Paul, the Apostle of Bourgeois Capitalism

(This post originally appeared at TownHall.com)

People with means should help those without means. Many societies in history have failed to affirm this value. But with the spread of Christianity the idea has taken root that we all have an obligation to help others.

Weirdly, this idea has come to be associated with another one: that capitalism is evil or at least morally questionable. Helping others is thought to conflict with wanting to make money.

This is morally and logically backwards. If you don’t make money, then how can you have anything worth sharing with someone in need?

Encouragement Really Strengthens

And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
1 Samuel 30:6 ESV

The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones.
Proverbs 15:30 ESV

The line between thinking and physically performing is simpler to define in theory than detect in reality. It is easy to think one can separate physical weakness from discouragement, but the way the Bible speaks of strengthening ourselves leads to questions about such a separation.

That Time Jesus Had to Strengthen Himself in His God: What It Means to You

And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
1 Samuel 30:6 ESV

And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Luke 22:41–44 ESV

If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.
Proverbs 24:10 ESV

I wrote a post about David to persuade you that you need to occasionally and perhaps regularly strengthen yourself in God. An issue that might obstruct a reader from following that advice is a conviction that one is already strong enough. One might have an unjustified confidence in one’s strength and might mistake that confidence for faith.

Your Obligation to Make Yourself Strong

And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
1 Samuel 30:6 ESV

David was a leader of an outlaw band and he had just suffered a devastating blow. Hostile forces had taken his own family and wealth, as well as destroyed his credibility as the commander of his “militia” and as a claimant for Israel’s throne. He was now severely weakened. How could he rule these men any more?

But that problem makes David’s duties clear in the story. First Samuel shows that God had chosen David to be king. If David was now too weak to meet his obligations, then that could only mean he had a derivative obligation:

He needed to strengthen himself.

The Bible’s Plant Analogies Are Meant to Provoke Action

Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 3:5–10 ESV

So writes Matthew about the message and actions of John the Baptizer. Notice his purpose in speaking of a tree and it’s fruit. John wants people to repent of their sins and engage in new obedience. Claiming to be Abraham’s descendants is not enough. They have to, to borrow the language of the Apostle Paul, “also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had” (Romans 4:12).

Wear What You Want… and Experience the Consequences

Last week I was led to this article, entitled “The Elder’s Attire,” about dress for worship and other church functions by ministers and other church rulers.

It was a good article. But I wonder about the category of “moral concern” as it is contrasted with “a matter of aesthetic tastes.”

Men used to dress more formally than they do today. This can be seen by looking at older photos of men on airplanes and in the classroom. Yet it is often assumed today that how we dress is of no moral concern and is purely a matter of aesthetic tastes. But is this the case? Or do cultural expectations of attire have roots in something deeper.

The writer uses some wise restraint in making a case that we should dress more formally for some events and situations. But I was left uncertain what the relationship is between “moral” and “aesthetic.” I don’t have anything definitive to say about how to formulate the relationship between them in this post.

But I have some remarks that might be helpful, especially to those who want to insist that “aesthetic tastes” must be adiaphara.

How to Effectively Pray for Others to Behave Better

1. Think of all the people you want to behave better. Think of all the people you know who you want to be better husbands or fathers or wives or mothers or employees or students or managers of their time or money or emotions. You want them to be better Christians who show greater wisdom and more consistent character. Ones who empower themselves and are trustworthy to all those around them rather than people who sabotage themselves and are unreliable. People who honor God in their conduct rather than shame Him.

The Key to Romans: God Wanted & Needed More Sin in Order to Save Us from It

Paul writes to the Romans in what may seem almost an off-hand comment: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6 ESV; emphasis added).

This verse starkly shows that Paul, at times, can refer to the flow of human history as a collective pronoun. “We” were weak in the beginning of the first century, and then Christ died for us. Many Christians have conversion stories whereby they learned what Jesus did for them, repented and entrusted themselves to Him, and were empowered by the Holy Spirit to walk in newness of life. That is a fruitful analogy, but Paul obviously isn’t talking about what happened in all Christian biographies. He is talking about what God and Jesus Christ did in human history at the crucifixion.

And this passage tells us not only that Christ died in human history but that he did so “at the right time” in human history.

Imitation Is Not Inauthentic

In my opinion, Christians often emphasize several things that all tend to lead to a basic problem. They stress the importance of “authenticity.” Or they focus on a need for “a change of heart.” Or they say that one’s Christian commitment must “come from within.” I am sure they use many other phrases of a similar import.

The problem that they lead to is negligence or sloth. If God tells you to change your behavior and you wait for your inner attitude to change then you are refusing to heed God’s will.

Don’t Feed (Your Ego) on the Weak: Paul’s Paradoxical Wisdom in Galatians 6:2-5

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.
Galatians 6:2–5 ESV

I preached on Galatians 6:1-5 many years ago. At the time, I gave most of my attention to verse 1 (“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”) I argued that the first verse implied that the “burdens” that Paul had in mind were the consequences of being sinned against or dealing with sin in the Church in terms of the work that it required, the risks that one had to face (temptation), or the stigma of shame in the community.