Oswald Chambers: Abased and Abounding

I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me. Philippians 4:12-13

“Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer — to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him. I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have certain people watching me and saying, ‘Well done.'”

It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat” under other people’s feet. God’s purpose may be to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12). Are you ready to be sacrificed like that?

Are you ready to be less than a mere drop in the bucket— to be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you willing to give and be poured out until you are used up and exhausted— not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister? Some saints cannot do menial work while maintaining a saintly attitude, because they feel such service is beneath their dignity.”

Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest, updated language edition, reading for 5 February.

As we start thinking about the word ‘remember’ in 2021, we find many challenges. For example, while abounding is fun, what if God calls us to be abased, that is, to a level of service where no one remembers us? Today, I want us all to remember that God sees our sacrifices and the attitude of our hearts.

Think about it. Most of the work we do is menial work. It’s not glamorous and yet good workers give their lives to it. Teachers give hours to preparation for moments of instruction. Accountants give hours to audits and minutes to deliver a financial opinion. The list of examples could go on.

Yet, the only way good work is done with and for God is if we are willing to give and be poured out in the process. Are you willing? This is generosity at its best because it reflects what Jesus did for us. He made himself nothing. And the Apostle Paul beckons us to have the same mind (Philippians 2:1-11).

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

“As Christianity spread, and the Church became more secularized, this realization of the costliness of grace gradually faded. The world was Christianized, and grace became its common property. It was to be had at low cost. Yet the Church of Rome did not altogether lose the earlier vision.

It is highly significant that the Church was astute enough to find room for the monastic movement, and to prevent it from lapsing into schism. Here on the outer fringe of the Church was a place where the older vision was kept alive. Here men still remembered that grace costs, that grace means following Christ.

Here they left all they had for Christ’s sake, and endeavoured daily to practise His rigorous commands. Thus monasticism became a living protest against the secularization of Christianity and the cheapening of grace. But the Church was wise enough to tolerate this protest, and to prevent it from developing to its logical conclusion.

It thus succeeded in relativizing it, even using it in order to justify the secularization of its own life. Monasticism was represented as an individual achievement which the mass of the laity could not be expected to emulate.

By thus limiting the application of the commandments of Jesus to a restricted group of specialists, the Church evolved the fatal conception of the double standard-a maximum and a minimum standard of Christian obedience. Whenever the Church was accused of being too secularized, it could always point to monasticism as an opportunity of living a higher life within the fold, and thus justify the other possibility of a lower standard of life for others.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Cost of Discipleship (New York: Macmillan, 1979) 49-50.

Grace costs. Those who pay the price experience the higher life. Don’t listen to the mainstream church. Following Christ is not just for specialists. Everyone can be a monk!

Much of Christianity today is a secular alternative to the real and rigorous experience of following Christ. It’s only found by obeying His commands.

Taking hold of it will cost us everything. But we don’t figure it out until we live it out that we only lose if you hold back. We each have a choice to make.

Today I get to have lunch out with a dear friend, Micah Kohls. Can’t wait! Cherish the times with your friends. When you do, urge each other to pursue the higher life.

In my country there will be political protests today. But what if we all lived as “living protests” as Bonhoeffer put it, against the secularization of Christianity?

The cost of grace is far greater and more generous than any sacrifice we might make. May our generosity merely demonstrate the price Christ paid.

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7

“There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in the life. Because it is so natural it is rarely recognized for the evil that it is; but its outworkings are tragic.

We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.

Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what they are, God’s loan to us, and should never be considered in any sense our own. We have no more right to claim credit for special abilities than for blue eyes or strong muscles. “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?”

The Christian who is alive enough to know himself even slightly will recognize the symptoms of this possession malady, and will grieve to find them in his own heart. If the longing after God is strong enough within him he will want to do something about the matter. Now, what should he do?

First of all he should put away all defense and make no attempt to excuse himself either in his own eyes or before the Lord. Whoever defends himself will have himself for his defense, and he will have no other; but let him come defenseless before the Lord and he will have for his defender no less than God Himself.

Let the inquiring Christian trample under foot every slippery trick of his deceitful heart and insist upon frank and open relations with the Lord. Then he should remember that this is holy business. No careless or casual dealings will suffice. Let him come to God in full determination to be heard.

