Pleasure to the Glory of God

What is the great commandment, according to Jesus?

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

When are we to love God in this way? During a Sunday morning worship service? Yes, but not only then. Surely Jesus means, “Love God with all your being every minute of every day.”

The Apostle Paul commands us, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

What is to be done to the glory of God? All that we do  – even mundane, daily, seemingly trivial activities like eating and drinking. All is to be done to the glory of God.

Love God with all your being every minute of every day. Do everything to His glory – from eating toast to studying math to working at the office.

With those imperatives in mind, consider these questions:

  • How do I love God with all my being while watching Kentucky play UConn, or while watching Downton Abbey?
  • How do I climb Crowders Mountain  to the glory of God?
  • How do I sit on my back porch, enjoying the cool evening to the glory of God?

The Apostle Paul tells Timothy, “God richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). Isn’t it then good, right, and proper for us to enjoy what God has given us?

The answer is “yes – but.” We’ll look at both the strong Scriptural support for enjoying God’s good gifts, and the accompanying Scriptural qualifications.

In this series, “Where Do You Find Identity, Security, and Joy: A Scriptural Understanding of Money, Giving, and Material Possessions,” we’ve seen that all we have, including every possession, every skill, every ability, even every minute of time, is a grant from God to be used for His glory. If this is so:

  • Should I buy a flatscreen TV?
  • Should I buy new car?
  • Should I buy tickets to Panthers game?
  • Should I watch the NCAA basketball men’s championship game tomorrow night?
  • Should I hike Crowders Mountain?
  • Should I sit on the porch and enjoy the evening?

As we’ve said time and again, you can’t possibly get the right answers unless you ask the right questions. I aim here to help you ask the right questions, and thus to be able to answer questions such as those above for yourself.

1) God Richly Provides Us With Everything

Let’s begin by considering more closely the Apostle’s phrase from 1 Timothy 6:17: “God richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” What does “richly provide” mean?

It means, in part, that He provides us with an abundance. In particular, He provides us with much, much more than we deserve – for we deserve death. He instead gives us:

  • Life itself
  • Air
  • Food
  • Sleep
  • Brains
  • Purpose
  • The ability to work
  • Whatever material possessions we have
  • Most of all, He gives us the Gospel, the invitation to be reconciled to Him forever, to find our true identity as His children, His heirs.

But “richly provide” means more than “to provide an abundance.” He provides this abundance to a good end.

Consider these passages:

  • Psalm 103:5 [God] satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
  • Matthew 7:11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
  • James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

To provide for us richly is to provide abundantly, for our good. Thus we can say with David:

My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:5b-6 NAS)

So that is what it means. But why does God do it? What does He intend to accomplish by providing for us richly?

Four answers:

First, He rejoices to do His children good. God rejoices in our joy in receiving His gift.

We see some of this in our own families. Those of you who are parents of older children, think back to Christmases with a four-year-old. Such Christmases are always delightful. The child has enough memory of the previous Christmas to be really excited about it, but these memories are vague and shadowy enough that everything is sparklingly fresh. Beth and I had great joy those six Christmases in sharing the joy of our four-year-olds.

Scripture speaks specifically of God’s great joy in doing good for His people. Of the many passages we could look at, let’s turn to Jeremiah 32. The book of Jeremiah as a whole emphasizes the coming destruction of Jerusalem because of the hard-hearted disobedience of the people. Yet God promises that He will bring the people back to the Land – and, even more than that, He promises in chapter 31 that He will establish a New Covenant in which He will write His Law on the hearts of His people. Chapter 32 echoes these New Covenant promises:

And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul (Jeremiah 32:38-41, emphasis added).

God richly provides us with all things to enjoy because He rejoices in doing us good

Pause there. That may seem obvious. But let it sink in.

The God of the universe, the Creator of the vast expanse of the heavens, the Creator of the 7 billion people alive today, delights to do you good. He not only does you good. He rejoices to do so.

Before we look at other reasons God has for His rich provision, consider briefly one way God does us good: He restores our energy. He refreshes us. Again, as Psalm 23 tells us: “He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.”

This has implications for the questions we posed at the outset. For while God may restore our energy through the Scriptures, or through a wonderful time of prayer, He may also do that through some form of enjoyment or recreation: Reading a good book, watching a movie, going on a hike, going out to dinner.

A second reason that God provides for us richly is to spark gratitude and thankfulness. The Apostle writes Timothy:

Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4).

Everything God created can and should spark thanksgiving on our part. The same Apostle tells us elsewhere that we eat in honor of the Lord – that is, to the glory of the Lord – when we truly give thanks to Him for the food (Romans 14:6).

Jesus Himself lived this out. He consistently gave thanks to the Father. Nine verses in the New Testament refer to Jesus giving thanks for food.

So we have part of the answer to the question: How do we eat and drink to the glory of God? We acknowledge that everything morsel we eat is a good gift from Him, that we are completely dependent on Him for life and every provision, and so we give thanks.

A third reason that God provides for us richly is to spark adoration and praise. He gives to us so that we might praise Him.

Now, we must be careful here. Scripture does not say, “He gives to us so that we might adore Him instead of enjoying the gift.” Rather, the Bible emphasizes time and again that there is no conflict between our joy and our adoring Him. Indeed, the two are closely intertwined. As the psalmist says,

The peoples must praise you, O God,
all the peoples must praise you.
The nations must be glad and sing for joy. (Psalm 67:3-4a, own translation)

Psalm 35 is especially helpful here”

Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!” 28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long (Psalm 35:27-28).

When we recognize that God Himself delights in our welfare, we rejoice in what He has done, and we rejoice in Who He is – we tell of His praise all the day long.

So C.S. Lewis, reflecting on such biblical truths, writes:

I have tried . . . to make every pleasure into a channel of adoration. . . .

Gratitude exclaims, very properly, “How good of God to give me this.” Adoration says: “What must be the quality of that Being whose far-off and momentary coruscations [that is, flashes of light] are like this!”  One’s mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun.” (Letters to Malcolm, p.89-90)  

Think of these first three reasons for God’s rich provision together: God rejoices to do us good, He richly provides to spur thanksgiving, and He provides so that we might praise and adore Him. A key dynamic in moving from His gifts to our right response is to see everything good in our lives as tokens of His love.

Here is my wedding ring. It has some value simply because it is made from gold. I could take it to one of these shops offering to buy gold, and they would give me some money in exchange for it.

But I’m not tempted to do that! Why not?

For me, the value of the ring is far, far greater than the value of the gold it’s made of. The ring is a token of Beth’s love for me, a picture of 34 years of her faithfulness to our marriage covenant, a reminder of who she is and how deeply she loves me.

Just so with all pleasures, with all God’s good gifts. Yes, each has some value in and of itself. Sitting on the porch on a spring evening is a joy! But the value of that pleasure is far, far greater when we see it as a token of God’s love, as a gift from Him symbolizing His lovingkindness, and all that entails.

The fourth reason God provides for us richly is a bit more challenging to see: Our joy itself can be adoration of Him.

To flesh this out, and to distinguish this fourth reason from the third, imagine sitting on my porch this evening. There’s a light breeze. The birds are chirping. We’re enjoying a beautiful sunset.

If we then subsequently think, “God is behind all this. This evening, these chairs, the breeze, the birds, the sunset are gifts from Him for us! What type of God grants such gifts to His children!” That’s an example of the third reason. The pleasure leads to adoration of Him.

The fourth reason is different. Lewis argues that ideally the adoration should be automatic: Not, “The sunset is startling beautiful,” and then, “I adore you God for creating such a joy.” Rather, he compares the right response to reading: I look at a printed page and observe the word “cat.” I am not at all conscious of a series of thoughts such as, “This pattern of dots is pronounced C A T,” and only then, “That stands for a furry, quasi-domesticated animal one of which I have owned for 17 years.” That’s not how it works. Instead, I see “cat” and immediately think of the animal – indeed, I immediately think of Madison jumping up into my lap.

Something similar should happen whenever we experience pleasure, suggests Lewis. Adoration of God is to become so natural to us that we adore Him as we experience any pleasure. Thus he writes:

This sweet air whispers of the country from whence it blows. It is a message. We know we are being touched by a finger of that right hand at which there are pleasures for evermore. There need be no question of thanks or praise as a separate event, something done afterwards. To experience the tiny theophany [that is, the tiny experience of God] is itself to adore. (Letters to Malcolm, p. 90)

I believe Lewis is right. While I can’t point to a verse of Scripture that says this explicitly, I encourage you: Read the Gospels with this idea in mind. In particular, look at Jesus. Consider the way He lived. Note His consistent adoration of God the Father. I think Lewis has captured a key element of Jesus’ life.

Indeed, this is a key part of what it means to do all to the glory of God, what it means to love God with all our being: To be so wired that we see God’s hand behind even the simplest joys, and so to adore Him in every experience.

So God richly provides us with all things to enjoy. He delights to do us good. We are to respond with thanksgiving, adoration, and praise.

2) The Pleasure Trap

But pleasure often does not prompt thanksgiving, adoration, and praise to God. Instead, pleasure can be a dangerous trap. The very gifts God provides to generate thanksgiving and adoration can turn our hearts away from Him, away from our greatest good.

Let’s consider four ways that pleasure can work to our detriment instead of to our good.

First, pleasure can be a distraction.

Pleasure, entertainment, amusement obviously can dominate our spending, and thus lead us not to save enough, not to give enough, not to provide enough for our families. That is a form of distraction.

But also, pleasure can distract us from the reality of the world around us. Astute cultural observers have commented on this danger from a secular viewpoint for decades. George Orwell in 1984 and Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451 both imagine societies in which the government seduces large segments of the population with amusements so that they don’t recognize their slavery and rebel. In non-fiction, Neil Postman’s prophetic 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death highlights factors which have only grown stronger in the last two decades.

We see similar points in Scripture. For example, the Preacher in Ecclesiastes writes:

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure. . . . Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11)

We do this, don’t we? We experience sorrow, and we try to distract ourselves from that painful reality. Through amusements or drink , we pretend the events didn’t really happen, and succeed in fooling ourselves for a  time.

The most important distraction is away from God Himself. There is an irony here, for as we have seen God intends all pleasures to point to Him. Yet one way we often avoid thinking about God, about eternity, about our obligations to Him, about our status before Him, is to distract ourselves with pleasures: a video game, a sporting event, a novel, a movie, a TV show.

Pleasures can be a distraction from reality.

Second, pleasure can lead to nothing else.

We’ve seen that our pleasures should be pointers to God, tokens of his love, leading to thanksgiving and adoration. But often they do not. We easily become so enamored with the pleasure, we miss what the pleasure should point to. We, in effect, delight in looking at our wedding rings – rejoicing in the gold, in the shape, in the sparkle – and forget all about our spouses.

This myopia, this forgetfulness, is characteristic of children. When receiving gifts, it is easy for kids to delight in the gift itself, forgetting even to give thanks to the giver. Children often need to be trained to be thankful. Just so, we need to leave such childish ways behind, recognizing the One behind every pleasure.

Third, pleasure can lead to dissatisfaction.

This trap comes about when, instead of rejoicing in the moment, thanking and adoring the God behind the gift, we long for more of the same, and worry that we won’t have it in the future. We considered this lack of contentment a few weeks ago, citing Ecclesiastes 5:10 among others:

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income (NIV).

Finally, even seeing the God behind every pleasure can lead to the trap of spiritual pride.

I can sit on my porch, rejoicing in the day, thinking, “These fresh smells of spring, that light breeze on my cheek, lead me to praise God. Isn’t that wonderful!  I am so much more spiritually attuned than those around me!” Such pride is a close kin to that exhibited by the Pharisee in Jesus’ story about him and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14).

3) Pleasure to the Glory of God: Asking the Right Questions

Here, then, are questions to ask yourself to help you to make the right use of the pleasures in your life, while avoiding the traps:

  • How can I cultivate from every pleasure thanksgiving to God and adoration of God? Do I recognize every pleasure as a gift I don’t deserve from the One who loves me more than I can imagine?
  • Have I used pleasure and entertainment as distractions from reality, even from God Himself? Can I instead plan enjoyable events that will ground me in reality, and serve other purposes God has for my life?

For example, if I tend to live in a Christian bubble, having little contact with non-Christians, can I spend some of my time devoted to recreation doing what I enjoy with non-Christians?

Or, if I am having a hard time finding time to be with my children, can I share some of my recreation or exercise time with them?

  • The budgeting question: How much time and money am I spending on pleasure and entertainment? Is that overall amount consistent with what the Bible teaches? Do I really believe Jesus’ statement, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35), and does my budget reflect that?Is the way I’m spending that budgeted amount the most effective at prompting thanksgiving and adoration, building up my relationships with family and friends, and restoring my energy so that I can effectively serve where God placed me

Beware of cultural pressures and expectations in this area, especially when planning big events like weddings and graduations. Entire industries exist to try to get you to spend lots of money when you are not considering the opportunity cost of those expenditures. In such situations, don’t worry about the expectations others may have. Decide what would be important and meaningful to you, what will help you to make lifelong memories, and spend money in those areas. Then save in other areas.

The point is not necessarily, “Spend less on entertainment.” Rather, spend your entertainment budget wisely.

Conclusion

Close your eyes. Think of some specific pleasure you experienced in the last couple of days. Acknowledge that that pleasure was completely undeserved. For Scripture tells us that God created us for His glory, yet we turned our backs on Him. Indeed, the first sin, the most fundamental sin, was thinking we know better than God how we can find joy, fulfillment, and pleasure. And wages of that sin – the just response to the sin we all have committed – is death, the absence of everything good. Yet God in His mercy gives us life, breath, and everything – including that recent, undeserved pleasure.

So thank Him for that pleasure. Adore the One who created and offered you that pleasure.

Then respond to His invitation. For He calls you:

  • “Come to Me, where you will find pleasures forevermore.
  • “Come to Me: And you will find right now, in this life, in relationship to me, more joy than you ever thought possible.
  • “Come to me via the sacrifice of my Son on the cross, and His death will pay the penalty for all your sins, so that you can be the object of my delight. And I will rejoice to do you good forevermore.”

That’s the God we have.

That’s the God we are to love with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength.

That’s the God we are to glorify in all that we do, even in eating and drinking.

So come to Him – and may every joy then lead to – and be –  adoration of Him.

