CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER FIVE
OUR LORD'S TEACHING ABOUT MONEY
There are few subjects on which our Lord has given clearer and fuller teaching than that of money.
In this chapter we shall consider the more important of the passages in which He has dealt with this subject.
Luke 12 : 16-21 The Lord saw the great danger that money could be to a man's salvation. There were many men in Palestine
| in His day—as there are men everywhere to-day—who considered that a man's life consisted in the abundance of the things which he possessed. When their fields yield plentifully they say to themselves:
"Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years". A plentiful harvest-yield is not reckoned an opportunity for plenteous service, and thus they fail to be "rich toward
God". Stupid indeed they are who miss God-given opportunities for laying up treasures in heaven.
Luke 16 : 1-13 By the right use of money, men can make to themselves friends in heaven, who, when the earthly riches can no more be of any use, will receive them into eternal habitations. To be faithful in handling money entitles a man to receive the reward of fellowship with God, and permanent enrichment of life in righteousness, holiness, peace and joy. To be faithless in money matters, whether one's own or other people's, means to become povertystricken in true riches, and to lose the opportunity of winning treasures that can for ever be one's own.
How common it is to find Christian men who have not learned to use their money for their own spiritual benefit! How sad, too, it is to find Christians not perfectly trustworthy in handling other people's money!
Misuse of money wrecks reputation, character and soul.
Luke 16 : 19-31 Our Lord came across many men whose love of luxury resulted in their spending all their riches on themselves, and made them callous to the needs of others. Channels of pity and service were thus choked up, and, what is worse, all their knowledge of the Law and the Prophets was rendered useless, their hearts becoming closed to the claims of God. Our Lord depicted such men in His parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In this life, He says, they receive their good things; in the life after death, how great their loss!
Mark ro : 17-22 The Lord Jesus came across sad cases of earnest and good men, upon whom riches had such a death-grip that to release them from their money was the only way to save them. Such a one was this young man, who " ran " to the Lord to ask what he should do to inherit eternal life. The young man knew what the commandments were, and he could unhesitatingly say : '"'All these I have observed from my youth'"', There was no doubt about his genuineness, his honesty and his religious zeal. But one thing was lacking. His possessions had a firm grip on his heart and soul; and the only remedy, as Christ saw it, was to sell all that he had and give to the poor that he might have treasure in heaven. The young man's countenance fell at this demand, and he went away sorrowful.
Giving all away would alone have delivered his soul from death. Does the Lord give the same reply to many
Christians in our day?
This sad incident brought forth from our Lord further
teaching regarding riches and their danger: " How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! ..
. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Why? Because of the nature of money! Where generous giving—giving according to one's ability, giving as the Lord has prospered a man— is not strictly practised, money is capable of killing all a man's superior faculties, leading him to spiritual bankruptcy.
Luke 12 : 32-34 This is spoken to our Lord's followers—the disciples, the "little flock" which had accepted His pastoral leadership. They are told that, in order to inherit the Kingdom which the Father's good pleasure would give them, they should take care of their relationship to money. " Fear not, little flock," He says, "' for it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail .
. for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
The Master's thought is once again clear. The real remedy against the money-disease creeping over your heart and soul is to give it away for purposes of the Kingdom.
Matthew 13 : 22
The Lord Jesus had preached throughout Galilee for a year or so, and the response was meagre. In the parable of the Sower, He analysed the causes of this poor result.
The cause was not in the Sower, nor in the seed, but in the nature of the soil—the hearts where the seed was sown.
) Among the strong forces that counteract the power of the Word in a soul is the glamour of wealth. These are the thorns that choke the Word and make it fruitless.
The cares of the world in the poor, and the deceitfulness of riches in the wealthy—both have the same effect. Our
Lord said to the poor: " Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat, or what. you shall drink
. your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness"? (Matthew 6:
25, 32, 33). To the rich, on the other hand, He said:
'No one can serve two masters .
. you cannot serve God and mammon.
. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth .
. . but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven .
. where your treasure is, there will your heart be also " (Matthew 6 : 24, 19-21).
God or gold—which do you serve?
God or gold—which of these has possession of your heart?
This teaching was not pleasing to "' the Pharisees, who were lovers of money " (Luke 16 : 14). When they heard it they scoffed at Him. Let us beware lest our disregard of God's Word is due to " love of money "!
John 12 : 4-6 :
Here is the inner story of Judas Iscariot's fall. He was habitually taking away for his personal use what was put into the common money-bag (v. 6). If he had fallen into the habit of being dishonest with the company's funds, he must have become a hardened sinner. For, had not all the Lord's teachings quoted above been given in his presence? Did not all those warnings about the danger of covetousness (Luke 12 : 15), about being faithless in that which is another's (Luke 16 : 12), about riches being the thorns that choke the Word (Luke 8 : 14) fall on Judas's ears? Yes; that was perhaps why he put in at this juncture a plea for the poor, almost in our
Lord's own words to the rich young man and to His "little flock": " Why was this not sold .
. and given to the poor?" But he had gone too far, and this love
of money, fostered by constant theft of the Lord's funds, was leading him to the great sin and to ruin.
What a warning! Are there not men to-day who take away for personal use the funds put into their hands— public funds, a Co-operative Society's money, church collections, repairs grants, alms given for the service of the poor? Have we learnt to be most scrupulous in regard to other people's money—never to touch the smallest part of it for personal use?
CHAPTER SIX
A FEW EXAMPLES OF GIVING
In both the Old Testament and the New there are some noteworthy examples of Giving. A study of these will form the subject-matter of this chapter.
