Just a few years ago (2012), Paul Piff was researching the effect power had on people. So in one study, he had subjects play a two-person game of Monopoly in which power was intentionally skewed: one player was given a wad of cash and the use of both dice; while the other player received only half the cash and one die.
Within minutes, the subjects with more cash and dice (the “high-status players”) began acting noticeably different. They hogged the space at the table, made less eye contact, and took more liberties, such as moving the low-status players’ game pieces for them. They also made more noise when they moved their own pieces.
Everyone knew the game was rigged, and yet within a few minutes the roles crystallized and the high-status players started pushing people around and acting like they had real power and status. (Paul Roberts, The Impulse Society: America in an Age of Instant Gratification, Bloomsbury USA, 2014, pp 76-78; www.PreachingToday.com)
It’s amazing what power does to people, often subtly and imperceptibly. And it makes me wonder, “How has the little bit of power I have affected me?” After all, God made me a husband, a father, a grandfather, a pastor, an American, and someone with great wealth compared to most of the rest of the world.
Do you realize that those living at the poverty level in our country are considered extremely wealthy by most of the rest of the world? According to Forbes Magazine, “The typical person in the bottom 5 percent of the American income distribution is still richer than 68 percent of the world’s inhabitants” (Tim Worstall, “Astonishing Numbers: America's Poor Still Live Better than Most of the Rest of Humanity”, www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/06/01)
God gave us all a certain amount of influence and power, but are we using that power appropriately? Are we using that influence in the way God wants us to?
You see, it’s not wrong to have power and influence. We don’t have to feel guilty that we’re “rich Christians in an age of hunger”, but we do need to ask the question: What does God want me to do with all that power and wealth?
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Nehemiah 5, Nehemiah 5, where we see how certain powerful people in Nehemiah’s day used their power.
Nehemiah 5:1-2 Now there arose a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brothers. For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many. So let us get grain, that we may eat and keep alive.” (ESV)
There was a famine in the land, and many were going without food.
Nehemiah 5:3-5 There were also those who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses to get grain because of the famine.” And there were those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our fields and our vineyards. Now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children are as their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but it is not in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards.” (ESV)
Their fields and vineyards were mortgaged to the hilt, and many of them were forced to sell their children into slavery just to pay their taxes and buy food. Sad to say, it was their own brothers – their own Jewish kin – who were taking advantage of them. The wealthy and powerful people in Jerusalem were loaning money to their poorer brothers, taking their lands and even their children as collateral for the loans. Then when the poor couldn’t pay, the rich would keep their lands and their children as slaves. This was nothing less than extortion!
Those with power in Jerusalem were exploiting their neighbors. They were abusing the poor, manipulating the situation to their own benefit, in a blatant violation of God’s law. God had made it very clear: No Jew could enslave another Jew (Leveticus 25:39-40); and no Jew could loan money with interest to another Jew (Exodus 22:25; Leviticus 25:36; Deuteronomy 23:19-20).
Those with power in Jerusalem had totally disregarded God’s Law, exploiting their brothers in the process, just to get rich. Instead of using their money and power to help others in a time of trouble, they used it to help only themselves. My dear friends, that’s an example of what NOT to do with your power.
DON’T USE YOUR POWER TO BENEFIT YOURSELF AT OTHERS’ EXPENSE.
Don’t exploit people. Don’t use your resources to abuse, misuse or manipulate people so you can get rich at their loss.
Marquis de Lafayette was a French general and politician who joined the American Revolution and became a friend of George Washington. He was a wealthy and an influential man in both the United States and France, but he was also a man of compassion.
The harvest of 1782 was a poor one. Even so, the manager of Lafayette’s estate was able to fill Lafayette’s barns with wheat. Then he told Lafayette, “The bad harvest has raised the price of wheat. This is the time to sell.”
Lafayette thought about the hungry peasants in the villages and replied, “No, this is the time to give.” (Bible Illustrator)
He wasn’t about to take advantage of people, and neither should we. Yet that doesn’t mean you have to give in to everyone’s wants and desirers. No! There comes a time when you have to…
USE YOUR GOD-GIVEN POWER TO PROTECT THE WEAK FROM THEIR EXPLOITERS.
