Richard Foster: Joyous trust

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24

“Jesus Christ and all the writers of the New Testament call us to break free of mammon lust and live in joyous trust. Their radical criticism of wealth is combined with a spirit of unconditional generosity. They point us to a way of living in which everything we have we receive as a gift, and everything we have is cared for by God, and everything we have is available to others when it is right and good. This reality frames the heart of Christian simplicity. It is the means of liberation and power to do what is right and to overcome the forces of fear and avarice.”

Richard Foster in The Freedom of Simplicity (New York: HarperCollins, 1981) 62.

Do you live in joyous trust? Elsewhere Foster says, “Stop trying to impress people with your clothes and impress them with your life.” The Christian life that is free of mammon lust is liberating and powerful. Could it be that the lack of power in the Church today betrays devotion to mammon lust rather than to God?

Today I am attending meetings in Indianapolis and will give a devotional to launch an ECFA church advisory group that will speak into the creation of a variety of Christian financial literacy materials and resources for God’s Church. Pray for me as I point the attention of the group to what the New Testament contains for followers of Christ.

When my meeting is over, I fly from Indianapolis to San Diego, while Sammy flies from Denver to San Diego. Tonight we connect with Jenni and Sophie to celebrate Sammy’s 20th birthday at In-N-Out Burger. Happy Birthday, Sammy! We thank God for the gift of three days together, and for a son who lives in joyous trust!

How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you. Psalm 31:19

“All we want in Christ, we shall find in Christ. If we want little, we shall find little. If we want much, we shall find much; but if in utter helplessness we case our all on our Christ, He will be to us the whole treasury of God.”

Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901) in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, 1895) 95.

In fasting during Lent I am learning afresh that I can do without anything but Christ, and in Him I have far more than enough. More than I could ever imagine! In pausing repeatedly in the Psalms, I too am learning that often my prayers are too little.

The culture tells us if we do anything in “utter helplessness” that we are weak. Christ reminds us that such a posture is our strongest one. What do you want in Christ? Are you finding what you are looking for? I find He over-delivers good things!

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 5:10

“The first of all English games is making money. That is an all-absorbing game; and we knock each other down oftener in playing at that than at football, or any other rougher sport; and it is absolutely without purpose; no one who engages heartily in that game ever knows why.

Ask a great money-maker what he wants to do with his money–he never knows. He doesn’t make it to do any thing with it. He gets it only that he may get it. “What will you make of what you have got?” you ask, “Well, I’ll get more,” he says.

Just as as cricket you get more funds, there is no use in the runs but to get more of them than other people in the game. And there is no use in the money; but to have more of it than other people in the game.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers, compiled by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert (New York: Wilbur B. Ketcham, 1895) 18.

Ask yourself this question as you consider your work on this Monday in Lent: Do I work to accumulate money or do I work to have something to return to God, to care for my family, and to share with those in need (cf. Ephesians 4:28)?

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 1 Peter 2:11

“The New Testament does not present a come-see religion, but a go-tell religion . . . The implications of this are huge for the way we live and the way we think about money and lifestyle. One of the main implications is that we are “sojourners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11) on the earth. We do not use this world as though it were our primary home. “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

This leads to a wartime lifestyle. That means we don’t amass wealth to show the world how rich our God can make us. We work hard and seek a wartime austerity for the cause of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. We maximize giving to the war effort, not comforts at home . . . The emphasis of the New Testament is not riches to lure us in to sin, but sacrifice to carry us out.”

John Piper in Let the Nations Be Glad!: The Supremacy of God in Missions, third edition (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010) 29.

Are your finances aligned with the spiritual war that is raging around us? Lent is a great time to adopt a “wartime lifestyle” linked to money. As Piper puts it, “The emphasis of the New Testament is not riches to lure us in to sin, but sacrifice to carry us out.” Sacrifice is about forgoing financial expenditures so the funds can be in deployment on mission. Remember, we are “temporary residents and foreigners” here. Our home is in heaven. Let’s store our treasures there!

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6

“Let us not rationalize hoarding and comfortable living as if they were essential to provide the energy and peace of mind we need in order to minister. Good stewardship of abundance resources may greatly advance God’s kingdom, but spending all of our resources on personal security, comfort, and pleasure tends to have the opposite result. History attests to this fact.

Times of growth and great need and suffering among Christians often result in rapid church growth and spiritual revival, while church prosperity tends to yield little growth … “Persecution can have harmful effects on the church. But prosperity, it seems is even more devastating to the mission God calls us to…we should be vary wary of prosperity and excessive ease and comfort and affluence.”

Alan and Katherine Carter in “The Gospel and Lifestyle” in Theology and Practice of Mission: God, the Church, and the Nations, ed. Bruce Riley Ashford (Nashville: B&H, 2011) 142-143.

“The Gospel and Lifestyle” is a great chapter on missional living. This couple, Alan and Katherine, bring to light the value of pursuing contentment and simplicity rather than comfort and prosperity. The former pursuits will keep us on track, while the latter ones will seek to destroy us.

If you have treasures stored up on earth for security or to attempt to ensure a certain standard of living in perpetuity, from God’s perspective, you are hoarding. Put those resources in play. As you faithfully serve God and more resources come to you, become a joyful distributor.

Lent is the time for learning this. If you have not practiced some form of sacrifice this season, ask God today what that might look like for you. Take time today to consider what resources you have that may need to be put in play. Why do this? It’s how we learn contentment.