 

Joy is the Serious Business of Heaven

[This Sunday we consider Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 6:17 that God “richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” No one has influenced my understanding of this phrase more than C.S. Lewis. What follows are excerpts from chapter 17 of his Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (if this sounds familiar, I included about two-thirds of these excerpts in a post last fall honoring Lewis on the 50th anniversary of his death). Ponder these ideas – and then make every pleasure into a channel of adoration. – Coty]

It’s comical that you, of all people, should ask my views about prayer as worship or adoration. On this subject you yourself taught me nearly all I know. . . .

You first taught me the great principle, “Begin where you are.” I had thought one had to start by summoning up what we believe about the goodness and greatness of God, by thinking about creation and redemption and “all the blessings of this life.” You turned to the brook and once more splashed your burning face and hands in the little waterfall and said, “Why not begin with this?”

And it worked. Apparently you have never guessed how much. That cushiony moss, that coldness and sound and dancing light were no doubt very minor blessings compared with “the means of grace and the hope of glory.” But then they were manifest. So far as they were concerned, sight had replaced faith. They were not the hope of glory; they were an exposition of the glory itself.

Yet you were not – or so it seemed to me – telling me that “Nature,” or “the beauties of Nature,” manifest the glory. No such abstraction as “Nature” comes into it. I was learning the far more secret doctrine that pleasures are shafts of the glory as it strikes our sensibility. As it impinges on our will or our understanding, we give it different names-goodness or truth or the like. But its flash upon our senses and mood is pleasure.

But aren’t there bad, unlawful pleasures? Certainly there are. But in calling them “bad pleasures” I take it we are using a kind of shorthand. We mean “pleasures snatched by unlawful acts.”  It is the stealing of the apple that is bad, not the sweetness. The sweetness is still a beam from the glory. That does not palliate the stealing. It makes it worse. There is sacrilege in the theft. We have abused a holy thing.

I have tried, since that moment, to make every pleasure into a channel of adoration. I don’t mean simply by giving thanks for it. One must of course give thanks, but I mean something different. How shall I put it?

We can’t – or I can’t – hear the song of a bird simply as a sound. Its meaning or message (“That’s a bird”) comes with it inevitably-just as one can’t see a familiar word in print as a merely visual pattern. The reading is as involuntary as the seeing. When the wind roars I don’t just hear the roar; I “hear the wind.” In the same way it is possible to “read” as well as to “have” a pleasure. Or not even “as well as.” The distinction ought to become, and sometimes is, impossible; to receive it and to recognise its divine source are a single experience. This heavenly fruit is instantly redolent of the orchard where it grew. This sweet air whispers of the country from whence it blows. It is a message. We know we are being touched by a finger of that right hand at which there are pleasures for evermore. There need be no question of thanks or praise as a separate event, something done afterwards. To experience the tiny theophany is itself to adore.

Gratitude exclaims, very properly, “How good of God to give me this.” Adoration says: “What must be the quality of that Being whose far-off and momentary coruscations are like this!”  One’s mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun.

If I could always be what I aim at being, no pleasure would be too ordinary or too usual for such reception; from the first taste of the air when I look out of the window–one’s whole cheek becomes a sort of palate – down to one’s soft slippers at bedtime.

I don’t always achieve it. One obstacle is inattention. Another is the wrong kind of attention. One could, if one practised, hear simply a roar and not the roaring-of-the-wind. In the same way, only far too easily, one can concentrate on the pleasure as an event in one’s own nervous system—subjectify it—and ignore the smell of Deity that hangs about it. A third obstacle is greed. Instead of saying, “This also is Thou,” one may say the fatal word Encore. There is also conceit: the dangerous reflection that not everyone can find God in a plain slice of bread and butter, or that others would condemn as simply “grey” the sky in which I am delightedly observing such delicacies of pearl and dove and silver. . . .

One must learn to walk before one can run. So here. We-or at least I-shall not be able to adore God on the highest occasions if we have learned no habit of doing so on the lowest. At best, our faith and reason will tell us that He is adorable, but we shall not have found Him so, not have “tasted and seen.” Any patch of sunlight in a wood will show you something about the sun which you could never get from reading books on astronomy. These pure and spontaneous pleasures are “patches of Godlight” in the woods of our experience. . . .

I do not think that the life of Heaven bears any analogy to play or dance in respect of frivolity. I do think that while we are in this “valley of tears,” cursed with labour, hemmed round with necessities, tripped up with frustrations, doomed to perpetual plannings, puzzlings, and anxieties, certain qualities that must belong to the celestial condition have no chance to get through, can project no image of themselves, except in activities which, for us here and now, are frivolous. . . . It is only in our “hours-off,” only in our moments of permitted festivity, that we find an analogy [to the joys of heaven]. Dance and game are frivolous, unimportant down here; for “down here” is not their natural place. Here, they are a moment’s rest from the life we were placed here to live. But in this world everything is upside down. That which, if it could be prolonged here, would be a truancy, is likest that which in a better country is the End of ends.  Joy is the serious business of Heaven.

From Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1963-64), chapter 17, p. 88-93. Italics are in the original; boldface is my emphasis.

Spending to the Glory of God

Imagine that you are 18 years old, and have just graduated from high school. You are part of a loving family, and have great respect for your parents.

You father comes to you and says, “Your mother and I have decided we’re going to change our plans for the next four years. As you know, we planned to spend $30,000 per year on college to prepare you for the future. But we’ve decided instead to give you a grant of that amount: $120,000. This grant is for you to use over the next four years or longer to set yourself up for the future. You may choose to attend the college we planned on. But if you think there is a better way to prepare yourself, choose it. With this money, you can travel. You can start a business. You can pay your expenses while you work as an intern in a business. You’re welcome to seek my counsel along the way if you wish, but I won’t require that. I only ask that whenever you pay more than a hundred dollars for something, you let me know what you spent it one. But the money is completely under your control. Indeed, I’ve already transferred it to your account. If you like, you can spend it all today on a (used) Ferrari. I can’t stop you.”

Put aside whether or not the father would be acting wisely. Just ask yourself: If you were in that position, if your father said that to you, how would you make decisions? What would spend the money on? Would you buy the Ferrari?

What God has done for us is somewhat similar to what the father in the story did for his child. All we have is a grant from Him to be used for a purpose. But the purpose in this case is to glorify His Name. He created us for His glory. And we are most satisfied when we fulfill that purpose.

Like the child in the story, we now have a grant, given to us for a purpose.  So we’re faced with a question: How do we decide how to spend it? What does Scripture tell us?

The Biblical Motivation for Spending

Let’s look first at possible motivations for spending – both unbiblical and biblical. We’ll see that the key concepts we’ve focused on throughout this series – identity, security, and joy – should motivate and guide our spending.

a) Don’t spend in order to establish your identity

That is: Don’t spend:

  • To keep up with others
  • To show off
  • To assuage your guilt
  • So that others think you are something you are not
  • To make you feel important or loved

Why not? Because if you are in Christ, you have an identity. You are adopted in to God’s family, you are His child, His heir. And you need do nothing to establish your identity. It is already granted to you.

b) So: Spend in a way that is consistent with that identity

Spend as a beloved child of God, as joint heir with Christ, in ways that show who God is and what He is to you.

c) Don’t spend in order to establish your security

That is:

  • Don’t save to establish your financial security,
  • Don’t enter the lottery in an attempt to gain financial security,
  • Don’t fail to give in order to maintain your financial security.

Why not? Because if you are in Christ, you are secure already. God will never leave you nor forsake you. Nothing will separate you from the love of God that is yours in Christ Jesus.

d) Instead: Use the money God puts in your care wisely and prudently

Guard it and protect it not to establish financial security but because it belongs to someone else. It is His.

e) Don’t think you must spend money on _______ in order to have joy.

Don’t ever think, “If only I could buy a car or a house or the latest fashions or a college education or some piece of sports equipment I would be happy.”

Why not? “In His presence is fullness of joy, at his right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). If you are in Christ, already have the greatest joy possible.

f) Instead, cultivate joy in the privilege of being a conduit of God’s blessings, in spending in such as way as to deepen your joy in God, others’ joy in God, joy in one another, joy in your family.

Thus, we spend out of contentment rather than in order to gain contentment. As we saw several weeks ago, the Apostle Paul writes:

I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13)

Satisfied with God now, confident in God’s continued watchcare over us tomorrow, having all our needs met in Him, we can spend for His glory out of sincere concern for our families and for those around us.

Four Key Ideas That Govern Biblical Spending

With those biblical motivations, we will spend to God’s glory. Four key ideas help to channel that spending rightly. The first is an idea we’ve already mentioned:

a) All you have is a grant from God

This truth colors every spending decision. The money in my possession is not mine to use any way I choose. As in the opening story, God has put in my control for a specific purpose. And that purpose is the glory of His Name.  That does not necessarily mean we should give away all that we have – though it might mean that for specific individuals. But having our identity, security, and joy in God, knowing what we have is a grant from Him, we hold loosely what God has given us. Furthermore, knowing that it all belongs to Him, we guard it carefully. We protect it. We don’t waste it, we don’t squander it, we protect it from thieves.

b) Opportunity Cost

While this term comes from economics, the underlying Idea is simple. Think back to the opening example. If the child in the story buys the Ferrari, how much will he have left to spend on anything else? Nothing. So the cost of the Ferrari is not just the sticker price. The cost is also the joy, the education, the experience he gives up by not spending those dollars on something else.

So if I give $100 to missions, I give up the opportunity to spend that money on food. The opportunity cost is (at a minimum) the joy and satisfaction of eating $100 worth of food. If I spend $100 on clothes,  I give up the opportunity to give that $100 to a friend in need. The opportunity cost is (at a minimum) the joy I would receive from giving, and the joy my friend would get from receiving the gift and filling his needs.

Every expenditure has an opportunity cost, because money is limited. If every time I snapped my fingers a $100 bill would appear in my hand, my expenditures would have no opportunity cost. I could replace whatever I spend immediately by creating more cash. But as long as our income and assets are limited, every expenditure has an opportunity cost.

c) Budgeting & Monitoring Spending

Because there is an opportunity cost of every expenditure, we have an allocation problem. God has given us a grant to be used for His glory. How much should we give away? How much should we spend on housing? How much should we spend on food? Presumably more than zero!

If every time you make a purchase, you have to ask yourself, “Is this best way to glorify God?” you’ll drive yourself crazy. How then can me make these tradeoffs between categories of spending so that we glorify God with our grant?

That’s the role of a budget. A budget is a tool to help you glorify God with your money without driving yourself crazy. Once you have decided on those major tradeoffs between categories, you have freedom to spend up to your budgeted limit, without having to ask questions about every five dollar purchase.

How do you set up a budget to glorify God with your grant?

The first step of budgeting is to keep track of what you are spending now. The budget does you no good unless you monitor what you spend, and abide by your budget limits. Decide on a set of major categories of spending, and track your spending in those categories.

The next step is to pray. Ask God for wisdom concerning how best to use His grant for His glory.

Then plan ahead for the next six months to a year. In light of the opportunity costs of spending in different categories, decide how much you will spend in each, so that you glorify God through what you spend on food, on clothing, through what you give away.

After keeping track of your spending and living within your budget for a while, reassess it. How can you adjust it so that you use this grant for God’s glory even more effectively?

Now, we can’t say there is a biblical mandate to have budget and live within it. But personally I can’t see how I could use the grant God has given Beth and me for His glory without one.

In the weeks ahead, we will discuss helpful tools to use in this regard, and will post some of those on the blog.

d) Diversity

In deciding how to spend money, we all share some similarities:

  • All of us receive a grant from God to be used for His glory
  • All of us have to decide how to best use this grant for God’s glory
  • All of us are faced with opportunity costs for every purchase we make

But in other ways, we are quite different. God calls some to give away all they have. Others follow Him wholeheartedly and give away much less.

For example, in Mark 10 and parallel passages, a man runs up to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus eventually tells him, “Go, sell all you have, give it to the poor (you will have treasures in Heaven) and come, follow me.” Note that Jesus tells not only to give away all his income; He also tells him to give away all his assets.

But in Luke 19 Zaccheus comes to faith, and immediately gives away half of his assets. Jesus then says, “Salvation has come to this house” even though Zaccheus has not done what Jesus asked the rich man in Mark 10 to do.

And then the Apostle Paul, in 1 Timothy 6:17-19, speaking to the rich, tells them not to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, to be generous and ready to share – but he does not tell them that they must give away all or half of their assets; he doesn’t even tell them to give away a certain percentage of their income.

Personally, I have known people who regularly gave away more than 80% of their income. I’ve never done that myself – I’ve never come close to that.

The point is this: We are different. God calls us in different ways. Our love for Him and His glory will be manifested in different ways.

So be careful here. Don’t be proud if God calls you to some extraordinary step of giving, and you obey. Don’t look down your nose at those who haven’t done something similar. Don’t assume that simply because someone else is spending much more than you, that he is immature, or not a genuine believer.

In light, then, of the biblical motivation for spending and these four key ideas, let’s consider four areas of spending:

How Much If Any Should I Spend On:

a) Giving 

We will consider giving in more detail in the weeks ahead. But from what we have said so far, it is clear that, if we are to glorify God with the grant He has given us, we will give away a considerable proportion of our income, and perhaps a considerable proportion of our assets too.

Giving cannot be an afterthought. It cannot be the result of having a little left over this month, and then giving that excess away. We must decide upfront the minimum from our income that we will give away, and budget that amount before we spend on anything else.

b) Enjoyment

As we have seen, we are to find joy in God, to be satisfied with Him. We are not to think, “If only I could buy that iphone I could be happy!” So it might seem as if we are not to consider our joy when making spending decisions.

However, Paul says that God “richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). One way I glory God is by enjoying the good gifts He has given me. That’s a true, biblical statement. Yet it’s also quite a dangerous statement, that can be, and has been, misused. So we will examine this issue also in more detail later. But for now, simply note: A normal Christian’s budget will include spending on enjoyment.

c) Insurance

Some have argued: If my security is in God, why should I buy insurance?

Insurance as we know it did not exist in biblical times, so there is no explicit command in this regard. But there is in Scripture the general command to be careful with the assets you have, to be prudent in guarding them and managing them.

Consider in this regard Proverbs 22:3. Though this verse doesn’t refer directly to money, it is in the middle of a longer passage that predominantly discusses money and finances.

A sensible person sees danger and takes cover, but the inexperienced keep going and are punished. (HCSB)

Insurance is one way to live that out. We see the possible danger to God’s grant from calamity, disease, or death, and sensibly guard against the possibility of loss through paying a relatively small premium for insurance.

