{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_41994/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_41994","id":"gutenberg_41994","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41994","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian stewardship"],"text":"Transcriber's Note:\n\n    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as\n    possible.\n\n    Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.\n    Bold text has been marked with =equals signs=.\n\n\n\n\n                                 Money:\n                      Thoughts for God's Stewards\n\n\n\n\nBy Rev. 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Revell Company\n\n                                            NEW YORK: 112 Fifth Ave.\n                                            CHICAGO: 63 Washington St.\n                                            TORONTO: 140 & 142 Yonge St.\n\n\n\n\n                                 Money:\n                      Thoughts for God's Stewards\n\n\n                                   BY\n                           Rev. Andrew Murray\n\n                               AUTHOR OF\n\n                   \"With Christ,\" \"Abide in Christ,\"\n                         \"Waiting on God,\" etc.\n\n                             [Illustration]\n\n                        New York Chicago Toronto\n\n                       Fleming H. Revell Company\n\n                               MDCCCXCVII\n\n\n                            Copyright, 1897\n                                   BY\n                       FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                      PAGE\n\n      I. CHRIST'S ESTIMATE OF MONEY      7\n\n     II. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND MONEY      24\n\n    III. THE GRACE OF GOD AND MONEY     42\n\n     IV. THE POVERTY OF CHRIST          63\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nCHRIST'S ESTIMATE OF MONEY\n\n\n     \"Jesus beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many\n     that were rich cast in much. And a certain poor widow came, and\n     cast in a farthing. Jesus called His disciples, and saith unto\n     them, This poor widow hath cast more in than all: for all they did\n     cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all\n     that she had, even all her living.\"--_Mark_ xii. 41.\n\nIn all our religion and our Bible study, it is of the greatest\nconsequence to find out what the mind of Christ is, to think as He\nthought, and to feel just as He felt. There is not a question that\nconcerns us, not a single matter that ever comes before us, but we find\nin the words of Christ something for our guidance and help. We want\nto-day to get at the mind of Christ about Money; to know exactly what He\nthought, and then to think and act just as He would do. This is not an\neasy thing. We are so under the influence of the world around us, that\nthe fear of becoming utterly unpractical if we thought and acted just\nlike Christ, easily comes upon us. Let us not be afraid; if we really\ndesire to find out what is His mind, He will guide us to what He wants\nus to think and do. Only be honest in the thought: I want to have Christ\nteach me how to possess and how to use my money.\n\nLook at Him for a moment sitting here over against the treasury,\nwatching the people putting in their gifts. Thinking about money in the\nchurch, looking after the collection: we often connect that with Judas,\nor some hard-worked deacon, or the treasurer or collector of some\nsociety. But see here--Jesus sits and watches the collection. And as He\ndoes it, He weighs each gift in the balance of God, and puts its value\non it. In heaven He does this still. Not a gift for any part of God's\nwork, great or small, but He notices it, and puts its value on it for\nthe blessing, if any, that it is to bring in time or eternity. And He is\nwilling, even here on earth in the waiting heart, to let us know what He\nthinks of our giving. Giving money is a part of our religious life, is\nwatched over by Christ, and must be regulated by His word. Let us try\nand discover what the scriptures have to teach us.\n\n\n_1. Money giving a sure test of character._\n\nIn the world money is the standard of value. It is difficult to express\nall that money means. It is the symbol of labor and enterprise and\ncleverness. It is often the token of God's blessing on diligent effort.\nIt is the equivalent of all that it can procure of the service of mind\nor body, of property or comfort or luxury, of influence and power. No\nwonder that the world loves it, seeks it above everything, and often\nworships it. No wonder that it is the standard of value not only for\nmaterial things, but for man himself, and that a man is too often valued\naccording to his money.\n\nIt is, however, not only thus in the kingdom of this world, but in the\nkingdom of heaven too, that a man is judged by his money, and yet on a\ndifferent principle. The world asks, _what_ does a man own? Christ,\n_how_ does he use it? The world thinks more about the money getting;\nChrist about the money giving. And when a man gives, the world still\nasks, _what_ does he give? Christ asks, how does he give? The world\nlooks at the money and its amount, Christ at the man and his motive. See\nthis in the story of the poor widow. Many that were rich cast in _much_;\nbut it was _out of their abundance;_ there was no real sacrifice in it;\ntheir life was as full and comfortable as ever, it cost them nothing.\nThere was no special love or devotion to God in it; part of an easy and\ntraditional religion. The widow cast in _a farthing_. Out of her want\nshe cast in all that she had, even all her living. She gave all to God\nwithout reserve, without holding back anything, she gave all.\n\nHow different our standard and Christ's. We ask how much a man _gives_.\nChrist asks, how much he _keeps_. We look at the gift. Christ asks\nwhether the gift was a sacrifice. The widow kept nothing over, she gave\nall; the gift won His heart and approval, for it was in the spirit of\nHis own self-sacrifice, who, being rich, became poor for our own sakes.\nThey--out of their abundance--cast in much: She, out of her want--all\nthat she had.\n\nBut if our Lord wanted us to do as she did, why did He not leave a clear\ncommand? How gladly then would we do it. Ah! there you have it. You want\na command to make you do it: that would just be the spirit of the world\nin the church looking at _what_ we give, at our giving all. And that is\njust what Christ does not wish and will not have. He wants the generous\nlove that does it unbidden. He wants every gift to be a gift warm and\nbright with love, a true free will offering. If you want the Master's\napproval as the poor widow had it, remember one thing: you must put all\nat His feet, hold all at His disposal. And that, as the spontaneous\nexpression of a love that, like Mary's, cannot help giving, just because\nit loves.\n\nAll my money giving--what a test of character! Lord Jesus! Oh give me\ngrace to love Thee intently, that I may know how to give.\n\n\n_2. Money giving a great means of grace._\n\nChrist called His disciples to come and listen while He talked to them\nabout the giving He saw there. It was to guide their giving and ours.\nOur giving, if we listen to Christ with the real desire to learn, will\nhave more influence on our growth in grace than we know.\n\nThe spirit of the world, \"the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye,\nand the pride of life.\" Money is the great means the world has for\ngratifying its desires. Christ has said of His people, \"they are not of\nthe world, as I am not of the world.\" They are to show in their disposal\nof money that they act on unworldly principle, that the spirit of heaven\nteaches them how to use it. And what does that spirit suggest? Use it\nfor spiritual purposes, for what will last for eternity, for what is\npleasing to God. \"They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh and\nits lusts.\" One of the ways of manifesting and maintaining the\ncrucifixion of the flesh is never to use money to gratify it. And the\nway to conquer every temptation to do so, is to have the heart filled\nwith large thoughts of the spiritual power of money. Would you learn to\nkeep the flesh crucified--refuse to spend a penny on its gratification.\nAs much as money spent on self, may nourish and strengthen and comfort\nself, money sacrificed to God may help the soul in the victory that\novercometh the world and the flesh.\n\nOur whole life of faith may be strengthened by the way we deal with\nmoney. Many men have to be engaged continually in making money--by\nnature the heart is dragged down and bound to earth in dealing with what\nis the very life of the world. It is faith that can give a continual\nvictory over this temptation. Every thought of the danger of money,\nevery effort to resist it, every loving gift to God, helps our life of\nfaith. We look at things in the very light of God. We judge of them as\nout of eternity, and the money passing through our hands and devoted to\nGod may be a daily education in faith and heavenly-mindedness.