The following message was delivered
on Sunday evening, September 17th, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist
Church of Montville, New Jersey. Now will you turn with me, please,
and follow as I read from two brief portions in the early chapters
of the Acts of the Apostles, in which Luke, by the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, is giving us a record of how the Spirit
of God worked in the Jerusalem church in the early days and
months subsequent to that initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit
on the day of Pentecost and with respect to that initial and tremendous
increase of the church on the very day of Pentecost recorded
in chapter 2 verses 41 and 42 Luke records in verses 43 to
7, in summary form, some of the outstanding characteristics of
that congregation. And fear came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles, and
all that believed were together, and had all things common. And
they sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all,
according as any man had need. And day by day, continuing steadfastly
with one accord in the temple and breaking bread at home, they
took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising
God and having favor with all the people. and the Lord added
to them day by day those that were being saved." And now over
to chapter 4, and a similar record of that same Jerusalem church,
after it had endured its first baptism of opposition, particularly
the leadership And they had sought the face of God, and God had
come and granted a fresh endowment of His Holy Spirit, resulting
in the bold proclamation of the word. And now we have a description
again of congregational life at that time there in Jerusalem,
verse 32 of chapter 4. And the multitude of them that
believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them said
that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but
they had all things common. And with great power gave the
apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great grace was upon them all, for neither was there among
them any that lacked. for as many as were possessors
of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the
things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet, and
distribution was made unto each according as anyone had need." Now the scriptures do not approach
the matter of money and finances in relationship to the work of
God and in the life of the church of God as though such things
were the companion of off-color locker room talk or fell within
the orbit of the things which Paul refers to in Ephesians 5.13
concerning which it is a shame even to speak of them. In fact,
in addition to these two portions of scripture read in your hearing,
in which the spiritual health and vigor of the Jerusalem church
is described in terms which are top-heavy in their references
to the matters of money and possessions, the entire New Testament oozes
with reference to these issues. There are, for example, two whole
chapters, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, which deal exclusively with
the principles pertaining to a benevolence offering of money
organized and administered under the supervision of the Apostle
Paul and his companions. There are literally whole paragraphs,
entire parables, and manifold individual texts which explicitly
address the issues of money and possessions in general, and money
and possessions in relationship to the kingdom of God, support
of the servants of God, and the concerns of the church of God
in particular. Again, To just underscore that
reality, what would the gospel records be without the memorable
and touching incident recorded in Luke 21 and in the parallel
passage in Mark of Jesus standing by the treasury and beholding
how people gave into the temple treasury. And there highlights
those who gave something out of their excess and then focuses
upon the virtue of that widow who, casting in her two little
coins, gave all that she possessed. What would the Sermon on the
Mount be if strict of the latter part of chapter 6 beginning with
verse 9 where Jesus gives a prohibition, lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, and ends in verse 33 with the wonderful positive
direction, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
and all these things shall be added unto you. How often have
we reflected on Jesus' words, spoken after his dealings with
the rich young ruler, found in all three synoptic Gospels, when
he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the
kingdom of God, for it is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom
of heaven. And again we add to these the
warnings of our Lord against covetousness. His graphic description
of the rich fool who says to his soul, soul thou hast much
goods laid up for many years. Eat, drink, take thine ease. And the Lord says, thou fool,
this night shall thy soul be required of thee. And that very
story is told in a context in which he says, beware of covetousness,
for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things
which he possesses. And then the host of references
in the epistles, let him that stole steal no more, but rather
let him work with his hands that he may have to give to him who
is in need. The specific injunctions in the
pastoral epistles concerning the care of widows. And what
is true of the New Testament is but an echo of what is found
in the Old Testament as well. What would our Old Testament
be if we extracted the chapters and portions of chapters in which
God describes how the people willingly gave of their substance
in order that the tabernacle might be constructed according
to the divine pattern? What would our Old Testament
be without the record of the special provisions that God wove
into the very fabric of his law to make sure that the priests
and the whole tribe of Levi in caring for the worship of God
would be adequately cared for by the gifts and offerings of
God's people. What would our Old Testament
be stripped of the gripping accounts, the frightening accounts of covetous
Achan and his ultimate judgment? Of greedy-eyed Gehazi becoming
a leper and of wicked Ahab setting his heart upon the vineyard of
another man and willing to allow his wicked wife the scheme in
order to take the life of that man that he might have that possession
I say and this is only a sampling of the data of the Old and the
New Testament, the Bible does not treat the matters of money
and possessions in general, or money and possessions in conjunction
with the work of the Kingdom of God under the Old or the New
Covenants as off-color locker talk or as something beneath
the dignity and nobility of serious consideration in the solemn worship
of our God. And it is because the Bible addresses
these things so freely and frequently that we have never apologized
for taking up the issues of money and possessions if they have
come to us in the regular course of exposition or if in the life
of our church it has been necessary to address these things in order
that the scepter of Christ that rests upon this church of Christ
might sway us as the people of Christ to do the will of Christ
to the glory of Christ in conjunction with money and things. And those of you who have been
with us over the history of our three plus decades will bear
witness that never Never, never once in this place have we ever
indulged in carnal emotional pressure, in guilt manipulation,
or in irresponsible and unbalanced demands made upon you, or in
presumptuous commitments that have embarrassed us and shamed
Christ. to the praise of God that statement
can be made and there is not anyone who can bear valid witness
against it. And we have come once again in
our life as a congregation in the providence of God to the
place where we need to draw near. to the scepter of Christ, and
I'm using that imagery with regard to His word, the entirety of
His word being the scepter by which He governs us, His people,
and take as it were the magnifying glass upon the segment of that
scepter on which He has inscribed certain aspects of His will for
His church and from which I trust we can derive directives that
will help us to know the will of Christ with reference to what
we as the people of God ought to do in the light of the present
providences of God. Now most of you know that in
many things perhaps you may judge me to be an absolute klutz, but
in one area you know that I am, and that is when it comes to
concocting sermon titles. I frustrate poor Mr. Deutsch
when he'll ask me of a given sermon, how should we title it?
