Meditations

“Frugality creates margin which enables generosity…When we are frugal–not stingy but wise–we can then free up more resources in order to be generous.”

James Bryan Smith in The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love (Downers Grove: IVP, 2010) 165.

It’s Black Friday! Today we are bombarded with messages to buy things we don’t need. We must avoid those temptations. There are also great deals on items we do want to purchase, like socks, shirts and sweatpants. Go buy those items. For those choosing to live simply, this is a great time to save. Rather than looking at all the ads with an open mind and being tempted to buy needless stuff, let’s make a list of things we plan to buy anyway and save money on those items. Such frugality “creates margin” as Smith puts it, to be generous to those we love and to the things God loves.

“Our thankfulness is measured by the number of our words. Our gratitude is measured by the nature of our actions. A person appears very thankful at the time, who afterwards proves very ungrateful.”

George Crabb (1778-1854), English etymologist, philologist and author, in Day’s Collacon compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 936.

Today many Americans gather alongside family and friends to give thanks to God for His rich blessings to us. It is our custom to exhibit our gratitude by partaking of a huge feast of turkey together. Regardless of what food you eat, we invite our international brothers and sisters around the world to join us in pausing to give thanks to God.

To ensure our expressions of gratitude are not just empty words, Crabb rightly reminds us to exhibit our gratitude through generous actions over time. In other words, if we believe all we have is from God to enjoy and share, then let’s live like it’s Thanksgiving every day of the year. We are learning as a family that it’s the only way to live!

“Unspeakable is the advantage that the soul raises to itself by the continual exercise of thanksgiving. For the grateful acknowledgement of favors is the way to more, even amongst men whose hands are short and strait, this is the means to pull on further beneficence. How much more from the God of all consolation, who largest bounty diminisheth nothing of His store.”

Joseph Hall (1574-1656) bishop of Exeter and Norwich in Day’s Collacon compiled and arranged by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 936.

Here the bishop reminds us of a truth that is both relevant to our season and especially meaningful to those seeking consolation. Don’t read it from a prosperity gospel angle which says I can manipulate God to get what I want. Read it as, when I am thankful to God for His abundant beneficence (think “divine blessings”), He, in turn, hears my cries for help when I am in need.

I love the old English expression “men whose hands are short and strait”. People with “short hands” were of low status, and the “strait” were people with limited resources. In other words, the bishop is reminding everyone that thanksgiving is unspeakably good for the soul and the pathway to more; it transforms us, and His generous beneficence does not at all diminish His store.

“The spirituality of giving has been tarnished by incessant focus on fundraising to meet organizational budgets. To reclaim the spiritual discipline of giving, we need to step away from budgeting and experience the joy of simply being generous, in which someone else’s need for support coincides with our need to give. Eventually, one’s motivation becomes gratitude, but first we need to get beyond the guilt often employed by religion…

Giving that is motivated by guilt or shame will seek mainly to escape the negative feeling, by giving as little as possible, by blaming the recipient for being in need, or by shifting negative feelings onto someone else (scapegoating). Giving that is motivated by the positive feelings of gratitude will lead not only to more generosity, but to examination of one’s life and values. This self-examination, in turn, can lead to transformation of life. This is a personal journey, perhaps shared with others, but not to be compelled by peer pressure.”

Tom Ehrich in Church Wellness: A Best Practices Guide to Nurturing Healthy Congregations (New York: Church Publishing, 2008) 92.

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday are before us, and Giving Tuesday is only a week away. So that our giving this season is not motivated by budget deficits or guilt (as such prompts simply do not produce generosity), let’s talk about the things for which we are thankful and express our gratitude to God! After cultivating gratitude (or “self-examination” as Ehrich calls it), because God designed us to give, let’s prayerfully deploy God’s resources to the things He cares about and encourage others to do the same. Let’s do this not out of peer pressure but in response to the Spirit’s leading from grateful hearts.

“My wife and I have a commitment regarding giving our money while we are alive. I like the old saying, ‘Do your givin’ while you’re livin’, then you’re knowin’ where it’s goin’.”

Charles R. Swindoll in Great Lives: Job, a Man of Heroic Endurance (Nashville: W Publishing, 2004) 161.

Recently a friend asked me this question: Should we give away our estate while we are alive or pass it on to our children.” Only days before this I had heard a story about how a large inheritance had destroyed the lives of the adult children of another wealthy couple. You’ve probably heard similar stories.

Rather than share the high probability of disaster (because too many like to gamble), I took a different angle. I reminded him that all he and his wife possess has been entrusted to them by God, and someday they will have to give an account for their stewardship. I urged them to put God’s resources to work now, so they would be ready to give an account.

For further study on this, read Luke 16:1-9. Many deem it a puzzling parable. Jesus commends the shrewd manager for using worldly wealth to make friends for himself. In the punchline of the parable, Jesus exhorts disciples to use money to make friends who will welcome them into their eternal dwellings. What’s this mean for us today?

