"Principles of the Kingdom of God: The Law of Reciprocity" Elder Bob Vibe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oozFJ76iUQY

Principles of the Kingdom of God

The Law of Reciprocity

September 17, 2023

Elder Bob Vibe 

On my last visit to this pulpit, I shared with you the importance of the truth that “The Kingdom of God Has Come!”  I believe it is an important topic to teach because bringing the Kingdom of God into our hearts and teaching about it was a primary mission of Jesus.  He said in Luke 4:43: “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God…. because that is why I was sent.”  Jesus also taught that His Kingdom existed then, and now.  It was not a kingdom that would arrive at some distant time and place.  It exists now in our midst, or within us.  Seeking this Kingdom is so important, so paramount in the lives of His disciples, that Jesus said in Matthew 6 and Luke 12 that if we seek His Kingdom first, all the things pertaining to everyday life would be given to us.  Jesus knows our hearts, and He knows our minds.  He understands that man is so caught up striving for things, that we seldom find time to seek His kingdom.  Our obsession for more things has caused total personal debt in the US to soar to 15 trillion dollars, while the national debt has topped 33 trillion dollars. 

In my earlier message, I explained that these teachings of Jesus were more than mere theoretical principles.  Instead, they are teachings about practical life principles that God has ordained to work in everyday life.  These principles are just as relevant to our generation living today as they were to the generation of early disciples living 2000 years ago.  As Christians, we have the Kingdom of God within us, which is Spirit and unseen, and it exists within a body that is physical, which is seen.  Therefore, as Christians, we operate in both realms; bringing the unseen or invisible kingdom into this visible world we live in, by our faith in God.

Just as the visible world is bound by God’s natural principles, such as gravity, which keeps your feet on the ground; and lift, which allows us to fly like a bird; the invisible Kingdom of God is bound by principles which have an effect in both the physical and spiritual worlds.  While this visible world we live in is finite and filled with impossibilities, the invisible Kingdom of God is a world that is infinite and filled with God’s limitless possibilities.  Jesus explained to His disciples in Mark 11 that they could move mountains, and nothing would be impossible to them if they had faith in God.  I am reminded that living in this world, we all experience mountains we would like to see removed.  Faith in God is the key that unlocks the provision within the Kingdom of God into our lives while living in this visible kingdom. 

But our faith needs to be in the God that is revealed in Scripture, not a god that is contrived in the minds of men, based on their experience or their traditions.  Throughout Scripture, God is revealed as a God who is Lord of Lords, the God above all other gods, the God of unlimited power and presence in the lives of His people.  It is this God that the Apostle Paul described in many of his writings, including (Ephesians 3:20) where he said, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us… .”  This is the God our faith needs to be in, a God whose power is at work within us and able to do anything beyond what we can ask or imagine.

God’s kingdom is built upon truth and the integrity of God’s Word.  It is a foundational centerpiece to God’s Kingdom.  One of the foundational principles of that truth is called the Law of Reciprocity. 

This principle is known in the world by many other names or phrases.  These include, “What goes around, comes around”; “you will reap what you sow”; or “Karma”.  However, the dictionary definition is the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit.  For Christians, the principle of reciprocity began when we exchanged our sinfulness for His righteousness.  But this principle is so universal and far-reaching that it touches every relationship and every condition of man, whether spiritual or physical.  It is found in a passage by Jesus to His disciples which begins in verse 20 of Luke, chapter 6.  This passage includes teaching on the Beatitudes, loving your enemies, and judging one another.  It ends with the parable of the wise and foolish builders.  In verse 38, Jesus tells His disciples, “Give and it shall be given to you.”  Jesus repeated and built upon this theme throughout Scripture because the meaning is so far-reaching that it demanded many illustrations.  We find this illustration in verse 31: “Just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way.”  From these words comes a later rephrasing which would become known as the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Jesus put a frame around these words beginning in verse 36: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  Do not judge and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

We have all seen the results of this principle on a personal level with our contact with other people.  When we walk down the street and establish eye contact with a total stranger, a smile will usually receive a smile in response.  However, when someone is riding our bumper on the highway and they finally pass us, we want to respond by riding their tail, which is not a godly response.