I say, Bill, just anything that isn't ludicrous will be fine.
It'll be better than what I can come up with. I'm a klutz at
sermon titles. Whatever it takes in the human
brain to come up with accurate and attractive, not overblown
or artificially clever sermon titles, I got short-circuited
somewhere, but if I had to give a title to tonight's sermon,
I believe I would entitle it, Stand Still, Retreat, or Go Forward,
Which Shall It Be? And I feel quite satisfied with
that, and when a man is always popping up with the bases loaded
and is able to punch one up the middle and knock in two runs,
he must have a good feeling, though he may never hit a grand
slam home run and get four ribbies. All right? Stand still, retreat,
or go forward, which shall it be? And addressing this subject
at the encouragement and direction of my fellow elders, and in consultation
with the deacons, I want to do so first of all under our first
heading, the facts concerning our present financial situation
as a church. The facts concerning our present
financial situation as a church. As we indicated some months ago
in a special congregational meeting on April 2nd of this year, to
be precise, We are thankful that as God has given job stability
and a spirit of generosity, that we were able on that occasion
as a congregation, voluntarily and unanimously, to commit ourselves
to a large, unbudgeted expenditure for our missionary endeavor in
the Philippines. A commitment that by the time
it is fully worked out will be somewhere in the order of $90,000
and we were able to do that without depleting all of our cash reserves
and without in any way tempting God. Again, this past year, in
the month of May, you as a people, above and beyond your regular
giving, gave just short of a $50,000 once-for-all benevolence offering
to the Trinity Christian School. In recent months you have given
on two occasions generous benevolence offerings above and beyond your
regular giving, both to the cause of the needy in Africa and also
in Bosnia. And we are grateful to God that
during this entire time the work of God amongst us and the budgeted
commitments for the support of the ministries here and abroad
have not suffered. However, in a recent memo from
the chairman of our deacons, we were made aware of the fact
that a pattern has emerged in the last five or six months which
we believe we cannot responsibly ignore. And that pattern indicates
that in terms of our regular in-house giving in Trinity Baptist
Church, and the out-of-house support for some of our ministries
that are inter-church ministries, such as the Academy and some
of our missionary endeavors, that in both of these areas there
has been a pattern of continuous shortfall in terms of the budget
that has been laid out for that time period and Mr. Davies in
a memo sent to the Deacon Elders on September the 6th said it
appears that offerings will be $12,000 below budget for the
year and that these outside income categories collectively will
be $20,000 below the budgeted Figure, if we are to stay on
track as we enter the new fiscal year, perhaps this is the time
to call our members to consider the level of their giving. If
there is not a substantial improvement in our income by the end of calendar
year 95, I believe we will have to consider enacting serious
alteration of staffing and other expenditure items. And enclosed
was a bar graph that showed and I wish I had an overhead projector
to all of you can see it clearly but these bar graphs represent
the patterns of giving with the stars would be from December
of 93 to December of 94 and you'll notice a red line and above that
red line is everything weekly offering above 14,000 but from
December through to September of this year Only one time has
that figure been reached and the connecting line shows our
giving much closer to 12,000 per week when the budgeting was
made predicated upon this pattern of giving but it is now unfolded
at that pattern of giving. Now those are the facts with
respect to our present financial situation as a church. and we
are not in a panic mode, but as wise stewards we must face
facts and seek to respond to them prudently and as men of
faith. Now, my second heading is this,
having laid out the facts concerning our present financial situation
as a church, heading number two, the possible responses to our
present financial situation as a church. And it appears to me,
and I've interacted with Mr. Davies on this matter, that there
are really only three basic possibilities. And the first is this. To move
ahead with increased budgetary commitments and trust God to
meet our needs. To move ahead with increased
budgetary commitments and trust God to meet our needs. Now all of us in the leadership
of the church, and I believe you, the people of God, if you
had your choice, this is what we would all do, because this
is what we have been able to do in our recent history. from
the time we prayed week after week and many times when God
was providing the means to construct this building in which we sit. Oh God, don't let it be our resting