\n\nVery specially may our money giving strengthen our life of love. Every\ngrace needs to be exercised if it is to grow; most of all is this true\nof love. And--did we but know it--how our money might develop and\nstrengthen our love, as it called us to the careful and sympathizing\nconsideration of the needs of those around us. Every call for money, and\nevery response we give, might be the stirring of a new love, and the aid\nto a fuller surrender to its blessed claims.\n\nMoney giving may be one of your choicest means of grace, a continuous\nfellowship with God in the renewal of your surrender of your all to\nHim, and in proof of the earnestness of your heart to walk before Him in\nself-denial, and faith and love.\n\n\n_3. Money giving a wonderful power for God._\n\nWhat a wonderful religion Christianity is. It takes money, the very\nembodiment of the power of sense of this world, with its self-interest,\nits covetousness, and its pride, and it changes it into an instrument\nfor God's service and glory.\n\nThink of the poor. What help and happiness is brought to tens of\nthousands of helpless ones by the timely gift of a little money from the\nhand of love. God has allowed the difference of rich and poor for this\nvery purpose--that just as in the interchange of buying and selling\nmutual dependence upon each other is maintained among men--so in the\ngiving and receiving of charity there should be abundant scope for the\nblessedness of doing and receiving good. He said, \"It is more blessed to\ngive than to receive.\" What a Godlike privilege and blessedness to have\nthe power of relieving the needy and making glad the heart of the poor\nby gold or silver! What a blessed religion that makes the money we give\naway a source of greater pleasure than that which we spend on ourselves!\nThe latter is mostly spent on what is temporal and carnal, that spent in\nthe work of love has eternal value, and brings double happiness, to\nourselves and others.\n\nThink of the church and its work in this world; of missions at home and\nabroad, and the thousand agencies for winning men from sin to God and\nHoliness. Is it indeed true that the coin of this world, by being cast\ninto God's treasury in the right spirit, can receive the stamp of the\nmint of heaven, and be accepted in exchange for heavenly blessings? It\nis true. The gifts of faith and love go not only into the Church's\ntreasury, but into God's own treasury, and are paid out again in\nheavenly goods. And that not according to the earthly standard of value,\nwhere the question always is, How much? but according to the standard of\nheaven, where men's judgments of much and little, great and small, are\nall unknown.\n\nChrist has immortalized a poor widow's farthing. With His approval it\nshines through the ages brighter than the brightest gold. It has been a\nblessing to tens of thousands in the lesson it has taught. It tells you\nthat your farthing, if it be your all, that your gift, if it be honestly\ngiven (as you all ought to give to the Lord), has His approval, His\nstamp, His eternal blessing.\n\nIf we did but take more time in quiet thoughtfulness for the Holy Spirit\nto show us our Lord Jesus in charge of the Heavenly Mint, stamping every\ntrue gift, and then using it for the Kingdom, surely our money would\nbegin to shine with a new lustre. And we should begin to say--The less I\ncan spend on myself, and the more on my Lord, the richer I am. And we\nshall see how, as the widow was richer in her gift and her grace than\nthe many rich, so he is richest who truly gives all he can.\n\n\n_4. Money giving a continual help on the ladder to heaven._\n\nYou know how often our Lord Jesus spake of this in His parables. In that\nof the unjust steward He said, Make friends of the Mammon of\nunrighteousness, that they may receive you in the eternal habitations.\nIn the parable of the talents He said, \"Thou oughtest to have put _my\nmoney_.\" The man who had not used his talent, lost all. In the parable\nof the sheep and the goats, it is they who have cared for the needy and\nthe wretched in His name, who shall hear the word--Come, ye blessed of\nmy Father.\n\nWe cannot purchase heaven--as little with money as with works. But in\nyour money giving, heavenly-mindedness and love to Christ, and love to\nmen, and devotion to God's work, are cultivated and proved. The \"Come,\nye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom,\" will take count of the\nmoney truly spent on Christ and his work. Our money giving must prepare\nus for heaven.\n\nOh! how many there are who if heaven and holiness could be bought for a\nthousand pounds would give it. No money can buy those. But if they only\nknew, money can wondrously help on the path of holiness and heaven.\nMoney given in the spirit of self-sacrifice, and love, and faith in Him\nwho has paid all, brings a rich and eternal reward. Day by day give as\nGod blesses and as He asks--it will help to bring heaven nearer to you,\nit will help to bring _you_ nearer to heaven.\n\nThe Christ who sat over against the treasury is my Christ. He watches my\ngifts. What is given in the spirit of whole-hearted devotion and love He\naccepts. He teaches His disciples to judge as He judges. He will teach\nme how to give--how much, how lovingly, how truthfully.\n\nMoney--this is what I want to learn from Him above all--money, the cause\nof so much temptation and sin, and sorrow and eternal loss; money, as\nit is received and administered and distributed at the feet of Jesus,\nthe Lord of the Treasury, becomes one of God's choicest channels of\ngrace to myself and to others. In this, too, we are more than conquerors\nthrough Him who loved us.\n\nLord! give Thy Church, in her poverty, give us all, the spirit of the\npoor widow.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTHE HOLY SPIRIT AND MONEY\n\n\nWhen the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost to dwell in men, He assumed\nthe charge and control of their whole life. They were to be or do\nnothing that was not under His inspiration and leading. In everything\nthey were to move and live and have their being \"in the Spirit,\" to be\nwholly spiritual men. Hence it followed as a necessity that their\npossessions and property, that their money and its appropriations were\nsubjected to His rule too, and that their income and expenditure were\nanimated by new and hitherto unknown principles. In the opening chapters\nof the Acts we find more than one proof of the all-embracing claim of\nthe Holy Spirit to guide and judge in the disposal of money. If I want\nas a Christian to know how to give, let me learn here what the teaching\nof the Holy Spirit is as regards the place money is to have in my\nChristian life and in that of the Church.\n\nFirst we have: _The Holy Spirit taking possession of the money_.\n\n\"All that believed were together, and had all things common; and they\nsold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all according as\nevery man had need.\"--Acts ii. 44, 45. And again, Acts iv. 34: \"As many\nas were possessors of land or houses, sold them, and brought the prices\nof the things that were sold, and laid them at the Apostles' feet. And\nBarnabas having a field, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at\nthe Apostles' feet.\" Without any command or instruction, in the joy of\nthe Holy Spirit, the joy of the love which He had shed abroad in their\nheart, the joy of the heavenly treasures that now made them rich, they\nspontaneously parted with their possessions and placed them at the\ndisposal of the Lord and His servants.\n\nIt would have been strange had it been otherwise, and a terrible loss to\nthe Church. Money is the great symbol of the power of happiness of\nthis world; one of its chief idols, drawing men away from God; a\nnever-ceasing temptation to worldliness, to which the Christian is daily\nexposed. It would not have been a full salvation that did not provide\ncomplete deliverance from the power of money. The story of Pentecost\nassures us that when the Holy Spirit comes in His fulness into the\nheart, then earthly possessions lose their place in it, and money is\nonly valued as a means of proving our love and doing service to our Lord\nand our fellow men. The fire from heaven that finds a man upon the altar\nand consumes the sacrifice, finds his money too, and makes it all ALTAR\nGOLD, holy to the Lord.\n\nWe learn here the true secret of Christian giving, the secret, in fact,\nof all true Christian living--the joy of the Holy Ghost. How much of our\ngiving then has there been in which this element has been too much\nlacking. Habit, example, human argument and motive, the thought of duty,\nor the feeling of the need around us, have had more to do with our\ncharities than the power and love of the Spirit. It is not that what\nhas just been mentioned is not needful. The Holy Spirit makes use of all\nthese elements of our nature in stirring us to give. There is a great\nneed for inculcating principles and fixed habits in regard to giving.