If you are angry and demonstrate that anger to others around you, you can turn a peaceful setting into one of anger or strife.  The NIV translation in Proverbs (15:18) says: “A wrathful man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger appeases strife.”  In the same chapter of Proverbs (15:1), it says, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.”  If you were to say to me, “people are not very nice to me.”  I would tell you to make it a point to be nice and cordial to everyone you come in contact with.  The attitude we sow or give to people is the attitude we will reap or receive.  We have the power to make our relationships a blessing by what we sow into other people’s lives.  I believe that is one of the reasons James writes (1:19): “Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”  In the South Lake Tahoe Presbyterian Church where Kaye and I served for several years, the church put this principle to work in a positive way by passing the peace.  We began every service by saying to one another, “May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” with a response of “And also with you”.  This is the principle of reciprocity at work in our conversations with one another. 

If we have a need, the Lord’s solution is to give, so that what we need will be given to us.  The world sees these words as foolishness, but God said that His word is truth, and we are to worship Him in Spirit and in truth, putting His truth to work in our lives.  Giving is foundational to God.  He established in His Word that everything we have belongs to Him and it all came from Him.  Our role is to be a good steward of what He has given to us.  This means that we are to give of ourselves, including our gifts and talents, our time, and our resources to Him!

Putting this truth to work in our lives is not complicated, but it does require faith and trust that God’s Word about giving is true.  Let me give you a practical application of this principle in the workplace.  If we work hard at our job and give to our employers as unto the Lord, the result is increased productivity.  An increase in productivity will usually be rewarded with some kind of positive response like a raise or bonus.  Employees who are working to improve their performance or helping to improve the performance of others are usually the ones who are promoted or given raises from their employers.  However, employees who just do the minimum requirements of the job with little or no effort usually receive little in return from their employers for their efforts. 

I will give you an example of how this principle works from my 20 plus years as a grocery store owner in Bakersfield, CA.  When we bought the store, I had hired a young man named Mitch who lived in the neighborhood.  He was in high school, so he started as a box boy.  Mitch was a hard worker and was an excellent employee.  Soon, as he entered college, he was promoted to checker and stocker.  By the time he finished college, he had become grocery manager, ordering the hard goods or grocery items for the store.  He was also one of two employees I trusted with the keys to the store in my absence.  In essence, he gave his best to our store, and God rewarded him with continual promotions and raises in salary.  It wasn’t long after graduation that Mitch was hired by JC Penney as a management trainee.

Putting this principle to work in our personal relationships is also very simple.  We know that the more quality time we give to those we love, the better our relationship grows.  Many times, relationships suffer because one or both parties in a relationship fail to give more to the relationship than they receive.  If we selfishly spend our time, soon our relationships with loved ones suffer and we receive little in return for our meager investment in time.  This has resulted in an increase in failed marriages and failed relationships.  However, if we follow God’s principle of giving, our relationships will be enriched.

Putting this principle to work in a church is also advantageous.  The more a church or community of believers gives to its members and those in the community, the more they receive.  Churches that are continually giving to needs around them are churches that will grow because the response from people is to give back.  Every church, including this one, needs to ask what can be given to the needs around us.  Even for a church that is financially challenged, church members can visit the sick and shut-ins, share a meal with non-churched families, and bring people to church who don’t have transportation.  What we can give to a community that needs Jesus is limited only by our own imaginations and our faith in God.

We cannot have a discussion of giving without bringing up the subject of giving to the Lord.  When we received Jesus as Lord of our lives, we gave Him something in return, our lives!  We all recognize who received the best deal… we did!  We received His love, His Spirit, His righteousness, His Peace, all that is within His Kingdom and His presence for all eternity.  The Scripture says that He purchased us or bought us with a very precious commodity, His blood.  In response, He took our sins and gave us a mission.  That mission is outlined in His farewell message to His disciples in Matthew 28:18-20.  He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The early disciples understood from the words of Jesus that this mission meant that everything they possessed, including their time, their gifts and talents, and their possessions, were to be engaged in fulfilling this call in their lives.  They gave up their jobs, their positions, their reputations, and all they had to answer the call from Jesus.  We see the depth of their commitment to fulfilling this call in their willingness to give all they had as revealed in Acts, chapter 4, to the degree “that there were no needy persons among them” (v.34).  While the commitment to give all we have to Jesus in return for our salvation may seem extreme to some Christians today, the call from Jesus to give remains.  This call to give is voluntary and based on our heart attitude, as revealed by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:7-8.  He said, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things at all time, giving all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”  It is our decision the degree or measure we want to give, but God promises that the more we give, the more it will be measured back to us.