place, make it our launching pad. And God has done that. And
ministry after ministry has either been extended and expanded or
actually brought into being so that in laying out a responsible
budget we have been able to move ahead with increased budgetary
commitments and to trust God to meet our needs. And as we
were able to make a large, unbudgeted expenditure to advance the work
of God in the Philippines in this past year, and in other
places as well, we would desire to do the same in the coming
year. with the very real possibility of Grace Fellowship in Newark
becoming a constituted church. We would like to move ahead with
generous support of that work until it can be fully self-supporting. We think of a massive building
program that is projected down in the Dominican Republic, 1,200
people crowded into and sitting outside of a reconstructed domestic
dwelling to hear the Word of God. And you see the picture
of that beautiful building they've proposed to build and how that
money will have to come from sources other than that which
they have in that third world situation. And we would delight
to be able, as we have done in other situations, to say you
can count on $30,000 from us when you reach this state in
your building program. We would like to involve ourselves
in increased benevolence in many directions. Well, some would
say, then forget the bar graphs. Plot out advances and trust God. Some would say that. Well, we
cannot take that position because what is called faith in such
a scenario is really presumption and tempting God. And why do
I say that? Well, I want you to look particularly
at two texts of scripture with me. In Proverbs chapter 3, a
text which addresses the matter of response to need, having a
benevolent heart and hand, God directs his people with these
words. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse
27. withhold not good from them to
whom it is due." When it is in the power of your faith to trust
God that you'll be able to meet your commitment. No, it says,
do not withhold from them to whom it is due when it is in
the power of your hand to do it. Do not say to your neighbor,
go and come again and tomorrow I will give when you have it
by you. It's one thing for me to look
upon someone weeping in the second or third row and say, excuse
me brethren, I want to give my brother or sister a handkerchief
to dry his or her eyes, if I have a handkerchief in my hand or
readily accessible. But for me to promise them a
handkerchief and pray that somehow between now and the time I get
to the third row the Lord will drop a hanky out of heaven is
not faith, it's sheer presumption and fanaticism. We are not to
withhold good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power,
not of our imagined faith, but in the power of our hand to give
it to them. Do not say to your neighbor,
go and come again. That is, use time and delay as
an excuse for selfish grasping upon what you have when you have
it by you. It is there to dispense with
responsibly, and your neighbor is in need, and God in His providence
has given you the ability to respond. Then you are to respond
freely and joyfully. But you see, the great principle
is when you have it by you, when it is in the power of your hand
to do so. And likewise, in the great benevolent
section of the New Testament, 2 Corinthians chapter 8, as Paul
is seeking to give principles that will guide the Corinthian
Christians, notice what he says in chapter 8, verses 11 to 14.
But now complete the doing, that as there was the readiness to
will, so there may be the completion also, now notice, out of your
ability. not out of your faith as to what
your ability may be down the road, but out of your present
ability in divine providence. For if the readiness is there,
it is acceptable according as a man has, not according as he
has not. For I say not this, that others
may be eased, and you distressed, but by equality, your abundance
being a supply at this present time for their want, that their
abundance also may become a supply for your want, that there may
be equality." He says, you now have, relatively speaking, in
hand an abundance and they have lack. In divine providence, the
time may come when, relatively speaking, they will have an abundance
and you will be in lack. But the emphasis here, in the
collection of this benevolence gift for the poor saints in Judea,
is exactly the same as Proverbs 3. Do not withhold what is in
your hand when it is in the power to give it. as you express the
readiness now, according to present ability, respond to that need. The same God who has given these
texts has said, our Lord Jesus quoting from the Old Testament
in Matthew 4, 7, when the devil said, You're the son of God,
why don't you jump down from the temple? Has he not made promises
that his angels will be given charge over you to keep you in
all your ways, lest you dash your foot against the stone?
Jesus answers his abuse of Scripture with the right use of Scripture.
