Motivation

Randy Alcorn asks a question that no believer can simply dismiss. The question is this: “Why should I follow Scripture’s teaching on money and possessions when it’s so much fun to have all the nice things I want and do whatever I please with my money? I’m a Christian, and I know I’m going to heaven anyway, so why get radical about the whole money thing? why not have the best of both worlds, this one and the next?”

The missing ingredient in the lives of many Christians today is motivation. Given our false assumptions that what we do in this life won't have eternal consequences (apart from our decision to place our trust in Christ for salvation), it's no wonder we're unmotivated to follow God's directions regarding money and possessions (and everything else).  The doctrine of eternal rewards for our obedience is the neglected key to unlocking our motivation.

He (Moses) considered the reproach of the [a]Christ [that is, the rebuke he would suffer for his faithful obedience to God] to be greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt; for he looked ahead to the reward [promised by God]. - Hebrews 11:26

Motivated by long-term reward, Moses chose short-term disgrace.

Paul ran his life's race with his eyes on the prize, which motivated him to run hard and long.

[a]Do you not know that in a race all the runners run [their very best to win], but only one receives the prize? Run [your race] in such a way that you may seize the prize and make it yours! 25 Now every athlete who [goes into training and] competes in the games is disciplined and exercises self-control in all things. They do it to win a [b]crown that withers, but we [do it to receive] an imperishable [crown that cannot wither]. - 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

Paul was unashamedly motivated by the prospect of eternal reward, which he affirmed freely and frequently.  He encouraged all believers to be motivated by rewards.  

Another model of motivation by reward is Christ Himself.

[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross,[a]disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work]. - Hebrews 12:2

Jesus humbled Himself, knowing that He would ultimately be exalted.

But when you give a banquet or a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind, 14 and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the[a]righteous (the just, the upright).” - Luke 14:13-14

Our instinct is to give to those who will give us something in return and not to those who won't.

What a motivation this is when we feel our labours are unappreciated by others! We can be freed from the burden of concern about whether others overlook our deeds, because God assures us that He will not overlook them. When we understand what it means to be promised a reward from God, any prospect of reward from others - or any bitterness for not being rewarded by them - will shrink in comparison. 

But love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies, and do good, and lend, [a]expecting nothing in return; for your reward will be great (rich, abundant), and you will be sons of the Most High; because He Himself is kind and gracious and good to the ungrateful and the wicked. - Luke 6:35

Christ sought to motivate us to do good works by the promise of rewards.

Despite prevailing opinions to the contrary, the prospect of rewards is a proper motivation for the Christian's obedience - including the generous sharing of our money and possessions. Since God does not tempt His children, it's clear that whatever He lays before us as a motivation is legitimate.  It's not wrong for us to be motivated by the prospect of reward.  Indeed, something is seriously wrong if we are not motivated by reward.

These are tangible motivators that may be personal, social, spiritual, physical or financial.  By God's own design, all of us need incentives to motivate us to do our jobs and do them well.  Motivation by reward is not a result of the fall, but God's original design for humanity.

God made us to need incentives to motivate us to do our jobs and do them well.

God will reward those who suffered while trusting Him, and those who helped the ones who were suffering.  He doesn't have to - He wants to - He will.

“Do not store up for yourselves [material] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal;  for where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centres] will be also. - Matthew 6:19-21

At this point you should realise that reward cannot be our only motivation.  We should be motivated by gratitude to serve God.  We should be motivated by our ambition "to be pleasing to Him." But these motives are never in scriptural conflict with the motive of reward.  The same Bible that calls upon us to obey God out of our love for Him as Faithful also calls upon us to obey out of our fear of Him as Judge and out of our hope in Him as Rewarder of those who serve Him.  Each of these motivations is legitimate, and each complements the other.  This isn't a matter of mixed motives (some good, some bad), but of multiple motives - multiple righteous motives.

We should share our faith out of our love for God - our love for other people should motivate us too - our example from Christ and the NT men and women of faith should show us how.

