Making Sense with Money - Giving is Living - dedicated to all individuals and churches who sacrificially love God and support missions!

Giving is Living

Our Lord's teachings as to money gifts, if obeyed, would forever banish all limitations on church work and all concern about supplies. These teachings are radical and revolutionary. So far are they from practical acceptance that, although perfectly explicit, they seem like a dead language that has passed out of use. Should these sublime and unique teachings be translated into living, the effect not only upon benevolent work, but upon our whole spiritual character, would be incalculable.

Stewardship.

The basis of Christ's teaching about money is the fundamental conception of stewardship (Luke 12:42; 16:1-8). Not only money, but every gift of God, is received in trust for his use. Man is not an owner, but a trustee, managing another's goods and estates, God being the one original and inalienable owner of all. The two things required of stewards are that they be "faithful and wise," that they study to employ God's gifts with fidelity and sagacity - fidelity so that God's entrustments be not perverted to self-indulgence; sagacity so that they be converted into as large gains as possible.

Investment.

"Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers" (Matthew 25:27). Money-changing and investing is as old business. The "exchangers," as Luke renders, are the bankers, who received money on deposit and paid interest for its use, like modern savings institutions.

In view of this, the argument of our Lord refutes the unfaithful servant on his own plea, which his course showed to be but a pretext. He dared not risk trading on his own account; why not, without such risk, get a moderate interest for his master by lending to professional traders? It was not fear but laziness that lay behind his unfaithfulness and unprofitableness.

Thus indirectly the valuable lesson is taught that timid souls may link their incapacity to the capacity and sagacity of others who will make their gifts and possessions of use to the Master and His Church.

Idolatry.

With all his attractive traits, the rich young ruler of Matthew 19:16-26 was a slave. Money was not his servant, but his master. And because God alone is to be supreme, our Lord had no alternative; he must demolish this man's idol. When he dealt a blow at his money, the idolatry became apparent, and the slave to greed went away sorrowful, clinging to his idol.

It was not this man's having great possessions that was wrong, but that his possessions had the man; they controlled him. His "trust" was in riches; how could it be in God?

How few rich men keep the mastery and hold money as their servant, in absolute subordination to their own manhood, and to the masterhood of the Lord!

Recompense.

"Give, and it shall be given unto you" (Luke 6:38). God is an economist. He entrusts larger gifts to those who use the smaller ones well. The future may reveal that God has been withholding from us because we have been withholding from him.

Whatever the blessedness of receiving, that of giving belongs to a higher plane. Whatever I get, and whatever good it brings to me, only I am benefited; but what I give brings good to others - to the many, not the one. But, by a singular decree of God, what I thus surrender for the sake of others comes back to me in larger blessing. It is like the moisture which the spring gives out in streams and evaporation, returning in showers to supply the very channels which filled the spring itself. "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

Real giving.

The Lord Jesus watched the offerings cast into the treasury. There were rich givers that gave large amounts. There was one poor woman, a widow, who threw in two mites, and he declared her offering to be more than any or all the rest, because, while they gave out of a superfluity, she gave out of a deficiency - they of their abundance, she of her poverty.

She who cast her two mites into the sacred treasury, by so doing became rich in good works and in the praise of God. Had she kept them, she would have been the same poor widow.

He tells us here how he estimates money gifts - not by what we give, but by what we keep - not by the amount of our contributions, but by their cost in self-denial.

Not all giving, so-called, has rich reward. In many cases the keeping hides the giving, in the sight of God. But when the one possession that is dearest, the last trusted resource, is surrendered to God, then comes the vision of the treasure laid up in heaven.

"Do good and lend, hoping for nothing again" (Luke 6:35). Much of our giving is not giving at all, but only lending or exchanging. He who gives to another of whom he expects to receive as much again, is trading. What he is after is not another's profit, but his own advantage.

True giving has another's good solely in view, and hence bestows upon those who cannot and will not repay. That is the giving prompted by love. This sort of giving shows God-likeness, and by it we grow into the perfection of benevolence.

Worship.