It is written, you shall not tempt, you shall not make trial
of the Lord your God. Yes, God will protect us and
provide for us in the way of responsibly doing his will. But
Jesus said for me to go up in the pinnacle of the temple and
jump in something other than a pursuit of the clearly revealed
will of my father and expect him to send angels to break my
fall and keep me from splattering on the rocks below or on the
pavement below would be to tempt God. And for us simply to say,
well, we see the patterns of decreased giving, but we must
never, never stop, let alone retreat. So let's just make increased
budgetary commitments and forge ahead and trust God. Let's jump
off the temple of irresponsible fiscal planning and trust God
to intervene and keep us from dashing on the concrete of bringing
shame to God and disappointment to those who have been promised
help and support. No, my brothers, your leaders
will not knowingly tempt the Lord their God. Again, Romans
13 8 says, Oh, no man anything save to love one another. Do
not contract on righteous debt. And if we budget to support given
enterprises and apprise people that we are committed to such
and such an enterprise, and we do not have reasonable grounds
to expect we can meet that commitment, it is the same as incurring unrighteous
debt. We would then be owing what we
could not pay. so that possible response is
one that on the surface seems spiritual but it is pseudo-spiritual
in reality it is the response of fanaticism and presumption
and we bless God that in our 33 years together God has never
allowed us to so deal with the matter of money and things and
financial commitments that we have never brought shame to Christ
by such fanaticism and presumption. Well, there's a possible second
response and some of you have already thought of it. That is
to assume that the pattern of giving an income of the past
six months will continue and to cut back our budgeted commitments
across the board. In other words, halt and retreat. that if God surprises us, we
can always adjust along the way, but the only responsible thing
to do, as the brethren anticipate setting out the budget for the
coming fiscal year, is to cut back our budgeted commitments
across the board. I say that some would say this
is the only biblical and common sense proposal. And they would
argue, using such scriptures as Proverbs 22 and verse 3, a
proverb repeated in chapter 27 and verse 12. And this would
be a scripture that they would bring forward to justify such
a response. Proverbs 22 and verse 3. A prudent man sees the evil and
hides himself. He takes appropriate defensive
action. but the simple pass on and suffer
for it. Prudent elders and deacons in
Trinity Baptist Church will see the potential evil of the patterns
of giving over the past six months if we do not halt and retreat
and therefore they will prudently hide themselves by a proposed
budget that reflects the reality of the patterns of the past months. They would say that 2 Corinthians
8.14 teaches that the time may have come when from being relatively
in the position of abundance, we are now entering a halfway
house to a posture of need. And Paul recognizes that in the
providence of God, any given church may at one time be an
open, generous giving hand, while at another time it may have to
be a gracious receiving hand. And perhaps God is bringing us
as a church from being an open, generous, giving hand to being
a needy, gracious, open, receptive hand. And that any responsible
action would mean immediately to begin to crunch in the numbers
that clearly reflect a commitment to budgetary, not merely restraint,
but budgetary retreat. However, Your leaders do not
believe that this should be our immediate response. And why is
that? Well, first of all, because it
would mean we would rob ourselves of the spiritual exercises and
challenges which our present situation brings to bear upon
us. It would rob us of the spiritual
exercises and challenges which our present situation brings
upon us. Furthermore, it would mean that
we are assuming that the bar graph of the past six months
is an infallible prophecy of the next three months. And I'm
not prepared to allow one of the PCs in the church basement
to be turned into a prophet or a prophetess if someone has dubbed
it with a female name. I'm not going to allow an Apple
computer to be the mouth of God! Nor are my fellow elders, nor
the dear deacons who serve us so faithfully in this place. We regard this response just
the opposite of fanaticism and presumption, the first response,
this is a response of fatalism and rationalism. It does not
allow that there may be significant factors in the whole equation
that we do not see and that God can bring to light in a very
short time. And there are many examples of
this in the scriptures. As I was preparing this message,
my mind went back to those examples found in 2 Kings. You wonder
sometimes what these large historical sections have been put in our
Bibles for. Well, they are rich seedbeds
of illustrating vital biblical principles, instruction in the
way of righteousness. And in 2 Kings chapter 6, We
have a wonderful incident recorded in verse 8 and following. The
king of Syria was warring against Israel and he took counsel with
his servants saying, in such and such a place shall be my
camp. And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying,
Beware that you do not pass by such a place, for there the Syrians
are coming down. So every time the Syrian general
would get in his tent with his leading military officers and
plot his strategy, God would reveal to Elisha what was going
on, and Elisha would tell the military strategy to the leaders
of Israel. And after a while, the Syrians
began to catch on that maybe there was a mole in the camp
and a traitor, a columnist. who was somehow slipping out
and slipping into Israel, that something was wrong. And then
they come to the conclusion, there's a prophet somewhere in
all of this. So they decide to surround the
city and to capture the man of God. Verse 14, Therefore sent
he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host. And they came
by night, and compassed the city about. When the servant of the
man of God was risen early and gone forth, what did he see?
He saw these realities. A host with horses and chariots
round about the city. Now he wasn't having a dream.
