God Owns All Things, Share Back His Part! (Giving is worship
helping others) by Kelly Durant
Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his
children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
2. Whenever you or I bring
up money matters most people clam up like one of these Florida clams and change
the subject, right? Most people consider their money matters very private. Why?
Because having an abundance of money, or not having enough money makes life
complicated and people quickly feel intimidated, embarrassed or threatened when
talking about it. My opinion is it’s best to not be rich or poor! A Proverb I
read stuck with me, and I accept it. All you and I really need to be happy is
moderation … Proverbs 30:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither
poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9 Lest I be full, and
deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the
name of my God in vain.
So many times people are jealous of others who they think have
more than them. The funny thing is most of the time most of what people have is
owed to their bank on the credit card! Instead of the envious derogatorily saying,
‘Oh what a nice house and car you have’, they should say, ‘Oh what nice credit
you have!’ The perception of what people appear to have is often very
misleading. Appearances really do deceive as millions of people lose everything
overnight every year! People have gotten mad at me more than once when I have given
a bag of canned goods to a person driving a Mercedes. I tell them it is not our
place to judge; for all we know it could be their car is getting repossessed
tomorrow!
Today I will bring up the topic of what belongs to the Lord
and what is being lent to us by the Lord in this life on this temporary planet.
The Lord, contrary to the belief of some, is not against wealth or political
power and He does grant it to his children. Joseph, Daniel, David, and many men
of God had money and power in the past and they honored God with it sacrificing
in worship; and also they used it to provide for those under their care. Proverbs
11:24 There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that
withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. So what about those
who had or have little?
3. When we look at Jesus we observe he accumulated no wealth
at all but instead He had wealth by His powerful life! Matthew 8:20 And Jesus
saith unto him, ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but
the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.’ Why did Jesus model poverty and
not exemplify wealth? He was too busy with his ministry and message to be involved
with the management of wealth. Buying and selling, looking for big profits in
business opportunities would have been a self-defeating time wasting endeavor
for Jesus while preaching about the eternal kingdom of God.
Jesus did not need money! Do you recall the feeding of the
5,000, how Jesus without owning a bakery or a fishing business fed everyone
with Him? Mark 6: 41 “And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes,
he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his
disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. 42
And they did all eat, and were filled.43 And they took up twelve baskets full
of the fragments, and of the fishes.” Notice that Jesus without money took care
of the people who were hungry, and we should do the same. But Jesus was the Son
of God who could do miracles, what about you and me? Well, we are still called
to collect resources to feed the hungry And Jesus even said we too could do
miracles if we only believed!
God has created us all differently to apply our different
gifts in this life and some people are simply called to administrate more
material things than others. And then some people are called more to tend to the
spiritual affairs of the gospel but not many as we hear from Jesus in Matthew
22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.” If you can obey God to the
point that you have a balance in all that you do materially and spiritually,
then you are residing within His purity and perfection. Proverbs 11:1 A false
balance (being too materialistic or too much of anything) is abomination to the
Lord: but a just weight is his delight.
4. I think all of us
have dreamed of having lots of money, right? I know as a young man starting a
family in South America I dreamed of gaining more in life but gaining wealth
never seemed to come into fruition with my calling to serve God. I use to ride in 6 or more buses and taxis
every day and I wished to be richer and have a car. All of us were most of the
time able to live in decent neighborhoods and even though we had little, I know
we had a lot more than most all the other poor people out there just down the
street. I learned to appreciate the beautiful things in life, the Word of God,
my energetic children, just having plenty of food and clothing and not worrying
about having any money being left over after paying rent. Proverbs 13:7 “There
is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself
poor, yet hath great riches”. In actuality what makes a person rich toward God
is living as the Word of God teaches! I feel like I have been happy for the
most part of my life so for me that is wealth!
From my many past experiences I have learned to appreciate living
moderately. Why? I have seen it all! I
made friends with the rich, poor, and those in between and I got exposed to many
lifestyles. If you do this you too will learn of the many distinct afflictions
each class suffers from. In Bolivia I tutored several students after teaching
in the daytime and I use to go into the homes of multi-millionaires some of whom
had 10 or more servants and they owned factories with hundreds of employees. I
would help their children with their homework in English and I observed many fine
art collections on mansion walls and beautiful luxurious rooms. I was, however,
always troubled by their stress, lifestyle, insecurities, and inconveniences.
It became evident to me that many rich people live in fear.
