Hospitality

Assuming we have houses, beds, chairs, food, drink, medicine and other provisions to share with others and the needy, we are encouraged to be hospitable. 

Dear friend, you have always been faithful in helping other followers of the Lord, even the ones you didn’t know before. They have told the church about your love. They say you were good enough to welcome them and to send them on their mission in a way that God’s servants deserve. When they left to tell others about the Lord, they decided not to accept help from anyone who wasn’t a follower. We must support people like them, so that we can take part in what they are doing to spread the truth. - 3 John 5-8

Paul and his traveling ministry team were deeply grateful for the hospitality that facilitated their ministry.  Without the support of those disciples called by Jesus to have and share possessions, those called to leave possessions behind couldn't carry out their mission.

We have three good instructions regarding our attitude towards wealth.

Don’t store up treasures on earth! Moths and rust can destroy them, and thieves can break in and steal them.- Matthew 6:19

Warn the rich people of this world not to be proud or to trust in wealth that is easily lost. Tell them to have faith in God, who is rich and blesses us with everything we need to enjoy life. Instruct them to do as many good deeds as they can and to help everyone. Remind the rich to be generous and share what they have.  This will lay a solid foundation for the future, so that they will know what true life is like. - 1 Timothy 6:17-19

 Any of God’s people who are poor should be glad that He thinks so highly of them. - James 1:9

Believers who lived in humble circumstances were not second class but of equal importance - some, because of persecution, lost their possessions and social status and became poor.

Since God hates partiality, the affluent do not marginalise or look down on the less affluent.  It is why ministries to do not court flatter the wealthy or court donors.

Here are five good reasons to be careful when we find ourselves with more than we need.

People who want to be rich fall into all sorts of temptations and traps. They are caught by foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them.- 1 Timothy 6:9

God blesses his loyal people,
    but punishes all who want
    to get rich quick. - Proverbs 28:20


 Jesus said to his disciples, “It’s terribly hard for rich people to get into the kingdom of heaven!- Matthew 19:23

But they start worrying about the needs of this life. They are fooled by the desire to get rich and to have all kinds of other things. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. - Mark 4:19


Don’t trust in violence
or depend on dishonesty    or rely on great wealth. - Psalm 62:10

 We should not be preoccupied with God's plan for others.

Jesus answered, “What is it to you, if I want him to live until I return? You must follow me.” - John 21:22

May we have not so much that we become proud and independent of the Lord and not so much that distracts us from our purpose or insulates us from our sense of His need and dependence on Him.

Make me absolutely honest
and don’t let me be too poor
    or too rich.
    Give me just what I need. If I have too much to eat,
    I might forget about you;
if I don’t have enough,
    I might steal    and disgrace your name. - Proverbs 30:8-9

 Giving is the safety valve that releases the excess pressure of wealth.


 

When we give generously

God, even if it happens in a third party kind of way, blesses us financially when we give.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.  Luke 6:38

The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. - 2 Corinthians 9:6

Have you ever asked yourself - why has He provided so much?

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.^[a] You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us - 2 Corinthians 9:10-11

God entrusts me with His money not to build my kingdom on earth, but to build His kingdom in heaven.

Your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance.  As it is written,

“The one who had much did not have too much,
    and the one who had little did not have too little.” - 2 Corinthians 8:14-15

He does not want us to have too little or too much. When those with too much give to those with too little, two problems are solved.

I just finished writing some copy for an appeal that a major children's charity will be sending to their donors.  I tried my best to describe to the potential donor what their gifts will do for children in a particular community in Nicaragua. I believe there is no greater joy than for the donor to see the fruit of their gift. Seeing people blessed - the giving is the blessing - but the deepest joy comes when they see the fruit.  This in why I recommend people take trips that allow them to see some of the faces and meet some of the people touched by their giving.  A major giving family in the US who also give to Canadian ministries said that they were hooked on giving when they saw first hand what missions was doing.  They knew where to give and where their giving would make a difference for eternity.  Today, they sold their family business and have created one of the largest Foundations in the US.

 R.G. LeTourneau is known for inventing the Catarpillar brand of earth moving machines.  His spiritually journey had him and his family at a place where they gave 90% of their income to the Lord. "I shovel it out,” he would say, “and God shovels it back, but God has a bigger shovel."

