Archives by: Gary Hoag

Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. Philippians 4:3

“Let the one who is strong take care of the weak; and let the weak show due respect to the strong. Let the wealthy provide what is needed to the poor, and let the poor offer thanks to God, since He has given him someone to supply his need. Let the one who is wise show forth wisdom not through words but through good deeds.”

Clement of Rome in 1 Clement 38.2 in The Apostolic Fathers, ed. and trans. by Bart D. Ehrman (LCL 24 & 25; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003).

According to Tertullian, the Apostle Peter consecrated the ministry of Clement. Scholars also connect this bishop of Rome to the Clement mentioned by the Apostle Paul in today’s Scripture.

Regardless, Clement served as Bishop of Rome and died a martyr in A.D. 100. In my paper, I found that NT letters like Timothy and Titus called the church to honor the emperor and pray for those in authority.

When you read the bishops among to the Apostolic Fathers, Clement of Rome, Polycarp of Smyrna, and Ignatius of Antioch, the tone changes. They shift to interceding for each other to endure and doing good deeds.

I pause today, as I fly across the ocean to Amsterdam, to pray for Christians everywhere, especially those in persecuted places, to heed the words of Clement and show Christian care through good deeds.

The greatest form of evangelism, in settings hostile to Christianity, is generosity. Remember, there is no law against it and when done with love, there is no match to it.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. John 17:16

“For Christians are not different from other people in terms of their country, language, or customs. Nowhere do they inhabit cities of their own, use a strange dialect, or live life out of the ordinary. They have not discovered this teaching of theirs through reflection or through the thought of meddlesome people, nor do they set forth any human doctrine, as do some. They inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities, according to the lot assigned to each.

And they show forth the character of their own citizenship in a marvelous and admittedly paradoxical way by following local customs in what they wear and what they eat and in the rest of their lives. They live in their respective countries, but only as resident aliens; they participate in all the things as citizens, and they endure all things as foreigners. Every foreign territory is a homeland for them, every homeland foreign territory.

They marry like everyone else and have children, but they do not expose them once they are born. They share their meals but not their sexual partners. They are found in the flesh but do not live according to the flesh. They live on earth but participate in the life of heaven. They are obedient to the laws that have been made, and by their own lives they supersede the laws. They love everyone and are persecuted by all. They are not understood, and they are condemned. They are put to death and made alive. They are impoverished and make many rich.

They are dishonored and they are exalted in their dishonors. They are slandered and they are acquitted. They are reviled and they bless, mistreated and they bestow honor. They do good and are punished as evil; when they are punished, they rejoice as those who have been made alive. They are attacked by Jews as foreigners and persecuted by Greeks, and those who hate them cannot explain the cause of their enmity. To put the matter simply, what the soul is to the body, this what Christians are in the world.”

Epistle to Diognetus 5.1-6.1 in The Apostolic Fathers, ed. and trans. by Bart D. Ehrman (LCL 24 & 25; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003).

Today I am taking long-awaited leave from work to travel to Amsterdam with Jenni. We will visit some sights, including the Van Gogh Museum. Our daughter Sophie, and her husband, Peter, will join us.

From 29 July to 1 August I will attend the 2024 International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature at Vrije Universiteit. I will deliver two scholarly papers.

Over the next ten days I will share quotes from my papers. Today’s quote comes from my paper, entitled, “Advice from the Apostolic Fathers on Christian Social Engagement in a Hostile World.”

Reply if you want a copy of the paper.

These are the things you are to teach and insist on. 1 Timothy 6:2b

“Bringing together Paul’s negative and positive instructions to the wealthy, they are not to be proud and despise the poor, but to do good and be generous; they are not to fix their hopes on uncertain riches but on God the Giver and on that most valuable of all his gifts, the treasure of eternal life.

Looking over both the paragraphs about money, the apostle’s balanced wisdom becomes apparent. Against materialism (an obsession with material possessions) he sets simplicity of lifestyle. Against asceticism (the repudiation of the material order) he sets gratitude for God’s creation. Against covetousness (the list for more possessions) he sets contentment with what we have. Against selfishness (the accumulation of goods for ourselves) he sets generosity in imitation of God.