\nBut what we need to realize is that all this is but the human side, and\ncannot suffice if we are to give in such measure and spirit as to make\nevery gift a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God and a blessing to our own\nsouls. The secret of true giving is the joy of the Holy Ghost.\n\nThe complaint in the Church as to the terrible need of more money for\nGod's work, as to the terrible disproportion between what God's people\nspend on themselves and devote to their God, is universal. The pleading\ncry of many of God's servants who labor for the poor and the lost, is\noften heart-piercing. Let us take to heart the solemn lesson: this is\nsimply a proof of the limited measure in which the power of the Holy\nSpirit is known among believers. Let us for ourselves pray most\nfervently, that our whole life may be so lived in the joy of the Holy\nSpirit, a life so absolutely yielded to Him and His rule, that all our\ngiving may be a spiritual sacrifice, through Jesus Christ.\n\nOur second Pentecostal lesson on money we find in Acts iii. 6: \"Then\nPeter said, silver and gold have I none, but what I have that give I\nthee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!\" Here it is: _The\nHoly Spirit dispensing with money_.\n\nOur first lesson was: The Church of Pentecost needs money for its work;\nthe Spirit of Pentecost provides money; money may be at once a sure\nproof of the Spirit's mighty working, and a blessed means of opening the\nway for His fuller action.\n\nBut there is a danger ever near. Men begin to think that money is the\ngreat need; that abundance of money coming in is a proof of the Spirit's\npresence; that money must be strength and blessing. Our second lesson\ndissipates these illusions, and teaches us how the power of the Spirit\ncan be shown where there is no money. The Holy Spirit is the mighty\npower of God, now condescending to use the money of His saints, then\nagain proving how divinely independent He is of it. The Church must\nyield herself to be guided into this double truth; the Holy Spirit\nclaims all its money; the Holy Spirit's mightiest works may be wrought\nwithout it. The Church must never beg for money as if this were the\nsecret of her strength.\n\nSee these Apostles, Peter and John, penniless in their earthly poverty,\nand yet by virtue of their poverty, mighty to dispense heavenly\nblessings. \"Poor, yet making many rich.\" Where had they learned this?\nPeter says, \"Silver and gold have I none; in the name of Jesus Christ,\nwalk.\" It points us back to the poverty which Christ had enjoined upon\nthem, and of which He had set them the wonderful example. By his holy\npoverty He would prove to men what a life of perfect trust in the\nFather, is how the possession of heavenly riches makes independent of\nearthly goods, how earthly poverty fits the better for holding and for\ndispensing eternal treasures. The inner circle of His disciples found in\nfollowing the footsteps of His poverty the fellowship of His power. The\nApostle Paul was taught by the Holy Spirit the same lesson. To be ever\nin eternal things, utterly loose even from earth's lawful things, is a\nwonderful, he almost appears to say, an indispensable help in witnessing\nto the absolute reality and sufficiency of the unseen heavenly riches.\n\nWe may be sure that as the Holy Spirit begins to work in power in His\nChurch, there will again be seen His mighty operation in the possession\nof His people. Some will again by their giving make themselves poor, in\nthe living faith of the incomprehensible worth of their heavenly\nheritage, and the fervent joy the Spirit gives them in it. And some who\nare poor and in great straits with their work for God will learn to\ncultivate more fully the joyful consciousness: \"Silver and gold have I\nnone: what I have I give: in the name of Jesus Christ, walk.\" And some\nwho are not called to give all, will yet give with an unknown\nliberality, because they begin to see the privilege of giving all, and\nlong to come as near as they can. And we shall have a Church, giving\nwillingly and abundantly, and yet not for a moment trusting in its\nmoney, but honoring those most who have the grace and the strength to be\nfollowers of Jesus Christ in His poverty.\n\nOur third lesson is: _The Holy Spirit testing the money_. All the money\nthat is given, even in a time when the Holy Spirit is moving mightily,\nis not given under His inspiration. But it is all given under His holy\nsupervision, and He will from time to time, to each heart that honestly\nyields to Him, reveal what there may be wanting or wrong. Listen:\n\"Barnabas having a field, sold it, and brought the money. _But_ Ananias\nsold a possession and kept back part of the price, and brought a certain\npart, and laid it at the Apostles' feet.\" Ananias brought his gift, and\nwith his wife was smitten dead. What can have made the gift such a\ncrime? He was a deceitful giver. He kept back part of the price. He\nprofessed to give all, and did not. He gave with half a heart and\nunwillingly, and yet would have the credit of having given all. In the\nPentecostal Church the Holy Ghost was the author of the giving: his sin\nwas against the Holy Ghost. No wonder that it is twice written: \"great\nfear came upon the whole Church, and upon all who heard it.\" If it is so\neasy to sin even in giving, if the Holy Spirit watches and judges all\nour giving, we may well beware and fear.\n\nAnd what was the sin? Simply this: he did not give all he professed.\nThis sin, not in its greatest form, but in its spirit and more subtle\nmanifestations, is far more common than we think. Are there not many who\nsay they have given their all to God, and yet prove false to it in the\nuse of their money? Are there not many who say all their money is their\nLord's, and that they hold it as His stewards, to dispose of it as He\ndirects, and yet who, in the amount they spend on God's work, as\ncompared with that on themselves, and in accumulating for the future,\nprove that Stewardship is but another name for ownership.\n\nWithout being exactly guilty of the sin of Judas, or Caiaphas, or Pilate\nin crucifying our Lord, a believer may yet partake with them in the\nspirit in which he acts. Even so we may be grieving the Holy Ghost,\neven while we condemn the sin of Ananias, by giving way to the spirit in\nwhich he acted, and withholding from God what we have professed to give\nHim. Nothing can save us from this danger, but the holy fear of\nourselves, the very full and honest surrender of all our opinions, and\narguments, about how much we may possess, and how much we may give, to\nthe testing and searching of the Holy Spirit. Our giving must be in the\nlight, if it is to be in the joy of the Holy Ghost.\n\nAnd what was it that led Ananias to this sin? Most probably the example\nof Barnabas, the wish not to be outdone by another. Alas! how much there\nis of asking what men will expect from us. The thought of the judgment\nof men is present to us more than the judgment of God. And we forget\nthat our gifts are accounted of God, only by what the heart gives: it is\nthe whole-hearted giver that meets Him. How much has the Church done to\nfoster the worldly spirit that values gifts by what they are in men's\nsight, in forgetfulness of what they are to Him that searches the heart.\n\nMay the Holy Spirit teach us to make every gift part and parcel of a\nlife of entire consecration to God. This cannot be till we be filled\nwith the Spirit: this can be, for God will fill us with His Spirit.\n\n4. There is still a lesson, no less needful, no less solemn than that of\nAnanias (Acts viii. 19). _The Holy Ghost rejecting Money._\n\n\"Simon offered them money, saying, 'Give me also this power.' But Peter\nsaid to him, 'Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought to\nobtain the gift of God with money.'\" The attempt to gain power or\ninfluence in the Church of God by money brings perdition.\n\nHere, more than with Ananias, it was simple ignorance of the spiritual\nand unworldly character of the Kingdom of Christ. How little Simon\nunderstood the men he dealt with. They needed money, they could well use\nit for themselves and for others. But the Holy Spirit, with the powers\nand treasures of the unseen world, had taken such possession of them,\nand so filled them, that money was as nothing. Let it perish rather than\nhave anything to say in God's Church. Let it perish rather than for one\nmoment encourage the thought that the rich man can acquire a place or a\npower which a poor man has not.\n\nHas the Church been faithful to this truth in her solemn protest\nagainst the claims of wealth? Alas! for the answer its history gives.\nThere have been noble instances of true Apostolic succession in the\nmaintenance of the superiority of the gift of God to every earthly\nconsideration. But too often the rich have had an honor and an influence\ngiven them, apart from grace or godliness, which has surely grieved the\nSpirit and injured the Church.\n\nThe personal application is here again the matter of chief importance.