THE ECONOMIC CRASH OF 2008
DR. JIM DIXON
NOVEMBER 23, 2008
1 TIMOTHY 6:6-10
Well today, as promised, I want to share with you a bit about the financial crisis we’re experiencing nationally and internationally and what it means to us as the people of Christ.
The Great Depression began with the crash of the stock market in October of 1929. By March of 1933, industrial stocks had dropped 80%. They had only one fifth of their prior value, and from January 1930 to March 1933, 9,000 banks in the United States of America failed. It’s hard to imagine the effect that had on millions of people across this country, because there were no backup systems. The money was just gone, and people lost everything.
Unemployment rose dramatically during the Great Depression. In 1925, there was only 3% unemployment. In 1930, the unemployment rate was 9%. In 1933, the unemployment rate in America had risen to 25%. Incredibly, one out of every four Americans was unemployed, and those who held onto their jobs on the average had their salaries decreased by 20%. It was tough times.
People were just wandering the streets of cities, unable to work. In New York City, 7,000 men—not teenagers, grown men—were shining shoes just trying to put a little food on the table. All across the country, people were dying of malnutrition. Millions of people lost their homes, unable to pay the mortgages. The song, “Brother, can You Spare a Dime?” became the symbol of our nation’s despair. Hundreds of thousands of people just wandered the country looking for food and clothing and shelter.
I remember Barb told me that her mother once told her that when she was a little girl during the Great Depression oftentimes, almost daily, people would just come to the back door of their house begging for food. Barb’s grandmother would make sandwiches in the morning to be able to give them away to people who were starving who just would come by the house during the day.
This happened in communities all over the United States of America. Millions of Americans went to live at train stations in hobo towns. They literally became hobos. Millions more found shelter in religious missions. Beggars were everywhere, and in the cities of America food lines just blanketed the landscape. People built Hoovervilles. Do you know what a Hooverville was? A Hooverville was just like a temporary shack, and people built communities of Hoovervilles in regions all over America. They were built out of box crates and flattened tin cans. These makeshift shacks were called Hoovervilles because the people of America were so angry with President Hoover because the depression was getting worse and he was finding no solutions.
In 1932 the people, the United States elected Franklin Roosevelt president of the United States and he brought Congress into session in the famous Hundred Day Session and they established the New Deal. The New Deal provided many government programs and subsidies and was controversial in its time and is controversial today. Some people praise it, some don’t. But those were indeed incomprehensively tough times.
In the middle of the 1930s, in the middle of the Great Depression, America experienced its greatest drought, and middle America had an unprecedented drought that created the Dust Bowl. You’ve all heard of the Dust Bowl, and the Dust Bowl just devastated farmlands across. This is right in the midst of everything else. It’s seemed to people in the United States of America during the Great Depression like God was judging them. It seemed like God has rejected them.
Today, here we are and we’re in the midst of certainly an economic crisis. The market has fallen; unemployment is rising. I understand that it’s nothing like it was in the Great Depression. I hope you have that perspective. Here in Colorado, unemployment just this week has risen to 5.7%. We pray for you and we feel for any of you that have lost your jobs, and I know it’s hard. But remember, there’s a 5.7% unemployment rate. It’s nothing like what happened during the Great Depression. Nevertheless, many people today are asking the question, “Could it happen again?”
Many so-called economic experts are saying there’s no way. Too many safeguards are in place. Others would say, who know? Many people now are saying, we didn’t think it could get this bad. So they’re saying, who knows? What I would like us to do today as we as we look at this financial crisis is examine it from a biblical perspective. I’d like to see what it means to us. We’re in the household of faith and in the church of Jesus Christ. I’d like us to take a look at it through two lenses. These are theological lenses, but don’t worry, you’re going to understand completely. We’re going to first of all take a look through the theological lens called eschatology. Then after that, we’ll take a look at this financial crisis through the lens of ecclesiology.
