The Christian View of Money

PEARLS OF PAUL
RESOURCES AND THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MONEY
DR. JIM DIXON
OCTOBER 31, 1999
II CORINTHAINS 9:1-11

In Jerusalem today you can see the ruins of the Pool of Bethesda, sometimes called the Pool of Bethzatha, sometimes called the Pool of Bethsaida. But it was there, as we are told in John’s Gospel, the fifth chapter, that our Lord Jesus Christ healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. Now in Jerusalem today, right next to the ruins of the pool of Bethesda, there is the Church of Saint Anne. But who was Saint Anne? She’s not mentioned in the Bible. She is however mentioned in other ancient literature. She’s mentioned in the apocryphal writings, such as the Protoevangelium of James. And we are told in those ancient writings that Anne was the mother of Mary and the grandmother of Jesus. In those same writings, we are told that Joachim was the father of Mary and the grandfather of Jesus. Saint Anne and Saint Joachim, the grandparents of Jesus Christ through Mary.

Now there have been times in Christian history where Saint Anne has been very popular. That’s why a church is built and erected in here honor in the city of Jerusalem. There have been times in history where St. Joachim, the grandfather of Christ, was a popular saint. And that is why outside of what is today called Czechoslovakia, near the city of Prague, there’s a valley called Joachimsthal, which means the Valley of Joachim, named after St. Joachim, the grandfather of Christ. Now, in the 16th century in the valley of Joachim, the primary coin of Europe was minted and it circulated throughout the European world. That coin, because it was minted in the Valley of Joachimsthal, was called Joachimsthaler. And it had a picture of St. Joachim on the face of the coin.

Now, eventually that coin, instead of Joachimsthaler began to just be called thaler, and then eventually the word thaler became dollar. And today, whenever you look at a dollar, you should think of the grandfather of Jesus Christ because, etymologically, the word dollar comes from thaler, which refers to the valley of St. Joachim.

Now, I think it is true, however, that most people, when they look at their dollars, do not have a religious thought. They do not think of Saint Joachim. They do not think of the grandfather of Christ. They do not think of Jesus Christ. And even though our national motto In God We Trust is boldly imprinted on all of our currency, most people when they look at money do not think of God either. But this morning, on this stewardship Sunday, I would like us as we think of money to think of God and to think of Christ and what Christ wants to do with our resources and how Christ expects us to view money.

Now, we have two teachings this morning from 2 Corinthians chapter nine, and the first teaching is this: sow bountifully. That’s what Paul tells us as Christians to do with our money. We should sow for the kingdom of Christ bountifully. Paul says, “He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Sow bountifully.

Now, the Apostle Paul is speaking in the context of the Jerusalem collection. 2 Corinthians chapters eight and nine refer to the Jerusalem collection. 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and Galatians chapter two are passages that refer to the Jerusalem collection. The Jerusalem collection was taken every Lord’s Day throughout the Gentile churches. In the time of Paul, every Sunday people made an offering for the poor. It was called the Jerusalem collection. It went to poor Christians, men and women, believers in Christ who were poor, most of whom lived in Jerusalem. Many of the Christians in Jerusalem were poor because they were Jewish and as Jews who had accepted Christ many of them were banished from their families and their jobs and had no means of income. So, gentile brothers and sisters throughout the Roman world sent money to the poor Christians. It was called the Jerusalem collection. Sometimes it was called the Logia, which means “the extra collection, the second collection” because it was over and above the normal collection taken on the Lord’s day for the ministry of the local church.

Now Paul speaks often about these collections, and he speaks often with regard to the subject of money, as did our Lord Jesus Christ speak often with regard to the subject of money. And Paul is reminding us that as we give to the people of Christ and as we give to the cause of Christ and to the work of Christ, we need to sow bountifully. That’s what it’s all about. We’re trying to bear much fruit for the kingdom of heaven on this earth. And if that’s a Christian, that’s what you need to be about: seeking to bear much fruit for the kingdom of heaven on earth. That is why Jesus said, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you to go and bear much fruit.”