\nOur nature has been so brought under the power of the spirit of this\nworld, our fleshly mind, with its dispositions and habits of thought and\nfeeling, is so subtle in its influence, that nothing can deliver us from\nthe mighty spell that money exacts but a very full and abiding enjoyment\nof the Spirit's presence and working. To be entirely dead to all\nworldly ways of thinking, the Holy Spirit alone can give us. And He can\nonly give it as He fills us with the very presence and power of the life\nof God.\n\nLet us pray that we may have such a faith in the transcendent glory, in\nthe absolute claim and sufficiency of the Holy Spirit as God's gift to\nthe Church to be her strength and riches, that money may be ever kept\nunder Christ's feet and under ours, recognizing its only worth to be for\nHis heavenly ministry.\n\nBlessed Lord Jesus! teach and keep us that, like Barnabas, we may lay\nour money all at Thy feet, and hold it all at Thy disposal. Teach and\nkeep us that like Peter, we may rejoice in the poverty that teaches us\nto prove our trust in the power of Thy Spirit. Teach and keep us, lest,\nlike Ananias, our profession of living entirely for Thee be belied, by\nour giving to Thee. Teach and keep us, lest, like Simon, we think that\nthe gifts of God or power over men can be obtained by money.\n\nMost blessed Spirit! fill us with Thyself; come and fill Thy Church with\nThy living presence, and all our money shall be Thine alone.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE GRACE OF GOD AND MONEY\n\n\n     \"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was\n     rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his\n     poverty might be rich.\"--_II. Corinthians_, 8:9.\n\nIn this and the following chapters we have Paul's teaching on the\nsubject of Christian giving. In connection with a collection he wishes\nthe Corinthian Christians from among the Gentiles to make for their\nJewish brethren, he opens up the heavenly worth of our earthly gifts,\nand unfolds principles which ought to animate us as we offer our money\nin God's service. He does this specially as he cites the example of the\nMacedonian Christians and their abounding liberality, and makes them for\nall time the witnesses to what God's grace can do in making the\ningathering of money the occasion of the deepest joy, of the revelation\nof the true Christlikeness, and of abounding thanksgiving and glory to\nGod. Let us gather up some of the principal lessons; they may help us to\nfind the way by which our money can become increasingly a means and a\nproof of the progress of the heavenly life within us.\n\n\n_1. The Grace of God always teaches us to give._--viii. 1.\n\n\"We make known to you the grace of God which hath been given to the\nchurches of Macedonia.\" In the course of the two chapters the word\ngrace occurs eight times. Once of \"the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,\nwho for our sakes became poor.\" Once of \"the grace which God is able to\nmake abound to us.\" The other six times of the special grace of giving.\n\nWe all think we know what the word means. It is not only used of the\ngracious disposition in God's heart toward us, but much more of that\ngracious disposition which God bestows and works in us. Grace is the\nforce, the power, the energy of the Christian life, as it is wrought in\nus by the Holy Spirit. We all know the command to stand fast in grace,\nto grow in grace, to seek for more grace. We rejoice in the words,\nexceeding grace, grace abounding exceedingly, grace exceedingly\nabundant. We pray continually that God would increase and magnify His\ngrace in us.\n\nWe know the law of the Christian life: that no grace can be truly known\nor increased, except by acting it out. Let us learn here that the use of\nour money for others is one of the ways in which grace can be expressed\nand strengthened. The reason is clear. Grace in God is His compassion on\nthe unworthy. His grace is wondrously free. It is always giving, without\nregard to merit. God finds His life and His delight in giving. And when\nHis grace enters the heart, it cannot change its nature: whether in God\nor man, grace loves and rejoices to give. And grace teaches a man to\nlook upon this as the chief value of his money--the Godlike power of\ndoing good, even at the cost of enriching others by impoverishing\nourselves.\n\nLet us learn the lessons. If we have God's grace in us it will show\nitself in giving. If we want new grace, we must exercise what we have in\ngiving. And in all we give we ought to do it in the consciousness of the\ngrace of God that works it in us.\n\n\n_2. The Grace of God teaches to give liberally._--v. 2.\n\n\"Their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality, for\naccording to their power, yea, beyond their power, they gave of their\nown accord, beseeching us with much entreaty in regard of this grace.\"\nWhat a sight! And what a proof of the power of grace! These newly\nconverted Gentiles in Macedonia hear of the need of their Jewish\nbrethren in Jerusalem--men unknown and despised--and at once are ready\nto share with them what they have. Of their own accord, they so give\nbeyond their power, that Paul refuses to accept their gifts: with much\nentreaty they implore and persuade him to accept the gift. \"Their deep\npoverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.\"\n\nIt is remarkable how much more liberality there is among the poor than\nthe rich. It is as if they do not hold so fast what they have: they more\neasily part with all; the deceitfulness of riches has not hardened them;\nthey have learned to trust God for to-morrow. Their liberality is not\nindeed what men count such; their gifts are but small. Men say it does\nnot cost them much to give all; they are so accustomed to have little.\nAnd yet the very fact of their giving it more easily is what makes it\nprecious to God; it shows the childlike disposition that has not yet\nlearned to accumulate and to hold fast. God's way in His kingdom of\ngrace on earth is ever from below, upwards. \"Not many wise and not many\nnoble are called. God has chosen the weak and the base things.\" And even\nso He has chosen the poor in this world, as they give out of their deep\npoverty, to teach the rich what liberality is.\n\n\"_Far beyond their power_ gave they of their own accord, beseeching us\nwith much entreaty that we would receive the gift.\" If this spirit were\nto pervade our churches and men of moderate means and of large\npossessions were to combine with the poor in their standard of giving,\nand the Macedonian example became the law of Christian liberality, what\nmeans would not flow in for the service of the kingdom.\n\n\n_3. The Grace of God teaches to give joyfully._\n\n\"The abundance of their joy abounded unto the riches of their\nliberality.\" (v. 2.) In the Christian life joy is the index of health\nand whole-heartedness. It is not an experience for times and seasons: it\nis the abiding proof of the presence and enjoyment of the Saviour's\nlove. No less than our spiritual exercises, it is meant to pervade our\ndaily duties and our times of trial: \"a joy that no man taketh from\nyou.\" And so it inspires our giving, making the offering of our money a\nsacrifice of joy and thanksgiving. And as we give joyfully, it becomes\nitself a new fountain of joy to us, as a participation in the joy of Him\nwho said \"It is more blessed to give than to receive.\"\n\nThe blessedness of giving: would that men believed how sure this way to\nunceasing joy is, to be ever giving as God lives to give. Of the day\nwhen Israel brought its gifts for the temple, it is said \"then the\npeople rejoiced, because with a perfect heart they offered willingly to\nthe Lord; and David the King also rejoiced with great joy.\" That is a\njoy we may carry with us through life and through each day, unceasingly\ndispensing our gifts of money, our lives or service all around. God has\nimplanted the instinct of happiness deep in every creature; it cannot\nhelp being drawn to what gives happiness. Let us get our hearts filled\nwith the faith of the joy of giving: that joy will make to rich and poor\nour calls to give among our most precious privileges; it will be true of\nus, \"and the abundance of their joy abounded to the riches of their\nliberality.\"\n\n\n_4. The Grace of God makes our giving part of our surrender to our\nLord._\n\nPaul says of their giving (v. 5), they not only did this, \"but first\nthey gave their own selves to the Lord.\" In this sentence we have one of\nthe most beautiful expressions for what is needed to salvation, and what\nit is in which full salvation consists. A man who has given himself to\nthe Lord: that comprises all our Lord asks of us; all the rest He will\ndo. The expression is nowhere else found in Scripture; we owe it to this\ndealing with the matter of the collection. It tells us that giving money\nwill have no value, except we first give ourselves; that all our giving\nmust just be the renewal and carrying out of the first great act of self\nsurrender; that each new gift of money may be a renewal of the\nblessedness of entire consecration.