Love

One key feature in raising resources for ministry is to celebrate an annual Commitment Day. This is the time where the minister askes the congregation to do two things. First to make a financial pledge indicating how much the person will give to the church in the next year. This is often expressed as a weekly amount. Second, the congregation is also asked to make a one-off gift to the church for some special project. Normally there are several different projects proposed as people will support what touches their heart.

Then in the lead up to Commitment Day the mister preaches a five- or six-week Commitment Series of messages.  This series is designed to strengthen the faith of the congregation. Raising money is a by-product. If the minister approaches the series as a money-making exercise, it is likely to fail. However, if the aim is to raise Christian maturity and increase generosity as a part of that goal, the congregation is far more likely to be uplifted and respond with joy.

When I started to learn about this process, I listened to some well-known ministers from overseas preach such a series. I always wondered if I could plan my own. As it turned out it was not too difficult because the bible is absolutely brimming with passages and topics that raise faith and encourage generosity. As I am now retired, I don’t deliver such series anymore. The person to do this is properly the senior minister and the messages normally shouldn’t be outsourced. However, such series still occur to me. Recently on a walk I suddenly thought that a wonderful set of messages could be constructed on the theme of love, that would be extremely profitable to the spiritual life of the congregation.

Here are some possibilities.

1 Love God: the first great commandment.

Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. Matt 22:37-38.

2 Love your neighbour: the second great commandment.

‘And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ Matt 22:39

Personally, I would avoid the desire to conflate these two sermons into one but rather tease out the implications in two messages.

3 God loves the world

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

This is the best known and best loved verse in the bible and brings the love of God as seen in the death of Christ into focus. Any series of sermons on love must centre on the death of Jesus.

4 Love your marriage partner

‘Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her’.  Eph 5:25

This message allows the preacher to address love in marriage. It is appropriate in the present me-too climate to focus particularly on the husband’s responsibility. The scripture also links such love to the atonement so grounding the message in theological depth.

5 Love your enemies

‘But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ Matt 5:44

I would certainly include this theme as it is so distinctively Christian. Jesus points out that anyone can love their mates but to love your enemies is something else altogether.

6 Love money: Not!

‘For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.’ 1Tim 6:10

In each commitment series I try to include one message on generosity and the right use of money. I have included a sample sermon on the ideas contained here and embedded later in 1Tim 6:17-10 in my book Giving Generously, https://givinggenerously.com/ ,which I commend to you.

7 Love is the Greatest

To conclude the series, I would preach on the wonderful chapter, 1 Cor 13, which will surely sum up everything any preacher wants to say.

This grouping is a little unusual as I have proposed seven messages rather than five or six. This is simply because there are so many wonderful ways to approach this subject. Thus, I am acutely aware that there are many other ‘love’ themes that could be considered and perhaps form the basis for

God is love text on beach and wave

a further series. I commend these to you as starts for your own deliberations.

Cheerful Giving 

For the follower of Jesus generosity is not a burden that is laid on an unwilling follower. The attitude can never be, ‘I am a Christian now and while it is a pain I find I must be generous’. Generosity is not something to be adopted through gritted teeth. Generosity is a virtue to be pursued joyously.

It would be better to tell people ‘don’t give’ if they can’t contribute with open hearts. The bible is quite consistent in teaching that giving must never be grudging, never be like squeezing the last drop out of an unwilling lemon.

In preparing the people for life in the Promised Land, Moses commanded ungrudging generosity and open heartedness in caring for the needy.

Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. Deut 15:10

 The apostle Paul takes up the same idea as he urges the Corinthians to complete preparations to give generously for the collection to the Jerusalem church.

So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given. 2 Cor 9:5

Effectively, the apostle is saying, ‘Please don’t make me hassle you for this. I certainly don’t want to be badgering you because I want you to give with a happy heart.’

 Two verses later he writes:

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.2 Cor 9:6

The word ‘cheerful’ is the Greek word hilaros, from which comes our English word ‘hilarious’. This derivation should not be pressed too far as there is not a one to one correlation in the meaning of hilaros and hilarious^[i]. However I have always had fun imagining a collection being taken up in church and a chorus of voices crying out, ‘Pass the plate around again, we are having such a good time’. That would be an exhilarating^[ii] experience. Perhaps I am dreaming but if believers absorbed the attitude of the bible, maybe it is not such a far-fetched idea.

All this merely reinforces the idea that Christians should never be embarrassed to encourage generosity. In fact just as Paul desires our love, faith, speech and knowledge to grow and increase, he also wants us to excel in generosity.