Now, last Sunday we had our staff retreat. After the church service, all of our staff and our elders went to Trail West, a Young Life camp at Buena Vista. We were there Sunday evening and all day Monday until Tuesday afternoon, spending some time together. We had the chaplain at Westmont College, Bart Tarman, come and speak to us. It was a great time together. Now, at our staff and elder retreats, Monday afternoons are free and that’s when people can do whatever they wanna do. Barb and I kinda hung out together and just had a good time taking walks and having a drive. But some people went and played golf on that Monday afternoon and one of them was John Patterson. Most of you know John. John’s the head of our pastoral care department. If you’ve been in the hospital, it was probably John who came to see you and minister to you and serve you, pray for you. We all love John. Well, John wanted to play golf Monday afternoon, but he didn’t bring his golf clubs and I had my golf clubs in the back and he wanted to borrow some golf balls from me. I gave him six golf balls, which he said was all he needed. Well, later that afternoon I came back to my room and right outside the door he had placed eight golf balls and there was a little note and it said something like this, “Master, you delivered unto me six golf balls. Here, I have made two golf balls more.”

Now of course, John in his humorous way was referring to the parable of the talents in the Bible. And in these parables, we are told that our Lord Jesus Christ has entrusted to us His property, He has gone away to receive kingly power. One day He will come again, but He has entrusted to us that which is His. And all Bible scholars agree that the message is this: we are to use all of our time, talent, and treasure to further His kingdom, to seek the advancement, the growth, of His kingdom. And are you doing that this morning? As you sit there in that chair, in this worship center, can you honestly say that you’re using your time, your talent, and your treasure to grow the kingdom of Christ on earth?

Is that what you’re about? The choir this morning sang a great hymn, one of my favorite hymns: It Is Well With My Soul. Most of you are familiar with that hymn. Some of you know the story behind it. The hymn was written by Horatio Spafford in the year 1873. Horatio Spafford was a committed Christian along with his wife Anna. They lived in Chicago. They were affluent. Horatio Spafford was a brilliant attorney. It was November 22nd, 1873, when the Ville du Havre, a luxury ocean liner, was crossing the Atlantic from America to Europe. And it was 2:00 AM on November 22nd in the darkness of night when the Ville du Havre collided with another ship called the Loch Earn. The Ville du Havre sank in 12 minutes, with hundreds and hundreds of people. On board the Ville du Havre was Horatio Spafford ‘s wife, Anna, and their four daughters.

They were going to Europe to have a little holiday and Horatio was going to join them two weeks later. Anna Spafford brought the four kids out onto the deck in those panicked moments. Her newborn child she held in her arms and the other children held onto her arms and legs and they huddled there as the waves swept over the deck and the ship went under and they were thrown into the sea. Anna Spafford remembered how in those desperate moments she just tried to grab hold of her children’s arms and legs. But she passed out. She woke up in a lifeboat. Her children were gone. They were lost at sea. She alone was saved. She was taken to Cardiff where she sent a telegram to her husband Horatio: “Saved alone.” He boarded a ship to cross the Atlantic and see her. And when he came to the spot in the Atlantic Ocean where the Ville du Havre went down, it’s there that he wrote that great hymn the choir sang this morning, It Is Well With My Soul.

“When peace like a river attendeth my soul, when sorrows like see billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.” Now, Horatio Spafford missed his four children desperately, even as he crossed the Atlantic. And that’s why he wrote that fourth verse: “Oh Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back like a scroll. The Trump shall resound, the Lord shall descend; even so, it is well with my soul.”

Now, Horatio Spafford and Anna Spafford were devastated, but they did not lose faith. They lived on this earth to serve Jesus Christ with time, talent, and treasure. They returned to Chicago and they went to work. Anna staffer went to work for DL Moody, the famed evangelist. She sought to lead street people to Jesus Christ. Horatio Spafford continued his practice as an attorney and gave money to various ministries in Chicago and around the country. And in 1876, after the Great Chicago fire, when the Moody Tabernacle burned to the ground, it was Horatio Spafford who gave great gifts to rebuild the Moody Tabernacle. They had two more children and they began to build their life anew. And then in 1881 they moved to Jerusalem where they used their money to establish the Jerusalem colony. And there, in the name of Christ, Horatio and Anna Spafford (and later their kids and their grandkids) ministered to the poor, whether Jewish or Palestinian.

It didn’t matter what their race or nationality was. In the name of Christ, they reached out and they established orphanages and they shared the love of Christ with people of all ages until the day they died. And when Horatio Spafford died, DL Moody crossed the Atlantic to visit Anna. He was close to them, and he knew the kingdom of heaven had lost a warrior on earth. And he sat there in the Jerusalem colony in the city of Jerusalem and DL Moody wept. They said that he cried so profusely he just left puddles on the floor. He loved this man and Christ loved him. He gave bountifully. He sowed bountifully.