Now, we certainly can have wrong motivations in purchasing insurance (as we can have in purchasing any other good or service). Our security must not be in our insurance. Our hope must not be in our ability to guard against loss. But it can be wise, prudent, and sensible for us to insure God’s grant against loss – even while other believers, in the diversity of God’s church, may decide they will not spend on insurance, but are called to trust God even for such protection.

d) Saving and Investments

We said every expenditure on one item has an opportunity cost of not spending on another item. That same idea holds across time. Every dollar I spend today is a dollar I won’t be able to spend tomorrow. Indeed, the cost is more than a dollar, since I can invest the dollar or put it in an interest bearing account, and have more than a dollar to spend in the future.

So in the opening story, you, the child, have the option of buying a used Ferrari today for $120,000. You also have the option of spending $30,000 on your education and living expenses this year, and then next year having more than $90,000 to spend, if you properly and safely invest the $90,000.

Furthermore, the education itself can work in a similar way: If that education makes me a more valuable and productive worker, or a more effective entrepreneur, I will be able to make more income in the future than I would have had I spent that money on the Ferrari.

Just so with the grant God has given me. I can give it away and spend all of it now, or I can invest it and get more to use for His glory tomorrow.

As with insurance, in biblical times there were no banks as we know them today; there was no stock market. However, people did save and make investments. Consider the owner of a vineyard who gets income through selling grapes and wine. He can spend and give away all of that income now, or he can take some of that income, and use it to plan grapevines on more of his land. Then he can do what the man did in Jesus’ parable recorded in Mark 12: “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower.” That looks a lot different than buying a mutual fund, but the underlying idea is the same: It’s an investment, taking money that could be spent today, and instead using it in such a way that it will generate a greater amount in income in the future.

Throughout history, including in biblical times, people have saved and invested. Such saving and investment is part of biblical stories; it is normal human activity.

The decision of how much, if any, to save or invest is similar to all other budgeting decisions. The question is one of opportunity cost: Is there a compelling use for God’s glory now for all of the grant God has given me, or should I save and invest part of that grant so that there will be more money available in the future to be used for God’s glory.

Once again, we need to remind ourselves of the key ideas that govern our spending. We are diverse. God will call some to invest much. Others, equally with God’s glory in mind, will invest none. So don’t assume that those who make different decisions than you are unwise an imprudent, or are failing to trust God and are finding security in their investments.

And, once again, we must check our own motivations: Are we saying that we are investing so that we might have more to spend for God’s glory in the future – but in reality we do find security in those investments?

Conclusion

God has given you a grant to be used for His glory among the nations.

  • That grant does not lead to security – He is your security.
  • That grant does not lead to joy – He is your joy.
  • That grant should not be the source of your identity – you find your identity as His child.

We by nature are objects of His wrath, having rejected Him. But if we are in Christ, we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9).

This is our security, our joy, our identity. And God gives us this identity for a purpose: “that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”

We are God’s people, God’s family. We were in darkness. But by His grace He forgives us through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. He call us to Himself and gives us this grant of time, of life, of money, so that we might proclaim and display His excellencies, so that we might glorify the One who called us out of darkness.

How will you do that – with money? It’s all under your control. The grant is in your hand. And it’s all given to you for a purpose.

How will you fulfill that purpose?

 

Work to the Glory of God

We pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.” How does God answer that prayer? How does God provide the bread?

A friend is sick. We pray, “Father, heal this loved one.” How does God answer the prayer?

We pray, asking God to give us children.   How does God answer the prayer?

Paul commands us to pray for government authorities, in order that “we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Timothy 2:2-3). How does God answer those prayers?

  • God answers the prayers for government authorities by working through their passing and enforcing laws.
  • God answers prayers for children by working through the husband and wife, or through an adoption agency, to bring children into the family.
  • God answers prayer for healing by working through physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and researchers.
  • God answers prayer for daily bread by working through farmers and millers and bakers and truck drivers and supermarket workers.

God usually answers prayer through the work of human agents.

God is not limited in any of these ways:

  • He can stop the actions of criminals in their tracks.
  • He can create a child out of the dust of the ground.
  • He can heal any disease in a split second.
  • He can make enough bread to feed 5000 from five loaves.
  • He can daily provide enough manna from heaven to feed more than 2 million people.

But He usually answers our prayers by His working through human work.

Note that: God works through our work. As Martin Luther said, God is masked, or hidden in our work. That makes our work – all our work – sacred.

We glorify God in our work as we fulfill the role He gives us in our work life.

Let’s begin our examination of the importance of our work by going back to the beginning, to the Garden of Eden.

The True Workers’ Paradise

What comes to your mind when you think of the Garden of Eden?

  • Delicious fruit to eat right off the trees – from every tree but one?
  • Walking with God in the cool of the evening, being in an intimate relationship with Him?
  • Having a perfect, loving, respectful relationship between husband and wife – with nothing to hide, no sin, no shame?

That’s all true. But we’re leaving out something important.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Genesis 2:15)

Note: This is before the Fall. Before sin entered the world. Adam worked – in paradise.

Who else is said to have worked? God Himself!

And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. (Genesis 2:2)

Man’s work is one aspect of being made in the image of God.

In His work, God takes what is formless and void and orders it and fills it. In his work, Man – made in God’s image – takes what God has ordered and filled, and protects it, sustains it. Furthermore, using his God-given creativity, man orders it further.

Note:

  • Man in the Garden does not work because he is hungry.
  • He does not work in order to establish his identity – He knows who He is.
  • He does not work in order to enhance his security – He is perfectly secure.
  • He does not try to make up for a lack of joy in the rest of his life by finding joy in his work.

He works at God’s command for his own good and for God’s glory. It is fulfilling work, as he accomplishes an important purpose.

The Fall and Work

But then all changes.

The man and woman doubt God’s goodness and despise God’s command. They turn their backs on the One who has given them everything, arrogantly assuming they know better than God what is in their own best interest. So they eat the fruit God had warned them about.

Consider the results:

  • The close relationship between God and man is broken.
  • The close relationship between the man and the woman is broken – as they try to hide from each other (why else would they cover themselves with leaves?), and as Adam blames his wife when God asks him if he’s eaten the fruit.

In addition, the shame they feel indicates that their sense of identity is marred. They no longer see themselves as beloved of God, as the apex of God’s creation. We might say their relationship with themselves is broken (see When Helping Hurts by Corbett and Fikkert, p. 56-62).

Furthermore, note that a key result of the fall is frustration in work:

To Adam [God] said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17-19)

We might call this a breakdown in the relationship between man and the created order. What was fulfilling is now frustrating. What was done out of joyful obedience is now done out of painful necessity.

With work difficult, poverty now enters the world:

  • Material poverty – hunger, want, starvation,
  • And the shame, the humiliation, the sense of worthlessness, and the marred sense of identity that so often accompanies material poverty.

We rich people often think of poverty only in material terms. Listen to these quotes from poor people in order to understand the importance of other aspects of poverty:

  • From Guinea Bissau:  When I don’t have any [food to bring my family], I borrow, mainly from neighbors and friends. I feel ashamed standing before my children when I have nothing to help feed the family. I’m not well when I’m unemployed. It’s terrible.
  • From Moldova: For a poor person everything is terrible illness, humiliation, shame.
    We are cripples; we are afraid of everything; we depend on everyone. No one needs us. We are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of. (Quotes are from Brian Fikkert)

Do you hear the shame of being of no use to anyone, of being dependent, of not being able to offer anything? “We are like garbage.” A marred identity. No security. No joy.

But it is not only the materially poor who suffer from the Fall. Even for those who don’t end up materially poor, the fall leads to common work-related sins.

The first such sin is laziness. Work is hard, so we are tempted to be lazy. The temptation is so powerful Scripture must encourage us time and again to fight against it. Indeed, the book of Proverbs warns us 14 times not to be sluggards. For example:

The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. (Proverbs 20:4)

The lazy person, the sluggard, doesn’t have joy – and tries to find joy in not working, in avoiding work.

Then there’s the opposite type of sin: The sin of being a workaholic. The workaholic doesn’t have joy, and tries to find joy (or identity or security) through working. He tries to get people to look up to him, to respect him, or tries to find fulfillment in what he can build or accomplish.

Consider again Proverbs 23:4-5, which we quoted first under security:

Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; stop giving your attention to it.  As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.  (HCSB)

And remember what Jesus said: One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15).

So the Fall leads to a lack of joy, a lack of security, a lack of identity. It leads to spiritual poverty for all, material poverty for many. Regarding work, it leads to the twin sins of the sluggard on the one hand, and the workaholic on the other.

Work in Today’s Fallen World

That’s where we find ourselves today: In a fallen world where work can be frustrating, and at the same time can be all-absorbing.

But in this fallen world, God is implementing and fulfilling His eternal plan of redemption. He is redeeming us – and He is redeeming work.

How can we work today in a way most like Adam in the Garden, most like what will be our eternal work in new heavens and the new earth?

What to Avoid

If we are to work like that, we must avoid the effects of the Fall: Being workaholics or being sluggards.

As we’ve seen, both sins result from working or avoiding work in order to find security, identity, and joy.

Now, we don’t normally admit, “I’m working on a PhD in order to find my identity,” or “I’m being lazy because I think that’s the way to happiness.” Indeed, most lazy people don’t even realize they are lazy.

So what are the clues that we are trying to find identity, security, or joy in work or laziness?

  • When money is my main motivation
  • When pleasing my boss is my main motivation
  • When promotion is my main motivation
  • If the thought of losing my job makes me feel sick
  • If I’m depressed about missing out on a promotion
  • If I stay late even when I know of important needs at home

All these point to aspects of being a workaholic, of finding your security, joy or (especially) your identity in work.

Here are other clues:

  • If I regularly procrastinate when I have much to do
  • If I work much harder when my supervisor is present
  • If I continually watch the clock
  • If I try my best to extend breaks
  • If I regularly arrive late

These are signs of laziness, of being a sluggard.

What to Pursue: Seven Exhortations

We are to avoid those temptations. What are we to pursue?

At one level, the answer is obvious: Find your identity, security, and joy in God!

But how do we do that in the realm of work? What does that look like?

Consider these seven biblical exhortations. The first three come from Colossians 3:17, 22-24:

17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. . . .

 22 Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

1) Serve God in your work

Verse 17 tells us to do everything “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” That is, we are to do all things to His glory, not to my own.

Verse 23 tells us we are to work “as for the Lord;” verse 24 says we serving (or “slaving for”) the Lord Christ.

Note what type of work Paul is talking about. He is speaking to slaves. Now, slaves in the Roman Empire could be highly educated and skilled; they were sometimes artists or teachers. But many, of course, were manual laborers. Paul here is speaking to all of them, regardless of what type of work they do.

Thus we must conclude that all work – what we call secular as well as the work of the church, what we call skilled as well as what we call unskilled – is to be done to the Lord.

  • As I pastor I am to do my work as to the Lord, I am to serve the Lord
  • As a mechanic Rick is to do his work as to the Lord, he is to serve the Lord
  • As a homeschooling mom, Julia is to do her work as to the Lord, she is to serve the Lord
  • As a nurse, Julie is to do her work as to the Lord, she is to serve the Lord
  • As an engineer, Karl is to do his work as to the Lord, he is to serve the Lord
  • The artist, the musician, the landscape designer – all are to do their work as to the Lord

Whatever your work is – and it can be any honest labor – you can, you must glorify God in it.

As stated in the introduction, God is masked, He is hidden in our work. God works through our normal, everyday labors. It is all sacred. So do it to the Lord

Note here: Work does give us an entree into the lives of others. As we share work experience with unbelievers, we have an opportunity to share the Gospel with them. That is a command. That is a way to glorify God.

But that’s not our point this morning.

Rather: You glorify God in your work when you do it well, when you serve God in the work itself. So, yes, use those relationships to glorify God through bearing witness to the Gospel to your co-workers, and use your work itself to glorify God through the way that you work, as you do it unto Him.

2) See your eternal inheritance as more than sufficient remuneration

Again, Paul is speaking here to slaves. Many probably felt they weren’t receiving a fair share of what they produced. And they were most likely right. But Paul says in verse 24, “From the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.”

Take care here. We must interpret Scripture with Scripture. Paul is not saying, “By working unto God you will earn your eternal inheritance.”That would contradict much of the rest of Paul’s teaching, even in this book of Colossians.

Rather, Paul is saying: “If you are in Christ, God is giving you all things. You will live for eternity in a perfected creation. You will see God face to face. You will be His delight. You will have fulfilling work, stretching your every ability and skill. However poor you may be now, however unfair your pay here might be, you will received a hundredfold, a millionfold in the new heavens and new earth.”

You work for God now. And you always receive from Him far, far more than you deserve.

3) Work diligently.

Verse 23 tells us to “work heartily,” or, as the NET puts it, “work at it with enthusiasm.”

This, rather than being a workaholic, is the biblical opposite of being a sluggard.

In Christ, we have an established identity. We are secure in God. We have great joy in God. We work for Him– and thus, unlike the sluggard, we work whether the boss watches or not. And unlike the workaholic, we stop work when it is time to serve God in other parts of our lives.

Note again: We work diligently primarily because we are working for the Lord. Diligent work may enhance your reputation. It may lead to your boss being happy with you. It may lead to promotion. And all of those are good. But the main motivation for our diligent work should be God, the One we work for. So we will work diligently even if no one notices, even if the boss is a pain in the neck, even if there is no chance of further promotion.

4) Work so as not to be dependent

Don’t misunderstand: All of us are dependent on God for everything – including what we earn through work. We are to delight in our dependence on God. Furthermore, we are to help one another, and to receive such help with thanksgiving (as Paul does in Philippians 4).

But if we are physically and mentally able, we should with rare exceptions work to support ourselves and our families.

Paul exhorts the church in Thessalonica in this regard. Evidently, this church was sharing resources with the poor, like the church in Jerusalem (Acts 2 and 4). But some who were perfectly able to work were being sluggards. They were receiving handouts intended for the poor, and then not working, trying to find joy in avoiding work. So Paul writes a mild exhortation in his first letter:

Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)

Evidently the laziness remained, or even increased. So in his second letter, the Apostle is much more direct:

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12)

Paul reminds the Thessalonians of the example he set among them. Though he had a right to be supported financially, he didn’t use that right. He worked to support his own ministry, night and day.

The Apostle then commands: Don’t give any support to such people. If there’s work available, and they’re not willing to do it – if they are able to work but simply prefer not to work – don’t provide anything to them. They are to glorify God through supporting themselves and their families. If they are unwilling to do so – let them go hungry, for hunger may prompt them to do what will be to God’s glory and to their own good.

