10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

There isn’t any time for me to get into them yet as I spent all morning doing my taxes. But this is the next place I’m going to ponder, and I invite you to join me.

From James 5:1-6,

1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. What is the problem with the rich in James’ day? Among other things, they were made rich due to fraud. They stepped on others, taking what was justly due to their laborers, and instead fattened themselves with excess that wasn’t theirs. This isn’t a condemnation of profit, but a condemnation of rich people who, in that day, were made rich mainly by taking what didn’t belong to them because they were in a position of power. They “fattened [their] hearts in a day of slaughter… in luxury and in self-indulgence.” I don’t know what was going on in those days, but at the very least it seems like the rich were in the midst of a very lopsided social-economic setting where they benefitted primarily from hurting others. This was not a win-win business situation; it was the trading of God’s glory for the love of riches which resulted in hating your neighbor for the sake of your own selfish comfort. This just seems very different to me than “You’re condemned because you’re rich!” Riches aren’t the problem; unjust gain at the expense of people is. These people are the unrighteous rich. And there’s no way you should desire to be rich in this way. Last night, we were reading Jeremiah and I was impressed by Jeremiah 17:11, Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch, so is he who gets riches but not by justice; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool. Again, is this a condemnation of riches, or a condemnation of getting riches by unjust means? A few verses before we read the following, 7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. God provides for their needs. The one who trusts in the Lord is blessed (i.e., happy) because he knows that the Lord will take care of him, instead of worrying about the heat nor the drought. All in all, I am seeing a condemnation of the unrighteous rich when it used to be that I took such condemnations as condemnation against riches in general, as if I shouldn’t seek in any way to be rich because then I would be under the warnings of such verses. That’s nonsense. And it leads me to 2 Corinthians 8-9, which I’ll have to go through in the coming few days. Like that I’m blogging again? Any feedback would motivate me to continue. :o)

Last night in Greek class, my instructor used the following example to explain the use of the subjunctive mood. It’s basically the mood of possibility.

If I were rich, I’d pay for TBI’s expansion project. Everyone chuckled. I didn’t. I was thrilled on the inside. It tapped into some of my really big thoughts. I had a question about this statement. My instructor revealed a desire he had to be rich in order to do something great for Jesus’ kingdom. Does this desire stand under Paul’s warning about seeking riches in 1 Timothy 6:9? 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. If those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, a snare, and many senseless and harmful desires plunge them into ruin and destruction… would this warning include within its pale the desire to be rich so you could fully fund a ministry project? It has come to my attention that my understanding of riches, wealth, and prosperity are skewed and malnourished in my understanding of God, His Kingdom, and the Bible. The Word is the place I’m going in order to understand these things more. There is a false gospel out there that has caused at least one major casualty in American Christians’ living: we’re afraid of the words “health,” “wealth” and “prosperity.” We’re afraid of saying, “God wants to bless you financially.” Are you? I know I am. I take on those words with borderline guilt. WHY??? And how should I approach these things rightly? Was Solomon just being cynical when he said in Ecclesiastes 10:19…. Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. Or was Paul cautious when he promised in 2 Corinthians 9:10-11…. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God Or was John just being polite when he said in 3 John 2…. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. This is the next stage of my theological journey, and I plan on updating you with my progress. I seek your responses, any responses, if you’d like to contribute.

Last night in Greek class, my instructor used the following example to explain the use of the subjunctive mood. It’s basically the mood of possibility. > If I were rich, I’d pay for TBI’s expansion project. Everyone chuckled. I didn’t. I was thrilled on the inside. It tapped into some of my really big thoughts. I had a question about this statement. My instructor revealed a desire he had to be rich in order to do something great for Jesus’ kingdom. Does this desire stand under Paul’s warning about seeking riches in 1 Timothy 6:9? > 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. If those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, a snare, and many senseless and harmful desires plunge them into ruin and destruction… would this warning include within its pale the desire to be rich so you could fully fund a ministry project? It has come to my attention that my understanding of riches, wealth, and prosperity are skewed and malnourished in my understanding of God, His Kingdom, and the Bible. The Word is the place I’m going in order to understand these things more. There is a false gospel out there that has caused at least one major casualty in American Christians’ living: we’re afraid of the words “health,” “wealth” and “prosperity.” We’re afraid of saying, “God wants to bless you financially.” Are you? I know I am. I take on those words with borderline guilt. WHY??? And how should I approach these things rightly? Was Solomon just being cynical when he said in Ecclesiastes 10:19…. > Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. Or was Paul cautious when he promised in 2 Corinthians 9:10-11…. > He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God Or was John just being polite when he said in 3 John 2…. > Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. This is the next stage of my theological journey, and I plan on updating you with my progress. I seek your responses, any responses, if you’d like to contribute.

This is a wonderful addition to the music you listen to on Thanksgiving. I first heard it at Bethlehem last year, and I just remembered it this morning. My Heart Is Filled with Thankulness Here are the lyrics. Happy Thanksgiving!

So I was struck by a questionnaire developed by John Piper (I think) that was posted on the Desiring God website yesterday. It’s very good and helpful. Part of my response was posted on the blog, and you can read about it here. Just a little suffin’.

