Reap What You Sow

This blog is about making money. If you find that offensive don't read it.

Interestingly enough Jesus endorsed the idea that we are to make money. In Matthew 25 he was pleased with the guy who went from 5 talents to 10. This would have been a very rich dude in the time of Jesus. Jesus literally attributed this making of more money as one aspect of proving oneself to be faithful.

It also should be a building block of discipling others. If people are going to do what is in their heart to do, wouldn't it be nice if they had their own resources to do it?

Perhaps people have seen too many preachers taking up too many offerings for themselves and their agendas and think this is how "sowing and reaping" works in the kingdom of God. HINT: It's NOT.

A better approach would be offering to help someone else increase their finances. I want to focus on one aspect of kingdom life that Jesus wants his people to be free in and teach how we can help others to have that same freedom.

REAP WHAT YOU SOW

This is an old phrase that is jam packed full of truth. However, some people misunderstand this principle, thinking that sowing and reaping are equal. But as any good farmer will tell you, the reaping part should be at least 30 times what you sow. Jesus said it this way almost 2,000 years ago:

"Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear."
The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"
He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. Matthew 8:8-14

Reaping more than you sow is the only reason a farmer is willing to get up at dawn to work the land. If he thought for one second that the seed he planted in the ground would only return one more seed he would have gone fishing instead. Furthermore, there would be no life on earth if reaping wasn’t greater than sowing.

Imagine starting out as a single celled egg that couldn’t be seen without the aid of a microscope, beginning to multiply through the simple process of doubling. A human being is estimated to have over 100 trillion (100,000,000,000,000) cells.

Can this principle be applied at a fundamental level of the way we earn money to support our families and be salt and light to our world?

YES!!!

Please allow me to introduce you to the world of network marketing. The bedrock principle behind network marketing is the kingdom principle of reaping more than you sow and can be simply understood through the power of doubling.

Let me illustrate how doubling works.

The key is for people to understand that all they need to do to become successful is to get 2 people to invest $100 a month into healthy products. As this is repeated and they get 2 people who get 2 people who get 2 people…, the potential reaping is astronomical.

REMEMBER: It’s not about personally recruiting tons of people. It’s about understanding doubling.

L0 1 +
L1 2 + +
L2 4 ++++
L3 8 ++++++++
L4 16 ++++++++++++++++
L5 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
L6 64 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Total people = 127

The first person only enrolled two people and yet they are able to reap the benefits of over 120 people. At an average return of about 5% per person, that’s over $1,000 month from an investment of just $100 per month.

To be fair though, there is an even more powerful and yet simple way of maximizing our efforts. Let’s modify the principle of doubling ever so slightly and include just one more person each. This is the power of tripling.

L0 1
L1 3
L2 9
L3 27
L4 81
L5 243
L6 729

In the same number of steps you would have gone from 100 people, to over an astounding 1,000 people.

Potential monthly income is over $5,000 per month.

As my father always said, “That’s better than a kick in the pants with a frozen boot.”

How many people did you personally get to understand and apply this life changing principle?

3

Is there something that can kill this principle? Yes. It’s called “do nothing”.

Nothing sowed = nothing reaped.

Are you one of those people who are willing to tap into the unlimited potential of reaping more than you sow?

Doubling or tripling: it’s up to you.

Let me help you unleash the power of reaping more than you sow. In the process you will also learn how simple discipleship really is.

Looking forward to your success.

Magic

Therrie and I went to a magic show the other night in Niagara Falls. We were with her sister and brother-in-law and we had a great time. We had no illusions about what to expect at the show. We expected to be entertained by being tricked into seeing something that wasn’t true.

I even had the dubious pleasure of being picked out from the audience to help with one of the feats of magic. The trick that was being performed had Greg Frewin (the magician) taking a live duck and having it magically re-appear into a bucket that I was holding. The crowd was awestruck, when sure enough, upon taking the bucket back from me, he opened the lid to find the duck that had disappeared from the stage. Since I had been guarding the bucket there was no possible way for some slight of hand to take place.

