As followers of Christ, as the church, we’ve been charged with bringing hope into this world.
We are charged with sharing the good news of Christ’s redemptive power in every aspect of life.
We’re called to take care of the widow, the orphan and the alien (those who do not belong).
We’re commanded to make disciples, not converts, in all the world.
We’re told to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend to the sick and visit those in prison.
We’re commanded to assist the poor, downtrodden and distressed.
It’s not an easy command.
Following Christ will take all we have.
Our time.
Our energy.
Our plans and desires.
Our assets, resources and, hardest of all, our money.
How we as Christ followers expend our resources speaks of our ability to bring hope into the world.
Mark Driscoll, in his book Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe quotes the research of Christian Smith in Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don’t Give Away More Money:
We estimate that if committed Christians in the United States gave 10 percent of their after-tax income—fully but no more than 10 percent— that would provide an extra $46 billion per year of resources with which to fund needs and priorities. That represents nearly an additional 25 percent of what all Americans—Christians or otherwise—currently give in all types of private philanthropy.
Just some of the things this money could fund, according to Smith, include:
- 150,000 new indigenous missionaries and pastors in nations most closed to foreign religious workers.
- Triple the resources being spent by all Christians on Bible translating, printing, and distribution to provide Bibles in the native languages of the 2,737 remaining people groups currently without Bible translations.
- Finance the organizational infrastructure of a major Christian research and advocacy organization fighting against contemporary economic and sexual slavery worldwide.
- Quadruple the total resources being spent by all Christians globally on missions to evangelize the unevangelized world.
- 5,000,000 grass-roots, micro-enterprise economic development projects per year in poor countries worldwide.
- Eradicate polio worldwide.
- 1,000,000 new clean water, well-drilling projects per year in the poorest nations (25 percent of the world’s population drinks unsafe water).
- Prevent and treat malaria worldwide.
- Provide food, clothing, and shelter to all 6,500,000 current refugees in all of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
- Quadruple the budget of Habitat for Humanity.
- Double the budget of World Vision, which serves 100 million people in 96 nations.
- Sponsor 20 million needy children worldwide, providing them food, education, and healthcare.
- Quadruple global Christian medical missions work.
Driscoll, Mark; Breshears, Gerry (2010-03-19). Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe (RE: Lit) (RE: Lit: Vintage Jesus) (pp. 397-398). Good News Publishers/Crossway Books. Kindle Edition.
We have the ability to drastically change the world.
We have the resources needed to eradicate diseases and make a significant dent in poverty.
We can effectively fight the sex slave industry, help start businesses and bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.
But we’re not.
At least not at the level we could be.
Instead, many choose to hold onto their resources.
They live outside their means.
They build bigger homes, purchase fancier cars, and buy all the latest and greatest toys.
And rob their local church, that group of Christ followers who gather together to seek Him, of the ability to care for each other and fund efforts to change the world.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27
Christ called His church, His followers, to be agents of hope in the world, both spiritually and naturally.
He has called us individually and corporately to live on 90% of our income, so we can advance His Kingdom.
He commanded us to put the needs of others above our own.
Until all of us use our resources to effect Godly change in the world, we will never bring the level of hope He calls us to bring.
How can you reorder your personal resources to help bring hope into the world?