Beyond traditional perspectives to explore radical discipleship for ordinary people.

Archive for October, 2007

Week 4: The Freedom of Simplicity. By Mark Powley

Published by
Tim
at 25 October, 2007 in 10 Week Journey. 0 Comments

What is Simplicity?
What is simplicity?  If my answer is too complicated, have I missed the point?  You’d think simplicity would be such a simple idea that it could be explained in a sentence, even in a word, maybe just a letter.  But that’s not how things are.
 
Simplicity is actually pretty complicated.  How can we justify our lifestyles in a world of poverty?  How can we question the status quo without becoming stingy grumps?  How much is too much?  How much is enough?  It’s complicated.

But complicated is not the same as impossible.  To live more simply is a journey.  It takes time, it takes good company, and we can’t predict what the final destination looks like.  The one thing we must do is to start from where we are.

Close your hands…
If you want to consider this more deeply, close your hands right now into tight fists and keep them shut…

What do you notice about your hands?

Can you pray or worship with your hands like this? 

Can hands like this give?  (Apart from bruises!)

Can they receive? 

Do your hands feel more sensitive like this, or more numb? 

What would happen to your hands if they remained squeezed shut like this for most of your life?

Imagine that all the things you own lie within your hands.  All your time, all your money, all your possessions.  If you grip them tightly enough, you can have them for as long as you can hold them.  You can store them up; you can keep them with you.  But is this how God wants us to hold things?

Now slowly open your hands, palms up. 

What do you notice?

Open hands are free to pray and to praise.  They are able to give, but they are also able to receive.  Open hands are sensitive – they can feel the world around them better.  To have your hands like this most of the time is actually the natural way to be.  It’s relaxed, and it won’t damage you in the long run.

…do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.  Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. 
Deuteronomy 15:7-8

This is what simplicity is all about.  It’s about the warmth of God’s love slowly unclenching our fists.  It’s about learning to trust a loving Father, who knows what we need (Luke 12:29-34).  It’s about freely giving, but also truly receiving.  Openhanded living is a lifestyle of grateful appreciation and generous flexibility.  Sometimes you never really see the worth of something until it is given as a gift.

It was two years ago that I grew so frustrated at feeling trapped in a consumerist lifestyle that I decided to do something about it with a few friends.  What if, we wondered, there was group you could join not because you’ve arrived at ‘the simple life’, but because you know that you haven’t?  What if there was a grace-filled network that gave people space to ask the difficult lifestyle questions without presuming the answers?  This is how Breathe was born.  You can join the conversation by emailing in@ibreathe.org.uk.  There’s also a Consumer Detox on the website, and some ways to connect with people asking these questions (www.ibreathe.org.uk). 

Breathe has a slogan: less stuff, more life.  Or as Jesus put it, ‘It is more blessed to give than receive’ (Acts 20:35).  So then, would you like to be blessed…?

ACTION POINT:

Give a valuable, irreplaceable gift to someone this week
(E.g., give one of your books or CDs; sell something and give the money to the poor; buy someone a wonderful, undeserved treat)

Week 3: the Light Side of Money – A Radical Invitation. By Matt Valler.

Published by
Tim
at 18 October, 2007 in 10 Week Journey. 2 Comments

A wealthy man owned eight cars, twelve large houses and a private jet. He would regularly make large charitable donations and worked hard to provide for others. On his way to work he passed a woman begging for money in the doorway of a building. He gave her ten thousand pounds in cash there and then, and told her to get herself off the street. The next day he came to work but she was still there. “What did you do with my money?” he asked. “I gave it away” she replied. So he gave her twenty thousand pounds and told her to find a place to stay. When walking to work the following morning he found her sat in the same place again, still begging for money. “Listen”, he said, “I’ve given you thirty thousand pounds in the last two days! How can you possibly still need to be here?” “I don’t” she replied. “But I sold everything I had and gave it to the poor.” Then the wealthy man walked away sad, because he was very rich.

I’m sitting here staring deep into my laptop at an online screen balance. Intelligent Finance bears good news, savings look healthy. Sipping coffee from my new machine is another matter. I got acheap filter gizmo, but it’s got a funny limescale taste. Proper pressure espressos unfortunately exceed twenty quid, and I figured I couldn’t justify the expense.

Being a radical disciple is tricky when it comes to money. Jesus was pretty clear: ‘Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple’ (Luke 14:33). Not ‘be willing to give up’, not ‘plan to give up’, not even ‘use your wealth to generate more wealth so you can then give up even more.’ Just plain ‘give up’. And this is not to the Rich Young Ruler. It’s generic to a large crowd of would-be followers.