He wasn't hallucinating. These things were not the projections
of his own fears and apprehensions materializing somehow in the
chambers of his brain. No, there were real chariots
whose chariot wheels he could hear if they ground over stone
around the city. There were real soldiers with
helmets and spears and horses with flared nostrils and thumping
feet. This was reality. This was the
bar graph. This was the logistical display
of what chance does a prophet with a mantle have against an
army with horsemen and spearmen and chariots. But you see, the
prophet knew there were some things the bar graph couldn't
display. So what does he do? Well, the
servant comes to the man of God and says, Alas, my master, what
shall we do? We've had it! And the prophet
simply says, don't be afraid, for they that are with us are
more than they that are with them. Oh yes, you've seen a multitude
of soldiers, chariots and horses and war men, but there's another
reality that is out there, my son. And Elisha prayed and said,
Lord, I pray you, open his eyes that he may see. He doesn't ask
God to create anything that isn't there. He just asked God to give
to his servant eyes to see something that was there all the while
that he had not yet seen. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man and he saw. And behold, the mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And when they came down to him,
Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, smite this people, I pray
thee, with blindness. And you know, some of you, the
rest of the story, it's humorous. If God doesn't have a sense of
humor, he never would have inspired this passage. And here the army
that came out to capture the prophet is being led blind by
the hand of the prophet. You see, in the servant of the
man of God learned the lesson, not all reality can be captured
on the bar graph. Not all reality is in the numbers
by which the patterns of our giving have been carefully calibrated
and tracked over recent months. There are other realities and
we would not rob any of you nor ourselves of the privilege of
seeing those realities which are only seen in the crisis where
it's necessary for God to reveal them. And here I give just a
little bit of church history, that is, Trinity Church history
for those visiting, and those who are new among us. The building
in which we sit, and the adjacent buildings, according to much
less sophisticated back then, what, 17, 18 years ago, when
the numbers were crunched in with regard to the amount of
our giving, the patterns of our giving, what it would cost to
build a modest building to house us still meeting in rented school
houses. I shall never forget that elders
retreat when similar papers, not bar graphs, but here they
were charts with things hooked together with their high points
and low points. And I shall never forget seeing
on that chart that with each passing day given inflation and
what it was doing to building costs, and what it was doing
to the cost of living in this area and all the rest. With each
passing day, the patterns of our income and the cost of building
a building, the distance between the two lines was getting bigger
and bigger and bigger and bigger. So that according to the calculations
of the computer, there was no way we could responsibly construct
anything. But there were realities that
that computer could not compute. And that's the God of heaven
who says, call unto me and I will answer you and show you great
and mighty things which you know not. So we began to have extra
prayer meetings and cry to God. And here we sit. complex of buildings
and furnishings that at the time, I don't know what their present
worth is, totaled somewhere close to one and a half million dollars.
And when people said, where'd you get the money? He said, I
don't know. We prayed. I know you prayed. How did you raise
it? What did you do practically? There are factors that cannot
be calibrated by the most calculating, careful analysis of the things
that can be seen with these eyes. And dear people, that's why we
are not in a panic mode. That's why in a public forum
I'm declaring our present state without shame, without embarrassment,
and seeking to bring the Word of God to bear upon it. And the
courses before us are not the course of fanaticism and presumption,
nor is it the course of fatalism and rationalism. Well, there's
a third possible course of action, and that is this. To seek to
respond to our present financial situation. I didn't even call
it a crisis. I said to seek to respond to
our present financial situation. The situation is what is. That's
reality. To respond to that reality in
a balanced, biblical manner. to seek to respond to our present
financial situation in a balanced, biblical manner. Now, what will
that involve? Well, let me suggest that it
will involve three things. You knew that before I even said
it, alright? Number one, giving ourselves to intensified personal,
family, and corporate prayer regarding this situation. giving
ourselves to intensified personal, family, and corporate prayer
regarding this situation. I refer you to the familiar words
of chapter 4 in Philippians. There are two sections in this
chapter particularly relevant to our present situation. Verse 6. In nothing, be anxious. In nothing,
allow your spirit to become turbulent and agitated with an anxiety
that unstrings the soul and brings imbalance to the judgment. In
nothing, be anxious. Paul is obviously aware that
in the life of any individual Christian and in the life of
the people of God together, there will constantly be circumstances
and situations which, if they had their way, would bring us
into a state of turbulent anxiety. He said, in nothing, be anxious. And what's the divine antidote
to this kind of sinful anxiety? But in everything, by prayer,
and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
unto God. And I'm thankful that there is
no panic. This memo that came from Mr.
Davies is just one of many that we've received in the course
of a year in the open communication between the elders and deacons,
apprising us of various concerns, seeking our counsel. There's
not a note of panic in this. It's simply apprising us of the
situation, what is, and how are we to respond as your leaders?
We are not to be anxious. We are not to go into Papanel's
ulcer to your fingernail mold as leaders. No, in nothing be
anxious, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. in our
closets, at our family altars, in our prayer meetings on Wednesday,
in our monthly prayer meetings on Saturday, let us begin to
intensify and focus our prayers upon this present situation cry
to the God of heaven that He would give us wisdom, that if
it pleased Him, He would alter it in the next month so that
in planning the budgetary commitments of the coming year, we can plan
wisely and responsibly to the glory of God and to the advancement
of His kingdom. And this has peculiar relevance
to the Philippians and, I believe, to us by the grace of God. For
it was this church of whom Paul could say, notice in verses 15
to 18 of the same chapter, you yourselves know, you Philippians,
that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia,
no church had fellowship with me in the matter of giving and
receiving, but you only. For even in Thessalonica you
sent once and again to my need, not that I seek for the gift,
but I seek for the fruit that increases to your account, I
have all things and abound, I'm filled, having received from
Epaphroditus the things that came from you, an order of a
sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God." Now often
verse 19 is just quoted out of context or with no reference
to the context. But you see in the context, verse
19 is spoken to a church that has sought to have an open hand
in the cause of the spread of the gospel. They had a unique
concern for this new gospel foray that Paul was making when he
departed from Macedonia, and no other church voluntarily entered
in and shared that with him. But in the soul of that Philippian
church was a peculiar grace of open-handed, large-hearted identification
with the apostle and his missionary endeavors. And even when Paul
is in prison, they have a heart to respond to his needs. And Epaphroditus is sent, and
he says, I'm now flushed. I've learned how to be abased
and how to abound. But when you Philippians have
expressed your heart and opened your hand, I'm in an abounding
state. And this I know now, verse 19,
and my God, and my God, see the connective, and my God, shall
supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ
Jesus. give, and it should be given
unto you, good measure, press down, and shall men give into
your bosom. He that sows sparingly shall
reap sparingly. He that sows abundantly shall
reap abundantly. And as he says in those watershed
passages in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, he says, as you Corinthians
give, God is able to make you abound in the grace of and the
more you sow the more you reap and the more you reap the more
you have seed for sowing and bread for eating the old statement
God is no man's debtor is true And dear people, I believe that
we have biblical grounds to take these texts in Philippians and
to give ourselves at this time in our closets, in our family
worship, and in our corporate seasons of prayer to crying out
to God. Those of us who have been through
those epochs in the life of our church, that resulted in the
construction of these buildings and other massive financial undertakings
we would not trade those seasons of wrestling with God for anything
and could it be that God is in his scrutable wisdom says now
my children down there are getting just a little bit presumptuous
everything's going to run all right and they can continue to
take on additional burdens and responsibilities and commitments
and I need to get their attention And for one reason or another,
and perhaps we could trace it down to some of the natural factors
God has used, the bar graphs show there's been a falling off.