But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us, see that you also excel in this grace of giving. 2 Cor 8:7

 It is not as if faith and love are the supremely important character virtues and we can limp along with a little bit of generosity. Excelling means we need to strive to be as generous as we can possibly be. This again underlines the fact that preachers should not be reluctant to speak on generosity .Not only should the topic be addressed, it should also be urged as a virtue to be pursued.

For further ideas about Generosity see my book : Giving Generously, Resourcing Local Church Ministry https://givinggenerously.com/

Paul Barnett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, (Wm.B.Eerdmans1997), p438, n14 notes that exhilarating is derived from hilaros.

Surprised by Joy: Some years ago I read C.S. Lewis’s autobiographical work Surprised by Joy, detailing his journey from atheism to Christian faith. I discovered the title was inspired by a poem by that name written by William Wordsworth, the master of Romanticism, lamenting the fact that he experienced a moment of joy but had lost in death his daughter, so the added joy of sharing the experience could not occur.

The phrase stood out to me recently with two events that captured the attention of the nation. The first was the Melbourne Cup, the race that stops the nation. I must confess that despite coming from a family where my maternal grandfather and grandmother were avid race horse owners and racing fans and punters, any gene for being addicted to the Sport of Kings lies completely dormant in my genome. Yet I am not insensitive to the excitement and joie de vivre that the race engenders in many in our community. The newspapers always publish photographs showing the sheer joy on the faces of the owners and jockey of the successful steed.

Yet somehow all of this was transcended, and even made to seem hollow, by the sheer wave of joy that swept the entire continent of Australia when the news emerged that little four year old Cleo Smith had been found alive and well. It was the culmination of a massive search by police and volunteers that stretched over eighteen days, where the authorities threw everything at it, including a one million dollar reward and simply did not give up. Everyone from seasoned policemen, politicians, news reporters and the average man and woman in the street seemed captivated by a feeling of joy that seemed somehow purer and deeper than even the most significant sporting achievement could ever engender. I am not a particularly emotional person but I was surprised by the overwhelming sensation that this rescue engendered, the sheer joy that this dear little girl whom most had feared lost and perhaps never to be recovered, was found apparently unharmed. 

It made me reflect and empathize more deeply than I ever had before on the parable of the lost sheep. Jesus tells the short story of a man who has one hundred sheep but loses one. Rather than write this animal off as the cost of doing of doing business, the shepherd searches and searches till he triumphantly brings the stray home. Jesus concludes with the famous words,

‘I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.’ Luke 15:7.

Jesus spells out very clearly his heart and his priorities. His followers over two millennia have adopted this mission and feel a real rejoicing when any person puts their faith in Christ. For me, it simply reinforced the thought that the real overwhelming joy that I felt when I heard about Cloe Smith is really just a pale reflection the emotion I surely feel about the saving ministry of rescuing lost people with the gospel.

I have written a book about raising resources for ministry in the local church. It is called Giving Generously. One of the points I stressed in the book is that when properly and appropriately done raising money for ministry produces great joy. The reason for this is obvious.  No one gets excited about giving to paint the parish hall or buy a better dishwasher for the church kitchen. But when the object of the ministry is real kingdom work that involves heaven rejoicing as lost sheep are found, then people will give freely and generously and will be surprised by the joy it gives them.

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Almost everything you want to know about tithing

On Boxing Day 1891 The Age newspaper of Melbourne contained a report entitled A Ride to Little Tibet, about the exotic travels of Henry Lansdell D.D. In the story he was just leaving Kashgar, an ancient town on the old Silk Road, in the very west of China, to roam further on his journey. So who was Henry Lansdell and why would he feature in a massage on a generosity website?

Landsell was born in Kent in 1841, son of a school master. He was a student at the London College of Divinity and was ordained priest in the Church of England in 1868. A teetotaller, he gained a reputation as a dynamic preacher, which he combined with a passion for missions. Obviously he was bitten with the travel bug, and not having been tied down by the incumbency of a parish, began a roving existence visiting many countries and distributing bibles and Christian literature as he did so. Initially he visited France, Germany and other western European countries but soon embarked on multiple journeys. These included Northern and Eastern Europe, and through Asia to Japan and across the Pacific to San Francisco.

Further travel followed. He reported on the conditions in Russian prisons, visited Mt Ararat in Turkey, the traditional resting place of Noah’s Ark, and attempted, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, to meet the Dalai Lama. It was this latter trip that drew the attention of The Age newspaper.  Lansdell saw sights and places that were completely off the beaten track to westerners of his time. He blended in with the locals and photographs show him in highly unusual local costumes, hardly the image of a prim Anglican clergyman that gets aired on historical television shows. His energetic labours were recognised as he was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, a life member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and was member of the Royal Asiatic Society. Lansdell died in London in 1921, survived by his wife Mary.

