Messages from the Lord . . .

Deuteronomy 26:1–27:26, 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1, Psalm 40:1–17

Sometimes I read these passages with a teacher’s mind, trying to sort them out and write the connections. Sometimes I read them with praise as I see the wonders of God and His Son Jesus Christ. Sometimes I read them and am struck with the way God gets into my head and heart and tells me what to do with a problem, or how to deal with the events of the day and the issues of life. Today, God was giving me good advice. First the verses, then His word to me . . .

“And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 26:5–10)

When I pray, I usually start with worship or confession, praise or keeping short accounts. This passage suggested that I begin with a rehearsal of my spiritual journey, remembering what I was before being delivered from slavery to sin, and how God brought me out of that and into a new life. After that, He says to yield to Him all that He has given me, setting my life before Him in worship. What a great idea, so that is how I began when praying today.

“Then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.” (Deuteronomy 26:13)

This one speaks for itself, except I spent a bit more time on the way He says to divide actual offerings. It could be money, but also time, intercession, and other sorts of ways to give a blessing to people in need. The list says the Levite, which I interpret as the men of God who give their lives to serve me; my pastors and others who minister the Word of God to me in various ways. Then the list says the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. Orphans and widows I understand, but needed to think more about sojourner. My current online professor gave a definition last week. This is more than a traveler. He says “resident alien” is a good translation except for our sci-fi connotations. It is someone from a foreign place who lives here and has been made welcome. There are many sojourners in our neighborhood. This list gives me good instructions!

“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.’ Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 6:16–7:1)

An idol is anything I put my trust in or care about when it should be Jesus. This happens. I hear you, God.

“I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.” (Psalm 40:8–10)

Praise is never intended to be a ‘closet’ prayer. God’s Word is clear that when He blesses me, I am tp speak of it aloud and to His people. Today, I did that several times with several people. As I post this tonight, may it go out to an even ‘greater congregation’ and encourage each one to also trust the Lord and rely on His steadfast love and faithfulness.

Receiving can be as Christ-like as giving

When my mother was alive, she was known as a giving person. She was generous, particularly in the area of hospitality. I remember many times how lunch started out for the family and ended up feeding a half dozen more people who dropped by just before noon. She made pies by the multitude and could cook a roast from frozen to delicious in no time. 
 

This attitude of giving has a downside. Givers have trouble receiving. When Mother lost her ability to remember many things and needed care, she had difficulty receiving that care from others. I often told her that she had cared for people for many years; now it was time to let them care for her. She finally accepted that, relaxed and enjoyed that care.

Last week a young woman in our church offered to come to our home and “help” me. My first thought was that I didn’t need any help, but quickly realized this was a spiritual fruit for her. It needed to be accepted, not so much for my sake but for hers. Then I thought about my mother and how she needed to learn to let others minister to her. This morning I realize why Christians need to let others do things for them. It is because Jesus did.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” (John 21:9–12)

Jesus was pleased to eat the fish the disciples brought while they ate the fish that He contributed. This was a mutual meal, a “potluck” if you will. It illustrates what today’s devotional says, that the Lord wants us to minister to Him as well as to receive from Him, even that our service finds its true end when it becomes food for Him. 

This also illustrates the double banquet He speaks of when He invites wayward believers to open the door of their lives and let Him enter.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)

Eating with Jesus is about fellowship together. This Christian life is not a one-way relationship where needy sinners such as I come to Jesus and He does all the giving. He clearly says that He wants to eat with us, participate with us in the enjoyment of being together in the fruitfulness of that rich relationship.

In other words, when I come to God for the resources that I need to serve Him, He loves to give. Yet when I do that service, whatever it may be, He also deeply enjoys the results of my labor. It makes Him smile, even shout for joy. Jesus the Giver is also Jesus the Receiver!

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Lord, for those of us who want to give without thoughts of personal gain, it is good to know there is a receiving that is not selfish. I’m positive that part of the joy of being served is that joy You feel simply because we are obedient and doing Your will. As parents delight in the child who follows their direction, You delight in us when we obey You. However, as parents delight in the child who brings them a small, even spontaneous gift, You also delight in that offering too — because of the love that prompted it. Sometimes I give because I know it pleases You and is like You. May I remember to receive for the same reason.

To Live is Christ — trusting the Father’s supply

The Christian practice of tithing or giving one-tenth of one’s earnings to the church is largely based on the Old Testament instructions to Israel. The only foundation for this in the New Testament is in this verse,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. (Matthew 23:23)

Jesus is upbraiding the religious leaders of the day for paying their tithe and neglecting their hearts. He tells them they should do first things first, but not neglect the tithe.

