Mark 10:29-30(NKJV) 29So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, 30who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.
Yesterday we looked at Mark 10:29-30 from the perspective that giving is a covenant action. We are in covenant with the Father through our relationship with Jesus, his son. That covenant is the highest law of the universe. It supersedes every other law, including what Satan won in the fall of man. Adam’s transgression caused the devil to gain authority in the earth. Our covenant in Christ removes us from that authority.
Since covenant requires that one partner must do in return what the other partner does for him, when we give it obligates God to give back to us. God is always willing to provide for his children, however, the devil will use his authority over man to stop God’s provision if possible. When we invoke our covenant by giving and then making a faith demand on that giving, we leave the devil no place to hinder God from meeting our needs.
A second benefit is that our faith is aided by the fact that we are not begging. We have given according to our covenant and according to our covenant we can expect a return. There is nothing that takes our financial life out of the devil’s hands like giving into the Kingdom of God.
I want to take a moment today to look a little more closely at these verses. Jesus is answering the concern of the disciples that a rich man will have trouble obtaining salvation. This idea was foreign to their understanding of God and wealth. Jesus assures them that their giving would still produce a covenant return.
Let us take a closer look at the nature of the return. There is certainly a spiritual aspect to what Jesus is talking about here. When he says that if we give up family we will get family in return, he is talking about spiritual family. However, when he speaks of houses and lands, he is not talking about spiritual houses or spiritual lands. He is talking about the things we give for the gospel.
The word translated “houses” here can also mean wealth. If we have sacrificed our wealth for the gospel, I believe this scripture applies to us. If we had to leave wealth because of the gospel, this scripture applies. If we lost wealth because we stood up for the gospel, this scripture applies. This scripture also applies to what we give in response to the Gospel. Jesus says our covenant action will result in a return to us.
Many would put the reward in scripture off until we get to heaven. They would argue, “This return is not something we can expect to see in this life.” That sounds very spiritual, but it is not what Jesus said. He specifically states that they will receive the return “now in this time.” There is a reward in the age to come. That reward is eternal life. In this time, we can expect a reward that is commiserate with our giving.
There is something else Jesus tells us we can expect in this life. That is persecutions. The world does not like God’s economic system. The devil knows that if Christians ever truly understand that they can operate outside of the worlds system, they will be able to do damage to his kingdom and he will not be able to stop them. He will do his best to discourage you and that includes stirring up people against you.
You may find that friends and relatives question your giving. You may find a resistance to your giving if you want a loan or in some other way in the worldly financial realm. Mostly you may find that the devil tries to discourage you from giving by putting pressure on your finances. Remember, if you give, the devil cannot stop God from blessing you back. There may be a challenge, but if you stand by faith you will see this scripture bear fruit in your life.
At what rate can you expect God to give back to you? He gives us a number in verse 30. That number is 100 fold. We do not use this term much in our day. In today’s language, we would say that the rate of return on this investment is 100 times what is invested. In other words if you give 1 dollar for the Gospel you can expect that God will give back to you 100 dollars. That is certainly what is on the surface of Jesus statement, but does he really intend for us to approach God that way.
For many years we used this scripture as a way to remind God of his obligation. We would go to God and say, “Now Lord I put 25 dollars in the offering so I am expecting you to get me 2500 dollars.” We would calculate how much we needed and give an offering that, when multiplied by 100, would result in a return of that amount.
This is OK as a point of contact for our faith, but I think we have to be careful with our attitudes concerning this kind of thinking. We do not need to be God’s accountant. I believe the 100 fold expression means much more than 100 times what we give. I believe it is an expression of the kind of abundance God will release to us if we give. It is an expression of assurance that he will meet every need.
If I give 25 dollars, I can rest assured that 2500 is not a problem to God. I can expect that God will meet the 2500 dollar need and much more. I believe the 100 hundred fold is better interpreted as God telling us that he will do far more than we can ask or think. (Eph. 3:20) I believe we need to be careful not to think that we have to “twist God’s arm” by reminding him that he owes us 100 times what we gave. I think it is healthier to remind ourselves that eternal life is the far more important gift.
That said, to remind ourselves and the devil that God promises to return at least 100 times our giving can be healthy. It is a point of release for our faith and a reminder to the devil that the covenant of God guarantees this minimum to a believer who gives. I am happy to tell the devil that God has placed a “restraining order” on him to the tune of 100 times my giving. He is prohibited by covenant from interfering with my finances according that rate of covenant return.
I want to close by looking at another scripture that gives us a statement that is really saying the same thing as 100 fold.
Luke 6:38(NKJV) 38Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
We have covered what this means before, but it is obvious that Jesus is saying here the same thing he is saying in Mark 10. When we give, we have a promise from God that we will see a return on our giving that far exceeds what we gave to begin with. We can give because we can trust God to take care of us. If it helps to remind the devil of the 100 fold minimum or if we just realized that “good measure, shaken together and running over” is more than we will ever need, we can rest assured that the Lord will take care of us.
Give by faith in the covenant. Give according to what you have, but know that God will give back to you in a way that will be far greater than what you could imagine. He is our Father and he cares for our needs.
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