Cain and Abel (Genesis 4 : 2-4) Giving to God a part of the fruit obtained by tilling the ground, and the firstlings of the flock, was, according to this story, recognized as man's duty from the very earliest days.
Abraham (Genesis 14 : 20; Hebrews 7 : 4) To Melchizedek the priest of God Most High, Abraham gave a tenth in return for the blessing Melchizedek gave him. This is the first mention in the Bible of the tithe. It suggests that the custom was observed among peoples of all religions long before the Mosaic law was given.
Jacob (Genesis 28 : 22) Jacob made a vow that, if he returned to his father's home in safety and peace, he would give to God a tenth of all that God had given him. Evidently the custom of giving the tithe was practised long before the time of Moses.
Israelites for the Work of the Sanctuary (Exodus .
36 : 2-7) This story is interesting in that the people gave to the service of the sanctuary more than was needed!
The people brought their freewill offerings every morning, and the workmen having finished the work are said to
have gone to Moses to complain that the people brought much more than was necessary for the work. In consequence, it proved necessary to give orders to restrain the people from bringing any more. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work, AND Too mucH. Would that this were true of our people also in their churchbuilding enterprises !
Israelites for the Construction of the Temple (x Chronicles 29 : 1-14) The same story is told several hundred years later of the people of King David's day, when they were asked to make their offerings for the construction of the great temple at Jerusalem. King David said to all the congregation: " Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself to-day to the Lord?" The princes and the people offered willingly all that was needed. The people rejoiced, and David rejoiced, because the people offered willingly with a perfect heart.
Freewill offerings always bring joy and satisfaction to the givers and to the receivers; compulsory offerings, never.
Zacchaeus (Luke 19 : 1-8) We now come to New Testament times. It appears that among the Jews the giving of alms, tithing and giving to the temple treasury were all practised in our
Lord's time. Tithing of the smallest grains was common — mint and dill and cummin" (Matthew 23 : 23)— though this was not always accompanied by taking heed to justice, mercy and truth. The Pharisee in the parable
(Luke 18 : 9-14) made a boast of giving tithes of all that he got.
Zacchaeus, a prominent public official in the Roman Customs Department, said in the presence of the Lord
Jesus: "Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold". This decision to put hir money matters
straight brought this man the assurance from the Lord:
"To-day salvation has come to this house". Does our conversion extend to our pockets and purses and to all that we get?
The Poor Widow (Mark 12 : 41-44) Rich and poor cast money into the temple treasury.
The rich cast in much. The Lord sat down over against the treasury, and watched the offerers and their offerings.
Does the Lord now, too, observe how much we cast into the collection box or alms-bag, or write in the subscription book?
Then "a poor widow came and put in two copper coins, which make a penny" (the smallest coin of the day). This delighted the Lord, and brought forth the comment that that poor widow had cast in more than all the others, "for they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living". The Lord considers not how much we give, but how much we keep back for ourselves.
The Lord commended this widow's gift. She did not ask what she would do for her next meal. She did not question where that money was going, nor on whom it was spent, nor whether the priests were worthy, nor whether audited accounts were submitted for the sum found in the treasury. She simply gave, gave until there was nothing left, and GAvE To cop! Hence our Lord's praise. What a lesson to us!
The Early Church (Acts 2 : 44, 45) — One result of the constraining power of the Holy
Spirit on the Christians of the early days in Jerusalem _ was that they " had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need" (see Acts 4 : 32-35 also). One man's name has come down as a striking illustration of such self-effacing giving—Barnabas. He, having a field, sold
it, '' and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet " (Acts 4:37). St. Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement, the friend and fellow-worker of St. Paul, is thus known as the patron saint of all who sell all that they have, and, accepting voluntary poverty, spend themselves in the service of God.
The Gentile Churches (Acts 11 : 27-30) There is a great famine over all the world. The Christians in Judza feel it more acutely than others.
Then the Christians in Antioch determined " every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brethren who lived in Judza: and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul"'.
This is the first recorded instance of famine relief funds, the Christians of one area offering help to the brethren of another area.
The same was repeated about twelve years later. On this occasion the Churches in Macedonia, Achaia and Galatia all joined in sending relief to the saints in Jerusalem.
(See 1 Corinthians 16 : 1, 2; and also 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.) We shall take up the study of these last two passages in the next chapter. Here let us note that St. Paul laid down certain rules for the guidance of his
Churches :
1. They were to set apart the offering Sunday by Sunday. "On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up."
2. The amount of the offering he would leave to each man's conscience. "As he may prosper "' is the only guide.
3. He did not wish that any collection should be taken when he himself was present on his apostolic visit, lest there should be confusion in the minds of his people between his pastoral ministry and the collection of funds.
4. In those days when there were no regular accountants and audits, he sought the best practicable method of keeping himself above suspicion in handling the bounty of the Churches. He therefore suggested that each
Church should appoint its own representative to carry and deliver the gifts to the Church in Jerusalem. A list of these brethren is given in Acts 20: 4-6.
These are some rules for the guidance of those who are in charge of the Churches of to-day. Regular weekly offerings—not spasmodic; according as each man has prospered—not according to a rule of uniform assessment; keeping spiritual ministry and the task of collecting money apart, so that financial considerations may not dominate the spiritual ministrations of the missionary or pastor; taking special care that no suspicion falls on the way the minister handles Church money or charity funds
_—these are up-to-date and healthy rules for the clergy and ministers of to-day. It is always the duty of a pastor to suggest to his people practical rules in regard to Giving, and not to burden them with impossible demands. That great Apostle, a master-builder, is our pattern even in handling the Church's financial problems.