So we start with eschatology. Eschatology is the study of the Eschaton. “The Eschaton” means last times. Eschatology is the study of the end times. You’ll recall that we had a summer series called Last Things, where we looked at the last days, the end times as prophesied in holy scripture. I want us to take a brief look at eschatology in light of what is happening in this financial crisis. Of course, that history is not open-ended. the Bible’s very clear. It tells us that history will have a consummation. History will have a final hour. The Bible tells us that history is racing towards the end. At the end will come what the Bible calls the great tribulation. Our Lord Jesus Christ calls it the Great Tribulation. It is without precedence, such as has never been before. At the end of the Great Tribulation will be Armageddon, and Armageddon will be interrupted by the second coming of Jesus Christ to judge the nations. Indeed, the Bible tells us and makes very clear that if Jesus didn’t come, we would’ve destroyed ourselves.
Now, the Bible tells us that there are many signs that accompany the approach of the end times, many signs that indicate that the end times are drawing near. One of the signs in the Bible concerns Israel. The Bible tells us that as we approach the final stage of history, Jewish people will begin to return to their homeland, and indeed, Israel would be born anew and become a nation again. That seemed impossible to everybody. But in 1948, that’s what happened.
In 1948, as the Jews went back to Israel, the nation of Israel was reborn. Miraculously, in 1967 the Jews reoccupied, the city of Jerusalem again, in direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Certainly these are signs that we’re approaching the end times. Another sign in the Bible is the sign of apostasy. The Bible says that in the last days and as we approach the last days many will depart from the faith. This is called apostasy, the Greek word “apostasia.” It means “to fall away.” We’re told in the Bible that nominal Christians will begin to reject orthodox Christianity. Nominal Christians will begin to reject biblical doctrine and biblical teaching. Certainly that’s happening in our time, happening even in mainline Protestant churches and denominations.
The Bible gives us a third sign. The Bible tells us that in the last days there’ll be an erosion of Judeo-Christian values. It prophesies that in the last days will come the spirit of lawlessness. The spirit of lawlessness will precede the man of lawlessness. The word for lawlessness in the Greek language is “anomia.” It comes from “nomos,” which is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Torah. So people will reject Torah—they will reject nomos, they will reject the Old Testament. They will reject the New Testament. They will reject Judeo-Christian values. And so we’ll see this erosion of Judeo-Christian values as we approach the last days. Certainly we are seeing some of this in our time. The Bible tells us that ultimately Antichrist will arise. In 2 Thessalonians 2 the Bible tells us that the Antichrist will come through the energy of Satan. The Greek word is that from which we get the English word energy, but it literally means, “in-working.” The Antichrist will come by the in-working of Satan, his working within this man, and he will therefore come by the power of Satan and he will come with all pretended signs and wonders and for all and with all wicked deception. The Bible says, “For those who perish, he will lead an alignment of nations and he will seek power over every tribe and tongue and people.” He will seek to control the world economically. In the midst of economic chaos, the Antichrist will seek to control buying and selling. The Bible prophesies that the Antichrist will not allow anyone to buy or sell unless they have a special mark (we don’t know whether it is placed on the back of the hand or on the forehead) and through this means the buying and selling of the people of the world will be controlled.
A lot of times through the centuries, people have said, how can this be? Perhaps some of you are sitting there thinking, how could this be? How would the people of the world allow such an event to arise, such an individual to arise? But understand that in times of great economic crisis, people make choices they would not normally make. Understand that in times of great economic crisis, people will allow legislation, governmental decisions they would not normally allow. Take a look at Germany during the Great Depression and before. For 20 years, Germany went through impossible economic times, with great crisis. In the 1920s, Germany experienced what is technically called hyperinflation. They literally, in terms of the value of the mark, had a trillion percent inflation. It’s hard to imagine. Before hyperinflation, $1 USD was equal to four German marks. After hyperinflation in the 1920s, one American dollar was equal to 4 trillion German marks. I can’t even imagine what that would mean. I can’t even imagine the devastation to the German society and the panic of the German people. The sudden bankruptcies that were everywhere… money became meaningless.
