If you google “Did Jesus command Christians to sell their possessions and give to the poor?”, you will find many pastors preaching about how Jesus only gave this specific command to the rich, young ruler and not to Christians in general and that Christians in general should give 10% of their income to the church.

But if you look at Luke 12:22-33, we can see that Jesus told his disciples to sell their possessions and give to the poor. Pastors who preach on this scripture say that this was a specific command to the twelve apostles and not to everyone and that Christians in general should give 10% of their income to the church.

But if you look at Acts 2:45, we can see that over three thousand of the early disciples sold their property and possessions to give to the poor. Pastors who preach on this scripture say that this was a practice of the early church, but not for all Christians and that Christians in general should give 10% of their income to the church.

But we cannot pick and choose which scriptures do and do not apply to today based on if we are comfortable with them or not. For example, we would never say that Jesus’ command “do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear” only applied to the twelve apostles. Of course it applies to today—and it is in the same sermon where Jesus called on his disciples to sell their possessions!

Later on, in Luke 18, when Jesus addresses the rich young ruler, he simply gives the same command to the rich young ruler that he gave to his disciples in Luke 12. And when the disciples were shocked at Jesus’ command to the rich young ruler, Jesus didn’t afterwards tell his apostles, “Don’t worry. This was not a command for all disciples, but just for the rich young ruler”.

These days, many Christians are concerned about the sexual revolution. Christians readily agree with Paul’s command in 1 Corinthians 6:15 that we should not unite the members of Christ with a prostitute. But they are confident that we should unite the members of Christ with money, despite Jesus’ statement that “you cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24). Instead, they quote 1 Timothy 6:10, saying that money is not evil, but the love of money is the root of evil. They claim that money is a good thing that is necessary for ministry, and that people can do more ministry with more money.

But, in the same passage, Paul tells Timothy, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” The wealth of this age is not an ingredient for building the kingdom of God. This means that rich people can let go of what they have in order to receive the wealth of the age to come, which God has freely given in the kingdom of his Son.

Jesus said, “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24). Many pastors try to explain this away by saying that there used to be a gate to Jerusalem called “the Eye of the Needle” that was very small so that camels who wanted to pass through had to get on their knees. So, if rich people want to get into heaven, all they have to do is be humble like kneeling camels.

But this sermon illustration is completely untrue. We know from archaeology and history that there was no such gate. But we know even more surely that Jesus was not referring to a certain gate or the humility of rich people by the next few verses.

“When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:25-26)

The main issue is that the kingdom of God is not built from the wealth of the present age. It is a gift from God. All that we have to do is to receive it, proclaim it to God’s enemies, and share and enjoy it with all who receive the mercy of God in Christ.

That is why Jesus is never focused on the percentage of money which you are giving to the church. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34). So, if you are giving 10% to the church and 90% to yourself, it means that 10% of your heart is with the church and 90% is with yourself. Even if you give 51% to the church, your heart is still divided.

And note that Jesus never directs his disciples to give “to the church”. He always directs them to give “to the poor”. Paul gives the reason in 1 Timothy 6:17: God “richly provides us with everything to enjoy”, from the riches of the age to come which has already begun in the reign of Christ. In this “present age” money is necessary to accomplish things. But all that is necessary in the Kingdom of God is God.

Therefore, accumulating money in the present age to use it for whatever you want to use it for makes no sense. As Paul said in Colossians 3:2-3 “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2-3).

When Jesus says “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys”, he is not saying “Sell your possessions and make a lot of money to use for ministry.” Instead, he is saying, “You do not need money to do ministry. Get rid of your money so you can do ministry.”

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” God has already given us the Kingdom. We cannot increase the Kingdom with our money. We can only receive it, proclaim it, live according to it, and pass it along to share and enjoy with others.

That is why rich churches and rich people have no advantage over poor churches and poor people when it comes to doing ministry in the Kingdom of God. Rich churches cannot do more ministry than poor churches. Rich people cannot do more ministry than poor people. They may be able to do more things. But doing more things and doing more ministry are completely different matters. In fact, thinking that you are doing more for God with your money is arrogant (1 Timothy 6:17)

What does Jesus mean by “storing up treasure in heaven”? Does it mean that whatever you donate in this present age turns into treasure that you can redeem when you go to heaven? No, because you are not going to heaven when you die. Our life is in Christ, and we live wherever he is and, right now, he is in heaven (Colossians 3:1-4).

Then what is “treasure in heaven”? Treasure in heaven comes from living according to the Kingdom while you are still here in this present age. This is why Jesus tells us not to worry about what we eat or wear in the present age; God provides these things to his servants. He just does it in totally different ways than the ways that people generally acquire things in this present age.

People who live according to this present age’s resources (including many churches and Christians), they cannot understand this. As a result of this, they do not trust God. What they trust is that money is necessary to do ministry. But people from the Kingdom age know that God always provides for his work in ways that we cannot imagine or understand. And we can always trust the Lord.

When we live today according to the wealth of the coming Kingdom, which God provides in his way, in His time, for His purpose, we are actually storing up treasure for ourselves in the Kingdom to come. It is a reward for our trust in Him in this age. It is not a spiritual wire transfer of money from this age to the age to come. The currencies are completely different.

That is what Jesus is sharing in Luke 12. Jesus is not focused on money. He is not focused on how much you should give or wear. He is focused on this Kingdom, which he says the Father has been pleased to give to us. He is telling us not to be afraid. Even though he is sending us out into the world with no wealth from this present age and we may be persecuted, imprisoned, or killed, we do not need to worry because God always provides for his servants from the wealth of the age to come.

The way that God provides for us looks different from the way money provides for us.