\n\nIt is only this thought that can lift our giving out of the ordinary\nlevel of Christian duty, and make it truly the manifestation and the\nstrengthening of the grace of God in us. We are not under the law, but\nunder grace. And yet so much of our giving, whether in the church plate,\nor on the subscription list, or on special occasions, is done as a\nmatter of course, without aught of the direct relation to our Lord. A\ntruly consecrated life is a life moment by moment in His love; it is\nthis that will bring us to what appears so difficult, ever to give in\nthe right spirit and as an act of worship. It is this will make \"the\nabundance of our joy abound to the riches of our liberality.\"\n\n\n_5. The Grace of God makes our giving part of the Christlike life._--v.\n9.\n\n\"See that ye abound in this grace also, for ye know the grace of our\nLord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became\npoor.\" Every branch and leaf and blossom of the mightiest oak derives\nits life from the same strong root that bears the stem. The life in the\ntiniest bud is the same as in the strongest branch. We are branches in\nChrist the Living Vine; the very life that lived and worked in Him. Of\nwhat consequence that we should know well what His life is, that we may\nintelligently and willingly yield to it. Here we have one of its deepest\nroots laid open; \"Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,\nthat ye through His poverty might become rich.\" To enrich and bless us,\nHe impoverished Himself. That was why the widow's mite pleased Him so;\nher gift was of the same measure as His: \"She cast in all she had.\"\nThis is the life and grace that seeks to work in us; there is no other\nmould in which the Christ-life can be cast. \"See that ye abound _in this\ngrace_ also; for ye know _the grace_ of our Lord Jesus, that he became\npoor.\" How little did the Macedonian Christians know that they were, in\ntheir deep poverty, and in the riches of their liberality, giving beyond\ntheir power, just acting out what the Spirit and grace of Jesus was\nworking in them. How little we would have expected that the simple gift\nof these poor people would become the text of such high and holy and\nheart-searching teaching. How much we need to pray that the Holy Spirit\nmay so master our purses and our possessions, that the grace of our\ngiving shall, in some truly recognizable degree, be the reflection of\nour Lord's. And how we need to bring our giving to the cross, and to\nseek Christ's death to the world and its possessions as the power for\nours. So will we make others rich through our poverty, and our life be\nsomewhat like St. Paul's: \"poor, yet making many rich.\"\n\n\n_6. The Grace of God works in us not only the willing, but the doing._\n(v. 10.)\n\n\"You were the first to make a beginning a year ago, not only to do, but\nalso to will. But now complete the doing also; that as there was the\nreadiness to will, so there may be the performance also.\" We all know\nwhat a gulf in the Christian life there often is between the willing and\nthe doing. This prevails in the matter of giving, too. How many long for\na time when they may be better off and able to give more. And meantime\nthat wish, the fancied willingness to give more, deceives them, and is\nmade to do duty for present liberality. How many who have the means, and\nintend doing something liberal, yet hesitate, and the large donation\nduring life, or the legacy in the will, is never carried out. How many\ncount themselves really liberal, because of what they _will_, while what\nthey _do_, even up to their present means, is not what God would love to\nsee. The message comes to all: \"Now complete the doing also; that as the\nreadiness to will, so the completion also, out of your ability.\"\n\n\"It is God which worketh in us to will and to do\"; let us beware, in any\nsphere, of hindering Him by unbelief or disobedience, and resting in the\n_to will_, without going on to the _to do_. The Christian life needs\nexercise; it is by practice that godliness grows. If in anything we find\nthat our giving has not been up to this Scripture model, not as liberal\nand joyful, not in as perfect accord with the spirit of our entire\nsurrender to our Lord, or of His making himself poor for us, let us at\nonce, in addition to the readiness to will, complete the doing also.\n\n\n_7. The Grace of God makes the gift acceptable according to what a man\nhas._ (v. 12.)\n\n\"For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according as a man\nhath, not according as he hath not.\" The God who seeth the heart, judges\nof each gift by the ability to give. And His blessed Spirit gives the\nupright heart the blessed consciousness that the gift on earth has found\napproval and acceptance in heaven. God has been careful in His Word to\nteach us this in every possible way. All the world's judgments of the\nvalue of gifts are reversed in heaven; the love that gives liberally\naccording to what it hath is met by the Father's love from above. Let us\nseek to redeem our giving from all that is commonplace and little by\ntaking hold of the blessed assurance: it is acceptable. Let us refuse to\ngive what appears to satisfy us: let us pause, and rejoice in God's call\nto give, and in His Spirit that teaches how much and how to give, and\nthe deepest joy of giving will come to us--the Spirit's seal that the\nFather is well pleased.\n\n\n_8. The Grace of God through the giving works out the true unity and\nequality of all saints._ (v. 13.)\n\n\"I say not this, that others may be eased and ye distressed; but by\nequality, your abundance being a supply at this present time for their\nwant, that their abundance may also become a supply to your want. That\nthere may be equality. As it is written: He that gathered much, had\nnothing over: and he that gathered little had no lack.\" Another ray of\nheavenly light on this appeal for a collection. Money will become the\nbond of union that binds the Christians of Jerusalem and of Corinth into\none. They are one as much as Israel was one people. As in their\ningathering of the manna the feeble and the strong were to bring all\ninto one store, that all might share alike, so in the body of Christ.\nGod allows of riches and poverty, God bestows His gifts with apparently\nunequal hand, that our love may have the high privilege of restoring the\nequality. The want of some calls us to the love and the help and the\nblessedness of giving to others. And at another time, or in different\nspheres, the very ones who needed help may, in their turn, out of their\nabundance bless their helpers. Everything has been so ordered that love\nshall have room to work, and that there shall be opportunity to\ncultivate and to prove the Christlike spirit.\n\nWhat a call and what a field in the needs of the world for all God's\npeople to prove that God's plan is theirs: \"that there may be equality,\"\nand that the spirit of selfish contentment with greater privilege has\nbeen banished by the Cross. In philanthropy and missions what a need for\nall saints doing their utmost \"according to their power--yea, and beyond\ntheir power.\"\n\nIn sight of the heathen world, oh! what an appeal that there be equality\nand that we shall share and share alike with them what God gives us.\nWhat new, unthought of, eternal value, money gets as one of the powers\nfor giving to the perishing, of the abundance we have in Christ.\n\nThere is no room left to enlarge on the further lessons of chap. 9. Let\nme just mention them:\n\n     (v. 6.) Let the giving be bountiful: it will bring a bountiful\n     reward.\n\n     (v. 7.) Let the giving not be grudging or of necessity: the\n     cheerful giver receives God's love.\n\n     (v. 8.) Let the giving be trustful: God will make all grace abound.\n\n     (v. 11-13.) Your giving brings glory to God by the thanksgiving of\n     those you bless.\n\n     (v. 15.) Your giving reminds of God's giving, and calls to thanks\n     for His unspeakable gift.\n\nWhat a world of holy thought and heavenly light is opened up by the\ngifts of the Macedonians and Corinthian converts! Shall we not under the\npower of that thought and light review all our giving and see that it\nbe brought into perfect accord with the Divine pattern in these\nchapters? Shall we not begin at once, and yield to Him, who became poor\nfor us, everything that self-interest and self-indulgence has hitherto\nclaimed and held? And shall we not beseech Him to show in us by His\nSpirit that the one worth and blessedness of money is to spend it for\nour Lord, to bless our fellowmen, to use it as an instrument and an\nexercise of grace, and so to turn even it into the treasure that lasts\nfor eternity?\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE POVERTY OF CHRIST.\n\n\n     \"Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was\n     rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His\n     poverty might become rich.