Of course, I knew all along how the trick was being done. The entire time that I had been holding the bucket, I could feel a ‘look a like’ duck squirming inside.

We paid $90 bucks each to have front and centre seats, knowing that we would be deceived during the entire performance. We tried our best to figure out the tricks but for the most part we could only applaud to how well we had been deceived. I was especially happy because at least I knew how the duck trick was done.

Lots of money went into the magician’s theatre. The seating was laid out to ensure that the audience’s attention was on the star. It was much nicer than church because we could get drinks during the show and there was even an intermission so we could have a potty break without interrupting anyone.

I didn’t expect to go back week after week to see the same kinds of tricks, so $90 for the night didn’t seem like a bad deal to me. For most of my Christian experience I had been paying $100-150 per week for a performance that hardly ever changed, at a theater that I was misled into calling, “church”.

I simply hadn’t taken Jesus’s words seriously enough.
Matthew 24: 4-5 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,[a]' and will deceive many.

The trick that was played on me was that just because someone claims they are proclaiming Christ they could very well be deceiving many. I was so duped by the magic that for a time, I had even become one of the magicians for awhile.

What value did Jesus put on a building?
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." Matthew 24:1-2 (NIV)

What did Paul teach new converts about buildings?
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

What did Peter teach about buildings?
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4,5

What was Barnabas and Paul’s reaction to the crowd after the healing of a crippled man?
14But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: 15"Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." 18Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them. Acts 14: 14-18

Today, it seems that men/women who are used by God, put no effort into getting people to NOT put their trust in them. And Christians are more like the people of Lystra wanting to sacrifice to holy men who perform signs and wonders. (It didn’t take them long to be persuaded by a different religious mindset to stone Paul and leave him for dead.)

What is the difference between the magic show that I went to and the weakly ritual of going to church?
1. I knew I was going to be deceived at the magic show.
2. I only paid for the performance 1 time.
3. The magician never expected me to follow him week after week.

Why do Christians feel the need to erect a special building and follow a special man?
MAGIC.

NEXT

The current Christian fad in Charismaniac circles is to run to and fro across the earth looking for someone who has some special anointing that can be transferred to them. The "Lakeland Revival" is the latest excuse for Christians to not do what we are called to do: make disciples. Another preacher who had been crowned "king" by a number of big name pastors has bitten the dust.

It seems Christians are very unhappy with living life as a child of God in simplicity without desiring a king or superstar to talk about and/or follow after.

Little wonder, when lots of big name preachers want to get on the bandwagon of endorsing the next guy with the "hot" hands. The point for them is to maintain their groupies and financial support by vicariously being next to the "ONE".

The opposite is just as true. Those key leaders that can discern what is not of God are also motivated by maintaining their groupies and supporters because they are able to show their keen discernment and therefore are entitled to financial support as well.
It's nice being the guy that can say, "See, I told you so!"

It's ok for new believers to seek out mature ones (elders) to help them discern something but when the people asking for advice have been Christians for more than a few years that is more a sign of failure in discipleship.

It seems that leaders from both sides of the discerning process gain fame and fortune whenever there is a "spectacular" move of God.

It's not much different than sports writers making a living by denouncing the likes of a Barry Bonds or singing the praises of Michael Phelps.

Why do preachers talk about miracles that are somewhat associated with their ministries? "Giving God the glory" is the smug, I mean spiritual, response. It may start out that way, but it sure is nice to have those endorsements for their own fame and fortune as well.

It amazes me that we are surprised by the next failure that happens, considering the amount of temptation that Christians put on the person they have crowned. It seems to me that King David did much better as a shepherd boy than he did as king.

People want a king: the one who can discern for them and give them a tingly feeling. Seriously, why were people "concerned" about Lakeland? What did it matter in their little circle of friends within their hometown? Instead of focusing on caring for those around them, they have to discuss what is of God or not of God in the supposedly "big" things that are happening far away.

