While you read this, think of us as having a conversation where you're listening and getting ready to reply to a question; I believe this topic needs to be thoughtfully talked about and I, by no means, want to come across as having a complete understanding of it.
To show where I'm coming from, when I pray, I'm usually praying for safety over my family and friends, health, a particular person's salvation, me being a good father and husband and employee. I have no problem praying for others, I'll gladly do that, but I very rarely give praise to God because of others.
I like when God works things out in my favor--who doesn't?--and I get excited for someone when something works out in their favor, but I don't think I really praise God when it happens. Not, because I'm not happy for the person, I just don't get triggered to send praise to God when awesome things happen to them (unless it's a rescue from something tragic or something serious). It's not in me to want to worship the Father when a "brother or sister" is doing well, like I should do. I don't think it's from a lack of excitement for the other person, maybe it's jealousy, but I think it's mostly a belief issue.
The Good of All
In my "heart" there isn't necessarily a spot that connects others doing well with my well-being; I have that connection in my knowledge and I know it can be true, but I don't have it rooted enough in my faith for it to be a natural way of looking at things. I'm sure it has a lot to do with Western culture lacking a balance of individualism and collectivism, unlike the Eastern side of life, where they have a culture that wants others to win, but we feel more successful in our system if "me" only wins.
If you look through the prayer Moses recites to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 26 we see that God uses "us" and"ours" a lot in reference to their tithing; he has them say this prayer, because it helps put their offerings in the proper perspective. It's differs from our mainstream view of tithing where we isolate our giving in a "me and God" mentality; it's common for us to cheerfully give, because of what he's done for "me" and we hope that God will be happy with what "I" gave and bless "me." Whereas, an individual Israelite is to give due to what God did for "them" and with the hope that he will continue to bless "them."
"Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’"-Deuteronomy 26:15
This is part of the prayer that an Israelite would say to God after giving their sacrifice. You can see where their attention isn't just on God blessing their own household, but the entire nation. This wasn't just a sidebar in the prayer, it was the heart of it.
Throughout the scriptures we see a one-another culture that God tries to instill and for it to happen He knows "hearts" have to be conditioned to do so, and the best way to direct it is by attaching this sort of prayer to currency.
In Tim Keller's book series The Great Enemy, he does a great job unpacking that the word "heart" doesn't only mean the seat of emotions and feelings, but, literally, the center of our being; the "heart" isn't only where we feel sadness and joy, but what causes us to feel it. The heart of us is our "control center" as Tim Keller says, and so it's the thing that leads everything else: our emotions, our fears, our logic, our hope, our trust. Matt 6:21 (hearts can be found where the treasure is) helps us understand why God has his people say the ch. 26 prayer in that fashion, to help face their whole selves towards loving Him and loving their neighbors.
But God doesn't want them to say this prayer about their offering without it having a real world impact, so he also wants the offering go to the immigrant, widow, and orphan. In the same passage the Hebrew mentions in their prayer that they gave their tithes to the ones who are typically outcasted.
"then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them." -Deuteronomy 26:13
"I haven't transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them." God wants them to know what they sacrifice to the One they worship is actually going to the weak and marginalized; He wants them to remember where His heart is facing, lest they forget they were oppressed in Egypt. And by continuously giving their portions to the downcast with the remembrance of what God has done for them, hopefully they will be able to love their neighbor, not only out of duty, but joy as well.
Why though? I believe it has to do with corporate responsibility.
(look up Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible by Joel Kaminsky)
Responsible For One Another
If we look at Deuteronomy ch. 28 you'll read about blessings and curses, but what's interesting is the word "you" and "your;" when we read about God speaking to his people regarding their blessings and curses in the English translation we might interpret "your field" or "you'll prosper" as just you yourself, when sometimes he's meaning "you all," (or for UF fans "y'all") as in they will be blessed or cursed together. This passage is a great example for showing our understanding about freedom and liberty vs the biblical reality of corporate responsibility.
A lot of churches do a great job making sure we don't only focus on being blessed, but being a blessing. For the most part, we're taught well that when God helps prosper one of us with our personal wealth, we should bless others out of what we believe is right. And this is, of course, part of God's perfect vision for a city on a hill.
But corporate responsibility can mean we're sometimes a little more intertwined than simply one person's obedience leads them to being blessed by God so that now they can be a blessing to others. It's more like one's obedience can lead to God blessing an entire people-group or one's disobedience can lead to God cursing the people-group. (Number 16, 2 Samuel 21, Genesis 18) This is the perspective we struggle with. We see it as "you do you." We look at other's actions as they are doing it to themselves and whatever happens to them will stay over there, "I'll make sure that me and my family are just fine;" but that's not how God has it set up to run every time.
God saw Israel as a whole, he wanted the whole group to do well, he wanted the entire society to flourish, not just a few. This is why we see Him set up laws like the ones about leaving some crops for others to glean from (Deuteronomy 24:19, Leviticus 19:10). Though, it might feel like an individual might get lost in this view, we know God loves each person and wants a relationship with each one, but during this time God's focus was on creating a culture that will affect the people instead of creating a person that will affect the culture.
But as we know, Israel is human like us sooo they failed and received a lot of the curses mentioned in Ch. 28, but at least it was together. :)
Today
So my question is does a form of corporate responsibility still exist today?
Something I'm praying through is: am I doing my part so the community around me is blessed? Whether it's my work, my neighborhood, my church, my friends, my family.
If you think about what's going on in our cities today could it be because we aren't doing our part and serving Him like we ought to? Would God bless a few that are hurting around us (even if they're strangers) if we prayerfully asked to do so?
I know that we can't earn God's favor, but I also know that God can be pleased or disappointed; despite if he forgives us and shows mercy, there are still things that can make him smile and proud. And I just wonder if we are able to make him so joyful that he wants to bless the people around me or if I end up getting blessed, because of someone faithfully serving him.
More Reading: Be Kind, Rewind