Employ your authority to challenge the bullies who are trampling on others to get ahead. Utilize your clout to confront those who are taking advantage of the weak.
1st, get angry when you see such abuse. That’s what Nehemiah did: Look at verse 6
Nehemiah 5:6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. (ESV)
Nehemiah was not just a little angry; he was “VERY angry!” And that’s as it should be. There are certain things that should make us “very angry”. I’m not talking about a selfish, self-centered anger when someone hurts my pride or offends me personally, no! I’m talking about a righteous anger, which arouses me to defend the helpless when they are being exploited.
James Strachan once said, “He who is not angry at sin is not in love with virtue.” (Leadership, Vol. 8, No. 1)
Several years ago, U.S. News & World Report talked about a history professor in one of our American Universities who was discussing the Holocaust with his students. Do you know? Not a single student in that classroom dared to say that Hitler was “wrong” in what he did. No student would condemn Hitler for killing 6 million innocent Jews. No student dared to judge the man. Moral relativism has so permeated our culture that very few dare to condemn even the most heinous sins.
Just look at how the media and the political establishment are treating ISIS, Boko Haram, and Al Qaeda today. Very few actually call them “terrorists”, much less “evil”. Oh, they might call them “insurgents,” yes, but “evil”, no. After all, “Who are we to judge?”
Well, the world needs men that are not afraid to get angry at such blatant evil. The world needs men that are not afraid to get “very angry” when the weak are being exploited.
But don’t just get angry, consult yourself. Think before you speak or say anything. That’s what Nehemiah did. In verse 7 he says, “I took counsel with myself.” Literally, “I advised myself.” And that’s what we need to do when we get angry. We need to advise ourselves. We need to think before we speak or say anything.
It’s like Laurence Peter once said in Leadership journal: “Speak when you’re angry, and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret” (Leadership, Vol. 1, No.1). So when you see injustice, to be sure, get angry, but make sure you consult yourself first.
And then contend with the perpetrators. Rebuke them for their sin and require restitution. That’s what Nehemiah did.
Nehemiah 5:7-8 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.” And I held a great assembly against them and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!” They were silent and could not find a word to say. (ESV)
Nehemiah doesn’t “beat around the bush” here. He is very direct with these powerful exploiters of the poor, and he does it publicly – in front of the whole community. Verse 7 says he “held a great assembly against them”. You see, they were committing a very public sin. It affected the entire community, so the entire community had to be involved.
Nehemiah 5:9 So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations, our enemies? (ESV)
You see, their actions were dishonoring God. When God’s people take advantage of one another, God’s reputation is damaged, and His enemies have a field day.
Nehemiah 5:10-13 Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.” Then they said, “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.” And I called the priests and made them swear to do as they had promised. I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not keep this promise. So may he be shaken out and emptied.” And all the assembly said “Amen” and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised. (ESV)
Nehemiah demanded restitution. He demanded that the loan sharks give back everything they took as collateral, plus the interest they charged. And wonder of wonders, they promised to do it; and then, they did as they had promised, with the result that everybody praised the Lord!
You see, God is honored when we do what Nehemiah did, and confront the perpetrators of evil in our midst.
GOD, GIVE US MEN! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking;
For while the Rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land and waiting justice sleeps. (Josiah Holland, as quoted by Chuck Swindoll in Rise and Shine, pp. 212-213)
If we’re going to see revival in our land and God’s reputation restored, then we need men like this in our churches, men with the moral courage to take a stand against the evil in our day.
According to Major David Dixon, recently retired from the U.S. Marine Corps, from Day 1 every Marine is taught to live a life worthy of a Marine. They're also taught to hold one another accountable to that standard of excellence. Dixon says…
If the Marine next to you is falling asleep in class, you must have the moral courage to wake him up and motivate him to stay awake. If you are caught sleeping in class at boot camp, not only do you get in trouble for laziness, but the Marine to your left and to your right get in trouble for lack of moral courage because they should have corrected you when you were in the wrong.
There's a graphic example of this principle from a unit of British Marine commandos. During the war in Afghanistan, a unit came across an insurgent, badly wounded but unarmed. One of the British Marine soldiers, seething with rage, pointed his pistol at the man. He told the man to die and then pulled the trigger. The Marine's parting words were “It's nothing you wouldn't do to us.” The solider then turned to his fellow commandos and said, “Obviously this doesn't go anywhere, fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention.” But word did get out in the following days, and that commando was found guilty of murder.
