Saint Patrick: Pilot

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Jude 20-21

“May the strength of God pilot us, may the wisdom of God instruct us, may the hand of God protect us, may the Word of God direct us. Be always ours this day and for evermore.”

This prayer is ascribed to St. Patrick (c. 386-461). Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

After multiple trainings, important meetings, and doing video recording work, we are praying for God to pilot our GTP team safely from El Salvador to Panama tomorrow.

But first, today, I am speaking at a free ECFA webinar entitled, The Bible and Board Governance. So far, more than 1,200 have registered to attend online. Click to register.

God’s Word directs our lives, our ministries, and that includes our governance efforts. Pray that many are blessed by the teaching. Join if you serve in a governance role.

All live webinar participants will receive a free gift from ECFA, a copy of the book I co-authored, The Council: A Biblical Perspective on Board Governance.

That there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Acts 4:34-35

“The wealthy among us help the needy… Those who are prosperous and willing, give what each thinks fit. And what is collected is deposited with the president, who gives aid to the orphans and widows.”

Justin Martyr (c. 160) 1.185, 186.

In the early Christian writings we see that willing gifts are deposited with those God has placed in authority. We commonly think “apostle” or “pastor” but the term “president” also appears.

In modern times, this is the equivalent of the senior offices in church and nonprofit ministries. This important as it relates to generosity for at least two reasons.

Firstly, God loves willing giving that is directed to His servants, such as apostles, pastors, and presidents. Such gifts must not flow from compulsion or obligation, but from prosperous and caring hearts.

Secondly, these collections must be administrated rightly by God’s servants. Faithful administration is as important as gospel proclamation or care of the poor. This is a core elements of the teaching on this trip.

Notice why these two items are so important. If we focus on care of poor and without giving care to handling of financial collections, the willing giving will dry up. God’s servants must care about both spiritual and financial deposits.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

“This is the mark of Christianity: however much a man toils, and however many righteous deeds he performs, to feel that he has done nothing, and in fasting to say, “This is not fasting,” and in praying, “This is not prayer,” and in perseverance at prayer, “I have shown no perseverance; I am only just beginning to practice and to take pains”; and even if he is righteous before God, he should say, “I am not righteous, not I; I do not take pains, but only make a beginning every day.”

Macarius of Egypt (300-391) in Homily 26.

The goal of prayer, fasting, and giving in Lent is not (or ever) to think we arrive, but to learn the way of humility. Every day is simply making a beginning.

What are you learning during Lent? Has the act of setting aside your desires opened the door for new practices? I’m thinking about these topics today.

Ereny Monir, Paula Mendoza, and I will shoot the videos for Online Journey of Empowerment or JOE for short. JOE is a tool that points people to the way of humility.

It’s the path on which we are transformed and, in so doing, we serve as agents of transformation. To learn more about this replicable tool GTP is spreading around the world, click here.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” Isaiah 58:6-7

“There is a kind of fasting which is not bodily, a spiritual self-discipline which affects the soul; this abstinence from evil, and it was as a means to this that our abstinence from food was prescribed. Therefore I say to you: Fast from evil-doing, discipline yourselves from covetousness, abstain from unjust profits, starve the greed of mammon, keep in your houses no snatched or stolen treasure. For what use is it to touch no meat and to wound your brother by evil-doing? What advantage is it to forgo what is your own and to seize unjustly what is the poor’s? What piety is it to drink water and thirst for blood, weaving treachery in the wickedness of your own heart? Judas himself fasted with the eleven, but since he did not curb his love of money, his fasting availed him nothing to salvation…”

Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-395) as recounted by James Thornton in Wealth and Poverty in the Teachings of the Church Fathers (St. John Chrysostom Press) 97.

Ministry in El Salvador this week has been about loosening the chains of injustice.

Much of the majority world is locked in cycles of dependency. Part of the remedy is to teach them discipline and to avoid the love of money through the practice of voluntary, generous giving.

It’s counterintuitive and crosscultural, but we are making progress with the workers we served a year ago. Our team is filled with hope and joy for the future of the church in this country.

Pray for rest today after two full days of trainings. Pray also for continued good health for the team. We still have four more days of service here.