\" _II. Corinthians, 8, 9._\n\n\"THROUGH HIS POVERTY\": what does that mean? That He dispossessed Himself\nof all heavenly and earthly possessions that the riches of earth and\nheaven might be ours? That He so took our place, as in our stead to walk\nin the path of earthly poverty, that we in comfort and ease might enjoy\nthe heavenly riches He has won for us? Or has that \"THROUGH HIS\nPOVERTY\" a deeper meaning, and does it imply that His poverty is the\nvery path or passage that He opened up through which all must go who\nwould fully enter into His riches? Does it mean that, just as He needed\nin poverty of spirit and body to die to the world that He might open for\nus the way to the heavenly treasures, so we need to walk in His\nfootsteps, and can only through His poverty working in us, through\nfellowship with His poverty, come to the perfect enjoyment of the riches\nHe came to bring? In other words, is the poverty of Jesus something for\nHim alone, or something in which His disciples are to share?\n\nThere is scarce a trait in the life and character of Christ in which we\ndo not look to Him as an example--what are the lessons _His Holy\nPoverty_ has to teach? Is the right to possess and enjoy the riches of\nearth as it is now everywhere practiced in the Church part of what\nChrist has secured for us? Or, is it possible that the lack of faith in\nthe beauty and blessedness of the poor life of Christ Jesus is part of\nthe cause of our spiritual poverty; our lack of Christ's poverty the\ncause of our lack of His riches? Is there not a needs-be that we not\nonly think of the one side, \"For your sakes He became poor\"; but as much\nof the other, \"For His sake I suffer the loss of all things?\"\n\nIn seeking an answer to these questions, we must first turn and gaze\nupon our blessed Lord, if maybe the Holy Spirit will unfold somewhat of\nthe glory of this His blessed attribute. Unless our heart be fixed upon\nour Lord in patient and prayerful contemplation, and we wait for the\nHoly Spirit to give us His illumination, we may indeed have our thoughts\nabout this Divine poverty, but we cannot really behold its glory,\nor have its power and blessing enter our life. May God give us\nunderstanding!\n\nWe must first of all see what the reason--the needs-be--was of the\nearthly poverty of Christ. He might have lived on earth possessed of\nriches, and dispensing them with wise and liberal hand. He might have\ncome in the enjoyment of a moderate competency, just enough to keep Him\nfrom the dependence and homelessness which was His lot. In either case\nHe might have taught His people of all ages such precious and\nmuch-needed lessons as to the right use of the things of this world.\nWhat a sermon His life would have been on the far-reaching words: They\nthat buy _as though they possessed not_. But no, there was a Divine\nnecessity that His life must be one of entire poverty. In seeking for\nthe explanation, we shall find two classes of reasons. There are those\nwhich have reference to us and His work for us as our Saviour. There are\nothers which are more closely connected with His own personal life as\nman, and the work the Father wrought in Him, as He perfected Him through\nsuffering.\n\nOf the reasons referring to His work, the principal ones are easily\nnamed. Christ's poverty is part of His entire and deep humiliation, a\nproof of His perfect humility--_His willingness to descend_ to the very\nlowest depths of human misery, and to share to the full in all the\nconsequences of sin. The poor have in all ages been despised, while the\nrich have been sought and honored: Christ came to be the despised and\nneglected of men in this, too.\n\nChrist's poverty has ever been counted one of the proofs of His love.\nLove delights in giving, perfect love in giving all. The poverty of\nChrist is one of the expressions of that self-sacrificing love which\nheld back nothing, and seeks to win us for itself by the most absolute\nself-abnegation on our behalf. Christ's poverty is His fitness for\nsympathizing and helping us in all the trials that come to us from our\nrelation to this world and its goods. The majority of mankind has to\nstruggle with poverty. The majority of God's saints have been a poor and\nafflicted people. The poverty of Christ has been to tens of thousands\nthe assurance that He could feel for them; that, even as with Him,\nearthly need was to be the occasion for heavenly help, the school for a\nlife of faith, and the experience of God's faithfulness the path to\nheavenly riches.\n\nChrist's poverty is the weapon and the proof of His complete victory\nover the world. As our Redeemer, He proved by His poverty that His\nkingdom is not of this world, that as little as He feared its threats or\nits death could He be tempted to seek help from its wealth or strength.\n\nBut these reasons are more external and official; _the deeper spiritual\nsignificance_ of Christ's poverty will be disclosed as we regard it as\npart of His training as the Son of Man, and His exhibition of what the\ntrue life of man is to be.\n\nChrist's poverty was part of that suffering through which He learned\nobedience and was perfected by God as our High Priest. To human nature\npoverty must ever be a trial. We were made to be kings and possessors of\nall things. To have nothing costs suffering.\n\nChrist's human nature was not, as the Docet\u00c3\u00a6 taught, a mere appearance\nor show. There never was one so really, so intensely, a man as Christ\nJesus: \"true man of true man.\" Poverty implies dependence on others; it\nmeans contempt and shame; it often brings want and suffering; it always\nlacks the means and power of earth. Our blessed Lord felt all this as\nman. And it was part of that suffering through which the Father worked\nout His will in His Son, and the Son proved His submission to the\nFather, and His absolute trust in Him.\n\n_Christ's poverty was part of His school of faith_, in which He Himself\nfirst learned, and then taught men, that life is more than meat, and\nthat man liveth \"not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth\nout of the mouth of God.\" In His own life He had to prove that God and\nthe riches of heaven can more than satisfy a man who has nothing on\nearth; that trust in God for the earthly life is not vain; that one only\nneeds as much as it pleases God to give. In His person we have witness\nto the power which comes with the preaching of the Kingdom of Heaven\nwhen the Preacher Himself is the evidence of its sufficiency.\n\nChrist's poverty was one of the marks of His entire separation from the\nworld, the proof that He was of another world and another spirit. As it\nwas with the fruit good for food and pleasant to the eye sin entered the\nworld, so the great power of the world over men is in the cares and\npossessions and enjoyments of this life. Christ came to conquer the\nworld and cast out its prince, to win the world back to God. He did so\nby refusing every temptation to accept its gifts or seek its aid. Of\nthis protest against the worldly spirit, its self-pleasing and its trust\nin the visible, the poverty of Christ was one of the chief elements. He\novercame the world first in the temptations by which its prince sought\nto ensnare Himself, then, and through that, in its power over us. The\npoverty of Christ was thus no mere accident or external circumstance. It\nwas an essential element of His holy, perfect life; one great secret of\nHis power to conquer and to save; His path to the Glory of God.\n\nWe want to know what our share in the poverty of Christ is to be,\nwhether and how far we are to follow His example. Let us study what\nChrist taught His disciples. When he said to them, \"Follow Me,\" \"Come\nafter Me, I will make you fishers of men,\" He called them to share with\nHim in His poor and homeless life, in His state of entire dependence\nupon the care of God and the kindness of men. He more than once used\nstrong expressions about forsaking all, renouncing all, losing all. And\nthat they understood His call so is manifest from their forsaking nets\nand customs, and saying, through Peter, \"We have forsaken all and\nfollowed Thee.\"\n\nThe call of Christ to come after Him is often applied as if it were the\ncall to repentance and salvation. This is by no means the case. The\nprinciples the call involves have their universal application; but, to\nexpound and enforce them in truth, it is of great consequence first to\nunderstand the meaning of the call in its original intention. Christ\nseparated for Himself a band of men who were to live with Him in closest\nfellowship, in entire conformity to His life, under his immediate\ntraining. These three conditions were indispensable for their receiving\nthe Holy Spirit, for being true witnesses to Him and the life which He\nhad lived and would impart to men. With them, as with Him, the surrender\nof all property and _the acceptance of a state of poverty_ was\nmanifestly a condition and a means without which the full possession of\nthe heavenly riches in such power as to convince men of their worth\ncould not come.