Stephen
Terry, Director
Laying
Up Treasure in Heaven
Commentary
for the February 11, 2023, Sabbath School Lesson
"Which of
you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a
fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give
good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would
have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:9-12, NIV
While our quarterly titles this week's
lesson, "Laying Up Treasure in Heaven," the actual appeal is to turn over
wealth to the church. This brings up two questions that beg for answers. The first
is "Why?" and the second is "Is the basis for that why still applicable?"
What our lesson quarterly has
revealed thus far in answer to the first question is an appeal to the Old
Testament model of support for the Levitical priesthood. The mandatory tithes
were for the support of the clergy, whether paid in coin, flesh or produce. In addition,
a system of free will offerings, often to expiate guilt, was established. The
greater part of what was paid to the sanctuary was to be consumed by the
priesthood. However, this system had its flaws even then. When Solomon
dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, the tens of thousands of animals slaughtered
in a day could not have been consumed by the priests before spoiling. The
people probably helped to consume the offerings. Precedent had been set for
this with the tithe when in Deuteronomy the people are told if the distance to
the sanctuary was too far, they were to convert their tithe to coin by selling
the livestock, etc. Then they were to take the money to Jerusalem and buy
fermented drink and throw a party with the tithe funds.[i] Those
who point to the Old Testament as a basis for paying tithe to support clergy
fail to account for anomalies like this.
A further discrepancy occurs
when we consider the purpose of the priesthood that is ostensibly being
supported by tithes and offerings. They performed several functions. They were
responsible for the care and maintenance of the sanctuary and later, the
temple. Some were tasked with performing music for worship, which raises a
question in and of itself. If we are asserting that we are following the Old Testament
model for supporting the priesthood, why are church organists and choir
directors not paid from tithe funds as they were in the time of King David and
his son, Solomon? Even the temple guards were from the priesthood. Why don't we
pay modern security guards from tithe funds? One might argue that they are not
descended from Levi, but neither are our pastors and elders. But perhaps the
greatest discrepancy is found in our appeal to the example of those priests who
were actually offering the animal sacrifices day by day. Most would agree that
these were genuine priests deserving the support of the tithe for the service
they were providing. However, with the advent, ministry, death, resurrection,
and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth, we commonly understand that his sacrifice
supplanted those daily sacrifices of old and accomplishes the remission and
forgiveness those sacrifices could not.[ii]
That being the case, what need is there of the Old Testament Levitical priesthood?
And if there is no longer need for their services, where is the need for the
tithing system?
Serendipitously, the early
church eventually discovered that religion could be a source of great wealth.
Many people led a hard life with little reward back then, and many still do
today. But some of those same people contribute far more than they should to
the church, both in time and money. Why? It is because they are told they will
be rewarded in heaven for the sacrifices of today. While we understand that prosperity
theology is a heresy that makes God into a vending machine, dispensing
blessings in return for our coins, this teaching is little more than deferred
prosperity theology. While some quote Malachi regarding tithe paying and refer
to Jesus' words about "laying up treasure in heaven," there may be little that
is more offensive to God's love for mankind than an overweight preacher in an
expensive suit telling his struggling parishioners they need to be more
faithful in bringing money into the church. The sin becomes even more egregious
when the sacrifices of those trusting souls are weighed against the profligate
misuse of the funds poured into the church coffers. There may be more evidence
of the riches being a curse to the church than there is of it being a blessing
to the donors. The abuses are too extensive to document here, but the book "Who
Watches? Who Cares? Misadventures in Stewardship" by Douglas Hackleman[iii] makes
a good beginning of such documentation. Unfortunately, money is an irresistible
temptation to many, and church leaders are not immune to that temptation,
especially in the opaque atmosphere found at the highest levels of church administration.
Money equates with power and influence as easily within cloistered halls as
without. It shouldn't but it does and testifies therefore against the heresies
of perfectionism and the desire to seek after the very prosperity that so many
stumble at.
Some may delude themselves into
thinking that wealth will not be a stumbling block for them because they don't
desire millions or billions of dollars. They only want to have "enough" to get
by. But those who have trod that path can share that the idea of "enough" is nebulous
and as wealth grows, so do the needs to have "enough." At some point, the house
with two bedrooms is no longer enough, though a homeless person may see it as a
dream fulfilled. At some point, only one car is no longer enough, though it
might seem an impossible dream to the person walking everywhere. At some point,
having enough food becomes no longer enough, replaced by a concern about the
quality of food as opposed to quantity, and the price for that quality tells us
we still do not have "enough." By now, I hope it is evident that there is never
a point where we can feel we have arrived at "enough" and can switch to caring
about others because our own needs have finally been satisfied. It is the
golden carrot at the end of a string that ever hovers before us, leading us on.
But if this is true for each of us individually, how much more corporately as a
church? The corporate entity is only the total of the parts that make up the
body.
If wealth is such a trap for
both individuals and the church, what are we to do? The church has never
relented in its drive to bring ever more money into its "storehouse." Just as
the church hawks blessings in return for those streams of gold, Johann Tetzel
five hundred years ago hawked indulgences that promised salvation for those in
purgatory. Half of the income from those indulgences lined the pockets of his
archbishop and the other half went to paying for work on Saint Peter's Basilica
in Rome. It was this kind of theology that Martin Luther railed against from
the pulpit and led to the dawning of the Reformation. Nonetheless, the church
prospers financially when we forget about all of that and foolishly give every
hope for our financial future to the church, hoping for blessings that conveniently
don't occur until after death. Conveniently, because it is hard to hold the church
to account if we are dead and find no such overflowing blessing awaiting us. Or
as in Tetzel's case, we die, end up in purgatory and find our suffering
relative still there despite our purchase of several indulgences.
Two places in scripture, one in
the Old Testament and one in the New Testament, are concise instructions on how
we are to relate to the blessing of wealth and to one another. The first is
found in Isaiah 58:
"Is not this the kind of fasting
I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food
with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with
shelter
when you see the naked, to
clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh
and blood?
Then your light will break forth
like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go
before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear
guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord
will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say:
Here am I.
If you do away with the yoke of
oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious
talk,
and if you spend yourselves in
behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the
darkness,
and your night will become like the
noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a
sun-scorched land
and
will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered
garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58:6-11, NIV
The New Testament gives us a
similar admonition in the "Parable of the Sheep and the Goats" found in Matthew
25:
When the Son of Man comes in
his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All
the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one
from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the
sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those
on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance,
the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry
and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to
drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed
me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit
me.'"
"Then the righteous will answer
him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you
something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or
needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to
visit you?'"
"The King will reply, 'Truly I
tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters
of mine, you did for me.'"
"Then he will say to those on
his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared
for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did
not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in
prison and you did not look after me.'"
"They also will answer, 'Lord,
when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick
or in prison, and did not help you?'"
"He will reply, 'Truly I tell
you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for
me.'"
Matthew 25:31-45, NIV
It seems that God's intent in
blessing us is that we use those blessings not for building the power and
influence of the earthly church, but for relieving suffering even as we would
want our own suffering relieved were we in similar circumstances. For those who
are trying to build a powerful church on earth, this is hard to hear, but it is
no harder now than it was thousands of years ago. For those who would be
perfect in their obedience to all they imagine the law requires, including the
paying of tithe, Jesus had a simple answer, "If you want to be perfect, go,
sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven. Then come, follow me." (Matthew 19:21) This is the true measure of
perfection. It is also the stumbling block for the perfectionist. May God help
us all.