Fear God and you will live a radically generous life.
In Nehemiah 5, the people are in crisis. Not only do they have enemies and people outside the city trying to destroy them as they rebuild the wall, they are crumbling from within due to famine, greed, and indifference. People are desperate, selling all their assets for food until they are forced to sell their own kids into slavery to survive.
Nehemiah is angry! He plans and presents a public case against the lenders:
- You are breaking the law of Moses by charging interest to fellow Jews
- You are undoing what we’ve been working to do. We buy people out of slavery and you make them so poor they are forced back into slavery again
- You do not fear God
- Fear of God is doing what is right even when no one sees, because God will judge you for your actions one day
- Fear of God drives us to Jesus, who was perfect. He give us his perfection and takes the punishment we deserve. Without him, we would be crushed by guilt and worry as we await judgement day. With Jesus, we have hope and security and thankful hearts as we strive to do what is right.
- Fear of God is respecting his prize creation, humans made in his image
- Are we indifferent to the plight of those around us? God sees the hurting and needy, and we are to be his hands and feet in helping the poor.
- You give ammo to our enemies: legitimate reasons for them to criticize us
The people promise to give back all that they had made from lending, and they do so praising God! You can have joy in radical generosity! Nehemiah outlines his own radical generosity, 12 years of feeding 150+ people from his own pocket. It was his legal right to be paid for his work, but the fear of God lead him to be sacrificially generous for the good of the people. The kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of this world. We lay down our rights to help others, and deny ourselves to bless one another.
We live in a very different society than they did in this passage, and we are not under their laws. But God is the same, and he still cares for the needy, the foster kids, the homeless, the refugees. Do your finances show that you fear God and are generous? Or do they show you are fearful of the future? If we know and care for one another, no one will go without, like it was in the early church.
The kingdom of God is lead by a radically generous king, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
2 Corinthians 8:9
Let us celebrate his generosity and follow his example!