Now, towards the end of the 1920s, they began to stabilize in Germany largely because of help from the United States. But in the late 1920s (and indeed in the early 1930s) we went into the Great Depression. Europe went into the Great Depression. Indeed, much of the world, including Asia, went into the Great Depression. For Germany, things just got worse, and the people were desperate. They made choices they would never normally make. They allowed a man to rise to power that they would never normally allow to rise. So Adolf Hitler came to power. The German people embraced a party that they would never normally embrace.
They embraced the Nazi party, with all of its hatred and with all of its racism. In the midst of those desperate times, Adolf Hitler rose to power. The result was World War II. The result was the gassing of 6 million Jewish—men, women, and children—one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the world.
Look at Japan during the Great Depression. Look at what happened to Japan during the Great Depression. They were desperate, desperate times. They made desperate decisions. In 1931, what did the Japanese do? The Japanese invaded Manchuria, a region of China rich in mineral deposits. They invaded and conquered Manchuria and they began to mine in Manchuria. Their hope was to conquer all of China. These were desperate times. Their people were hurting. They were in economic crisis, economic ruin. They thought if they could conquer China, they could somehow rescue their economy.
10 years later, they of course attacked Pearl Harbor, and the day that shall live in infamy. It was another desperate measure for a desperate people in a desperate time. You look at the teachings of the Bible and it says the same thing. In desperate times, in desperate financial and economic times, people make desperate decisions. They allow rulers they would never allow to rule. They allow governments they would never allow to govern. They allow legislation that they would not normally allow. That’s how Antichrist will arise. The Great Depression led to World War II.
Someday there’s going to come a depression so great it will lead to the Great Tribulation and Armageddon. I am not saying that this is the time. I hope you don’t leave this place and say, Jim Dixon says that this economic crisis is going to lead to Armageddon. I’m not saying that. My guess is (and I’m only guessing) that eventually we’ll stabilize and our economy will improve. But I promise you that there will come in the future an economic crisis and collapse greater than this. On the final stage of history, we’ll see biblical prophecy fulfilled. Understand though, in terms of eschatology, it’s times of economic crisis that enable the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Antichrist will rise in a desperate time amongst desperate nations.
Now, we have a second teaching this morning with regard the financial crisis, and this I want to be a little deeper in. I want us to look at the financial crisis with regard to ecclesiology. Ecclesiology is the study of the Ecclesia. Ecclesiology is the study of the church of Jesus Christ. In the Bible the church is called the Ecclesia—”the called out ones, the assembly, the gathered.” So we are the church, and what does this financial crisis mean for us?
I had a phone call this past week from a friend, and I could tell just when I heard his voice that something was wrong. He’s a pastor of another wonderful church, and he told me that he just wanted to talk. He’s just feeling so bad that he spent the whole morning with his executive pastor. This friend is a senior pastor and he, along with his executive pastor, met with all the staff of the church. They met with them each individually. They said, we can’t keep you. We have to let you go. They had to let 50% of their church staff go, and the 50% they kept they had to reduce all their salaries by 10%. There was crying and anger. He just said, I don’t feel like being in the ministry anymore. He just wanted to wanted to talk.
My hope and prayer is that’s not where most churches are heading in this time. My hope and prayer is that’s not where most ministries, church or parachurch, are heading. I certainly hope and pray that’s not where we’re heading at Cherry Hills community Church. But these are tough times for you and for the Church of Jesus Christ.
During the Great Depression it was a crisis for the churches. Some churches failed; they shut their doors and never opened again. Some churches during the Great Depression barely survived. A few churches during the Great Depression actually thrived, and it depended on the socioeconomic conditions of their constituents. It depended on the faithfulness of congregations and the commitment of people to Christ. It depended on many and various things.