On the other hand, if they are unable to work, or no work is to be found, the church is to provide support. And they should feel no shame in receiving such assistance. Don’t lose your sense of identity in God, your security in God, your joy in God when you need help. Graciously accept it.

But do all in your power to find work. Unless you can’t work, such help should be temporary.

The fifth exhortation is a corollary, a consequence of first four:

5) Encourage others to work.

We are to help others to work diligently so as not to be dependent. This exhortation is particularly important for parents. We are to teach our children the value of work, and to teach them a biblical view of work.

When we provide support to others, we are to avoid giving in ways that undermine work, in ways that make work seem worthless. For when our giving undermines work, we are hurting the recipients, not helping them.

Furthermore, on a public policy level, we should not support government policies that undermine work. Now, often it is difficult to know which policies do that. For example, that has been part of the debate about extending unemployment benefits. Most agree that some short term unemployment benefits encourage work; most agree that never-ending unemployment benefits would undermine work. But at what point does the negative incentive kick in?

But in some cases, it is obvious that government policies undermine work. When even the advocates of a law agree that many people will choose not to work because of the law, that’s a serious problem.

6) Work in order to give

We’ve seen that we are to have sincere concern for one another, and thus are to give generously. In the next several weeks we’ll talk much more about giving. But for today, simply note: Giving is one motivation for work. We work, in part, so that we might display the image of God by giving:

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. (Ephesians 4:28)

Instead of taking what is not his, the thief is to work so that he might freely give what is rightly his.

In Acts 20 Paul speaks of his own example in this regard:

You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (Acts 20:34-35)

We who are able must help the weak. Giving is an obligation – but giving is also a blessing, a joy. As we saw when speaking of generosity, out of the overflow of joy in God, the Macedonians begged Paul for the privilege of giving. We have the great privilege of displaying the love of Christ, of being one way He answers prayer. So we display Jesus when we work to Him – and we display Jesus when we take the proceeds of work and give them away.

7) Know the outcomes of godly work

Often, but not always, godly work leads to recognition in this life:

Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men. (Proverbs 22:29)

This may mean, “He will be recognized by kings,” but more likely it means, “He will be brought into the palace to serve kings.”

Good employers are always looking for diligent laborers. Often they will recognize and promote such workers. If you work heartily, as to the Lord, you may benefit in that way.

That’s a general rule, not a promise. However, one outcome is assured:

  • Godly work always leads to the glory of God
  • Godly work always accomplishes God’s purposes
  • Godly work always displays something of God’s image

Think again of Colossians 3:17:

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus

When we do everything in His Name, to His glory, we fulfill the purpose of our creation. We find and fulfill our identity. And this leads to the greatest joy.

Conclusion

Work is a gift from God. God chooses to work through our hands, through our work, to answer prayer, to display His glory.

How are you working?

Examine your attitude:

  • Are you tempted to laziness? Are you tempted to find joy in avoiding work, unless someone is watching over you?
  • Or are you tempted to being a workaholic – to find identity, security, and joy in the work itself?

(It’s even possible for the same person to be tempted both ways.)

Remember: You are serving the Lord Jesus. All your work is to Him! All your work is for Him!

So work diligently. And stop working at the hour when He has other responsibilities for you to fulfill.

  • Work is a gift.
  • Work is a privilege.
  • Work is an imitation of God.
  • Work is sacred.

But realize: He has done the work you can never do. He has sent His Son to live the life you should have lived, to die in your place on your account, and to bring you by grace into the eternal joy of His presence.

You don’t earn that. You can’t earn that. You could never merit that.

So find your identity, your security, and your joy in the work God has done on your behalf.

And then, out of that identity – work to the glory of God.

 

Why Do You Own Anything?

Why do you own anything?

Consider what you own:

  • Shirts, dresses, and pants,
  • Dress coats, rain coats, and fleeces,
  • Exercise shoes, casual shoes, and dress shoes
  • Beds, mattresses, and sheets,
  • Houses, stoves, and refrigerators,
  • Gardens, patios, and pools,
  • Cars, bikes, and scooters,
  • Computers, cell phones, and watches,
  • bank accts, 401k’s, and IRAs
  • health insurance, car insurance, and life insurance:

You own a lot.

Indeed, you are rich. If you have:

  • Indoor plumbing,
  • Water readily available in your house that is fit for drinking
  • More than 1 change of clothes,
  • Enough money or food all year long to know you won’t go hungry,
  • Access to medical care that can actually keep sick children from dying,

then you are richer than the vast majority of humanity in all recorded history, and far, far richer than virtually everyone in Jesus’ day.

You own a lot.

But why do you own anything?

Consider emphasizing two different words in that question:

Why do you own anything? That is: Where did what you own come from? How did you get it? Do you deserve it?

Second: Why do you own anything? That is: For what purpose – to what end – do you own anything? How are you to use what you own?

Those two aspects of the question constitute our outline.

Why Do You Own Anything?

Consider two different answers to this question:

1) The Marxist answer, also given by a number of cultures:

“You personally don’t own anything. All you have and all you earn belongs to the state (or the ethnic group or the village).” This idea is well summarized in a phrase popularized by Marx: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

2) An answer common among American citizens:

“Whatever I own, I deserve. I worked hard for it, or made smart investments to get it (or my parents and ancestors worked hard for it). Sure, I’m willing to pay a reasonable tax rate to fund necessary government services, and I choose to give some away to good causes, including my church. But I deserve what I own. It’s mine.”

Is either of these the biblical view?

Some have argued that the Marxist view is biblical, taking as strongest evidence the behavior of the early church in Acts chapters 2 and 4. Let’s look briefly at these chapters – and chapter 5 as well – to see if the actions of the early church can be described in this way.

Acts 2 and 4 tell us how the church helped the needy among them:

Acts 2:45: They were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Acts 4:34-35: There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Chapter 4 goes on to tell us that Barnabas was one who sold a field and gave the entire value to the apostles.

Then in chapter 5 we learn of Ananias and Saphira. This couple also sells a field. They too give a substantial amount to the church to distribute to the poor. But they tell the church a lie, saying that they gave the entire value of the sale.

Peter then speaks to Ananias:

Acts 5:4: “While [the field] remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Peter’s statement shows that the early church recognized private property. The early church did not force believers to sell all their possessions and turn them over to the collective. The sales and giving were voluntary.

Note that Peter doesn’t upbraid Ananias for withholding part of purchase price. Peter makes clear: Ananias didn’t have to sell the field, and having sold it, he didn’t have to give all the proceeds to the church. Had Ananias sold the field and given half the proceeds – and had they been honest about it – Peter’s response would have been similar to Jesus’ when Zaccheus gave half of his goods to the poor: Great joy! (Luke 19:8-10)

So Ananias and Saphira’s sin was not withholding part of the purchase price. Instead, the sin consisted of:

  • The lie itself: Peter says they lied not only to the church but also to the Holy Spirit.
  • The motivation for lying: Desiring the praise of men more than the praise of God. Ananias and Saphira wanted the accolades that were accruing to Barnabas and others, while not doing what Barnabas had done.
  • Most importantly, they participated in an attack on the witness and purity of the church. Satan had persecuted the church externally, and the church only got stronger. At this point, Ananias effectively cooperates with Satan to attack the church internally – to take the institution that should exist to God’s glory, and make it like any other human institution, as its members strive for self-exaltation and recognition. (For more details, see this sermon).

But for our purposes today, the main point is this: Even in the context of great sharing, Peter affirms that Ananias and Saphira have the right to use the proceeds of the sale as they see fit.

So, no, the Bible does not argue that all you have belongs to the church, must less to the state.

What about the second answer to the question, “Why do you own anything?” – what I called the common American view?

Do you deserve what you have?

Think about what you have. Where did it come from?

All you have came as a gift, as inheritance, or from your work (for our purposes today, let’s consider government transfer payments as gifts, and include investment income under the gains from work).

You clearly did nothing to merit what you received through gifts or inheritance. What about your earnings from work? Do you deserve what you worked for, what you earned through investments?

Next week we’ll look more closely at the biblical view of work. We’ll see that work itself is God-ordained, that we are to work hard, as to the Lord, and that we are not to be lazy.

But no matter how hard we work, the Bible claims that even what we earn is really a gift from God:

Deuteronomy 8:17-18:  Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’  You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power [NIV “ability”] to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

Listen to that carefully. This common American attitude is explicitly anti-biblical. The passage warns, “Do not say in your heart, ‘my power has gotten me this wealth.’” That is, “Do not say in your heart, ‘I worked hard and earned every penny I own.’” Do not pat yourself on the back and say, “I was smart, I bought Apple in 1985 for less than $2 per share. I deserve all those capital gains.”

Instead: Remember! Remember it is the Lord your God who gives you ability to get wealth. He gives you all your ability: Your education, your health, your intuition, your people skills, your looks, your diligence. Everything you use to make money is a gift from God. Every penny you make is to be used by God to confirm His covenant.

Work itself is gift of God. So all you own is undeserved: whether earned through labor, earned through investments, inherited, or received as a gift.

As Paul says: “He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). Your ability to absorb oxygen from the air and to transfer it into your red blood cells is a gift of God. Apart from that, you are dead. And then what do you earn?

Indeed, biblically the only thing we earn in this life through our actions, the only thing we merit, is death. Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, and every man and woman since born in the normal way has joined them in that rebellion. Death is the wages of sin, the right, just, and fair remuneration for sin. But God graciously grants us forgiveness in Christ, adoption, inheritance, security, joy – by faith, not by works, not by merit. There is redemption for all who believe, not redemption for all who are smart, wise, and hardworking. We are saved by looking away from ourselves, by looking away from our merit, and looking solely to Christ. So Paul writes:

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

Why do you own anything?

  • The Marxist view is unbiblical.
  • And the common American view is unbiblical.

All you have is a gift from God – even what you earned as wages, or from your business.              All is undeserved. He gives us the ability to work, to serve.

Why Do You Own Anything?

For what purpose – if any – do you own anything? How are you to use what you own?

God has given you the gift of your material resources for a purpose:

  • The same purpose for which He does everything,
  • The same purpose for which He created the world,
  • The same purpose for which He sent Jesus into the world, to the cross,
  • The same purpose for which He forgives you.

God has given you all you own – for the glory of His Name. All you have is a grant from God – to be used for His glory.

There are hundreds of text we could consider to substantiate this point. But let’s look at Romans 11:35-36.

“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

In  verse 35, the Apostle Paul quotes Job 41:11. God is speaking to Job:

Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

This verse undercuts the foundation of most manmade religion. All of paganism – and, indeed, much unbiblical Christianity – is based on our giving something to God, putting Him in our debt. Then we draw down that debt when we need help.

We’re all tempted to think this way: “I have resources, time, energy, and abilities. If I use these in ways God wants, He then will have to pay me back. He’ll do what I want Him to do.”

Isn’t that way many, many people think? Haven’t you been tempted to think that way?

  • “If I tithe . . .
  • “If I attend church services . . .
  • “If I pray regularly . . .
  • “If I read the Bible daily . . .
  • “If I fast . . .
  • “If I do good deeds for others . . .

God will be in my debt, and then He’ll be obligated to give me what I want.”

But that’s ridiculous. That’s fundamentally pagan thinking.

Scripture tells us: All things are from Him. He already owns everything. Whatever goods, abilities, or skills you have are from Him. Anything you give to God belonged to Him before you gave it!

Imagine that 8-year-old Megan went to her daddy and asked, “May I have $10?”

He replies, “What will you use it for?”

She says, “I want to buy you a birthday present!”

So he gives her $10, and she buys him a lovely purple tie with pink polka dots that says “It’s My Birthday!” on it.

He opens the present and exclaims, “Oh! A tie! How lovely!”

Is he better off because he received the gift? He surely appreciates the thought, the desire to give. But you’d be hard-pressed to argue that he gained through that transaction. And receiving a gift for which he provided the money surely doesn’t put him in Megan’s debt.

That’s true of all we give to God- whether time or money or energy. All things are from Him. “Whatever is under the whole heaven” is His! So whatever you give to Him was His already.

In Romans 11, after Paul says “all things are from Him,” he goes on to say: “All things are through Him.” That is: He is the means by which all things are accomplished. Just as we said, even the work we do, we accomplish by His grace.

Then, third, Paul answers our question. He tells us the purpose of all that we have: “To Him are all things! So to Him be the glory forever!”

All creation – and thus all you are and have – exists to display His glory, to show what He is like. So He gives and gives and gives so that He might share His bounteous goodness with us, and so that we, in turn, might display to others Who He is.

That is true of all things, so that is true of all things that you own.

All you own is from Him, through Him, and to Him. All you own is a grant from God, which you are to use for His glory.

You deserve nothing; rather, You deserve condemnation. But instead, if you are in Christ, God has granted you life – and more than life: He has granted you material goods, He has granted you time, He has granted you energy. And all this grant is for the purpose of glorifying His Name.

Recognizing this truth leads to a profound change in attitude toward “your” possessions.

In the early nineties I was conducting an economic research project in Kenya and Tanzania. I received a grant of $250,000 from USAID to assist with project costs. I had to account for how I spent each dollar. Now, I had flexibility; I could move the budget among line items as needs arose, as the project turned out differently than I had planned. But I had to justify each expenditure by how it fulfilled the goals of the research project. And if I had reported that I spent $3000 for a party for my employees at the most expensive Nairobi hotel, the accountants at USAID would have said, “That’s not allowable. You can’t spend the grant that way. That violates the purpose of the grant!”

Just so, all you have is not yours to use however you decide to use it. All you have is a grant from God to be used for His glory.

So how does that change your mindset?

Think about what you own:

  • My house is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
  • My car is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
  • My computer is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
  • My job is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
  • My health is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
  • My weekend is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
  • My vacation is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
  • My savings accounts, my 401k’s, my college savings are grants from God to be used for His glory.
  • My income and my assets are grants from God to be used for His glory.

Is your reaction: “God can’t take all that from me! What’s left for me?”

That’s a natural reaction.  I feel that in myself.

And there’s a word for that reaction: Sin.

Why? Why is that reaction sinful?

Consider: What attitude underlies that reaction?

When we react that way, our attitude is: “If it’s for God’s glory, it must not be for my joy! I don’t mind giving some to God – but I need to reserve some for myself to be sure I get what I need!”

Is that the attitude of someone whose identity, security, and joy are in God?

Is that the attitude of someone who is content with God?

Indeed, what underlies that attitude?

This thought underlies the attitude: “I know better than God what is in my own best interest. He won’t really look out for me. He doesn’t really have my best interests at heart. I’ve got to look out for myself.”

And that was Eve’s attitude when she chose to eat the forbidden fruit.

