Archives by: Gary Hoag

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life [zōēn] and have it abundantly. John 10:10

“An ordinary simple Christian kneels down to say his prayers. He is trying to get into touch with God. But if he is a Christian he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God: God, so to speak, inside him. But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes through Christ, the Man who was God — that Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray, praying for him. You see what is happening. God is the thing to which he is praying—the goal he is trying to reach. God is also the thing inside him which is pushing him on—the motive power. God is also the road or bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal. So that the whole threefold life of the three-personal Being is actually going on in that ordinary little bedroom where an ordinary man is saying his prayers. The man is being caught up into the higher kinds of life—what I called Zoe or spiritual life: he is being pulled into God, by God, while still remaining himself.”

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 2001) 163.

I chose this excerpt from Mere Christianity, a must-read, classic book, for today’s meditation because I got to visit Cañon City, Colorado, this weekend with my wife. Cañon City is the home of the highest suspension bridge in the USA (pictured above). It towers about 1,000 feet above the Arkansas River. We are celebrating 25 years of marriage this year with 25 dates and visiting the park and walking across it marked special date #15 for the year. It was also a treat to ride the train through the canyon with our neighbors, Ken and Carol Sharp, with whom we laugh, play games, and encourage each other on the spiritual journey.

This grand bridge reminds me of God’s generosity to us. He reveals Himself to us. He bridges the chasm we could never cross. He even works within us to move us toward abundant life [zōēn]. As we begin this new week, join me in thanking God for His generosity toward us. Father in heaven, we thank you that you are the bridge between us and abundant life. Teach us about you daily through your Word and by your Holy Spirit at work within us. Draw us to yourself. Cause our lives to exhibit your love and generosity so that others are drawn to you too. Hear our prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

“Pastors must consistently teach and model a theology that emphasizes God’s abundant grace in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ realized through the power of the Holy Spirit. Once believers recognize and experience God’s overwhelming love and grace, the only adequate response is profound, fall-prostrate-on-one’s-face gratitude. Believers who come to a full understanding of God’s grace will want to reorient their lives as instruments of grace, living generously in all aspects of their lives…

People watch us and are attracted to expressions of faith that make a concrete difference in the world. Are we grateful, and do we model appropriate generosity? Is our own financial house in order, with no debt or, at least, with a plan that moves us towards debt-free living? Are we addressing money and generosity in a holistic and biblical manner as we communicate through the multiple arenas of our lives? Do we provide opportunities for people to learn about financial matters in ways that are helpful and specific to their lives?”

Soozi Whitten Ford in “Beyond an Oxymoron” in Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation, vol. 19 (Richmond: ESC, 2017) 28-29.

Ford gives a wake up call to pastors and others who serve in local church settings. Our example matters. If we model profound gratitude for the grace of God in our lives, so will those we serve. If we handle money differently from the world, so will those we shepherd.

I offer two words of advice to pastors. First, get your house in order. Live within your means with no debt or a plan that moves toward debt-free living and store up as much as possible in heaven. Second, talk openly about what you are learning. Do these two things and people will join you.

The measure of your giving, and that of your whole congregation, will shift (as Richard Foster once put it) from “how much of my money should I give to God to how much of God’s money do I need to keep for myself.” When that happens, generosity breaks forth.

People are watching you. Are you setting a good example?

See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know Him. 1 John 3:1

“How do we nurture a generous spirit in children when it would seem the world is about self-aggrandizement, winning, and having the most toys? While we may think children are born as empty vessels waiting for family, teachers, and (yes) the church to fill them with love, knowledge, dreams, values, and a purpose, we know that they are already born with a capacity to know God and experience love.

As caretakers of our children, we are responsible for nurturing that which already exists — providing an environment where their desire to be loved and part of a community is openly welcomed and acting as role models for what it means to be a generous, loving person made in the image of God…Offer children chances to give voluntarily to projects that excite them. Parents should look for opportunities to expose them to local ministries and people in need, explaining that they are free to give where they feel Jesus might direct them…

What is occurring in our world today should spur us on to consider how we can be more intentionally and purposefully generous, not because we have to, but because God so generously lavished God’s love on us. And we should do it in a way that lets our children see that being kind and generous is who we are, not what we do, while inviting them to be part of the giving alongside us.”

Sharon Ely Pearson in “Nurturing Children to Live Generously” in Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation, vol. 19 (Richmond: ESC, 2017) 26-27.

Can you think of ways you can be more “intentionally and purposefully” generous in order to help the next generation understand generosity? Pearson rightly reminds us that the world is filling our childrens’ minds with the opposite messages. We must do our part to nurture them to understand how to live in the way of Jesus.

Rather than “intentionally and purposefully” doing one big project with your children, nurture them through many small efforts, which collectively, help them develop a generous lifestyle. Remember, “being kind and generous is who we are, not what we do”, and it’s something we become not just as individuals but as families.

