Meditations

Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 2 Corinthians 9:13

“Towards the end of an extended discussion about his collection for the poor among Jerusalem Jesus-followers (2 Corinthians 8-9), Paul broadens the frame of reference to speak not only of the Corinthians’ generosity towards the Jerusalem Jesus-followers, as evidenced by their collection efforts, but also of their generosity towards all others: “by the generosity of your contribution for them [i.e., Jerusalem Jesus-followers] and for all [others]”.

When considering Paul’s attitude towards poverty, this simple phrase is far from being a casual throw-away line. It is indicative of a person whose concern for one particular subset of people arises from a more general concern for those in material need. In Paul’s view, the generosity of the Corinthians towards other Jesus-followers in Jerusalem did not comprise a circumstantial and isolated event that, once completed, fulfilled and concluded their obligations to the economically disadvantaged.

Neither was their generosity to the Jerusalem Jesus-followers expected to derail all other forms of generosity while the collection was in progress. Instead, for Paul, Corinthian generosity represented an instantiation of a general practice of generosity that was to characterize the ongoing corporate life of Jesus followers “for all” of the needy.”

Bruce Longenecker in Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty, and the Greco-Roman World (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010) 140-141.

Longenecker was among the participants at the Global Generosity Roundtable. Afresh I was inspired by his meticulous scholarship and keen insight. In this book, he expounds on the Apostle Paul’s commitment to “remember the poor” (Galatians 2:9-10) whom Jesus repeatedly instructed disciples to serve. Longenecker reminds us from today’s Scripture that our service to the poor should not be limited to helping a few struggling friends in need of our aid, it should be universal! That is, it must be a defining feature of our distinctly Christian generosity.

Jesus taught us that our love, evidence by our actions toward others, must not merely be directed to friends or our own people, but to strangers who may be blind, crippled, or in need, and even to enemies (cf. Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 14:12-14; et al). How does your faith demonstrate that you remember the poor, evidenced by care for friend, stranger, and enemies in need around you? Take time today to pray and ask God what defining deeds you resolve to practice. The early church was known for remembering the poor like Jesus. Will that be said of you?

And let me remind you that Lent begins next week. The three disciplines Jesus-followers have practiced in Lent for centuries are giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting. Perhaps start thinking of how you will remember the poor during Lent and beyond.

Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. 1 Timothy 3:14-15

“From this day forward, I would like you to think of your local church as an aircraft carrier. Unless our churches assume the rightful and biblical positions in the battles we face in the workplace, we cannot fully advance. It’s only as the carrier arms, equips, briefs on the battle plan, fuels the jet and then launches the pilots out on their mission that they assume their maximum dominion… Unfortunately, many of our churches operate like a cruise ship. Think about it, what do you do on a cruise ship? You go to be entertained, you eat a lot, there’s very little accountability. And think about a cruise ship: it goes out, hits a couple of points and comes back to the very same place – rarely advancing forward into new territory. If the enemy of our souls can disarm the carrier, confuse the pilots, break the catapult system, then we essentially continue to function as a cruise ship… God may very well be asking you to be a catalyst for work life reformation in your church. The church is not a cruise ship but an aircraft carrier.”

David Spada as cited by Amy Sherman in Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (Downers Grove: IVP, 2011) 101.

Coming off the Global Generosity Roundtable, at which Amy Sherman was among the participants discussing what it means to live with financial health and understanding, I must say that I can’t get this illustration out of my mind.

The church is not here for entertainment but to work in various fields on mission. God made us to work, and He re-made us to work differently than the world, so people see Him through us as workers. It’s a facet of our generosity.

The difference is not the job we work, but whether or not we take a generous, missional approach to it. What changes would your church need to make to shift from a having a cruise ship mentality to an aircraft carrier mentality?

I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Psalm 50:9-12

“Who owns it?” is one of the key questions every Christian must answer about money and resources. The answer to this question has the potential to transform every financial decision we make. I often say that every financial decision is a spiritual decision. The reason I say that is based on my belief about who owns it…

Scripture is clear about who owns the earth and all the rest of creation. The problem most of us have isn’t with acknowledging that God owns the earth; it’s acknowledging that God owns our stuff. For some reason, it’s much easier to think the trees and the animals belong to God, but when God’s ownership extends to our possessions, we find it much harder to believe God own’s it all…

The biggest mental shift most people have to make when they move from an owner perspective to a steward perspective comes in the area of accountability. If our money and resources are God’s, that means He cares what we do with them. If He cares what we do with them, that means we should always consult Him about our decisions.”

