Archives by: Gary Hoag

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47

“The handling of possessions in the early church was motivated and influenced by its understanding of God’s intent for and absolute ownership of the created world. While early Christian authors in general affirmed the legitimacy of private property, they considered it a share of the common creation intended for the common good.

All material goods are God’s gracious gifts intended for sustenance of all humans, through common access to His grace. Therefore, human possession of earthly wealth is good when it fulfills God’s creative purpose — sufficient provision of our needs and the needs of others for common enjoyment and flourishing.

On the one hand, this understanding affirms the material dimension of human needs. It also shows the appropriateness and necessity of providing for needs following God’s design for life and the common enjoyment of earthly goods. On the other hand, it reveals that the needs of others must matter in human stewardship of God-given possessions. This should influence our decisions about money or property. Human stewardship is always conditional in light of God’s absolute ownership and creative purpose (the common good).

Beyond sufficient provision and common enjoyment, we do not have a natural right to hoard money, indulge in riches, and display wealth conspicuously. These are all symptoms of avarice and greed. Our possessions, even as the fruits of our hard work, are always contingent upon our broader social responsibility and our witness to God’s ultimate ownership. Moreover, while all wealth ultimately comes from God, wealth brings a real and powerful temptation and deceitfulness that easily leads to idolatry and injustice.”

Helen Rhee in her three-page essay “How might the practices of the early church inform our handling of
possessions in modern times?” in Purposeful Living: Financial Wisdom for All of Life compiled and edited by Gary G. Hoag and Tim Macready (Rhodes, NSW: Christian Super, 2018) 102-104. Click on the title to download this free ebook from the Global Generosity Roundtable 2018.

I’m turning my attention from the topic of ‘gratitude’ to sharing excerpts from Purposeful Living: Financial Wisdom for All of Life because it is filled with so many helpful thoughts worth contemplating and sharing.

Today’s thoughts come from Helen Rhee, a professor of History of Christianity at Westmont College and author of numerous books on the rich and poor in the early church. She helps us grasp the early church mindset regarding handling possessions, which helps explain the generosity we see in today’s Scripture passage. The operative word is ‘common’ both in the biblical text and her comments.

Material wealth was to be enjoyed and shared in a manner that made known common grace and preserved the common good. Expressions like ‘mine’ or ‘yours’ we not linked to possessions because everything belonged to God and was to be stewarded according to His purposes. For more on what that might look like today, download the free ebook and read her short essay. It’s absolutely brilliant!

Seeing the generous example of those who walked with Jesus inspires me and my family to continue to live simply, label as ‘common’ what possessions we steward, and share generously. In so doing, we limit temptations to sin associated with wealth, we are positioned to make available what we possess for ministering to others, and most importantly, we show God’s love to a watching world. Care to join us?

I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. Proverbs 8:12

“As the Bible teaches clearly, God is the only Owner of all resources and we are stewards or managers of what He has endowed us. So, how we steward becomes a holy responsibility before our sovereign and generous Lord. In gratitude for this privilege, I encourage people to choose prudence in managing God’s resources in every area of LIFE — labor, influence, finances, and expertise.

Prudence in relationship to our labor means we that we spend ourselves and our time strategically as unto the Lord (see Colossians 3:23), while weighing the impact of our efforts on our health and family. The extremes get us into trouble. Overworking can lead to physical problems, and laziness leads to ruin (see Proverbs 21:25).

Prudence associated with our influence means that we leverage our relationships to advance God’s purposes. We don’t do this to manipulate people or to control circumstances. We do it as humble stewards who simply acknowledge that “for such a time as this” God, perhaps, has put us in a place to make a difference for Him (see Esther 4:14).

Prudence with finances, as I have said, calls us to resist cultural and social pressures and pursue contentment and practice minimalism so we have margin for enjoyment and generosity (see 1 Timothy 6:17-19)…

Lastly, prudence with regard to expertise means that we discern the unique contribution God has equipped us to make in the various circles in which we move. We use the gift that God has given us to serve others (see 1 Peter 4:10-11).”

