Kingdom Response to Things I
Genesis
1:28
God put
rich deposits of natural resources on earth. People use the natural
resources to make goods and services
that meet their needs for survival,
fulfillment and worship. This message
refers to the natural resources and the goods, experiences and services from
them as THINGS.
Why talk
about THINGS instead of just helping people with their souls. The fact is what
you do with things affects your soul. People easily are attached to things
because in them they see answers to
their needs. THINGS are not blessings
unless accompanied with ability to use them responsibly. Things become
resources to one with resourcefulness to put them to benefit. People relate
with things in three ways, notably, things shared in a community, things in
private possession and things in wishes and dreams. It is vital for believers
to learn how to respond to things at these three levels in a godly way. The
manner in which believers respond to things has a bearing on their spiritual
and general well-being. Unhealthy
attitudes or responses to things possessed or desired provide landing and
lodging for evil strongholds in life.
Curses that came on Adam rode on his attachment to things. He was
attracted through the desire to satisfy his senses of sight, pleasure and
pride. In the end, he chose things to
obeying God (Genesis 3). This diversion from obedience to things is what Jesus
came to reverse. Jesus came to bring God back into the picture and correctly
project him as the answer to all human
needs. When attached to God
nothing else can stick on you and nothing else is worth sticking to. Jesus’
message is if you let me set you free from attachment to things, you will be
free indeed. As long as you are not
detached from things, you are not free to direct things towards the glory of
God. Instead, they pull you away from glorifying him.
Money is
a means to acquire things or a proxy for things. It is therefore sought after
so passionately that the bible gives a caution (1 Timothy 6:10). It is futile to attempt to solve the problem
of money without addressing the issue of love for things because people do not
eat, drive or live in money but love it for what it can afford. Like money, things are good but loving things
is the root of evil. After God created
things, he evaluated and saw that they were good (Genesis 1:31).
God is
the owner of things (Psalm 24:1; Haggai 2:8; Colossians 1:16, 17). God spoke natural things found on earth into
being. In the same way, he can direct things to meeting your needs. What God
says does not only communicate a message but carries self-fulfilling
power. He created them in their variety
of forms, abundance and
renewability. He created light, water,
atmosphere, seas, sea creatures, land, minerals, rivers, vegetation, time, and
birds, animals and birds with ability to reproduce (Genesis 1:3-20).
He then
created and placed Adam and Eve over what he had created to Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion (Genesis 1:28; 2:15). He gave them responsibility,
rights/freedoms and power over what
remained his. Their mandate was to:
-
To reproduce/multiply. What God gave was a beginning and
a nucleus with ability to multiply. The instruction to Adam was to increase in
number and to share all God given things and responsibilities. The increased
numbers would need to be organized. This was therefore also a mandate to develop social order.
-
To replenish.
What God gave was seed to be grown, cared for, and sustained. God gives
seed and people are his multipliers. Adam was to maintain the original purpose
for which things were created. He was to take care of the things. God has interest in how people look after
their environment and things they own. God instructed Adam do not let things go
down and put in him ability to make things become better than when he found
them.
-
To subdue / have dominion.
Adam and Eve were to bring out the potential benefit in things and
combination of things. Natural resources are often not forms that meet all
human needs. They were invited to go on a journey of discovering how to make
their lives better. Everything God made presented an opportunity to find out
the treasure hidden in it. God gave them wisdom, creativity and authority to
make secondary forms of things. He gave them ability to understand the laws of
nature and science and know how to produce what would meet human needs for
survival and service to him. Dominion therefore is living without fear, working
and taking care of things God has put under your personal and corporate care
(Genesis 2, 15).
-
To enjoy and acknowledge God. All the things God created and
gives so richly are to be enjoyed (1 Timothy 6:17b).
Creation
reveals God’s attributes such as:
His glory. All creation was made for the purpose of
show the power and wonderfulness of God. They find their proper use in serving
the purpose of God. Any other use is abuse.
By abusing things humanity created enmity between things and God but
Jesus came to reconcile all things back to God (Colossians 1:20). God created
the whole earth and its fullness to point to himself and bring people closer to
him. Through things as seeing through a lens people ought to see God. As with a
lens if all you see and are drawn to is the lens then the lens or your sight
has gone dirty (Psalm 91:1-3).
His love/generosity.
All natural and other resources point to the providence/generosity of
the giver. He gave it all for people to use. He must be a loving and caring
God.
His grace. He is also a gracious God because even after
the fall he lets both the righteous and the unrighteous access his provisions (Luke
6:35).
His riches/abundance. God lacks nothing and can do all
things. If he is able to give away so much how much more does he have?
To
respond to things in a godly way and fulfill the God given mandate:
1) Think like a manager.