God's gotten our attention. Now He gets our attention not
to lead us into rationalism and to a course of unbelief, nor
to lead us into a course of fanaticism and presumption. but that we
might respond biblically to give ourselves to intensified personal
family and corporate prayer regarding this situation. Some of us can
remember back when we faced one of our first major crises, and
this had to do with getting a piece of land, not even constructing
a building. And we had a week of prayer,
and it was my privilege to preach through 2 Chronicles 20, and
time will not permit us to go through the chapter, but I urge
you, as you personally perhaps pray, As you lead your family
in praying for this matter, to read that chapter, at the heart
of which is the king who says to the entire nation, and in
the presence of the nation, he says to his God, as they face
a crisis that could result in their utter annihilation, we
know not what to do, but our eyes are unto thee. and how wonderfully
God intervened and magnified his name and met the needs of
his people. So, a balanced biblical response
will begin with our giving ourselves to prayer. But then secondly,
a balanced biblical response will find us engaging in honest
personal and family self-examination concerning our present patterns
of giving to the work of God in this place. That a biblical
response should find us engaging in honest, personal, and family
self-examination, not the elders examining what you're giving,
not one another examining each other, no, personal and family
self-examination concerning our present patterns of giving to
the work of God in this place. And to help you in that process
and discipline of self-examination, may I give you three questions
that I ask you to take into the presence of God with you and
to seek to ask them with judgment day honesty in the presence of
your God? Question number one. Am I being
faithful in my principled determination to give God his rightful portion
of all of my increase? Am I being faithful in my principled
determination to give to God his rightful portion of all of
my increase. You remember the question asked
in Malachi 3 and verse 8? Will a man rob God? And the people
say, wherein have we robbed God? And God answers, in tithes and
in offerings. You see that portion that God
is to receive of the first fruits of our increase. Proverbs 3,
9, Honor the Lord with thy substance and the firstfruits of thine
increase. Though all that we have belongs
to God in a very unique way, that belongs to God and failure
to give it to God is a form of spiritual thievery. It is robbing
God. And I ask you to ask honestly,
in the presence of God, am I, am I, not someone else or something,
am I being faithful in my principled determination to give God his
rightful portion of all of my increase, or am I guilty of robbing
God? Now I'm not going to ask you
that question, but I'm urging you to ask yourself that question. in the solemn presence of God,
and do ask it of your children. Are they taking of their allowance
and giving God his portion of what they earn by cutting lawns
and doing babysitting? Are you rearing a family that
has as part of its emerging consciousness of right and That tenth of all
my increase belongs to the Lord my God. It's a principled, determined,
settled, non-negotiable commitment of heart that I will not be guilty
of robbing God. Secondly, you ask this question. Am I really seeking the priorities
of the kingdom of God with respect to my discretionary income? Am I really seeking the priorities
of the kingdom of God with my discretionary income? And here
I ask you to turn to Matthew 6, a passage to which I alluded
in the introduction of our study tonight. And I'll explain to you kids
what I mean, priorities and discretionary income. Here in Matthew chapter
6, the Lord says in verse 19, Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust consume and thieves break through
and steal." Now what is assumed in that text? What is assumed
is that when God has been given his rightful portion, there is
yet discretionary income, income that I am free to use in other
ways. I have something that can be
placed in the bank can be invested in real estate or in other commodities,
I have something that can become a cumulative treasure out of
my discretionary income. It is not income needed for food
and drink. It is not income to give God
his rightful portion on the front end of whatever comes into my
hand. Discretionary income is income
that I am at liberty to spend for things other than that which
God lawfully demands me to spend it for. He lawfully demands. that I provide food for my family,
that I give him his portion, that I respond to the needy. He lawfully demands that I pay
my taxes, tribute to whom tribute is due. He lawfully demands that
I do not incur and sustain unrighteous indebtedness, oh no man, anything.