Let him insist that God accept his all, that He take things out of his heart and Himself reign there in power… If we would indeed know God in growing intimacy we must go this way of renunciation. And if we are set upon the pursuit of God, He will sooner or later bring us to this test.”

A. W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God (Project Gutenberg, 2008) 28-30.

It’s sad to think that “this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in the life” when most societies in the world view the vice as a virtue. The world celebrates those who accumulate money and possessions.

I have a bold brother in Hong Kong, Roger Lam, who has dedicated his life to unmasking the deceitfulness of wealth. Tozer would concur and add that we must not underestimate the deceitfulness of our hearts, mine included.

All of us, must remember to avoid the possession malady, which is more potent than any pandemic, and which destroys more lives than any natural disaster. This is holy business is a test. Surrender precedes any generosity.

God does not need our money. He wants our hearts. Pause and ask the Holy Spirit: What is deceitful in my heart? How has the possession malady infected me? What are my symptoms? I am learning that renunciation marks the path to intimacy with God and people.

“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:18

“Love thy neighbor.” Perhaps he rolls in riches, and thou art poor, and living in thy little cot side-by-side with his lordly mansion; thou seest every day his estates, his fine linen, and his sumptuous banquets; God has given him these gifts, covet not his wealth, and think no hard thoughts concerning him. Be content with thine own lot, if thou canst not better it, but do not look upon thy neighbor, and wish that he were as thyself. Love him, and then thou wilt not envy him.

Perhaps, on the other hand, thou art rich, and near thee reside the poor. Do not scorn to call them neighbor. Own that thou art bound to love them. The world calls them thy inferiors. In what are they inferior? They are far more thine equals than thine inferiors, for “God hath made of one blood all people that dwell upon the face of the earth.” It is thy coat which is better than theirs, but thou art by no means better than they. They are men, and what art thou more than that? Take heed that thou love thy neighbor even though he be in rags, or sunken in the depths of poverty.

But, perhaps, you say, “I cannot love my neighbors, because for all I do they return ingratitude and contempt.” So much the more room for the heroism of love. Wouldst thou be a feather-bed warrior, instead of bearing the rough fight of love? He who dares the most, shall win the most; and if rough be thy path of love, tread it boldly, still loving thy neighbors through thick and thin. Heap coals of fire on their heads, and if they be hard to please, seek not to please them, but to please thy Master; and remember if they spurn thy love, thy Master hath not spurned it, and thy deed is as acceptable to him as if it had been acceptable to them. Love thy neighbor, for in so doing thou art following the footsteps of Christ.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon in Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (Grand Rapids: CCEL) morning reading for 12 March.

Today’s post spells out what sometimes happens in relationships with our neighbors.

We see their nice things so we envy them. Or, we abound with material blessings while they do not and wrongly treat them as inferiors. Sometimes we reach out in love and they return it with ingratitude or contempt, so we give up the “rough fight of love” reasoning that at least we tried.

To remember to love our neighbor each and every day is about not responding to the situations of life in the flesh but following instead in the footsteps of Christ. To be generous is to give our neighbors not what they deserve but what everyone needs, which is what Christ gave us, love.

God’s design for our flourishing is to submit to His Lordship and follow His ways. That’s why today’s Scripture ends with “I am the Lord.” He knows that when His people treat each other with love, they show His goodness and generosity to a watching world. What will your life exhibit in 2021?

As Spurgeon concludes: “He who dares the most, shall win the most; and if rough be thy path of love, tread it boldly, still loving thy neighbors through thick and thin.” Remember to tread the path of love boldly. I dare you to dedicate yourself to generously dispensing love in 2021.

This is a good reminder for me today as I return to work and interacting with people.

I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings. Luke 16:9

“Very soon your life here will end; consider, then, what may be in store for you elsewhere. Today we live; tomorrow we die and are quickly forgotten. Oh, the dullness and hardness of a heart which looks only to the present instead of preparing for that which is to come! Therefore, in every deed and every thought, act as though you were to die this very day. If you had a good conscience you would not fear death very much. It is better to avoid sin than to fear death…

If you have ever seen a man die, remember that you, too, must go the same way. In the morning consider that you may not live till evening, and when evening comes do not dare to promise yourself the dawn. Be always ready, therefore, and so live that death will never take you unprepared…You can do many good works when in good health…The present is very precious…Try to live now in such a manner that at the moment of death you may be glad rather than fearful.