As it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” 2 Corinthians 8:15

“Conventional fundraising wisdom promotes efficiency: how to extract to maximum amount of money from
the minimum amount of donors. Thus, the efficiency model focuses first on donors who have the most money. Efficiency trumpets total dollars raised rather than how many people contributed. Doubtless readers are familiar with the large thermometer sign showing the total donations in red. I dislike fund-raising thermometers. Ten dollars from me and $499,990 from you is not a successful church capital campaign…

Could we instead measure the number of contributors? This presumes that everyone is asked to contribute. By everyone, I mean everyone – kids, youth, students, families with mortgages, seniors. Babysitting money, lemonade stands, offers to help sweep up during the construction project – all of these gifts are joyfully acknowledged and accepted, celebrated even…Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 8:15 that some have gathered much and some have gathered little. Yet in God’s economy, when we share there is enough.”

Lori Guenther Reesor in “Whose Church Is It Anyway?” in Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation, vol. 19 (Richmond: ESC, 2017) 20-21.

How we do campaigns in church and parachurch settings communicates what we believe and value. Reesor provides great wisdom here that, if applied, will help your church do more than raise up gifts. You will raise up givers who are rich toward God, and your efforts will transform the community you serve. What is her advice?

Abandon conventional paradigms. Instead rally your church family or parachurch constituency to participate in God’s work with what each person can gather and give. Celebrate that everyone can contribute from what they have. Do this and you will do more than fund your project. You will help everyone grow spiritually.

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Luke 16:9

“Deciding how to steward what God has given us at the end of our earthly lives can be difficult to think about and discuss. The legal aspects can be challenging to comprehend. Some choose to avoid what they don’t understand. A May 2016 Gallup poll showed that 56 percent of US households do not have a will [or living trust]. A Google consumer survey conducted in Canada in June 2016 showed that 62 percent of Canadian households do not have a will [or living trust].”

Marcia Shetler in “Legacy Generosity: It’s all in the (Church) Family” in Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation, vol. 19 (Richmond: ESC, 2017) 19.

Do you have a will or living trust?

Jenni and I set up a will early in our marriage after having children. Once our children reached 18 years old, we set up a living trust. We put all our assets in the trust. Here’s the list: our townhouse, two cars, two laptops, two phones, our books, our fly fishing rods, our hunting guns, our treadmill, our exercise bike, our home furnishings, our clothing, and our bank accounts.

If something happens to me or my wife, we’ve given each other the gift of far fewer headaches to deal with along with grieving because the survivor legally serves as a fellow steward of these assets. And some ask about our bank accounts. We function with what I like to describe as a mina (cf. Luke 19:11-27), which in antiquity was about three months income. It provides basic margin to live, give, serve, and love. The rest is stored up in heaven.

Need help? Put God first. Live simply. Care for the needs of your children and your aging parents. Store up as much as possible in heaven. Talk about all this with your children. Ask God for daily bread and everything else. Set up a will or preferably, a living trust, and put all the assets you steward in it, so that you are welcomed into your eternal dwelling. The family you leave behind will thank you and likely follow your example.

Sadly, I think most people don’t set up a will or living trust because they are not ready to give an account for their stewardship.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1 John 2:15

“The love of God and the love of the world, are two affections, not merely in a state of rivalship, but in a state of enmity – and that so irreconcilable, that they cannot dwell together in the same bosom. We have already affirmed how impossible it were for the heart, by any innate elasticity of its own, to cast the world away from it; and thus reduce itself to a wilderness.

The heart is not so constituted; and the only way to dispossess it of an old affection, is by the expulsive power of a new one. Nothing can exceed the magnitude of the required change in a man’s character – when bidden as he is in the New Testament, to love not the world; no, nor any of the things that are in the world for this so comprehends all that is dear to him in existence, as to be equivalent to a command of self-annihilation.

But the same revelation which dictates so mighty an obedience, places within our reach as mighty an instrument of obedience. It brings for admittance to the very door of our heart, an affection which once seated upon its throne, will either subordinate every previous inmate, or bid it away. Beside the world, it places before the eye of the mind Him who made the world and with this peculiarity, which is all its own – that in the Gospel do we so behold God, as that we may love God.

It is there, and there only, where God stands revealed as an object of confidence to sinners and where our desire after Him is not chilled into apathy, by that barrier of human guilt which intercepts every approach that is not made to Him through the appointed Mediator. It is the bringing in of this better hope, whereby we draw nigh unto God – and to live without hope, is to live without God; and if the heart be without God, then world will then have all the ascendancy. It is God apprehended by the believer as God in Christ, who alone can dispost it from this ascendancy.”

Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), Scottish minister, economist, and theologian in The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. This a great treatise worth reading.

Only when love for the world is rightly displaced by love for God in Christ in our hearts do we have a new affection and a better hope that surpasses all other affections and hopes.

What does this have to do with generosity?

If we love the world, or anything in the world, we are giving our affection and setting our hope in the wrong place. We can’t be generous because we are torn within. We think we need that which Christ calls us to let go of so we ignore Him and hold on to money and things thinking we know better!

