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.


 

Face up to the poor

If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard. - Proverbs 21:13

 Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
    to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator^[a] shall go before you,
    the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you,
    the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness    and your gloom be like the noonday. - Isaiah 58:6-10

Giving to the poor seems to be able to improve one's prayer life.

Some seem to think that giving to a good cause is what matters and doing so is a sign of great motives.

If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,^[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing. - 1 Corinthians 13:3

May God one day say of us what He said to King Josiah --

 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
    then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
    says the Lord. - Jeremiah 22:16

Caring for the poor

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.  You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God. - Leviticus 19:9-10

Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.  Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.” - Deuteronomy 15:10-11

 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,
    and will be repaid in full. - Proverbs 19:17

Those who are generous are blessed,
    for they share their bread with the poor. - Proverbs 22:9

Those who are generous are blessed,
    for they share their bread with the poor. - Proverbs 28:27

 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?  If you offer your food to the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually,
    and satisfy your needs in parched places,
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters never fail. - Isaiah 58:7, 10-11

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” - Luke 4:18-19

Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor. - John 13:29

He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” - Luke 14:12-14

At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.  One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius.  The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers^[a] living in Judea;  this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. - Acts 11:27-30

Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas.^[a] She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. - Acts 9:36

 He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.  One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.”  He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.- Acts 10:2-4

 They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was^[a] eager to do. - Galatians 2:4

 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. - James 1:27

 What good is it, my brothers and sisters,^[a] if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?  If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,  and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?- James 2:14-16

 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.  How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister^[a] in need and yet refuses help?  Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.  And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him - 1 John 3:16-19

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;  for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;  for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. Matthew 25:34-35, 41-42

There is a priority set to care for the needs of those who follow Christ.

 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith. - Galatians 6:10

When Saul was persecuting Christians, Jesus appeared to him.

 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” - Acts 9:4

How can we eliminate poverty? The answer is, we cannot. Jesus said that the poor would always be with us. Should we give up? Of course not.

The poor need not only our provisions but also social justice.

You shall not abuse any widow or orphan.  If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry. - Exodus 22:22-23

Nor shall you be partial to the poor in a lawsuit. You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in their lawsuits. You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. - Exodus 23:3,6,9

 The prophets were particularly concerned about the exploitation of the poor.  James warns the church against courting and favouring the rich over the poor.

 I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the needy,    and executes justice for the poor. - Psalm 140:12

I need to determine a salary that I need to live on, then give back to God every dime He entrusts to me beyond that, so every day I work and earn income is a day that will help the poor and reach the lost.

Money is spiritual

A steward is someone entrusted with another person's wealth or property and charged with responsibility of managing it in the owner's best interest. - Ben Patterson

A steward is entrusted with sufficient resources and the authority to carry out their designated responsibilities.

As a fundraiser I have come up with my own definition of what stewardship is - stewardship is the conscientious management of things that really matter.

God delegated to us authority over all His creation.

You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen,
And also the beasts of the field - Psalm 8:6-7

God expects us to use all the resources He gives us to best carry out our responsibilities.  A steward's  primary goal is to be found faithful by their master as the stewards uses the master's resources to accomplish the tasks delegated to them.

Our use of money and possessions is only one aspect of stewardship.  The tabernacle was built by people giving their time, energy, skills, money and possessions.  How we view and handle our money will correspond with how we view and handle our time, talents, family, church, vocation and every facet of life.

Eleven of the thirty-nine parables of Jesus deal with finances and money directly --  

• investment
• indebtedness
• hiring procedures and wage structures
• leasing
• capital, investments, banking, and interest
• money lenders, interest and debt cancellation
• storing up
• architectural planning, building construction and cost analysis
• finding lost money
• wealth, estate planning, spending
• financial management and debt reduction
• wealth and poverty
• giving and greed
• harvest

The parables normally have one central point that should not be obscured by uncertainties about secondary issues - the steward is praised for their shrewdness in using their master's money to invest in His relationships with people.

There will be a day when we will be terminated from this life, a day in which we shall give an account for our stewardship.  Consequently, we should use wisely what little remaining time and influence we have before our term of stewardship is done.

Jesus doesn't tell us to stay away from the mammon of unrighteousness or "worldly wealth," but to use it strategically.

And I tell you [learn from this], make friends for yourselves [for eternity] by means of the [a]wealth of unrighteousness [that is, use material resources as a way to further the work of God], so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings. - Luke 16:9

Money can be a tool for Christ.

