With those kinds of figures we do well to ask why it is so. Mostly wars would seem to have been caused by selfishness, jealousy, greed and anger.
It is an adult version of what begins to happen between children. Two children tugging over the same toy, each claiming "It's mine!" The child deliberately scribbling on someone else's artwork which shows real promise. The impulse to steal what you haven't got or what looks much better than what you have. The spiteful "tit-for-tat" refusal to stop the pay-back cycle.
Years ago, someone asked the Arnhem Land aborigines who had experienced revival what they thought of the question of aboriginal land rights. They replied that they hadn't really thought it through, but felt that an important starting-point was Psalm 24.1, "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."
Do you really believe that? Is that how you regard what are commonly called your possessions?
Howard Hendricks writes, "My wife Jeanne and I once dined with a rich man from a blueblood Boston family, and I asked him, 'How in the world did you grow up in the midst of such wealth and not be consumed by materialism?'
"His answer: 'My parents taught us that everything in our home was either an idol or a tool'. So how do you view your possessions?"
This goes a step further in today's parable of the tenants in the vineyard (Mt. 21.33-46). The Jewish leaders were regarding the Kingdom of God very much as their own property. They would not have put it in so many words, of course.
In the Old Testament, the "vineyard" is often a picture of God's people (as in Is. 5.1-7). The Jewish leaders were only tenants, responsible to God for the vineyard, responsible to God for the harvest. Their focus and the focus of the people was meant to be on the Lord. But instead they were the controllers. They determined what was acceptable because it was acceptable to them. No longer were they servants or tenants - and they were about to arrange for the Son of God to be put to death.
The result, Jesus said, is that "the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit" (v. 43).
That is a reference to those who put their trust in Jesus. Now he is looking to us to "produce the fruit." Do we regard the Kingdom as our possession? Do we think of the Church as our Church? Or do we see ourselves as stewards - truly submitting ourselves to Jesus Christ as Lord, knowing that all that we have and all that we are truly belong to him? Is the over-riding passion of our lives to know and to do his will?
We have mistakenly thought of stewardship as determining how much we should put in the plate at church. But it is really a change of perspective on all our life. It begins with giving our all to the Lord. Juan Carlos Ortiz wrote:
The Bible says the kingdom of God is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of real worth, he sells everything he has and buys that pearl. Of course, according to traditional thinking, man is the pearl of great price and Jesus the merchant who sells everything to make the purchase. Now I understand that He is the pearl of great price and man the merchant.Paul wrote, "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body" (1 Cor.6.19b,20).
So when man finds Jesus, it costs him everything. Jesus has happiness, joy, peace, healing, security, eternity. Man marvels at such a pearl and says, 'I want this pearl. How much does it cost?'
The seller says, 'It's too dear, too costly.'
'But how much?'
'Well, it's very expensive.'
'Do you think I could buy it?'
'Oh, of course. Anybody can.'
'But you say it's too expensive. How much is it?'
'It costs everything you have -- no more, no less -- so anybody can buy it.'
'I'll buy it.'
'What do you have? Let's write it down.'
'I have $10,000 in the bank.'
'Good, $10,000. What else?'
'I have nothing more. That's all I have.'
'Have you nothing more?'
'Well, I have some dollars here in my pocket.'
'How many?'
'I'll see: 30, 40, 50, 80, 100, 120 -- 120 dollars.'
'That's fine. What else do you have?'
'I have nothing else. That's all.'
'Where do you live?'
'I live in my house.'
'The house too.'
'Then you mean I must live in the garage?'
'Have you a garage, too? That too. What else?'
'Do you mean that I must live in my car, then?'
'Have you a car?'
'I have two.'
'Both become mine. Both cars. What else?'
'I have nothing else.'
'Are you alone in the world?'
'No, I have a wife, two children…'
'Your wife and your children too. What else?'
'I have nothing else, I am left alone now.'
'Oh, you too. Everything. Everything becomes mine: wife, children, house, garage, cars, money, clothing, everything. And you too. Now you can use all those things here but don't forget they are mine, as you are. When I need any of the things you are using you must give them to me because now I am the owner'.
We can take on board that Jesus is our Saviour, that he died for us. But have we grasped that we do not belong any more to ourselves but to God and that our life is now to be lived for him? And what do you have around your place - idols or tools?
All that I am and all that I have is yours, Lord!
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