George H. Guthrie: Nitty-Gritty

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
Hebrews 13:1-3

“[These verses] demonstrate that true Christian commitment involves living out our commitment to Christ in the nitty-gritty of daily living. Beds and bankrolls cannot be separated from theology. This is where the reality of our relationship with God is manifested. The dusty and crowded sidewalks, the kitchen tables, the lunchrooms and lounges, are the places where we must “confess His name” and “do good and…share with others” (13:15-16) if we are to live authentically as believers. We must work out these principles in daily practice.”

George H. Guthrie in Hebrews (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998) 446.

When I read this, I reflected on how much I miss these places during the COVID-19 crisis: “dusty and crowded sidewalks, the kitchen tables, the lunchrooms, and lounges.”

When the crisis lifts, let’s cherish the moments we get in these places. Let’s not take for granted the gift of community. Let’s live out our generosity in these nitty-gritty areas of life.

Authentic Christianity treats everyone, from friend to foe, as a target for generosity. If you know anyone in need of love, help, or hospitality right now, draw near and aid them right away.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:15-16

“To the sacrifices of praise is added the sacrifice of kind and loving action… Here we have the proper ritual of Christianity… Christianity is sacrificial through and through; it is founded on the one self-offering of Christ and the offering of His people’s praise and property, of their service and their lives. It is caught up into the perfection of His acceptable sacrifice, and is accepted in Him.”

F. F. Bruce in The Epistle to the Hebrews, revised edition (NICNT; Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1990) 384.

Praise and property. Our Lord loves it when we praise Him. He also celebrates when we back that with property. In challenging times, let’s praise God for sustaining us and combine that with kind and loving action.

Notice the text says “do not forget to do good and share” because the culture certainly won’t remind us of this. It says to hoard everything including toilet paper in crisis. But, when we live differently and do good and share, God is pleased.

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:36-37

“The twist in this particular story underscores the point that generosity is a simple act of caring. Your status in society and your particular beliefs take second place to how you behave toward others. Samaritans were considered inferior by the prevailing culture in which Jesus lived…

Jesus identified the Samaritan as the hero, the truly compassionate person, in contrast to those who are typically seen as more honorable and respected. Doing good transcends your particular group, doctrine, or religious affiliation. This attitude is at the very heart of what it means to practice generosity…”

Dave Toycen in The Power of Generosity (Waynesboro: Authentic Media, 2004) 15.

Compassionate generosity is voluntary, simple, and yet profoundly impactful because it transcends cultural patterns and touches people with just what they need.

How Samaritan or how transcendant is your giving?

It’s a good question for each of us to ask ourselves. Because Jesus says “go and do likewise” He is saying He wants us to be heroes right where he has placed us.

We can do this by giving compassionately and voluntarily. God give us eyes to see, hearts to give, and hands to serve like the Samaritan. Amen.

“David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to You, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; You are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give You thanks, and praise Your glorious name.

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand. We are foreigners and strangers in Your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building You a temple for Your Holy Name comes from Your hand, and all of it belongs to You. I know, my God, that You test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly Your people who are here have given to You.” 1 Chronicles 29:10-17

“This magnificent prayer begins with praise and adoration of the Lord. God had blessed David richly, so he blesses God thankfully! His words are a short course in theology. He blesses the God of Israel and acknowledges His greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty. God owns everything!

God is sovereign over all! His name is great and glorious! But who are David and his people that they should be able to give so lavishly to the Lord? After all, everything comes from Him, and when we give, we only return to the Lord that which He has graciously already given to us.

In contrast to the eternal God, David declares that he, the king, is like any other human, an alien and stranger on the earth. God is eternal, but human life is brief and nobody can prevent the inevitable hour of death. Since all things come from God, and life is brief, the wisest thing we can do is give back to God what He gives to us and make an investment in the eternal.”

Warren Wiersbe in Be Restored: Trusting God To See Us Through (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2002) 212-213.

What is the wisest thing we can do with the blessings we have received from God? The answer is clear: return them voluntarily to the Lord through generous giving.

It seems like COVID-19 may be with us for a long time. As needs rise up around us, we can be tempted to ignore them and focus on ourselves and our own needs. After all, we are all only on this earth for a short time.

In these moments we must remember forr things: (1) All we have came from God. (2) All we have belongs to God. (#) God will test our hearts. (3) He celebrates willing giving with honest intent.

What does He see when He looks at you? 

David’s giving to God’s house aimed to demonstrate to God that God was his top priority. Let’s agree that the wisest thing we can do, especially during COVID-19, is to give generously with the same intent.

But who am I, and who are my people, that we make such voluntary offerings as these? For all things come from You, and from Your own hand we are giving to You. 1 Chronicles 29:14

“All things in heaven and on earth, O Lord, are Yours. I long to give myself to You as a voluntary offering to remain forever Yours. With a sincere heart I offer myself this day to You, O Lord, to Your eternal service, to Your homage, and as a sacrifice of everlasting praise. Receive me with this holy offering of Your precious body which also I make to You this day, in the presence of angels invisibly attending, for my salvation and that of all Your people.”

Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) in The Imitation of Christ (Wheaton, IL: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 1998) 168.

Voluntary giving  appears as an expression on the lips of David in today’s Scripture.

I am convinced that voluntary giving reflects the heart of God like no other giving because it models His love toward us. As I explore this idea in Scripture this week, I am struck by the fact that it flows from a sincere heart and reflects sacrifice for the giver.

God give us hearts that cherish you above all else so that our giving is voluntary like yours. Amen.

At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality. 2 Corinthians 8:14

“Paul had several purposes in developing the collection for the poor:

(1) In verse 26 he calls the gift a “fellowship” (NIV, contribution) indicating a unity of sharing between the Gentile and Jewish factions in the church. The gift from the Gentiles was intended to bind them with the Jews in Jerusalem and to show their love.

