Incarnational Citizenship
Yesterday I had a chance to meet Lloyd Fonzie Blankfein the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. He has a net worth of $450 million. He came out of the projects in the Bronx and makes $55 million a year in salary. He was introduced by the Lead Director of Goldman Sachs. Some think Mr. Blankfein is a wicked man who ruthlessly tries to manage risk. But in reading between the lines I really think he believes that he is just a banker that depends on the trust of others as he goes about trying to do God’s work. He is a mouth piece with a cheeky grin but I think he honestly experiences God in global capitalism and sees the role of philanthropy as filling in the gaps where profit motives don’t suffice to improve the lives of the poor. There is something to that of course. The world has yet to completely embrace capitalism much less philanthropy. His attorney background has trained him to argue the point of global capitalism well. Of course the bulk of raising people out of financial poverty is done by business but I cannot help but think that without trust in God nothing would work at all. I really wanted to ask him where he claims his Incarnational
Citizenship.
Scripture: Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:20 (NIV)
No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Luke 16:13 (NRSV)
Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
John 3:3-15 (NRSV)
Message: Discovering the link between your money and God is a challenge for most people. The first thing to understand is that they are not the same thing. Faithful stewardship and citizenship go together. Money and God are related. But one has to have a perspective that when brought into focus brings dignity to those in need and humility to those giving. But make no mistake. One cannot serve both God and money. We desperately need to turn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope. Friends, compassion is developing the capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It’s the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. Only when Christ lives in us are we citizens of His Kingdom. Here we recognize from both an economic and spiritual perspective that when something good happens to you, something good happens to us all.
Pray we understand the incarnational citizenship of Jesus. Pray we realize that the Shekinah rests between every transaction under the sun. Pray we are not slaves to money. Pray we realize that the issue is not just how much we trust God but also understanding how much God trusts us. Pray we realize that what holds the universe together is not what we see but what is unseen.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 