Archives by: Gary Hoag

Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. James 5:2-3

“Only the Christian Church can offer any rational objection to a complete confidence in the rich. For she has maintained from the beginning that the danger was not in man’s environment, but in man. Further, she has maintained that if we come to talk of a dangerous environment, the most dangerous environment of all is the commodious environment. I know that the most modern manufacture has been really occupied in trying to produce an abnormally large needle. I know that the most recent biologists have been chiefly anxious to discover a very small camel. But if we diminish the camel to his smallest, or open the eye of the needle to its largest — if, in short, we assume the words of Christ to have meant the very least that they could mean, His words must at the very least mean this — that rich men are not very likely to be morally trustworthy.

Christianity even when watered down is hot enough to boil all modern society to rags. The mere minimum of the Church would be a deadly ultimatum to the world. For the whole modern world is absolutely based on the assumption, not that the rich are necessary (which is tenable), but that the rich are trustworthy, which (for a Christian) is not tenable. You will hear everlastingly, in all discussions about newspapers, companies, aristocracies, or party politics, this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man.

The whole case for Christianity is that a man who is dependent upon the luxuries of this life is a corrupt man, spiritually corrupt, politically corrupt, financially corrupt. There is one thing that Christ and all the Christian saints have said with a sort of savage monotony. They have said simply that to be rich is to be in peculiar danger of moral wreck. It is not demonstrably un-Christian to kill the rich as violators of definable justice. It is not demonstrably un-Christian to crown the rich as convenient rulers of society. It is not certainly un-Christian to rebel against the rich or to submit to the rich. But it is quite certainly un-Christian to trust the rich, to regard the rich as more morally safe than the poor.”

G.K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995) 125. I’ve shifted my reading from ancient to modern voices for the near future.

Today’s Scripture is an authoritative statement from James, the half-brother of Jesus, and G.K. Chesterton offers a similarly bold comment for us to think about.

People are no more morally safe or trustworthy when rich or poor. Christ is what every person needs to be fruitful in God’s kingdom. Christ makes us trustworthy agents of justice.

Rather than holding on to riches which make us corrupt, Christian saints have “a sort of savage monotony” because they show a consistent trust in God rather than money.

As we teach in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, today and then head to Cochabamba, I pray that the pastors and ministry workers are receptive to biblical teaching.

We will talk about the importance of being faithful stewards and following standards in ministries. Central to these ideas is having a right relationship with riches.

Bribery is a common phenomenon in much of the majority world, but what Chesterton keenly does here is spell out that the rich person in the developed world is no different.

Let’s be different. Rather than be defined by corruption and bribery, let our savage monotony reveal our commitment to Christ and biblical practices. Find us faithful, LORD.

Don’t hoard treasure in the last days. Put it to work. God is watching.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will reward them for what they have done. Proverbs 19:17

Someone may say: “If I do all these things, I’ll have no possessions. What if a large number of people are in want, suffer cold, have been taken captive, or should die? If anyone thinks this way, he will deprive himself of his property in a single day! Shall I throw away the estate acquired by my own labor or by that of my ancestors? Must then I myself live by the pity of others?”

Lactantius’s answer: “Why do you fear to turn a frail and perishable asset into one that is everlasting? Why do you fear to entrust your treasures to God as their preserver? For in that case you will not need to fear thief and robber—nor rust, nor tyrant. He who is rich towards God can never be poor. If you esteem justice so highly, lay aside the bur­dens that oppress you and follow justice. Free yourself from bondage and chains, so that you can run to God without any hindrance.”

Lactan­tius of Rome (c. 304-313) served as tutor to Emperor Constantine, in W. 7.177, 178.

God threw open the doors for ministry in Panama. GTP meetings with PAAM and Evangelical Alliance leaders have led to the planning of three webinars in April 2021. While a future trip is to be determined, this first visit could not have gone better. Today we are off to Bolivia.

When people are receptive to biblical teaching, at GTP we resolve to serve them. Sadly, most people rationalize disobedience to the teachings of Jesus on money. They come up with excuses not to obey. The “what if” situations of life hinder them from grasping abundance.

In response, Lactantius, unmasks the limiting factor: fear. He then shares one of the most profound truths in God’s economy. “He who is rich towards God can never be poor.” Sit with that idea for a while. Remember to give to the poor you are lending to the LORD.

That’s a loan that will never default and a reward that lasts forever. Holding on to wealth is remaining in bondage and chains. Giving generously is running to God and making assets everlasting. And, following justice is caring for others as you care for yourself.

