Living in the Economy of God
We are in interesting times economically - the housing crisis, the foreclosure crisis, the stock market, the economy, inflation. If you are plugged into the world economy, and the world economy is your source, then you are in trouble right now because the things in the natural that people put their trust in are not delivering. We know these things are cyclical, and that the economy will turn around. But at times like this, it is important for us to look at where we are putting our trust and who we are trusting for our provision - the economy and our jobs or God? Are we living in the economy of God?
There is another economy besides the natural economy we all see - the God economy. Often, even as Christians who have connected to Christ, we don’t completely unplug from the world. We put faith in God for our eternity and saving our souls, but we have trouble unplugging ourselves from the idea that the natural economy is our provider and our source. In the God economy, there is always an abundance. God never runs out. In the God economy, there is a very simple system for getting blessing and favor called sowing and reaping. But getting into the God economy requires a huge leap of faith. In fact, for many people it is the largest leap of faith they will ever take. It’s bigger than the salvation leap. It’s much easier to give God your life in salvation is much easier than making the leap to trusting God with your possessions, your future, your money and your provision, especially when you see bad news in your face everyday. Most Christians never make the leap from the world economy to the God economy.
There is no better time to talk about this than now when the world economy is in turmoil. Let’s delve into some history to describe God’s relationship with His people. Haggai is a prophet. God sends prophets to speak to His people when they are doing things that they shouldn’t. It is the prophet’s job to re-center the people and get them back on track. You only have to be one degree of the path to end up in a totally different place than where you were trying to go. Pretty soon, you are a long way from where the will of God is. In the Bible, the prophets would come and recenter the nation and deliver God’s message. They brought correction. No one likes to be corrected, which is why God is always talking about being humble. When we are humble, we can hear from God and receive correction and direction, and bring God back to the center of our world.
In this story, the Babylonians had plundered the Temple and enslaved the Israelites. God had delivered the Israelites back to their land, through a series of miracles, and in Haggai 1 they are starting to rebuild what they had lost. “The people are saying the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house, so the Lord sent this message through Haggai. Why are you living in rich houses, but refuse to build my house? The Lord said, consider how things are going for you. You sow much, but do not have enough. Why? Because my house lies in ruins. This is why the heavens have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its crops. I have called a drought on you to ruin everything that you have worked so hard to get.”
Matthew 6:31 - Jesus says, “So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. He will give you all that you need from day to day if you will live for Him an make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.”
Instead of putting their eyes on God and making Him first, they are putting themselves first and worrying about their own lives and possessions. When we live for God and try so hard to put God first in things, we still face opportunities to put other things before God in our lives. When you put God first in your life, you will experience a feeling unlike any you have ever known. When you decide to yield and submit your pride and submit your life to God, you find His favor. When you decide to do things your own way, you are on your own, without the favor of God.
People who have God’s favor go through the same struggles as everyone else, but things always work out well for them. The favor of God comes through diligent submission, sacrifice, obedience and consistency. When you see people with those attributes operating in their lives, nothing in the natural effects them. Compare those to others who are constantly struggling. They sow their seed but their harvest yields nothing. They aren’t living in favor. What is the difference? It comes back to your heart - have you made the decision to make God number one?
How submitted can I get to God? Can I really trust God with something more than my salvation? There is nothing more important than our eternity. We find it easy to trust God with our eternity, but we find it hard to trust with something tangible, like money. Jesus says we don’t need to worry about these tangible things. God doesn’t care about our things - they mean nothing to Him, but He cares about us and will always provide for us. God only cares about growing the Kingdom. He cares about saving people and about His people obeying Him and growing His kingdom. God has no issue with us having things, but He has issue when the things have us and become more importance than God. Independence isn’t Kingdom thinking. There is nothing in God or in the Kingdom that is independent. There is only interdependence and interconnectedness. I can only ever live in the Kingdom by being connected and dependent on God. That is the only way to fully submit to God and serve Him with every aspect of our lives.
We want to teach people to get out of the world economy and into the God economy. It is a process, and it is a journey. But we lead people to the truth, God gives them a revelation and they walk it out. That’s how it works. Biblical truth - there is the world economy and there is the God economy. Malachi 1 talks about this full submission. God wants ALL of you. You can’t give some and compartmentalize and hold back other areas. The more you hold back, the further you are from God’s favor and blessing. The favor and blessing are bestowed on those who give all and submit all to God. You can’t trust God with some things and not trust Him with your money and to provide for you. We have to trust God - increase our spirituality and decrease our humanity. The more we decrease our humanity, the less we fight with God. God wants us to get away from having any reliance or trust in the world. The world is not our source. He wants us to fully trust in and depend on Him. He is our source.
There is one tried and true way to get into God’s economy - only one. It’s the entry point of giving. You can’t buy, you can only give. To get into the economy of God, you give in three key areas. The first area is time. You rearrange your life and give God your time. Put God first with your time through prayer, reading the Bible, coming to church, serving. The most important time you will spend in your day is the time you spend with God. And the time you give to Him, He will give it back to you abundantly. When you serve God with your time, God will multiply the time you do have. You won’t know what to do with all of the free time you have. To be better at whatever it is you are doing, you have to give God your time.
The second area you give in is your talent. When you give God your talent, you are saying “God use what you gave me to glorify you.” This often involves some sacrifice. Often you use your talents in your career and pursuits, but haven’t ever given them to God for His use. The third area is your treasure - trusting God with your treasure. Giving to God, no matter what you see in the natural, and fully trusting Him as your source and your provider.
Time, talent and treasure - this is the shift from living in a measure of God to living in the fullness of God. Unplug from token living to living in full submission. Does it make sense in the natural with the current economy to give? Not in your mind, but that is the Kingdom mindset and that is how you find blessing and favor in the Kingdom of God. Once you get there, you will never go back. You will never want to leave living in the fullness of God. You won’t care about what you have or about things. Once you get that revelation and live in the economy of God, none of those things matter. Once you have a revelation of God as your source, you won’t care about where things come from! You will be blessed and generous and not bound by the stresses of the natural economy. All it takes is submission. All God wants is your heart. When you are living in God’s favor, it won’t matter what is going on in the world around you because you will be grounded and planted in God’s kingdom. You will be in God’s blessing, building a great life and building His kingdom, unconcerned and unaffected by the natural.