My friends: God loves you with an everlasting love. He gives you the greatest joy imaginable. As Paul says in Romans 8:32:

He who did not spare His Son but gave Him up for us all – how will He not along with Him freely give us all things?”

You see? Putting Jesus on the cross was the hardest gift of all for God to give. He did that – for you! Having done that: Won’t He give you what is much, much easier?

Think of it this way: Those of you who have loving parents, think of what they’ve done for you.

  • They stayed up long hours at night when you were an infant.
  • They stayed up long hours at night when you were a teen.
  • They cooked and cleaned for you.
  • They counseled and taught you.
  • They drove you to practices and plays.
  • They prayed for you and played with you.
  • They cried with you and comforted you.
  • They taught you to drive and drove you to excel.

Now: Your dad drops you off at the airport. You say goodbye, and go to check in. You get to the counter and the agent says, “Sorry, Your flight is canceled. We can’t get you out until tomorrow morning.”

Do you then think: “Oh, no! I can’t call dad back. He just drove me to the airport! He won’t come back to pick me up!”

Could you really think that? After all he’s done that’s so much harder – he won’t come and pick you up?

That’s nonsense. He’s done what is hard. He’ll do this little thing.

Just so with God. After giving us Jesus – after sending Him to the cross – won’t He provide whatever we need for our good and His glory? That is: Won’t He provide whatever we need

  • to sustain us through trials,
  • to conform us to the likeness of His Son,
  • and to bring us safely to His heavenly kingdom?

You are rich. And all you own is from God. All you own is to God, to be used for His glory.

There’s much to explore in weeks ahead concerning how to live this out: What should be our attitude towards work? How do we live out this truth through our budgeting and spending? How do we use all we have for God’s glory? We’ll consider entertainment, saving, giving, and borrowing.

But for now: Think of what you own or have: Material goods. Skills and abilities. Interests. Blocks of time. Pray to God, acknowledging that these are His. And tell Him you want Him to use it for His glory – whatever that may mean. Pray, “We offer our bodies, ourselves, all we have as sacrifices for Your glory.”

May He bring that about – for our great joy.

 

Generosity and Sincere Concern

When you hear the word “generous” what comes to mind?

In 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 and 9:10-15, “generous” and “generosity” appear three times. What did the Apostle Paul mean by those terms?

Suppose you are returning to Charlotte by air, and to your surprise are upgraded to first class. You sit next to a well-dressed man, and strike up a conversation. Eventually you share your story of what God has done in your life; you share Jesus’ story, the Gospel; you tell him of your growing in Christ while at DGCC.

Your seatmate is cordial, and asks good questions. But he makes clear that he is not interested in following Jesus. But after the announcement that you’ll be on the ground in fifteen minutes, he says, “I’ve enjoyed our conversation. I admire you for what you’ve said. I think churches play an important role in our community, and yours sounds like a good one. Would you please accept this check made out to your church for $100,000?”

Would that be generous?

One dictionary defines “generous” as “showing a readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or expected.” On that definition, your seatmate’s action is certainly generous.

But as you know, the New Testament was written in Greek. The Greek word translated “generous” in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 would not apply to that act.

Paul is talking about a different form of generosity – a form so different from the normal meaning of the English word that the word “generous” can be misleading. Seeing this distinction is key for understanding the inner attitude Scripture commends toward others. That is: What should be going on inside us as we encounter people who have needs?

Background of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9

When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, the church in Jerusalem was hurting. They were persecuted both by the religious leaders and by their families – often being disowned and disinherited once they came to faith in Jesus. Furthermore, the entirety of Judea had suffered a famine in recent years, and in the aftermath there was still considerable poverty. So in general, the new, Gentile believers scattered around the Roman Empire were better off financially than believers in Jerusalem.

So Paul arranges for a collection from the churches in Greece, Macedonia, and Galatia (now central Turkey) to the church in Jerusalem. He refers to this collection in a number of his letters:

  • In Galatians 2, Peter, John, and James (Jesus’ half brother) ask Paul and Barnabas, as ministers to the Gentiles, to remember the poor in Jerusalem. Paul says that was “the very thing I was eager to do” (Galatians 2:10).
  • In 1 Corinthians 16 he instructs the church to set aside money for this collection on the first day of every week. Evidently the church had made an encouraging beginning in raising funds, but then not much happened.
  • Here in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 he encourages them to complete this grace that they have begun.
  • In Romans 15, he writes that the collection is now complete, and he will be taking it to Jerusalem.

What Does “Generous” Mean

We’ve seen the normal definition of the English word “generous.” But we know that Paul does not mean “showing a readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or expected” in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. We see this by looking at his first letter to the same church:

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3)

To give away all I have certainly would be generous in the English sense of the word. That would be showing readiness to give more than is expected. But if that generous act is done apart from love, Paul says it is of no value.

That should prompt our curiosity about what Paul means by “generous” in this passage. So let’s briefly turn our attention to the Greek word he uses.

The word is used nine times in the New Testament, and three of those occurrences are in today’s text. The lexicon of New Testament Greek widely regarded as most authoritative defines this word generally as “personal integrity expressed in word or action ([as in] our colloq[uial expression] ‘what you see is what you get’) simplicity, sincerity, uprightness, frankness. Then when referring directly to today’s passage, the lexicon says the word concerns

“simple goodness, which gives itself without reserve, ‘without strings attached’, ‘without hidden agendas’ . . . ingenuousness” (Danker and Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition, University of Chicago Press, 2001).

That doesn’t much sound like giving a $100,000 check.

The lexicon acknowledges that some want to use the English word “generosity” for the meaning of the word in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, but that usage “is in dispute, and it is probable that [the meaning] sincere concern, simple goodness is sufficient for all these pass[ages].”

So we have a word with a disputed meaning.

These different understandings of the meaning of the word come out in the translation of Romans 12:8. Compare the ESV and the NET (including the beginning of the sentence from verse 6):

ESV: Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: . . 8 the one who contributes, in generosity.

NET: And we have different gifts according to the grace given to us. . . 8 if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity.

The two translations sound very different to our English ears – it sounds as if there is no overlap in the command. The ESV seems to say, “If by God’s grace you have the gift of giving, give a lot!” The NET, however, seems to say, “If by God’s grace you have the gift of giving, give out of genuine concern, with no ulterior motive.”

Now, Paul may intend to make both of these statements: “Give a lot, and give it out of sincere concern.” But he does not mean only “give a lot.”

So as we read “generous” and “generosity” in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, we must broaden the meaning of the English word. We need to examine the context closely, seeing what information that gives us, and consider that the word may mean “sincere concern.”

In examining the context, we’ll particularly focus on where Paul says generosity comes from, and what, according to Paul, it leads to.

Where Does This “Generosity” Come From?

The chapter begins in this way:

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia (2 Corinthians 8:1)

Notice first that this generosity is a free gift of God. It is a grace of God. It is not earned. It is not self-generated. It is not the result of an emotional appeal, or a leader’s manipulation. Nor is it the result of someone begging for money. It is a gift of grace.

Now verse 2:

for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

The Macedonians gave out of joy. They did not give out of an abundance of material goods they had owned for a long time (as in the airplane example). Nor did they give the excess out of a short term windfall. Quite the contrary. They are afflicted. They live in extreme poverty. But because they have joy, they gave. Out of the overflow of their joy, they gave.

So we begin to see the link between this passage and the earlier sermons in this series: We can have a biblical attitude towards possessions if and only if we find our identity, security, and joy in God.

Verses 3 to 5 tell us more about this joy:

For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord,begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints –and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

Verse 3 says that they did give generously in the English sense – given their poverty, they gave much more than Paul expected. But then the Apostle goes on to explain more about the joy they had that overflowed in this gift.

Look at verse 5 first: This monetary giving results from them first giving themselves (emphatic in the Greek) to the Lord. That is, their joy is joy in God. Their giving is first and foremost a giving of themselves to God. Their contribution to the saints in Jerusalem is an overflow of that joy. They have such joy in God – as His adopted children, as His heirs, as those protected and guarded by Him – that out of the overflow of that joy they give.

But Paul’s statement is even stronger. Note in verse 4 that they have such joy in God they beg to give. Paul didn’t beg them to give. Rather, they begged Paul for the “favor” – literally, the “grace” – of contributing to this effort.

Continuing in verse 4: “begging us earnestly for the favor/grace of taking part.” “Taking part” is a loose rendering of a Greek word many of you know: “Koinonia.” Often translated “fellowship,” it means “partnership in a common purpose.”

So the Macedonians are saying something like this:

“Please Paul – don’t exclude us from this contribution just because we are poor. God has changed us! We have full joy in Him. We know how to be content when we are lacking material goods. We want to live out the partnership in the Gospel we have with our brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. We want to display the gracious character of God that we have as His children. There is nothing we would rather do with this money. This is to our joy– so don’t leave us out!”

This type of generosity is a grace of God, a gift of God, that comes from the overflow of joy in God.

So, working from this passage and 1 Corinthians 13, John Piper defines Christian love as “the overflow of joy in God that gladly meets the needs of others.”

What Does This “Generosity” Lead to?

2 Corinthians 9:11-12 helps us define this type of generosity by showing us what it leads to. Let’s begin in verse 10:

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

First, note that this generosity leads to thanksgiving to God. Why “to God” rather than “to you Corinthians”? Because those in Jerusalem know that the generosity is itself a grace of God, a gift of God! They know that joy in God prompted the giving. They know that those giving the support first gave themselves to God.

All true Christian giving results in thanksgiving primarily to God. If our giving results in thanksgiving primarily to us, that’s a problem. We’re not handling our giving correctly in that case.

Verse 13 tells us more about what this generosity leads to (we’ll quote the NET translation here):

Through the evidence of this service they will glorify God because of your obedience to your confession in the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your sharing with them and with everyone.

So, second, this generosity leads to those in Jerusalem to glorifying God. They praise Him. Why? By this generosity, God gives proof that the Corinthians are genuinely in Christ, are genuinely transformed by the Gospel. Through the “generosity of your sharing” they see evidence that these Gentiles are partners in the common purpose of the Kingdom of God. Their sincere concern as partners in the Gospel proves that God is at work among them, thereby showing that the Gentiles are joint heirs with their Jewish brethren, one family, with one common purpose. This leads those in Jerusalem to praise the God of the Gospel – the God who breaks down the “dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14).

We see the third result of this generosity in verse 14 (returning now to the English Standard Version):

while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.

This generosity leads to love for those giving! Prayers on their behalf! And thus a deeper partnership in the advance of the Gospel among their own people, as God’s church is united that much more across cultural differences.

So, yes, Paul is saying the Corinthians will benefit from giving. But the benefit is not a health, wealth, and prosperity gospel promise, “Give $1,000, and God will make sure that you receive $10,000.” Rather, they will receive love. They will receive prayers. They will deepen their fellowship, their partnership with the wider Church of Jesus Christ.

So now let’s step back and consider what we have seen:

  • This type of generosity comes from God; it is a gift.
  • This type of generosity is the overflow of joy in God.
  • This type of generosity leads to thanksgiving to God.
  • This type of generosity leads to praise of God.
  • This type of generosity results in love and prayers for those giving, and unity in the Gospel across the wider Church.

Note how all of this is God-centered, Gospel-centered. This generosity is prompted by God, and redounds to His glory and to the advance of His Gospel purposes. Man is not the center – either in receiving praise as the giver or in receiving support as the recipient.

Furthermore, note that money is secondary to all that is going on. Money is the vehicle used to display the overflow of joy in God. And to those receiving, money meets their material needs, but much more importantly unites them in heart in Christ with those giving.

  • Prior to Paul preaching the Gospel in Corinth and Macedonia, these Gentiles gave not a whit about the Jews in Jerusalem. Now by grace of God, they care. Because of their joy in God, they have sincere concern. They beg for the grace of giving.
  • Prior to Pentecost, the Jews in Jerusalem looked down on all those unclean Gentiles. They wouldn’t eat with them. They wouldn’t even enter their houses. Now, they long for them, they pray for them, they thank God for them, they praise the God who has welcomed into His family these, their former enemies.

That’s true, biblical generosity. It comes from God. It results in thanks and praise to God. It displays and deepens the impact of the Gospel.

How Then Can We Be “Generous”?

We want to be “generous” in this sense. We don’t want to be like those that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 13:3, who give away all they have to no gain. We want to be like these Macedonian believers. We want to obey Paul’s injunctions to the believers in Corinth.

How do we do that?

Our inner attitudes are key: Our inner attitude toward God, and our inner attitude toward persons in need.

If we are to be truly generous,

  • we can’t give primarily to build up an institution.
  • We certainly can’t give to get recognition for ourselves, or to get influence for ourselves, or expecting more money for ourselves through giving.
  • We can’t give primarily out of gratefulness to God.
  • We can’t even give in order to accomplish some great work for God.

Instead, Paul tells us our main motive must be joy in God. Our genuine generosity, our sincere concern, must overflow from a deep joy in the One who saved as, who adopted us.

So if we are to be generous, we must seek this grace from Him. We must cultivate this joy in God daily.

We do this in part by meditating daily on the Gospel itself:

God created you, He created all of humanity to glorify Him by enjoying Him forever. He provided for our every need. Yet all of us have turned our backs on Him, have rejected Him, finding joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction elsewhere. We have arrogantly called into question His goodness, His love, His provision, His power, even His existence. Having rejected the very purpose of our creation, we deserve His rejection of us; we deserve to be cut off from the source of every good and perfect gift. And yet in His mercy and grace, God sent His Son into the world as Man to live the life each of us should have lived: To love Him with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength every minute of every day, to love each person He encountered as He loved Himself. Just as all of us reject God the Father, the authorities of His day rejected Him, and put Him to death, nailing Him to a cross. But God, through that evil act, placed on Him the iniquity of all who would trust in Him; Jesus took on Himself the punishment, the rejection, that you and I deserve. And on the third day, God raised Him from the dead, displaying that the penalty paid was more than sufficient. And He now calls all men everywhere to repent, to come to a restored relationship with Him by confessing their sin and believing and Jesus is their Savior, their Lord – indeed, the greatest treasure imaginable.

Remind yourself of these truths every morning, every afternoon, every evening. You are in Christ by grace! You are reconciled to the Father by His demonstrated love! You are being conformed to the image of Christ because of Jesus’ sacrifice.

Thus, cultivate joy in God through meditating on the Gospel, that you may be truly generous.

Furthermore, meditate on what the Gospel says about those in need.