Do these things and you will never ever be poor!

As Jesus looked up, He saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” He said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4

“You are wealthy and rich. Do you think that you can celebrate the Lord’s Supper, not at all considering the offering? Can you come to the Lord’s Supper without a sacrifice and yet take part of the sacrifice that the poor man has offered? Consider in the Gospel the widow who remembered the heavenly teachings, doing good despite the difficulties and limitations of poverty. For she cast into the treasury two small coins, which were all that she had.”

Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200 – 258) 5.480, as recounted by David W. Bercot in A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1998) 10.

Our team had a remarkable day in Panama yesterday, pictured above.

We had a great teaching time with PAAM ministry workers and an historic lunch meeting with the Panama Evangelical Alliance leaders. Today I am speaking at a gathering of generous givers.

They asked me to speak on generosity in times of crisis. I will give six points from the Apostle Paul’s correspondence related to the Jerusalem Collection for the famine-striken Jews. It was not a pandemic but it was a crisis.

I also plan to celebrate the only kind of giving Jesus celebrates: sacrifice. Pray for me as I remind them man looks at how much we give, and God looks at how much we keep and what it says about our hearts.

And next time you approach the Lord’s Table, imitate His sacrifice. Don’t come empty handed. In keeping with my word for this year, “remember” the teachings of Jesus. Give sacrificially and see what happens.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

“Fasting, according to the signification of the word, is abstinence from food. Now food makes us neither more righteous nor less. But mystically it shows that, as life is maintained in individuals by sustenance, and want of sustenance is the token of death; so also ought we to fast from worldly things, that we may die to the world, and after that, by partaking of divine sustenance, live to God.”

Theodotus in Selections from the Prophetic Scriptures.

Paula Mendoza, Ereny Monir, and I arrived safely in Panama yesterday evening from El Salvador. If you want a copy of our GTP trip report from work in that country, reply to this email. Happy to share.

Upon arrival in hot and humid Panama, our hosts graciously collected us at the airport. After I finished an online meeting, our team got dinner just before the COVID curfew shut the city down.

Today, as requested by influential Christian ministry workers, we do a training on The Sower: Redefining the Ministry of Raising Kingdom Resources. Many people here have been studying it in Spanish.

Pray for fruitful discussions. To be a sower requires us to trust that God will care for us. This is what divine sustenance is all about: knowing that God will sustain us when we trust in Him.

The converse is also true: “want of sustanence is the token of death.” Or in plain terms, expecting things to sustain you will not position you to experience life according to God’s design. Choose to live to God.

Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. Deuteronomy 15:10

“Do not be ready to stretch forth your hands to receive, while you draw them back when it comes to giving… You shall not hesitate to give, nor murmur when you give.”

Epostle of Barnabas (c. 70-130) 1.148 as recounted in A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide edited by David W. Bercot (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1998) 8.

The aim of Lenten practices is to teach us not to hesitate. In our flesh, we flinch. Our default posture is not to serve as conduits of blessing. We must also not murmur.

To be able to give is a blessing in itself. To have more than enough is a place of privilege. What will we do from this place? Will we hesitate or murmur?

In one of the earliest Christian writings we learn the heart behind the giving of Barnabas. Remember he sold a tract of land to help mission get going in the early church.

What if he had hesitated? Might he have met the same fate as Ananias and Sapphira? Who knows? What we do know is that his giving launched the Christian movement.

Our giving can have similar impact today if we don’t hesitate!

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Jude 20-21

“May the strength of God pilot us, may the wisdom of God instruct us, may the hand of God protect us, may the Word of God direct us. Be always ours this day and for evermore.”

This prayer is ascribed to St. Patrick (c. 386-461). Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

After multiple trainings, important meetings, and doing video recording work, we are praying for God to pilot our GTP team safely from El Salvador to Panama tomorrow.

But first, today, I am speaking at a free ECFA webinar entitled, The Bible and Board Governance. So far, more than 1,200 have registered to attend online. Click to register.

God’s Word directs our lives, our ministries, and that includes our governance efforts. Pray that many are blessed by the teaching. Join if you serve in a governance role.

All live webinar participants will receive a free gift from ECFA, a copy of the book I co-authored, The Council: A Biblical Perspective on Board Governance.

That there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Acts 4:34-35

“The wealthy among us help the needy… Those who are prosperous and willing, give what each thinks fit. And what is collected is deposited with the president, who gives aid to the orphans and widows.”