For those who want to make a gift to support the work, visit GTP.org. This three country trip (El Salvador, Panama, and Bolivia) is already seeing good returns.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, 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.” Matthew 19:23-24

“In the matter of piety, poverty serves us better than wealth, and work better than idleness, especially since wealth becomes an obstacle even for those who do not devote themselves to it. Yet, when we must put aside our wrath, quench our envy, soften our anger, offer our prayers, and show a disposition which is reasonable, mild, kindly, and loving, how could poverty stand in our way? For we accomplish these things not by spending money but by making the correct choice. Almsgiving above all else requires money, but even this shines with a brighter luster when the alms are given from our poverty. The widow who paid in the two mites was poorer than any human, but she outdid them all.”

John Chrysostom (349-407) in his treatise entitled Baptismal Instructions.

Jesus made it clear that wealth becomes an obstacle that hinders our growth in the Christian faith. Don’t let it be an obstacle for you. Make the correct choice.

I hear questions along these lines a lot when I teach on trips like this one. Is wealth bad? The answer is “No!” But the key is to make the correct choice with the material blessings God supplies.

During Lent we learn that generosity is putting to work what we possess to a level of sacrifice. In this regard, the only giving Jesus celebrates is the widow. Why? She held nothing back.

The world looks at how much we give. Jesus looks at what we hold back and what that says about our hearts. As Chrysostom put it, the widow outdid every other giver because she put in everything.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16

“There is no more profitable practice as a companion to holy and spiritual fasting than that of almsgiving. This embraces under the single name of mercy many excellent works of devotion, so that the good intentions of the faithful may be of equal value, even where their means are not.

The love that we owe both God and man is always free from any obstacle that would prevent us from having a good intention. The angels sang: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.’ The person who shows love and compassion to those in any kind of affliction is blessed, not only with the virtue of good will, but also with the gift of peace.

The works of mercy are innumerable. Their very variety brings this advantage to those who are true Christians, that in the matter of almsgiving not only the rich and affluent but also those of average means and the poor are able to play their part. Those who are unequal in their capacity to give can be equal in the love within their hearts.”

Leo the Great (c. 400-461) in “Lenten Homily” as recounted by James Kubicki in A Year of Daily Offerings (Notre Dame: Ave Maria, 2016) reading for 13 March.d

The best part about giving alms, which is helping others in need, is that everyone can participate. Too often we think that if we only have average means or if we are even lacking financial resources, that we cannot be generous.

This is a key message that Nydia Garcia Schmidt, Ereny Monir, and I will teach today in El Salvador (pictured above). We will provide biblical teaching from the Old Testament and the New Testament on generous giving and provide practical tips for growing givers.

Each of us is “able” to be generous. Many people don’t know this. Generosity is something that must be taught from the Word, learned over time, and practiced faithfully. When God’s workers do this, they grow generous congregations and constituencies.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done. Proverb 19:17

“If you help a poor person in the name of the Lord, you are making a gift and at the same time granting a loan. You are making a gift because you have no expectation of being reimbursed by that poor person. You are granting a loan because the Lord will settle the account. It is not much that the Lord receives by means of the poor, but He will pay a great deal on their behalf.”

Basil of Caesarea (330-379) PG31, 277 in Drinking from the Hidden Fountain: A Patristic Breviary, Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World, ed. by Thomas Spidlik (Kalamazoo: Cistercian, 1994) 297-298.

When you read that making a gift is granting a loan, it makes you pause and think. Do that. Pause this Lent and think about giving to help others as giving a loan to the Lord.

He promises to reward you. So, what are you waiting for? Don’t keep money in the bank. Create your own stimulus cycle with God. Put to work what He has richly supplied.

On a national scale, I want to challenge you to join me in making a loan on behalf of Christian workers in three Latin American countries. What am I talking about? Hang with me here.

When you read this I will be on the plane to Houston en route to San Salvador. Pray for God’s blessings on the 10 trainings scheduled with hundreds of ministry workers in 5 cities in 3 countries over 15 days. Thanks.

Join in the work of strengthening ministry governance and local generosity in El Salvador, Panama, and Bolivia. Make a loan to God by giving to support our work in these largely poor countries.

