Spreading The Wealth Around

A couple of weeks ago Senator Barak Obama fueled national discussion when he told Joe the plumber he wants to "spread the wealth around." Regardless of your political views on whether or not the government needs to be taking from your pocketbook and distributing your wealth to others, the Lord has plenty to say about the subject.

Paying Taxes. Taxation is nothing new. We are not the first generation to deal with taxation. In Jesus' day taxation was a burning issue. In Mark 12 some men came to Jesus with a controversial question: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" they asked (14). The story continued with Jesus saying, "'Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.' So they brought it. And He said to them, 'Whose image and inscription is this?' They said to Him, 'Caesar's.' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.'"

In Romans 13 the apostle Paul addressed taxation. "Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." (7). What is the message from both Jesus and Paul? Pay your taxes. No one wants to be taxed and no one wants to be over taxed. But what if the government does? Jesus and His apostle instruct us to pay our taxes.

Spreading The Wealth Around. Whether or not the government takes our money through taxes or leaves us with all our wealth, Jesus says we are to spread the wealth around. Consider these passages.

"Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." Ephesians 4:28

"Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." 1 Timothy 6:17-19.

Christians have the responsibility to share their blessings with others who have need. Note that these are commands - obligations the Lord expects that we will fulfill. We cannot hoard our blessings or spend all of our bounty on our own selves. As the Lord blesses us, those blessings should flow through us to others. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man was condemned because he did not share his wealth with a poor man who sat right on his doorstep.

Observations.

Many have argued that rather than the government taking Americans' wealth and distributing it, Americans should be allowed to decide for themselves how their wealth will be distributed. There is probably merit to that sentiment but it cannot be simply a slogan for Christians. We must follow-through with action and share the wealth as the Lord intends.

Some argue that when the government takes wealth from Americans, it discourages a sharing attitude by those whose wealth is taken. That may be true with people in general, it cannot be true of Christians. We cannot dismiss helping those around us because we feel that our government's tax policy is flawed or unfair. Those two commands quoted above were given to the same generation of people who were asking Jesus about whether or not to pay taxes.

The "institutional" concept of wealth sharing violates God's intent whether it is our government collecting the funds or the churches. Churches are charged with helping needy Christians (1 Corinthians 16:1,2) but the commands to help the world's needy are given to individuals (Galatians 6:10; Ephesians 4:28). By placing an "institution" between the giver and the recipient, whether that institution is a government or a church, a disconnect occurs. People develop the "I gave at the office" mentality and real care and concern for our fellowman is diminished. Christians must not allow increased taxation to be our excuse for not fulfilling our responsibilities to others and we must not place the church in a role it has not been given.

Bottom-line. Spreading our wealth around is pleasing to the Lord. Regardless of how much of our wealth the government decides to tax, we must still be sharing people.