Sung Wook Chung in his three-page essay “What does it mean to be prudent in relationship to money?” in Purposeful Living: Financial Wisdom for All of Life compiled and edited by Gary G. Hoag and Tim Macready (Rhodes, NSW: Christian Super, 2018) 88-90. Click on the title to download this free ebook from the Global Generosity Roundtable 2018.

Today’s post, brings our current theme of “gratitude” into view with another quote from the ebook I helped compile and edit. I hope all Daily Meditations readers will download freely at the link above. Feel free to also share it with others. In his essay, Chung combines gratitude with a profound idea from wisdom literature: prudence.

Reflect today on what message your stewardship of LIFE — labor, influence, finances, and expertise — sends to those around you, but more importantly, to our sovereign and generous Lord. Do you exhibit gratitude for the privilege of serving as a steward? What about prudence? To live with gratitude and prudence means you take your stewardship of LIFE seriously by combining knowledge with discretion. In modern times, we call it living with intentionality. You know what to do and how to do it because you base your decisions not on worldly thinking but on biblical wisdom, which tends to teach the opposite of what the world says to do.

Father, by your Holy Spirit, help me exhibit gratitude and prudence in every aspect of LIFE. Show me where I have room for growth so that others see You through my labor, influence, finances, and expertise. Hear my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14

“God cares about each of us. He allows us to steward financial resources for His glory and our good. He knows that as we glorify Him out of gratitude for His gifts to us, we experience true life. And He desires that we reflect His generosity through our giving. In giving, it can help to start with three questions: Why should I give? How do I give? Where should I give? Often, we tend to give in areas of personal passion, or to places we care about. But we may have this a bit backward. We must put God at the center of the equation and see what He thinks. If we make obedience to God and reflecting His love to the world our supreme motivation, then giving comes into view as an excellent context to glorify God.”

David Wills in his three-page essay “Does God care where we give?” in Purposeful Living: Financial Wisdom for All of Life compiled and edited by Gary G. Hoag and Tim Macready (Rhodes, NSW: Christian Super, 2018) 61. Click on the title to download this free ebook from the Global Generosity Roundtable 2018.

In the larger context of today’s Scripture, Habakkuk announces woes to those who practice injustice and aim at selfish gain. He proclaims that God’s purposes will ultimately be accomplished and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of His glory. What’s this have to do with our current theme of gratitude as it relates to generosity?

When we think we have earned what we possess, our hearts are filled with entitlement rather than gratitude and we put ourselves at the center of of our giving. The conversations sound like this: “Give to the things that bring you the most joy” or “Give to what matters most to you.” I concur with Wills that this thinking is backwards.

Instead, we must put God at the center. We do this by acknowledging with gratitude that all we possess came from God and by making obedience to God and reflecting His love our chief motivations. On this path, we truly take hold of life as we realize that we are resourced to participate with Him in accomplishing His purposes worldwide.

For more on putting God at the center of your generosity, so that your giving reflects gratitude to God and advances His purposes, read the entire three-page essay from David Wills on pages 61-63 of Purposeful Living: Financial Wisdom for All of Life. Again, click the title to download the free ebook today.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let these learn first to show piety towards their own homes and to prove their gratitude to their parents; for this is well pleasing in the sight of God. 1 Timothy 5:4

“Paul distinguishes “widows indeed” from “widows” who have living children or grandchildren. He charges the family of these widows to take care of them, based on two principles: righteousness and gratitude.

Paul called upon these families to “practice piety,” drawing upon the verb form of the noun “godliness,” a supremely important word throughout the letter (2:2; 3:16; 6:3, 5-6, 11). The purpose of pastoral ministry and the work of the church is to help its members lead godly lives (1:5), and this includes taking care of their own.

Paul also appealed to them on the basis of gratitude. Children and grandchildren owe their very existence to their parents’ willingness to sacrifice comfort in order to provide for them and protect them. Their mothers, especially, bore them in their bodies and then delivered them through incredible discomfort and pain at childbirth. If the desire to be righteous were not enough, gratitude alone should prompt children to care for their widowed mothers.”

Charles R. Swindoll in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus (SLSNTC; Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 2014) 106.