Give a gift to GTP today as we are serving pastors and ministry workers freely. God will richly reward you for granting a loan. And you can trust Him to settle your account.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14

“For every snake puts off it’s signs of age by pushing through some narrow place, and gets rid of its old apparel by squeezing it off. From then on it is young again in body. So, “enter in at the straight and narrow gate,” squeeze yourself through by fasting, break yourself away from perishing, “out of the old nature with its deeds.”

Cyril of Jerusalem (313-386) in The Catechetical Lectures 3.6 (ACCS2; Downers Grove: IVP, 2005) 8.

What a great word picture of the fasting process! We squeeze off the old self like a snake removes old dead skin. What are you squeezing off this Lent? How will you be different after Lent? Talk about what you are learning with someone.

I am packing today for GTP ministry work in El Salvador, Panama, and Bolivia. God’s opened doors for training pastors and ministry administrators. I’d appreciate your prayers for safe travel for our team members and peace and protection for my wife and family back home. Thanks.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. Isaiah 43:18

“On its way to Jerusalem, Israel was purified in the wilderness and was trained to forget the customs of Egypt. Similarly the Word has graciously prescribed for us the holy fast of forty days of Lent. Let us make it a time of purification and purging, so that after the fast we will be prepared to go to the upper room and eat with him, to be partakers of the joys of heaven. There is no other way for us to be prepared to go up to Jerusalem and eat the Passover but to apply ourselves to the forty-day fast.”

Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296-373) in Festal Letter 6, ARL 109 (ACCS3; Downers Grove: IVP, 2003) 331.

We are about halfway through Lent so it’s good to remind ourselves why were are doing this. Its for our purification and purging. It’s to prepare us to live life after Lent as “partakers of the joys of heaven.”

To do this we must forget the proverbial customs of Egypt. The significances of this is often lost.

Athanasius wrote this Lent reminder from Egypt. He said to forget the most advanced society in antiquity. No place was more awesome than Egypt. God wanted them to realized they could do better with Him.

The same is true today. God has plans for us that are a hundred times better whatever we can create in USA or anywhere else. We must let go of our agenda to take hold of God’s plan for us. That’s why we pray, fast, and give in Lent.

These disciplines open our hands and our future for something better that only God can sort and supply.

Shout out to Sammy Hoag, our son who turns 25 today. Happy Birthday! It has been fun to watch him observe Lent through the years and see how it formed him into a faithful follower of Jesus.

Applying ourselves to the purging and purifying make us less worldly and give the world a taste of heaven.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. Acts 4:32

“The righteous, upon whom no law need be imposed, spend no small part — as if a tithe — but the whole extent of their lives in spiritual works. They are free of the legal tax of tithing. If a good and holy need presents itself, they are free to relax their fasting without any scruple. For it is not a paltry tithe that is their being subtracted by those who have offered their all to the Lord along with themselves. Certainly the person who offers nothing of his own will and is compelled by legal necessity, without recourse, to pay his tithes to God, cannot do this without being seriously guilty of fraud. Hence it is eminently clear that the one who is responding fully to grace cannot be a slave of the law, watching out for things that are forbidden and carrying out things that are commanded, and that the perfect are those who do not make use even of things permitted by the law.”

John Cassian (360-435) in Conferences 21.29.2 (ACCS 9;Downers Grove: IVP, 2000) 139.

As we think about giving during Lent, it is great news that we are “free of the legal tax of tithing.”

For the early church in Acts this collective realization unleashed rich sharing and generosity. They responded “fully to grace” and God did miracles through them and led them to deploy “the whole extent of their lives in spiritual works.”

But what is most powerful is the reality that those “compelled by legal necessity” to tithe are actually guilty of fraud. They are aiming for the wrong goal and have returned to the law. Two such famous fakes appear in this Acts text, Ananias and Sapphira.

In my experience, those who focus on tithing think they are walking the righteous path when in reality, they are returning to slavery. The tithe in the Old Testament reflects God’s design as the start and not the finish of giving.

Also in Lent we learn that fasting teaches us to set aside our desires to give us margin for giving as “good and holy” needs present themselves. Prayer rounds out Lent as the third disciple. In prayer we attune to God and follow His leading in all this.

If this all seems too spiritual or complicated, don’t see it that way. Just offer your “all” instead of a paltry tithe and see what happens. You will avoid fraud and carry out the things that are commanded.