D.L. Moody: To what do you give yourself?

“We can stand affliction better than we can prosperity, for in prosperity we forget God. When our work is light, our prospects good, and everything looks smooth and easy, we are more apt to give ourselves over to pleasure … A great many have a wrong idea of God, and think he sends afflictions because He doesn’t love them; they think that because they don’t know Him. He sends afflictions to humble our hearts and make us look to Him, and because He loves us, so he cannot let us leave Him and forget Him.”

D.L. Moody in Glad Tidings Comprising Sermons and Prayer Meeting Talks (New York: E.B. Treat, 1876) 487-488, echoes the words of Agur (cf. Proverbs 30:7-9).

What we “give ourselves over to” reveals our idea of God. Does prosperity fuel our self-indulgence or generosity? When we suffer affliction do we complain and treat it as punishment or joyfully receive it as a gift. Our response to life’s blessings and burdens shows where our heart is.

Give an account of thy stewardship. Luke 16:2

“We have heard many times in our lives, that we are all stewards to Almighty God. We hold it as a solemn truth of our religion, that the rich man is responsible for the use which he makes of his wealth; that the talented man must give an account to God of the interest which he getteth upon his talents; that every one of us, in proportion to our time and opportunities, must give an account for himself before Almighty God.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) in his opening remarks of Sermon 192, “The Sunday-School Teacher, A Steward” delivered on 4 May 1858. Spurgeon passionately reminds us as stewards that we must live in such a way as to prepare for our day of reckoning.

Jenni and I visited a widow over the weekend whose husband had passed away unexpectedly in his early 50’s. Thankfully she was sustained by the peace of Christ, but the visit gave us a sobering reminder to live with readiness, as none of us knows what day will be our day of reckoning.

Are you prepared to meet the Lord and give an account for your stewardship? I am thankful that many others join me in calling God’s people to get ready. Meet two of them:

Today in San Diego I meet up with Steve Cummings, the vice president of Advancement at Multnomah University, whose MU web page reveals a glimpse of his zeal for helping stewards grow. He desires every conversation and each piece of correspondence to spur people toward spiritual maturity and faithfulness.

Another brother you must meet is Greg Henson, president of Sioux Falls Seminary. Greg invited me to serve as a visiting member of the Kairos Teaching Team at SFS, and recently, we wrote an article together to help stewards prepare to give an account for their stewardship. Click to read “Spiritual Formation and Stewardship”.

“Not for ourselves, but others is the grand law of nature, inscribed by the hand of God on every part of creation. Not for itself, but others, does the sun dispense its beams; not for themselves, but others, do the clouds distil their showers; not for herself, but others, does the earth unlock her treasures; not for themselves, but others, do the trees produce their fruits, or the flowers diffuse their fragrance and display their various hues. So, not for himself, but others, are the blessings of Heaven bestowed on man.

And whenever, instead of diffusing them around, he devotes them exclusively to his own gratification, and shuts himself up in the dark and flinty caverns of selfishness, he transgresses the great law of creation. He cuts himself off from the created universe, and its Author. He sacrilegiously converts to his own use the favors which were given him for the relief of others, and must be considered, not only as an unprofitable, but as a fraudulent servant, who has worse than wasted his Lord’s money. He, who thus lives only to himself, and consumes the bounty of Heaven upon his lusts, or consecrates it to the demon of avarice, is a barren rock in a fertile plain; he is a thorny bramble in a fruitful vineyard; he is the grave of God’s blessings.”

Edward Payson (1783-1827) American Congregationalist preacher in Selections from the Conversations and Unpublished Writings of Rev. Edward Payson, excerpt from “Universal Law of Benevolence” (Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1836) 171.

So what is the “universal law of benevolence” for Payson (and us)? Not for ourselves but others. We are blessed to be a blessing! Don’t let God’s generosity toward you, stop with you. Scripture commands that those with more than enough must enjoy and share God’s blessings (cf. 1 Timothy 6:17-19). Let us resolve together not to be fraudulent servants but faithful stewards!

“But does not the Apostle [Paul] direct us to ‘follow after charity’ And does he not term it ‘a more excellent way.’ He does direct us to ‘follow after charity;’ but not after that alone. His words are, ‘follow after charity;’ and ‘desire spiritual gifts.’ (1 Corinthians 14:1) Yea, ‘follow after charity;’ and desire to spend and to be spent for your brethren. ‘Follow after charity;’ and as you have opportunity do good to all men.”

John Wesley (1703-1791) Anglican minister in “Upon Our Lord’s Sermon On The Mount: Discourse Four” Sermon 24.3.3, delivered in October 1740.

Wesley rightly argues the social aspect of Christianity in this sermon: that we have been made alive in Christ to spend ourselves and to be spent for others. People can’t see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven if our faith secludes us from society (cf. Matthew 5:16).

