Archives by: Gary Hoag

Imagine a leader with such a generous reputation…

“[Constantine] distributed money largely to those who were in need…and even for the beggars in the forum, miserable and shiftless, he provided, not with money only, or necessary food, but also decent clothing. But in the case of those who had once been prosperous, and had experienced a reverse of circumstances, his aid was still more lavishly bestowed…

Orphans of the unfortunate he cared for as a father, while he relieved the destitution of widows, and cared for them with special solicitude…In short, as the sun, when he rises upon the earth, liberally imparts his rays of light to all, so did Constantine, proceeding at early dawn from the imperial palace…It was scarcely possible to be near him without receiving some benefit, nor did it ever happen that any who had expected to obtain his assistance were disappointed in their hope.”

Eusebius Pamphilius (263-339) in The Life of Constantine Book I, Chapter XLIII. “Constantine’s Liberality to the Poor.” Eusebius also authored the more famous work, Ecclesiastical History, the most comprehensive account available to us today of the early church from the first to the fourth centuries.

Here in The Life of Constantine, Eusebius undoubtedly employs hyperbole, but behind the flowery language is a legacy of generosity. Constantine clearly followed the instructions of his good teacher, Lactantius (featured yesterday). Constantine’s care for the poor demonstrated a radical, biblical shift from prevailing Roman norms to align with the teachings of Jesus (cf. Matthew 25:31-46).

Speaking of good teachers, Sammy and I are fly fishing today in West Puget Sound with 2011 Orvis endorsed Fly Fishing Guide of the Year, Derek Young. Our aim is to learn about catching the Coastal Cutthroat Trout, one of only a few sea run species of trout. As Sammy is a licensed outfitter and fly fishing guide (www.sammysflyshop.com), we are getting some outdoor education and enjoying God’s creation in Washington for a few days, while celebrating the completion of his first year of college.

Today’s post is admittedly long, but there is treasure below for the one who reads these words from the tutor of the first Christian Roman Emperor.

“The ransoming of captives is a great and noble exercise of justice…I greatly prefer this practice of liberality to lavish expenditure on shows…For it is deserving of the greatest praise for those to confer benefit from whom no one expected such conduct. For he who does good to a relative, or neighbour, or friend, either deserves no praise, or certainly no great praise, because he is bound to do it, and he would be impious and detestable if he did not do that which both nature itself and relationship require; and if he does it, he does it not so much for the sake of obtaining glory as of avoiding censure.

But he who does it to a stranger and an unknown person, he truly is worthy of praise, because he was led to do it by kindness only [cf. Luke 6:27-36]. Justice therefore exists there, where there is no obligation of necessity for conferring a benefit. He ought not therefore to have preferred this duty of generosity to expenditure on shows; for this is the part of one making a comparison, and of two goods choosing that which is the better…

Nor is it less a great work of justice to protect and defend orphans and widows who are destitute and stand in need of assistance; and therefore that divine law prescribes this to all, since all good judges deem that it belongs to their office to favour them with natural kindness, and to strive to benefit them. But these works are especially ours, since we have received the law, and the words of God Himself giving us instructions. For they perceive that it is naturally just to protect those who need protection, but they do not perceive why it is so. For God, to whom everlasting mercy belongs, on this account commands that widows and orphans should be defended and cherished…

Some one will perhaps say: If I shall do all these things, I shall have no possessions. For what if a great number of men shall be in want, shall suffer cold, shall be taken captive, shall die, since one who acts thus must deprive himself of his property even in a single day, shall I throw away the estate acquired by my own labour or by that of my ancestors, so that after this I myself must live by the pity of others?

Why do you so pusillanimously fear poverty, which even your philosophers praise, and bear witness that nothing is safer and nothing more calm than this? That which you fear is a haven against anxieties. Do you not know to how many dangers, to how many accidents, you are exposed with these evil resources? These will treat you well if they shall pass without your bloodshed. But you walk about laden with booty, and you bear spoils which may excite the minds even of your own relatives. Why, then, do you hesitate to lay that out well which perhaps a single robbery will snatch away from you, or a proscription suddenly arising, or the plundering of an enemy? Why do you fear to make a frail and perishable good everlasting, or to entrust your treasures to God as their preserver, in which case you need not fear thief and robber, nor rust, nor tyrant? He who is rich towards God can never be poor.”

Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 260-330) known as “Lactantius” for short, was the pupil of Arnobius (highlighted yesterday) and the personal teacher to the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine (272-337). His work, which endeavored to teach the heathen how to live Christianly, is titled, The Divine Institutes, and this excerpt comes from Book VI “On True Worship” and Chapter XII “Of the kinds of beneficence, and works of mercy.”

Here Lactantius teaches Constantine (and us) that setting captives free is a better use of money than heading to a show. It’s fine to go to shows on special occasions, but life is more than entertainment. God has placed us here to care for widows, orphans, and the sick (cf. Matthew 25:31-46). He also instructs that we deploy financial resources at our disposal toward such efforts, all the while not fearing poverty, but storing up treasures in heaven. Then he announces (I believe rightly!) that the one “who is rich towards God can never be poor.” Amen! I will undoubtedly recount this quote in a sermon I am preparing to deliver in Korea on 21 June 2015 on the text below.