I can also tell you stories of those I knew who had relatives kidnapped for
ransom in Colombia! But back to Bolivia, in one home the attack dogs (German
shepherds) had to be chained up so I could walk in the front door. In another
house where I started tutoring, I was interrogated extensively and then they
insisted on taking me home to see where I lived. Often in 5 minute
conversations with the parents they could complain about lazy employees in one
breath and then boast that they could not wait to go to spend a month in the
USA at Disney in the summer. I lost any envy I had for their lifestyle just learning
about their troubles, lawsuits, pickiness, and psychotic paranoias.
5. Why are we exploring money and how it affects people and what
people do with it? Because…Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness
thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. All things are God’s but
people quite often are not glorifying God with the riches they are entrusted
with. Many are not sharing what they should with God. People get the illusion
that what they gain is all theirs and they forget it is God who gives them the
physical strength, intelligence, and ability to earn it. Riches are a curse for
some: I have met many sons of the rich who have wasted much of the family
fortune in riotous living like the prodigal son. We all have seen God blesses
hard honest work, but too few people give back to God’s work by some means to
show appreciation to Him. We all should give to God’s work.
I recall one time in Santa Cruz, Bolivia I had a neighbor
who was your typical worldly person who did not go to any church and I always
invited him to my house to come to our Bible studies. He wanted his son to
speak English with me and when we would share a coffee often in the evenings, we
would talk about the Bible. One day he asked me, “Why is it all of you Christians
think that people like me should give up our hard earned money to support you
or the church?” He thought that to give up his money was unfair since the money
he had was his!
I showed him the verse of today Proverbs 13:22 A good man
leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner
is laid up for the just. I explained to him that he was a sinner and that it is
God’s idea that all sinners end up giving their wealth to God, and the way to
do it was to give it to the ‘Just’ people doing God’s work. I explained, ‘If
you will not obey Jesus and go preach the gospel every day as He commanded,
then you should be supporting someone who is’! It was uncomfortable for him to
think that he was considered to be a sinner because He did not honor God realizing
God owned everything. He started giving us a donation after that from time to
time. In the end we are all saved sinners and it is only right that you and I support
God’s work with our substance. The gospel is free but it does incur costs in
materials and manpower to get it out as well as to truck other donated goods to
the people.
6. All of us are
familiar with the giving of tithes, the 10%, the first fruits for God, as done
in the Old Testament; it was to support the priests who ministered full time the
things of God to the faithful. In the New Testament we read about the life of
Jesus and Paul and how others supported them in their mission. Luke 8:3 And
Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which
ministered unto him of their substance. The plan of God is… 1 Corinthians 9:14
Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of
the gospel. Each believer supports those who do God’s work according to how
they are able.
It really is a paradox but I have seen this everywhere I have
ever been, that those that give to God’s work seem to always be the ones most
blessed by God! God rewards the faithful givers with more security and
frequently with good incomes. But the people who have almost nothing we must encourage
to give anyway so they will get blessed too. We all know that giving to God’s
work is the way He teaches us sacrifice and practicing that blesses us. Mark
12:41 “And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast
money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there
came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto
you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into
the treasury: 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her
want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”
Jesus and His disciples passed the collection plate and all
those serving God depend on others to support them. 2 Timothy 2:4 No man that
warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please
him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. God always blesses a person’s generosity
and sacrifice! God’s wealth should be used as we use it in all the Salvation
Army Corps or churches, not just for our own expenses of the facility, bills,
and salaries, but most importantly we use it for helping those in need in the
name of Jesus Christ! A big part of God’s work is blessing those who have
nothing providing for them help however needed. We cannot have the wherewithal
though unless we all put bread in the common pot so we have something to draw
from.
7. God owns it all! Psalm 50:10 “For every beast of the
forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills”. It is obvious that
neither you nor I created this world and that God the Creator is the owner of
all things. Even our own bodies are on loan from God! God expects us to invest
in Him and we do that by showing gratitude to Him by expressions of worship,
service, and love. Giving is a part of worship.
Giving is an expression of love! From the beginning in
Genesis chapter 4 Abel showed love with his gift to God but Cain gave with a
bad attitude. Giving to a work that grows God’s kingdom on earth is what Jesus
set up. His kingdom has many expressions through many Christian missions and churches
but personally I think we all should invest in a church that uses their funds
to serve others alleviating the suffering of those in need while offering them the
gospel. Consider that what you are giving to His work here is well invested: It
is applied without discrimination to help people here in the USA but also in
130 countries to get food, clothing, education, toys, book bags, camping trips,
mission trips, and offer the opportunity to learn the Bible, serve in disaster
services, and help in the community dozens of different ways.