We know this because we lived this way for years.

We have learned that Jesus is not trying to rob us, but rather trying to help us. He’s the new affection and better hope that frees us to enjoy life and things without being enslaved by them, and because we have everything we need in Him, we can enjoy and share all things freely.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

“Giving isn’t about the receiver or the gift but the giver. It’s a sign of our spiritual discipline. We give because it’s the only concrete way we have of saying that we’re glad to be alive and well. Giving is a way of taking the focus off the money we make and putting it back where it belongs — on the lives we lead, the God we serve, the families we raise, the communities which nurture us. Our spiritual condition can be summed up with this prayer: “No matter what we say or do, God, this offering is what we think of you.”

H. Fred Bernhard in “Stewardship in the Small Church” in Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation, vol. 19 (Richmond: ESC, 2017) 18.

Today is our 25th wedding anniversary. Jenni and I are celebrating this year with 25 special dates (two per month in 2017 and one today). I chose this post because I like the prayer as we celebrate this milestone together with God: “No matter what we say or do, God, this offering is what we think of you.” I love you Jenni! Thanks for offering yourself to God with me as a living sacrifice.

God, thank you for letting us live to celebrate 25 years of marriage together. You have carried us through sickness and health. Thanks for teaching us, by your Holy Spirit, that giving is not about the receivers or the gifts but about reflecting the love of Jesus to the world. Our marriage is our offering to you. May our lives bring you glory. May this be true of our brothers and sisters reading this too. Amen.

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20

“Jesus calls us to be generous global Christian disciples because we worship a generous, loving, global God. The church is now a global, multicultural reality, and there will always be room for and need of a multiethnic witness to the reconciliation that has come in Jesus Christ…

God’s presence of healing and hope carries the church through all the challenges of daily life. Small mustard seed gifts can grow into great works of holistic witness. We are called to establish global connections and share of ourselves. There is great power in the stories of what God is already doing around the globe, sharing the dreams of global leaders that may not yet be fulfilled…

The good news is not that the Church has a mission but rather that God’s mission has a Church. The Church is called to bless, restore, and heal all the peoples of our world. Our mustard seed gifts of love can change everything.”

Paula Killough in “A Case for Global Generosity: From Jerusalem to the Ends of the Earth” in Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation, vol. 19 (Richmond: ESC, 2017) 16-17.

God’s work is spreading around the world because of mustard seed gifts. People are sharing of themselves and their resources and growing as generous global Christians. As a result, many around the world are coming to know Jesus and finding hope and healing in Him.

Mostly, I appreciated how Killough concluded her case for global generosity. “The good news is not that the Church has a mission but rather that God’s mission has a Church.” You and I, along with brothers and sisters around the world are God’s Church.

We are God’s instrument for extending blessing, restoration, and healing to the world. How do we do this? With humble faith and mustard seed gifts!

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13

“We are wired to contribute, not consume. Lives of consumption isolate our souls from the true source of happiness. Contributing to the well-being of another turns out to be the most powerful and undervalued expression of generosity.”

John Stanley in his Generosity Gameplan blog post entitled “Edward” dated 27 June 2017.

Society tells that life is found in consuming things. Through a powerful post in which he shares about the loss of a generous friend, John Stanley reminds us that God made us for more than consumption. He wired each one of us to contribute.

And our contributions take many forms that are not monetary. People commonly celebrate financial contributions to organizations, and often overlook small things like contributing to the well-being of others. These contributions are often the most powerful and undervalued expressions of generosity.

Regardless of what others are saying and doing, let’s serve one another humbly in love! I am excited to do that from home in Colorado (pictured above on our walk last night) as I don’t have another trip planned for six weeks. Our loving service to those around us may be the greatest gift we give to God and others!

You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinthians 9:11

“The church is the ultimate resource to show love and kindness to poor and needy to bring them back toward God. To be generous on every occasion requires faith to believe that God will, indeed, care for our needs if we show His love by caring for others…God is the main source of everything, whatever possessions we have will pass away, so we have to be careful in the area of giving and receiving.”

Khuram Masih, student at Torch Trinity Graduate University in his Philosophy of Biblical Stewardship Paper dated 2 July 2017.

Khuram is a passionate follower of Christ from Pakistan. In his paper he emphasized that God is the main source and we are the ultimate resource in order to drive home the point that we are the hands and feet of Jesus to bring people to God through how we generously show love and kindness rooted in deep faith.

He rightly urges God’s people to be careful in giving and receiving because we must do rightly on both counts in order to bless others on every occasion. How are you at giving and receiving? Someday you will meet the main source, face to face, and have to give an account for your stewardship. Are you ready?

Start preparing your response through careful giving and receiving from this day forward. Hear this charge not from someone who lives in luxury, but from a fellow believer who is surrounded by poverty and persecution. Masih believes this lifestyle will bring the poor (that is, the spiritually and materially poor) back to God.