As Wesley suggests elsewhere in this sermon, let us retreat each evening and morning to sit with Lord and experience renewal and refreshment and then, empowered by the Holy Spirit, let us desire to spend and to be spent for others by doing good as we have opportunity.

“The greatest deeds without heart do not convince the Savior that a person belongs to Him. To move mountains, to drive out devils, to heal the sick, does not mean that He acknowledges us as His own, for when people will say on that day,

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’ Matthew 7:22-23

On the other hand the most completely powerless, the absolutely lowest, sin-laden person who comes to grace, who has not one moment of time left to work and act for [the Savior], is in for just as friendly, loving, sweet Lord and Master, as the one who has done works in God in huge number.”

Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) in Christian Life and Witness: Count Zinzendorf’s 1738 Berlin Speeches, excerpt from “The Sixth Speech” edited by Gary S. Kinkel (PTMS 140; Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2010) 50.

My family has a copy of this great old board game we love to play called “the Generosity Game” that is a parody on “the Game of Life.” Of course the winner of the latter is all about accumulation, while the winner of the former is the one who stores up the most treasures in heaven.

What I love most about the game is that before every opportunity to give you have to draw a card to see if your heart is right or not. If your heart is right you store up treasures in heaven and if it’s not you don’t. Before each time that each of us has an opportunity to give in real life, let us resolve to make sure our hearts are right, otherwise our acts are worthless.

Father in Heaven, please by your Holy Spirit, align our hearts with yours, so that our generosity reflects your love and grace to the world, in the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

“Man should not glory in himself, but alone in God; that no flesh should glory in His presence.

That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:31

How this end is attained in the work of redemption is by that absolute and immediate dependence which men have upon God in that work, for all their good. Inasmuch as, first, all the good that they have is in and through Christ; He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption…

It is by Christ that we have sanctification: we have in Him true excellency of heart as well as of understanding; and He is made unto us inherent as well as imputed righteousness. It is by Christ that we have redemption, or the actual deliverance from all misery, and the bestowment of all happiness and glory. Thus we have all our good by Christ, who is God.

Secondly, another instance wherein our dependence on God for all our good appears, is this, that it is God that has given us Christ, that we might have these benefits through Him; He of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, etc.

Thirdly, It is of Him that we are in Christ Jesus, and come to have an interest in Him, and so do receive those blessings which He is made unto us. It is God that gives us faith whereby we close with Christ.

So that in this verse is shown our dependence on each person in the Trinity for all our good. We are dependent on Christ the Son of God, as He is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We are dependent on the Father, who has given us Christ, and made Him to be these things to us. We are dependent on the Holy Ghost, for it is of Him that we are in Christ Jesus; it is the Spirit of God that gives faith in Him, whereby we receive Him, and close with Him.”

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) excerpt from the opening of his “God Glorified In Man’s Dependence” sermon.

I am Dallas today at meetings with professors who have developed projects on teaching biblical stewardship in seminary settings. We will share resources with each other. Any that come from me share this perspective of Edwards: that our generosity is dependent on the Trinity, our only boast and glory!

“I have thought again, my brethren, since it is required of us that we give thanks to God for all these men, it follows that we do with quietness submit ourselves under what God shall do to us by them. For it seems a paradox to me to give thanks to God for them, that yet I am not willing should abide in that place that God has set them in for me. I will then love them, bless them, pray for them, and do them good.

I speak now of the men that hurt me, as I have hinted before. And I will do thus, because it is good so to do; because they do me good by hurting of me, because I am called to inherit a blessing, and because I would be like my heavenly Father. “Therefore if mine enemy hunger, let me feed him; if he thirst, let me give him drink.” (Matthew 5:43-48; 1 Peter 3:9; Romans 12:17—20.)

We must see good in that in which other men can see none. We must pass by those injuries that other men would revenge. We must show we have grace, and that we are made to bear what other men are not acquainted with. Many of our graces are kept alive by those very things that are the death of other men’s souls.”

John Bunyan (1628-1688)) author of Pilgrim’s Progress, excerpt from “Seasonal Counsel or Advice to Sufferers” in The Entire Works of John Bunyan (London: James S. Virtue, City Road, and Ivy Lane, 1860) 285.

When I located this collection by Bunyan early this morning my attention turned to his “advice for sufferers” because thanks to some malware that has adversely impacted my website and email system, my meditations are not going to all the recipients that have subscribed for years. Honestly, I am not sure what to do about it, and while I have not gotten angry, I have gotten frustrated!

Bunyan reminds us that “we must show that we have grace” to our enemies when in our flesh we’d like to wring their necks! This includes perpetrators whose “malicious software” messes up our ability to communicate. Jesus, Peter, and Paul (cf. in the Scriptures noted by Bunyan) all exhort us to do good to our enemies. God help us generously extend them grace and love each and every day.