We could debate whether this applies to believers. The Pharisees were under the Law. Jesus had not yet died for the sins of the world and salvation by grace through faith was still a mystery. Some could say that the church is not under the same regulations as the Jews were.

However, Jesus put us all in the same category when He talked about the heart. He wants our hearts to be right toward God and toward others. When the heart is right, then generosity becomes a way of life.

Those whose faith is in the Living God know that He is the source of all things. If I have an income, it is because God has provided for me. If someone has a need and I give them part of my income, God is faithful and will continue to provide for me.

The New Testament has much to say about this attitude and about giving. One passage encourages me . . . 

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:6–7)

Giving with a cheerful heart expresses that I trust God to take care of my needs so much so that whatever I give away is not a big deal. I know that if I need it, God will give it back to me. If I don’t need it that also is reason to be glad because whatever I gave was a hindrance. Someone else needed it and far better that it goes to whom it belongs.

This ties together the thoughts from Matthew 23:23. Being able to give generously and without concern for our own needs is part of showing justice to others and being merciful. This also requires faith in the God who provides.

Sometimes I absent-mindedly put money in the offering plate as it passes. Instead, I ought to be thinking of and praying for those who will benefit from my giving. They are an important part of obeying God’s impulse to be generous.

I also ought to be thankful. Sometimes God asks me to show my heart with my wallet. He is pleased when I do it cheerfully. That pleasure is from knowing that He has provided — I not only have something to give, but the faith to do it without worrying about my own needs.

It’s all in my motive!

Flipping channels the other night I dropped in on a ‘televangelist’ making his plea for money. He made lots of promises about the prosperity of those who sent in their cash. Keeping in mind what I read yesterday, I wasn’t convinced that his fund-raising methods were biblical.

Churches do need money to operate. There is rent to pay, utility bills, and the normal cost of maintaining a building (the early church met in homes). Ministry has a price tag too, for everything from hymn books to feeding the homeless. Remember, money isn’t evil, but the love of money is, so God’s people need not apologize for making a budget and trying to follow it.

The churches that I’ve attended raise money by free-will offerings from their congregation. They (and I) believe in a 10% tithe, which is a scriptural principle, but also an over-and-above generosity, which is also biblical.

I’ve never gone to a church that did fund-raisers, like bingo games and bake sales. These often rely on people outside the church to supply their operating money. I’ve not found that method mentioned, condoned, or condemned in Scripture.

Many of the preachers on television have a different method that is against what the Bible teaches. They give an appeal based on human greed: a ‘give and God will make you rich’ notion that they claim comes from God.

There are verses that look like they say that. One of them is Luke 6:38: “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

In my opinion, this, and other verses like it, are not talking about taking care of yourself by giving to the church. The Bible speaks against giving to gain, and warns about the sin of greediness and making money the ‘treasure’ of your heart. Many do that, and I suspect there is a host of disgruntled people who soon quit giving because this only emptied their pocketbooks and didn’t ‘work’ for them the way they hoped.

Most of us are very tight-fisted. Giving is not one of my strong motivations. However, God speaks to that too. He knows that the reason some hang on to their wallets is fear of not having enough left over to take care of their own needs. My husband, as a new Christian, struggled with that. However, he began to understand God’s giving principle and soon overcame his fears.

God’s giving principle is this: no one can out-give Him. No matter how much I give away to help someone else or to support the work of my church, God is totally able to take care of all my needs. The more I give, the more He gives back. This, and verses like it, are not about giving to gain, they are about giving in spite of the logic that does the math, and the fear of being impoverished.

Giving is definitely a faith thing. It is not about exploiting the generosity of God (who knows the heart and has the option of not cooperating with those who try it), nor is it a method of getting rich. Those who know the Lord Jesus Christ and belong to His kingdom are already “heirs of all things” and as we learn how to live as children of the King, we realize that all His resources are available to us. We can be totally generous with the little bit that He entrusts to us because there is more where it came from. It all belongs to Him anyway!

I’ve never fallen for the line, “God wants you rich . . .” or any of its variations, mostly because I’ve been both poor and not poor, discovering that my bank account has little or no relationship to my sense of security. God takes care of me. Sometimes He uses money, often He does not.

With that understanding in place, I’m learning that if a need pops up and I’ve the resources to supply it, I can do so without worry. If the next need is mine, God has it covered.