And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25:30

“Oh God! What unutterable horror must be in store for those who, entrusted by Thee with an overflowing abundance, disregard the misery around them in guilty selfishness and indolence, or expend it in sensuality and profligacy.”

Samuel Warren (1807-1877) English physician in Day’s Collacon, comp. and arr. by Edward Parsons Day (New York: IPPO, 1884) 4.

During Lent, it is not a pleasant thought, however, it is a necessary one to think of the implications for those with “overflowing abundance” who fail to serve the poor: “unutterable horror” awaits. My mind is drawn to the poor today as I am up early to have breakfast with a Latin American ministry leader down in Colorado Springs.

Father, open our eyes, lest we “disregard the misery” around us. Free us from indolence (laziness), selfishness, and sensuality (focusing on our own pleasure), when many suffer around us. Transform us from foolishly careless managers (profligacy) into faithful and generous stewards of your abundance. Do this by the power of your Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4

“The more seriously we live out our faith, the clearer the call to be generous and to live lives that inspire generosity. No one is excused from the responsibility and invitation to be generous and others-centered.”

Kerry Alys Robinson in Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy, and a Spiritual Call to Service (Collegeville: OSB, 2014) 15.

I had the privilege of hearing Kerry speak at the conference at which I am teaching and attending workshops in Pittsburgh. Her enthusiasm was contagious so I can’t wait to read her whole book. This statement from the opening pages gripped me: “No one is excused…”

It reminds me of the zeal of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians (above). We are redeemed to live generous lives and inspire others to join us, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, and “no one is excused” from this calling.

“When man is what he ought to be, others should be able to look at him and see something of God in him: something of God’s love, God’s kindness, and God’s goodness.”

Anthony Hoekema in Created in God’s Image (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986) 67.

At Bridgeway Community Church last Sunday, James Hoxworth delivered a great message on Humanity and how man and woman are made in the image of God. In that context, he shared this quote by Hoekema.

We were made to reflect God’s love, kindness, and goodness. “Goodness” in the Scriptures is synonymous with generosity. This quote struck me because this Lenten season I am learning that “in Christ” I am being re-made to reflect “God’s love, God’s kindness, and God’s goodness.”

Today marks the end of the third week of Lent. I can’t believe we are almost halfway to Easter. What are you learning as you fast, pray, and give to those in need?

Do people see God’s love, God’s kindness, and God’s goodness when they look at you?

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

“I have already, on a previous occasion, spoken at some length on the subject of Work and Vocation. What I urged then was a thoroughgoing revolution in our whole attitude to work. I asked that it should be looked upon, not as a necessary drudgery to be undergone for the purpose of making money, but as a way of life in which the nature of man should find its proper exercise and delight and so fulfill itself to the glory of God. That it should, in fact, be thought of as a creative activity undertaken for the love of the work itself; and that man, made in God’s image, should make things, as God makes them, for the sake of doing well a thing that is well worth doing…Or perhaps we may put it more shortly still: If work is to find its right place in the world, it is the duty of the Church to see to it that the work serves God, and that the worker serves the work.”

Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) British author in “Why Work?”

Spot on! The purpose of work is not remuneration (“making money”), but rather: worship (“serving God”), contribution (“serving others”), compensation (“receiving a fair wage” cf. 1 Timothy 5:18) and reflection (“making known God’s love to the world”). What’s this got to do with generosity?

Because work was good before the fall of man, and a part of our stewardship of creation (cf. Genesis 2:15), our work is a primary avenue through which we can make known God’s generosity. What are the implications of this? Ask yourself these questions.

How will I worship God through my work this week? What unique contributions will I make? Will I pay fair wages to others? Will I use the wages I earn to live, give, serve, and love like Jesus? And how will my work itself reflect God’s generosity to the world?

Today I fly to Pittsburgh. Tomorrow I will present the Faith and Finances course that I developed as a turn-key course for seminaries to use. One of the twelve units covers a biblical perspective on work. If you’d like a copy of the PDF version of the course, reply to this email. I’d be happy to share it.

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:37-40

“Trinity Homeless Shelter is completely staffed by the homeless. WHAT? You read correctly! Many of the folks who have walked through the doors of this shelter with nothing, are actually running the place! Many have lost jobs and homes, but have found a new lease on life by entering into the shelter, finding purpose and wholeness and giving themselves to the mission and vision of the organization.

This shelter, located in Skowhegan, Maine, could be a template for other churches to follow. That somewhat unorthodox method of having the residents run the facility, feeding, clothing, and helping others find gainful employment is nothing short of miraculous…and it works! The staff (residents) get room and board for their positions. They work in the office, the food pantry, the laundry, kitchen, firing up the wood boiler, and various other chores–all requirements for an on-going operation, so that when the next needy soul shows up at the door, there is shelter from the storm.”

Richard Berry in Sheltered by Jesus: A Voice for the Homeless (Minneapolis: NextStep Resources, 2015) 115.

This is a leap year, and today is an extra day for us to live, give, serve, and love others in a way that reflects the love of Jesus Christ. Why celebrate the new book that I had the privilege of endorsing for my friend, Richard Berry, on 29 February 2016? I pray every pastor and congregation will take the “leap of faith” that Pastor Berry took to open the doors of the church to the homeless and hurting.

What happened? Read the book to find out. You will be intrigued and inspired, then convicted and convinced that Trinity EFC is not an anomaly, but an example: teaching the rest of us how to be the church. Join us in supporting the Shelter by Jesus, or Pastor Berry would say: start a shelter by Jesus at your church and see miracles happen that will change your life and transform your congregation.