Meditations

“I’ve discovered that it is always inconvenient to love my neighbors. I’ve learned that every person God brings into my life has unsurpassable worth, and that they are worth Jesus dying for. It is irrelevant whether or not they help increase attendance or help us meet our monthly giving. They are my neighbors, and I am called to love them. The church is not a business where we evaluate how our time affects the bottom line. There is only one bottom line for the church–to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves.”

John Richardson in “God calls us to love our neighbors even when it hurts” article in Christian Leader magazine, January/February 2015.

This California pastor is spot on! Far too many churches measure “the bottom line” in terms of money and budget, when it should be associated with loving God and loving our neighbors. Before the new year gets rolling too fast, let us pause and ask ourselves these questions: What’s my church’s bottom line? Should we find ourselves understaffed, the Master said to pray for laborers (cf. Luke 10:2). Should we find ourselves in need, He said to ask the Father for what we need (cf. Matthew 7:7-11). In the meantime, we must focus on what He asked us to focus on: loving God and loving our neighbors.

“The profane is the opposite of the sacramental. “Profane” means flat, empty, one-dimensional, exhausted. The market ideology wants us to believe that the world is profane–life consists of buying and selling, weighing, measuring and trading, and then finally sinking down into death and nothingness.

But Jesus presents and entirely different kind of economy, one infused with the mystery of abundance and a cruciform kind of generosity. Five thousand are fed and 12 baskets of food are left over–one for every tribe of Israel. Jesus transforms the economy by blessing it and breaking it beyond self-interest. From broken Friday bread comes Sunday abundance. In this and in the following account of a miraculous feeding in Mark, people do not grasp, hoard, resent, or act selfishly; they watch as the juices of heaven multiply the bread of earth. Jesus reaffirms Genesis 1.

When people forget that Jesus is the bread of the world, they start eating junk food–the food of the Pharisees and of Herod, the bread of moralism and of power. To often the church forgets the true bread and is tempted by junk food. Our faith is not just about spiritual matters; it is about the transformation of the world. The closer we stay to Jesus, the more we will bring a new economy of abundance to the world.”

Walter Brueggemann in “The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity” from The Christian Century, March 24-31, 1999: 342-347. This whole article is worth reading.

While I quoted a different excerpt on 27 June 2012, I am thankful that long time friend, Brian Fort, at the Mission Increase Foundation recently urged me to read it again. I actually am heading over there today to meet with Bryan and Suzanne Chrisman of National Christian Foundation with whom he shares office space here in Denver.

We must cease following the market ideology of scarcity and, for our own good, stop eating junk food! Why? Our existence in God’s economy is abundant and there’s more than enough of the bread of life for everyone to go around (cf. John 6:35)!

“Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God — the rest will be given.”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) in A Gift for God (New York: Harper Collins, 1996) 33-34. I’m thankful my friends at Generous Church brought this quote to my attention in their 7 January 2015 blog post, and I located the source in this classic book.

What does it mean to raise funds of love, kindness, understanding, and peace? It’s making the Kingdom of God a higher priority than anything else, including what we will eat, what we will drink, and what we will wear (cf. Matthew 6:25-34)!

“The Christian movement must be the living, breathing promise to society that it is possible to live out the values of Christ–that is, to be a radical, troubling alternative to the power imbalances in the empire. In a world of greed and consumerism, the church ought to be a community of generosity and selflessness. In a host empire that is committed to marginalizing the poor, resisting the place of women, causing suffering to the disenfranchised, the Christian community must be generous to a fault, pursuant of justice, flushed with mercy.”

Michael Frost in Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006) 15-16. I’m thankful my friends at Generous Church brought this book to my attention in their 7 January 2015 blog post. I read excerpts online and just purchased a copy.

Today I am at the Evangelical Free Church of America office in Minneapolis. I am thankful for the privilege of rallying pastors and leaders in this movement to live as generous and selfless exiles in the empire. We experience elements of God’s kingdom now, but much of it we have not grasped yet. So what should we do? We must show the world the radical, generous love of God.