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little thing is also dishonest in much." - Luke 16:10

We are continually tested in little things.

God pays a great deal of attention to the "little things." He numbers the hairs on our head, cares for the lilies of the field and is concerned with the fall of a single sparrow.  What we do with the little time, a little talent, and a little money tells God a lot.

Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of earthly wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? - Luke 16:11

What are true riches?

Having been faithful in handling our resources in this life, we are granted leadership of others in the next.

And if you have not been faithful in the use of that [earthly wealth]which belongs to another [whether God or man, and of which you are a trustee], who will give you that which is your own? - Luke 16:12

 

The Master has plans

We have not linked the stewardship of property with the consecration of the stewardship of life. A widespread revival of the teachings of Christian stewardship will not only insure an adequate support of the cause of Christ, but will bring about a deepening of the spiritual life of the church as its principal result. This is what Horace Bushnell meant in his oft repeated but never trite prophecy --

“One more revival, only one more is needed; the revival of Christian stewardship, the consecration of the money power to God. When that revival comes, the kingdom of God will come in a day.”

Finney goes into details --

God is, in an infinitely higher sense, the Owner of all, than any employer can be said to be the owner of what he has. The Church of Christ never will be disentangled from the world, never will be able to go forward without these continual declines and backslidings, until Christians, and churches generally, hold the ground that it is just as much a matter of discipline for a church member to deny his stewardship by his practise as to deny the deity of Christ, and that covetousness, fairly proved, shall just as soon exclude a person from the Communion as adultery. - Charles Finney

 Once, a distraught man rode his horse up to John Wesley, shouting, "Mr. Wesley, something terrible happened! Your house... it's burned to the ground!" Wesley weighed the news, then calmly replied, "No. The Lord's house burned to the ground. That means one less responsibility for me." God is the owner of all things, and we are simply his stewards.

Wesley's words sprang from life's most basic reality - that God is the owner of all things, and we are simply His stewards.

 After successfully establishing a restaurant chain, two banks, a ranch, farm and real estate ventures, Jerry Caven says that’s when the real fun started. At age 59, Jerry and his wife Muriel were headed into retirement, looking for a nice lake home. Then God changed their plans and led them to put their money and time overseas. “It’s been exciting. Before we gave token amounts, now we put substantial money into missions. Our hearts are in India now. We visit and minister there often.” What changed the Cavens’ attitude toward giving was realising God’s ownership. “Once we understood we were giving away God’s money to God’s work, we had a peace and joy we never had back when we thought it was our money! After seeing the way poor Christians in India trust Him, we’ve asked God if he wants us to give away all of ‘our’ money. He hasn’t led us to do that yet. But we’ve meant it when we asked.” Jerry says, “A non-christian couple saw us giving, and saw how much it excited and changed us. Then they started giving too, even before knowing Christ. They saw the joy and they wanted in on it!” When we give an offering with that attitude, people will see our joy and desire to be “in on it!” Perhaps that is the best reason to give an offering. 

the master plan

Created with desires

John Bunyan, the seventeenth century pastor who was imprisoned for preaching the gospel --

Paul was as great a maintainer of the doctrine of God’s free grace, and of justification from sin, by the righteousness of Christ imputed by grace, as any he that ever lived in Christ’s service, from the world’s beginning till now: and yet he was for this doctrine; he expected himself, and encouraged others also to look for such a reward, for doing and suffering for Christ, which he calls ’a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory’ (2 Cor 4:17). Surely, as Christ saith, in a case not far distant from this in hand, ’if it were not so, he would have told us’ (John 14:1—3). Now could I tell what those rewards are that Christ hath prepared, and will one day bestow upon those that do for him in faith and love in this world, I should therein also say more than now I dare or ought; yet this let me say in general, they are such as should make us leap to think on, and that we should remember with exceeding joy, and never think that it is contrary to the Christian faith, to rejoice and be glad for that which yet we understand not (Matt 5:11,12; Luke 6:23). ’Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be,’ &c. But ’every man that hath this hope in him,’ namely, that he shall be more than here he can imagine, ’purifieth himself even as he is pure’ (1 John 3:2,3). Things promised when not revealed to be known by us while here, are therefore not made known, because too big and wonderful. When Paul was up in paradise, he heard unspeakable words not possible for man to utter (2 Cor 12:3,4). Wherefore, a reward I find, and that laid up in heaven, but what it is I know not, neither is it possible for any here to know it any further, than by certain general words of God, such as these, praise, honour, glory, a crown of righteousness, a crown of glory, thrones, judging of angels, a kingdom, with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, &c. (1 Cor 4:5; 1 Peter 1:7; 2 Tim 4:8; 1 Peter 5:4; Matt 25:34—36). Wherefore, to both these objections, let me yet answer thus a few words. Though thy modesty or thy opinion will not suffer thee to look for a reward for what thou dost here for thy Lord, by the faith and love of the gospel; yea, though in the day of judgement thou shouldst there slight all thou didst on earth for thy Lord, saying, When, Lord, when did we do it? he will answer, Then, even then when ye did it to the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me (Matt 25:37—40).