In plain terms, generosity must start at home before we export it elsewhere.

God’s righteous design for us as followers of Christ is to care for our aging parents, especially widows. This care is not only the right or godly thing to do, it must abound from a heart filled with gratitude that our parents sacrificed comfort for us as their children. We get to return the favor!

As our own son and daughter are launching as adults, we are turning our attention what assisting our parents looks like. All four, Jenni’s parents and mine, are still living, however, they are not getting any younger.

We’ve watched how our friends have cared for their parents to learn. My close friend, Tom Assmus, moved his mom to be closer to him in Colorado when she was an aging widow. That, in part, inspired me to urge my parents to live closer to my brother in Florida. I offered Colorado, but the weather down there is much more favorable for them. In our case, should something happen to Dad (or Mom), the remaining parent will be close to the oldest child, which means Heather, my sister, and I, will get to sacrifice comfort in other ways to offer assistance. We are also thinking about what this might look like for Jenni’s parents.

Recently, another friend, Chi-Chung Keung, took his mother out to the movies on a date! I saw a cute picture of them at the theatre on Facebook. What a beautiful example of tender loving care.

I am growing convinced that our family relations are the greatest testimony of our faith and the arena where our generosity must be most faithfully practiced. God help us sacrifice comfort to show tender loving care to our aging parents to prove our gratitude.

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:16

“Gratitude in the heart must come to expression in actual, verbal giving thanks to the Father “through” Christ. Some interpreters think that Christ is the basis for the giving of thanks. But Paul’s choice of construction should be honored: the giving of thanks is not “because of” Christ (dia with accusative) but “through” Christ (dia with genitive). In keeping with the way in which Colossians persistently presents Christ as the Mediator of all that God is to the world and to the believer, so Christ mediates our thanksgiving to the Father.”

Douglas Moo in The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (PNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008) 291.

Express the gratitude of your heart by singing to God and give thanks to God because through Christ you have a relationship with God.

But what’s the link to generosity?

When we let the message of Christ dwell among us richly in community, generosity becomes the overflow of God’s rich work in us toward others. To release this richness in our lives, try reading Psalm 103 which recounts God’s many blessings to you, and sing a hymn or a contemporary worship song.

What does teaching and admonishing have to do with all this?

We must teach one another to cultivate gratitude in our hearts. Any richness we enjoy is a gift from Christ for our enjoyment and sharing.

The admonishing part is warning each other not to think what we have is from our own effort or doing. Entitlement thinking is the enemy of grace. If a person thinks they earned anything that they have, they not only misunderstand grace, but ingratitude abounds in their hearts which thwarts generosity.

“The message of Christ” is grace. All we are and all we have is because of the grace of Christ. Getting this is right helps grow in gratitude and rich generosity.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

“Paul’s theology ends in doxology, a doxology that he himself speaks on behalf of the Corinthians, the Jerusalem Christians, and all who are involved in the collection. All of them fade into the background. Thanksgiving belongs to the one true Giver alone. Again, he uses the term charis, his thanksgiving is implicitly nothing other than the receipt of the charis, the grace and giving of God…

But what is the gift that Paul has in mind? We know it’s contours. It involves God’s self-giving in Christ, the wonder of His taking upon Himself our poverty, sin, and guilt; the wonder in which He has made us rich. It entails Christ’s grace, which not only meets our every need but also elevates us to share in the divine giving.

It includes God’s creation of true community in which the reality of giving is present. We cannot go further than a mere outline of the dimensions of this gift. To attempt to define the gift that Paul names, to pin down and describe it without reserve, would be to violate his intentional silence. He himself names it merely as a “gift,” leaving any further definition aside.

The story of God’s gift of Himself for our salvation cannot finally be told in full. It is unspeakably wonderful. Yet precisely because it is unspeakably wonderful, it must be spoken and retold again and again. If we could narrate it and tell it in full, we would cease speaking it. But it can never be exhausted, never fully explored, never fully explained or defined. It is to issue ever afresh in thanksgiving, praise and song — and giving, not only with the Corinthians, but also with us.”

Mark A. Seifrid in The Second Letter to the Corinthians (PNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014) 367.