Learn to die to the world now, that then you may begin to live with Christ. Learn to spurn all things now, that then you may freely go to Him…Ah, foolish man, why do you plan to live long when you are not sure of living even a day? How many have been deceived and suddenly snatched away! How often have you heard of persons being killed by drownings, by fatal falls from high places, of persons dying at meals, at play, in fires, by the sword, in pestilence, or at the hands of robbers! Death is the end of everyone and the life of man quickly passes away like a shadow.

Who will remember you when you are dead? Who will pray for you? Do now, beloved, what you can, because you do not know when you will die, nor what your fate will be after death. Gather for yourself the riches of immortality while you have time. Think of nothing but your salvation. Care only for the things of God. Make friends for yourself now by honoring the saints of God, by imitating their actions, so that when you depart this life they may receive you into everlasting dwellings. Keep yourself as a stranger here on earth, a pilgrim whom its affairs do not concern at all. Keep your heart free and raise it up to God, for you have not here a lasting home.”

Thomas à Kempis in “Thoughts on Death,” chapter 23 of The Imitation of Christ.

As C.S. Lewis quoted Thomas à Kempis yesterday, I turned my attention to see what he might want us to “remember” in the times in which we find ourselves. Loud and clear, I hear him calling us to make the most of every opportunity today to make friends for eternity.

My dear friend and brother, Patrick Johnson, who serves with Generous Church, or “Saint Patrick” as I like to call him, contracted COVID. In our messaging back and forth he reminded that our lives are but a mist and a vapor. Soon we will all pass away, barring our Lord’s return.

Please pray with me for his recovery. I think God still has global generosity work cut out for him. God knows I need his help! But the reality is that all of us will die sometime. So what is the only right way to prepare for that day, which could be sooner than we think?

Each of us must remember to make friends for eternity starting today. We do this by using worldly wealth to accomplish eternal purposes. How will you use what you have to make friends for eternity starting right now? I offer two suggestions as the year starts.

Firstly, set up automatic giving from your income to your church and a portfolio of ministries that do work that God cares about. Secondly, take inventory of your assets, mark which ones you want to store up in heaven, and determine when and how you will do it. Share this with one person to hold you accountable.

By this way, should your life meet a rapid end, you will be glad rather than fearful at your last breath. And both 100 years from now and 100 million years from now, you will be thankful because you rightly prepared for your everlasting dwelling. Remember today is the only day to get prepared!

Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always. Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He pronounced. 1 Chronicles 16:11-12

“Recently (although the outward condition of my life has not changed for the better) it has pleased God to pour into my soul great tranquility — I may even say gaiety. I give thanks not without apprehension as one who keeps firmly in mind that salutary observation in The Imitation of Christ “remember in grace what you would be without grace.” Would that we had attained to everlasting constancy with no shadow of turning!”

C.S. Lewis in “Letter to Don Giovanni Calabria dated 13 January 1948” in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2005) 41.

When we pause to “remember” in grace what we would be without grace, we receive the gift of “great tranquility.” God has done wonders and miracles for us.

Notice we can experience this transformation of perspective even when, as Lewis notes, the conditions in our lives have not changed for the better. We are still in this crazy COVID crisis.

I must admit that in choosing the word “remember” as my word for 2021, I had no idea how it would relate to generosity. Now it seems to me, already, there are infinite possibilities.

As we remember the wonders God has done for us, His miracles and matchless grace, it fills us with great tranquility and joy. Part of our generosity is sharing this peace and joy with others.

But think for a moment why remembering in grace is vital. It roots our generosity in grace. Grace reminds us that everything good that you and I have came to us from God for our enjoyment and generous sharing.

As 2021 begins, take a moment, perhaps over a cup of coffee, and remember at least five things God did for you in 2020. The exercise of reflecting with gratitude causes us to look to the Lord and seek His face for 2021.

And it fills us with great tranquility which inspires us to make 2021 a year of even richer generosity. We’ve got this, because God’s got us.

Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ Nehemiah 1:8-9

“After the confession of sins and the effect it had regarding the breaking of the covenant, Nehemiah sketches the result of the sin. The result is that the sinners will be scattered among the nations…Here in Nehemiah the curse on the treason is balanced by two significant verbs, return and keep. Covenantal language is used. In the covenant, as also in ancient Near Eastern treaties, the curses were balanced by blessings. If one transgressed the stipulations, the curse would come into operation, but if one kept the stipulations, the blessing would be bestowed. It was an either/or choice.”

