eddie. Today he oversees a two story Bible Training Center and owns rice fields, a banana orchard, a shrimp farm, a motorcycle, a pick up type vehicle, and many more things which have helped him helped plant and establish dozens of churches through out the villages. In that region the Christians are the head, and not the tail.” 

God wants to make His Children successful.

When God first appeared to Abraham he made his intentions clear. He had chosen Abraham and his descendants to be his people and represent him on the earth. He made a relational agreement with them and then showed them how to become successful on the earth. He gave them principles that led to their success. Let’s look at the agreement given when God appeared to Abraham in Gen. 12:2-3:

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

These were not just empty words. Later we read in Gen. 13:2 that Abraham became “very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold”. But it did not stop with Abraham…no, it was extended to Isaac, Jacob and their descendants(the Hebrews). God said he would not abandon them. He would be their God and they would be his people, and they would be a blessing to the whole earth. He protected them but he also mentored them.

Sometimes Christians think it was just a spiritual blessing God gave to the Hebrews. But it was a physical agreement as well as a spiritual agreement. Of course the Hebrews were included in the line leading up to the birth of Jesus, but God’s blessing would have tangible, physical results as well. In the next blogs we will see how God mentored his people in practical ways, and showed them how to enjoy prosperity.

Think about this…we all went to a nice local restaurant for dinner and enjoyed a great meal. We had so much fun and enjoyed the community of people we were with for dinner. Then we decided to go for ice cream to a nearby ice cream shop. So we walked out of the restaurant without paying our bill and went to the ice cream shop expecting to pay our bill there. What? It doesn’t work that way does it?

Where do we give our tithes? Malachi 3:10a says, Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house…. Larry Kreider says it like this…”According to this scripture, all the tithes should be placed into the storehouse. The storehouse is where spiritual food is kept to bless those who lead us, feed us and equip us for ministry. In the Old Testament, the Levites and the priests were responsible to spiritually lead and feed God’s people. The tithe paid for the work of those who were set apart for the purpose of ministry to the Lord and to His people. The Levites were dependent upon the faithfulness of God’s people in giving tithes to support them.” So now in the New Testament period, we should tithe to the local church; the storehouse of our spiritual leaders because they are called by the Lord to minister the Word, encourage us, pray for us and look out for our souls.

Some people mistakenly give their tithes to para-church organizations, missionaries, evangelists, etc. But this is like paying for dinner at the ice cream shop. The tithe should go to the local church and generously offerings should go to these other places. These other ministries are not looking out for your soul; they have their own vision and mandate to follow. When we are obedient to tithe to the storehouse, the Lord promises a blessing (Malachi 3:10b). Amen.

Note: In all of these blogs about tithing I have relied heavily on the writings and books of Larry Kreider and give him credit. In the next weeks we will be looking more at economics and how Biblical worldview affects our finances.

Occasionally I will get in a discussion with someone who doesn’t believe in tithing. They seem to take the perspective that they are “free” to give as the Lord leads them, again mistakenly thinking that tithing is a “law” instead of principle for the Christian to apply. So I sometimes would ask them how much they give. Since they love to talk about their “freedom” to give, I would assume they give a lot more than 10% away. So I ask is it 13%? 15%? Or even 20%? The most common response is silence. Because the truth is in their “freedom”, they don’t even give 10%. Yup…just what I thought.

So…about the difference between tithing and giving. Tithes are the first 10% of our income given into the storehouse to provide finances to help support those who are equipping and giving spiritual leadership to the Christians in the local church. When we give, over and beyond our tithes, then we are giving an offering. We are responsible to give offerings to the poor and needy (Proverbs 28:27). Of course there are many worthy missionaries and ministries that we give to after our tithe. There it is…simple, easy to apply, practical and true.

Another common question is, “Should we tithe on the net (wages I receive after my taxes are paid) or the gross (wages I receive before the taxes are paid)?” I don’t honestly know which works better because we have always tithed on our gross income. As Christians, we should desire to give everything we possibly can back to God because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. Tithing demonstrates God’s ownership of everything.

See…God does not need our tithe check or direct deposit. He is not nervously, laying off angels because we are not tithing. No…the tithe benefits us. It is a privilege to return to God what is already His, and man do we benefit. According to Malachi chapter 3:10, the tithe benefits us. The windows of heaven are opened on us to the point of overflow!

Sometimes Christians wrongly believe that tithing is simply an Old Testament doctrine leftover from the law. This is not a Biblical view. The tithe is a biblical principle found throughout the Bible. Abraham tithed before the law, it was included in the law and Jesus affirmed it after he replaced the law. Jesus confirmed the Old Testament principle of tithing in Matthew 23:23. However, He does not want us to tithe religously with the attitude of the scribes and Pharisees. Let’s read it.

The Lord sharply rebuked their attitudes about tithing. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

The religious Pharisees appeared spiritual and godly, but they were not in right standing with God. They tithed right down to the last tiny mint leaf, but their hearts were full of selfish ambition. Jesus specifically affirmed we should tithe today, but He is concerned about our attitudes as we give to Him. Since the New Testament, we should tithe because the Lord has changed our hearts. It is a privilege to return the tithe back to Him. We tithe as an act of love for our God and also from a place of faith. Tithe in faith that God will open the windows of heaven as he promised in Malachi.

My wife and I have tithed in faith all of our adult life. God’s finacial blessing has been on us. However occasionally it has seemed like the windows of heaven were not open and I have had to open the Bible to Malachi 3:8-12 and take up the Lord on his request to “test me in this”. So there I am with my Bible open, activating my faith in this Biblical principle of tithing, and praying “Father you said in your word we should test you in this, so here I am believing your word and expecting our tithes to open the windows of heaven as you have promised.” And sure enough the breakthrough soon follows in our finances. True story.