Of course, the irony was that during the Great Depression so many people began to hunger for God. During the Great Depression, all across this country people began to go to church. But many churches no longer had the staffs to serve those people, so it was kind of a catch-22. We hope and pray that that doesn’t turn out to be the case.
Now, you all know that in the midst of the current economic crisis there have been a lot of government bailouts. The United States government has in a so-called bailout bailed out Fannie Mae to the tune of $100 billion and Freddie Mack to the tune of $100 billion and Bear Stearns (which is an investment house) has also been bailed out by our government to the tune of $29 billion. Indy Mae was bailed out $8.9 billion. And with all the controversies surrounding the behavior of the leaders of AIG, AIG was given $150 billion bailout—it was originally an $85 billion bailout, but the leaders came back to the government and said, we need more.
Our financial institutions have received this $700 billion bailout, originally for bad debt but now for consumer credit. Of course the change was made because they said that $700 billion wouldn’t even begin to cover the bad debt that’s out there. So now they’re talking about using the $700 billion for consumer credit.
Of course, there’s other American businesses that are looking for government help. And American Express, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley have all asked the United States government for some kind of a bailout to the tune of billions of dollars. Cities here in the United States have also asked for government bailouts. The city of Atlanta and the city of Sacramento have asked for $17 billion. The city of Philadelphia… apparently there’s more that is cracked in Philadelphia than the Liberty Bell, and so they’re asking for a government bailout. The big three American automobile manufacturers, Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford are in crisis and many of them are asking for government bailouts.
We don’t know what the government is going to do. I heard one senator this past week say that somewhere people have gotten the idea that we’re giving out money around here. Of course, they are. But he said they didn’t give out money. The one thing he wanted folks to understand is that they don’t want to put a tourniquet on a dead guy. That is kind of a graphic illustration, but it’s true that the government doesn’t want to throw good money after bad. Tough times.
But I promise you this: the government’s not going bail out the church. You know it, I know it. The churches across this country, not one of them is going to receive any government bailout. Not one of them is going to receive any government help. And if churches are to survive, or in some cases thrive, it’s going to be because of the faithfulness of the people of Jesus Christ.
So these are tough times, and this is, I think, a great test. We need to trust in God. You see that motto on all of our currency. Of course, that became the official motto of the United States in 1956, by an act of the United States Congress. “In God We Trust.” But those words have been on American currency since the days of the Civil War, since the administration of Solomon Chase, who was Secretary of the Treasury. He placed those words on all American currency. Theodore Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, hated the fact that the name of God was put on something so common and something so abused as money. Teddy Roosevelt said we shouldn’t have this slogan on our currency. We shouldn’t have it on something that is so often misused. But maybe Roosevelt was wrong. Maybe our currency should say In God We Trust as a reminder that, when money’s tight, He is where our only hope lies.
Certainly I think times like this test the trust of the people of Jesus Christ, and I hope you trust Christ in the midst of what you’re going through. One of my favorite passages is Daniel chapter three, where you have the story of the three Jewish young man Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These are Jewish guys that have been taken into exile in Babylon, and the king of Babylon has erected on the plane of Dura outside of the royal city this great statue of gold. He called for all people throughout his empire to pilgrimage and bow down and worship this statue of gold. And these three guys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say no. They will worship only the one true God. And so they’re thrown into the fiery furnace.
You all know the story of the fiery furnace. They’re thrown in there in that underground furnace, kind of a massive fiery structure, and, and they turn off the heat and seek to incinerate them. But Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, marvels. As he looks in, he sees Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego alive in the midst of the flames. And in the midst of the flames, he sees a fourth being, who was described as like a son of the gods. Bible scholars and theologians have debated who this fourth guy is. Some have said, well, maybe it’s a Christophany. Maybe it’s a corporeal appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ. Other theologians have said, maybe it’s an angel or maybe the Angel of the Lord himself, the mysterious angel of the Lord. We cannot In the text, in scripture, it does not tell us.