I have a quote I want to read to you from Horatio Spafford. He wrote this to his sister just days after the sinking of the Ville du Havre and the losing of his four children. He wrote this: “On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down in mid-ocean, the water three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe folded, dear lambs, in the hands of Christ, and there before very long shall we be too. In the meantime, thanks to God we have an opportunity to serve and praise Him for His love and mercy to us and ours. I will praise Him while I have my being. May we each one arise, leave all, and follow Him.” Now, those are amazing words from a father who had just lost his four children, but a man who understood that he was on this earth to sow bountifully. And I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know what hardships you faced, whether they be relational, spiritual, financial, or medical. I don’t know what hardships you’ve faced, but I know this: in the midst of it, you’ve been called to sow bountifully.

I hope you understand that this church is seeking to sow bountifully for the kingdom of heaven on earth. In our junior high ministry, our middle school ministry, a few years ago we only had 30 to 40 kids. Now we have over 200 every Sunday. Our high school ministry has grown more than three times over. We have over a thousand children here every day of the week in our various schools. And we have over a thousand children here every Sunday morning. And we’re seeking to reach out to people of all ages, regardless of socioeconomic status. We just want to love people with the love of Christ. We’re seeking to transform this community and elevate the inner city and to raise up the poor. We’re seeking to impact this nation and this world. And to do this, we need a mobilized congregation, people giving of their time and of their talent and of their treasure.

We have a challenging operating budget in our church this year, and we’re behind and we need to dig a little deeper. We conclude this year our Growing by Grace campaign. We’re $1 million behind. We need to dig a little deeper. We need to be a little more faithful. You know, in this church we rarely mention money. If you’re new to this church, this is probably the first time you’ve heard me speak on it, but the reality is it’s all part of serving Christ in this world. We’re called to sow bountifully with our time, with our talent, and with our treasure. “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you to go and bear much fruit.” And then we are to not only sow bountifully, but we’re told in this passage we’re to give cheerfully. “Let each person give as he’s made up his own mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

A cheerful giver. Now there’s an old joke about people who were on an airplane. The airplane was still at the airport, still at the gate. It hadn’t left. And the people were sitting on the plane and they were just waiting and they were becoming impatient. Finally, there was announcement that the reason they were delayed was the pilots weren’t there yet. Well, eventually the pilots came and for some reason they came up the back of the plane, so they had to walk through the passenger cabin to get up to the cockpit. And as they entered the passenger cabin and the people looked around and saw them, they were stunned to see that the two pilots were blind and one had a seeing eye dog. And they both had canes for the blind. And they were using those canes to make their way up the aisle as they found their way to the cockpit.

Then when they went into the cockpit, they just closed the door and went in there and there was a great rumble in the passenger cabin. People were just like, what’s going on here? Is this some kind of a joke? And they were very nervous, as you can imagine. But then the engines started up and they began to taxi away from the gate, and they made their way to the runway. And pretty soon they were zooming down the runway and the engines were getting louder and louder and the plane was moving faster and faster. And eventually it was evident that they should have been airborne, but they were still on the ground and the plane was still accelerating. It had plenty of speed to leave the ground, but they were still just accelerating on the ground. And they began to panic and they begin to scream. And then suddenly the front of the plane lifted off and they went up into the air and one pilot turned to the other one and said, “Boy, one of these days they’re not gonna scream and we’re not gonna know when to take off.”

Now, it’s a dumb joke, but it certainly is true that it would be scary and extremely dangerous to have blind pilots. Now, Jesus tells us we live in a world that is blind. In fact, our Lord Jesus tells us that in this world the blind are leading the blind and they’re all destined to fall. We live in a world that is spiritually blind. And because the world is blind, the world does not see the truth. Now, Jesus tells us the truth is it’s more blessed to give than it is to receive. But because the world is blind, the world doesn’t really believe that. Most people in the world, in their heart of hearts believe it’s more blessed to receive than it is to give. But Jesus tells us the absolute truth. “It is more blessed to give than it is to receive.” This is reality. This is things as they really are. It is more blessed to give. And the word for blessed which Christ uses is not the normal word for blessed, the word “eulogia,” but it’s “makarios,” which means happy. You find happiness through giving. And Jesus wants us to understand that the more we give, the happier we will become.

Now, this is October 31st. It was on this day in the year 1517 that the Protestant Reformation began. It was on this day, October 31st, that Martin Luther walked to the castle Church at Wittenberg. On this day, he nailed the 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg and the Protestant Reformation began. And what was he protesting? Above all else, he was protesting the selling of indulgences because the Roman Catholic Church at that time was selling indulgences and people were buying indulgences, giving money to the church in order that they might have their sins forgiven. They were paying to get their sins forgiven and they were buying indulgences that they might get time off in purgatory. And they were told that the more they gave, the more time they got off in purgatory. They were also told (and this was a neat little gimmick) that they could get time off in purgatory for their loved ones and relatives. They could buy that through the buying of indulgences and the selling of indulgences. A tragic time in the history of the church. Catholics and Protestants agree on that: it was a tragic time.