\n\nWith Paul the case appears to have been very little different. Without\nany express command we know of, the Spirit of his Master so possessed\nhim, and made the eternal world so real and glorious to him, that its\nexpulsive power made every thought of property or position disappear. He\nlearned to give utterance, as no one else ever could do, to what must\nhave been our Blessed Lord's inmost life in the words he uses of\nhimself: \"as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet\npossessing all things.\" And in his wonderful life, as in his writings,\nhe proves what weight it gives to the testimony concerning eternal\nthings when the witness can appeal to his own experience of the infinite\nsatisfaction which the unseen riches can give. In Paul, as in Christ,\npoverty was the natural consequence of an all-consuming passion, and\nmade him a channel through whom the Invisible Power could flow full and\nfree.\n\nThe history of the church tells us a sad story of the increase of\nwealth and worldly power, and the proportionate loss of the heavenly\ngift with which she had been entrusted, and which could alone bless the\nnations. The contrast to the Apostolic state is set in the clearest\nlight by a story that is told of one of the Popes. When Thomas Aquinas\nfirst visited Rome, and expressed his amazement at all the wealth he\nsaw, the Pope said, \"We can no longer say, 'Silver and gold have I\nnone.'\" \"No, indeed;\" was the answer, \"nor can we say, 'What I have that\ngive I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.'\"\nThe earthly poverty and the heavenly power had been closely allied, with\nthe one the other had gone. Through successive ages the conviction ever\ncame that it was only by a return to poverty that the bonds of earth\nbeneath would be broken and the blessing from above brought back. And\nmany a vain attempt was made to secure to poverty a place in the\npreaching and practice of the church such as it had been in Pentecostal\ndays. At times, the earnest efforts of holy men met with temporary\nsuccess, soon to give way again to the terrible power of the great\nenemy--the world.\n\nThere were various reasons for this failure. One was that men understood\nnot that in Christianity it is not an external act or state that can\nprofit, but only the spirit that animates. The words of Christ were\nforgotten: \"The Kingdom of God is within you;\" and men _expected from\npoverty_ what only the Spirit of Christ, revealing itself in poverty,\ncould accomplish. Men sought to make a law of it, to bind under its\nrules and gather into its brotherhoods, souls that had no inner calling\nor capacity for such imitation of Christ. The church sought to invest\npoverty with the mantle of a peculiar holiness, and by its doctrine of\nCounsels of Perfection to offer a reward for this higher perfection. She\ntaught that, while what was commanded in the Gospel was the duty of all,\nthere were certain acts or modes of living which were left to the choice\nof the disciple. They were not of binding obligation; to follow these\ncounsels was more than simple obedience, a work of supererogation which\ntherefore had special merit. Out of this grew the doctrine of the power\nthe church has to dispense this surplus merit of the Saints to those who\nwere lacking. And, in some cases, poverty became only a new source of\nself-righteousness, entering into covenant with wealth, and casting its\ndark and deadly shadow over those it promised to save.\n\nAt the time of the Reformation, poverty had become so desecrated as a\npart of the great system of evil it had to combat, that, in casting out\nthose errors, it cast out a part of the truth with them. Since that time\nit is as if _our Protestant theology has never ventured to enquire_ what\nthe place and the meaning and the power is which Christ and the Apostle\nreally gave poverty in their teaching and practice. And even in our\ndays, when God is still raising up not a few witnesses to the\nblessedness of giving up all to trust in Him, and of possessing nothing\nthat one may possess Him the more fully, the church can hardly be said\nto have found the right expression for its faith in the spirit of\nChrist's poverty, as a power that is still to be counted as one of the\ngifts He bestows on some of its members. It will be found that there is\nno small difficulty in trying to formulate the teaching of Scripture so\nas to meet the views of Evangelical believers.\n\nI have spoken above of the errors connected with the teaching of the\nCounsels of Perfection. And yet there was a measure of truth in that\nteaching, too. The error was to say that the highest conformity to\nChrist was not a matter of duty, but of option. Scripture says, \"To him\nthat knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.\" Wherever\nGod's will is known, it _must_ be obeyed. The mistake would have been\navoided if attention had been paid to the difference of knowledge or\nspiritual insight by which our apprehensions of duty are affected. There\nis a diversity of gift and capacity, of spiritual receptivity and\ngrowth, of calling and grace, which makes a difference, not in the\nobligation of each to seek the most complete inner conformity to Christ,\nbut in the possibility of externally manifesting that conformity in such\nways as were seen in Christ.\n\nDuring the three years of His public career, Christ gave Himself and His\nwhole time to direct work for God. He did not labor for His livelihood.\nHe chose for Himself disciples who would follow Him in this, forsaking\nall for direct work in the service of the Kingdom.\n\nFor admission to this inner circle of His chosen ones, Christ demanded\nwhat He did not from those who only came seeking salvation. They were to\nshare with Him in the work and the glory of the new Kingdom; they must\nshare with Him in the poverty that owns nothing for this world.\n\nFrom what has been said above it is clear that no law can be laid down.\n_It is not a question of law, but of liberty._ But we must understand\nthat word \"liberty\" aright. Too often Christian liberty is spoken of as\nour freedom from too great restraint in sacrificing our own will, or the\nenjoyment of the world. Its real meaning is the very opposite. True love\nasks to be as free as possible from self and the world to bring its all\nto God. Instead of the question, How far am I, as a Christian, free\nstill to do this or the other? the truly free spirit asks, How far am I\nfree to follow Christ to the uttermost? Does the freedom with which\nChrist hath made us free really give us the liberty, in a love which\nlongs for the closest possible likeness and union with Him--still to\nforsake all and follow Him? Among the gifts and calling he still\ndispenses to His church, will there not be some whom by His spirit He\nstill draws in this particular, too, to bear and show forth His image?\nDo we not need as much as when He and His apostles were upon earth, men\nand women to give concrete and practical evidence that the man who\nliterally gives up all of earthly possession because he sets his heart\nupon the treasure in heaven, can count upon God to provide for the\nthings of earth?\n\nIs not this, amid the universal confession of worldliness in the church\nand the Christian life, just the protest that is needed against the so\nsubtle but mighty claim that the world makes upon us? In connection with\nevery church and mission and work of philanthropy the question is asked,\n\"_How is it_ that in Christian countries hundreds of millions are spent\non luxuries, with scarce single millions for God's work?\" Calculations\nare made as to what could be done if all Christians were only to be\nmoderately liberal. I fear all such argument avails little. Help must\ncome from a different direction. It was of the innermost circle that He\nhad gathered around Himself that Christ asked a poverty as absolute as\nHis own. It is in the innermost circle of God's children, among those\nwho make the highest profession of insight into the riches of grace and\ntheir entire surrender to it, that we must find the witnesses that His\nSpirit can still inspire and strengthen to bear His poverty. He has done\nit, and is doing it. In many a missionary and Salvation Army officer, in\nmany a humble unknown worker, _His Spirit is working out this trait_ of\nHis blessed likeness. In the days we are looking for of deeper revival\namong God's children He will do it still more abundantly.\n\nBlessed are all they who wait for Him, to receive His teaching, to know\nHis mind, and show forth His holy likeness. It is as the first, the\ninner, circle proves the power of His presence, that the second and the\nthird will feel the influence. Men of moderate means, who may feel no\ncalling to the poor life, will come under the constraining power of the\nexample and feel compelled to sacrifice far more of comfort and\nenjoyment in Christ's service than they ever did before. And the rich\nwill have their attention attracted to the danger signals God has set\nalong their path (Luke xviii. 