Mammon
Date:June 2, 1948Place:Customs Lane, Foochow
All the co-workers should speak the same thing concerning mammon when they set out for the work. There is only one way to deal with mammon, and no one should change it at will. We have to go on together in the same way. We should have the same view towards mammon. The Bible is very clear about this subject. Let us take a look at what it says.
Concerning mammon
It being an idol
First, the Bible describes mammon as an idol. The Bible always places mammon in opposition to God. There is no true atheist in this world. The Bible does not recognize non-Christians as adherents of other religions. It classifies men into only two categories: those who are serving God and those who are serving mammon. Other religions, such as Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Taoism, etc., are counterfeit religions. There are only two true objects of worship: mammon and God. Therefore, mammon is an idol; it is an object apart from God that is being worshipped. It is unthinkable for a Christian to pray and read the Bible on the one hand, and bow to Kuanyin (a Buddhist goddess) and burn incense to her on the other hand. The minimum requirement of being a Christian is to turn from idols to serve the living God (1 Thes. 1:9). We all agree that we have to cast down all idols. Yet we do not consider mammon to be an evil thing. This is a gross mistake. We must be clear that we cannot worship idols, and we must equally be clear that we cannot worship mammon. We cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is an idol.
We must never tell others that they need to offer their mammon because we need to build meeting halls or because we need to take care of the work or the poor. We should never lower the meaning of consecration to the level of satisfying needs. This denigrates the meaning of consecration. We deal with mammon not because of our need but because it is an idol. A man can say that he does not want to offer money for building meeting halls. He also can say that he does not want to care for the poor brothers and sisters, but he must not worship idols. Dealing with mammon is not a matter of being rich or poor; it is a matter of idolatry. When we sing, we have to start with the right pitch. It is wrong to start with a pitch that is too high or too low. In the same way, our pitch has to be right with respect to the way we handle mammon. We have to see that mammon is diametrically opposed to God. We should not tell others to give up mammon because we are short of money. If this were the case, they might conclude that they can worship mammon when there is not a lack of money. We must rid ourselves of mammon because mammon is God’s enemy. It is terribly wrong for a Christian to remain in a temple of Dagon. It is equally wrong for the idol of mammon to remain in the saints’ homes. We are not speaking about being rich or poor. We are saying that mammon as an idol must be removed.
We have to show Christians that mammon is an idol; it is something that demands worship. It is something apart from God. This problem must be addressed. The Bible does not say that all those who are poor are blessed; it says that those who are poor in spirit are blessed. Being poor in spirit is being poor voluntarily. All the beggars in this world are not poor in spirit. Even those who do not have money can still worship it as an idol in their heart. Mammon indeed usurps man’s worship. We must discuss this matter in a thorough way. Mammon is an idol, and Christians must deal with mammon in a thorough way. This matter must be settled.
Deliverance from mammon being a part of our salvation
Second, being delivered from mammon is a part of our salvation. We have to show the brothers and sisters, according to the New Testament, first that mammon is an idol, and second that we have been delivered from mammon. Deliverance from mammon is part of our salvation. It is like deliverance from sin, the world, and the flesh. Many people know that in order to be saved, a man must be delivered from sin, from God’s punishment, and from the world’s bondage, but many people do not know that salvation includes deliverance from mammon. In Luke 18 and 19, three things — eternal life, the kingdom of the heavens, and salvation — are linked together. All three things relate to mammon. First, the young ruler wanted to inherit eternal life. The Lord told him to sell all that he had and to follow Him. Second, the Lord spoke on the difficulty of a rich man’s entry into God’s kingdom. It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter God’s kingdom! He went on to say that those who give up houses, wives, or children for the kingdom’s sake would receive a hundredfold in this age and eternal life in the age to come. An entry into God’s kingdom requires the forsaking of one’s all. Peter was saved because he forsook his all. Those who are able to avoid the fate of a camel which has difficulty passing through a needle’s eye are the ones who have forsaken their all to enter the kingdom of the heavens. Third, Zaccheus gave half of his possessions to the poor, and the Lord said that salvation had come to his house. Therefore, in order for a man to receive eternal life, the kingdom, and salvation, he has to be delivered from mammon and to dispose of everything.