Simplicity, gratitude, contentment, and generosity constitute the healthy quadrilateral of Christian living.”

John R.W. Stott in The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus (TBST; Downers Grove: IVP, 1996) 162-163.

Today’s the last day of the conference in Omaha. My remarks have been well received. It’s been great to serve more than 100 pastors with my friend, Jon Wiebe of MB Foundation.

This post almost sums up my aim at this conference in four talks. To impart the healthy quadrilateral of Christian living: simplicity, gratitude, contentment, and generosity.

My four themes were actually faithful stewardship, faithful leadership, faithful governance, and faithful accountability. Reply if you want a set of my notes.

I pray you see their connection and pursue these four traits in your life. They mark the antidotes to materialism, asceticism, covetousness, and selfishness.

Imagine the impact on the congregations as these pastors live out these traits and influence their congregations. I pray it touches tens of thousands of disciples of Jesus Christ.

In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:19

“Timothy must seek to develop in the rich a sense of proportion. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life…

Perhaps the best commentary on this teaching is Jesus’ parable of the unjust steward or the shrewd manager [Luke 16:1-9]. He used his influence in the present to secure his future, and Jesus commended him for his prudence, though not for his dishonesty.

It is a question of perspective and of proportion. Which is the more valuable? Is it to be rich in this age or in the age to come? Is it to accumulate treasure on earth or in heaven? Is it to make a lot of money now or ‘take hold of the life that is truly life’?”

John R.W. Stott in The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus (TBST; Downers Grove: IVP, 1996) 162.

Yesterday’s post was called, “seek to develop,” and I entitled this one, “seek to develop…again,” because that’s the language of Stott in his commentary and the aim of my remarks in Omaha.

I seek to develop shrewd stewards who will be commended for their prudence, for choosing an eternal perspective, and for deciding to give proportionately.

Notice that the teachings of Jesus echoed by the Apostle Paul aim not at trying to rob us but help us take hold of something better and something lasting.

I appreciate your prayers for me as I speak twice today at the conference in Omaha, again invited by my friend Jon Wiebe at MB Foundation.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 1 Timothy 6:17-18

“Timothy is not only to warn the rich of the perils they face, but also to alert them to the duties they have… Timothy must seek to develop in the rich a sense of responsibility… Command those who are rich… to be rich in good deeds. Let them add one kind of wealth to another. This is a necessary admonition. Wealth can make people lazy. Since they already have everything they want, they have no need to exert themselves for their living.

It is not for nothing that some people refer to ‘the idle rich’. Timothy is to command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share, using their wealth to relieve want and to promote good causes. In so doing, they will be imitating God. For He is rich, yet out of His riches, richly provides us with everything we need.

Since God is such a generous giver, His people should be generous too, no only in imitation of His generosity, but also because of the colossal needs of the world around us. Many Christian enterprises are hampered for lack of funds. And all the time our conscience nags us as we remember the one fifth of the world’s population who are destitute. If wealthy people are really and sacrificially generous, it goes without saying that they will no longer be wealthy as they were. They may not become poor, but neither will they remain rich.”

John R.W. Stott in The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus (TBST; Downers Grove: IVP, 1996) 161.

Today I head to Omaha to speak multiple times at a conference in the next three days invited by my friend Jon Wiebe at MB Foundation. The theme is “Salt and Light: Faithful Living in a Secular Culture.”

I will speak on four topics: Faithful Stewardship, Faithful Leadership, Faithful Governance, and Faithful Accountability. I appreciate your prayers for me. My aim matches these words of Stott.

I “seek to develop” the Christian workers I will serve to model and promote these topics to multiply good and faithful stewards and help the ministries they serve to thrive with standards.

And I pray the same for you. I pray your ministry in the lives of rich people causes them to neither be rich nor poor but having obeyed the command from Scripture to be two things.

