Prominent and controversial Minnesota megachurch pastor Greg Boyd, in a recent sermon, sharply distinguished between the Occupy Wall Street Movement and God’s Kingdom.
The “Occupy Movement,” beginning in New York City last year and spreading to other major American cities, has condemned the “wealth gap” in America while advocating radical remedies of wealth redistribution. Some liberal clergy have praised the Occupiers.
But Boyd was more dubious about the Occupation. In a sermon to his St. Paul congregation in December, he analyzed the “Occupy” question from a “Kingdom perspective.” Called “Occupy the Kingdom,” his sermon examined material wealth as a cultural centerpiece and deified by the “kingdom of the world.”
Boyd once was aligned with politically conservative evangelicals on social issues. In recent years he has adopted an Anabaptist perspective denouncing many political involvements as compromise with “empire.”
“We thought it would be good to use this as an opportunity for Kingdom people to take a step back and to look at…what our relationship is to money, what our relationship is to wealth,” Boyd explained. “To ask the question, are we reflecting in how we spend our money Kingdom priorities or are we just reflecting American priorities?”
Boyd described the cultural context of Jesus’ day as analogous to the American context by noting the large gap between poor peasants and the ruling class. He detailed how this political and social hierarchy precipitated widespread economic injustice in first century Palestine.
“The rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer,” Boyd noted. “It was a system that was grotesquely unjust…it was a system that was completely locked. There’s no mobility here, you couldn’t work your way up into the ‘inner circle’ [the wealthy class].”
Boyd said that poor peasants—the “95 percent”—were entirely dependent on the ruling class. The ruling class—including political officials from the Roman Empire, local political officials under King Herod, and many religious leaders—demanded taxes and various, overlapping allegiances from the so-called “95 percent.”
Citing James 5:1-6, which harshly warns the rich, Boyd suggested, “When you cling to stuff that in principle has already passed away, then you pass away with it…that’s why he says the corrosion of that wealth will testify against you because it will reveal where your treasure has always been. As it’s corroded it will corrode you.”
Boyd spoke to the idea that we are in the time between the first and second comings of Christ, yet the new order has been established through Christ’s triumph over death, and as a result, is being renewed even now. He pointed out that James is able to not only prophesize what will occur, but that these things are already occurring. He said: “In principle, the old world system that this wealth was a part of has already passed away, and in principle, the Kingdom has already come…their judgment is the natural consequence of clinging to stuff that has already passed away…the actual destruction comes from the riches they are clinging to.”
In his sermon, Boyd challenged the goals of the “Occupy” movement, claiming that it is ultimately grounded in self-interest. Yet Boyd believes their stance is no different than any other “kingdom of the world” movement or cause. He observed that the Occupy protests are the result of believing one’s own political insight is superior to that of another, as is the nature of public debate. He observed how “violation of one’s rights” is central to the Occupy message.
Boyd asked whether this claim on “rights” is merely fueled by envy and self-interest [indeed maintaining the American gospel] or a genuine yearning for biblical justice [the Christian Gospel]. “You may agree that if we put restraints on what the wealthy can earn and put restraints on the distribution of resources that it would be good for the economy and serve the poor,” he said. “On the other hand, you might disagree with that…what we do need to see is that there is nothing distinctly Kingdom about that [Occupy] movement.”
The “distinctly kingdom” perspective, Boyd claims, is reflected by the motive at the core of James’ warning: “Share for your own sake, for your salvation! This stuff is destroying you…James is motivated as much by his love for the rich as for the poor, so he’s saying share in order to save yourselves.” He further observed: “James is not an ‘Occupy Wall Street guy,’ he’s a ‘Kingdom guy.’ When he blasts the rich, he’s doing it out of love, and he’s warning them to be careful.”
Boyd pointed to Christ’s teaching that personified this notion of material riches as the god Mammon. The danger is that by putting our faith, hope, and security in “Mammon,” we do so in rebellion to the Creator and Giver of all good things. “The truth is there are principalities and powers, there are demonic forces at work in wealth,” Boyd said. “Studies have shown…that statistically, the more money people have, the less they tend to give away [as a percentage of their income]…It takes a very mature follower of Jesus to stay true to the Kingdom while sitting on a lot of mammon.”
In his sermon, Boyd explained what Christians should do if wealthy. In response to James’ declaration, he read from Paul’s epistle to Timothy (1 Timothy 6:17-18), calling the rich to put their hope not in wealth, but in God, who “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
Boyd observed, “Notice, Paul doesn’t go on an Occupy Wall Street rant against them…what he does is he encourages the wealthy to thank God, who richly provides everything for our enjoyment. You wouldn’t hear that very much in the Occupy Wall Street movement.”
“But he [the apostle Paul] doesn’t stop there,” Boyd observed. “Like James, [he’s warning] remember there’s something corrosive about wealth, there’s something corrupting about wealth, there’s something destructive about wealth. Wealth has the power, if you’re not careful, to make you arrogant.”
Boyd emphasized, the only way to fight the god Mammon is to live with “outrageous generosity.” He insisted: “Only by heeding Paul’s command…to be rich in good works and generosity…can we stay off the diabolical forces that cause us to be greedy, that incline us to hoard, that cause us to become apathetic toward the plight of the poor and the homeless.”
The Minnesota pastor’s point was that concerns for the widow, the orphan and the homeless are not merely for their sake but also for the salvation of the wealthy, who might otherwise be consumed by their riches. Absent the command to share, we run the risk of becoming content in our own self-aggrandizement and ignoring the needs of a world groaning to be renewed and reconciled.
Boyd charged his congregation: “And so we are always to make space in our hearts, in our minds…to keep those who are most invisible, those who are most vulnerable on our radar screens…to welcome them in and to serve them, and to manifest the Kingdom in a profoundly beautiful way.”
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