Michael Blue with Ron Blue in God Owns It All: Finding Contentment and Confidence in Your Finances (Nashville: Lifeway, 2016) 16-19.

Yesterday at the Global Generosity Roundtable (pictured above), each contributor spoke powerfully offering wisdom on what it means to live life with financial health and understanding. Michael Blue’s comments on the mental shift at work in His own life impacted everyone. God cares what we do with His resources. He wants us to consult Him and follow His leading in our lives. Click above to check out his new small group resource for growing in both contentment and confidence in your stewardship of finances!

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. Mark 10:25

“Early Christians, both the biblical writers and the patristic authors, operated within a socioeconomic framework in which wealth was predominantly associated with accumulation and consumption rather than production (creation) and investment. Therefore, their concern was more about attitude toward and use and distribution of wealth within the conceptual world of limited goods and a subsistence economy.

The contextual and structural distance of our modern context — where we take productive capital and wealth creation for granted (at least in the industrialized parts of the world) — helps us relate to the early Christian perspectives on wealth consumption and distribution better (or more directly) than to those on wealth creation and productive capital, though without dismissing the latter as irrelevant, outdated, or unauthoritative.

Obviously these issues of attitude, use, and distribution of wealth do matter for Christians today (as well as creation and investment of wealth). Our attitudes (understanding of ownership, stewardship, attachment, or detachment) govern our use and lifestyle (conspicuous consumption, miserliness, simple living, or generous giving) and distribution (hoarding or sharing; justice and equity).

At the same time, our individual and collective use of wealth impacts distribution of wealth in personal choices and public (social, economic, and political) policies. This triad should lead us to consider questions of how wealth and property are produced and acquired in light of patristic teachings on the common good.”

Helen Rhee in Loving the Poor, Saving the Rich: Wealth, Poverty, and Early Christian Formation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012) 192-193.

Rhee is among the list of attendees at the Global Generosity Roundtable today in Orange County, California. If we extrapolate this simple statement it helps us navigate the difficult issue of relating to riches: “Our attitudes… govern our use and lifestyle… and distribution.” Put simply, Christians must produce, use, and distribute riches in a manner that is different from the world.

If we follow the cultural norms our behavior will spiral downward into self-indulgence, hoarding, and the trampling of others. Alternatively, if we map distinctly Christian attitudes for use, lifestyle, and distribution, then perhaps through the strategies that we implement, we can see a revival in simplicity, generosity, and equity for God’s glory. Make it so, Lord Jesus!

Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. Acts 19:8-10

“One of the greatest obstacles to community, city, and country transformation is the privatisation of faith. Faith in Jesus is profoundly personal but it was never meant to be private — it is a public faith that should benefit everyone.

God is giving His Church a fresh confidence and courage to express faith in the public square. It’s a faith that outworks itself in the civic soul, strategy, and structures of our communities, cities, and countries for the benefit of all people.

A few years ago I reached a point in my faith where things simply couldn’t continue in the same way. I had attended so many Christian conferences, read so many Christian books, and purchased every possible Christian product.

I felt a little like you do when you’ve eaten too much Christmas dinner or when you’ve bought the big super value bar of chocolate from the supermarket for a movie night and midway through the film you realise you’ve only got a couple of squares left and feel rather unwell. I felt that if I consumed any more Christian resources the unthinkable was going to happen. I know it sounds strange but that is how I felt about my faith.

My faith had become self-centred, self-focused, and self-indulgent. I had reduced my faith to a relationship between Jesus and me and a concerted effort to take as many people as I possibly could with me to heaven when I died. I sensed God was calling me to change my focus and de-privatise my faith; to take that which I had made private and to make it public.

Our faith in Jesus is a profoundly personal matter, but it is never meant to be a private matter. As Jesus said, “You are the light of world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16). Real faith cannot be hidden; it is clear for all to see.”

Matt Bird in Transformation: What is God doing and how do we join in? (Leicestershire: Matador, 2017) opening to chapter 1.

Around the world today, many local churches function as though they are private country clubs whose resources aim only at serving members. They should be equipping headquarters for mobilizing people who make faith public. If this thinking resonates with you, read this book!

