Jon Wiebe: Should Christians try to build wealth or exhibit generous worship?

“While biblical principles will result in financial health–which may mean having more–wealth is never a biblical motivation. Financial stewardship is about a life of worship.”

Jon Wiebe, president and CEO of the MB Foundation as quoted by Myra Holmes, a writer and friend who attends Trailhead Church where my family worships. To read the full article, visit: “Discipleship is Putting our Money where our Mouth is” in Christian Leader, July/August 2014, 20-22.

This is a great article, and a must-read if you are responsible for stewardship instruction in your church. Drawing on insights from Wiebe, Holmes thoughtfully shares what’s working in inspiring Christian generosity while unashamedly voicing concerns related to some pretty popular stewardship tools.

She specifically brings to light how many boxed programs that teach financial principles actually stray from the Scriptures and promote things like building wealth when Jesus explicitly instructs us otherwise. She also keenly notes how Wiebe emphasized the motivational danger associated with such thinking.

Responsible stewardship results in financial health and may take the form of material blessing; however, amassing wealth must never be our motivation. Instead let us worship and glorify God by enjoying and sharing His spiritual and material blessings all around!

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity. I am certain there must be a patent American article on the market which will suit you far better…”

C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics in “Answers to Questions on Christianity” (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970) answer #11.

Why share this today? It is fresh in my mind as I quoted Lewis in a blogpost I wrote for the Christian Leadership Alliance which posted yesterday entitled: “Should Christians Save for Retirement?” I hope you find it helpful.

“What does it mean to follow Christ? I think a lot of us end up only admiring Christ instead of truly following Him. Admirers are only linked to the admired through the thrill of the imagination. But followers end up doing as the leader does.

In an attempt to look like Jesus we have simply not looked like the world but very little like Christ. Our obedience has been defined by what we don’t do, when our obedience should be defined by what we do for the world our God so loved.

You see God loves the world, so a Christian does too. But to reach the world, we need not to become big but small, because when we need less, we can give more. And because we have given to those in need, they now need less for themselves and can give more too.”

James Barnett in the video on the Cloth Your Neighbor as Yourself website.

Click to learn learn more about his story and how CYNY was launched. I think I want to get one of their t-shirts to help me share the CYNY story.

“If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but the divine honor.”

Charles Borromeo (1538-1584) as recounted in Extension: The Official Organ of the Home Missions, volume 96-97 (Madison, WI: CCES) 387-388.

Do you seek God’s presence daily?

This can be difficult in the summer months when schedules vary week after week and the calendar is filled with a variety of activities. Mark 1:35 reminds us that Jesus had to get up early and go to a solitary place to spend time with God.

To grow in Christian service and generosity, I concur with Charles Borromeo. We must keep ourselves in the presence of God as much as possible, even if we have to lose some sleep.

And we must have no other aim but to glorify God.

“So if you want to know whether a man is really wise, learned, generous or noble, see if his life is moulded by humility, modesty and submission. If so, his gifts are genuine; but if they are only surface and showy, you may be sure that in proportion to their demonstrativeness so is their unreality. Those pearls which are formed amid tempest and storm have only an outward shell, and are hollow within; and so when a man’s good qualities are fed by pride, vanity and boasting, they will soon have nothing save empty show, without sap, marrow or substance.”

Francis de Sales (1567-1622) in section entitled “On Greater Humility” in Introduction to the Devout Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library) 95-96.

Francis is spot on when he argues that generosity that is “surface and showy” is not generosity at all. May our generosity instead exhibit humility, and may our lives reflect modesty and submission, which together demonstrate that our deeds flow not from us, but Christ, alive in us!