“There are basically two kinds of people: givers and takers. A taker’s gonna take because at the core of their being they are convinced there will never be enough. In other words, they are practical atheists. They really don’t believe in God. A giver’s gonna give because at the core of their being they are convinced there will always be more than enough. They believe in the abundance of God. We all want to think of ourselves as givers. Thinking it doesn’t make it so. Wise living means generous giving. It’s how God created the world to work. It’s how God created us to live.”

J.D. Walt is Chief Sower at www.seedbed.com and today’s Meditation comes from his 11 January 2015 daily text entitled “A Taker’s Gonna Take. A Giver’s Gonna Give”. I subscribe to this daily text and commend it to you: it’s spiritually rich and free for everyone.

Here’s the Scripture on which J.D. based today’s post: Proverbs 11:24-25 (NIV).

One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

So are you a giver or a taker? In other words, do you live like you believe in God or not?

“It is a good, learned, and wise steward who takes the resources in his or her hands and lets them become God’s resources. Be it little or large — a widow’s mite or a king’s treasure — from the hand of a steward to the hand of God, resources become powerful tools and symbols in the kingdom of God. What do you have in your hand?”

Lee Crist in “What’s In Your Hand?” article from Light and Life Magazine, December 2014.

While our culture beckons us to focus on the things we do not have, Crist reminds us that faithful stewards consider what we do have, and he reminds us to put that stuff to work. Since it’s a new year, perhaps it’s a good time for each of us to consider what is in our hands and ask ourselves what we are doing with it.

“All [God’s] gifts point us back to him. Or at least that’s how it should work. The gift should cause us to love and worship the giver more deeply. But all too easily God’s gifts to us end up being His greatest competition.

Imagine for a moment that you’re a parent out shopping for a present to give your child. You’ve heard him talking, in tones of awe, about the latest gaming console. You see it at the store, and the thought of the smile on his face puts a smile on yours. It’s not inexpensive; in fact it’s somewhat of a sacrifice. But you want the best for your child.

When you get home and present the gift, your child offers a shout, a tight hug, and a dozen frenzied thank-yous. It was worth every penny for this moment. You stop by his room a couple of times and watch him setting it up and playing it with utter concentration. You ask him a question about the game, and he says, “Wait–can’t talk,” and then seems to forget you’re there.

Later you ask him to go out to dinner with the family, and but he begs off, wanting only to stay and play with his new game. Later on he starts to tell you about the add-ons and games his friends have, arguing that their version is much better than his. Not only do you not see him as much as before, but he seems less content and happy than before you bought this console. How could such a nice gift go so wrong?

It happened because the gift became more important than the giver. The beauty was not meant to be so much in the thing itself, but the love that brought it about.”

Kyle Idleman in God’s at War: Defeating the Idols that Battle for Your Heart (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013) 96. I’m thankful my friends at Generous Church brought this book to my attention in their 7 January 2015 blog post. It’s a great read.

This scenario that Idleman presents speaks powerfully and challenges each of us ask this question: What gifts has God given me that compete for my heart, my affection, and my attention? Or in plain terms, what’s my gaming console?

Whatever our answer, we must give thanks for God’s love that brought the gift to us and posthaste dismantle its power. We do this by resolving to enjoy and share it — celebrating the generosity of the Giver — lest it take residence in our hearts and lives as an idol.

If you are looking for a declaration for your your family or ministry to affirm, consider this piece that individuals and organizations are adopting around the world.

The Generosity Declaration

My (Our) commitment to biblical generosity. I (We) affirm that:
• God is indescribably generous. I (We) see this in his creation and experience it in his redemption plan through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ (John 3:16).
• God is creator, sustainer and owner of all things (Psalm 24:1). He has supplied His infinite resources to me (us) to steward for His Kingdom purposes, including to reach the ends of the earth for the glory of His name (Luke 12:42-48; Revelation 7:9-12).
• Just as Jesus lived a truly and perfectly generous life to serve and save people, it remains fundamental therefore, that Christians model biblical service, generosity and stewardship (Mark 10:45; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 2 Corinthians 9:8-9).

I (We), therefore, commit myself (ourselves) to foster a culture of biblical generosity and stewardship that will transform individuals and communities as I (we):
• Recognize that generosity is manifested in giving funds, resources, time, talents, gifts, prayer and my (our) very presence.
• Practice holistic stewardship, generous living, and gracious financial giving while encouraging these virtues within my (our) spheres of influence through modeling, teaching and equipping.
• Engage openly with other Christians and their networks in a global movement in which the whole church lives out and takes the whole gospel to the whole world as effective and generous stewards.