"The altar...sanctifieth the gift" (Matthew 23:19) - association gives dignity to offering. If the cause to which we contribute is exalted, it ennobles and exalts the offering to its own plane. No two objects can or ought to appeal to us with equal force unless they are equal in moral worth and dignity.

God's altar was to the Jew the central focus of all gifts. The gift laid upon it acquired a new dignity by so being deposited upon it. We are at liberty to set aside some objects which appeal for gifts because they are not sacred. We may give or not as we judge best, for they depend on man's enterprises and schemes, which we may not altogether approve. But some causes have divine sanction and that hallows them; giving then becomes as act of worship.

Eternal purchases.

"Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations" (Luke 16:9). This contains one of the greatest hints on money gifts that our Lord dropped.

Mammon here stands as the equivalent for money, practically worshiped. It reminds us of the golden calf that was made out of the earrings and jewels of the crowd. Now our Lord refers to a second transmutation. The "golden calf" may in turn be melted down into Bibles, churches, books, tracts, and even souls of men. Thus what was material and temporal becomes immaterial and spiritual -and eternal

Here is a man who has a fifty five hundred dollars. He may spend it all on a party, and the next day there is nothing to show for it. On the other hand, he invests in Bibles at $5.50 each, and it buys a thousand copies of the Word of God. These he judiciously sows as seed of the Kingdom, and from that seed springs up a harvest, not of Bibles, but of souls. Out of the unrighteous mammon he has made immortal friends, who, when he fails, receive him into everlasting habitations. This is true riches - the treasure laid up in heaven in imperishable goods!

What revelations await us in that day of transmutation! Then, whatever has been given up to God as an offering of the heart, "in righteousness," will be seen as transfigured. Not only the magi's gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and the alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious, and the houses and lands of such as Barnabas, but fishermen's boats and nets, the abandoned "seat of custom," the widow's mites, and the cup of cold water - yes, when we had nothing else to give, the word of counsel, the tear of pity, the prayer of intercession - all will be transfigured.

Never will the work of missions, or any form of service to God and man, receive the help it ought until there is a new conscience and a new consecration in the matter of money. The worldly spirit blinds us to the fact of obligation, and devices flimsy pretext for diverting the Lord's money to carnal ends. The few who learn to give on scriptural principles learn also to love to give.

God's unspeakable gift to us should make all giving to him a spontaneous offering of love. Like Mary's, it should bring its precious box of spikenard and lavish its treasures on his feet, and fill the house with the odor of self-sacrifice!

Excerpt from A.T. Pierson

Divorce, the END of Marriage... what's the cause, can it be prevented?

     Both the husband and the  wife in marriage have needs.
Their needs are different, but the needs of both are very real. Unless these distinctive, individual needs are being satisfied within the marriage relationship, the security and stability of the home will be endangered.

     Recognizing our own needs will...

... safeguard us from drifting into a relationship where our needs are met outside of marriage - with all the tragedies that result.

     A marriage breakup often occurs when someone outside the marriage begins to meet the basic emotional needs of one of the marriage partners. When this happens, the two people are drawn almost irresistibly to one another. Soon
another marriage becomes a divorce statistic. Many fine people get caught in this trap without realizing why. They do not understand that the strong attraction they feel for someone other than their partner is just the result of the other person's meeting an emotional need which should be fulfilled by the marriage partner. When two people are meeting one another's basic emotional needs there is a strong and growing desire for a complete physical relationship.  Recognizing our basic emotional need and seeing that it can be fulfilled without guilt only within the marriage relationship is vital protection against tragedy.
     What are these basic emotional needs of the husband and wife?
     God knows exactly what need to be complete because He made us. In Ephesians 5:33, God tells husbands and wives how to meet the needs of their partners. He says:

     " Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband."