Charles Fensham in The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; 1983) 155.

My word for 2021 is remember. Here God’s servant uses the term to ask God to be faithful to His covenant and promises even when we are not. Of course, God never forgets “the word” though often we do. To call God “remember the word” is a cry out to God for help.

That’s how I feel led to start 2021. Let’s take the posture of fasting, confession, and prayer like Nehemiah, and ask God to come to our aid, to restore what is broken. I will do it for myself and my people in the USA. Wherever you are, invite others to join you. Echo this prayer for yourself and your people.

To grow in generosity, we must be in a position to receive blessings by grace. Individually, we soak in the word and ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, then we return and keep His commands. Collectively, we must follow standards and make sure our lives and ministries reflect a consistent witness to a watching world.

Father in heaven, forgive me and my people for our greed, idolatry, sinfulness, and selfishness in America. We have abandoned your ways and forgotten the Word. As we return to you and keep your commands, bless us individually and in community so we extend compassionate generosity in 2021 and beyond. Hear our prayer in your mercy in the name of Jesus. Amen!

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 1 Corinthians 9:22

“We often expect from others more than we are willing to do ourselves. Why have we hitherto thought so intemperately about man and his frailty and temptability? We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in light of what they suffer. The only profitable relationship to others — and especially to our weaker brethren — is one of love, and that means the will to hold fellowship with them. God Himself did not despise humanity, but became man for men’s sake.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Witness to Jesus Christ, edited by John de Gruchy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991) 262.

My word for the year was compassion. That means you got to study it too. Thanks for journeying with me. As Bonhoeffer put it, “We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in light of what they suffer.” That’s the empathy part of compassion.

Then, we demonstrate “the will to hold fellowship with them.” That’s the love part, and perhaps the hardest. I find that we may not like people or even agree with them, but we get to choose to fellowship with them. This gives them a gift, and we always receive a greater blessing in return when we give it.

As the year draws to a close, consider how the relationships around you can be more profitable. It’s actually not by doing more but by loving well with empathy. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

Happy New Year! Give generously according to your ability to your church and a portfolio of ministries. Make a gift to GTP to help us expand our team and translate resources into many languages in 2021 for multiplying faithful stewards globally. And, stay tuned for the word for 2021. I will reveal it tomorrow.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 1 Corinthians 4:20

“It is not enough for the Corinthian Christians to stop quarreling with each other. The apostle calls them to follow him in serving the Lord. As their brother in Christ he has given them the message of life and peace. Now he pleads with them to avoid their disputes and to unite in doing deeds of compassion in the name of the Redeemer, “for the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power.”

Larry Woodruff in Living Abundantly: Meditations on the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters of the Apostle Paul, Other Letters, and The Revelation to John (Bloomington: WestBow, 2017) 128.

We are living in a time when people quarrel and have disputes about everything from the pandemic to politics. The Apostle Paul would say we we must abandon the talk and get on with the walk. Instead, we should be characterized as people doing deeds of compassion.

How do we stay on track? For some, it might mean to unplug from the news on television. For others, it might mean fast from social media. For all of us, it will take shape when we seek first the kingdom of God so that His power will be manifest in and through our lives.

Pause. Think about what needs to change in your life. As God to help you change in the new year so the disputes stop and the compassionate deeds start. I am learning to say “No” to things so that I can say “Yes” to better things. It’s a process. God help me. God help us all.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

“None knows the weight of another’s burden.”

George Herbert as recounted by Sir John Templeton in Discovering the Laws of Life (West Conshohocken: Templeton, 1994) 20.

This short and sweet quote sums up what I have learned about compassion this year. We cannot know really the weight of the burdens of others. But to get a taste we can offer to bear them.

I say to my staff that the most important question they can ask me or others is simply, “How are you?” Life is hard. Asking this question is the first step to helping bear the burdens of others.

What really encourages me about the generosity of givers GTP is that together we are sharing the burden of lifting up those who struggle and suffer. We are helping them shape their futures.

While I don’t know what it is like in Francophone Africa, I plan to visit in 2021. Help this campaign get over the finish line. Click to make a gift today. It’s at $440 toward the goal of $2,000.