(2) In verse 27 he develops the principle of sharing… This has often been called the principle of equality, as in 2 Corinthians 8:14. In other words, the Jews provide help from their spiritual heritage, and the Gentiles provide material help; in that way they find equality before the Lord…

(3) They would see the offering as the fulfillment of the promise that the Gentiles would bring gifts to Zion (Isaiah 2:2-4; 60:6-7, 11; Micah 4:13).

(4) It was an act of joy. Paul emphasizes that the Macedonians and Achaians were pleased to do it in 2 Corinthians 8:2… It simply cannot be stated any better than that. It was a pleasure to give!”

Grant Osborne in Romans (IVPNTC; Downers Grove: IVP, 2004) 397-398.

During lockdown, I miss the occasional visit to food establishments like Chick-fil-A where when you place your order, the cashier politely says, “My pleasure!”

That’s the proverbial flavor of the message of Paul wants the Romans and the Corinthians to hear with regard to the giving of the Macedonians and the Achaians. They were filled with joy and pleased to give.

Today’s our daughter, Sophie, turns 23. I rejoice that your rich generosity always comes with the same spirit: “My pleasure!” She’s always pleased to share whatever God supplies whether it be material or spiritual blessings.

Now I see why Paul would write about the Macedonians and the Achaians in 2 Corinthians and Romans with such enthusiasm. They gave from grateful hearts that were thrilled to share.

When people give with a “My pleasure!” perspective that always makes sure everyone has enough, they are the kind of person everyone wants to be around. They bless everyone they touch. Happy Birthday, dear Sophie!

For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. Romans 15:26

“It pleased them. This intimates how ready they were to it — they were not pressed nor constrained to it, but they did it of their own accord; and how cheerful they were in it — they took a pleasure in doing good; and God loves a cheerful giver. To make a certain contribution; koinonian tina — a communication, in token of the communion of saints, and their fellow-membership, as in the natural body one member communicates to the relief, and succour, and preservation of another, as there is occasion. Every thing that passes between Christians should be a proof and instance of that common union which they have one with another in Jesus Christ.”

Matthew Henry in Commentary on Romans 15.

Giving sends a message. Literally, in the Greek the language implies sending “a communication.” What message does your giving send? From Macedonians to Achaia, from Northern to Southern Greece, the Christians were pleased to send a message of support.

Let’s send a message through our giving that God’s work is more important than anything else in our lives.

They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. Romans 15:27

“The significance of the offering (the solidarity of God’s people in Jesus Christ) was primarily neither geographical (from Greece to Judea), nor social (from the rich to the poor), nor even ethnic (from Gentiles to Jews), but both religious (from liberated radicals to traditional conservatives, that is, from the strong to the weak), and especially theological (from beneficiaries to benefactors). In other words, the so-called ‘gift’ was in reality a ‘debt’…

The Gentiles must be careful not to be boastful or arrogant. They must rather remember that they have inherited from the Jews enormous blessings to which they have no title. In themselves they are nothing but a wild olive shoot. But having been grafted into God’s ancient olive tree, they ‘now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root’ (11:17). It is right therefore for the Gentiles to acknowledge what they owe to the Jews. When we Gentiles are thinking of the great blessings of salvation, we are hugely in debt to the Jews, and always will be. Paul sees the offering form the Gentile churches as a humble, material, symbolic demonstration of this indebtedness.”

John R. W. Stott in The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World (Bible Speaks Today; Downers Grove: IVP, 1994) 386-387.

What is the debt that all Gentiles pay? We are indebted to the Jews for the spiritual blessings we have received through Christ. This does not mean that we need to mail money our Jewish friends. It means we need to take a humble rather than an arrogant posture for the privilege of having been grafted into the family of God.

Even as we have been given a share in Christ, we must hold on loosely to all we have and take a sharing posture. This is the opposite of most Gentiles. Most hold for themselves. So really the debt that all Gentiles pay is one of gratitude and generosity for becoming partakers of the Spirit of God. Our only response is to be rich givers.

For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. Romans 15:26

“Paul has not been shy about exhorting these churches to participate in the collection. But their participation is, nevertheless, of their own free will: they were “pleased”; they “freely decided” to make a contribution. Paul suggests something of the significance of this contribution by calling it a koinōnia, literally, a “fellowship.” Here the word clearly means “that which is readily shared,” “contribution,” but there is certainly an allusion to the word’s common use in Paul to denote the loving intimacy of the Christian community.”

Douglas J. Moo in The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT; Grand Rapids, 1996) 903.

I am sitting in this verse for a few days with commentators because the language is so powerful. Are you “pleased” to fellowship with others through sharing? By calling it a fellowship, Paul implies how giving knits us together in God’s work.

We actually grasp deeper communion with God and each other through giving and receiving. In sharing freely and willingly we send message to God that our trust is in Him and, in turn, we forge relationships that can only be gained by this experience.

For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. Romans 15:26

“There was not better way of demonstrating in the most practical way the unity of the Church. This was a way of teaching the young churches that they were not isolated units but members of a great Church extending throughout all the world. The value of giving to others is that it makes us remember that we are not members of a congregation but of a Church that is worldwide. There was no better way of putting Christianity into practical action. It was easy enough to talk about Christian generosity; here was a chance to turn Christian words into Christian deeds”

William Barclay in The Letter to the Romans, revised edition (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975) 205.

The Christians in Macedonians and Achaia took practical action. There was a need and they responded. They “were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people.” Are we likewise so willing?

Some people wrestle with making such giving decisions, but don’t overthink it. If you have been blessed by anyone, help them when they have a need like the Christians in Macedonians and Achaia did. When we do this we show our faith in action.