I want each of us and the rich among us to be obedient to God and dependent on God. If the rich reflect those those two traits, needs will be met, ministries will have resources, and the gospel will spread.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1 Timothy 6:17

“The first danger to which the wealthy are exposed is pride. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant. The Old Testament clearly warned people of this [Deuteronomy 8:14; Ezekiel 28:5]. Wealth often gives birth to vanity. It tends to make people feel self-important, and so contemptuous of others. Wealthy people frequently boast of their house, furniture, car, yacht, or other possessions.

The second danger to which the rich are exposed is a false security. Command those who are rich in this present world not … to put their hope in wealth. To do so is foolishly short-sighted. For one thing, wealth is uncertain. Jesus warned us of the ravages of moth, rust, and burglars [Matthew 6:19; Proverbs 23:5] and we would want to add fire and inflation as further hazards. Many people have gone to bed rich and woken up poor.

For another thing, the proper object of our human trust is not a thing but a Person; not wealth but God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. This is an important addition. We are not to exchange materialism for asceticism. On the contrary, our God is a generous Creator, who wants us to appreciate the good gifts of creation. If we consider it right to adopt an economic lifestyle lower than we could command, it will be out of solidarity with the poor, and not because we judge the possession of material things to be wrong in itself.

The two dangers, then, to which the rich are exposed area false pride (looking down on people less fortunate than themselves) and a false security (trusting in the gift instead of the Giver). In this way wealth can spoil life’s two paramount relationships, causing us to forget God and despise our neighbor.”

John R.W. Stott in The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus (TBST; Downers Grove: IVP, 1996) 161.

What stands out afresh to me today as I look at these two dangers — false pride and false security — is the impact they have on our relationship with God and our neighbor.

And if we think about it further, God’s command is for us to use the resources He supplies. People ask me how to avoid the dangers of wealth, and I often recount the childhood game, hot potato.

We lose if we hold on to or drop the ball or whatever else represents the potato. That means that when God blesses us with resources, we need to use them wisely (enjoyment and sharing) and not hold on to them.

Notice the only way to avoid the false pride and false security is to put the wealth to work. If you have wealth. See it as a hot potato. We only lose if we drop it or are found holding it.

And the loss is great. It impacts our walk with God and our journey with others. Remember, the way to avoid this is to enjoy and share God’s blessings. No wonder it comes as a command.

But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 1 Timothy 6:8

“What then, should be our attitude to material things? Paul replies: But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. He thus reverts to the topic of Christian contentment. Luxuries are not essential to it but necessities are. These he calls food and clothing, the ‘what to eat’ and ‘what to wear’ which Jesus forbade us to worry about, because He promised that our Heavenly Father would give them to us. Paul’s word for ‘clothing’ is skepasma, which means chiefly ‘clothing … but also house’. So probably the couplet ‘food and clothing’ should be extended to include shelter, for these three are clearly essential to our journey.”

John R.W. Stott in The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus (TBST; Downers Grove: IVP, 1996) 150.

Hear Stott’s pointed words.

Food and clothing represent “the ‘what to eat’ and ‘what to wear’ which Jesus forbade us to worry about.” So why do most people worry about these things?

People worry about them because they represent the things that everyone needs. And yet, that explains why Jesus tells us not to worry about these things.

When we depend on Him for our most basic needs, we show where we place our trust and we show the world that He is worthy of their trust too.

What witness does your trust encourage. Do people who see you know that you trust God for ‘what to eat’ or ‘what to wear’ or would they say you aim to sort those needs.

The core issue here links not to the present but to the future. He promises to sort our daily bread and current covering or clothing.

The test comes when we get blessed with more than enough. Do we store it up for ourself or live, give, serve, and love generously, and trust the future to him.

You know where you place your trust for the things that are essential for your journey. Make sure you choose wisely because God knows too.

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job 1:21

“How then does the apostle argue the Christian case for contentment and against covetousness? He reminds us of a fundamental (though often ignored) fact of our human experience, relating to our birth and death. It is that we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. It seems probable that Paul is alluding to a salutary truth on which Israel’s wise men reflected.