     A wife needs love. A husband needs to be respected and reverenced. A wife needs to hear that she is loved. A husband needs to know that his wife really thinks he is the greatest. A wife needs to receive regular evidence and reassurances of her husband's love. She needs and gets thrilled by little gifts, remembrances of important dates and events, and tokens of love. Of course, these assurances of love are empty and unsatisfying unless the husband also provides security, protection, needed maintenance on the home, etc. A husband deeply needs to be assured of his wife's respect, particularly when he fails in some way. A husband needs to know that his wife is dependent on him-just as Christ's bride, the church, is dependent on Him.
     When the husband and wife do not recognize and work to meet the needs of their partners, grave dangers result. For example, a man who on the job is competent in accomplishing his assignments and is polite, courteous, and appreciative of the help of others will find a woman (particularly if she works for him) respecting him. Because the woman is meeting his need for respect, he will be drawn to her. He will be drawn to her. He will start desiring to meet her needs.

     Soon he will compare the respect of the woman on the job with the nagging of his wife. The woman at the office or in the plant does not know that he does not take out the garbage and leaves his dirty socks on underwear on the bathroom floor. The woman on the job will not point out his failings (particularly if he is her boss) as his wife does. The woman on the job is in danger also. She does not realize that this very competent, appreciative man at work has all of the shortcomings of her own husband. In the casual relationship at work (or wherever), these two people do not have to share unpaid bills, sick children, the need for a new washer, a second car, etc.*Without realizing it, soon they find themselves meeting one another's  basic needs. The man at work will be supplying the attention and kindness the woman needs. She will be giving the man the respect he desires. Where two people are meeting these very basic needs for love and respect, the desire for a complete physical relationship becomes overpowering. Soon  there is another broken marriage. It is happening all of the time.

     Recognizing your own basic need for reverence and respect (the men) or love and attention (the women) is an important safeguard against slipping into a relationship where these needs are met outside of marriage.

MEETING YOUR PARTNER'S NEEDS

     Recognizing our own basic need will also hep us to understand that our partner has needs which are just as real and deeply felt as our own. This is vitally important.
     Husbands cannot know from their own experiences how much wives need regular assurance and evidence of that love. By the same token, wives cannot comprehend how their husbands need reverence and respect.

    About the only way a husband and wife will ever come to realize that his or her partner has a real and deeply felt need is to recognize his or her own personal need. By seeing and admitting how much he needs respect and reverence from his wife, a husband is prepared to understand that his wife also has a deeply felt need, which while different from his own, is very real. By the same token, the only way a wife can really experience or feel or share in the great need her husband has to be reverenced and respected is to recognize her own deep hunger for love and the assurance of it. Once she sees her own need, she is prepared to realize that her husband's need, while different, is just as deep and real. Coming to recognize our own emotional needs and seeing that our partners also have needs which are just as real and deeply felt will bring us to a willingness to give ourselves to meeting the needs of our partner. As we do so, God will see to it that they begin to meet out needs.
     The real key to blessing in marriage is in making the goal of your life the meeting of the needs of your partner. In doing so, you will see your own needs met by God. In Luke 6:38, the Lord Jesus said:

"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."

   Many people immediately think of money when they see or hear these instructions about giving. It does apply to finances, but there is a principle here which goes so much further than just money. God says, "Give and it shall be given unto you." In fact, He implies that we will receive much more than we give. This principle applies in every area of life. 
 If we give love, we will get love. If  we give help, we will get help. If we give encouragement, we get encouragement. If we give forgiveness to others, we will be forgiven. If we give a smile, we will get smiled at. The opposites apply also. If we hate, we will get hatred. Therefore, when we give ourselves to meeting the needs of others, we'll find others meeting our needs. Nowhere is this more true than in marriage.

     When both partners are satisfying the needs of the other, they become more and more important to each other. Every part of the relationship then blossoms and become fruitful. Problems which once brought division will be used to bring husband and wife closer together. The physical relationship in marriage becomes completely fulfilling - once other basic needs are met.
     When a husband and wife recognize each each other's needs, a life-long commitment to satisfy those longings can and should be made.

* The pressure of bills, illness, unemployment, and debts are often seen as the cause of divorce. Actually, if two people are really meeting one another's basic needs for love and respect, they can face and solve these problems of life together. In fact, in meeting them they are drawn even closer together. When partners are not meeting one another's needs, the marriage is in difficulty even if there are no health, financial, or family pressures.