John Chrysostom: Proportionate and Timely

At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world, and this took place during the reign of Claudius. The disciples determined that, according to their ability, each would send relief to the brothers and sisters living in Judea; this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. Acts 11:27-30

“When a king demands gold from you, no matter how much he wants—threatening to tie you up and hang you—you give him what he wants. Even if you are poor, he pays no attention to the means that different people have, but he seeks only his own gain. But God is not like this, for he asks only in proportion to our means.”

John Chrysostom (347-407) in On Fasting and Almsgiving.

Today marks the last post from this excellent treatise on fasting and almsgiving. It’s short and sweet.

We learn that earthly kings tend to try to demand an extra more from us without giving attention to our situation or resources. John Chrysostom tells us that our God is not like this.

Instead God only wants us to give in proportion to our means, which follows the pattern of the first disciples.

In today’s Scripture we see that the disciples collectively determined to send aid according to the ability of each one. Notice the collective and individual nature of New Testament giving.

They all reflected the same witness, that is, proportionate giving, though they gave different amounts. And the giving appears as timely. They acted immediately upon hearing of the need.

I was so encouraged yesterday. A good friend signed up to give $100 monthly to GTP. I mention this for two reasons.

Firstly, I am realizing as CEO that I should have encouraged monthly giving from the start. It flows regularly and proportionately from faithful stewards. And we need more of it to deploy staff in humble service.

Secondly, this giving comes at a time of need like the situation in the Acts narrative. In that sense, it’s timely. So, if you have sent support to GTP in the past, can I ask you to set up monthly giving here?

Your proportionate support will provide timely assistance. Thanks.

Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. Ecclesiastes 11:6

“Give what you have to the poor and the Master will guard them for you with the greatest security. Do you not see what farmers do? Often, when they lack seed on account of their poverty, they pawn their clothes and receive what they lacked and entrust it to the earth. Even though they have often experienced unseasonable weather and have left their fields without reaping anything, they nonetheless entrust it to the earth in hope. Is the Master therefore not able to do what the earth does?”

John Chrysostom (347-407) in On Fasting and Almsgiving.

Here John Chrysostom connects almsgiving to what farmers do. They entrust seeds to the earth in hope of a harvest. Then he says so powerfully, “Is the Master therefore not able to do what the earth does?”

Can you imagine a farmer holding on to seed in the barn? It makes no sense right. That’s the person with material wealth that holds on to it. They will reap no harvest leaving it in the barn.

And they may, like the rich fool, be relieved of their duties. Don’t let that be you. Entrust your seed to God through giving and see what the Master does with it.

You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Luke 6:36

“Why, then, are there poor people? Is God not able to rain down gold upon them? But the poor are with you so that their poverty might serve for you as a propitiation of sins. A great thing is man, but a merciful man is precious indeed. See how great almsgiving is? God identifies the merciful man with himself: Be compassionate, he says, as your heavenly Father is compassionate. We know that when death comes, your money remains here. Why, then, do you not send it there to yourself in advance, so that, on the Day of Judgment, the poor will stand by your side where you will have no lawyer or advocate. Pointing to their clothing and head coverings, the poor will snatch you from the fire. Even the sun rising over ice does not cause it to melt as much as almsgiving, which, when it descends on a multitude of sins, causes them to vanish utterly.”

John Chrysostom (347-407) in On Fasting and Almsgiving.

I am having sweet fellowship with Christian workers in Sydney (pictured above).

Meanwhile, for two years and counting the war has raged in Ukraine. While many have offered support, right now it seems that the only thing raining down on the Ukrainian people is unfriendly fire from Russian troops.

This has left numerous people poor, homeless, and internally displaced.

Jenni and I will head into Ukraine from 18-31 March 2024 as part of Ukraine: Project Structure. Click to read more about our strategic work there. We will help rebuild the structure of churches and ministries with standards while also caring for the needs of hurting souls.

This brings into view a tangible way you can “rain down” help during Lent.

To provide general support to GTP click here to give “where needed most” or to “Ukraine: Project Structure.” Or if you want to help the poor and internally displaced persons, we launched “Ukraine: Project Tiny Houses”.

This effort is led by GTP Country Coordinator Sasha Volyanyk, who has worked with YWAM for years.

You or your church can give $7,500 and build a Tiny House which provides shelter to those who have lost everything and helps connect them to a church and a network of support.

Read about the effort and give generously today. Sasha and other have built 174 Tiny Houses and counting.

The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. Proverbs 22:9

“For whereas usury is a crime practiced by the heathen, with God it is praiseworthy. Will you not give to the poor? Consider who it is that begs of you through the poor man and attend to the dignity of the one who receives. Yes, the poor man receives, but it is God who is the borrower.

Understand to what depths the Master descended to accomplish this, so that he might turn you back from cruelty and hatred: For you saw me hungry, and you did not feed me; thirsty, and you did not give me to drink; a stranger, and you did not welcome me; naked, and you did not clothe me. Will you not therefore give to Christ in his hunger?

