Chapter 41. Turning Monopoly Money into Real Money. Every penny you save from your own wardrobe, you may expend in clothing the naked and relieving the needs of the poor. John Wesley. Every pound you put into the earthly bank is sunk, for it brings no interest above. But every pound you give to the poor is put into the bank of heaven. John Wesley. Andy never did find a summer job, so he spent just about every afternoon playing Monopoly with his friends.
One day, while Andy and his friends were engrossed in a game, Andy's father came home unexpectedly in the middle of the afternoon. His eyes were shining, and he was wearing a tremendous smile. "Andy, you're not going to believe what I'm about to tell you," he began, "but I've been telling Mr. Applegate how you and your friends play Monopoly every afternoon." "And he disapproves, right?" Andy interjected. "No, that's not it at all.
Instead, he just now told me that regardless of where you are in your Monopoly game this afternoon, he will trade real dollars for whatever Monopoly money you have won so far. Listen to this next part, because it sounds unbelievable, but he will trade you dollar for dollar. One dollar of real money for one dollar of Monopoly money." "What?" Andy exclaimed in disbelief. "That doesn't make any sense. You're saying that he will give me real U.S. dollars for my Monopoly dollars?
That's crazy!" "I know it sounds crazy, but that's exactly what he'll do. I was just like you. I was sure he was just kidding, but he assured me that he's not." "But why? Why would he do that?" Andy asked. "He assured me he has his reasons." Andy's father replied, "But quit worrying about why he's doing it. How much money do you have in your hand right now?" "Well, I don't know. I'll have to count it." Andy counted his money hurriedly. "It comes to four thousand one hundred and seventy-six dollars," he announced.
"Fine," his father said. "Now tell me how many houses and hotels you have. You can sell them to the bank for half of what you paid for them." "Dad, you don't understand," Andy protested. "For the first time in the past two weeks, I'm finally ahead in a game. I own the yellow Monopoly, which pays really well, and I'm close to picking up a second Monopoly. I don't own any hotels yet, but I do have four houses on each of the yellow properties.
If I sell my houses back to the bank, I'll only get half of what I paid for them. Plus, if I do that, I'll lose all the income I would otherwise get from the yellow Monopoly. I could end up losing the game." "What do you mean you'll lose the game?" Andy's father exclaimed. "I'm talking about real money here. Mr. Applegate will give you several thousand dollars for your silly Monopoly money. Aren't you listening?" "Yes, I hear what you're saying, but you must not be hearing what I'm saying.
I haven't won at Monopoly in several weeks, and now I have my big chance." Andy paused. "Alright. Suppose I take Mr. Applegate up on his offer. Will I get the money today?" "No, not today. Mr. Applegate said that if you give him the Monopoly money today, he'll give you the cash at the end of the summer, two months from now." Andy was dumbstruck. "Two months?" he finally shouted. "Of course not. You mean I lose my Monopoly game today, but I don't get any benefit for two whole months?
Dad, that's ridiculous." Andy's friends all chimed in, joining his side. "That's the stupidest offer I've ever heard!" one of them barked, rolling his eyes. "Who but an idiot would accept an offer like that?" So Andy kept his Monopoly money, his green plastic houses, and his cardboard deeds. Oh, by the way, he did win that Monopoly game. Jesus' Offer. Jesus makes us an offer similar to that of Mr. Applegate, but only his offer is much, much better. He offers to exchange our earthly Monopoly money for eternal money.
He invites us to "make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home." Luke 16:9. He bids us to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." Matthew 6:20. So how do we exchange Monopoly money for real money? How do we convert temporal, earthly money into eternal, heavenly money? It's actually very easy. For example, let's suppose you are planning to buy a used motorboat for five thousand dollars for recreation.
That's basically using Monopoly money to buy a plastic Monopoly object. That same five thousand dollars can be converted into real, eternal money by using it in one of the following ways: at home or in a developing country. It may provide the needed medical care to save someone's life or restore hearing to a deaf person. It could support an elderly Christian widow for the rest of her life. Over time, it could help put fifty Christians through life by providing microloans to help them start small businesses.
It could help hundreds or thousands of people hear the gospel message. In a developing country, it could put ten Christian students through high school, enabling them to be able to better provide for their families as adults. The list is endless. Now, I used the illustration of a recreational item, but the same principle applies to every purchase we make and to every dollar we put aside for future purchases. One of the secrets of the kingdom life is to always be aware of this heavenly conversion table.