But it doesn’t matter, because we know that God had made Himself present through that forth being. God had made Himself present. That represented the divine presence in the midst of their trial. Whatever you’re going through, I really hope and pray that you sense that God is with you. And as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus Christ, Christ will never fail you. He’ll never forsake you. He’ll never leave you. And if you seek first His kingdom, everything you need He promises will be added unto you. These promises are great, but they require our faith and they require our trust in times like this.
I thought it’d be appropriate, before we wrap things up, as we look at the financial crisis in light of the church and in light of ecclesiology, to just revisit for a moment the parable of the talents and take a fresh look at that. It is in Matthew 25. You all know it. You’ve read the parable of the talents many times. You’ve heard sermons on the parable of the talents. You could probably recite the parable yourself. Really the subject, the primary person in the parable, is Christ Himself. He’s telling the story, and in a sense, He’s talking about Himself. He’s the master. He’s the master who’s about to go away, and He’s going to come again someday. He’s the master who’s about to go away, and He’s going to come again someday. But in the meantime, He’s entrusted to His people His property.
So that’s the setting for the parable of the talents. In the course of time, Jesus comes back—the Lord comes back, the master comes back—and He examines what His people have done with what He has entrusted to them. One was given five talents, one two talents, one a single talent. They were all judged by what they did and held accountable. And so in this parable, you see three simple principles. First of all, ownership. You see that the master owns everything. And that’s very important for us to realize in the midst of this financial crisis; Jesus owns everything. He’s the master. He’s the Lord. The word “rios” in the Greek means master of Lord, but it means owner. So we’re just stewards. things have been entrusted to us. But understand that retirement funds… you have the money you’ve set aside in retirement, and that thing is shrinking, but understand it doesn’t belong to you. Not biblically, not theologically, does it belong to you. It belongs to Jesus Christ—the master, and Lord who has left and is coming back. So it all belongs to Him.
Your savings account, your bank account, your house, the car you drove to church in this morning, all belongs to Him. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.” And so we have this teaching throughout the scriptures, but in the parable of the talents, the first principle is ownership. Christ owns everything, and we need to remember that in the midst of this financial crisis and at all times, because the master has gone away and He’s going to come again.
The second principle in the parable is the principle of productivity. And this is hard because the master demands that we be productive for Him so that when he comes back we’ve prospered His cause, we’ve enriched his kingdom. And so this clear teaching of productivity is in the parable of the talents and in the parable of the pounds. The master comes back, and you have one servant who prospered the master and a second servant who prospered the master, but a third servant who didn’t. This third servant was afraid. And in his fear, he was paralyzed and he just dug a hole and hid everything and sat on it and did not prosper his master. So he violated that principle of productivity.
I know it’s hard for me to say to you in a time like this, but Christ still expects His people to be productive. He still expects us as the church, as the Ecclesia, to serve Him. He still expects us to produce for Him and still expects us to give.
I just got this book recently. I love it. It’s called Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don’t Give Away More Money. I’m sure very few of you have picked this up. It’s an awesome book written by a professor of sociology at Notre Dame and co-written by a professor of sociology at Rice University. It’s got five chapters. In the first chapter, it seeks to answer the question, what would happen if Christians tithed? That’s the subject of the first chapter. What would happen if Christians tithed? I thought, I’d like to know that. The question is posed, what would happen if just committed Christians tithed? So this professor at Notre Dame and this professor at Rice decide to define a committed Christian as someone who attends church three out of four Sundays or more. Well, biblically that wouldn’t be the best definition of a committed Christian, but they have to start somewhere. So they’re saying a committed Christian is someone who attends Church three out of four Sundays or more.
What would happen if those folks tithed in this room right now? Some of you attend Church three out of four Sundays or more. Some of you I don’t know. But this is just talking about if those who attend three out of four Sundays or more would tithe. So if they tithed, it would add another $47 billion to the cause of Christ in the United States of America.