The Apostle Paul seems to have encountered a similar situation in Ephesus. The Jews appear comfy and self-absorbed in their synagogue. Luke reports that for three months Paul tried to reason with them. Why start there? Almost certainly to mobilize a team, however, they did not want to sign on. So he, and likely a few traveling companions following his standard pattern, made faith public. What happened? It only took two years for the gospel to spread through all of the Roman province of Asia minor.

Matt Bird keenly points out that perhaps the reason that our deeply personal Christian faith is not spreading in places around the world is because we have made it private. I concur. Perhaps our greatest act of generosity might be to make faith public, as Matt repeatedly states, by discerning what God is doing and enthusiastically joining in!

God is up to something big this week. I’d appreciate your prayers. Jenni and I peeled away to pray over the weekend at a peaceful retreat (picture above). There I felt God remind me that He is with me.

Today I fly to Southern California for a two-day event on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the Global Generosity Roundtable. A total of 42 men and women will convene from the UK, Australia, South Korea, and the USA. Each one serves as a Christian financial professionals, practitioners, and professors. When we gather, each will speak for about ten minutes. Shortly an e-book will be available for free distribution as each participant contributed a three-page piece.

I’m hosting this event with Ross Piper and Tim Macready of Christian Super, whose desire is to help Aussie Christians live purposefully with financial health and understanding. Matt Bird will also be there. And since we don’t want the impact limited to Australia, we’ve asked Matt to comment at key points in the meeting to help us discern together how God is working so that we join in collectively.

Thanks for your prayers for more than fruitful meetings. Join me in asking God by the Holy Spirit to catalyze a global movement through this group of influential participants.

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; He also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4

“Jesus explains why He says the widow gave the most, when she only contributed two lepta: all those who preceded her donated their gifts out of an excess. What they gave to God cost them little. In contrast, the woman gave, not from her abundance, but from her very life. As Jesus puts it, she gave all of her life. Her poverty means that her contribution cost her in terms of life’s basics.

But this did not stop her from giving. She did not say, “I do not have enough to live on, so I will postpone my giving.” In fact, she could have given just one lepton but instead gave more. She did not give from abundance; she gave out of what she lacked, from her poverty. She could have said, “I’ll keep one lepton to be save, to have a cushion,” but she did not.

It is important to note that Jesus is not putting down the contributions of others. Rather, He is noting the woman’s great contribution, despite the gift’s small size, since the size of a gift is not always indicative of the sacrifice. In fact, it might be deceptive. Often it is the little gift that really costs. Jesus shows the disciples that it is not the number of coins, but the nature of the heart that gives them. Little gifts can be taken for granted or not even noticed, yet sometimes they are in fact the biggest gifts of all.”

Darrell L. Bock in Luke, volume 2 (BECNT; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1996) 1646-1647.

As I continue to explore the theme of “abundance” this year as it relates to Christian generosity, Jesus gets our attention with His remarks in today’s biblical text.

We realize that giving out of abundance is not the giving He celebrates. Jesus cares not so much about how much we give, but rather He looks at what we keep for ourselves.

He sees the sacrifice of our little gifts. That really encourages me! Many of us, who have minimal financial resources but still give richly, can take heart that Jesus sees and smiles.

So, as you head to church today with your little gifts, take heart. To Jesus, they are not little. Though we may feel like our gifts are small, if they represent sacrifice, Jesus rejoices!

He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!” Luke 20:16

“The parable of the Wicked Tenants, a story of greed that leads to violence and murder. Luke has simplified the account of the number of victims who suffered at the hands of the malefactors, but he has retained the thrust of the story as he writes about a series of victims, beginning with a slave who is maltreated and ending with the son who is killed.

Luke has, however, added one telling remark. After his Jesus describes the punishment that the owner of the vineyard metes out to the perpetrators of so much evil, Luke writes, “When they heard this, they said, ‘heaven forbid.’ “No way,” our contemporaries might say. Those who heard Jesus tell this story including those to whom his telling of the story was ultimately directed, were incredulous.

They could not or would not believe that God would punish greedy people who resorted to violence and murder. Of the three Synoptics, Luke is the only one to add this comment, but he wants his readers to know that some people find the idea that God will severely punish greed, violence, and murder preposterous.”

Raymond F. Collins in Wealth, Wages, and the Wealthy: New Testament Insight for Preachers and Teachers (Collegeville: Liturgical, 2017) 153.

