Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Lk.12:32-34).
In the context of describing God’s care and the uselessness of worry to his disciples, Jesus speaks the verses quoted above. He said that the Father had been pleased to give the kingdom to his followers. In the same way, the Father has been pleased to give the kingdom to us. Many believers think of the kingdom as future. For them, the kingdom and the blessings of the kingdom are experienced only after the funeral or in the millennium when Jesus establishes his kingdom on the earth. The verb tenses Jesus used, however, were past tense. The Father had already given the kingdom and it was part of Christ’s rationale for a decision not to worry about how they would live.
In this section, Jesus describes kingdom economics. First of all, he reminds us that the kingdom has been given to us. That means that all the resources of the kingdom are available to us. As children of God and citizens of heaven, we have access to the storerooms of the kingdom – especially when we are on the King’s business and are trusting in him to provide.
Jesus counsels us to sell our possessions and give to the poor. That echoes his challenge to the rich young ruler who was moral and religious but who valued his possessions on earth more than those in heaven. He doesn’t say to sell all of our possessions but seems to be counseling us to sell much of what we have and give it away, especially the excess. This is a persistent theme throughout the gospels. When he sent out the twelve to preach, heal, and deliver he told them to take no money and nothing but the bare essentials. The lesson to be learned was that God would provide. Jesus taught us to pray each day for daily bread. Again, he seems to imply that in the kingdom, we don’t need to store up excess for the future but to use it for kingdom purposes today with faith that our Heavenly Father will provide what we need from the vaults of heaven each day.
Jesus goes on to instruct us to provide purses for ourselves (wallets) that will not wear out and a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted. We have a hand in providing this provision. I believe this teaching can include laying up rewards in heaven for eternal life, but in the context of not worrying about what we will eat, drink, or wear in this world he is talking about an account we can draw on now in this world. Jesus seems to be saying that as we freely give away what he has already given us, more resources will be placed in our account. The more we depend on the Father for provision rather than our own resources, the more goes into our account in heaven now. Biblically, it is hard for a rich man to enter heaven because the very nature of his riches tends to make him self-sufficient rather than Christ-sufficient.
It seems that from heaven’s perspective, a wise man will give enough to kingdom purposes that his situation will always force him to stay focused on God and his resources. That seems to create an “open heaven” for the children of God and his supernatural provision. Most of us have thrilled at stories of people on the brink of financial catastrophe who get the mysterious, anonymous check in the mail for exactly the amount they needed. Many of us would love to have that experience because we sense how faith building it would be. If we were honest, most of us would like to get the supernatural check so that we don’t have to dip into our savings or retirement. However, miracles typically occur only in the context of desperation or a practiced dependence on God. We’re not talking about desperation or dependence because we blew our paycheck in Vegas, but because we have used our resources for the kingdom of God or because we simply encountered a crisis that was out of our control.
In this passage, Jesus simply reminds us that there is no need to worry if we are faithfully serving the Father and are about our Father’s business. The kingdom has been given to us and the more we give away what God has been giving to us, the more he will funnel into our accounts so that we can give that away as well. I believe the principle goes beyond finances and includes our expenditure of time, energy, and gifts as well. What we give generously to God is rolled back into our account with interest so that we can draw on that account now. If we hold back a significant surplus for ourselves, we may not see the miracles we desire because we won’t need the miracles. Not only that, but after a while we may come to believe that we don’t even need God all that much.
Jesus gives wise counsel at the end of this text. Our heart will be focused on the place where we place our treasure. If a man has all his wealth in the stock market, he will check those stocks multiple times a day because his heart is there. If we want our hearts to be focused on God, then our treasure must be in his keeping not our own.
This passage challenges me and, perhaps, challenges you. Kingdom economics (kingdomnomics) stands the wisdom of the world on its head. But if we want to see the supernatural move of God in our lives, it may simply be a matter of economics.