The thing is, like most late twenty-somethings, the whole story of my finance is tied up in the constant question: how do I afford a mortgage? These savings could possibly stretch to a deposit, but even if I mortgaged myself to the hilt I could still only afford some crappy concrete lump on a council estate somewhere in Farnborough. I’ve got a good degree, a good job; I’m among the richest people on the planet but I still feel the pinch. My money is not enough to buy me freedom.

Let me suggest something. Jesus words are not a command, or an ultimatum. The grammatical tense in Greek is aorist; we need to imagine Jesus with both a twinkle in his eye and a force of focus so clear it could fell a herd of charging bison. This is a subject that matters more than anything. But it’s complex, and wording his thoughts like a black and white alternative prises open the problem. It makes us ask, ‘really?’ Which is the point.

I could sell all I have and go on Benefits and you could pay for me instead. Or I could go homeless! But what confidence would we have in a Christian gospel that puts people into poverty, creates economic recession or reverses sustainable development?

I think Jesus is looking for some intelligent finance. Giving away all your money is not intelligent; neither is hording it or spending it all on luxurious living. Expensive commodities can be genuinely great, but a world of poverty screams outside our warm cocoon. It’s not intelligent to demonise comfort and contentment. Neither is it intelligent to keep our eyes shut to the truth about our world.

Jesus gives a radical invitation: give up everything? This is about so much more than money; it’s about our very selves – to love people no matter what the cost. This is what really matters when it comes to our finances: that we are servants of the world around us in the name of Jesus. Money has power; we should fear it but not be shy of it. Generous giving can transform lives. Intelligent spending can bring good in kaleidoscopic ways.

ACTION POINT:

In week 1 we looked at how spend our money; now is the chance to shape that further. If you have not already done so, create a budget for your personal finances (for help on creating a budget click here [link = http://www.mattvaller.com/MattValler.com/Budget.html] Review your spending asking the following questions:
1. What are my financial priorities?
2. What are my fixed parameters (e.g. I need to pay rent: min. rent available on current market = £???/month vs. max. rent I could afford = £???/month) - being intelligent about defining these (if I have three kids does a 1 bed studio flat realistically count as a minimum option?).
3. What’s the cumulative difference between these parameters? (in other words, add the difference between your min and max for rent, food, clothes, etc.) This is your choice margin. Ask yourself, how can I spend this most intelligently according to my priorities?

Week 2: The Dark Side of Money

Published by
Tim
at 11 October, 2007 in 10 Week Journey. 2 Comments

We know that there is a hugely positive side to money, and a hugely negative side. Jesus gives money the anthropomorphic name ‘Mammon’ in order to refute the common perception that money is neutral (Luke 16:13). On the contrary, money and its effects are personal and powerful. Here’s a brief survey of Jesus’ comments:

  • “Woe to you who are rich” (Luke 6:24)
  • “How hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdon of God!” (Luke 18:24)
  • “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth” (Matt. 6:19)

 So how much have I heard the message? Could it be that my difficultly is not with understanding, but rather living this message? Could it be that I love money more than the gospel?

 The aim of this week is purely to hear Christ’s words and hold the pain of these messages without qualifying or justifying them, and to feel the pain of a world wherein so many suffer due to lack of money. If I find myself living in wealth and plenty, I simply cannot duck my God-given responsibility to the hugry neighbours I ignore on the streets or the 2 billion people starving in our world. So, as a steward of God’s plenty, I have to face and hear Jesus’ words. Gulp! Not to do so is to fall into the mire of becoming a servant of money and I ‘cannot serve both God and money.’ (Matt 6:24)

When asked by a rich young man what he must do to get eternal life, Jesus’ response was that he must obey the commandments, sell his possessions and give to the poor, then come and “follow me.” The young man went away sad because he had great wealth. Jesus then said, “I tell you the truth; it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Last Sunday, a boy in my children’s church group asked what the eye of the needle story meant. A couple of leaders responded that its hard to keep a right perspective and whole-heartedness in our worship of God if we are distracted by wealth. The boy responded, “But that’s not what the Bible says - it doesn’t say ‘don’t get distracted by money or possessions,’ it says ‘it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle that for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

 I was struck by the uncompromising way in which this boy was determined to wrestle with the words of Jesus. He didn’t want to hear a softer version, or a sensible-sounding explanation, he just wanted to understand and live in the light of Jesus’ words.

If we are honest with ourselves about the difficultly of walking this path, we can take encouragement from the hope found in Jesus’ words; ‘With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’

ACTION POINT:

Create space - Take 5 minutes to feel the radicalness of Jesus’ words and allow the pain of those in poverty sink in. Don’t try to rush past to explaining, just experience the words and the pain.

Write a confession: Be honest about where money has supplanted God in your life.

Next Week: A Radical Invitation