Could anything been said or done to prevent the tragedy? Some military experts believe that the murder could have been prevented if just one other Marine in that unit had the courage to confront their fellow-soldier and hold him accountable. It would have taken only four simple words: “Marines don't do that.” (Adapted from Michael Wheeler, “Marines Don't Do That": Mastering the Split-Second Decision,” Linked In blog, 12-16-13; www.PreachingToday.com)
In the same way, we can say, “Christians don’t do that” when we see blatant sin in the life of another believer, i.e., when we see a believer taking advantage of another believer, or when we see the powerful among us misusing others. “Christians don’t do that.” They are four simple words, but they might be the very words God uses to restore His people and thereby restore His reputation in our land.
My dear friends, don’t use your power to benefit yourself at others’ expense. Instead…
USE YOUR POWER TO BENEFIT OTHERS AT YOUR EXPENSE if need be.
Utilize your authority to serve the needs of others above yourself. Employ your resources to minister to the weak, because that’s what real Christians DO do. That’s what Nehemiah did.
Nehemiah 5:14-15 Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God. (ESV)
Nehemiah did not tax the people to pay for his state dinners, even though it was his legal right to do so. He didn’t seize their assets. Instead, he served WITH them.
Nehemiah 5:16 I also persevered in the work on this wall, and we acquired no land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. (ESV)
Nehemiah was no dictator telling everybody else what to do, no! He worked right alongside the people, he and his servants. He served WITH them, and he also SERVED them.
Nehemiah 5:17-19 Moreover, there were at my table 150 men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people. Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people.
Nehemiah served selflessly, even at his own expense, and that’s what we need to do with the power and resources God has given us.
Philippians 2 says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).
Jesus is our primary example. He took the power that He had as God of the universe and used it to serve sinful humanity by becoming a man, dying on a cross for our sins, and rising again. Jesus used His power to serve at great expense to Himself, and God calls us to do the same.
From March 2010 to March 2015 (just last month when his term ended), Jose Mujica was the president of Uruguay. In November 2012, the BBC called him “the world's poorest president.” Many politicians around the world choose to live in luxury while the masses they lead live in poverty. Not Mujica. He has chosen to identify with his people by living on a ramshackle farm located on a dirt road outside the capital.
Vladimir Hernandez, the BBC reporter who called Mujico “the world’s poorest president”, described the president’s residence:
Laundry is strung outside the house. The water comes from a well in a yard, overgrown with weeds. Only two police officers and Manuela, a three-legged dog, keep watch outside… This austere lifestyle – and the fact that Mujica donates about 90 percent of his monthly salary, equivalent to $12,000, to charity –has led him to be labeled the poorest president in the world… In 2010, his annual personal wealth declaration – mandatory for officials in Uruguay – was $1,800, the value of his 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.
The article also noted that Mujica doesn't have to live this way. Uruguay provides a luxurious presidential residence in the capital city of Montevideo. But Mujica has chosen to shun the privileges he has a right to enjoy so he can stand in solidarity with the people he serves. (Vladimir Hernandez, “Jose Mujica: The world's poorest president,” BBC News, 11-14-12; www.PreachingToday.com)
Wow! While I may not agree with some of Mujica’s liberal policies, I have to admire his willingness to forgo the privileges of his position to serve the people he leads. He is an example of one who uses his power to benefit others at his own expense.
How about you and me? Compared to the rest of the world, all of us in this room are rich and powerful. How are we using the power God has given us?
My dear friends, don’t use it to benefit yourself at others’ expense. Instead, use it to benefit others at your expense.
During the American Revolution, a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a small defensive barrier. Their leader was shouting instructions, but making no attempt to help them. The rider asked the commanding officer why he wasn’t helping his men, and the officer responded with great dignity, “Sir, I am a corporal!”
The stranger apologized, dismounted from his horse, and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers. The job done, he turned to the corporal and said, “Mr. Corporal, next time you have a job like this and not enough men to do it, go to your commander-in-chief, and I will come and help you.” That rider, of course, was General George Washington himself. (Bible Illustrator)
Go and do thou likewise. Let’s pray…