25, Matt. vi. 19, 21, 1 Tim. vi. 9, 10,\n16), and will, by these examples, if they may not themselves share in\nChrist's poverty, at least be helped to set their hearts more intensely\nupon the treasure in heaven--the being rich in faith, rich in good\nworks, rich toward God--and to know themselves heirs of God, heirs of\nthe riches of grace, and the riches of glory.\n\n\"That ye through His poverty might become rich.\" HIS POVERTY, not only\nas an object of our faith, but as a matter of experience and fellowship\nis the passage through which the fullest entrance is gained into his\nriches. Let us present together some of the aspects we have already\npointed out of the blessedness Christ's poverty and its voluntary\nfellowship brings.\n\nWhat an aid to the spiritual life! It helps to throw the soul on God and\nthe unseen; to realize the absoluteness of His presence and care in the\nleast things of daily life; and is to make trust in God the actual\nmoving spring of every temporal as well as spiritual interest. And\nbecause it is not possible to claim God's interposition for every day's\nfood if a man is not consciously walking in tender and full obedience,\nit links the soul to God's will and way by the closest of ties. The\nhourly needs of the body, which are so often our greatest hindrance,\nbecome wonderful helps in lifting our entire life into communion with\nGod, and in bringing God down into everything. It elevates the spirit\nabove the temporal, and teaches us in every state always to be content,\nalways to rejoice and to praise.\n\nWhat a protest against the spirit of this world. There is nothing the\nChristian life suffers more from than _the subtle and indescribable\nworldliness_ that comes from the cares or the possessions of this life.\nThrough it the God of this world exercises his hidden but terrible\npower. This is the Delilah in whose lap the God-separated Nazarite\nbecomes impotent and sleeps. To waken and shake out of this sleep more\nthan preaching is needed, more than the ordinary Christian liberality,\nwhich quite comports with the full enjoyment of all that abundance can\nsupply: there is needed the demonstration of the Spirit and of power,\nthat God enables men, and makes it to them an indescribable blessedness,\nlike their Lord, to give up everything of the earth that they may more\nfully possess, and prove, and proclaim, the sufficiency of the heavenly\nriches and the satisfaction they give. The protest against the spirit of\nthis world will become the mightiest proclamation of the kingdom of\nheaven, the self-evidencing revelation of how heaven can even now take\npossession.\n\nWhat entrance it will give into the image and likeness of Jesus. We\nadore our Lord in the form of a servant, and worship Him in it as the\nmost perfect possible manifestation of a Godlike Humility and Love. His\npoverty was _an integral and essential part_ of that form of a servant\nin which He dwelt. In all ages the love of some has given them no rest\nin the desire to attain the closest possible conformity to the blessed\nLord. In Him the outer and inner were in such living harmony that the\nconnection was not accidental; the one was the only perfect and fit\nexpression of the other. In the body of Christ there are great\ndiversities of gifts; the whole body is not eye, or ear, or tongue. So\nthere are some who have the calling and gift to manifest this trait of\nHis image, and for the sake of their brethren and the world, keep alive\nthe memory of this too much neglected part of the ever blessed\nIncarnation. Blessed they whom His Holy Spirit makes the representatives\nof this His wondrous grace that, though He was rich, He became poor.\n\nWhat a power then this poverty of Christ becomes to make others rich. It\nis through His poverty we become rich. _His poverty in His people brings\nthe same blessing._ In the church, many who do not feel the calling, or\nwho in God's providence are not allowed to follow their desire for it,\nwill be stirred and strengthened by the sight. When some witness\ntestifies to the blessedness of entire conformity, others who are not\ncalled to this path will feel urged, in the midst of the property they\npossess and retain, to seek for as near an approach in spirit as is\nallowed them. Christian giving will not only be more liberal in amount,\nbut more liberal in spirit, in the readiness and cheerfulness in the\nforethought and the actual self-sacrifice by which it will be animated.\nThrough their poverty, too, through Christ's poverty in them, many shall\nbe made rich. Just as a specialist devotes himself to some limited\nbranch of (say) medical science, and all profit by the exclusiveness of\nhis researches, so through these, too, who love and live in and make\nmanifest the poverty of our Lord, the church becomes all the richer.\nThrough them the poverty of Christ gets a place in many hearts where it\nwas not known, and it is seen how this was part of His overcoming the\nworld, and how it may be a part of our victory that overcometh the\nworld, even our faith.\n\nI have said that all have not the same calling. How are we to know what\nour calling is? We may so easily allow ignorance or prejudice,\nself-indulgence or worldliness, human wisdom or unbelief to sway us, to\nkeep us from the simplicity of the perfect heart, and to blind us to the\nfull light of God's perfect will. Let us see where the position is in\nwhich perfect safety will be found, and where we may confidently count\nupon the Divine guidance and approval.\n\nNot long ago I stood by the bedside of a dying servant of God, Rev. Geo.\nFerguson, the principal of our Mission Institute. He told me how he had\nbeen meditating on a text that had come in the course of his preparation\nfor his Mission class: \"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be\nas white as snow.\" As he thought, it was as if one said to him, \"_White\nas snow_, do you know what that is?\" His answer was, \"No, Lord, Thou\nonly knowest, I do not.\" And then the question came, \"_White as snow_,\ncan you attain that?--can you make yourself that?\" \"No, Lord, I cannot;\nbut Thou canst.\" And, again, he was asked, \"Are you willing that I\nshould do it?\" \"Yes, Lord, by Thy grace I am willing Thou shouldest do\nall Thou canst.\"\n\nThe three questions just suggest what our duty is. The heavenly poverty\nof Jesus Christ--do you know what it is? What it is in Him, in His\ndisciples and in Paul, in His saints in later days? What it would be in\nyou? Let the answer be, \"No, Lord, Thou knowest.\" This is what we need\nfirst and most of all. If God were to open our eyes to see the\nspiritual glory of our Lord in His poverty, in _His entire renunciation_\nof every thing of worldly comfort or self-pleasing; if we saw the Divine\nglory of which it is the expression; if we knew how infinitely beautiful\nit was to all the holy angels, how infinitely well-pleasing to the\nFather, we should then only in some little degree be able to say whether\nit was something we ought to desire and imitate. If we saw the\nheavenliness and the measure of the likeness to our Lord it would bring\ninto our life, we should say, \"I have spoken of what I knew not--Oh,\nthat God would show me His glory in this too: '_for your sakes He became\npoor, that ye through His poverty might be rich_'!\" Before you judge of\nit, pray by the Holy Spirit to know it.\n\nThen comes the second question. \"Can you attain it? Can you, in the\nlikeness of Jesus, give up everything in the world for God and your\nfellowmen, and find your joy in the heavenly riches and the blessedness\nof dependence upon God alone?\" \"No, Lord, I cannot; but Thou canst\nwork.\" Come and gaze upon the Son of God and worship as you think. It\nwas God that made Him what He was, and that God can, by His mighty\npower, work in me His Divine likeness. Ask God to reveal by His Spirit,\nwhat the poverty of Jesus is, and then to work in you as much of it as\nyou can bear. Be sure of this, _the deeper your entrance into His\npoverty_, the richer you are.\n\nAnd if the last question comes to search the heart--\"Are you willing for\nit?\"--then, surely, your answer will be ready: \"By Thy grace, I am!\" You\nmay see no way out of all the complications of your life. You may dread\nbringing upon yourself sacrifices and trials you could not bear. Be not\nafraid: you surely cannot fear giving yourself up to God's perfect love\nto work out His perfect will. For all He really means you to do He will\nmost surely give light and strength. The Throne of Riches and Honor and\nGlory to which the Lamb has been exalted is surely proof enough that\nthere is no surer way for us to riches and honor than through His\npoverty. The soul that in simplicity yields to the leading of the Lord\nwill find that the fellowship of His suffering brings even here the\nfellowship of His glory: \"Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He\nbecame poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.\"","title":"Money: Thoughts for God's Stewards","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":13284}