But there are, as I said earlier, third party type of blessings.  The washing machine that is twenty years old and should have stopped working years ago keeps on working.  A car with 350,000 km keeps running with hardly the need of repairs other than tires and oil changes. A checking account that should have dried up before the end of the month and yet it makes it through. Or the prayer for healthy teeth because there is no dental plan and not even one tooth decay.

Have you ever noticed that excess money just seems to dissipate in a multitude of directions?  

 Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes. - Haggai 1:5-6

God said that because the nation of Israel had given to themselves and not to Him, He had minimised and dissipated their profits so they didn't come out ahead.  We need to give careful thought to your ways, asking oursevles if we'd do better to give more to the Lord and ask Him to maximise what we keep.

But no matter how far we move on in the grace of giving, Jesus Christ remains the matchless giver --

For you know the generous act^[a] of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.- 2 Corinthians 8:9

 

NT Guidelines: Give worshippfully

Cornelius is a great example from the Book of Acts who gave generously, but he also is noted that he worshipped God through giving.

The Macedonians would be another example from the Book of 2 Corinthians that Paul uses when taking about what sacrificial giving looks like.  Giving should be directed towards God before anyone else. The climax of the worship is "thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"

Grace and gratitude belong
together like heaven and earth.
Grace evokes gratitude like the voice of an echo.
Gratitude follows grace like thunder lightning

We are speaking of the
grace of God who is God for man, and of the gratitude of man as his
response to this grace
....
The two belong together, so that only gratitude can
correspond to grace, and this correspondence cannot fail.
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics , IV.1

Remember when Jesus reminded us that in the process of giving a gift we remember someone we needed to be reconciled with?  That is worship through giving.  Christian giving is not just something I do on my own.

Stories about Stewardship

The story of the shrewd manager shows that each of us should carefully invest our financial assets, gifts, and opportunities to have an impact on people for eternity, thereby making preparations for our own eternal future.

The story of the coins shows that we're each entrusted by God with different financial assets, gifts and opportunities and we'll be accountable to God for how we've invested them in this life.

The story of investments shows that those with comparable gifts, assets and opportunities will be judged according to their faithfulness and industriousness in investing them in God's kingdom, and consequently will receive varying positions of authority in heaven.

The master may deal with other servants however they wish.  Each servant must do the job and be prepared to give account to one from whom nothing can be hidden.

The inevitability of consequences for all our actions - the law of the eternal harvest is more certain than the laws of physics --

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a man sows, this and this only is what he will reap. - Galatians 6:7

The meaninglessness of everyone else's evaluation of the steward compared to the judgement of our one and only master --

Who are you to judge the servant of another? Before his own master he stands [approved] or falls [out of favour]. And he [who serves the Master—the Lord] will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. - Romans 14:4

 From the beginning to end, Scripture repeatedly emphasised God's ownership of everything --

Behold, the heavens and the highest of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth and all that is in it. - Deuteronomy 10:14

The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; you are [only] foreigners and temporary residents with Me. - Leviticus 25:23

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and on the earth; Yours is the dominion and kingdom, O Lord,and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honour come from You, and You rule over all. In Your hand is power and might; and it is in Your hands to make great and to give strength to everyone. - 1 Chronicles 29:11-12

"Who has first given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine. [Who can have a claim against Me who made the unmastered beast?] - Job 41:11

The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness of it, The world, and those who dwell in it. For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the streams and the rivers. - Psalm 24:1

'The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,' declares the Lord of hosts. - Haggai 2:8

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have [received as a gift] from God, and that you are not your own [property]? You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honour and glorify God with your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Not only does God own everything, but He determines how much of His wealth He will entrust to us --

But you shall remember [with profound respect] the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore (solemnly promised) to your fathers, as it is this day. - Deuteronomy 8:18

The Lord makes poor and makes rich;He brings low and He lifts up. - 1 Samuel 2:7

Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all. In Your hand is power and might; and it is in Your hands to make great and to give strength to everyone. - 1 Chronicles 29:12

When I grasp that I'm a steward, not an owner, it totally changes my perspective.  Suddenly, I'm not asking, "How much of my money shall I, out of the goodness of my heart, give to God?"  Rather, I'm asking, "Since all of 'my' money is really Yours, Lord, how would you like me to invest Your money today?"





Stewardship Stories

Learning and Teaching Stewardship

Inspirational Christian Stories and Poems

Sermon Illustrations, Humor, and Stories on Finances, Generosity, Giving, Tithing, Offerings
Journey to Generosity True Stories

"Lord, You Can Use My Boat"

STORIES

Changing the Way People Think About Generosity