Today we are not doing a fund-raising work. We are here to help others to receive eternal life, to enter the kingdom, and to be saved. If we ask many people if they want the kingdom, they will say yes. If we ask them if they want eternal life, they will also say yes. If we ask them if they want to be saved, they will say yes all the more. If, however, we ask if they want to be delivered from mammon, they will say no. A brother from a denomination came to our meetings, and said to my brother Hwai-zhu, “You are very good at fund-raising here at Hardoon Road.” My brother asked why he was so interested in the saints’ consecration. He answered, “I want to learn and observe a few more times. If your method works well, we will do the same in our denomination.” This man only saw how money was offered. He did not see how we teach men to be delivered from mammon.
When Peter heard the Lord’s word concerning a camel going through a needle’s eye being easier than a rich man entering God’s kingdom, he asked, “Then who can be saved?” He forgot that he himself was a camel, and that this camel, in fact, had passed through the needle’s eye already. He forgot that there were eleven other camels who had done the same. While there is nothing harder than a rich man being saved, what is impossible with man is possible with God. The rich young ruler turned back. He was not a sinner or an evil man. He was charming and godly, yet he was not saved. Zaccheus was also a rich man. He was a slave of mammon, yet he was saved. He climbed up and down the tree. His going up and coming down undid him; it made him poor; nevertheless, he was saved. The young ruler is an example of what is “impossible with men,” and Zaccheus is an example of what is “possible with God.” A man experiences joy when his sins are forgiven. He experiences the same joy when he is delivered from mammon. When a man believes in the Lord, he finds peace in his heart. When mammon no longer occupies any place in him, he also finds peace in his heart. The receiving of eternal life is something that God accomplishes. Deliverance from mammon is also something that God accomplishes. Forgiveness of sins, the receiving of eternal life, and deliverance from mammon are all God’s accomplishments. Peter asked, “Then who can be saved?” The Lord could have answered him, saying, “Zaccheus!” When God works in us, we will no longer remain a camel; we will be saved from mammon. Our salvation includes salvation from mammon. We should never leave out this item in our consideration of the sphere our salvation.
Learning to be rich before the Lord
Third, we have to learn to be rich before the Lord. He wants us to sell our all, but He does not want us to be in poverty. He wants us to learn to be rich in Him. As Christians, we are rich men, depending on the ground upon which we stand. In 1926 or 1927 I heard a pastor who said, “Today is New Year’s Day. Everyone likes to greet others with the words, `Wishing you prosperity.’ While a believer should not be prosperous, he should at least be modestly well-off.” Actually, according to the Bible God wants us all to be rich before Him and poor before the world. Only those who are poor on earth can be rich before God. When we are asked to sell our all, we are not being asked to spend all of our money, but to transfer it from our earthly bank to the heavenly bank. We are being asked to change our deposit from one place to another. Selling our all is making a transfer and depositing our money in heaven. Christians can be foolish indeed. When God asks, “Do you believe that it is safe to keep your mammon in the Bank of Shanghai?”, we will answer, “Yes.” When God asks, “Do you believe in the heavenly bank?”, we will answer, “No.” We do not deposit our money in the heavenly bank simply because the interest is higher there. God does not attract us with interest. Our Father, the rich One, is able to pay us one hundred dollars interest for every dollar we deposit. Our heavenly bank has an interest rate of ten thousand percent. There is a profit of ten thousand percent. Today it would be sensational if a bank offered three percent interest for any deposit. However, God is asking whether we have faith. He offers a profit of ten thousand percent. Our money has been in the earthly bank. We can invest in an earthly bank, but will we invest in God’s eternal bank? Do we want to deposit our money in an eternal account? We are here to serve God! If we see this, we will give our all for this. In the past we gave our all to mammon; we served it. Now we have to put everything on God’s side and serve Him. We have to be those who are rich in God.
Selling one’s all to give to the poor
Fourth, in the Gospels the Lord dealt with mammon by ordering it to be given to the poor. During Pentecost the poor referred to those who were in the church, the household of the faith. When believers sell their all, they should lay the proceeds at the feet of the elders and the apostles, rather than give it immediately to the poor. On the one hand, we should distribute our wealth to the poor outside the church, and on the other hand, we should distribute it to those in the church. There is much benefit in taking care of the unbelieving poor; this can expand our heart’s capacity. Today we have the church, and there are two distinct advantages to practicing giving in the church. First, the givers become men who are delivered from mammon. Second, the receivers are believing brothers and sisters. The Lord told men to sell their all because He did not want men to fall into the bondage of mammon. He wanted men to serve Him. The Lord did not say to keep the proceeds that one had received from selling his all in a safe place for two years because there would be no inflation in two years. The Lord cannot wait for two years. A Christian should never accumulate mammon. We have to consider mammon as a venomous snake; it is not simply a bug or an ant. We have to shake off mammon like Paul shook off the viper. It is for our own good that we sell our all.