Are we a people that are enjoying the fruit of the promise in this Scripture or are we a people suffering because of our lack of giving?  

In Malachi, the prophet outlines how God’s people were under a curse because they robbed God of the first fruits of their income.  To be delivered from this curse, Malachi urges God’s people to give the whole tithe into the storehouse.  The tithe is 10%.  God was so insistent that He encouraged people to test God in our response to our giving and to expect the windows of heaven to pour out a blessing that the people could not contain.  Many Christians have tested God concerning His promise and found His word to be true.  I am convinced that many Christians in this church can testify that there is no limit to the many varied blessings that came as a result of God opening the windows of heaven on their behalf. 

Unfortunately, many Christians have failed to put God to the test in their giving and have failed to receive His blessing for those who are obedient to the truth.  The result is that giving in churches is currently about 2.5% of income and some churches are financially strapped and closing.  It should be noted that during the Great Depression, Christians made less and gave a little more, averaging 3.3% of income.  Only 10-25% of church attendees tithe at least 10% of their income.  A Lifeway Research study among 36 church denominations in 2021 revealed that 4,500 churches closed in 2019, and the trend of closures continues in this decade.  We need to ask the question, “Where is our faith that God’s word is true concerning His principle of giving?”

I would like to conclude this teaching on God’s principle of giving with a true-life example of a village church in a poverty-stricken part of Chile decades ago.  A missionary who became pastor of some extremely poor peasants did everything he could to minister to the people in this impoverished community.  One day, the Lord spoke to his heart and said that this pastor had not declared God’s whole truth to these people.  The missionary searched his heart and answered that he believed that he had been faithful to teach all the truths of the Bible that he knew and asked what he had failed to teach.  The Lord’s response was that he had not declared God’s tithe to them.  After some soul-searching, the missionary agreed that he had been remiss in this teaching because these people lived in such poverty.  He agreed to be faithful and obedient to teach on the subject the next Sunday.  That Sunday, the missionary taught about giving and the tithe as declared in Malachi.  

The result was that the people began to bring what they had to the altar.  They continued their giving week after week.  I will now read to you the account as it was printed in the book, “The Secret Kingdom”:

“It wasn’t long before the effects of drought were seen throughout the countryside.  Poverty gripped the people of the land worse than ever.  Crops failed; buildings deteriorated; gloom covered everything.  But miraculously, this was not so with the members of that little church.  Their crops flourished as though supernaturally watered.  But more than that, the yields were extraordinary, bountiful, healthy, and flavorful.  Their fields were green, while those around were withering.  Their livestock were sleek and strong.  Relative abundance replaced abject poverty.  They even had an overflow of crops and goods that could be sold, and before long their tithes included money.  They were able to build a much-needed new meeting house.  Despite his misgivings, the missionary and his people had learned that no matter how desperate the situation, no matter how deep the impoverishment, the principles of the kingdom can turn deprivation into abundance.  They touched the visible world.”

This small community of poor peasants took God at His word and they put Him to the test.  The result was an opening of the windows of Heaven and a blessing being poured out in their midst that countered the devastation in the earthly kingdom around them.  During these difficult economic times, should we rationalize in our minds that we don’t have enough to give to God?  Or should we respond like these poor peasants who heard the truth of God’s principle of giving and the tithe, and put God to the test, receiving a blessing beyond what was normal for their circumstances? 

As I said at the introduction of this principle or law of the Kingdom of God, what we give or sow in this life has everything to do with what we receive in this life and eternity, whether good or bad.  The Apostle Paul said in Galatians (6:7-8): “God will not be mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  As Jesus said in Mark (11:22), Have faith in God!”  According to the teaching on faith and works in James (2:14-17), that means not only believing in God but acting on what we believe.

Today, I would like to challenge everyone hearing this message on the principle of reciprocity to think about what you are exchanging or sowing into your life, the lives of those around you, and the Kingdom of God.  If you have never asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life, it begins by giving Him your sinful life in exchange for His abundant life that lasts for an eternity.  I would also like to challenge every believer to test God by tithing on your income.  There is no investment on this earth including the stock market, treasury bills, gold & silver, or property that will pay you the dividends you can receive from God.  You have His word on it!  Don’t be deceived, have faith in God’s Word and give into His Kingdom.

            Amen!