What did Jesus tell us to do, and are we doing it?

[john darling]

Was Judas carrying a bartar bag? Was Judas carrying all the provisions for the group and poor in a huge bag?

I absolutely see money as equal to provision (that is what the bishop / oxen post was about).

Hi Eddif. I think you may have misunderstood my position. Jesus never said using money is wrong. It is working to get more money which is the problem. It's an issue of motivations. When we work for the purpose of material gain, we are not working for the purpose of love, because love goes beyond material gain.

For example, how many people in the world go without basic needs because they cannot afford those basic needs? The reasons for WHY they cannot afford those necessities can be many, but those reasons are beside the basic point that we live by a system which allows for those people to go without what they need. The opposite is also true. Our current monetary system allows some people to have much, much more than they need simply because they can afford it. Whether you believe this system to be right or wrong is beside the point. This system exists and it is not based on the concept of working for love, despite whatever good intentions it may espouse.

This is the relevance of the two masters. One is God and the other is mammon (money and the things money can buy). We cannot say we are working for love if we refuse to help people unless they pay us. It is not that we loved God, but that he first loved us (1 John 4:10). This demonstrates the basic principle. It's not that we should expect other people to love us, but that we should first love them. But becasue love takes a certain element of trust we've allowed our fear to twist it all around so that we demand the love of others first before we will give our love, and all because we are afraid of what will happen if we don't get what we need (Hebrews 2:15). Instead of trusting God or our brothers/sisters, we trust money. We can control money. We can understand money. We can manipulate money regardless of our behavior. We can't do that with God.

We don't charge our own personal families in such a way, because we love them. Parents don't charge their kids for dinner. Husbands don't charge their wives rent. God wants us to have this kind of love for all our brothers and sisters. He knows we will be afraid of something so completely different from what we've come to accept as normal since the day we're born, but that's part of being born again; confronting our fears as we learn to live by a new set of values. Consider the birds and the flowers; they don't work for money and yet God takes care of them (Matthew 6:26-30). You are worth much more than many sparrows (Luke 12:7)! Seek first the kingdom of Heaven and God will take care of you (Matthew 6:33).

We can't have harmony with money and love, because the motivation behind money is not about helping others, but rather helping ourselves, despite whatever good intentions we may have. This is proven by the fact that money itself doesn't do anything. It does not make food grow. It does not build buildings. It does not unblock toilets, or teach children, or wire a light bulb or any other thing which is needful or desireable for human life.

People do all those things, but they've been tricked into thinking they can only do it if they do it for material gain. Jesus came to change all that. We just need to do what he tells us to do, in faith. "Why do you call me Lord, but do not obey me" (Luke 6:46)?