The Secret of Joyful Giving (notes)

Matthew 13:44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

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

To what future are we investing the money that God has given stewardship over? Are we hording up material things in this life, weighing ourselves down with excess; or are we liberating ourselves from the worries of care and maintenance of things that do not last "where moth and rust destroys" by investing in our eternal rewards? Why play the fool and invest in things that do not last?
Proverbs 23:5 "Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle."

In Randy Alcorn's book, The Treasure Principle, Randy Alcorn illuminates the signifigance of the joy of giving that is a constant topic throughout scripture.
Treasure Principle #1: God owns everything. I'm His money manager. (Psalm 24:1, Haggai 2:8, Deuteronomy 8:18, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Treasure Principle #2: My heart always goes where I put God's money. (Revelation 21:1-6, Matthew 6:21, Luke 16:9, Philippians 4:17, Luke 14:12-14)
Treasure Principle #3: Heaven not earth, is my home. (luke 12:15, Hebrews 11:13, Philippians 3:20)
Randy Alcorn relates our time on earth to a short stay in a hotel room. We're just visiting and we can't take anything back with us. So why should we invest much in the hotel room? Who decks out their temporary stay at a hotel room with expensive furniture, artwork, and exotic sculptures?
Our time on earth is but a dot, but our time in heaven is a continuos line. Are we investing more in the "dot" than the "line"?
There is a modern day plague of materialism that a PBS television program covered with the titled Affluenza. The program claims:
- The average American shops 6 hours a week while spending 40 minutes playing with children.
- By age twenty, we've seen one million commercials.
- Recently, more Americans declared bankruptcythan graduated from college.
- In 90 percent of divorce cases, arguments about money played a prominent role.

Now listen to some of the wealthiest people of their day:
- The care of $2 million is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it. ~W.H. Vanderbilt
- I am the most miserable man on earth. ~John Jacob Astor
- I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness. ~Rockefeller
- Millionaires seldom smile. ~Andrew Carnegie
"The less I spent on myself and the more I gave to others, the fuller of happiness and blessing did my soul become." ~Hudson Taylor (missionary)
"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
"Money never stays with me. It would burn me if it did. I throw it out of my hands as soon as possible, lest it should find its way into my heart." ~John Wesley
Edison's favorite piece of poetry was stanza nine from Thomas Gray's Elegy To A Country-Churchyard:
"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour:
The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

So where does one start? A tithe is a good starting block to the race of giving. To those who start with less, God is being robbed. If we commit to give 5% we are still robbing God of half. If Christ is our joy then our wallets will prove that out. It's one of the fundamental evidences of a person's faith.

"According to Plan, The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible" by Graeme Goldsworthy

I just finished this book by Goldsworthy last night and I must say I found it helpful galvanizing, in my mind, the unity of Scripture.
The first two sections are more of a Christianity 101, ntro. to the Bible. The main address is how the canon of Scripture has been assembled and inspired, essentially providing solid apologetics for the authority of Scripture. The second section, which makes up the bulk of the text, is an overview of the entirety of the Bible illuminating the unfolding revelation of the Gospel as the underlying, overarching central theme. I found while reading through this section that the book was particularly hard to put down as it showed how connected all the separate books of Scripture are. The last section is a few brief pages on practical application of the stressed themes of this book such as knowing God's will.
Given its proper emphasis on Biblical themes I'd recommend this book for new believers as it gives such an excellent and concise bird's eye view of Scripture.

Moses' Writings, The Foundational Template For Scripture

Moses wrote the first five books of our Bible, laying the foundation of all Christian theology. We trust the authority of the Law of Moses because a nation of nearly a million Israelites followed and witnessed God doing extraordinary things through him, making Moses the greatest prophet of the Old Testament. Through Moses God brought devastating plagues upon the most powerful nation of the time (Egypt), walked out of the country with several hundred thousand slaves, took a short cut through a large body of water, protected the people of Israel with a large pillar of fire and smoke, sustained them through a 40 year camping trip in the desert (with water flowing from rocks, manna that showed up every morning, and oodles of quail), gave these campers victory in war over established nations with armies and fortified cities, and along the exodus journey established a far more civil government than the world had ever known... just to name a few things.
The question is; can we trust the witness of nearly a million people who give eye-witness testimony of Moses being lead and counseled "face to face" with God (complete with historical & archaeological evidence)? Do we say, "Maybe this God of Moses who has not only declared an intolerance to all the other gods (and subsequently laid waste to those who would follow after those little gods, trying to pollute His chosen people with their idolatry) is the one true living God and Creator of all whom I should call Lord and seek after"?

Or... do we turn to another foundational writer of another faith who asks us to trust in his teachings although he has no witnesses to his "revelations" or "signs and wonders" from his god/gods/the force/karma/Elvis/etc.?

