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 cheerfully

Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. - 2 Corinthians 9:7

God delights in the one who takes delight in giving.

All the leaders and all the people rejoiced and brought their tax and dropped it into the chest until it was full. - 2 Chronicles 24:10

This is a great testimony of a time when Joash was king and the temple was in need of repair.  Whenever the chest was filled they would empty it, return it, and soon it would be full again.

There is an ebb and flow when it comes to giving.  As one part of the body of Christ has a need and receive help, that same part, one day, will be able to supply and give to another who has need --

Your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. - 2 Corinthians 8:14

In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” - Acts 20:35

Why would Jesus say this?  Maybe because blessing usually affects three people while giving only blesses one. The three are the giver, the recipient and God.

If we find ourselves not being cheerful while giving, the problem will be found in our heart and the solution is in redirecting our heart, not withholding our giving. Our heart follows our treasures --

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. - Matthew 6:21

Put your treasures in God's Kingdom and a cheerful heart will eventually follow.




Guidelines for Giving

God's Guidelines for Giving

The New Testament Standard of Giving

The New Testament Pattern of “Giving”

Ten Principles of Christian Giving

Giving God's Way