“Receive the Lord Jesus in His comeliness and eminency. Let believers exercise their hearts abundantly unto this thing. This is choice communion with the Son, Jesus Christ. Let us receive Him in all His excellencies, as he bestows Himself upon us; be frequent in thoughts of faith, comparing Him with other beloveds, sin, world, legal righteousness; and preferring Him before them, counting them all loss and dung in comparison of Him. And let our souls be persuaded of His sincerity and willingness in giving Himself, in all that He is, as Mediator unto us, to be ours; and let our hearts give up themselves unto Him.”

John Owen (1616-1683) English theologian and administrator at Oxford, in Of Communion with God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, excerpt from chapter 3.

For Owen, any giving on our part represents our response to the realization that what we have in Christ Jesus is beyond all comparison.

I wonder if the lack of generosity in our day is rooted in the misguided notion that we have tried to make generosity a response to our efforts (preaching, letters, etc.) rather than a response to communion with Christ. Owen would likely say: exhort people to communion with Christ (alongside whom is no comparison), and they will give up themselves and the resources they possess.

The Apostle Paul said something along these lines…

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. Philippians 3:7-9

“For herein peculiarly differ the sons of God from the reprobate, that the sons of God know both prosperity and adversity to be the gifts of God only, as Job witnesseth; and therefore in prosperity commonly they are not insolent nor proud, but even in the day of joy and rest they look for trouble and sorrow: neither yet, in the time of adversity, are they altogether left without comfort; but by one mean or other, God showeth to them that trouble shall have end. While contrariwise the reprobate, either taking all things of chance, or else, making an idol of their own wisdom, in prosperity are so puffed up that they forget God, without any care that trouble should follow; and in adversity they are so dejected, that they look for nothing but hell.”

John Knox (c. 1514-1572) in The Select Practical Writings of John Knox, excerpt from “A Fort for the Afflicted: An Exposition of the Sixth Psalm of David.”

Whether we read Luther in Germany, Calvin in Switzerland, or Knox in Scotland, the voices of the Reformation call people to adopt a biblical perspective on all aspects of life.

Here, one of the founders of the Presbyterian church calls “the sons of God” to realize that prosperity and adversity are both gifts from God. Why does this matter to us today?

We can never exhibit generosity until we have learned to relate rightly to that which comes to us. We must avoid idolatry and pride while treating everything that comes to us as a gift.

“Whatever be the kind of tribulation with which we are afflicted, we should always consider the end of it to be, that we may be trained to despise the present, and thereby stimulated to aspire to the future life. For since God well knows how strongly we are inclined by nature to a slavish love of this world, in order to prevent us from clinging too strongly to it, he employs the fittest reason for calling us back, and shaking off our lethargy.

Every one of us, indeed, would be thought to aspire and aim at heavenly immortality during the whole course of his life. For we would be ashamed in no respect to excel the lower animals; whose condition would not be at all inferior to ours, had we not a hope of immortality beyond the grave. But when you attend to the plans, wishes, and actions of each, you see nothing in them but the earth. Hence our stupidity; our minds being dazzled with the glare of wealth, power, and honours, that they can see no farther.

The heart also, engrossed with avarice, ambition, and lust, is weighed down and cannot rise above them. In short, the whole soul, ensnared by the allurements of the flesh, seeks its happiness on the earth. To meet this disease, the Lord makes his people sensible of the vanity of the present life, by a constant proof of its miseries…

That they may not long with too much eagerness after fleeting and fading riches, or rest in those which they already possess, he reduces them to want, or, at least, restricts them to a moderate allowance, at one time by exile, at another by sterility, at another by fire, or by other means. That they may not indulge too complacently in the advantages of married life, he either vexes them by the misconduct of their partners, or humbles them by the wickedness of their children, or afflicts them by bereavement…

We duly profit by the discipline of the cross, when we learn that this life, estimated in itself, is restless, troubled, in numberless ways wretched, and plainly in no respect happy; that what are estimated its blessings are uncertain, fleeting, vain, and vitiated by a great admixture of evil. From this we conclude, that all we have to seek or hope for here is contest; that when we think of the crown we must raise our eyes to heaven. For we must hold, that our mind never rises seriously to desire and aspire after the future, until it has learned to despise the present life.”

John Calvin (1509-1564) in Institutes of the Christian Religion, “On Meditating on the Future Life” 9.1.

The hard part about “the allurements of the flesh” is that God made them for our enjoyment and sharing. When they become the object of our desire, the focus of our striving, the love of our lives, they become idols to us. Don’t be fooled.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1 John 2:15

The discipline of the cross will help you keep your eyes on the prize. Pray for your spouse to avoid misconduct and your children to steer clear of wickedness. Learn to focus on that which is eternal so that you (and your family members) may see clearly in the earthly here and now.