Name _____________________________
Date _____________________________

Source: www.generositymovement.org

You may also sign up for the free online Generosity eDevotional at: www.generositymovement.org/category/resources/study_guides

“I can think of four rewards for paying the price to live by faith and train children to be good stewards.

First of all, you can expect to stand before the Lord someday and receive a reward for what you have done…(Matthew 25:21)…

Second, you can expect them to be good stewards of the resources that God has entrusted to them. You can also expect to see your children train their children to manage financial resources in a godly and responsible manner.

Third, I believe that when you enter into this training process, you can expect to eliminate the conflict with children over money. That alone is sufficient reward for many parents to make this commitment.

Fourth, you can expect to see your children, even in their preteen years, begin to make sound financial decisions…Once they experience the rewards of discipline and wisdom, they will eagerly seek to make more good decisions.

Count the costs but the costs are nothing compared to the rewards. Your challenge is to commit by faith to pay the price to train your children in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6).”

Ron Blue in Raising Money-Smart Kids: How to Teach Your Children the Secrets of Earning, Saving, Investing, and Spending Wisely (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1992) 35-36.

It has taken intentional effort for Jenni and me to teach stewardship to Sammy and Sophie. Today, it’s a blessing to watch them make good financial choices. They live on less than they make so they have resources for spending carefully while living and giving generously.

Blue emphasizes that we must give our kids freedom to fail in the growth process. We completely agree! When our children make mistakes, we must not hammer them, but lovingly ask what they learned in the process. When they make good decisions, we must affirm them with the same love.

“Creating a culture or becoming a biblically generous person will not happen until the limiting issues are properly dealt with. While giving financially was an expression of generosity, it is entirely possible for a person to give significant amounts of money and still not be generous biblically speaking. The right heart motive behind the gift is the most important aspect of giving. Wrong heart motives are traced back to the root sin of pride and pride’s favorite companions: fear, greed, selfishness, self-sufficiency, and self-absorption.

Pride is the number one obstacle to the expression of biblical generosity in a person’s life. Pride reaches into the deepest and most unsuspecting place of a person’s life. Ultimately, pride stands in the way of a person fully surrendering to Christ. Without surrendering to God, one will never tap into Christ’s power to live generously for the benefit of others.

Pride keeps people from reaching up for help and from reaching down in charity. Pride entices people to exaggerate or lie for the sake of appearance or to gain public notoriety. Pride drives people to live beyond their means, to spend money they don’t have in hopes of impressing friends or feeding their own indulgences and vanity.

While pride drives some people to overspend on themselves, fear urges others to hoard resources, to worry about the future, to think only of themselves. Greed, like fear, leads to an unhealthy attraction to material possessions. In many cases, like Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), Achan (Joshua 7) and the ancient Israelite community (Malachi 3), greed results in the embezzlement of funds. In all three biblical instances the financial embezzlement was equated with the most detestable forms of wickedness.

Selfishness is evident by excessive focus on personal needs. Selfishness looks only to its own interest. It expects to be repaid and rewarded for any gesture of pseudo generosity given. Selfishness is predominantly visible through pettiness.

Finally, self-absorption steals joy and destroys friendships. An unhealthy obsession with one’s emotional, physical, and spiritual needs leads to people blindness: self-absorbed people cannot see the poor, impoverished, or needy person living next door. The systemic problem of self-absorption is most evident when the poor in the community are being neglected.”

Jon Swanson in a paper entitled: “Biblical Generosity in the Local Church” (Stewardship Summit 2015) 6-7.

Swanson provides candid coverage of the sins in our lives that hinder generosity. The Apostle Paul uses similar language stating that these sins represent the fruit of the flesh in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). Join me in praying this prayer in response.

Father in heaven, please show us by your Holy Spirit where pride, fear, greed, selfishness, self-sufficiency, and self-absorption have taken root in our lives. We repent of these sins. Forgive us in your mercy. Help us instead, each day, keep in step with the Spirit so that the fruit of the Spirit, including generosity, are evident in each of our lives. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.