Both you and the poor man together partake of his body from the altar table. You both likewise partake of his holy cup. Christ grants you to commune in his great and fearful mysteries, and yet you do not share your small and paltry things with him? Will you not give him thine own?”

John Chrysostom (347-407) in On Fasting and Almsgiving.

As I read through this ancient treatise on fasting and almsgiving, it moves me that the incarnation, God becoming flesh, aimed to turn us back from cruelty and hatred by showing us what giving generously to the undeserving looks like.

May God, this Lent, turn us back. May He change our minds and break our hearts to see that when we share, we will be both be blessed and be turned back from cruelty and hatred that aims to destroy us. Our very lives depend on whether or not we get this.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will reward them for what they have done. Proverbs 19:17

“Surely you see the multitudes of poor people in the street, how they remain outdoors even though they are sick or naked? Some are younger, some are older, some of them are leaning on one another for support — how great is their misfortune! Give, therefore, to your fellow servants, so that you might have the Master in your debt, for he gladly becomes your debtor and pays back your investment with interest.”

John Chrysostom (347-407) in On Fasting and Almsgiving.

Tough times fall on everyone, old and young.

Today’s Scripture and words from John Chrysostom alert us to the fact that the LORD sees when we help those in need and will reward those who act generously: He gladly becomes your debtor.

God cares so much that we help others, He stands ready to replenish and reward the faithful.

This Lent, I want to give you that opportunity right now. Because GTP did not hit our year-end funding target, I learned that we have only about 60 days cash on hand.

This is a first for me as President and CEO. We’ve never been this low on cash since GTP started.

Rather than keep the need quiet, I humbly ask for help. Can you join GTP as a monthly giver today. Set it up here. Whether you give $10 or $100, your monthly support will keep the work going.

I am fasting and praying for monthly supporters. Seek the Lord and join us in the work at the level God leads you.

In obedient service to Jesus Christ, GTP multiplies faithful stewards and mobilizes peer accountability groups (like ECFA in USA) to build trust and grow local giving to God’s work.

Looking for partners to help make sure this work continues for months and years to come.

Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.” Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” Exodus 18:15-23

“Almsgiving is thus the wing of prayer. If you do not provide your prayer with wings, it will never fly. When, however, your soul sprouts wings, it flies immediately to heaven. How long will the love of money and the desire for possessions last? All those things, brother, last no longer than the present life. But you will say to me, “Say these things to yourself!” And indeed I do say these things to myself, and also to you, because this is advice for everybody. When I myself hear these things and amend my ways, then I am benefited by you. Even if it is a slave who says these things, I would still take the advice; and if it is a free man, I listen eagerly, because it is not a person’s station in life but the utility of the advice that makes me accept their words. For if that great Moses, who spoke with God, did not shun the advice of his father-in-law, though he was a barbarian, but to the contrary received his advice, which was confirmed by God, how much more should we? I am not telling you to give away everything you own, but from your surplus to give to the poor, so that your surplus may become the foundation of your salvation.”

John Chrysostom (347-407) in On Fasting and Almsgiving.

It’s my dad’s birthday today. Happy birthday Dad. Thanks for your sharing of your surplus all the years I watched you growing up. It proved to be the foundation of your salvation and mine too.

I saw you and mom help others in need, not so much with a hand out, but rather a hand up.

That shaped my understanding of life in God’s economy. I learned that each of us has been blessed to be a blessing. And when coupled with the words of Jethro, one person can’t do it all alone.

In today’s Scripture, Moses had to serve as the representative of the people before God.

And He also empowered others to share the load with him. This leads me to a request. The work of GTP continues to grow and the needs grow faster than we have resources.

Can you make a gift to GTP to deploy staff to grow stewards and set up peer accountability groups? Click here to give.

in the first four months of this fiscal year we will minister to workers in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Cayman Islands, Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Albania.

Lack of funding may cause us to postpone work in Brazil, Barbados, Grenada, Dominica, and Antigua & Barbuda.

Thanks for considering this need during Lent. Please see it as an opportunity to lay a foundation for your salvation and to give to help strengthen and empower others to grow as givers and to help ministries grow capacity.

Moses could not do everything. Ministry workers need our help like Moses did.

GTP shows them how to be good stewards who follow standards which builds out the administration and governance and positions gospel ministry to reach more people.

I wrapped up speaking and mobilizing workers in Melbourne and headed to Sydney today, city three of five on this trip.

Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Acts 10:4

“I say this not to condemn you, but for the sake of those who are negligent. You know that, whenever I see you taking wing, I desire you to fly still higher, for such is the tyranny of love. And just as lovers of money are never sated with gathering gold, I too always desire your spiritual progress. Therefore, brother, if you wish to be received by God, fast as the Ninevites. They did not receive the Law, as Paul said: For when the nations who have not the Law do, by nature, the things of the Law, they are a Law to themselves, though they have not the Law. Do not, then, render the fast futile, because fasting does not ascend to heaven by itself but only when it has almsgiving as its sister and companion. And she is not only her sister and companion, but also a conveyance. And how do we know this? Because the angel said to Cornelius: Your prayers and your almsgiving have ascended as a memorial before God.”

John Chrysostom (347-407) in On Fasting and Almsgiving.

This phrase “fast as the Ninevites” really struck me.

Fast as if your life depends on it. And combine almsgiving to it as the companion and conveyance. Today’s Scripture affirms that God sees this combination.

But don’t just do it. Do it as if your life depends on it. And see what happens.

There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He answered our prayer. Ezra 8:21-23

“Fasting is a good thing, just as it is good to read Scripture, when, that is, your reading is followed by actual deeds, for if you read Scripture but do not do what it says, you read unto your own judgment and punishment.

For Scripture itself says: It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be made righteous; and Christ himself says: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

Blessed, then, is he who speaks into the ears of those who hear, especially when their hearing generates spiritual interest and dividends, by which I mean obedience and the keeping of God’s commandments, just as the Lord says: So that when I come, I would have received my own with interest. Tell me, then, brother, what have you earned from your fasting?

For even the farmer sows that he might reap; and the merchant travels, that he might collect money; and the sailor crosses many seas, that he might fill his ship with goods. Don’t say to me: “I have fasted for so many days! I have not eaten! I have not drunk wine! I have gone without bathing!” Show me instead that, being wrathful, you became meek; and being cruel, you became compassionate.”

John Chrysostom (347-407) in On Fasting and Almsgiving.

One of my words this Lent is moderation. I am trying to work less and create margin for better things.

Last night I had the best somewhat spontaneously planned dinner with Paul Dettmann, a likeminded Christian steward with whom I had a remarkable number of common friends.

I am so glad I did not opt for landing in Melbourne and going to my hotel and just doing more work.

Perhaps you are learning this in Lent. When you let go of bad or even good things, you find better things, life giving things, growth in areas you need growth.

I pray your Lent is a time of fasting but coupled with gain, new heavenly earnings.

Ezra fasted from something good, getting help from the king. He asked God for something bigger, deliverance from God. Notice trusting the king would be forsaking God. He had to forsake the king to trust God. God showed up.

And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. Luke 11:39-41

“For, “Give alms,” it saith, “of such things as ye have, and behold all things are clean unto you.” “Alms,” not covetousness, for that which proceeds from covetousness endures not, though thou give to those who need. For almsgiving is that which is free from all injustice, “this” makes all things clean. This is a thing better even than fasting, or lying on the ground; they may be more painful and laborious, but this more profitable. It enlightens the soul, makes it sleek, beautiful, and vigorous.”

John Chrysostom (347-407) in Homily 81 on John’s Gospel.

The Pharisees focused on following the letter of the law whilst their hearts were far from God and drawn toward money and personal gain. Here Jesus instructs them to give as alms the things that are within.

Chrysostom helps us see what’s happening in this text. The actions of the Pharisees flowed from covetousness or wanting things for themselves. So what is it that makes us sleek, beautiful, and vigorous?

In short, it’s wanting the best for and sharing our best with others. We do this and things are all good or all clean for us. This helps us move well through life in a sleek and vigorous way, not bogged down by wealth but using it beautifully.

My speaking at the inaugural CMA Standards Council Annual Address (the peer accountability group I helped form in Australia) and CMA Fundraising Network Launch event in Brisbane went great.

Headed to Melbourne now. Appreciate your prayers for continued fruitful work: 2 events down and 9 to go.

Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. Revelation 22:12

“If the day shall find us, whether it be the day of reward or of persecution, furnished, if swift, if running in this contest of charity, the Lord will never fail of giving a reward for our merits: in peace He will give to us who conquer, a white crown for our labors; in persecution, He will accompany it with a purple one for our passion.”

Cyprian of Carthage (190-258) in his Treatise 8, On Works and Alms, 26.

This statement concludes this treatise. I will move my attention to other famous Lenten writings.

But let’s consider Cyprian’s last words here. With them, I want to encourage you to live in anticipation of a white or purple crown for either attaining reward or enduring persecution.

All who give their lives to charitable works can anticipate one or the other, or maybe even both. We can count on rewards but we may also experience persecution along the way.

We must not give up when it happens. Instead, we can take heart in knowing that Christ warned us and assures us of reward linked to what we do in this life.

I am thankful to inspire old friends and meet new ones over the next three weeks in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Adelaide. And at our own expense, I am glad Jenni will join me for service in three of the five cities.

Why do this? Our Aussie mates care deeply about God and about honoring Him in every aspect of their lives. We hope to inspire them to give themselves to God afresh and anticipate white and/or purple crowns.

Praying the same for you.