“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV
So much is written and taught about prosperity and economics from a worldly perspective that most Christians have unwittingly adapted one of three major errors.
First, within the church we deal with the terrible heresy called the “word of faith” or “name it and claim it.” Prosperity economics believe and teach that God wants us materially rich and that we use our faith like a muscle. Believe, ask, and claim the treasure God wants you to have. Absent from this is any semblance of sound doctrine and the Lord Himself, not to mention the early church, were all abject failures if the word of faith theology is true.
Outside the church there are two primary economic theories among the masses.
First, there’s hedonism – the belief that pleasure is the highest good. This leads to the belief that a man’s worth is his income and all that it can buy. Modern hedonists base their entire lives around how much they get paid and what they can buy with that money. Though most of us would certainly not identify ourselves as hedonists, we nevertheless act and judge according to its premises.
A third economic view is informed by Marxism. It views free enterprise and wealth as evil. It has an antagonistic worldview toward capitalism and, therefore, personal responsibility. Marxist thought is philosophically materialistic in that it believes that there is no transcendent moral law. A man’s living standard is all he is and if others have more material wealth that means that he’s (the poorer man by comparison) a victim. This is why Marxism always leads to social conflict and discontent.
All of it is fallacious. All of it is vanity.
Let’s look at what the Bible says about economics, work, and wealth.
“And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Luke 12:16–34 ESV
So, we see that the Lord has done with one parable, in one colossal fell swoop, destroyed the world’s dominant beliefs about wealth – the word of faith heresy and atheistic hedonism and Marxism. The motive of all of them is encapsulated in the parable of the rich fool. His motive was always himself. Jesus tells us the grand and great truth that where our treasure is, so is our heart and that the goal of life is to be rich in and toward God.
This is the amazing foundation upon which Paul details the simple principle of true biblical wealth. It’s an agricultural analogy. We literally reap what we sow. Since God alone is sovereign, there are no other forces that dictate wealth. This is his world and in it we must work faithfully, diligently and skillfully.
Atheistic and heretical economic systems make man’s consumption the highest good, not God’s honor. In Christianity the goal of work is to honor God with one’s labor. Labor is, therefore, an act of faith and a major part of our sanctification. Labor is love and faith in action.
The Lord provides ample economic tutelage for us.
“Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.”
Proverbs 6:6–11 NLT
“Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.”
Proverbs 22:29 ESV
The Lord commands that we work in faith, not begrudgingly or incompetently. And He demands that we’re focused in order to be skillful as well. Any man or woman who does a poor job is unfaithful to the Creator. Nowhere in Scripture does the Lord allow deliberate mediocrity.
“Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.”
Proverbs 18:9 ESV
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,”
Colossians 3:17, 23 ESV
“Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”
1 Timothy 6:1–10 ESV
Once again we see how the Bible throw out worldly ideas. We aren’t to love money but God and each other. We’re to work diligently and skillfully in His name so as to bring Him honor and to be a material blessing to those around us. If our boss is a knucklehead it doesn’t matter! Work for the Lord, not for men! This is the condemnation of the word of faith heresy and the materialistic American dream ideology. It also eviscerates all forms of socialism/Marxism in which we seek to be served rather than to serve – and wherein the state receives glory and honor, not the Lord.
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV
A true Christian motive is to please God and enjoy Him. What a promise this is then! For God has a special love for a cheerful giver we’re told. And oh how this changes the goal of a businessman. The old Protestant work ethic was in tune with this and is, by and large, responsible for the incredible wealth of the modern west – a capital we are still using, in fact. An old naval yard had this as its motto:
“We will build good ships. At a profit if we can. A loss if we must, but we will build good ships.”
Today, quality is routinely sacrificed on the altar of profit and the Lord is displeased. Workers are exploited as resources rather than fellow members of the body of Christ. We reap what we sow and America is a nation drowning in dreadful debt!
Cheerful givers seek to serve in business. They seek win-win arrangements everywhere so that they might be a blessing to the glory of God, not to their bottom line. The cheerful giver is no doormat or sacrificial lamb, but a highly skilled worker who leverages that skill to sow, sow, and sow. The cheerful giver’s heart is set on the ultimate riches of the Kingdom of the Most High God.
“And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.”
2 Corinthians 9:8–12 NLT
The pathway to success in modern atheistic America is one of debt and usury. It knows a perpetual bondage because it sows to self. The pathway of the Christian shines with the glory of the cheerful giver who sows so that Christ is glorified and that others are blessed. To this the Lord promises to increase the resources of the sower so that they can sow even more. This will lead to ever more harvests of righteousness, kindness and love (Isaiah 55:10; Hosea 10:12). The main thing produced through this sowing will be the harvest of thanksgiving to God, not mere material wealth.
In biblical economics, therefore, the worker aims to increase skill and wealth to bring about the glorification of God and the obedience to the gospel of Christ which we confess.
“By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”
2 Corinthians 9:13–15 ESV
He who can do so much more abundantly than we can ever hope or imagine promises to give to the cheerful and truthful giver. This is the law of reaping and sowing.
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.””
Luke 6:37–38 ESV
To chase success in this world is such a fool’s errand and displays the shallow theology of one’s heart. It shows idolatry and self-love. It shows that one is a lover of money, not God.
Also, the sowing and reaping analogy warns us that the harvest takes time. We should and must wait on our loving Father. He will bring us to Himself and He has every resource in His hands. He who died for you will bring you to a place where all things have worked together for your good. But be warned and instructed: we will reap what we sow. What is the true goal of our working and giving? Is it self? Is it envy? Do we grumble and complain against the sovereignty of the Lord and resent our conditions? Let us all take stock and pray lest we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.
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