But now when those things are cared for and I have discretionary
funds, what does Jesus say? he says don't be committed to
laying up treasure on earth don't be committed to the amassing
of wealth here on earth but let something else be the focus of
your priority with your discretionary income verse 33 seek ye first
his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be
added unto you And in the midst of that, he makes one of the
plainest statements about the relationship of the disciple
to money and things to be found anywhere in the Word, verse 24.
No man can serve two masters. He'll hate the one and love the
other, hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God,
and money is here personified into a God called Mammon. You cannot serve God and Mammon. You cannot have a heart fixed
upon the priority of amassing discretionary income with a view
to this present life and to this earth. There is to be a priority
of commitment to the work of the kingdom, and I would ask
each of you as I am asking myself, am I really seeking the priorities
of the kingdom of God with my discretionary income? That thing, be it an item of
clothing, be it a car, be it an appliance, whatever it is
that I may be at liberty to purchase with discretionary income, Can
I purchase it if it is not really needed in the course of duty
when what would be spent for it could advance the kingdom
and be treasure in heaven that will meet me in the last day?
No more, no rust, no thief can touch it. Dear people, we need
to ask ourselves that question. I have no right to ask it of
you personally and ask you to give an account of what you do
to me. But surely you must ask it of
yourself in the presence of your God. And then a third question
that I think will help in engaging in honest, personal, and family
self-examination concerning our present patterns of giving to
the work of God. Am I being faithful in my principled
determination to give God his rightful portion? Secondly, am
I really seeking the priorities of the kingdom of God in the
use of my discretionary income? Thirdly, Am I engaging in a level
and pattern of giving that reflects any real self-denial? Am I engaging in a level or pattern
of giving that reflects any real self-denial? Now, why do I ask
that question? Well, basically for two reasons.
The bottom line of the self of discipleship is self-denial.
If any man will come after me, the words of Jesus recorded in
Matthew, in Mark, and in Luke. If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And in 2 Corinthians 5 15 we
are told that one of the very ends for which Christ died was
to bring all of those for whom he died into a lifestyle in which
they do not live unto self but unto him. For we thus judge,
if one died for all, therefore all died, and that he died for
all, that they who lived should no longer henceforth live unto
themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose
again. He died and rose again, that
having life through his death and resurrection, we should live
unto him. Now, what is life if we take
out of it the elements pertaining to money and things? It's one
of the major elements of life. And therefore, if money and things
have not felt the radical shift of the power of the cross from
self to Christ, there's a question if we're really converted and
whether we are truly his disciples. How clearly this is illustrated
in the Word of God. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians
9 speaks of his self-denial. Have we not a right of the monetary
support of you people at Corinth and in other places, but in self-denial
for the sake of the gospel, he says, we relinquish this right,
this right Furthermore, he starts the whole chapter on benevolence
in 2 Corinthians 8, talking about Macedonians who, out of their
poverty and beyond their power, gave freely, begging Paul and
his companions, please take this. Now granted, that was a once-for-all
benevolence offering. It wasn't a continuous pattern,
but you see, the principle was there. When people already in
poverty, are squeezing out a gift from their poverty and urging
the Apostle to take it in spite of their evident poverty, there's
only one thing that causes that, and that's the spirit of Christlike
self-denial, as opposed to self-pity that often accompanies a state
of poverty. You remember the widow? Jesus
said of the others, they cast in the old authorizers of their
superfluity, of their abundance. This was even beyond what we
call discretionary income. They were filthy rich. They could
throw in their gold pieces, didn't even have to bother to count
how many they threw in, compared with how many that were left.
But when she threw in her two little coins, Jesus said she
cast in all that she had, an act of self-denial. Figuring
I can't live long on these two little pieces, I might as well
give them to God and be sustained by his ravens, however he will
sustain me. And the Lord commends! And dear
people, I wonder, I wonder if God is not saying to perhaps
more than a few of us, are you engaging in a level of giving
that reflects any real self-denial? And I'm not going to specify
where you can deny yourself. I know the areas. where I and
my wife seek to deny ourselves, and my prayer is going to be,
Lord, show us more areas where we need more self-denial, that
we might increase our patterns of giving and have the confidence
that they are laced with the very purpose for which Christ
died, that we should no longer live unto self, but unto him
who died and rose again. So in calling all of us to personal
and family self-examination, three questions. Am I robbing
God? Am I seeking first the kingdom of God in the use of discretionary
funds? Am I denying myself in the patterns
of my giving? Well, then there's a third and
final, and I'll touch on this very briefly, element to a balanced
biblical response. Not only is it a call to prayer,
a call to self-examination, but a call seriously to consider
what we may personally do in a responsible way to reverse
the present trend. It is a call seriously to consider
what we may personally do in a responsible way to reverse
the present trend. Whatever you do, don't cease
to fulfill biblically mandated duties. Remember Matthew 15?