For we [believers will be called to account and] must all appear before the [a]judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be repaid for what has been done in the body, whether good or [b]bad [that is, each will be held responsible for his actions, purposes, goals, motives—the use or misuse of his time, opportunities and abilities].Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord [and understand the importance of obedience and worship], we persuade people [to be reconciled to Him]. But we are plainly known to God [He knows everything about us]; and I hope that we are plainly known also in your consciences [your God-given discernment]. - 2 Corinthians 5:10-11

The prospect of being praised by others is a strong motivator.  Children are motivated by the hope of being praised by their parents.  The prospect of hearing my Father say to me, "Well done," should be tremendously motivating.

How should we respond to the adversity for the sake of Christ?
Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for your reward in heaven is great [absolutely inexhaustible]; for their fathers used to treat the prophets in the same way. - Luke 6:23

 Consider these words --

Do not weary yourself [with the overwhelming desire] to gain wealth;
Cease from your own understanding of it.
When you set your eyes on wealth, it is [suddenly] gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies to the heavens. - Proverbs 23:4-5

God has created each of us with certain desires that correspond to certain motivations. The desire for pleasure can degenerate into hedonism, desire for possessions into materialism, and desire for power into egotism.

For all that is in the world—the lust and sensual craving of the flesh and the lust and longing of the eyes and the boastful pride of life [pretentious confidence in one’s resources or in the stability of earthly things]—these do not come from the Father, but are from the world. - 1 John 2:16

Satan tempted Jesus to make bread for the pleasure of eating, to worship Satan for the possession of all the world's kingdoms, and to cast Himself from the highest point of the temple for the power of commanding angelic intervention.

The draw to pleasure, possessions and power cannot be rooted in our sin nature, because Satan appealed to there desires in Adam and Eve before they were sinful.  Christ had no sin nature.  Satan knew this, yet he sought to tempt Jesus on these same three grounds - pleasure, possessions and power.

God Himself appeals to each of these desires in us!  He offers us the reward of power in His eternal kingdom, possessions in His eternal kingdom,  and pleasures in His eternal kingdom.

Hell

Hell is a place of punishment designed for Satan and the fallen angels.  However, it will also be inhabited by those who do not accept God's gift of redemption in Christ.

Hell is an actual place, clearly and graphically spoken of by Jesus.  Hell is as literal as heaven, and despite recent claims to the contrary, as eternal as heaven.  Hell is a horrible place of suffering and everlasting destruction.  In hell, people are fully conscious and retain all of their capacities and desires with no hope for any fulfillment for all eternity.

The severity of punishment will vary with degree of truth known and the nature and number of sins committed.  This concept is foreign to most Christians, but is clearly taught in Scripture.  This is no consolation, however, since the "best" of hell will still be hell -- eternal exclusion from the presence of God and the soothing light of His grace.

Every person has a price

"I spoke just now of the struggle for success. What is success? Is it money? Some of you have all the money you need to provide for your wants. Who is the poorest man in the world? I tell you, the poorest man I know of is the man who has nothing but money, nothing else in the world upon which to devote his ambition and thought. That is the sort of man I consider to be the poorest in the world. Money is good if you know how to use it. - John D. Rockefeller

Satan works under the assumption that every person has a price.  Many are willing to surrender themselves and their principles to whatever god will bring them the greatest short-term profit.

Israel is portrayed in the OT as abandoning her rightful husband, God, and sells herself to the highest bidder. The prophets develop this metaphor to embarrassing extents.  The nauseating descriptions of Israel's waywardness exemplify God's hurt and horror at the spiritual adultery of His people as they chase after other gods.

 The NT tells us that --

"... a greedy person is an idolater, worshipping the things of this world." Colossians 3:5

Idolatry is worshipping and serving anything other than the one true God.