The instant we die, that five thousand dollar motorboat is worthless to us. Of course, it still has value to those left behind. But if we use that five thousand dollars to save the life of a brother or sister, or to bless him in some other way, that person will be thanking us for all eternity. If our money made it possible for someone to hear the gospel, be saved, and eventually be in heaven, we have made an eternal friend.
If nothing more were at stake than our own personal happiness, making eternal friends with our money would still be the way to go. However, far more than our personal happiness is at stake. At the end of the parable of the unjust steward, Jesus explained the points of the parable: "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.
Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Luke 16:10-13.
If we can't faithfully use our temporary Monopoly money in a way to serve God, then God is not going to entrust us with eternal things. Jesus goes on to point out that all of our assets on earth ultimately are God's assets. If we can't use His assets wisely, then He will never give us eternal ones of our own. We tend to see money and property as big things. Jesus is explaining reality to us: they are little things. And if we can't be faithful in such a little thing as our use of money, heaven has no place for us.
An Andy dimwit could never appreciate heaven. He could never be at home there. However, lest we try to buy our way into the kingdom, Paul gives us this warning: "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." First Corinthians 13:3. So love for others has to be the ultimate motivation behind our giving to the poor. In other words, our care for the poor must be an outpouring of the fruits of love.
We can't earn our salvation or buy our way into heaven. Yes, it is our faith that saves us, but it must be an enduring, living faith that produces fruit, particularly the fruits of love for the poor. Examples of Living the Kingdom Life. Throughout most of Christian history, no Christians would have dreamed they were living the kingdom life unless they were helping the poor and visiting the sick and imprisoned.
In the second century, Tertullian pointed out to the Romans, "Our compassion spends more in the streets than yours does in the temple." He went on to explain the many ways Christians in his day helped the poor. "These gifts go to support and bury poor people, to supply the needs of boys and girls destitute of means and of parents, and to aid old persons who are now confined to the house. These gifts also help those who have suffered shipwreck.
And if there happens to be any of us in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut up in the prisons, for no reason other than their faithfulness to the cause of God's church, they become the nurslings of their confession." In the fourth century after Christianity had become the dominant religion, the Roman Emperor Julian tried to restore the pagan religions throughout the empire. However, one reason his efforts met with little success was because Christians were so diligent in helping the poor.
Julian lamented, "The sacrilegious Christians support not only their own poor, but ours as well. For most of my life, I've heard of the city of St. Louis. However, until recently, I had no idea who the man was it was named after. It turns out that St. Louis was a French king of the high Middle Ages who tried to live the kingdom life. To be sure, King Louis didn't understand certain aspects of kingdom living, such as the doctrine of the two kingdoms.
However, with the knowledge he did have, he lived as close to Christ as possible. Although a king, every day he personally brought food to houses of the poor and served them in other ways. Each day he invited various beggars to come and eat with him at his own table. He would often let them fill their plates first, and he would eat what was left over. He frequently visited hospitals where he would call on those afflicted with the most loathsome diseases.
He then knelt down at their beds, washing them and tenderly caring for their abscesses and sores." I've quoted William Law many times in this book. He, along with two elderly ladies, the single Hester Gibbon and the widowed Mrs. Hutchison, lived the kingdom life to the full. They pooled their collective incomes and lived on a tenth of the total. They gave the remaining ninety percent to the poor.
In the English village of Kingscliff where they lived, every morning poor people lined up outside their doors for aid, which they gave freely. In addition, these three used some of the ninety percent to establish free schools for poor girls and boys. They also established almshouses where the poor and elderly could live for nothing. I want to close our discussion of caring for the poor with one last story. It's a true story about John Wesley that is shared in one of his sermons. I'll let him tell it.
"Many years ago, when I was at Oxford, on a cold winter's day, a young maid, one of those we kept at the school, called upon me. I said, 'You seem half-starved. Have you nothing to cover you but that thin linen gown?' She said, 'Sir, this is all I have.' I put my hand in my pocket, but I found I had no money left, having just spent what I had on some pretty pictures for my wall.
It immediately struck me, 'John Wesley, will your Master say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant?' No, indeed, for you have adorned your walls with the money that might have protected this poor creature from the cold." In Wesley's day, wall pictures were not as affordable as they are today. Wesley concluded his sermon with these words: "How often have you prevented yourself from doing good by purchasing that which you did not need?"