Wanted: MANAGERS for the Kingdom on Earth

The most important aspect of the Kingdom is management (See the parable of the talents in Mat 25:14-30.)

God calls us to be managers of His Kingdom on earth. The Kingdom is in the business of managing resources; souls, funds, property, community, rights, and yes, all resources on earth. Therefore, Christians should definitely study “business management” because it is a fundamental principle of the Kingdom of God. “If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” (Lk 16:11). 

Most people believe that God operates on emotions. If they can just get God to feel sorry for them in prayer, they can get anything they want. That’s not how it works. The Kingdom of God operates by laws.

We must start from the fundamental understanding that everything belongs to God, all resources on this earth belong to Him, and we are to be the managers of His resources. However, if we become focused on accumulating wealth for ourselves, we become driven by greed and are never content. Greed opens the door to many other sins.

King Solomon, who was the richest man who ever lived said, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.” (Eccl 5:10). He also said, “Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.” (Prov 11:28).

Jesus explained the difference between making money for yourself, which is greed, and being a manager of God’s money. He said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Mat 6:24). There’s nothing wrong with money, it’s the love of money (greed) that is the root of all evils.

He said, “For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mk 7:22,23). All those evils are related and they all come from the inside.

Jesus warned against gathering riches for ourselves, “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Lk 12:20,21). And He goes on to tell His disciples not to focus on money, “Life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.” (Lk 12:15).

Greed is the mis-management of resources for personal benefits. You’re using God’s resources for your own. Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Lk 12:15). 

But God wants us to be financially smart. God made man to manage the garden…“Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there He put the man He had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground–trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” (Gen 2:4). God had not yet sent rain on the earth because there was no man to manage the earth. God was withholding growth, because there was no man to manage the earth for Him. God’s motivation for the creation of the earth was for man to manage the ground by the principles of the Kingdom of God. 

I was raised in religion, and everything was always pointing to heaven, not earth. Yet in the very prayer template that Jesus taught, it says, “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” We’re supposed to manage His Kingdom here on earth. We’ve received the Holy Spirit to help us here on earth. Religion claims that God owns the cattle on a 1,000 hills, and yet there’s never any money. We claim, “The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous.” (Proverbs 13:22). But we see none of it. I ended up getting confused because I couldn’t see religion work for me. There were all those promises about finances, and I couldn’t see them working for me. Sure, He supplied my daily needs, but I couldn’t see how it could multiply to abundance according to His promises. I could see rich people and poor people and didn’t understand the principle.

But then, I had a revelation that God wants managers. The domination of the earth was to be through the management of His resources. God withholds and protects His resources from bad management. The principle “key” of the kingdom of God that was given to Jesus’ disciples was to “bind and to lose”, on earth, and heaven will back you up. We have been given authority to destroy the works of the devil to bring God’s kingdom to earth in every spere of community.

The topic of management is not addressed enough in church. It’s always about worship services, joining the choir, but God needs managers to extend His kingdom to the community. Management demands work, not miracles. In a way, miracles cancel out management. Miracles are like the lottery you gain without work. Money is attracted to diligence and good management. 

God is generous and compassionate in answering our desperate situations with miracles. And thank God for that. But it is sad that we should be waiting for a miracle from God to sort out the mess we got ourselves into, whether it’s “rent money”, or losing the house because we can’t pay the mortgage and we wonder why God didn’t come through… the mailbox. But a lot has to do with our own Mis-management which leads to poverty. (Lk 14:28-30 and Pro 10:4).

The definition of management is, “effective, efficient, correct, and timely use of another person’s property and resources for the purpose for which they delegated it, with a view to producing the expected added value.” That means, you don’t own it, you only manage it, and you bring it back with more value. A great deal of managing has to do with learning to be a good steward of what He gives you. The parable of the talents is all about that.

In prayer, God’s not apt to give us what we pray for, only what we can manage. If you don’t tithe, and you have a dirty house, you don’t take care of your car, He can’t answer your prayers in these regards. He’ll protect His resources from you. If He gave you what you’re requesting, it’d be bad management on His part.

God will not give you your own business until He sees what you do with another’s business first. What kind of employee are you? Do you rob your boss by arriving late, taking long breaks, wasting time on the job? God is watching and He’s waiting for you to learn to be faithful and diligent before He can entrust you with more. 

That’s why we can’t exclude our secular life from our spiritual life. It’s all the kingdom as far as God is concerned. And He wants us to exercise His authority in all areas of our lives. We can’t have a private life and a work, or public life. We’re God’s ambassadors everywhere.

God doesn’t play the lottery. He won’t give a million dollars to someone who’s not faithful with the little He’s giving them already. You buy a dress for $200, you spend $150 on your hair, and you tithe $20. Tithing really doesn’t have anything to do with God needing money. But it is a test of our stewardship and management.

Tithing and offerings is God’s management program for man. He doesn’t need anything from us and yet he wants 10% of everything. Because consistency in tithing shows that you remember Who’s money you’re managing. He’s checking your management discipline by your faithfulness to tithe. Tithing exposes your accountability, your discipline, your honesty, your diligence, your faithfulness and your trustworthiness. Those are all integral virtues in the character of a manager. 

Jesus had to feed 5000 men (actually closer to 12,000 people counting women and children) and He first organized the distribution by dividing them in groups of 50 and 100. Then, He multiplied the resources by changing what He had on earth to the kingdom’s laws, by first thanking His Father, Then gave it to the disciples to distribute to all.

And it says “all were satisfied”. And still, He asked His disciples to pick up the fragments. That’s a sample of diligence and good management.

God’s watching every little detail of your life to see if you’ll pick up the crumbs. Just think how this country is built on waste. We go to the buffet, and we waste so much food, and think nothing of it. God cannot encourage waste. God doesn’t give money to worshippers, He gives to managers, the good and faithful steward. He says, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

The worst thing that ever entered the body of Christ is “money is coming to you”. –“Name it, Claim it”– but haven’t you been claiming it since 1982? Yes, you can claim it, but you’ve got to act on it. That’s faith. Faith without works is dead. God withholds from bad management. “He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.” (Pro 10:4). 

God said that He’s given us power to create wealth. (Deut 8:18). He WANTS us to have plenty of resources to further the kingdom. God doesn’t give you money, He gives you ideas. But we don’t want His ideas, we want cash.

(To be continued)