And note here that we are talking about God providing for his servants. When someone appealed to Jesus to arbitrate between he and his brother, Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” (Luke 12:13-14). Jesus has no interest in the wealth of the present age. He calls you away from your plans, goals, money, birth families, etc. When we are baptized into Christ’s death, our branch is cut off from this world’s tree. And Christ’s plan and purpose become our plan and purpose. His way of life becomes our way of life. In fact, His life becomes our life.

Jesus did not bless Peter, Andrew, James, and John’s fishing business. He called them away from it. He did not call Matthew to become a more honest tax collector. He called Matthew away from his tax collecting. In the same way, Christ calls us away from our purposes and goals in order to become his servants and carry out his purposes and goals.

What is Jesus’ purpose? Jesus’ purpose is to bring His Father’s offer of mercy to his enemies at the end of the age before Jesus comes back to judge the world. So, he sends us to his enemies with his terms and offer for them to surrender.

This is basic about the Christian life, but most Christians miss this. Jesus is not making a promise that, if you believe in Him, he will fix all your problems in the present age for a 10% tithe-commission.

You died to this present age when you were baptized into Christ’s death. He called you out of this age without taking you out of this world. You are living at the dawn of the Kingdom of God while you are still here. The deal is not “Give me 10% and I will bless your life.” The deal is “Sell all you have and come, follow me. I provide everything my servants need for the work I call them to do.”

Notice, Jesus does not say, “Sell all you have and become poor”. He says, “Sell all you have and come follow me.” This doesn’t mean decreasing the amount of your possessions. Because we have died, nothing we have belongs to us anymore. It doesn’t make sense for us to accumulate more possessions or more money for ourselves. So we do what Jesus says in Luke 6:30:

“Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” (Luke 6:30).

We give without demanding back because everything we have is a gift from God.

Jesus’ command to sell our possessions is a call to a one-time decision that changes our relationship to the wealth of this age.

Christians fulfill this command in a variety of ways. Zacchaeus gave back to other what he had stolen to them. The disciples just walked away from everything he had. Pastor Trevor sold everything he owned at a McDonalds parking lot over a matter of days. Dr. Foley and I sold everything we had and put the money in this ministry.

That doesn’t mean that you wander around in caves like a homeless beggar. In fact, the Apostle Paul had a rule in his churches:

“For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.’” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).

Neither did Jesus live like a monk or a beggar.

It means that instead of settling down, you go where he sends you. You accept what he gives you without holding onto it tightly. You use it joyfully. But you do not own it. You let all things, including money, pass through your hands as philanthropy for others.

The Kingdom of God is not given to us as a possession. It is given to us to enjoy and share and pass on to others.

There is an old Jewish saying that, “In heaven, no one has any elbows.” It means that nobody can feed themselves there. Instead, you feed others and others feed you. But we experience that life now because, as Paul says, “We have already died.” We don’t need our elbows anymore because we are serving each other. And God always provides more than enough for us to serve each other with. And he teaches his servants to be content with whatever he provides whenever he provides it.

Even at times when he does not seem to be providing much of anything to us, we are still content because we know that whatever he provides is whatever we need to do what he asks us to do as his servants.

“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13).

These are profound truths, and I would hope that you think on them deeply and act on them. But I have a feeling that the main question you will have in your mind at this point is, “So are you saying that we should not tithe to our church?”

My response is two questions?

1. “Why are you only giving away 10% of your money? What are you keeping the rest for? Do you really think it belongs to you?”
2. “Why are you only giving to your church?”

In the Old Testament, where the “tithe” comes from, the Israelites gave 10% of their crops to support the temple and the ministers. But Christians are in the New Covenant, not the Old, and all of us are ministers of the New Covenant. Just like Christ, we don’t only give 10% and we don’t only receive 10%. We give away all we have. Not only our money, but our purposes and plans we used to have for our lives. We give those all away. And then we follow Christ. And we serve him as he directs us according to his plans and purposes using his resources and not our own. He provides us more than tithes. He has already entrusted the Kingdom to us. The whole thing! That is why he says, “Don’t be afraid”.

Of course, give to your church, give to Christian ministries. But don’t do it because God needs the money. The Kingdom of God is never short on money. Give because holding onto the wealth of this present age keeps us from receiving the Kingdom which God has given to us freely through His Son.

God graciously accepts what you give, and he recycles it for His purpose. But he is not willing to receive only a 10% commission from you. He wants you to leave behind the wealth of this age and how it works in order to receive the true wealth that belongs only to the age to come. He has given it to us now, because the new creation has dawned in the reign of Christ. In the Lord’s hands, there is no difference between 5 loaves and 5,000 loaves.

Remember also that everything we have said today about rich people applies to rich churches also. The only difference is that the amount of accountability which Christ will demand from rich Christians is higher than what he will demand from poor Christians. Remember in the book of Revelation that the Lord called a rich church to sell all it had in the present age and to buy from him what can’t be bought with any amount of money in the present age.

There are things that only poor churches can buy. And being rich should never be a qualification to become an elder in Christ’s church.

Our own experience at Voice of the Martyrs Korea is that among our donors, it is the Christians and churches who are not rich in this age who are the most generous, and the Christians and churches who are rich in this age who are the least generous. There are a few exceptions (just like there were some generous rich folks in Jesus’ ministry), but sadly not many. The kingdom just does not make sense to the rich.

But let’s leave aside these matters for today.

Because now we have an appointment at the Lord’s Table. Here it is God’s good pleasure to continually give us the kingdom. It looks like only bread and juice in this present age, but through it he provides us our daily bread from the age to come, and the promise that he will provide what we need to do the work he gives us to do, until that day when he returns, bringing with him the age to come in all its fullness.