The problem with the world is the majority of people are
feeding Satan’s kingdom of consumption instead of God’s Kingdom. With the
unconverted there is no 10% going to God, but instead 100% wasted on their own
bodies having carnal appetites consuming all things in excess. Imagine in the final
judgment the fate of those who only served themselves, of those who wasted all their
money with corrupting pleasures and gave nothing for God’s work. When I was age
20 reality hit me by the Holy Spirit that I was just a condemned selfish
consumer of illicit luxuries producing nothing beautiful for God. The
unconverted selfish ones will be like the case of the rich man in Luke 16:22 “And
it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into
Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift
up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom.24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send
Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue;
for I am tormented in this flame”.
8. So if you are decided to give but have doubts you can
find research on which churches are the most worthy using their funds most
wisely (these are the churches that practice holiness, truth, and serve the
suffering world), and you can also of course find out which churches abuse their
funds most. Most non-profits in the USA have CEOs and a majority of them
greatly misuse funds. Read up on giving in general. The Barna Group always does
a great accurate job of compiling statistics and I recommend an article at this
website. https://www.barna.org/component/content/article/36-homepage-main-promo/606-barna-update-02-19-2013#.VOvYAPnF-So Many people are amazed how the Salvation Army
spends only 18% of its funds on administration. It’s too bad the world does not
know it is Jesus Christ that inspires this work to continue on with holiness
and honesty with people serving with no elevated salaries. We have a double,
even triple check system by auditors so that it is next to impossible to steal
funds. I do not even handle the checkbook but rather it is Area Command and I
like it this way. This system has prevented embezzlement and engenders trust.
According to the Barna report above a large majority of
people do give to the church or charity but it is usually less than $500 per
year. People who year after year give their 10% tithes to the church are in a special
honored class and all of us must respect and admire their generosity, faith,
and worship! There are several of you here that do give generously and you are
one of the reasons this Corps is surviving financially. May God bless you greatly for doing your part!
9.. Our tithes have decreased about 20% over the past 2
years due to some of you losing jobs or changing to jobs that pay less, so our
decrease is not altogether the fault of you being less generous. The economic crises
of this decade have stripped away thousands of dollars of income from the
middle class. There are fewer jobs of late, this area does not have the
manufacturing capacity it did 20 years ago, and maybe only 60% of the people in
this immediate area even have a job! But for those who just give anyway, God
knows your heart and He provides and blesses!
Many charities and churches are down in their income due to
many factors in society. About a million groups compete for your donated
dollars! The combined income of all charities annually in the USA is around
$600 Billion but even this is not enough to cover for the needs of those in
hard times. Many millions remain homeless and desperate! Imagine the combined
amount of money help from the government and from all the charities and
churches still do not provide enough to solve our society’s needs. Corruption
is what is killing us! A lack of integrity and holiness! A de-Christianization
of our society! If we could win others over to the good side and have a more
addiction free society, a more greed free world, if all the money spent on drugs,
alcohol, prostitution, bribes, and embezzlements were self-controlled, I am
sure we could have an extra trillion dollars a year for truly righteous causes!
It is money in the hands of evil people destroying our communities, not the money
going to churches!
10. It is not God leaving people poor, it is man’s injustice
to his fellow man leaving Him poor! Why? Because people are not obeying God’s
Word, honoring Him and helping the needy! People are simply not honoring God
with what belongs to Him! A fool and his money are quickly departed! Proverbs
23:5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make
themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. People are unjust
with their own selves mismanaging their money and not putting God first and
they never have enough as a consequence. They have little happiness and they
should practice this verse.. Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Between family and community I know about a thousand people
(and have known of hundreds more in years past) who live clean holy lives. They
do not consume drugs or alcohol; they work hard and never accept corrupt money,
they contribute to God’s work to support a mission or church and help people in
need. And what do all of these people have in common? They are all authentic
Christians! Jesus is the only salvation for the world to turn the tide of
corruption around and save us all from this course that is headed for a crash! Satan
siphons off most all the world’s money for evil and destructive causes even
though God owns it all. He is the master thief! To counter this Jesus taught us
to give and to share the wealth with the suffering ones; and His way is with generosity
helping and healing others.
The greatest mission we have is to convert others to Jesus!
Only Jesus can save others out of their poverty, corruption, and guilt, and
convert all the world’s wasteful destructive useless eaters into productive helpful
wise investors in God’s kingdom. Give 10% or all you can and see how God will
resolve things in your life! Put Him first with your time, talent, and treasure
and notice how your life will start getting blessed! We give to God because it
is an integral part of our worship and obedience. May God bless you as you do
your part!
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