Justin Martyr (c. 160) 1.185, 186.

In the early Christian writings we see that willing gifts are deposited with those God has placed in authority. We commonly think “apostle” or “pastor” but the term “president” also appears.

In modern times, this is the equivalent of the senior offices in church and nonprofit ministries. This important as it relates to generosity for at least two reasons.

Firstly, God loves willing giving that is directed to His servants, such as apostles, pastors, and presidents. Such gifts must not flow from compulsion or obligation, but from prosperous and caring hearts.

Secondly, these collections must be administrated rightly by God’s servants. Faithful administration is as important as gospel proclamation or care of the poor. This is a core elements of the teaching on this trip.

Notice why these two items are so important. If we focus on care of poor and without giving care to handling of financial collections, the willing giving will dry up. God’s servants must care about both spiritual and financial deposits.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

“This is the mark of Christianity: however much a man toils, and however many righteous deeds he performs, to feel that he has done nothing, and in fasting to say, “This is not fasting,” and in praying, “This is not prayer,” and in perseverance at prayer, “I have shown no perseverance; I am only just beginning to practice and to take pains”; and even if he is righteous before God, he should say, “I am not righteous, not I; I do not take pains, but only make a beginning every day.”

Macarius of Egypt (300-391) in Homily 26.

The goal of prayer, fasting, and giving in Lent is not (or ever) to think we arrive, but to learn the way of humility. Every day is simply making a beginning.

What are you learning during Lent? Has the act of setting aside your desires opened the door for new practices? I’m thinking about these topics today.

Ereny Monir, Paula Mendoza, and I will shoot the videos for Online Journey of Empowerment or JOE for short. JOE is a tool that points people to the way of humility.

It’s the path on which we are transformed and, in so doing, we serve as agents of transformation. To learn more about this replicable tool GTP is spreading around the world, click here.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” Isaiah 58:6-7

“There is a kind of fasting which is not bodily, a spiritual self-discipline which affects the soul; this abstinence from evil, and it was as a means to this that our abstinence from food was prescribed. Therefore I say to you: Fast from evil-doing, discipline yourselves from covetousness, abstain from unjust profits, starve the greed of mammon, keep in your houses no snatched or stolen treasure. For what use is it to touch no meat and to wound your brother by evil-doing? What advantage is it to forgo what is your own and to seize unjustly what is the poor’s? What piety is it to drink water and thirst for blood, weaving treachery in the wickedness of your own heart? Judas himself fasted with the eleven, but since he did not curb his love of money, his fasting availed him nothing to salvation…”

Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-395) as recounted by James Thornton in Wealth and Poverty in the Teachings of the Church Fathers (St. John Chrysostom Press) 97.

Ministry in El Salvador this week has been about loosening the chains of injustice.

Much of the majority world is locked in cycles of dependency. Part of the remedy is to teach them discipline and to avoid the love of money through the practice of voluntary, generous giving.

It’s counterintuitive and crosscultural, but we are making progress with the workers we served a year ago. Our team is filled with hope and joy for the future of the church in this country.

Pray for rest today after two full days of trainings. Pray also for continued good health for the team. We still have four more days of service here.

For those who want to make a gift to support the work, visit GTP.org. This three country trip (El Salvador, Panama, and Bolivia) is already seeing good returns.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24

“In the matter of piety, poverty serves us better than wealth, and work better than idleness, especially since wealth becomes an obstacle even for those who do not devote themselves to it. Yet, when we must put aside our wrath, quench our envy, soften our anger, offer our prayers, and show a disposition which is reasonable, mild, kindly, and loving, how could poverty stand in our way? For we accomplish these things not by spending money but by making the correct choice. Almsgiving above all else requires money, but even this shines with a brighter luster when the alms are given from our poverty. The widow who paid in the two mites was poorer than any human, but she outdid them all.”

John Chrysostom (349-407) in his treatise entitled Baptismal Instructions.

Jesus made it clear that wealth becomes an obstacle that hinders our growth in the Christian faith. Don’t let it be an obstacle for you. Make the correct choice.

I hear questions along these lines a lot when I teach on trips like this one. Is wealth bad? The answer is “No!” But the key is to make the correct choice with the material blessings God supplies.

During Lent we learn that generosity is putting to work what we possess to a level of sacrifice. In this regard, the only giving Jesus celebrates is the widow. Why? She held nothing back.

The world looks at how much we give. Jesus looks at what we hold back and what that says about our hearts. As Chrysostom put it, the widow outdid every other giver because she put in everything.