During his journeys he made an exhaustive study of the practice of tithing throughout the regions he travelled, delving  into local practices and history. His findings are recorded in his book The Sacred Tenth or Studies in Tithe Giving, Ancient and Modern. It is a monumental work with detailed discussion of tithing in the Old Testament, Apocrypha, New Testament, Jewish Rabbinical practice, Early Church Fathers, and subsequent church history. Equally interesting is his survey of the subject in non-Christian nations from the Middle East to China.

I will give two examples among so many that attracted my attention. First, I was surprised at how wide spread the practice of tithing was in the ancient world with almost every society paying tithes in some shape of form.  I had always been somewhat puzzled that some of the early biblical references,-Abraham paying a tithe to Melchizedek (Gen 14:18-20),-Jacob vowing to tithe (Gen 28:20-22) or the command in Leviticus 27:30-33- are discussed  out of the blue as it were, without any introduction. This becomes understandable when you consider that the scripture is probably referencing a practice that was widespread common knowledge.

Second, I had not realized that when Henry  8^th dissolved the monasteries,  around 1540 in England and parcelled out their lands to his aristocratic supporters, in many cases he also parcelled out the tithes to the new secular masters. I rather shared Lansdell’s indignation when I found that even at the end of the 19^th century, 350 years later, around one third of those tithes were still flowing into secular aristocratic pockets for their own personal use and not assisting Christian ministry.

Lansdell was a supporter of the practice of tithing. I recognize this is controversial but whether you believe that the tithe should be preached today or not, your knowledge and viewpoint will be greatly enhanced by reading this book which is still available online or in paperback. If you want to read more about raising money for ministry read my book Giving Generously: resourcing local church ministry. https://givinggenerously.com/

Cultivate a Joyful Attitude of Generosity In a former article, https://givinggenerously.com/2018/07/  I looked at the fascinating book, ‘The Paradox of Generosity’ by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. It showed the extent to which a generous attitude to life counts towards happiness. The key is being open-hearted in general. Just one-off acts won’t cut it. The sort of one-off acts I mean are, for example, giving blood occasionally, or donating once to a forest fire  or an earthquake appeal, or occasionally supporting the Salvos.

These are great to do but according to Smith and Davidson, that sort of giving doesn’t correspond to any blessing. What is needed,  they suggested, is a character that loves generosity that values it and integrates it into your life as a whole.

One of the threads that runs through the New Testament in the bible, is a collection in the form of an offering. The believers in Jerusalem were in famine and the Apostle Paul, who was always concerned for the poor, was gathering together a sum of money to help with famine relief. Now there is a special appeal in the second letter to the Corinthians.

Paul says (and I paraphrase), ‘take up an offering. Get it ready. When I come I want you to hand it over freely and willingly. I don’t want to have to twist your arm. I don’t want to see you groaning. I don’t want to have to hold a gun to your head’. Paul wants it to be a generous gift not a grudging gift.

Notice the two contrasting Gs:  Generous not Grudging.

Here is food for thought and action. Check your heart when there are appeals at church. Never get cranky with ministers for asking. Putting the needs before us is part of their job. You can decide whether you support this appeal or that appeal, but remember it’s good to give and it’s good for ministers to give you the opportunity to give.

St Paul further says

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cur 9:6-7)

 He talks  about sowing and reaping. You get out what you put in. This is precisely the same concept which Jesus spoke about. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 6:38

They are pretty dumb farmers who complain about a miserable harvest when they hadn’t planted anything!

But Paul emphasizes, ‘not reluctantly or under compulsion’ No one should squeeze your arm. No one should manipulate you. No one should put pressure on you. My wife Helen received a call from a fund raiser that included,

‘Please Helen, Please. We desperately need your help’. Maybe this was an over enthusiastic volunteer but Helen certainly felt manipulated.

I used to say to my congregation in Wollongong,’ if you feel manipulated, don’t give. I want you to give because you love Jesus and you love people and you want to see the message of the gospel going out and transforming people’s lives. That’s the reason to give, not because I am some clever salesman’.

On one occasion I was visitor at a church on the day they were having a special appeal for their new building. They took up the special offering. Then after a couple of songs they took up the regular offering: two offerings in a row.

Then, just as the service was about to close, the senior minister said, ‘I know you have been very generous but as you know once a month we take up a special offering to support our missionaries overseas.  That time of the month just happens to be today. And if we skip our offering they will be in a very hard way, They depend on us’. So the church took up a third offering and no one seemed to blink. They gave again, not grudgingly but freely. Now that’s a generous church with a generous attitude!

For more on resourcing church ministry with the right attitude see my book, Giving Generosly.