To grow in gratitude and generosity, take time to reflect and thank God for the unspeakably wonderful gift of Christ today. Tell someone about your experience with gratitude. Ask God how you should extend His grace and generosity to others today.

What are you waiting for? God’s gracious giving came to you on the way to someone else. And don’t seek or expect thanks in return. “Thanksgiving belongs to the one true Giver alone.” You are not the giver, only the channel of generosity from the unspeakably wonderful Giver.

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2

“Prayer and thanksgiving can never be dissociated from each other in the Christian life. The remembrance of former mercies not only produces spontaneous praise and worship; it is also a powerful incentive to renewed believing prayer. Our Lord’s words to His disciples, “Keep awake, and pray not to fail in the test” (Mark 14:38), had special relevance to the trial of faith which faced them in the immediate future, but they have a message for his people at all times. He taught his hearers that they “ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Men and women of persistent prayer are those who are constantly on the alert, alive to the will of God and the need of the world, and ready to give an account of themselves and their stewardship.”

F.F. Bruce in The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984) 172.

We cultivate gratitude through persistent prayer. We must be awake and alert to all that is going on around us, or as Bruce aptly sums it up: “alive to the will of God and the need of the world, and ready to give an account” of ourselves and our stewardship to God.

Bruce used another expression that enlivens the biblical idea of being watchful, thankful, and prayerful people: “The remembrance of former mercies not only produces spontaneous praise and worship; it is also a powerful incentive to renewed believing prayer.”

Often in our home, in good times like on a birthday or anniversary or in hard times when we are praying for God to supply daily bread or help meet a need, we will go through the alphabet together and give thanks to God for His faithfulness to us. A, B, C, and so on.

We state something we are thankful for that starts with each letter, and we take turns so everyone participates. Try this today. Take time to give thanks for God’s grace (unmerited favor) and mercy (not giving you what you deserve). Cultivate watchfulness and gratitude.

Now on His way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As He was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met Him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When He saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him — and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then He said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:11-19

“The lepers do not plead for healing — perhaps they have long abandoned such hope. Their plea, though, is a virtual prayer, “Have pity on us.” The Greek expression is a petition befitting God, and for the grace and mercy only God can give. Jesus does not touch them (as he does, for example in Mark 1:41), promise them healing, or directly acknowledge their request. Rather, he orders them to present themselves to the priests…

The command itself is curious, for self-presentation to priests was the legal prescription for those who had already been healed (Leviticus 14:2-4). Jesus commands the men to act proleptically, in other words, to act on a reality that is not yet actual. In doing so, He repeats an idea taught in the Lord’s Prayer, the petition to live in the presence of the promises. As the lepers acted on Jesus’ commandment, “they were cleansed.”…

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.”… Here the concrete act of returning is also symbolic of converting to faith. The man returned to praise Jesus not when he had been declared clean by a priest, but when he “saw that he was healed.”… The description of his returning to praise God is remarkably close in wording to the shepherds praising God after returning to visit the infant Jesus (Luke 2:20). “To praise (or glorify) God” is a quintessential Lukan expression…”

James R. Edwards in The Gospel According to Luke (PNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015) 483-484.

I have decided to shift from gain to gratitude and explore its relationship to generosity. In Luke’s Gospel, gratitude is about praising God. Giving thanks and credit to God for all that is good (such as the sunset last night, pictured above). As Edwards notes, we live into this reality when we “act proleptically” which is “to act on a reality that is not yet actual.”

In plain terms, this means we get to wake up everyday with thankfulness to God. We don’t wait for something to happen. We live in the reality of His goodness that never ceases toward us and acknowledge it with praise. Or, as Edwards describes it, we “live in the presence of the promises.” What a privilege! We a generous God we serve.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of another day to enjoy and share. By the Holy Spirit, help us act proleptically, in the presence of Your promises. Like the tenth leper, may our gratitude show the world Your generosity. We were once foreigners, and now we are family, thanks to Your grace, mercy, and love. Hear our praise in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Ill-gotten gains do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. Proverbs 10:2