Hey, a quick life update followed by a quick thought about Pastor John’s sermon from Sunday. My visit to Minneapolis was successful. We’re going to be living in Fridley, a suburb north of Minneapolis’ downtown. I spent a lot of time traveling all around Minneapolis, and I can tell you: I’ve never felt the hand of God so evidently upon my going out and coming in. It was difficult, but I grew a great deal during this trip in terms of recognizing what I want and reaching out my arm to take it, instead of waiting for it to be handed to me. I visited the downtown and north campuses of Bethlehem Baptist Church and introduced myself to Pastor John Piper. He’d like to meet Rosanna. :o) I’ve never felt so much at home in a church, it really was a beautiful experience. To be in the company of so many people who treasure the Christ you’ve come to know and love… it was hardcore. On to the subject. “Painful is not joyless” comes from a statement Pastor John made in his Sunday sermon entitled, Where I Am There Will My Servant Be: A Call to Treasure Christ Together, which is from the new Desiring God website. You really ought to check it out, they’ve got lots of resources including almost all of his sermons downloadable for free with no registration whatsoever. In my link you can read, listen, or watch the sermon. What a gift to get free access to this type of teaching from around the world! I was so struck by this series of statements as it tapped into my heart deeply.

[Our] destination is joyful and the pathway [to the destination of joy] is painful. But don’t hear “painful” as “joyless.” You all got that? Don’t hear “painful” as “joyless.” The Calvary Road behind Jesus is painful. There is no getting around it. “Through many afflictions we must enter the kingdom of heaven.” There is no shortcut. The Calvary Road is the only road that leads to glory. It is painful… and filled with joy. It’s a very different kind of joy than many people have tasted. “Sorrowful yet always rejoicing” is the banner that flies over the emotional ethos of this church.

We’re always talking, I’m always pushing on the leaders and on the worship leaders: “We are sorrowful yet always rejoicing” because I want people who come to this church who are broken in half by life not to feel like we are chipper. We don’t like that word here. That’s my bad word. We are happy… with tears on our faces. We’ve tasted the pain. We’ve been broken. We’ve been shamed. We’ve known pain. We’ve known loss.

And we know unshakable joy! That is true, I know it is true. I remember how, when I started working at Target, I would go out to my car on my breaks and lunches and cry until my eyes burnt because of the afflictions God was bringing me through; yet, I remember being asked by several people during that time, “Robert, why are you so happy all the time?” I hope that it may be said of my career at T-1398 (the Edmond Super Target) that I was a sorrowful yet always rejoicing team member because of the great grace of God that provides me, and still provides me today, with a joy that can endure difficulties. Rosanna doesn’t feel the least bit undervalued (in fact, quite the opposite) when I say: It wasn’t Rosanna that turned me around. She was not the basis of my joy, though she does make me very, very happy! But during those months of my first coming to Target and then Rosanna and I getting together (a total of four months), God removed everything I had been leaning on so that only He remained. Piper has put it this way in his fourth narrative poem about the book of Job: The Lord has made me drink The cup of his severity That he might kindly show to me What I would be when only he Remains in my calamity. Unkindly has he kindly shown That he was not my hope alone. Though I will say I have never hurt so deeply in all of my life during that time, I was actually… happier then than in all my life. Why? Because the Gospel was preached to me through an exposition of Micah 6:7-8, which I wrote about in my entry Looking At Redemption back in early 2005, just days before Rosanna and I resumed our relationship with romantic intentions. It gave me a rock-solid joy when everything about me seemed like it should be burnt up. It may be hard to believe, but Rosanna also knows what I’m talking about when I say that this time was more precious to me than the day I asked her to marry me, which is a huuuuuge statement. I could try to explain it but it would take too long. There is a kind of happiness and wonder that comes through the intense afflictions of your darkest days that surpasses the highest joy you experience in a day of sunshine. You feel alive even though it feels like you’re being killed at the same time. Part of your desires are being denied, but it opens up new desires you never knew you had, new joys you never knew were there. Rosanna has tasted this through the glorious Gospel of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and she too counts it her happiest day. There is joy unspeakable in the midst of pain unbearable. Praise God for His immense mercy and His lavish grace on Rosanna and I. Oh that you would take hold of it, too! Rest in the finished work of Jesus. Read how Pastor John describes Justification By Faith and marvel. I can’t wait to marry this woman, but I can’t wait even more ’till we see Jesus together more and more in our relationship and after we’ve both died and have passed out of this life into the next. It is a painful road, but it is not without joy.

The Gospel in the Church for the Obedience of Faith through Spiritual Gifts This is a sermon by John Piper that has had more of an impact on my life than any other sermon period. It is the foundation of Rosanna and my relationship. It is what goes through my mind on so many occasions at work where I feel like I have a right to be angry with some angry guest or a negligent team member. I do not ignore what needs to be said, but the tone of it is dictated more often than not from what hit me with this sermon. I will never forget where I was on the way down to stay with Jonathan and Jenni Carroll, on I-35 around the Arbuckle Mountains, circa May of 2003, and heard the following statement:

When you receive grace from God, you don’t become a debtor to God. You become a debtor to everyone who, like you, needs grace.

If we would be gripped by the gospel of free grace… what a difference it would make in manifold forms of self-righteousness, so that we come out of our apartment and see the man we don’t like and just turn the other way and with all of our body language make a barbarian out of him. This has helped resolve so many problems that I was dealing with and I am hardly in the place of having gleaned all that is possible from this meditation on Romans 1. I gave this sermon to Rosanna back in September of ’03, when we were just friends. It’s become quite a theme for us. I figured it’s time I shared it. I remember one person saying of me that I was drawn to “grace-heavy” preachers. This was meant as a criticism (meaning that I was drawn to people who made me feel better about myself when I sinned). I couldn’t think of a better thing to want to be drawn to, when it’s a grace like this that doesn’t just pardon a sinner but sets him free from his sinful habits and patterns of life, drawing him into more humility and debasing of himself in order to penetrate hearts with the gospel. Anyway, this is a great sermon. It is entirely worth the download for the first half. Feel free to comment about it, I hardly get those these days and have no way of knowing whether anyone besides a couple of people are reading my updates. Maybe I should turn TypeKey off and install some other spam-preventing comment solution.