I slid the back sleeve into the page where I had stopped reading, and stuffed the front one into a page I wanted to read again. This book, it was haunting me throughout the days since I had first opened it’s covers for the first time. How did we get here? What will we have to answer for?

The book I am talking about is “A Hole in our Gospel” by Richard Stearns (President of World Vision). It’s a simple enough concept: we have chosen either one part of the gospel or the other and effectively cut out of our bibles the parts we don’t ‘ascribe’ to. The result is a bible, gospel, and WORLD full of holes.

A Hole in our Gospel starts out with the personal story of Mr. Richard Stearns then slowly transforms into two hands that reach into your chest and shakes your heart. After traveling quite extensively in our mission work I thought I knew what the world was, and I suppose I do more than most, but what I found in the book has stunned me. Yes the world is in MAJOR turmoil, more than us Americans usually understand. Malaria, Aids, Tuberculosis, War, Famine, No Water, Dirty Water, and oppression is the monotonous meal of the day for the vast majority of the world. I knew this, but had little understanding to it’s full extent.

What REALLY got to me was the fact that American Christians are the richest Christians in history, and we are only giving 2% of 2% of our income to help our naked, hungry, imprisoned neighbors around the world. What’s worse it that we boast of that 2%. Shameful.

In the scripture we are told to give 10% of our income to the “Storehouse” of God. In the old testament the storehouse was a place where food was stored to feed the Levites, Poor, Widows, Foreigners, & Orphans. It was used in the upkeep of the storehouse as well as a a yearly all inclusive feast to celebrate how God had blessed them throughout the year. In the new testament we see the two greatest commands: To love God with all you are and to Love your neighbor as yourself. The believers in Acts actually gave everything they had so that no one would lack. In the bible there are over 300 verses concerning poverty and social justice (some estimate to over 2000!).

According to Stearns, if Christians in America alone would tithe (AND the pastors would not horde up 98% of the money for themselves and congregations) there would be over $168 billion extra available. Currently we are giving somewhere near $5 Billion to overseas ministries. More shockingly the U.S. government foreign assistant budget for the world is only $39.5 billion dollars! The church could do FOUR TIME AS MUCH as the U.S. government! Mr. Stearns went on to say that only $65 billion could eliminate the most extreme poverty in the world, $6 billion could bring primary education to most of the world’s children, $9 billion could take clean water to most of the world’s poor, and $13 billion could bring basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world! Even more amazing is that every person running every program would have the opportunity to share the Gospel with those they are in contact with.

Ok, let’s do some math.

$168 Billion (Extra Money Available)
65 (poverty) + 6 (education) + 9 (water) + 13 (health) = $93 Billion
$168 Billion – $93 Billion = $75 Billion (EXTRA) – not accounting the blessing of the Lord he promised to those who love, and care about his Kingdom and the poor.

Even if these numbers were not correct, the startling truth is that we are doing less than the pathetic minimum to Love Our Neighbors. We are taking the talents, putting them under ground and not using the resources God has given us. In my heart I believe that we as Christians are called to be the ‘blessers’ of the world. We are to work to bring the Will of God in Heaven to Earth. We are to care for the poor, orphan, widow, sick, naked, imprisoned all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. But, we are failing. We are sent to be the salt of the earth, the light of the World, the Blessing to Every Nation (Gen 12), the Lover of God & our Neighbors. But we have simply walked on the other side of the road, watched our fish rot, and cursed the house for being dark while we hold an unlit torch.

“That’s way over there,” we say.
“We have our own problems,” we say.
“We can do nothing about it,” we say.
“The poor we will always have,” we say. (This one particulary bugs me. Use the words of the Lord Jesus to defend you not caring about your hurting neighbors.)
“Who really is my neighbor?” we say.
The answer from the Lord is anyone who we know of that is in need (The Good Samaritian story). And today, because of TV, internet, and people like me blogging away, you know a whole lot about the suffering of the rest of the world. Will you pass on the other side of the road.

I am reevaluating my priories today. If you are a person who makes $25,000 or more you are richer than 95% of the world. Stop comparing yourself to Hollywood! Ask yourself, along as I ask myself, “Have I cared for my neighbor?”. When the TV commercial comes on do I look the other way and gripe about those ‘crooks who use the money for themselves...”? Do I become worse than even the real crooks (although many are not) when I keep all of my money in my pocket and accuse others of selfishness to make myself feel better.

The parable of the talent ends with the wicked and lazy servant being thrown out into utter darkness, and the story of the last judgment ends with those going into everlasting punishment. Keep in mind that these two parables are connected in Matthew 25. In order to not step on the battle ground of an insane argument, let me just say this. Away from the Master in outer darkness does not sound good to me. But let’s not take that as fearful motivation, instead let’s take it to see how IMPORTANT the hungry, thirsty, dirty, sick, imprisoned, widow, orphan, poor, and homeless are to Him.

Please, go buy this book. Available here.

Parable of the Three Servants

¹⁴ “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. ¹⁵ He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. ¹⁶ “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. ¹⁷ The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. ¹⁸ But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. ¹⁹ “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. ²⁰ The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ ²¹ “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

²² “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’ ²³ “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

²⁴ “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. ²⁵ I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ ²⁶ “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, ²⁷ why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ ²⁸ “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. ²⁹ To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. ³⁰ Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The Final Judgment

³¹ “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. ³⁶ I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,^[f] you were doing it to me!’

⁴¹ “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.^{[g] 42} For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ ⁴⁴ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ ⁴⁵ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ ⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)

²⁵ One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” ²⁷ The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” ²⁸ “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” ²⁹ The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. ³¹ “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. ³² A Temple assistant^[b] walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

³³ “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. ³⁴ Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,^[c] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ ³⁶ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. ³⁷ The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

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One Response to “Talents”

1. Todd Martin says:

   December 31, 2009 at 11:50 pm

   This is the best blog I've ever read, and I read a lot of blogs (mostly political). It has really opened my eyes to what is important. We are gonna have to give an account of every thing we do and say and so far I think I'm behind in the game. We in the U.S. have a lazy westernized form of Christianity that thinks we are to be blessed so we can have a nice house, two nice cars, and a big screen TV in every room, without any troubles or persecution. The reason for blessing is to bless others and spread the Good News, not keep it to ourselves. Well, after reading this I am changing my focus and have made a covenant with God to use my time and resources in living the whole Gospel of God.

   PS,
   maybe we should stop worrying about if we are "called" to do something and just do what the Bible tells us.

   Reply