Jesus said we are to take on the role of a servant. No position. Nothing worth looking at.

Take the motivation of money and fame out of the equation and let's see who's left in the ranks of discerning servant/leaders.

The gifts that God has given his body is for the express purpose of equipping every believer for the work of the ministry. Not getting them attached to someone who "hears" from God.

The reality is that if everyone understood the value of caring for and discipling just two others we could change the world.

There are no kings if you only care for two people. There is definitely no money in it either.

I wrote about this a week or so ago in a blog I titled, "Exponential Growth or Follow the Leader".

As long as we continue to focus on telling great testimonies that only serve to puff up and endorse some "great" leader, we are condemned to the oft repeated cycle of looking for the "NEXT" Lakeland fiasco to endorse or denounce.

Manna from Heaven

One of the great stories about economics and the human condition is found in the Bible during the time of Moses. About 3,200 years ago, give or take a couple of centuries. If you're a bit rusty on the story, rent The Ten Commandments.

Moses was sent to deliver the Hebrews from Egypt. It seems they had overstayed their welcome by about 400 years and were now in the clutches of a new Pharoah who feared them and thus made them slaves. They should have and could have gone back to their land of promise (Israel) years earlier but they had been seduced by their own prosperity in the fertile land of Egypt. True: God did deliver them from a great famine 400 years earlier during the time of Israel (Jacob). Genesis 40-42. But that didn't mean they had to stay there.

No sooner had they been delivered from a land they shouldn't have been in, we find them whining about desiring the fleshpots of Egypt.

And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not. Exodus 16:3,4

This a great story about God providing and the human heart being revealed. No matter what anyone did with this bread from heaven, MANNA, they had just enough.

Those that gathered more than a day's worth found out that it simply spoiled.
(These were the ones that didn't want to trust in God's provision. They weren't keeners about the part of the Lord's prayer that says, "give us this day our daily bread".)

Those that gathered little always had just enough. That must have really pissed off the more industrious types. Sure there may have been a few slouchers in this group but generally it was to ensure that the frail or young would have enough.

The story of Manna from heaven teaches us a lot about the condition of the human heart. It reveals the willingness of people to trust in God or themselves.

More significantly it teaches us about how we are to interpret God's law.
What was the purpose of the law?
Some would say that it's primary purpose was to show our waywardness.

But that is too shallow a view. The law is primarily a revealer of the very nature of God. In the case of His provision and the rules for how much to gather it revealed His desire for equality.

In our world there is an incredible disparity between rich and poor. Sadly, very little has been done within any church models that I am aware of that even attempts to talk about this issue and very few practical things are being done to bridge the economic gap within our world.

Exponential Growth or Follow the Leader?

YOU CAN'T HAVE BOTH!!!

Here's why.

Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Genesis 15:4,5

When God spoke to Abraham and described the number of his offspring in future generations, I’m sure Abraham did not envision the idea of exponential growth. But 1 person duplicating him or herself through two others is astounding: like the stars of the sky.

No man made system can maintain this growth and yet week after week within local church settings, exponential growth is purposely stopped. Church size is often equated with success: 200, 400, 800, 2,000. “Wow, the pastor that influences 2,000 people each week must be really something!”

In ALL cases, the power to influence many, pales when compared to the power to influence 2.
There is always a bottleneck within group dynamics of those who are in hierarchical leadership. A church of 50 might have 4 elders. A church of 200 will still likely have 4 elders. There seems to be a natural limiting of maturity as groups grow in size. Pastors often struggle with mobilizing groups and will usually acknowledge that 20% of the people due 80% of the work, giving, growing…

The Pareto principle highlights this (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

In other words the forming of groups invariably leads to the 20/80 rule and the potential for exponential growth is destroyed.

So what is exponential growth? Abraham’s 2 sons mulitiplying like the stars of the sky, Jesus sending his disciples out in groups of two, Paul’s missionary journeys where he understood the power of influencing a few.

