Man of God

The New Testament uses the phrase “man of God” in only two places. Both are written by Paul; both are written to Timothy. 70 verses and the superscription of Psalm 90 in the Old Testament contain the phrase “man of God” (cf., for example, Deuteronomy 33:1; 1 Kings 13:1; Jeremiah 35:4).

The man of God does not love riches, flees its grasp, and follows a godly path.

• 1 Timothy 6:10-11 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

The man of God loves the word of God, which furnishes all he needs for good works.

• 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

The Professor, in Prosperity; a Golden Image in the House

From the writing of John Angell James (1785-1859) in The Christian Professor Addressed: in a Series of Counsels and Cautions to the Members of Christian Churches (New York, NY: D. Appleton and Co., 1838, excerpts from pages 218-239).

I know how to abound.—Phil. iv. 12
 
It is not the possession of wealth that we should dread; but the inordinate desire, the dishonest means, the undue love, and the covetous hoarding of it. I am quite aware, that it is difficult to have money and not love it; hard indeed to have a golden image in the house, and not worship it. It is also quite evident that covetousness is indeed the sin of the church. In this commercial age and country, where men often rise from the workman to the master, and from nothing to affluence; where the career is open to all; and where, once engaged in the complexity and onward impulses of a large business, it is so difficult to so or slacken the pace, there is imminent peril of professing Christians forgetting their high vocation, and living only to get riches. We see them toiling and panting in pursuit of the golden object of ambition, apparently as eager to obtain it, as any who do not profess as they do, to seek first the kingdom of God; enlarging their desires with every addition to their gains; and then extending their mean to the limit of their desires...
 
Professors, take as it were a bird’s eye view of the dangers [wealth] throws in the way of travellers to eternity. Does it not produce the pride of life so opposite to the humility and poverty of spirit, which is essential to the nature of true religion? Does it not generate a worldly-mindedness, which makes its possessor contented with things seen and temporal and disposes him to mind only earthly things?— Does it not lead to a prevalent feeling of independence, so unlike that habitual trust and reliance on God, which the Scriptures require? Does it not originate and keep up, both the care and perplexity of getting, and the anxiety of disposing; and thus exhaust the vigor as well as time, upon worldly objects, leaving the soul neglected, impoverished, and defrauded? Does it not draw the Christian from the means of grace? Does it not corrupt the simplicity of the mind, and the gentleness of the character?…

[Prosperity] is the green and flowery mount from which many have slid down into the bottomless pit; for it has proved to many the occasion of apostacy...
 
…the more you have of earth, the less you have of heaven; your gain here will be a loss to you there.

Deuteronomy 15:11

For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

Deuteronomy 15:11 sits intriguingly in the midst of the context of Deuteronomy 15, which seems to hint in verse four of a time when there would be no poor among them.[i] It is noteworthy how well the statement in verse 11 intersects with the statement of Jesus in John 12:8.

First, as background, we understand that all Israelites became property owners after the conquest of Canaan and division of the land. Joshua divided the land of Canaan by lot to each of Israel’s twelve tribes (e.g. Joshua 19:51; see Joshua 13—21),[ii] as determined by God (Cf. Proverbs 16:33).

The first part of Deuteronomy 15 mentions the seven-year release. God placed this and other things within the legal system of the Law of Moses. The seven-year release and the year of jubile,[iii] in at least one of their effects, helped the poor and needy. These events recalibrated the scale to recreate just weights and balances and at least temporary relief. Verse 5 of Deuteronomy 15 suggests faithful adherence to these principles would fulfill that purpose.[iv] Yet God knew Israel would disobey the law of God, and that the poor would never cease out of the land. Verse 11 acknowledges that. It is a bare statement of fact, and makes inexcusable the attempt to excuse oneself from helping the poor and needy on prior grounds (verses 1-6). But for the nature of man, which we always have with us, poverty might be eradicated. So, like our sin nature, the poor we always have with us also.

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[i] The Pulpit Commentary states, “This statement [v. 11] is not inconsistent with that in ver. 4, for there it is the prevention of poverty by not dealing harshly with the poor that is spoken of; here it is the continuance of occasion for the relief of the poor that is referred to.” John Gill says, “There would be always such objects to exercise their charity and beneficence towards, John 12:8, which is no contradiction to Deuteronomy 15:4 for had they been obedient to the laws of God, they would have been so blessed that there would have been none; so the Targums; but he foresaw that they would not keep his commands, and so this would be the case, and which he foretells that they might expect it, and do their duty to them, as here directed…”

[ii] Though the Levites did not have a political division of land, they received cities and land within the divisions of the other tribes.

[iii] Leviticus 25:8-28

[iv] There is difference of opinion whether the seven-year release meant a permanent release from the debt, or a year-long release for relief and rest from the debt. In comparison, the release of the land itself was only for the year, and was brought back into cultivation the next year (Cf. Exodus 23:10-11). Regardless, I don’t think the seven-year release or the year of jubile can be used to support the redistribution of wealth ideas that some think should be by secular governments. For example, the jubile return of the land was a fact known and accounted for in business dealings. The land could not, according to the Law of Moses, be sold in perpetuity (Cf. Leviticus 25:23-24). Most proposed current ideas for redistribution of wealth to alleviate “social injustice” would just create a different social injustice.

Socrates got it right

Socrates, who died around 399 BC, was a Greek philosopher and not a Christian. But he certainly got it right when he said: "Could I climb to the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and proclaim, 'Fellow citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, and take so little care of your children to whom one day you must relinquish it all?'" -- Socrates, about 420 B.C., according to Plato.

Another "lesson from history" may be found at the link.