What does Jesus think about the man who takes money that ought
to go in fulfillment of the fifth commandment to care for an indigent,
needy mother and gives it to God? The Lord doesn't want it. No, wherever we have legitimate,
biblically mandated duties, we do not take funds allocated to
fulfill those duties and increase our giving to God. Withhold not
good when it is in the power of your hand to do it. But now
the question is, do I have a little more power in my hand than I've
been willing to recognize? For example, and I ran this by
my fellow elders to ask them if I could state this for instance
with their approval. If the entire congregation were
to say, by the grace of God, I'm going to increase my giving
10%, that does not go from the tithe to 20%, but if my tithe
is now $50 a week, I believe by saying no to pizza twice a
month and having only once a month, we can increase that giving to
55 a week. We're going to increase it 10%.
Someone giving 100 a week? Yes, we can raise it to 110 by
saying no to this here and taking these discretionary funds and
putting them here. We can really do that without
in any way failing to meet our biblically mandated commitments.
Do you realize if everyone in this congregation were to do
that and a few people were to increase it maybe 15, 20% we'd be in the posture not of
halt, not of retreat. but full steam ahead. And we're
asking, we're not going to poll you, we're not going to bring
in financial advisors, and we're not going to, no, we've never
done it, we have no intention of doing it. But we're asking
you seriously to consider what you may personally do. Everybody's
job is nobody's job. And therefore I'm laying the
issue upon your conscience before God as a member of this assembly. If your heart is committed to
those ministries and responsibilities and stewardships entrusted to
us, to say, Oh God, what is in the power of my hand to do that
perhaps I've not recognized is there? Withhold not good from
them to whom it is due when it is in the power of your hand
to do it. Well, perhaps there's more power
in my hand to do than I've recognized. And all I'm asking in a biblically
balanced response is that you seriously consider what you may
personally do in a responsible way to reverse the present trend. And child of God, as you follow
through on these directives, which I trust I've persuaded
your conscience are biblical, Don't forget to go back again
and again to those two reference points that Paul gives to the
Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. In the midst of that
first chapter on the principles of benevolence, he says in verse
9, chapter 8, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though being rich, he became poor, that you, through his poverty,
might be rich. self-denial, self-giving to the
utmost. And then he concludes the final
chapter, chapter 9, by saying in that great expression of praise,
thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. You see, he cannot think
of the subject of open-heartedness and open-handedness without thinking
of the open heart of God. in the giving of His Son, and
the Son who gave Himself, and for our sakes became poor. Let gospel motives percolate
afresh through every fiber of your soul in that exercise we
dealt with this morning of meditation. If your Lord had been calculating
and tight-fisted, you and I would not sit here tonight under the
canopy of all the redemptive mercies that are ours in Him. And for you who are not the people
of God, I trust you won't leave tonight and say, ah, there's
the church talking about money. My friends, God doesn't want,
in one sense, He wouldn't want a dime of yours. His concern
is about something far greater than the shekels in your pocket
or your bank account sitting at home in your desk. And it's
the fact that you sit here tonight with an incalculable debt. A debt that a whole eternity
in hell you can't begin to erase. But there's someone who paid
the debt for needy sinners like you. And when he had fully paid
it in the record book of heaven, he could explain. It is accomplished! Debt fully paid for all who will
seek a refuge. in my perfect life and in my
agonizing death for sinners. My unconverted friend, what you
need above all else is to flee from your sin and flee into Christ,
and in Christ to find the debt of your sin cancelled and no
longer to live to yourself but to Him. And then the matter of
what you do with your paycheck and what you do with your discretionary
funds, those things will all take their place under the gracious
rule of Christ, whose yoke is easy and His burden is light. Well, we come around full circle
to where we began. Stand still, retreat, or go forward. your patterns of giving as a
church between now and December will provide the answer. And
we as leaders with you will seek to do everything we've urged
you to do and then act responsibly in the light of what you do in
the coming months. Stand still, retreat, or go forward. I trust It will be in the purpose
of God and by the grace of God that the Lord will so own the
things that have been laid before you tonight that it will be manifest
that there was more in our hands than we realized and that by
a fresh application of self-denial and a fresh priority of the kingdom
in discretionary funds, that there is yet a pool of provision
in the providence of God for the work of Christ's kingdom
through Trinity Church to go forward in ways it never has
before, that we will look back on these months as a blessed
time of hard dealings with God that will bring forth great honor
to Him and praise to His beloved Son. Let us pray. Our Father, we are so thankful
that we have the written scriptures. We thank you that the scepter
of our Lord Jesus is contained in his own holy word. and that
we need not be embarrassed or ashamed to bring forth those
parts of the scepter that address the issues we've addressed tonight.
Thank you for the consciousness of your help and your presence
And now we commend to the care and to the further operations
of the Holy Spirit all that has been said, whatever has been
true to your mind as revealed in Scripture, O God, may it be
deeply impressed upon our hearts, upon our affections and our wills,
whatever's had the chaff of men's wisdom blow upon it and bring
it to naught. And we pray that in mercy you
would deal with those who have a horrible debt that cannot in
any way be liquidated by silver and gold, that they may, beholding
their debt, flee to Christ and find the pardon for all of their
sins. Thank you again for this day
in your courts, and may the blessings of your grace rest upon us throughout
the days of the coming week. We plead through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.