William Wilberforce, through his tireless efforts in Parliament in the early nineteenth century finally succeeded in abolishing England's slave trade.  He devoted most of his fortune to the cause of Christ.

Remember—Christianity proposes not to extinguish our natural desires. It promises to bring the desires under just control and direct them to their true object. In the case of both riches and of honour, it maintains the consistency of its character. But Christianity commands us not to set our hearts on earthly treasures. It reminds us that "we have in heaven a better and more enduring substance" than this world can bestow (Heb. 10:34).

C.S. Lewis, a professor at Oxford and Cambridge in the mid-twentieth century, wrote prolifically on the Christian faith.  He diverted most of his royalties to charitable causes and individual needs, living simply and thinking often of the world --

And in there, in beyond Nature, we shall eat of the tree of life. At present, if we are reborn in Christ, the spirit in us lives directly on God; but the mind, and still more the body, receives life from Him at a thousand removes—through our ancestors, through our food, through the elements. The faint, far-off results of those energies which God’s creative rapture implanted in matter when He made the worlds are what we now call physical pleasures; and even thus filtered, they are too much for our present management. What would it be to - 9 - taste at the fountain-head that stream of which even these lower reaches prove so intoxicating? Yet that, I believe, is what lies before us. The whole man is to drink joy from the fountain of joy. As St. Augustine said, the rapture of the saved soul will “flow over” into the glorified body. In the light of our present specialised and depraved appetites we cannot imagine this torrens voluptatis, and I warn everyone seriously not to try. But it must be mentioned, to drive out thoughts even more misleading—thoughts that what is saved is a mere ghost, or that the risen body lives in numb insensibility. The body was made for the Lord, and these dismal fancies are wide of the mark.

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy has been offered to us.  We are far too easily pleased, like an ignorant child who goes on making mud pies in a slum because the child cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea. - C.S. Lewis

We must realise that fulfilling our desires and seeking rewards are not anti-Christian.  What is anti-Christian is the self-centredness that's unconcerned about God and our neighbour, and the preoccupation with the immediate fulfilling of desires that distracts us from finding our ultimate fulfilment in Christ.  The person who gives life, money, and possessions to receive rewards from God - the greatest of which is to hear the resounding "well done" - is one whose deepest thirsts will be eternally quenched by the Maker and Fulfiller of all desire.  It is senseless to devote our lives to the "mud pies" of power, possessions, and pleasures of the next world, our eternal home.





Lord of Our Desires

C.S. Lewis > Quotes > Quotable Quote

A God of Created Desires

Two kingdoms

"I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess." - Martin Luther

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

In the greatest message ever preached, Jesus addresses the believer's proper relationship to money and possessions --

“Do not store up for yourselves [material] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal;  for where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] will be also.

 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so if your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive], your whole body will be full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts].  But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]. So if the [very] light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness!

 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord]. - Matthew 6:19-24

Jesus had two kingdoms in mind.  Two options and they demand one choice.  There is a default choice if "no choice" is made.  Unless the right choice is deliberately made and tenaciously clung to, the wrong choice will naturally be implemented.

 

Life Library — Two Kingdoms

Materialism and Ecclesiastes

The book of Ecclesiastes is the most powerful report of materialism ever written. Solomon recounts his attempts to find meaning in pleasure, laughter, alcohol, folly, building projects, and the pursuit of personal interests, as well as in amassing slaves, gold and silver, singers, and a huge harem to fulfil his sexual desires.  He achieved the ultimate in material success and international fame living by this philosophy --

Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. Ecclesiastes 2:10

The more Solomon had , the more he was tempted to indulge --

Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!

People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.

There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children. We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us. Ecclesiastes 5:10 - 15

Life Frame

5 Things the Bible Says About Materialism in Ecclesiastes

Solomon Tried Materialism

45 Bible Verses about Materialism

Ecclesiastes 3