They were trying to get Christians to give, but they were not motivating them properly. You cannot force people to give. And even here Paul says, “You should not give reluctantly or under compulsion.” God wants you to give cheerfully. God wants us to give freely. And the word for cheerful here is the Greek word “hilaros.” It’s the word from which we get our English word hilarious. Literally it says, “God loves a hilarious giver.” And the word “hilaros” refers to joyful extravagance. That’s how God wants you to give for the work of the kingdom of heaven. He wants you to give with joyful extravagance.

In Matthew chapter 26, and in Mark’s Gospel, the 14th chapter, we read about the woman who came with an alabaster jar of costly perfume and poured it on the feet of Christ, tears of joy filling her face because she had found forgiveness in Christ. That’s joyful extravagance and that is how Christ wants us to give. He wants us to give with joyful extravagance.

Well, October 31st is not only the day that the Protestant Reformation began, but October 31st is also of course Halloween. And tonight, perhaps some of you will be trick or treating with your children. Halloween is the Christian name given to a pagan festival, and 2,000 years ago, the Celtic people began their new year on November 1st. And in conjunction with the beginning of the new year on November 1st, they had the Festival of Samhaim, which was their Festival of the Dead. It corresponded to the Roman Festival of Feralia, which was also a festival of the dead. It was an occultic festival with spiritism, with the conjuring of spirits and efforts to communicate with the dead. When the Christian world came into the Celtic world and into the Roman world, they tried to Christianize these pagan festivals. And so November 1st, instead of being the Celtic Festival of Samhaim, became All Saints Day. And instead of a Festival of the Dead, the Christian Church decided to on All Saints Day remember those Christians who had lived and died. All Saints Day was when the church of Christ gathered to celebrate the exemplary lives of loved ones in Christ who had lived and died.

And the night before all Saints Day was October 31st and it was called Halloween, which simply means Holy Night, because it was the night before All Saints Day. How strange. How strange. We live in a culture that has kept the Christian label but returned to the pagan roots—kept the Christian label, but returned to the Pagan festivities. But this morning, on this October 31st, I’d like us to remember as we close a loved one in Christ, a Christian who has lived and died. And the person I’d like us to remember this morning is Payne Stewart. Payne Stewart was a PGA golfer who twice won the United States Open. He died Monday. He died Monday when his Learjet took off from Florida on its way to Texas. Apparently they lost cabin pressure. Aviation experts do not fully understand what happened, but they died on that plane long before the plane crashed. And of course, that Learjet continued on autopilot for 1,400 miles until it crashed, moving more than 600 miles an hour, into a desolate area in South Dakota.

Payne Stewart was something of a controversial man. Some thought him arrogant, others liked him. But all agreed he had changed this last year because this last year Payne Stewart had accepted Jesus Christ. He’d asked Jesus into his heart at the First Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida, with Chelsea, his 13-year-old daughter, and Aaron, his 10-year-old boy, and his wife Tracy. They’re the ones who led him to faith in Jesus Christ. And through them, he gave his heart to Christ. How wonderful that he gave his heart to Christ before he died. And I’m sure that God saw too that Payne Stewart was changed because of Christ.

Sports Illustrated just this past week acknowledged that because he’d become a Christian, his handshakes were a little longer, his smile was more often. He smiled more often and he listened more. What Sports Illustrated didn’t say is he gave more. And he did. When he accepted Christ, he began to give. What a miracle that is. I mean, sometimes, you know, long after Christ touches the soul, he reaches the pocketbook. Payne Stewart this year gave $500,000 to the First Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida. He established a foundation to reach out to children and gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to cancer research. And whether his gifts were sacrificial in the sight of God, I don’t know, but I know this: to Payne Stewart, they must have seemed hilarious. I mean, it must have felt like joyful extravagance to begin to give like that. But you see, that’s the impact Christ can have on a life. That’s the impact Christ wants to have on my life and your life that, we begin to give with joyful extravagance to the work of the kingdom of heaven on earth and to the church of Christ. Sow bountifully. It’s what Christ says to us this morning. He who would, “If you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly. If you sow bountifully, you’ll reap bountifully for the kingdom of heaven and for yourselves, as God will bless you. You’ll be enriched in every way.” Paul says give hilariously, with joyful extravagance. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.