  • If those in need are not believers in Jesus: We are to love them as we love ourselves. And as we help with their physical needs, we may well have the opportunity to speak to their yet greater spiritual needs.
  • If those in need are believers in Jesus: We can expect the results we’ve seen from 2 Corinthians 9: Thanks to God, praise of God, the progress of the Gospel, and love and prayers for ourselves.

So beg God that you may have such sincere concern in your heart. Beg God for the privilege of giving time, money, and your very self to those in need.

By God’s grace you can be truly generous, biblically generous. May He grant us that grace more and more.

But know: He has already granted us that grace in part.

  • Who has ministered the Gospel to you?
  • Who has counseled you, comforted you, and even upbraided you when necessary?
  • Who has brought you meals?
  • Who has cared for or taught your children?
  • Who has honored God through serving this church in the background, in roles which are often unseen?
  • Who has smiled at you when you were down and depressed and hurting?
  • Who has prayed for you ?
  • And, yes, who has supplied for your material needs when you experienced loss or poverty?

All these are expressions of sincere concern.

All these are expressions of this type of generosity.

All these are given by God, and the result of the overflow of joy in God.

So praise God, thank Him, and express your love and prayers for one another – even using the words of 2 Corinthians 9:14 “I love you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.”

Paul closes 2 Corinthians 9 by saying, “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”

  • He is the ultimate giver.
  • He is the one truly showing sincere concern.
  • He is the source of all biblical generosity.

So, may we express love and prayers for one another – and may all praise, glory, and honor be unto Him.

 

 

 

 

Contentment: The Fruit of Finding Identity, Security, and Joy in God

Are you content?

Are you content with God?

  • The psalmist tells us, “A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” (Psalm 84:10).
  • Moses told the Israelites, “[God] humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna . . . that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
  • Paul prayed that we would be strengthened so that we can know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:14-19).
  • Jesus said that He and He alone is the bread of life – if we come to Him, we will never hunger; if we believe in Him, we will never thirst (John 6:35).
  • Jesus said that knowing the Father, knowing Him is eternal life (John 17:3).

If all these Scriptures are true – and if you believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord – you should be content. If Jesus is the bread of life, and if you have Him, you shouldn’t hunger for anything else – even if you are hurt by others, or lose your job, or are in danger.

So: Are you content with God?

In fact, we often are not content. What leads to this lack of contentment?

In our series Where Do You Find Identity, Security, and Joy? A Scriptural Understanding of Money, Giving, and Material Possessions, we have seen that those in Christ are adopted, beloved children, indeed heirs of God. As God’s children, those in Christ are secure, because our Father will never leave us or forsake us. Furthermore, He promises us eternal joy, and begins that eternal joy now, in this life, as He fulfills His purposes through us, and as we delight in who He is.

Our lack of contentment arises because we forgot this identity, forget this security, forget this joy that should be ours.

 

Finding Contentment in God through Identity, Security, and Joy

  • If God gives us identity, telling us who we are, who we were made to be –
  • If God gives us security, guiding us and guarding us through all dangers and sorrows –
  • If God gives us joy as we see Him for Who He is and as we know Him better and better –

Then we should be satisfied in Him. We should have contentment in Him. As Jeremiah 31:14 says, “My people shall be satisfied with my goodness.”

When should we be satisfied? When should we be content?

Always, in every circumstance, as Paul tells us in Philippians 4:10-13. The Apostle recently has received financial support from this church. He writes:

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.  Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Paul says, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ” The Greek word Paul uses for “content” has come into English as an economic term, “autarky.” A country that produces everything it consumes, and thus does not engage in foreign trade, is said to be in a state of autarky. That country has no needs that must be met by others. It is self-sufficient.

But Paul is not saying, “I am self-sufficient. Because of my skill, because of my abilities, I can meet all my needs, regardless of whether or not you send me support.”

Rather, He says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Paul is not self-sufficient. He is God-sufficient.

Whether He has little or much, in every circumstance, Paul is content. Why? Because if He has God, He has all that He needs

Note that Paul emphasizes His contentment both when He has little and when He has much. For both lead to temptations:

  • The temptation to murmur and be dissatisfied when we lack material goods.
  • The temptation to have contentment in possessions when we have an abundance.

Indeed, in 1 Timothy 6 Paul warns us against the love of money, whether that love is aspirational (“I long to have more!”) or is delighting in what I have now (“This money gives me such joy!”). In contrast, the Apostle says, “If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content“ (1 Timothy 6:8). That is, if we have enough food to keep us going and covering to protect us from the elements, that should be enough. We should not lack contentment because of what we don’t have. We have Jesus. We have the Father. That’s the secret of contentment.

Similarly, the author of the book of Hebrews writes, “Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

Again, the author tells us not to be self-sufficient, but God-sufficient. If I have God, and if He will never abandon me, I have all that I need. I can be satisfied. I can be content.

2 Corinthians 9 brings out the same idea:

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8).

The Greek word here translated “sufficiency” is the same word mentioned above, the word we get “autarky” from. The NIV translates it here, “having all that you need.” That is, we can be content because at all times God gives us all that we need to accomplish His good work. He gives us whatever inputs we need to produce His desired outputs. We may discern a lack – and we should pray for what we think we need to fulfill God’s work. But His provision is perfect. And if, after prayer, we still lack what we think we need – we don’t really need it. We can step forward, content that He has provided all that we truly need.

Thus we can have the attitude of the psalmist, “Earth has nothing I desire besides You” (Psalm 73:25), because if we have Him, we have a sufficiency. We can be content.

So the Puritan pastor Jeremiah Burroughs writes,

Have I health from God? I must have the God of my health to be my portion, or else I am not satisfied. It is not life, but the God of my life; it is not riches, but the God of those riches, that I must have, the God of my preservation, as well as my preservation. (The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Chapter 2)

That’s contentment: “My people shall be satisfied with My goodness.” If we have Him, we have all that we need. If we have Him, we have all that we should desire.

 

Is It Wrong Then to Desire the Things of This World?

Many philosophers over the centuries have argued that it is wrong to desire the things of this world. Someone once asked the Greek philosopher Socrates who was the wealthiest man. His reply: “He who is content with the least – for self-sufficiency is nature’s wealth.” (Socrates uses here the same Greek word we’ve been considering.)

Epictetus, who lived shortly after the time of Christ (50 to 138AD), wrote, “Destroy desire completely.” And Epictetus, though not a Christian, unfortunately influenced later Christian thinking. His message is: Don’t desire the things of this world at all.

Does the Bible teach the same?

Coveting vs Desire

Consider the 10 Commandments. We are commanded not to steal; we are commanded not to covet. Does that mean that we are to stifle all desire?

No. As God’s child, God has given you Himself. That never changes. At this moment, at every moment, He gives you all you need to fulfill His purposes. So you don’t need to steal to obtain what you need.

Thus, when soldiers come to John the Baptist, asking what they should do now that they have repented, he replies, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14). God has provided them with wages. So they are to be content. Be satisfied. They are not to think they need to take what belongs to another in order to be happy.

And this holds for the future as well as for the present. The 8th Commandment, “Do not steal,” focuses on the present. The 10th Commandment, “Do not covet what belongs to your neighbor,” focuses on the future. If you are in Christ, you are God’s child. He will give you all you need in the future to fulfill His purposes.       He will never abandon you. So don’t look at what another person has and think, “I should have that instead of him. I deserve that instead of him. If only I had what he had, I would be happy. If only I had what he has, I could do great things for God.” Instead, rejoice wwith those who rejoice! Rejoice that God has been good to them, confident that the same God is good to you – even in your lack. Confident that the same God can and will work through you for His glory, whatever you might think you lack.

So we are never to lose our joy because someone else has joy. That’s a terrible sin. We are never to hold our own joy hostage to our receiving some good, or some relationship.

But this is very different from saying, “Destroy Desire completely.”

How can we have good, biblical desires, and yet not covet?

Contentment and Holy Dissatisfaction

Biblical Contentment is consistent with strong desire on our part. Consider again the commandments, “Do not steal,” and “Do not covet.” Neither commandment tells us, “Never desire what your neighbor has. ” Rather, if what your neighbor has is good for you and is to God’s glory, and if you can obtain it in a God-honoring way, work for it! Earn it! That’s one of the purposes of work. Be content today in what you have, and strive to earn that good tomorrow. When tomorrow comes:

  • if you’ve earned it and obtained the object of your desire, thank God.
  • If you haven’t been able to earn it, still be content in the present, and consider whether you should continue to work for it.

2 Corinthians 12 gives us an example of such a desire from the life of the Apostle Paul. Verse 7 speaks of a “thorn in the flesh” that Paul had – evidently some disease. He writes:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  [That is, he desired to be healed. And there is nothing wrong with that desire. But God’s answer is, “No.”] But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

Prior to Paul’s prayer in verse 8, did he know that God’s grace was sufficient? Surely He did. But he did not know he would have to live out that truth in the case of this disease. His desire for healing was right. But when God said, “No, I will not heal you – I have better plans,” Paul was content.

Just so with us. When we are weak, when we seem ineffective, when we are lacking, our desires for change are good. We desire change so that we can be more effective for God’s glory. But God in His sovereign wisdom may use that very weakness, that very ineffectiveness for His purposes. If so, we can be content with being God’s child. We have Him. We have His power. That is enough. We can be content.

Thus, being content is consistent with having a holy dissatisfaction:

  • I can have a holy dissatisfaction that I don’t know Him better, and yet be content in my personal relationship w Him (consider Paul in Philippians 3)
  • I can have a holy dissatisfaction that my neighbors, friends, family, and all the nations don’t know Him, and strive to bring that about, yet be joyful and content in Him
  • I can have a holy dissatisfaction in thinking marriage would be for my good and God’s glory, and yet remain content in Him while single
  • I can have a holy dissatisfaction in thinking that raising children would be good for me, good for my marriage, good for the children, and for God’s glory, and yet remain content in Him while childless
  • I can be content with the food and covering I have, and yet have a holy dissatisfaction in thinking what more I could do for my good, the good of my family, and the glory of God if I had more income
  • I can be content with my job or my lack of a job, and yet have a holy dissatisfaction with my skills and abilities not being used, and thus actively seek ways to use those skills for my good, the good of my family, and the glory of God.

Holy dissatisfaction is a gift. It spurs us on to work harder, to strive with all His energy that powerfully works in us (Colossians 1:29). God gives us these longings, these desires.

But in the midst of these longings, we are to be content. For we already have Him – whatever else we might lack.

 

3. Channeling Our Desires Godward

Think of your desires as a raging river. There’s a lot of energy in that river, a lot of power. That energy and power can be harnessed for good. But that same energy and power can wreak tremendous destruction if it overflows the banks.

We have to dredge a deep channel for our desires in a Godward direction,

  • so that our desires do not turn into coveting
  • so that our longings do not transform into lack of contentment
  • so that our passions result in God’s glory rather than His dishonor

How do we do this? How do we channel our desires?

Consider these three maxims:

a) Keep reminding yourself of the identity, security, and joy you have in God. Contentment is the fruit of finding these three in God. Meditate on the Scriptures we have looked at in those first three sermons. Pick some to memorize. Praise God daily as your Father; praise Him for faithfulness; meditate on Him as your joy.

b) Pray for singleness of purpose and purity of desires. Fight the fight to believe that what God says is true. Pray specifically psalm 119:36, “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”

The fight here is similar to the fight to be faithful to your spouse in marriage. I must cultivate a desire for Beth, and for her alone. If I find my eyes wandering, I must remember who she is – her love, her character – I must remember the joys we have shared. I must remember our covenant promises. And I must remember God’s promise of provision. I must not downplay the importance of such wandering eyes – I should call it lust, call it adultery (Matthew 5:27-30). Instead, I should dig the channel of sexual passion deep in her direction.

Just so: If I find my desires wandering to the things of this world instead of godward, if I begin to feel as if I can’t be happy without obtaining some good or some relationship, I must not downplay it. I should call it spiritual adultery. I should call it idolatry. So I must fight the fight to believe. I must remember who God is, who He has revealed Himself to be. I must remember His love, the joy that can be mine in Him. I must remember His covenant promises, and my own commitment to Him. I dig the channel of desire deep in His direction.

c) Act consistently with that singleness of purpose, and then pray that  your affections and desires would follow your actions. Sometimes the right desires simply aren’t there. In such cases – act out of duty. Act as if you had the right affections and desires for God. Duty is a crutch. A healthy person shouldn’t go hobbling around on crutches. That’s foolish. But when your leg is broken, praise God for crutches! Just so, we sometimes need the crutch of duty. In my experience, often when I act out of duty, God grants the right affections while I am in the midst of dutifully obeying.

 

Conclusion:

We often sing, “You are my only worth.”

Can you sing that without lying?

As long as we are in this world, we will face temptations to find worth elsewhere. So pray, “Father, use the truth of Your Word to channel my desires toward You today. Enable me to fight the fight of faith to find contentment in You alone today. I desire to desire you. Answer my prayer, O Father!”

So sing such lines as your aspiration, as your hope, as a true statement about God’s worth which you long to be true in your heart.

For there is no lasting joy, no genuine security, no true identity apart from Him. We are created to delight in Him, and nothing else will satisfy. To reject Him is to reject your very purpose, and will be the destruction of your joy.

So come to Christ for cleansing.  Confess your rebellion, your seeking contentment elsewhere. He promises acceptance – indeed, He promises that He’s been the one drawing you all along.

So repent – come to Him – and find true contentment in Him. “My people shall be satisfied with My goodness.” May that be true in each one of us.

Where is Your Joy?

What would make you happy?

Do you ever think, “If I only had ______, I would be happy?”

  • “If I only had another $10,000 annually . . .
  • “If I only had a nicer, more reliable car . . .
  • “If I only had an Iphone . . .
  • “If I only had a better job, a better boss . . .
  • “If I only had a wife, a husband . . .
  • “If we only had children . . .

Many people think that more money, more material assets, or a better family situation would make them happy.

Most of us know that Scripture tells us that is not the case, that we are to find our greatest joy in God. Indeed, our mission statements as a church states that truth: We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the JOY of all peoples.”

But how does Scripture argue that having a passion for God is truly the way to happiness? And is that consistent with what we see around us?

In this series, we are considering: Where Do You Find Identity, Security, and Joy? A Scriptural Understanding of Money, Giving, and Material Possessions. We’ve seen that we can’t find our identity in money, possessions, our jobs, or even our families. We are to find out identity in what God does through His Son: We are adopted into His family, we are His beloved children, we are heirs, joint-heirs with Christ.