The idolatrous nature of materialism: The common expression that describes such a value system as “the pursuit of the almighty dollar” is soundly based in the recognition that the exaltation of possessions to the level of ultimacy is the end of a religious quest, one that seeks and ascribes ultimate meaning. Like all idolatries, it finds ultimate meaning in an aspect of the creation rather than in the Creator. And like all idolatries it finds outlet in destructive pathologies that wreck human lives. - Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction

 Scripture speaks of these destructive pathologies --

"But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows." - 1 Timothy 6:9-10

 Jesus said the  rich are at a spiritual disadvantage.  The problem, of course, is not that God doesn't love the rich.Who needs God, we think, when we've got everything?  This is why Jesus said --

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money". - Matthew 6:24

 Why? For the same reason a man cannot have two wives.

Materialism consists of the two things God hates most - idolatry and adultery.  A voice from heaven pleads with God's people - a voice that we would do well to heed today --

“Come away from her, my people.
Do not take part in her sins,
or you will be punished with her.
For her sins are piled as high as heaven,
and God remembers her evil deeds.
Do to her as she has done to others.
Double her penalty for all her evil deeds.
She brewed a cup of terror for others,
so brew twice as much for her.
She glorified herself and lived in luxury,
so match it now with torment and sorrow.
She boasted in her heart,
‘I am queen on my throne.
I am no helpless widow,
and I have no reason to mourn.’ - Revelation 18:4-7

 One day, God will bring down all centres of human achievement and prosperity that do not humble themselves before Him.  When financial Babylon comes down, the merchants who gained their wealth from this corrupt materialistic philosophy will say --

“How terrible, how terrible for that great city!
She was clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens,
decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls!
In a single moment
all the wealth of the city is gone!” - Revelation 18:16-17

Why is prayer important when the gospel is being shared?  Because there is a battle over ownership and lordship of our lives that's just as intense as the battle for salvation.  The grace that has freed us from bondage to sin is desperately needed to free us from our bondage to materialism.

Understanding Asceticism

Nowhere does Scripture consider poverty inherently virtuous.  God cares for the poor - but out of His compassion, not based on their merit.  It is just as erroneous to view poverty as a sign of spirituality as to view wealth that way --

The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
he brings some down and lifts others up. - 1 Samuel 2:7

The ideal state is somewhere between poverty and riches --

First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!
Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”
And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name. - Proverbs 30:8-9

 It's one thing to wish to please God but another to try to earn one's standing before Him through self-denial.  The ascetic lifestyle can be a bid to impress God and others with our spirituality.  Christ condemned the Pharisees for trying to impress people with their public self-denial of giving, prayer, and fasting.  Impure motives can drive ascetics as strongly as materialists.

We must realise that only suffering that is divinely ordained - and therefore purposeful - is godly, not suffering per se.  God is glorified when our suffering is brought about by our faithfulness to Christ, not when we bring it upon ourselves by attempting to appear faithful.

Although Satan, the other fallen angels, and unredeemed humanity will suffer in hell for eternity, their suffering will have no atoning value.  God may use our suffering to extend His grace and build our character, and in that sense purify us, but not to atone for our guilt.

If every Christian adopted the monastic practice of retreating from society to escape material temptations, how would people in most walks of life be reached with the gospel?  Paul makes it clear that part of our calling in this world is to rub shoulders with non-Christians, regardless of their sins and lifestyles.  We must be actively involved in the lives of others, and therefore present in their world.  As Jesus said --

I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.  They do not belong to this world any more than I do. - John 17:15-16

 Many people expect to find peace, purity and holiness in an ascetic lifestyle.  Paul warned against the inaccurate assumptions underlying asceticism and the abuses it fosters in his first letter to Timothy.  He also warned that asceticism does not accomplish its purpose --

These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.           Colossians 2:23

Union with Christ, not self-deprivation, is the foundation of holiness.

Jesus lived simply, but He was not ascetic.  Some people condemned Jesus for associating with gluttons and drunkards.  He not only drank wine, He made wine for a wedding celebration.  He moved with equal ease among the poor, such as John the Baptist and Bartimaeus, and the wealthy, such as Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Nicodemus, Zacchaeus and Joseph of Arimathea.  Jesus accepted material support from wealthy women and He gratefully accepted the extravagant anointing of His body with an expensive perfume.

Toward a New Asceticism