Take a moment and read this parable in Luke’s Gospel, Luke 20:9-19. If you read Matthew and Mark’s account, you will find similar narrative, just not the verse that serves as today’s Scripture above, Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12. And, if you are wondering what this text and reading have to do with generosity, let me make my point first.

Those who through self-justification have talked themselves into thinking they can act as owners and who appear to serve God but by their behavior show are motivated by greed stood among the ranks of the religious authorities in the days of Jesus. When they realized that their greed, the selfish desire to possess which had situated them in power, would be the very tool that would destroy them, they exclaimed “No way!” because that meant what they had would be taken away. No wonder they would try to “lay hands on him that very hour” (Luke 20:19).

Today’s post is an alarm to awaken the greedy and selfish soul to sharing and repentance: the tenants should have been generous sharers from the start. But it’s also a message to people who champion stewardship everywhere: the religious establishment, if they are acting like owners, will not want to hear the message.

The wicked tenants acted like they owned the vineyard instead of sharing with successive servants or even the son of the landowner, their greed led to violence and even murder. We see this pattern today. People will do anything to preserve power and place. Often they retain wealth, acting as owners, is just the first of a pattern of sins. Not good!

Yesterday I said that to live a generous life we must live differently from the world. Today we learn why. Those who follow the pattern of this world will serve money rather than God, and their selfish desire to possess will lead to their demise. This happens to people running in religious circles. What they have will be taken away and given to others.

The “one telling remark” Collins points out that does not appear in Matthew or Mark’s account is the reaction of the greedy listeners who realized he was referring to them. They had been caught in their self-justification and would lose everything. What about you? Are you acting like an owner? The time to repent and share is now.

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

“Any discussion of financial margin would be incomplete without mentioning the pure joy of it. There are three reasons for this joy. First, by lowering expenses below income you live with far less stress and pressure. If the refrigerator breaks down, you don’t. If your car needs new tires, you simply go out and get them. Without margin life struggles and staggers and stumbles. But when margin is present, life flows. And flowing is more enjoyable without staggering.

Second, having financial margin allows beneficence toward others. This is one of the most rewarding of all human activities, and I am convinced it is a subset of love. Meeting the needs of others delivers us from the world of selfishness and into a world of grace and gratitude.

These two sources of joy are sufficient grounds to recommend margin. But there’s yet a third, even greater, source of joy. It is a transcendent kind of pleasure that comes neither from within nor without but from above. It comes from the source of all that is right, and when you approach it you feel its warmth even from a distance.

In giving, you are ushered into a world where cynicism and hatred have been banished. You are considering others before yourself. You are choosing heaven as the place you will put your treasure. You are doing what God asked you to do, and what he did Himself. In giving, you are pleasing Him.”

Richard Swenson in Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2004) 137-138.

As we follow Jesus living life on mission (like the people whose feet are pictured above), not ceasing from our work, but as workers for God in various professions, we quickly find that it’s hard to please God without financial margin as we are slaves to money. As we earn, we must live within our means to create financial bandwidth for the unexpected, for giving, and for living lives pleasing to God.

This requires that we live differently from the world! Because about two-thirds of Americans are slaves to debt and have little or no financial margin, Swenson suggests these three points to motivate us to chart a course and take it. Do it to relieve stress, to have resources to give, and most of all to please God. It may require you to say “no” to much of what the world offers. But it’s worth it!

Need help? Check out my Good and Faithful videos that stream freely. Share them with someone you know who struggles to have financial margin. You may do more than help them find freedom from slavery to debt; you may set them free from the love of money to find stability, resources for generosity, and best of all, to position them to experience boundless joy of a life that pleases God.

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Romans 8:13

“Others sit up in the pursuit of the world, and the wealth of it. They not only rise up early, but they sit up late, in the eager prosecution of their covetous practices (Psalm 127:2) and, either to get or save, deny themselves their most necessary sleep; and this their way is their folly, for hereby they deprive themselves of the comfortable enjoyment of what they have, which is the end, under pretense of care and pains to obtain more, which is but the means…

Let us see the folly of it, and never labour thus for the meat that perisheth, and that abundance of the rich, which will not suffer him to sleep; but let us labour for that meat which endureth to eternal life, that grace which is the earnest of glory, the abundance of which will make our sleep sweet to us.

Others sit up in the indulgence of their pleasures. They will not lay them down in due time, because they cannot find in their hearts to leave their vain sports and pastimes, their music, and dancing, and plays, their cards and dice; or, which is worse, their rioting and excess; for they that are drunk are drunk in the night.