We’ve also seen that it’s foolish to trust in money or possessions for security, for we may lose them all in this life, and will definitely lose them all at death. And it demeans God for us to rely on His gifts for security, rather than to trust Him. But when we trust God, we must understand what He promises. He doesn’t promise us any easy life. He doesn’t even promise that we won’t suffer hardship, illness, persecution, or early death. Yet He does promise that He will use every hardship for our good and His glory. Nothing will separate us from His love. He will bring us to Himself, and will wipe every tear from our eyes

As we turn to joy, consider the attitude of children toward their parents. Some children are loyal to their parents, and are thankful to be part of a family – but they don’t love their parents. They don’t take joy in their parents.

Or consider the attitude many of us have toward the US military. We are protected by the military, and are grateful to those who serve well. But that’s different from loving the military, from taking joy in the military.

In the same, it’s possible to be thankful to God for salvation, to be grateful for the security He promises, yet not to see Him as treasure, not to love Him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, not to delight in Him above the joy we take in His gifts.

And to do that is not a minor sin. It is demeaning to God. It is idolatry.

So let us consider Scripture’s commands in this regard, and Scripture’s arguments so that we might truly rejoice in God, and in His Son Jesus Christ.

 

1) Scripture Commands Us to Rejoice in the Lord

a) We are to rejoice because He gives us identity and security

Note that Scripture does tell us to rejoice in the Lord because of the identity and security He gives us. For example, the psalmist says “The Lord is my strength and my song, he has become my salvation” (Psalm 118:14).  He sings a song of delight, in part, because of the security God provides.

b) We are to rejoice primarily because of Who He is

Turn to Psalm 100. Recall that when our English Bibles print the word “Lord” in all caps, the Hebrew word is not a title but the name of God, likely pronounced “Yahweh.” Substituting “Yahweh” for Lord helps us to get the point of this psalm, especially the phrase, “Yahweh is God.”

The psalm begins with three commands, each telling us to rejoice:

Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth!
Serve [worship] Yahweh with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Why are we to rejoice?

Know that the Yahweh, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Note that the psalmist rejoices in part in the identity and security God gives him. But more than that, He rejoices that God created us for a purpose; He created us for Himself. He created us for His praise. He is the only God, and He is truly God. So He alone is worthy of such praise.

Verse 4 then reiterates the command to delight in Him:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

Verse 5 then explains the primary source of this delight: God has revealed His character to us, and He is the proper object of our delight.

For Yahweh is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

He is good – he does not do evil, nor is He influenced by evil. He is loving – and that love will never end.

He is faithful, fulfilling every promise – and that will continue through all human history.

So you must delight in God. He made you – for Himself! He gives you identity, He gives you security, and these should lead to joy. But most of all: Delight in God for who He is: Good, loving, faithful.

 

2) God Gives Us the Only Possible Joy in the Next Life

It’s illogical to expect money to provide us with lasting joy, because you are eternal and money is not. You need a source of joy after the end of this life, and money won’t provide that.

Jesus speaks of this eternal joy as treasure in heaven:

Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:32)

IF you hold on to your possessions in this life, you will lose all. There are thieves. There are moths. The most effective thief of all is death. Your possessions will not provide one bit of joy after death.

But treasures in heaven will never be taken away. For no thieves, no moths, can take from you the joy of being in God’s presence. And that’s the greatest of all the treasures in heaven: Not the streets paved with gold, not the gates made from a single pearl, but seeing Jesus face to face, being in the presence of God the Father always.

Both the Old and New Testaments highlight the joy that is ours eternally as we see God face to face:

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD/Yahweh; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:6-9)

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:10)

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” . . .  6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:3-4, 6-8)

In Revelation, note the similarity with the images from Isaiah 35: God wipes away our tears; He removes death. But the Revelation passage goes further. Here there are only two categories of people: Some are children of God, loved, comforted, having joy for all eternity. The others – those lacking faith – have their portion in the lake of fire. All are in one group or the other.

So we are to rejoice in Him:

  • For the identity and security He gives us
  • For His character that He reveals to us
  • For the eternity of joy He offers to all through Jesus Christ – the only alternative to eternal suffering.

 

3) And He Gives Us Great Joy Now

But there is an additional reason to rejoice in God. He gives us great joy in the present. Consider four points:

a) Eternal joy gives us joy today

Imagine you receive letter saying a rich, unknown relative died and left you $5 million. You check it out and find that the letter is not from some scammer in Nigeria, but is indeed genuine. You have to pick up the check at the Bank of America building uptown. As you are walking down Tryon Street, you you’re your friend: “Hey, on my way to pick up check for $5 mil.” But someone bumps into you right when you hit send. You drop the phone. The screen shatters.

How do you react?

Do you say, “Oh, no, my Iphone is destroyed! And I’ve got 18 more months on my contract!”

No! You’re about to pick up a check for $5 million! You can buy hundreds of Iphones! Forget the broken screen; rejoice!

Just so, the eternal joy promised us puts sorrows and failures in this life into perspective. We rejoice today because of the promises yet to be fulfilled.

b) Money and possessions do not give us true joy

We already read Psalm 16:11; fullness of joy is in God’s presence, not elsewhere.

Psalm 4:7 directly compares the joy from God with the joy from material goods:

You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.

Note that the psalmist is not saying “I will have more joy eternally than they have now.” Rather, he says, “You have put more joy in my heart.” He is speaking of the present. He sees God’s enemies having plenty of food, plenty of drink. They look to be having a great party. But the psalmist says: “I have more joy because of You than the joy that comes from the greatest party. I have more joy because of You than that produced by Mercedes and mansions.

Furthermore:

c) Riches don’t satisfy even now

Even many of those who have an abundance of riches and know nothing about the joys of fellowship with God are not happy on their own terms. Ecclesiastes 5:10 states this well:

Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. (NIV)

When I was in graduate school, we were part of a church in Silicon Valley. There were rich people all around us. And many, many were profoundly unhappy. Our pastor, Ray Stedman, labeled this unhappiness “Destination Sickness:” The illness that occurs when you get everything you thought you wanted, everything you worked for, everything you thought would make you happy, and find that you are still dissatisfied.

You don’t have to go to California to witness this disease. Pick up a newspaper almost any day and read of successful, rich people whose lives are a mess, who are fundamentally unhappy.

Riches are often like a drug: They give us a high, but to maintain the high, we have to obtain more and more and more and more. If we love money: We will always want more, no matter how much we have. And we will always worry that we may lose what we have. So we remain dissatisfied.

So money cannot give us joy.

God gives us joy in the future and also in the present. Let’s turn to one way He gives us joy now:

c) We have joy as we fulfill the purpose of our creation

What is that purpose?

Isaiah 43:6-7 refer to God’s scattered sons and daughters, “Whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Thus, our purpose is to glorify Him.

Now, it’s not immediately clear that there is a link between glorifying Him and having joy. Indeed, we all know people who will sing, “O praise Him, O praise Him, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!” with no joy whatsoever.

But God’s command to glorify Him is not burdensome. Fulfilling the command does not diminish our joy – father it is a way to joy.

Consider Psalm 67:3-4. First, a translation note. The Hebrew verbs here are in a form similar to imperatives. Most English translations use the word “let” to communicate the imperative. But “let” is ambiguous, making the verse sound as if we are asking God to give the peoples permission to praise Him. I’ll read these verses using “must” instead, which communicates the imperative force of the verbs unambiguously:

The peoples must praise you, O God;
all the peoples must praise you!
The nations must be glad and sing for joy.

As Isaiah 43 shows us, all humanity is created for God’s glory. So all the peoples must praise Him. But the psalmist then draws a parallel between praising Him and being glad, between praising Him and singing for joy.

Consider it this way: Our Creator made us to this end. He made us to take joy in Him. With that in our makeup, whenever we look elsewhere, we will eventually be disappointed. We will eventually be dissatisfied. If we do finally submit to Him, however, we find great joy, as we discover, “This is what I was made to do!”

Imagine if Usain Bolt had tried to be a weightlifter. Imagine that he goes to the gym day after day, and keeps lifting weights, but finds that others far surpass him. But then one day on a lark he goes to the track, and runs. This man was made to run! Consider his joy in discovering, “This is what I was created to do!”

That’s the joy that is ours when we turn from what never satisfies, and fulfill the purpose of our creation: Living to the praise of God’s glorious grace.

d) There is more joy in Him even when we suffer

At this point, some of you might say, “Ok, Coty, I agree that money doesn’t satisfy. I agree that God promises us joy eternally. But you’ve also said that God doesn’t guarantee freedom from suffering. And life is hard! I’ve been sick; I’ve been disappointed. People have let me down. My loved ones are suffering; others have turned their backs of Jesus; others have died young after terrible pain. And you’re telling me: This is joy?”

That’s a logical question. A good question. A question that Scripture addresses directly:

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.  11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:9-11)

What does this have to do with suffering?

Remember that Jesus makes this statement the night before his crucifixion. In the next 24 hours, Judas will betray Him, He will be beaten, whipped, and mocked; soldiers will drive nails through His flesh; they will hang Him up naked on a cross; He will die a horrible, painful death.

This is the man who says: The Father has loved me. I remain in His love. And I have great joy in Him.

We have to understand that if we are to understand His command to us. He tells us, “You are to remain in my love. Keep my commandments. Stick close to me, and you will  have my joy, fullness of joy, joy overflowing – regardless of your circumstances, just as I have joy, regardless of my suffering.

Paul makes a similar statement in Romans 5:2-5:

Through [the Lord Jesus Christ] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Even in our suffering, we know that God is at work. He uses suffering to conform us to the character of Jesus. And He gives us the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Encourager, to remind us of God’s love, and to demonstrate God’s love to us.

Finally, consider the story of the Habakkuk. The prophet writes this book about 20 years after a great revival under King Josiah. But he has seen the revival peter out, and the land filled with corruption, evil, and violence. He has prayed and prayed for God to intervene, but nothing has happened. And so he cries out again, asking for justice.

God answers: “I’m going to do something you wouldn’t believe even if I told you.” At this point, Habakkuk may well have thought, “Wow! A revival even greater than I can imagine is coming!” But then God says, “You know those Babylonians – those vicious warriors? I’m going to bring them here and they will destroy your nation.”

Habakkuk is floored. He rightly asks, “How is this consistent with your revealed character, O God? Your eyes are too pure even to look at evil. So how can you use evil men doing evil deeds to accomplish your purposes? And when they conquer us, they won’t praise you – they’ll just be like fishermen praising their nets! I’m your prophet, and I have to explain this to your people – so I’m going to wait here until you help me understand.”

God does answer, saying, “My righteous one will live by faith.” He then pronounces five woes on the Babylonians – and, implicitly, on anyone who does not live by faith in Him. They will be destroyed. But in the middle of the five woes, God says:

The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:14)

God has a purpose. He has an eternal plan of redemption. He is working it out. And there is real pain and suffering that takes part as that plan is fulfilled. But all history is moving towards this goal. God will be glorified in all His creation. Humanity will fulfill its purpose.

Habakkuk responds to this revelation with a psalm, contained in chapter 3. He concludes with these words:

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

Note that Habakkuk is imagining a time when the permanent crops fail (fruit trees, grape vines, olive trees), the annual crops fail (“fields yield no food”), and the livestock all die. In an economy that was primarily agricultural, this means zero economic activity, zero income. Even in such an extreme circumstance, the prophet says: I will rejoice in the Lord! He gives me strength to go even where I don’t want to go. I will take joy in Him.

My friends, you and I were created to glorify God through delighting in Him. Yet we have all turned elsewhere to find joy.

  • We have turned from what is eternally satisfying to what will never satisfy
  • We have turned from fullness of joy to light, momentary joys
  • We have turned from the sweet fountain of life to sips of diet soda

Our God cries out to us

  • “Come to me!
  • “I will give you rest!
  • “I will give you fulfillment
  • “I will give you accomplishment!
  • “I will give you an eternal inheritance!
  • “I will give you Myself!
  • “Only in My presence is fullness of joy. Only in My presence are pleasures forevermore.

So turn to Him and be saved!

  • You won’t be protected from suffering in this life
  • You won’t be guaranteed a $5 million dollar check

But you will have what is more valuable – what no money can buy: God Himself. His arms around you. His empowerment to play your role in His plan.

This is the path to genuine joy.

So: Where is your joy?

 

Where is Your Security?

Nik Ripken was deeply involved with relief work in Somalia in the 1990s. Sent out as a missionary without ever having met a Muslim, through a variety of circumstances Nik ended up leading a large NGO providing food and other supplies to thousands of suffering Somalis. Most of his work was simply relief. But on occasion he was able to speak of Jesus.

He and other Christian aid workers came to know of four believers in Jesus among their many Somali employees. And they decided to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. As far as they knew, it had been many years since any Somalis had celebrated the Lord’s Supper in their capital city. There was danger for all, particularly for the four Somalis – so each person traveled separately to the location, by different, roundabout routes.

Nik writes:

I felt honored to worship at the Lord’s Table with these four brothers who were willing to risk their own blood, their own bodies, and their very lives to follow Jesus among an unbelieving people group in this unbelieving country. Never before had I felt the true cost and significance of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. This was a high and holy moment. (The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, B & H Publishers, 2013).

Just weeks later, terrorists killed all four of those believers, in separate, coordinated attacks. They then sent a message that all Somalis who worked for international relief organizations would be murdered unless their agencies left the country.

God promises those who believe in Jesus: “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Scripture promises us: Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. The author of Hebrews assures us that “we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Well, man can kill us. So in what sense can we say that God is our security? If God doesn’t guarantee us life – let alone health, wealth, and prosperity – what good are His promises?

Where do you find security?

Many find security in money, either in our own individual assets and insurance policies, or in the security that comes from living in a rich country with a stable government, a strong military, usually an honest police force, and usually an honest judiciary.

But Scripture tells us: To find our security in our personal wealth or in our wealthy society is foolish. Our security must be in God, and in Him alone.

But Nik Ripken’s story, and many others like it, lead us to ask: Can we really trust Him more than we can trust our bank accounts, or the US military?

Let’s see how the Scriptures explain this.

1. It is Foolish to Trust in Money for Your Security

As an example of why it is foolish to trust money for your security, consider Job. In chapter 1, he is very wealthy man, “the greatest of all the people of the east” (Job 1:3). But in one day:

  • His servants are all killed except a handful who report what happened.
  • All his animals – the primary store of wealth in that society – were killed or stolen.
  • And then the biggest blow: His 10 children are celebrating together when a huge wind hits their building. It collapses, and all 10 die.

One day. In one day, Job moves from being rich and prosperous to having nothing. His wealth, great as it was, could not be his security.