The twelve apostles sold their all and gave up everything. At Pentecost, Peter did not give a message on giving one’s all, but when the three thousand saw the twelve who had sold their all, they did the same thing. In Acts 4 another five thousand came in. They saw the three thousand who had sold their all, and they did the same thing. Those in the succeeding generation take their example from the previous generation. The five thousand followed the example of the three thousand, the three thousand followed the example of the twelve, and the twelve followed the example of Christ. What we hear can never match what we see. When men come to the church, we want them to see love and oneness, but they should also see that we have sold our all. If we do not set the standard right, the next generation will have no way to go on. Whatever we want our next generation to be, we have to be this in our generation. Today we are in the recovery; we are here to bear the responsibility of the recovery. May we be those who take the way of voluntary poverty. We hope that when the next generation meets again, there will be no need for them to discuss such things as buying land or building houses. Strictly speaking, there is no need to preach about selling one’s all. We preach it today because such a practice was lost after Pentecost. We hope that we will not need to speak too much about this in the future. Of course, if the brothers and sisters will not sell their all, we will have to continue preaching this.
Continually guarding against having “excess”
Fifth, we must uphold and maintain the practice of “He who gathered much had no excess” (2 Cor. 8:15). After we have handed over our all, we will gain new possessions gradually. We do not expect to gather much when we sow; we simply let go when we sow. Nevertheless, it is a fact that we will gather much. What then should we do? Second Corinthians 8 and 9 come after Acts 2 and 4, not before. In 2 Corinthians, we find the words He who gathered much had no excess. This is not a question of whether a man has sold his all, but a question of what a man does after he has sold his all. We have to empty ourselves of everything at least once, but as new income is received, we have to empty again. As God blesses us and increases our income, we surely have to pour out more. Those who sow abundantly should not be in excess. The more absolutely a person deals with the matter of mammon, the faster his money will come back to him. A brother once remarked, “We can never beat God in His work.” God’s emphasis is on “he who gathered much had no excess;” His emphasis is not on “he who sows with blessings shall also with blessings reap” (2 Cor. 9:6). This is not a matter of reaping with blessing, but a matter of not having excess. No matter how much income we receive, God wants us to maintain the practice of not having excess. We must deal with money in an absolute way. Before the Lord, we must continually give away our money.
The five points above concern a Christian’s attitude towards money, as seen in the New Testament. This is our way of dealing with mammon. We have to deal with mammon in an absolute way. Today a Christian should begin his pathway of revival from his experience of deliverance from mammon. We have to be delivered from mammon.
How to manage the offering
In the future, we have to learn from God’s Word how we should handle our finances and how our private money should be separated from the work’s money. We have a few guidelines concerning this for our co-workers when they set out for their work.
First, we should give to the brothers who are in want or to poor people in general.
Second, we should care for the needs of individual brothers and sisters. Those who are making the offering can write down the name of a certain brother on an envelope and drop it in the offering box in care of the responsible brothers.
Third, we should care for the need of our own church.
Fourth, we should care for the need of other churches.
Fifth, we should support the need of the work within our own region. Churches are local, while the work is regional. A few places combined together form a region. In the New Testament we find two regions of work — Jerusalem and Antioch. The twelve apostles had Jerusalem as their center. Paul and the other apostles had Antioch as their center. Paul said that they boasted according to the measure of the rule which the God of measure had apportioned to them (2 Cor. 10:13). For years we were clear about the locality being the sphere of a local church, but we were not clear about the work. Now finally we are clear. There are regions of work. The work in Samaria was under Jerusalem. The work in Pamphylia was under Antioch. This shows us clearly that there are regions of work. If there is not a clear distinction between the local church and the work, we will be confused as soon as there are some kind of shake-ups. We have to remember that the church is confined to a locality, while the work extends to a region. Elders are appointed for the care of the local churches, while apostles are raised up for the work of a region. The Bible is very clear about this. It is only man who is not clear about this.
Sixth, we should also take care of the need of other regions of work. A normal relationship should exist between various regions of work. Jerusalem and Antioch were not cut off one from the other. A relationship and a fellowship existed between them. Antioch was raised up by Barnabas, who came from Jerusalem. Barnabas went from Jerusalem to Antioch and brought Paul to Jerusalem from Antioch. When Jerusalem was short of money, Antioch sent relief. In Acts we find a close relationship between these two regions. They fellowshipped not only in spiritual matters but in material needs as well.