Acknowledge
that all things belong to God. He entrusts you with things and gives you power
to make them so that you to invest and use them for his profit. In the parable of the talents (Mathew
25:13-30), a man left talents to his three servants before going to a far
country. He gave them five talents, two
talents and one respectively. He also
gave them ability to make profit (Deuteronomy 8:17-19; Job 1:10). On his return,
he commended the two who had made profit for him. Managers at some point give an account to the
owners. The job of managers is to make profit for the shareholders. God as the
owner of all things expects to receive his profit also when he comes. The
profit is insignificant to his already existing wealth but significant to the
wealth it brings faithful servant.
The
servant who had received one talent thought evil of the master and hid the
talent. He was so much afraid of losing the one talent and attached himself to
it. He also had such mistrust of the master that most likely, even if he had
invested the one talent he would not have presented it to the master suspecting
he might just take it away. The master instructed that the one talent be taken
away from him and be given to someone who made profit (Mathew 25:28). Not only that it cost him his soul and landed
him in outer darkness where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mathew
25:30). As for those who made and presented profit to the master, they lost
nothing. In fact, they were made rulers over many more things (Mathew
25:23). From the context Mathew 25:29
reads, For unto every one that [has profit] shall be given, and he shall have
abundance: but from him that has [no profit] shall be taken away even that
which he hath.
2) Think like a farmer.
A farmer
understands the principle of faith, sowing and reaping. To raise his level of
harvest he knows he must work on his level of sowing. In handling things, you
also need to know that raising standard of giving comes from raising standard
of giving. Giving is like sowing. It
brings a harvest. Sowing is releasing something from you for the cause of the
gospel and your provision. Attachment to things is broken by giving. What you
receive from God is seed. God gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
The farmer is willing to put seed he could have eaten into the ground. He is
willing to trust the weather will be favorable. He is willing to work and wait
patiently through the process of cultivation.
Cultivation is a miracle happening over time through prayer, obedience,
faith, investment, trade, work, relationships, etc. When you give therefore, be
prepared to be patient and hold fast to your profession of faith without wavering,
for he is faithful that promised (Hebrews 10:23). When you murmur and complain
about your past ‘unfruitful’ giving or the delayed harvest, you dig out the
seed and destroy the harvest.
The
abundance in heaven is waiting for something to come from you to escort it to
you. When you release your little God releases his much. Sowing is exchanging
one thing for something better. When God wants to increase what you have, he
talks to you about giving. If you sow sparingly, you will also reap sparingly
(2 Corinthians 9:6). If you sow
bountifully God is able to make ALL grace abound to you so that ALL the time
you will have ALL sufficiency in ALL things and abound in ALL good work (2
Corinthians 9:8). Being enriched in ALL things to ALL bountifulness (2 Corinthians
9:11).
Two basic
ways to give to God’s work are tithes and offerings. Tithe is the first, best and complete 10% of
what God gives you, which belongs to him and ought to be returned. Offering is any other giving to God’s work.
Tithing is a Biblical principle from which Christians benefit immensely.
Tithing was there before the law of Moses (Genesis 14:17-29; 28:22). Tithing
was there under the law (Leviticus 14:17-20; 2 Chronicles 31:5; Malachi 3:8-12;
Proverbs 3:9, 10). Tithing is also there
after the law (Mathew 5:17). The reasons
for which it was given in Old testament still apply – the church has financial
needs. The principle of Gods work supported by the giving of God’s people still
holds. In addition, if under the law 10%
was expected, under grace everything is expected. So tithe is only the minimum
we should give to God’s work (Mark 12:43-44; Acts 5:3-4. Mathew 23:23).
Harvest
is what you spend on your self and seed is what you give in obedience to God.
The enemy wants you to think you have nothing. It is a lie. Everyone has seed.
There cannot be a harvest when there has not been sowing.
3) Think like an stranger/alien/Ambassador.
This
world is not your home and you do not have much time. You will leave all things
behind. You however have the option to invest for eternal returns by giving
especially to God’s work. When billionaire
John D. Rockefeller died, many were
curious to know the amount he had left behind.
When asked the accountant’s answer was, ‘He left all of it’. Things are not yours. Naked you came naked
you will go. During the time of David,
people gave generously and willingly for the temple of the Lord (1 Chronicles
29:9-15). Their secret was they acknowledged God, they submitted to him and new
they were strangers/sojourners on earth.
As Jesus
taught, lay not for yourselves treasures on earth but in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Mathew 6:19-21).
THINGS
will be destroyed. ‘But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night ;
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise , and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat , the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up (2 Peter 3:10).’ Use things to build people, please and
serve God. Peter warned that if you were
attached to things you would burn with them.
This message is part of a series on how to respond to factors in your
environment in a godly way. God wants you to have RESPONSE - ABILITY. The last
message was about response to cultures. This message begins looking at response
to resources. The response to resources is covered in three messages - things/money (I and II) and time (III). This
is message I.
Message by Dr. Kurai Chitima.
Faith
Ministries – Johannesburg
Faith Life
Center
Ground
and First Floors Sunset
Bay Building
204B
Bram Fischer drive,
Randburg,
Johannesburg , South Africa
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