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” Luke 12:13-21

“Christ performed all those miracles which He wrought without any aid from external things, without the observance of any ceremonial, without any definite mode of procedure, but solely by the inherent might of His authority; and as was the proper duty of the true God, as was consistent with His nature, as was worthy of Him, in the generosity of His bounteous power He bestowed nothing hurtful or injurious, but only that which is helpful, beneficial, and full of blessings good for men.”

Arnobius of Sicca (located in modern day Tunisia, North Africa) was an early church apologist (died c. 330). During some of the last and bloodiest persecutions that Christians endured under Roman Emperor Diocletian (284-305), he who wrote The Seven Books of Arnobius Against the Heathen and this excerpt comes from Book I, Chapter XLIV (written c. 297-303). Why cite Arnobius today as I walk through early church history?

In brutal times, when sinful man performs horrible atrocities such as persecution, many people today (as well as during the days of the early church) are quick to blame God for what’s happening. We must follow the example of Arnobius and announce that while these acts are horrific, God is not the one to blame, for “in the generosity of His bounteous power He bestowed nothing hurtful or injurious, but only that which is helpful, beneficial, and full of blessings.”

Jesus, the Son of God, went around doing good (cf. Acts 10:38). As His children so must we empowered by the Holy Spirit! Should God allow our generation to suffer, we must follow Jesus’ exhortation to love our enemies (cf. Matthew 5:43-48). Likewise, Paul calls us to take a loving posture. Listen to his words to the Christians who suffered greatly in Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21

“This best of maxims, then, ought to be perpetually repeated, that the good man, being temperate and just, treasures up his wealth in heaven. He who has sold his worldly goods, and given them to the poor, finds the imperishable treasure, where is neither moth nor robber…He alone, who possesses what is worth most, turns out truly rich, though not recognised as such…It is not he who has and keeps, but he who gives away, that is rich; and it is giving away, not possession, which renders a man happy; and the fruit of the Spirit is generosity.”

Titus Flavius Clemens, a.k.a. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) in The Pædagogus Book III, Chapter VI “The Christian Alone Rich.”

On The Pædagogus, or The Instructor (c. 198), Philip Schaff notes in Apostolic Fathers that Clement addresses it “to those who have been rescued from the darkness and pollutions of heathenism, and is an exhibition of Christian morals and manners—a guide for the formation and development of Christian character, and for living a Christian life.” With the clarity of Jesus in the Gospels and the boldness of Paul to the Galatians, Clement proclaims: Don’t believe what the world says or you won’t “turn out truly rich.” I concur wholeheartedly!

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Galatians 5:16-23

“For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners.

As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring [lit “cast away fetuses”]. They have a common table, but not a common [lit. “unclean”] bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.

They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich [cf. 2 Corinthians 6:10]; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.”

Mathetes in The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus 10. In Apostolic Fathers, Philip Schaff notes that the anonymous author of this epistle (c. 130) gives himself the title (Mathetes) “a disciple of the Apostles” as he was likely a student of Paul or one of the apostle’s associates.

Notice the beautiful simplicity and generous lifestyle celebrated here. The early church Christians lived in this world but not of this world (cf. John 17:16). Likewise, let us be people who pass our days on earth as citizens of heaven. Let us enrich the lives of others, and always repay evil with good.

“What shall we do, then, brethren? Shall we become slothful in well-doing, and cease from the practice of love? God forbid that any such course should be followed by us! But rather let us hasten with all energy and readiness of mind to perform every good work. For the Creator and Lord of all Himself rejoices in His works.

For by His infinitely great power He established the heavens, and by His incomprehensible wisdom He adorned them. He also divided the earth from the water which surrounds it, and fixed it upon the immoveable foundation of His own will. The animals also which are upon it He commanded by His own word into existence. So likewise, when He had formed the sea, and the living creatures which are in it, He enclosed them [within their proper bounds] by His own power. Above all, with His holy and undefiled hands He formed man, the most excellent [of His creatures], and truly great through the understanding given him— the express likeness of His own image. For thus says God: “Let us make man in Our image, and after Our likeness. So God made man; male and female He created them.” Having thus finished all these things, He approved them, and blessed them, and said, “Increase and multiply.”

We see, then, how all righteous men have been adorned with good works, and how the Lord Himself, adorning Himself with His works, rejoiced. Having therefore such an example, let us without delay accede to His will, and let us work the work of righteousness with our whole strength.”

Clement of Rome (30-100) in 1 Clement 33, a.k.a. the first letter of Clement to the Corinthians 33. As I prepare for teaching this summer, I plan to walk through church history in my daily study for fresh inspiration. Early this morning I read excerpts from the Apostolic Fathers. Clement of Rome is a personal favorite, as he is thought to be the same Clement who was co-worker of the Apostle Paul mentioned in Philippians 4:3.