It is bad enough when these gratifications of a base lust, or at least of a vain mind, are suffered to devour the whole evening, and then to engross the whole soul, as they are apt enough to do insensibly; so that there is neither time nor heart for the evening devotions, either in the closet, or in the family…And how loth would they be, with David, at midnight to rise and give thanks to God; or with their Master, to continue all night in prayer to God. Let the corrupt affections which run out thus and transgress, be mortified, and not gratified.”

Matthew Henry in Directions for Daily Communion With God (London: William Tegg, 1866) 60-61.

Today’s new header photo fits well with with this reading. It’s the feet of missionaries in training right now, sent from parts of Asia to other regions in Asia that are largely closed to the gospel but open for work. They fill occupations such as teachers or accountants. I received it from a close friend and thought, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15, Isaiah 52:7). Their devotion to God reflects mortification. Despite possible danger, rather than pursuing possessions or pleasures, they are risking their lives to make known the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What does mortification have to do with generosity?

If we do not mortify the desires of the flesh, that is, put them to death, they will destroy us. That comprises everything from the pursuit of the world and wealth to the indulgence of pleasures. Think of it this way. When not put in their rightful place, they will take over the place in our hearts and our days. Sport and pastimes will consume our calendars and eat up any margin for God and others. To relate rightly to the abundance God supplies with enjoyment and sharing with hospitality, each of us must mortify, not gratify, the desires of the flesh.

What’s this look like in practicality?

Look at your bank and credit card statements alongside your calendar. Your bank statements reveal whether you are trying to amass wealth for yourself, which will own you if not put in play through giving and sharing. Your credit card statements divulge facts about your spending associated with possessions and pleasures; it points to the place where your heart is. And your calendar makes plain your priorities ranging from focus to folly. When assessed honestly together, these items show the state of your stewardship.

Mortify rather than gratify the desires of the flesh to find freedom and grow in generosity.

When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. John 6:12-13

“The economics that Christian hospitality seeks to embody, then, is marked by abundance, surplus, excess, and surprise. In the Gospel accounts of the feedings of the fish and loaves, there are always baskets left over. An uncalculating generosity characterizes these feasts.

At this point, however, some nagging questions persist. Isn’t it actually the case that there is not abundance? People go hungry and homeless. Increasingly, people are working longer hours just to make ends meet.

Don’t we need to work and save to secure our livelihood and that of our children? Isn’t it more truthful to speak of scarcity rather than abundance? These kinds of questions easily lead us to endorse the spirit of capitalism: to compete and hoard, to have tight fists rather than open hands.

I don’t have any easy answers to these questions. They resonate with me and create a deep tension with the conviction that through hospitality we participate in the abundant grace of God. We must see, however, that even though we live in a fallen world of competition and hoarding, this is not the place we are called to dwell…

Christian hospitality, in contrast, embodies the conviction that to live fully is to receive and to give God’s own plenitude. Such plenitude is eschatologically present; the kingdom of God is at hand… Christians are therefore called to live “as if” the kingdom of God, a reign marked by excess and superfluidity, is now present, because it is now present, though not in its fulness.”

Elizabeth Newman in Untamed Hospitality: Welcoming God and Other Strangers (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2007) 101-102.

Think of the “abundance, surplus, excess, and surprise” of life in the kingdom of God and what it means to live in that reality now, though we don’t experience it in all its fulness yet.

The “abundance” links to the the image of the feedings of the fish and the loaves. People are hungry, tired, and broken. They need the nourishment and satisfaction that only God can supply. This reality persists today.

The “surplus” reminds us that there’s more than enough for everyone. So, why doesn’t everyone have enough? Our role comes into view: to gather, but not for hoarding, rather with the vision of sharing God’s abundant grace.

The “excess” reveals our posture as servants. In a world where competing and hoarding to get ahead of others actually leaves people empty, we humbly serve by gathering all God supplies for enjoyment and sharing.

The “surprise” is that we discover life in God’s economy. “To live fully is to receive and to give God’s own plenitude.” But it’s only found in receiving and giving, that is, enjoying and sharing all God richly supplies.

With Newman, I conclude with a question for application: Do you live “as if” the kingdom of God, a reign marked by excess and superfluidity, is now present, because it is now present, though not in its fulness?