Presently, we have two regions of work in China — Foochow and Shanghai. After the eighth month of the Chinese calendar we hope to start the work in Tsingtao or Tientsin as well, linking Tsingtao with Shanghai. Following this we will move on to Kwangtung and Kwangsi through Canton. During the past few days, P’ing Yang in southern Chekiang as well as Swatow in Kwangtung have both had a start. There are twenty-six to twenty-seven counties around Swatow with brothers and sisters speaking the Hakka dialect. Therefore, the work among the Hakka people must be centered around Swatow. The work is regional. The failure in our work in the past was in making the work local. We have to consider our work from the perspective of the whole region. The workers have to bear more responsibility in such regions. Brother Witness Lee is bearing the responsibility of the work in Shanghai, and Brother Chen Ke-san is bearing the responsibility of the work in Foochow.
These are six different ways to handle our personal finances. Some people think that we are centralizing the management of finances and that we are turning over our money to the control of one person. We never have had such a thought in our mind.
Ways to dispose of money received from the local church
There are also six ways to take care of money received from the local churches. First, we can remember the poor. Second, we can remember individual brothers and sisters or individual workers. Third, we can spend it on the local needs of the local church. Fourth, we can take care of the needs of other local churches. Fifth, we can take care of the needs of the work in our own region. Sixth, we can take care of the needs of the work of other regions.
Ways to dispose of money received from the region
There are also six ways to take care of money received from the regions of work. First, we can use it on the poor within the region. Second, we can use it on individual workers within the region. Third, we can take care of the need of the work in the region. Fourth, we can take care of the need of the work in other regions. Fifth, we can take care of the churches within the region. Sixth, we can take care of the churches in other regions.
In handling the distribution of funds, we have an opportunity to experience God’s guidance and the Spirit’s discipline in many ways. This exercise requires faith, love, and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Every worker must continue to look to the Lord and must continue to exercise faith. The personal walk of faith, which we spoke of in the past, is still necessary. However, in addition to this individual faith, we also need corporate faith. Individual needs must be met by individuals alone. For the church or the work to take care of such a need would only damage the faith of the individuals.
As to my personal needs, as well as the needs of the work directly under me, such as the expenses of this training, I will never receive anything from the local churches or the work.
In handing over one’s possessions, we would like to see the matter conducted properly in the church. While we do not want anyone to exhibit his consecration, we do want men to testify of their experience. The church does not dictate how the brothers and sisters should dispose of their wealth; it can be done according to any of the above six ways. (This refers to the brothers and sisters who have handed themselves over to the church.) In order to have a proper testimony in this matter, we need witnesses. A believer acts for the purpose of testimony and fellowship, not for boasting. This is like the Lord’s death; it was not a boasting, but a testimony. Worldly men, however, die for their friends for the purpose of boasting. In the Gospels the Lord said that we should not let the left hand know what the right hand is doing, but by the time of Acts things had changed. There must be a proper testimony. Of course, one does not publicize his acts with a loud gong. Our acceptance of the Lord and our faith in Him are mysteries, but baptism is a concrete step we take. When something is concrete, it is certain, like cement mixed with water. Love is abstract, but marriage is concrete. A person may experience a change in a hidden way, but when we ask this person to stand up to testify, his change becomes certain. Personally, I am disinclined to ask others to stand up. If anyone encourages men to stand up, however, I certainly have no objection to this exercise. Any concrete or “mechanical” act is sure and trustworthy. Spiritual things cannot remain spiritual; they have to become concrete and “mechanical.” We may say that we are following the example of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, but who knows how much we have offered up and how much we have held back? No one makes an audit of our account, and no one is there to be our accountant. The best thing for us to do is to make a public confession. Once we make a public confession, we turn our action into something concrete. Many people are visible when they walk in but become invisible when they walk out. Our Lord, however, came visibly and left visibly. It is wrong to walk in visibly and walk out invisibly. We have to pay attention to the “mechanical” side of things, not merely the spiritual side. Once we take care of the “mechanical” things, we make our actions concrete. For the sake of testimony in the conscience, we should make public confessions.
In summary, we have to see that the love of mammon and our service to it is the root of all sins. If a man tolerates mammon, it will be easy for him to indulge in the flesh. Wherever mammon is, there is pride and greed. We must be delivered absolutely from the influence of mammon.