Here is Job’s version of it: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart.’ That is, we are born naked and penniless, and when we die and are buried we are naked and penniless again. In respect of earthly possessions, our entry and our exit are identical. So our life on earth is a brief pilgrimage between two moments of nakedness.

As the officiating minister said at the funeral of a wealthy lady, when asked by the curious how much she had left, ‘She left everything.’ It is a perspective which should influence our economic lifestyle. For possession are only the traveling luggage of time; they are not the stuff of eternity. It would be sensible therefore to travel light and, as Jesus Himself commanded us, not to store up for ourselves (that is, to accumulate selfishly) treasures on earth.”

John R.W. Stott in The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus (TBST; Downers Grove: IVP, 1996) 150.

This bit from wisdom Stott stuck with me today as I type in my hotel room on a weekend of rest in the mountains (Mount Holy Cross wilderness pictured above): “So our life on earth is a brief pilgrimage between two moments of nakedness.”

This means that our “economic lifestyle” as Stott puts it, should reflect radical obedience to the teachings of Jesus. He traveled light and used possessions with a missional focus. So should we.

And notice the illustration from the funeral. Stott rightly reminds us through the words of the minister that the wealthy woman left everything. But, imagine her meeting the Lord and having to give account for her stewardship!

She had the capacity to bless others and advance the gospel, but she didn’t do it. The time to live, give, serve, and love is whilst you are on the “brief pilgrimage between two moments of nakedness.”

Look at your bank accounts today. List any assets you have. Make a decision today to store them up in heaven through giving. The time to do this is now. You came from nakedness and will return there shortly.

Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. Proverbs 30:7-9

“The Old Testament is full of admonitions against covetousness, especially the wisdom literature. We are warned that money is addictive, since ‘whoever loves money never has enough money’ (Ecclesiastes 5:10). We are taught not to be ‘overawed’ by the wealthy, but to remember that they will leave their wealth behind them (Psalm 49:10, 16-20). It is also explicitly stated that ‘one eager to get rich will not go unpunished’ (Proverbs 28:20), So we should pray to be given ‘neither poverty [i.e. destitution] nor riches’, but only our ‘daily bread’ [i.e. the necessities] (Proverbs 30:7-9).”

John R.W. Stott in The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus (TBST; Downers Grove: IVP, 1996) 151.

I marvel how the Old Testament texts on possessions radically match the New Testament teachings. In this case how the wisdom literature matches the Lord’s prayer.

The word ‘necessities’ implies that as we trust God, He will sort what we need. And this marks the wise path for us as it keeps us in a posture of perpetual dependence.

This weekend, I am thankful God provided margin for Jenni and me to rest and celebrate our anniversary. His ways are good but only realized when chosen.

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 Corinthians 8:1

“The highest use of wealth is in the acknowledgement that God has given it that, through it, we may earn larger spiritual dividends. It affords us opportunities to be rich in good works. Money can be used to relieve the distressed, to feed the starving, to alleviate pain and provide medical care and, best of all, it can provide for the proclamation of the gospel of God’s manifold love and redeeming grace. The Christian who has allowed the grace of God to take hold on his [or her] heart is thereby made gracious. He is liberal and generous and ready to distribute his wealth for the glory of God and the uplift of humanity.”

Charles A. Trentham in Studies in Timothy (Nashville: Convention Press, 1959) 81.

God’s grace moves us to grow in giving and when we do, in the words of Trentham, we earn “larger spiritual dividends” than any possible earthly returns.

I am taking today and tomorrow off to rest and observe 32 years of marriage to Jenni. We will invest some of the resources God has supplied along with hotel points to celebrate.

When we pour God’s resources into mission and memories we show love. We say that you matter and that you are important to me and to God.

How might you use some of the resources you have today to communicate to someone that they are special, that they are not forgotten, that God loves them and you do too?

This use of money reaps “larger spiritual disciplines” because God designed money to be put to work as our slave. When we hold on to it, we become a slave to money.

Embracing this perspective is only possible when God’s grace is at work on our hearts. May God’s grace help each of us grow as generous distributors.