I wanted to follow up on a very thought provoking discussion I had recently on a web chat - and maybe inspire more thinking on this point. Keeping it short so this is only a primer.
The central issue was teasing out what the difference could be between “Kingdom" and “good". Many people are doing good and even great things - non Christians, Muslims, Christians and even those who state they have no faith at all. In the era of "social justice warriors" what distinguishes Kingdom giving?
God has put in place laws of universal application such as gravity and lift. He has also put in place other laws, many of which we can see in Proverbs and Deuteronomy 28: for example, helping the poor is lending to the Lord (Proverbs 19:17), and blessings will come upon you if you obey the Lord (Deuteronomy 28). Here is another example about God's chosen people: "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”- Genesis 12:1-3.
So at one level “doing good” is linked to blessings and the opposite - doing bad - is linked to curses. God has put this law of blessing in place. So, it would be true to say that giving is good and leads to blessing. It would also be true to state that stealing is bad and leads to a negative life result (cursing). We need to promote such good acts and encourage those who do them.
Earthly Rewards: As we can see, there are earthly rewards for good acts - if we do our deeds to be known by men then we have our reward. Matthew 6 declares:
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give...do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Query - Is the heavily negotiated [name the family] wing of the [x] museum a modern day trumpet?
Kingdom Rewards: We also know from scripture that if we give all our goods to the poor or even give our bodies to be burned (martyrdom) and have not Love - Jesus is love - then it profits us nothing (I Cor. 13). There is a concept of Kingdom profit or Kingdom reward - we want to be known by Him not have him say depart from me I never knew you (Matt 7: 21-23).
How then do we differentiate from good works that all can do and are laudable and even result in earthly rewards and good works that lead to Kingdom results and rewards? We want to have crowns to lay at his feet (Rev. 4: 10-11). As always, our model, foundation and starting place is Jesus - “no other foundation can anyone lay that that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ…” 1 Cor. 3:11.
The best place to start is John 14 - 17 - Jesus only did what He saw the Father do and only said what He heard the Father say (John 5:19; 8:28; 12:50; 14:31 etc). Likewise, our good works are to be a result of “flow and fire” - abiding in the vine is flow - abiding in Jesus is likened to the flow of sap in a vine. "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." Out of our bellies shall flow rivers of living water. Likewise fire is a symbol of heavenly connection or anointing.
What about the fire? After declaring that our works are to be laid on the Foundation of Jesus, 1 Cor 3:13 states - "The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done. If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward. But if any person’s work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire.”
Jesus also said we would do greater works that He did (John 14:12). How do we do this? The formula is abiding in Jesus, building our works including giving on this foundation, only doing what we see the Father doing and only saying what we Hear the Father saying.
So we know that good works such as giving are good and get an earthly reward - lets encourage more of this. But for us as Christians, we need to contend for Kingdom and Kingdom good works that will have an eternal reward and flow from our communion with Him and as He directs with flow and fire. Something to ponder. Blessings
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