Let us put God’s resources to work while we are alive. Let’s give them to our church, the poor, missions, etc… and someday…when we meet Jesus…we will be greeted by those whose lives were shaped by our generosity. What’s the risk if we don’t give now? We could contribute to the ruin of our children, and there won’t be much of a party to welcome us in eternity!

“God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we want to hide from…The Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort, but it does not begin in comfort; it begins in…dismay…In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth–only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Harper Collins, 1952) 31-32.

Our culture bombards us with consumerism and promises of comfort, especially at this time of year. The wares they offer never provide lasting satisfaction. Want to the gift that keeps on giving? Think about what is true. Lewis is spot on to remind us that when we do, we may not always like what we find (such is the nature of conviction). But truth is the only pathway to comfort and peace in this life. Think about that when you shop for those you love.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

“If we think the point of the offering is collecting funds to meet the church’s budgetary expenses then we probably derive no more satisfaction from this portion of liturgy than we do from paying our gas bill…

The Sunday offering is a worship event that provides us an opportunity for expressing our love for God in the purest way imaginable, by giving up something that we value. Giving as an act of worship takes us beyond duty to delight.”

Mark Alan Powell in Giving to God: The Bible’s Good News about Living a Generous Life (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 2006) 12-13.

Whenever we worship this weekend, let’s approach the offering with a sense of awe at God’s faithful provision for us, with an attitude of thankfulness for the salvation we have in Jesus Christ, and with hearts full of love that we get to give. Let’s see what happens when we do this…I’m thinking we will move beyond duty to delight.

“We don’t give because God has needs. I repeat: God doesn’t need our cash. He doesn’t come to us, hat in hand, sheepishly asking for funding for His mission. We don’t give because God needs it, but because in giving we declare His value to us and our love for Him. Jesus told us that if want to know what a person really loves, we should follow the trail of his [or her] money…Do you see your resources as yours to benefit from, or as opportunities to be generous to others? The world, of course, finds it absurd to be this open-handed with our resources (I earned it, I deserve to benefit from it!)…When was the last time your generosity made someone question your sanity?”

J.D. Greear in “Three Ways the Gospel Changes our Generosity” blogpost on 19 November 2014.

Greear inspires me today be sure that when the world looks at me and my family and follows the trail of our money…we really hope they think we are crazy! Goodness, if our giving fits within the culture, it likely will not reflect the image of Christ.

My study of NT times has taught me that those with an abundance of resources in the Roman world were instructed not to care for the sick, prisoners, and the destitute, because they could not render honor and service back to the Emperor. Ironically, those are precisely the people–the sick, prisoners, and the destitute (cf. Matthew 25:31-46)–that Jesus wants to find us caring for, in order to show that God’s love is for everyone!

Care to join us and be numbered among the ranks of the crazy and insane? Remember, people thought Jesus was nuts too, and it’s Him (not the world!) to whom I will ultimately give an account for our stewardship!

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

“While people of all walks of life can be generous, Christian giving is unique because:
• It is the Christian’s genuine response to Jesus’ own gift
• It is cheerful, growing out of joy, not guilt or compulsion
• It is thoughtful
Cheerful givers are those who begin by deciding in their hearts to give. That means thoughtfully considering how God is calling them to share their blessings with others.”

Twice in the past ten days, I crossed paths with Jeff Gott, SVP of generosity at WaterStone. I appreciate the work God is doing through him and his colleagues to facilitate cheerful Christian giving. To read more, download the free ebooklet from them at: Intelligent Giving: Maximize Your Gifts for God. I resonate with WaterStone’s emphasis on the uniqueness of Christian giving: it’s our joy-filled response to Jesus’ generosity to us.

“Look to the character, and guard vigilantly the deportment of the young. Let them be trained to reverence and love all that is sacred, and to practice all that is pure, generous, and noble. Let the Gospel get its firm hold upon their hearts, and they are secure against vice and ruin; and you may then leave them, and go down to the grave, with little anxiety about their welfare; for God is their defense.”

Baxter Dickinson preached a farewell sermon entitled “Sure Means of Spiritual Prosperity” on 22 November 1835 from Acts 20:32.

And now I commend you to God and to the message of His grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified. Acts 20:32

My friend, Scott Loe, entered the presence of Jesus yesterday. I am so thankful my ND trip got cancelled last week so that in God’s timing I was privileged to say “farewell” to him. As another friend, Debbie Discher, reminded me, he has gone from “the land of the dying to the land of the living.” My last gift to him was a copy of the movie: “Heaven is for Real.” What comfort! For those of us who remain, we place our confidence in the Gospel and “look to the character” of our children.

One of the many things I am thankful for about my wife, Jenni, is her love for training children “in all that is sacred” and specifically her service at Trailhead Church. She helps coordinate efforts to “let the Gospel get it’s firm hold” on young hearts, which represent about 75 of the 150 in our church family. Of course we must also teach them to “practice all that is pure, generous, and noble” too! When we do, we too can “go down to the grave with little anxiety.”