You can hear Paul’s frustration when writing to the saints in Corinth when they gave up the principle of everyone becoming a discipler and thus devolving to "let’s play follow the leader".

“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas[a]"; still another, "I follow Christ."
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? …For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Church groups invariably align themselves with a personality and/or a doctrine. The common complaint is lack of discipleship. I would make the point that groups inevitably destroy exponential discipleship for the sake of belonging to a group.

What is the potential of exponential discipleship?
(1 influencing 2 who influence 2 every 6 months.)

2
4
8
16
32
64
128
256
512
1024

What do these numbers mean? If one person discipled two others for six months and they in turn did the same for the next 6 months, in 5 years 2,000 people would have been discipled. How many people did the first person disciple? Astoundingly the answer is 2.

No building program that I am aware could keep up with that kind of growth.

Let’s carry on for another 5 years.
2048
4096
8192
16384
32768
65536
131072
262144
524288
1048576

Over 2 million people in 10 years with each person only discipling two people each. Sounds absurd by anything we understand today.

And yet the idea of discipling 2 people for six months who disciple 2 people for six months seems almost too easy.

What stops this from happening? Leaders deciding to form groups instead of making disciples.

The great commission was not a command to go into all the world and form groups. It is a command for each one of us to make disciples. Maybe we should relax, make 2 friends and change our world as disciples of Jesus.

Comparing Golf Club Memberships with Churches

I thought it might be interesting to compare membership in a golf club with membership in a church. Let's start with a slightly better than average golf club.

For less than $3,000 my wife and I can have memberships to 3 city owned golf courses in London, Ontario (1 of them is two minutes from my house).

Benefits include:

Unlimited play on 3 very good courses.
Great clubhouses designed for you to spend time to sit and relax with friends.
You don’t have to join and you won’t feel guilty for leaving or not showing up that week.
If we think the membership dues are too expensive we can opt for the $500 fee that gives us all the benefits of the club for half price each time we use it.

There are a few downsides to the membership:

They are only open for 9 months.
You have to like playing golf.
You don’t get a charitable receipt for your membership.

How does this compare to churches?

Churches tend to be more expensive: 10% of family income is the suggested minimum.
(There is some negotiation over gross or net.)

You get a clubhouse that is purposely designed to discourage talking with friends.
To be fair, some churches do allow short greetings in the clubhouse before and after its primary use. However, lengthy conversations are still discouraged.
(Some people think that talking to friends misses the point of the clubhouse altogether.)

If you don’t show up once a week you are supposed to feel guilty. (Back in my early days guilt was required if you didn't show up twice in the week.)

Even if you don’t like the church meetings you should still join for life or at least join another church with similar requirements.

If you do opt out of the church expect members to ignore you. (Some of the more kind hearted members will have a deep sense of pity for your foolishness.)

You can also expect appeals to give more money above and beyond your 10%.
(That’s considered real giving by some.)

As a faithful church member you should always be on the lookout for new recruits.
(Don't worry, you only have to give lip service to this notion, 98% of members have never recruited anyone, except perhaps their own children or people from other churches.)

You will be asked to give the best part of your week to the clubhouse.
(Your children might be very resentful to you for this. Hopefully your membership will buy great activities for your kids during this time. If not, at least you'll know you did the right thing.)

Disagreeing with the pastor of the church is somewhat allowed and can be done in direct proportion to the size of the membership dues you give each week.
(However, members will not remain friends with you if you openly disagree with the pastor.)

Benefits include:

The pastor will do your thinking for you.
(You may get the extra benefit of being told what not to read.)

A sense of well being that you have done your duty for the week.

Generally, you only use the clubhouse once a week. (I wasn't sure if this should be in the benefit or downside category.)

If you’re sick you MIGHT even get a visit from the pastor. (Obviously, your continued offerings are not the motivator for the visit.)

Most importantly: with a strange twist on the value of selfless giving, you will get a tax receipt for giving to yourself.