Grace Economics (2) (1)

“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19.18

Fair, just, good
Grace economics identifies an economy based not on greed and self-interest, but on principles of justice and love, derived from careful study and wise application of principles revealed in the Law and Word of God.

In an economy based on getting and spending, people look to government to ensure fair and just opportunities to achieve material wealth. Increasingly, however, this is coming to mean fair and just distribution of wealth so that everyone can have a slice of the pie, at the expense of those who made the pie.

Politicians delight to play this game, for it allows them to explore endless possibilities for purchasing the support of various constituencies through the manipulation of public policy. In the American economy, the State presumes to be the arbiter of all things good and fair and just. It alone possesses the power to enforce its views and to shuffle and distribute resources according to its preferences and policies, which policies are fixed only by the whims and wishes of whichever political party happens to be in power.

Government thus feels free to compel those who have means to yield those means to the State for its purposes in spreading the wealth around. In so doing, the State presumes to define the terms of goodness, fairness, and justice, and encroaches on individual responsibility by taking away the freedom one has to steward his personal property as he sees fit and, especially, as accountable to God alone.

Government’s attempt to play God thus results in a loss of freedom and the cancellation of individual responsibility for the use of resources. And in the Kingdom economy of God, grace begins with individual responsibility under God and His Law.

Responsibility in the Kingdom economy
In the Kingdom economy, people are encouraged to seek the wisdom of God and to use their resources in a manner consistent with His instructions and commandments. Individual responsibility before God is a bedrock principle of the Kingdom economy. We are stewards of property entrusted to us by God, as we have seen. We stand or fall before Him according to the economics of justice outlined in His Law.

Those who will not tithe, for example, or who refuse to help the poor in their community must answer to God for their disobedience and hardness of heart. But should they be subjected to government policies that seize their wealth in order to do what is “right”, or to some church’s attempt to manipulate their giving?

During the early days of this nation, some states levied taxes to support churches. This should have been considered unjust, since these laws forced even non-believers to support preachers of the Gospel.

Programs of income redistribution that exceed the bounds of distributive justice as defined by God’s Law are, in Kingdom terms, unjust, and will only lead to more injustice in the future.

Christians who use their property without due concern for love of God and neighbor, may come under the chastening hand of God, Who disciplines His children in order to lead them in the path of righteousness (Heb. 12.3-11).

Those beyond the pale of faith are still accountable to God for the use they make of His good gifts – time, strength, property, and treasure. We may deplore their selfishness and lack of concern for the needy, but trying to force neighbor love by the unjust seizure of property only creates anger, resentment, and corruption.

An example
In other times, the example of the righteous, and the peer pressure they were able to bring to bear in society, exerted strong influence in encouraging people to exercise individual responsibility in the way of love toward their neighbors, according to the requirements of God’s Law, even when people may not have been particularly eager to do so. This is one of the promises where the Kingdom economy obtains (cf. Ps. 81.15).

The movement to free slaves and to reform public manners in early 19^th-century England, led by William Wilberforce, demonstrates how example and instruction on the part of the believing community can move a society to enact just public policies. In this effort, individual responsibility for loving one’s neighbor was restored and embodied first within particular communities. From that platform, others were called to join in the effort. Over time, as public opinion was influenced toward Biblical principles, unjust public policies gave way to just policies.

Free economic practice depends on individual responsibility, the right to enter into commerce without coercion. In grace economics, individual responsibility is exercised unto the Lord first of all, and persuasion, not political maneuvering, is the key to keeping greed in check and bringing more justice to commerce and society. And such persuasion begins in the words and deeds of those who have embraced the Kingdom economy as their own.

For reflection or discussion
1.  Are we our brothers’ keepers? Does fulfilling this role work better in grace economics or greed economics? Explain.

2.  How does the concept of responsibility in commerce and economics fit in with the Christian calling to follow Jesus?

3.  How do personal example and social pressure work to increase the practice of individual responsibility?

Next steps – Preparation: What is the Gospel of the Kingdom? How should this Gospel move us to help people realize the Good News that is in Jesus Christ? How much of life does this Good News affect? Talk with some Christian friends about these questions.

T. M. Moore

This week’s ReVision study is Part 7 of a 10-part series, “The Kingdom Economy.” You can download “Grace Economics (2)” as a free PDF, prepared for personal or group study. Simply click here. For a background study of Kingdom economics, order the book, The Kingdom Turn,  from our online store, and learn what it means to enter the Kingdom, not just talk about it.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.