How Awesome Is Our God

Look upon the following verses and meditate on them. Know that Christ's coming and sacrifice was not a "Plan B." Our God is not some small, reactionary god who is shaped by the decisions of man.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

"His saving work in the world was not an afterthought because of sin, but was the eternal purpose of God. It was the plan of God before creation and from all eternity. Upon this plan God created all things. If we can imagine God drawing up the plans for the universe before he created it, and if we could examine these plans, we would not see Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus Christ in the gospel." Graeme Goldsworthy, According To Plan, pg. 60.


Yes, all things were created with wisdom and foreknowledge. Sadly, many today have such a diminished view of what foreknowledge is. They think to foreknow is simply to know the facts beforehand (omniscience).

Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

Look at "foreknew" in relation to "predestined." We know that not all people are becoming conformed to the image of Christ and yet an all knowing (omniscient) God certainly is aware of every person He has created. Therefore "foreknowledge" must mean something more than merely "an awareness of events to come." Nowhere in Scripture do we see that God "foreknew" those that are not among the elect.

The intimacy of knowing:
The root of foreknowledge is know. In scripture, to know someone denotes a particular intimacy.
Genesis 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain,...
Now either Adam stood around pointing at Eve, identifying her until she bore him a son or there was something more intimate going on in the business of knowing.
Matthew 7: 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Either Christ had no awareness of these workers of iniquity (even though He was addressing them and identifying them as workers of iniquity) or the knowledge represents a particular intimacy.


Further study: For a more scholarly biblical exegesis (with the original Greek) of understanding foreknowledge click here.

Paul's To-Do List

1. Go blind.
2. Regain sight.
3. Go on a world tour teaching Christ and Him crucified while planting churches and making tents to keep the ministry going.
4. Make sure the teaching is exclusive enough to get flogged, stoned, and imprisoned. (Shake it off. It's only flesh and bone.)
5. Send out a bunch of letters to the churches to clarify the foundations of the Church.
6. Escape from the crazy Jews in order to gain an audience with an even crazier emperor.
7. Become a martyr...

Ode to the Beautiful Pentateuch

O Penteteuch, O Penteteuch!
How engaging is your detailed architectural instructions of the Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant.
How lovely the way you expound on all customs involving the Sabbath and festivals.
You say, "Come drink deeply of the extensive details of laws regarding the appropriate treatment of slaves, laws of restitution, and laws of justice," and I bound towards your Word with great exuberance.
I draw on you at times when I need to offer up Peace Offerings, Sin Offerings, and Guilt Offerings.
If it were not for you I would be at a loss as to what part of the altar to sprinkle the blood of oxen.

In the post-modern era the Penteteuch can indeed look daunting and antiquated at first glance. Even I must confess that my mind has often wanted to go on vacation once I get to the middle of Exodus, telling my eyes, "Wake me when we get to Joshua." Just look at the Sadducees in the New Testament. These guys esteemed the writings of Moses above the rest of Scripture and they were among the most manic jerks that Jesus encountered. It seems like most of the content of the Pentateuch was written with architects and fanatical lawyers in mind. However, with some discipline and illumination from the Spirit I have found joy in my daily readings through these books and will bid them a fond farewell as I finish Deuteronomy by week's end.

So here's my brief takeaway...

The first five books of the Bible are the foundation for understanding the doctrine of God. Without them our understanding of God and our ability to effectively function in this world as Gospel witnesses is severely crippled.
Genesis paints an incredibly powerful picture of God the all powerful creator of everything who spoke all that is into existence. Many an accomplished scientist through the ages have achieved amazing discoveries in their respective fields by holding close the understanding that they were examining our Heavenly Father's craftsmanship.
The doctrine of Imago Dei begins to unfold as we see how man was created as a sort of first fruits of God's creation. Through this we are shown the vital necessity of our relationship with God and dependency on fellow man.
We also see how Adam & Eve first put the will of man into the bondage of sin and how God pursues restoration to overcome our stiff-necks and hard hearts.
What becomes clear as the chapters continue is that the value of life is tremendous but also dwarfed in comparison to the glory of God as the nations that oppose God and His chosen people are turned into cautionary tales.
As the wickedness of man is always juxtapositioned to our great God, all the seemingly tedious rules, rituals, and instructions written in the heart of the Pentateuch can be appreciated as a way for fallen man to approach the God of great faithfulness and perfection.

And through it all there is a thread of unfolding revelation of the Gospel that redeems and restores. Instead of wincing at the old "barbaric practices" that were given to God's people, we can celebrate knowing that these were the beginnings of the restoration process and as we continue on in faith we may set our sights on using bricks to continue building up the Church rather than stones to rock the faithless to a permanent sleep.

All that being said, I still believe some chapters to be written strictly for architects and lawyers. ;)