A Cheerful Giver

A Cheerful Giver.  On the cusp of flying to Africa to “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1), I am again fully aware—and extremely grateful—how missionary ministry depends on donations from Christians. My trip to Liberia to train 50 pastors in basic theology has been fully funded, thanks to God who guided many of you to give generously! What I am not always fully aware of, about which I need steady reminding, is how giving is a major element of worship. In this sense, Christian giving is unlike all other forms of charitable giving. Full marks for all forms of charity, but Christian giving is unique in that it is primarily a form of loving God, which becomes secondarily a mode of loving one’s neighbor. In other words, loving one’s neighbor without loving one’s God is altruistic but something less than worship. Christian giving is first worship, then fellowship. In truth, both are necessary—for generosity to others is largely how we represent and reflect our generous God. God loves a cheerful giver.

Like nearly all missionaries, our early years in foreign missions consisted of full-time fund-raising. Although the process was unthinkably grueling, I learned a valuable lesson that I didn’t intend to learn. I was rightly rebuked by one of our supporting partners. His lesson stuck! This partner fit the pattern that we repeatedly observed. Humanly speaking, he was too poor to give so much to our missionary ministry. It seemed to be borderline irresponsible. While I didn’t say that out loud to him, I thought it, and because I thought it, I said something that seemed slightly more palatable. “Thank you so much for your generous gift to us. It is humbling to receive.” He stopped me mid-sentence. “Oh, I don’t give to you; I give to God. You just are the direct beneficiary in this instance.” Wow, he was entirely right! From then on, I did not shrink back from receiving the generosity of others because I didn’t want to hinder their worship of God. Hypothetically speaking, if I had refused their support, then God would still have found a way to bless them, but I would not have been blessed in the meantime. Who am I to rain on God’s parade? It is his glory, not my ego, that matters most.

“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’ 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. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Cor. 9:7-15). 

The Good Confession

The Good Confession.  Words are funny. They can change over time. They fall out of fashion. They combine with other words to make new compound forms. One of those words that has fallen out of fashion is to fess, as in: “The perpetrator finally fessed up to his involvement with tampering with the evidence, Detective.” Fessing [up] is acknowledging or declaring the truth of a situation, usually in public.

One place that fessing is frequently found is in the Bible. Confessing subjectively and professing objectively (same Greek word, homologeo) hold a central piece of the New Testament. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom. 10:9). Confession is not only declared in the once-and-for-all sense of salvation but also acknowledged in the daily grind of sanctification. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Therefore, to confess/profess is to say the same thing about a situation that God has said about it. Concerning salvation, sin, or whatever the issue might be, we agree with God, even when we are on the wrong side of justice and in need of his mercy.

Therefore, the opposite of confessing is denying, also with an emphasis placed on its public application. Peter famously illustrated this in his triple denial (John 18:25, 27), a betrayal over which he repented and was restored to Christ by Christ (John 21:17). Peter eventually said the same thing about Jesus in public that God had said. Peter confessed; he agreed with God to such an extent that he, seven short weeks after running scared from the servant girl in the courtyard of Caiaphas, spoke bold words, unthinkable to him on the night of Jesus’ arrest, to many thousands of people in Jerusalem. “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified" (Acts 2:36).

But it was Jesus who made the true, better, and unflagging confession. He had no sin to confess, but he was the Good Confessor in the sense that he always said the same thing that God the Father said no matter where he stood. “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession” (1 Tim. 6:13). Ultimately, it is his confession of us to the Father that holds the full weight of our eternal hope. Christ agrees with the Father about our identity; that whatever we were before, he has made us to become his people by grace through faith in his blood. “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels” (Rev. 3:5).

Then They Will Fast

Then They Will Fast.  Today is a holiday (think: holy day) on the liturgical church calendar, but probably not the holiday you are expecting. Truly, February 14 is the feast day for the patron saint of lovers, beekeepers, and epileptics, St. Valentine, when his martyrdom was traditionally celebrated (A.D. 269). But today is also the holiday known as Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, the 40-day approach to Good Friday, the day of Christ’s crucifixion (not counting Sundays or this year’s Leap Day). All things equal, Lent is a bigger deal than Valentine’s Day.

Religious holidays such as Ash Wednesday and Good Friday change each year because they are determined by the Jewish (lunar) calendar. Jesus was crucified in conjunction with the Feast of Passover. Passover’s Sabbath began at sundown on the first Friday, after the first full moon, after the vernal equinox. Sundown was the deadline for religious Jews to begin their Sabbath, so they pressured the soldiers to accelerate the death process of the condemned by breaking the sufferers’ legs just after 3:00 pm. By 6:00 pm the Jewish Sabbath would have started when no one was allowed to do any physical work, such as burying the dead. But because Jesus died at 3:00 pm, the same time as the evening sacrifice, his legs were not broken. Soldiers confirmed Christ’s death with a spear to the heart. Lent effectively leads worshipers to this very specific moment of Christ’s death on the cross.

Traditionally, Lent is a season marked by fasting and penance. Penance is doing a religiously prescribed deed to absolve one’s guilt of sin. Roman Catholic rules dictate a partial fast for Catholics who are of reasonable health between the ages of 18 and 59, “to eat one full meal and two smaller meals which, combined, would not equal a single normal meal. Additionally, Catholics may not eat meat on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday—or any Fridays during Lent” (credit: “Frequently Asked Questions,” hallow.com). This was where the tradition of eating fish on Fridays originated; fish wasn’t considered meat by Rome. The fasting was their penance. This tradition became the wider custom of giving up something for Lent.

So many facets of this custom are noteworthy and troublesome, but the one that deserves primacy today is the role of the fast. Fasting is ancient, meaningful, and beautiful, but fasting never absolves sin. The New Testament term for the removal of sin is not absolution, but justification. Justification is not a penitential deed accomplished by people, but a gracious gift accomplished by Jesus. Fasting achieves nothing for self. Fasting worships God above all. Fasting is not about the absence of food but the presence of God. Fasting is feasting on a spiritual meal which the physical world does not know about (see, John 4:32).   

Jesus implied that fasting would occupy some aspect of the Christian’s devotional life, but fasting never absolves sin. God justifies sinners! “Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast’” (Matt. 9:14-15).

Man in His Pomp Will Not Remain

Man in His Pomp Will Not Remain. Psalm 49

 ¹ Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

 ² both low and high, rich and poor together!

 ³ My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

 ⁴ I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.

 ⁵ Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,

 ⁶ those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?

 ⁷ Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life,

 ⁸ for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,

 ⁹ that he should live on forever and never see the pit.

 ¹⁰ For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.

 ¹¹ Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they called lands by their own names.

 ¹² Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.

 ¹³ This is the path of those who have foolish confidence; yet after them people approve of their boasts. Selah

 ¹⁴ Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.

 ¹⁵ But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah

 ¹⁶ Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases.

 ¹⁷ For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him.

 ¹⁸ For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—

 ¹⁹ his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light.

 ²⁰ Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.