Do not think such examples are limited to long ago. We could tell many stories of individuals today who lost everything. But instead, consider what can happen to an entire society. In Congo (formerly Zaire), the real per capita income has decreased 70 percent between 1974 and 2008 (the latest year for which statistics are available). Seventy percent! Imagine what would happen to you and your family if you lost 70% of your income. And that’s the average; many lost much, much more.

More recently, even in Europe, Greece experienced a twenty percent decline in real per capita income between 2009 and 2013. Again, that’s the average, with many suffering much, much more.

We could go on with examples of why we cannot depend on riches or material goods or economic policies or national security or insurance or protection against natural disaster or law enforcement or a constitution or youth or ingenuity or education. All may fail.

Do not trust in riches, not even in rich countries.

But let’s turn our attention from examples to the Bible’s explanation for why it’s foolish to trust in money:

Scripture gives four main reasons. Here are the first three:

i) Money may not provide any security in this life

ii) Money definitely will provide no security at death

iii) There is an alternative: Trust God for your security

Consider these text:

Proverbs 23:4-5   4 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.  5 When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.   

The emphasis here is on the transitory nature of wealth in this life. But also, consider: When will “your eyes light on it,” searching for something secure to grasp hold of? Particularly when you know you are about to die. But your riches will do you no good then. They will fly away.

1 Timothy 6:17  As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

Proverbs 11:4   Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

Proverbs 11:28   Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

Proverbs 18:10-11   The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.  11 A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall — in his imagination.

Do you see? God is the true security, the true safety. Rich men think they are safe and secure – but that’s only in their imagination.

Psalm 62:7-10    On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.  8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. 9 Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.  10 Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

Matthew 6:28b-33   Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,  29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Hebrews 13:5-6 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Philippians 4:18-20 (Paul writes here concerning a contribution the Philippians made to his ministry)  18 I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.  19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

This is a huge promise: Every need! And the promise is not just to give you enough so you can barely scrape by. He promises to supply your every need according to, or, in accordance with His riches in glory. How many riches does God have?

The strength of these promises establishes the fourth reason it is foolish to trust in our riches:

iv) Not to Trust God is to Demean Him

Several scriptures bring this out explicitly:

Job 31:24-28  (Part of Job’s defense) If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, . . . 28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.

Luke 12:15-21 [Jesus] said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

So all these Scriptures tell us to trust God. Riches will fail us, possibly in this life, certainly at death. God promises security and deserves our trust.

But what are the results of trusting Him?

2. What Security Does God Promise to Those Who Trust Him?

Psalm 34:4-10 provides us with a good example of the extent of God’s promise:

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.  5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.  6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.  7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.  8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!  9 Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!  10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

But what does this promise really mean in a world where Nik Ripken’s story occurs time and again?

a) What God Does Not Promise

Specifically, to lack no good thing does NOT mean:

  • We will face no tribulation. Rather Jesus promises us tribulation, John 16:33: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”       
  • Lacking no good thing does not mean we will avoid persecution. Quite the opposite: 2 Tim 3:12 Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
  • It does not mean we will have place to call home
  • It does not mean we will have decent clothing
  • It does not mean we will avoid torture.
  • It does not mean we will avoid prison.
  • It does not mean we will own anything in this world
  • It does not mean we will be saved from death

In this regard, consider the men and women of God mentioned in Heb 11:35-38. Note: all these are commended for their faith:

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.  36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated–  38 of whom the world was not worthy–wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

However we interpret the promises of God with respect to security, we have to conclude that God’s promises were fulfilled for these men and women of faith.

And of course, the promises were fulfilled for Jesus Himself. Shortly before His arrest, Jesus says:

John 12:24-28  Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.  27 ¶ “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.  28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

God the Father did not promise even to Immanuel, God with us,              safety from persecution. Instead, He glorified His Name thru Immanuel’s death and resurrection.

The promises were also fulfilled for the Apostle Paul. When Paul writes 2 Timothy, he is under arrest, abandoned by his friends, and knows that in short order he will be executed by decapitation. Yet he writes: 2 Timothy 4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

If the Lord will rescue Paul from every evil attack, and if Paul knows he will be executed, we must conclude that Paul’s final execution is not an evil attack. For God to rescue him from that would not be good.

What, then, does God’s promise of security mean?

b) What God Does Promise

Consider Romans 8:16-18   The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  17 and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.  18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

God’s promise means that He will use every instance of suffering in this life for His glory and our good. Even after living a difficult life, even after being tortured or killed, we will agree: The glory we experience far outweighs our suffering.

Later in the same chapter Paul writes:

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 

This is our greatest good: Being changed into the image of Jesus Himself. And that outcome is worth any cost.

Paul concludes the chapter:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is the security God promises. He doesn’t put a force field around you that deflects bullets and insults. Nor does He promise you caviar and Ferraris.  Rather He promises to take whatever suffering you experience and use it for your good and for His glory. He promises to give you the greatest good:

  • Love: His love
  • Intimacy: membership in His family
  • Righteousness: being conformed to the image of His Son
  • Fulfillment: a role in the greatest accomplishment of all time
  • Joy –  as we’ll see next week: Being in His presence

You will lack no good thing That is: You will lack nothing you need to become like Christ. You will lack nothing you need to enjoy the Father forever. You will lack nothing you need to fulfill your role in accomplishing His task.

So what does God guarantee if you trust in Jesus, if you love Him and follow Him?

  • Health? No, God does not guarantee you or your family good health.
  • Wealth? No, God does not guarantee you or your children material abundance.
  • Success? No, God does not guarantee success, as we tend to define it in the US.
  • Long life? No, God does not guarantee you long life in this world. Remember, Jesus died at 33.

Those four Somali brothers certainly had no wealth, no worldly success, and they died young. But Scripture assures us: God was at work in that tragedy, even through the evil acts of evil men. God is continuing to work out His glorious purposes for the Somali people – in part, through our prayers for those people motivated by this tragedy. God brought those four men to a relationship with Him they did not deserve, showering them with grace and mercy. And He brought them to Himself. They now know with certainty that “to live is Christ, to die is gain.” For today they see Him face to face. And if we endure to the end we will meet them, and many millions more who died for the sake of the Name.

No, God doesn’t promise you safety. He doesn’t promise you health, wealth, and prosperity. Furthermore, there’s nothing you can do in this life that will assure you of safety, health, wealth, and prosperity.

But God promises you something much better:                 The security of always being enfolded by His love. The security of knowing He is working all things together for your good and His glory. The security of knowing that you will be like Christ.

God promises you: “I will never leave nor forsake you Nothing will ever separate you from my everlasting love.”

That is security indeed.

(This is a condensed version of the sermon preached January 26, 2014.)

Those That Seek the Lord Lack No Good Thing

[This coming Sunday we will consider, “Where is Your Security?” Among other texts, during the service we will read Psalm 34, including verse 10: “The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.” The following is excerpted from Charles Spurgeon’s 1870 sermon on this text. If we are ever to have a biblical attitude towards money and security, we must understand the key points Spurgeon brings out here – Coty]

“They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” That is, not one of them. . . .  Everyone that seeks the Lord has this promise—the least, as well as the greatest. . . . They that seek the Lord, whether they are chimney-sweeps or princes, whether they are tender children, or seasoned veterans in the Master’s great army—they shall want no good thing.

“Well, but” somebody says, “there are some of them that are in want.” They are in want? Yes, that may be, but they are not in want of any good thing. They cannot be. . . . “Well, at any rate, they want what appears to be a good thing.” That is very likely; the text does not say they shall not be. “Well, but they want what they once found to be a good thing; they want health—is not that a good thing? It was a good thing to them when they had it before, yet they want health; does not that go against the text?” No, it does not in any way whatever. The text means this, that anything which is absolutely good for him, all circumstances being considered, no child of God shall ever want. . . . That good old Puritan, Mr. Clarkson, . . . [once said], “If it were a good thing for God’s people for sin, Satan, sorrow, and affliction to be abolished, Christ would blot them out within five minutes, and if it were a good thing for the seeker of the Lord to have all the kingdoms of this world put at his feet and for him to be made a prince, Jesus would make him a prince before the sun rose again.” If it were absolutely to him, all things being considered, a good thing, he must have it, for Christ would be sure to keep his word. He has said he shall not want it, and he would not let his child want it, whatever it might be, if it were really, absolutely, and in itself, all things considered, a good thing.

Now, taking God’s Word and walking by faith towards it, what a light it sheds on your history and mine! There are many things for which I wish, and which I sincerely think to be good, but I say at once, “If I have not got them, they are not good, for if they were good, good for me, and I am truly seeking God, I should have them. . . .” I think sometimes it would be a good thing for me if I had more talents, but if it were a good thing I should have more, I should have them. You think it were a good thing, if you were to have more money. Well, if he saw it to be good, you would have it. “Oh!” say you, “but it would have been a good thing if my poor mother had been spared to me: if she had been alive now, it would have been a good thing, and it would be a good thing certainly for us to be in the position I was five years ago before these terrible panic times came.” Well, if it had been a good thing for you to have been there, you would have been there. “I don’t see it.” says one. Well, do not expect to see it, but believe it. We walk by faith, not by sight. But the text says so. . . .

“Well, I doubt it,” says one. Very well; I do not wonder that you do, for your father Adam doubted it, and that is how the whole race fell. Adam and Eve were In the garden, and they might have felt quite sure that their heavenly Father would not deny them any good thing, but the devil came and whispered, and said to them, “God doth know that in the day you eat of the fruit of that tree you will be as gods; that fruit is very good for you, a wonderfully good thing; never anything like it, and that one good thing God has kept away from you.” “Oh!” said Eve, “then I will get it,” and down we all fell. The race was ruined through their doubting the promise. If they had continued to seek the Lord, they would not have wanted any good thing. That fruit was not a good thing to them; it might have been good in itself, but it was not good to them, or else God would have given it to them, and their doubting it brought all this terrible sorrow on us. . . .

How do you know what is a good thing for you? “Oh! I know,” says one. That is just what your child said last Christmas. He was sure it was a good thing for him to have all those sweets: he thought you very hard that you denied them to him, and yet you knew better. You had seen him before so made ill through those very things he now longed for. And your heavenly Father knows, perhaps, that you could not bear to be strong in body; you would never be holy if you had too robust health. He knows you could not endure to be wealthy: you would be proud, vain, perhaps wicked: you do not know how bad you might be if you had this, perhaps. He has put you in the best place for you. He has given you not only some of the things that are good for you, but all that is good for you, and there is nothing in the world that is really, solidly, abidingly good for you, but you either have it now, or you shall have it ere long. God your Father is dealing with you in perfect wisdom and perfect love, and though your reason may begin to cavil and question, yet, your faith should sit still at his feet, and say “I believe it; I believe it, even though my heart is wrung with sorrow; I am a seeker of God; I do seek his glory, and I shall not want any good thing.”

Methinks someone in the congregation might say to me, “Look at the martyrs; did not they seek the Lord above all men?” Truly so, but what were you about to object? “Why, that they wanted many good things; they were in prison, sometimes in cold, and nakedness, and hunger; they were on the rack tormented, many of them went to heaven from the fiery stake.” Yes, but they never wanted any good thing. It would not have been a good thing to them as God’s martyrs to have suffered less, for now read their history. The more they suffered, the brighter they shine. Rob them of their sufferings, and you strip their crowns of their gems. Who are the brightest before the eternal throne? Those who suffered most below. lf they could speak to you now, they would tell you that that noisome dungeon was, because it enabled them to glorify God, a good thing to them. They would tell you that the rack whereon they did sing sweet hymns of praise was a good thing for them, because it enabled them to show forth the patience of the saints, and to have their names written in the book of the peerage of the skies. They would tell you that the fiery stake was a good thing, because from that pulpit they preached Christ after such a fashion as men could never have heard it from cold lips and stammering tongues. Did not the world perceive that the suffering of the saints were good things, for they were the seed of the Church? They helped to spread the truth, and because God would not deny them any good thing he gave them their dungeons, he gave them their racks, he gave them their stakes, and these were the best things they could have had, and with enlarged reason, and with their mental faculties purged, those blessed spirits would now choose again, could they live over again, to have suffered those things. They would choose, were it possible, to have lived the very life, and to have endured all they braved, to have received so glorious a reward as they now enjoy.

“Ah! well, then,” says one, “I see I really have not understood a great deal that has happened to me: I have been in obscurity, lost my friends, been despised, felt quite broken down; do you mean to tell me that that has been a good thing?” I do. God has blessed it to you. He will enable you to say, “Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy law.” And if you get more grace, you will say it is a good thing, for is it not a good thing for you to be conformed to the likeness of Christ? How can you be if you have no suffering? If you never suffer with him, how can you expect to reign with him? How are you to be made like him in his humiliation, if you never are humbled? Why, methinks every pain that shoots through the frame and thrills the sensitive soul helps us to understand what Christ suffered, and being sanctified, gives us the power to pass through the rent veil, and to be baptized with his baptism, and in our measure to drink of his cup, and, therefore, it becomes a good thing, and our Father gives it us, because his promise is that he will not deny or withhold any good thing from those that walk uprightly. . . .

There is the text. It seems to me to speak as plainly as the English tongue can speak. Give yourselves up to God wholly and live for him, and you shall never want anything that is really good for you; your life shall be the best life for you, all things considered in the light of eternity, that a life could have been. Only mind you keep to this—the seeking of the Lord. . . . Keep to that and seek the Lord, and your life shall be, even if it be a poverty-stricken one, such a life that if you could have the infinite intelligence of your heavenly Father, you would ordain it to be precisely as it now is. “They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.”

Why, how rich this makes the poor! How content this makes the suffering! How grateful this makes the afflicted! How does it make our present state to glow with an unearthly glory! But, brethren, we shall never understand this text fully this side of heaven. There we shall see it in splendour. They that seek the Lord here shall have up yonder all that imagination can picture, all that fancy could conceive, all that desire could create. You shall have more than eye hath seen, or ear hath ever heard. You shall have capacities to receive of the divine fulness, and the fulness of the pleasures that are with God for evermore shall be yours.

But again I come back to that, are you seeking the Lord? That is a question I have asked my own heart many and many a time—Do I seek the Lord’s glory in all things? . . .  I do not stand here to promise you ease and comfort, for in the world you shall have tribulation, but I do say in God’s name that he will not withhold one good thing from you, and that when you come to be with him forever and ever you will bless him that he did for you the best that could be done even by infinite wisdom and infinite love. You shall have the best life that could be lived, the best mercies that could be given, and the best of all good things shall be yours here and hereafter.