“The coming of the kingdom into our lives challenges us to resolve the issue of how we use power. Each of us, to some degree, exerts personal influence and power. We are tempted to use it for our advantage. This can happen in our work relationships or at home in our personal relationships. What about those “power plays” we make with our colleagues, spouses, and children? We are tempted to take advantage of others because of our position of privilege. The Bible considers it a grievous sin to take advantage of another person by misusing our position of power and influence. Jesus had more problems with the religious leaders of his day who used their power for selfish purposes than with any other group of people. In practical terms, it is a grievous sin to take advantage of the elderly because of our youth, to take advantage of the weak because of our strength, to take advantage of the poor because of our wealth, or to take advantage of a lesser employee because of our seniority or status. Do you get the picture? How great is the temptation to misuse what God has given to us for personal advantage.”

John Stroman in Pray in This Way: Sermons on the Lord’s Prayer (Protestant Pulpit Exchange; Nashville: Abingdon, 1995) excerpt from Chapter Three.

This look at gain brings into view the “ill-gotten gains” that do not profit and lead to destruction. These awful gains surface when we misuse our position and influence instead of following God’s right and righteous design when we serve in positions of authority. This abuse was common among the religious leaders in the time of Christ and persists in that group today.

Sadly, the newspapers and internet report numerous examples of ministry leaders, both Catholic and Protestant, who have misused their positions and committed sins linked to money and sex from their position of power. How can we avoid this? What can we do to prevent it? And how to we exhibit generosity toward perpetrators and victims?

Stroman offers us advice for avoiding these grievous sins. If, in God’s providence, we ascend to a position of power, we must not selfishly misuse it, but see it as an opportunity to serve others more generously. Hoarding gain in the form of power or money is a recipe for disaster. The righteous avoiding selfishness by serving everyone with humility and generosity.

When we read stories of the sins of religious leaders, the injustice angers us. Ill-gotten gains have pillaged victims. What should we do? We must remove perpatrators from power and minister to victims. We must forgive sinners as we have been forgiven. We can take solace in texts like Ezekiel 34:1-11. God will weed out selfish shepherds! Share that truth generously.

Father, the world tells us to seek power to “get ahead” of those around us. Society says to hoard the gain we make because “we earned it.” These are lies. By your Holy Spirit, help us live differently, give generously, and serve humbly. Forgive us for our selfishness. Help us model selfless service like your Son, Jesus. In Your mercy hear our prayer in His name. Amen. 

Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless — not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Titus 1:7

“Paul’s primary concern is not finding people with the best skills. His primary concern is character… Skills used for selfish ends become destructive. We see this often enough in history. The tyrants of the world do not get where they are simply through luck. They are people — great orators, charismatic personalities, and strategic thinkers. These skills combine to make them effective leaders, who achieve their aims. The problem is not their capabilities, but their characters. Their aims are selfish and bring misery to those they lead. Such extremes may be less common in the church — but it is not unusual for a gifted person to rise quickly only then to crash — and their church crashes with them.”

Tim Chester in Titus for You (Surrey: The Good Book Company, 2014) 33-34.

Often people think of dishonest gain as gain made through nefarious activities. While that’s undoubtedly part of it, as we have explored the idea of ‘gain’ in the biblical record, there’s another layer that surfaces. What we do with gain makes it either good or bad. When retained for “selfish ends” or one’s own purposes, it actually ruins the person, the gain, and adversely impacts the community of faith. When, alternatively, gain is used for God’s purposes, which are enjoyment and sharing, it enhances the character of the person, reflects God’s design for the use of gain, and blesses the community. While today’s Scripture relates to overseers in God’s house, it reflects the exemplary behavior we should all seek to exhibit.

Father in heaven help us use the skills You have given us for Your glory. Shape our character as selfless servants who earn gain in honest ways and use it with integrity. By your Holy Spirit, as we earn gain honestly, keep us from acting like dishonest robbers who keep for ourselves what belongs to You and what You have entrusted to us for the good of those around us. Mammon’s power is strong and sweeps many people away. Lest we lose our souls, help us maintain the right perspective on gain. In your mercy, hear my prayer for all of us, in the name of Jesus. Amen.