Clement exhorts fellow Christ followers (and us) to “hasten with all energy and readiness of mind to perform every good work” inspired by God’s good works evidenced in all of creation. As we enjoy the beauty of Spring, may we hasten to “work the work of righteousness with our whole strength” so that as people see our good works, they will glorify our Father who is in Heaven (cf. Matthew 5:16).

Want to hear a great song about sacrificial giving before it goes mainstream? Click to enjoy “Living Sacrifice” by Anthony Badell.

Every little thing and all that I have gained from you
Every little part all of my own heart for you
More than I have seen and more than I have known is you
You have given more than I could ever know or use

So I’ll worship with my life
A living sacrifice
You are source of everything
You are all I have my King

So all I have is yours my heart, my mind, and soul to lose
You can have it all to use me in the world for you
Teach me how to give a brand new way to live life through
To move in every way that gives my life away to you

Anthony Badell leads contemporary worship for Holy Cross Lutheran Church (ELCA), Overland Park, KS. Why share a song today?

I am traveling today and one thing I love to do when I travel is brand truth on my soul through tunes! I love listening to Christian music, so I hope you enjoy this song!

“Today I sow for a Great Awakening. Today, I stake everything on the promise of the Word of God. I depend entirely on the power of the Holy Spirit. I have the same mind in me that was in Christ Jesus. Because Jesus is good news and Jesus is in me I am good news. Today, I will sow the extravagance of the Gospel everywhere I go and into everyone I meet. Today, I will love others as Jesus has loved me. Today, I will remember that the tiniest seeds become the tallest trees; that the seeds sown today become the shade of tomorrow; that the faith of right now becomes the future of the everlasting Kingdom. Today, I sow for a Great Awakening.”

J.D. Walt in “The Sower’s Creed” on the back cover of “Seedbed Sower’s Almanac” for the growing season of our Lord 2015-2016.

Last night I had the privilege of table fellowship, an evening walk, and prayer with J.D. at Asbury Theological Seminary. He recited “The Sower’s Creed” to me while we were together. I exclaimed, “Amen, brother!” Together we are committed to sowing generously, all we are and all we have, for a Great Awakening. Care to join us?

Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. Ecclesiastes 11:6

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 2 Corinthians 9:6

Video shooting linked to the “Faith and Finances” videos went well yesterday. Thanks for your prayers. We invite you to continue to pray for us today that things wrap up smoothly.

“Ultimately, we cannot stand still or tread water in the Christian life. We are either moving closer toward God and learning to better love our neighbor, or we are missing opportunities to further express our love for God and neighbor and gradually moving away from God.

The goal of every Christian should be to become a disciple, a follower, of Jesus Christ. People do not learn how to follow Jesus by reading books about following Jesus. We learn how to follow Jesus by following him, even if by fits and starts.”

Kevin M. Watson in The Class Meeting: Reclaiming a Forgotten (and Essential) Small Group Experience (Wilmore, KY: Seedbed, 2014) 15.

This book champions a conversation-driven versus content-driven small group format (much like The Alpha Course). So why cite Watson today? I pray my forthcoming “Faith and Finances” curriculum and the 12 corresponding “seven-minute seminary” videos we are shooting today and tomorrow will get people talking in similar fashion. I’ll let you all know when they are available to view freely online.

Following Jesus “even if by fits and starts” as Watson puts it, is the only way to live. We learn by doing it. My family has found this is especially true linked to generosity. We did not realize what it meant to be conduits of spiritual and material blessings until we started doing it!

“Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.” Luke 16:2

“In so many respects are the children of men stewards of the Lord, the Possessor of heaven and earth: So large a portion of His goods, of various kinds, hath he committed to their charge. But it is not forever, nor indeed for any considerable time: We have this trust reposed in us only during the short, uncertain space that we sojourn here below; only so long as we remain on earth, as this fleeting breath is in our nostrils.

The hour is swiftly approaching, it is just at hand, when we “can be no longer stewards!”

The moment the body “returns to the dust as it was, and the Spirit to God that gave it,” we bear that character no more; the time of our stewardship is at an end. Part of those goods wherewith we were before entrusted are now come to an end; at least, they are so with regard to us; nor are we longer entrusted with them: And that part which remains can no longer be employed or improved as it was before.

John Wesley (1703-1791) in “The Good Steward” Sermon 51.2.1.

The world wants each of us to think that life is a long journey during which we are our own master. Alternatively, God’s Word and John Wesley with passion teach us that life is a “short, uncertain space” in which we serve as stewards of gifts, goods, and the greatest treasure of all, the gospel. Thus, we must live in a state of readiness to give an account for our stewardship. Are you ready?

Today I am flying to Kentucky to shoot twelve seven-minute videos that will correspond to the twelve modules of my forthcoming “Faith and Finances” curriculum. Pray for me. I will also fellowship with Jay Mansur, J.D. Walt, and others. Can’t wait! Why shoot these and make them freely available? I want to inspire Christians to faithful stewardship so that they hear two words from the Master: “Well done!”