“We ought to have our churches all busy for God. What is the use of a church that simply assembles to hear sermons, or even as a family gathers to eat meals? What, I say, is the profit, if it does no work? …

Because of Christian idleness we hear of the necessity for amusements, and all sorts of nonsense. If they were at work for the Lord Jesus we should not hear of this…

Much needs to be done by a Christian church within its own bounds, and for the neighbourhood, and for the poor and the fallen, and for the heathen world, and so forth; and if it is well attended to, minds, and hearts, and hands, and tongues will be occupied, and diversions will not be asked for. Let idleness come in, and that spirit which rules lazy people, and there will arise a desire to be amused…

The man who is all aglow with love to Jesus finds little need for amusement. He has no time for trifling. He is in dead earnest to save souls, and establish the truth, and enlarge the kingdom of his Lord.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) in “The Greatest Fight in the World” excerpt from section entitled “Our Army” from this, his final manifesto.

Leaders like Spurgeon were all busy for God. When he was not preaching one of over 3,500 sermons, he ran an orphanage, trained people for ministry, and lived a generous life. His faith was anything but idle.

There is much kingdom work to be done and it is especially hard to focus on it when our culture is rooted in self-gratification and entertainment. May we serve as catalysts for doing God’s work in congregations, following the example of saints like Spurgeon.

“To those who struggle to make ends meet, guard against being envious of the wealthy and work on being content with life as it is.

To those who would have to admit that the pursuit of more and more money is now a passionate drive, hear the warning again: if you don’t come to terms with yourself, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll find yourself ensnared and miserable. In the process, you’ll lose the very things you think money will buy: peace, happiness, love, and satisfaction.

And to those who are rich? Put away conceit, forget about finding ultimate security in your money, and cultivate generosity . . . tap into “the true life.”

Straight talk, but that’s what it takes to strengthen our grip on money. Be honest now, are you gripping it or is it gripping you?”

Charles R. Swindoll in “Strengthening Your Grip on Money” excerpts from Strengthening Your Grip: Essentials in an Aimless World (Dallas: Word, 1982) 71–87.

Now that’s straight talk that contains a message for everyone about money! I suggest we all consider what aspect of his sound biblical advice relates to each of us and respond accordingly.

“It will not bother me in the hour of death to reflect that I have been “had for a sucker” by any number of impostors; but it would be a torment to know that one had refused even one person in need.”

C.S. Lewis in Letters to an American Lady (26 October 1962) 108.

All who desire to give generously will be “had for a sucker” at one time or another. Don’t let “getting burned” cause you to abandon a life of generosity; instead, let us adopt this perspective. May we, like Lewis, develop a reputation for assisting people so as to be sure not to miss those who really need our aid.

“Covetousness, or the desire to have more than one has (not necessarily through envy of somebody else) not only leads to strife but also expresses a fundamentally wrong philosophy of life, according to which possessions are all that really matter.”

I. Howard Marshall in New Bible Commentary, Revised: Luke (London: IVP, 1970) 908.

Our society has been built on covetousness. Billboard’s tell us that happiness is found in having things. I appreciate how Marshall spells out that such thinking only leads to strife. Want release from strife? I suggest you take the opposite approach. Give something away.

I am officiating my niece’s wedding today, Jamie Hoag, in St. Louis. In one of our pre-marital counseling sessions I reminded Jamie and Ryan that even as life is more than possessions, marriage is more than money. Teaching them that was a helpful reminder for me.

If you want to grow in generosity, teach someone to avoid covetousness. Warn them that it leads to strife, and encourage them instead to develop patterns of giving and sharing.

“It is no wonder that we the West are so frequently described as being materialistic, superficial, and selfish. Our drive to possess and consume, as well as our tendency to believe that worth can be measured by wealth, are hallmarks of a society that has lost its way…May God help us to simplify our lifestyle, grow in generosity, and live in contentment.”

John R.W. Stott (1921-2011) in Issues Facing Christians Today () 295, 318.

This meditation comes from a great chapter in Issues Facing Christians Today entitled, “Simplicity, Generosity, and Contentment.” I commend it to you. It opens with this sobering statement and closes with this simple prayer.

I included both his opening statement and closing prayer because for a society that has “lost its way” I believe Stott is spot on! The answer is simplicity, generosity, and contentment, and these three traits mark a pathway that is only possible to walk with God’s help.