Chapter One
WHAT DETERMINES
OUR REWARDS?Jesus Christ said more about money than about
any other single thing because, when it comes to
a man's real nature, money is of first importance.
Money is an exact index to a man's true character.
All through Scripture there is an intimate correlation
between the development of a man's character
and how he handles his money. RICHARD HALVERSON
A POOR WOMAN AND A RICH MAN
Imagine you're a financial counselor. Today you have
two appointments, first with an elderly woman and
then a middle-aged man.
The woman's husband died six years ago. She
says, "I have no more money. The cupboards are
bare. These two dollars are all I have to live on, yet
I feel as if God wants me to put them in the offering.
What do you think?"
What would you tell her?
Likely you'd say, "That's very generous of you, but
God gave you common sense. He knows your heart-that
you want to give. But he intends you to take care
of yourself. I'm sure God would have you keep those
two dollars and buy food for tomorrow. You can't
expect him just to send down
food from heaven, can you?
God wants us to be sensible."
Your next appointment is
with a successful, hardworking,
middle-aged farmer
whose crop production has been excellent. He tells
you, "I'm planning to tear down my old barns to build
bigger ones so I can store up more crops and goods
and have plenty saved up for the future. Then I can
take it easy, retire early, and do some traveling and
golfing. What do you think?"
How would you answer?
Perhaps like this: "Sounds good to me! You've
worked hard. God has blessed you with good crops.
It's your business, your crops, your money. If you can
save up enough to take care of yourself the rest of
your life, by all means go for it. I hope one day I'll be
in a position to do the same!"
Wouldn't such advice to this poor widow and rich
man appear reasonable? What would God have to say
about it?
We needn't speculate-Scripture tells us exactly
what he says.
In Mark 12 we meet a poor widow. She put two tiny
copper coins in the temple offering box. This was the
only money she had. Jesus pointed her out to his disciples
to teach them a lesson. Did he question the
woman's wisdom? Did he say she should have been
more sensible than to surrender her only remaining
resources? No. He gave her unqualified commendation:
"I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more
into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out
of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in
everything-all she had to live on" (Mark 12:43-44).
Jesus regarded the woman as wise, not foolish. He
set her up as a model for his disciples to follow. He
enshrined her example in the Word of God so that
future generations might emulate her faith and sacrificial
generosity.
And yet, if she'd come to us for advice, we would
have tried to talk her out of doing the very thing that
Jesus commended her for!
In Luke 12 we meet a rich man. We're not told that
he gained his wealth dishonestly or that he didn't
attend synagogue, tithe, or pray, as most Jews did. He
worked diligently to build his business. Now, like any
good businessman, he wanted to expand by building
bigger barns. His purpose was to accumulate enough
wealth to retire early and have a good time. Sounds
like the American dream, doesn't it? (And, honestly,
are our dreams as Christians so different?)
So what did God have to say to this man? "You
fool! This very night your life will be demanded from
you. Then who will get what you have prepared for
yourself?"
Jesus added, "This is how it will be with anyone
who stores up things for himself but is not rich
toward God" (Luke 12:20-21).
By our standards, the widow's actions seem unwise
and the rich man's seem wise. But God, who knows
the hearts of both and sees from the vantage point of
eternity, regards the poor woman as eternally wise and
the rich man as eternally foolish.
This proves that our beliefs about money are radically
different from God's. In fact, they're diametrically
opposed.
We must ask some probing questions. Who is
featured more frequently in Christian magazines
and on talk shows-poor widows or rich fools? Who
receives the most respect and attention in many
Christian organizations? Who is more highly
esteemed in most churches? Who typically serves
on our boards and determines the direction of our
ministries?
Let's be honest-don't we have a scarcity of poor
widows and a surplus of rich fools? And doesn't our
way of operating encourage people to think and act
like the rich fool, and discourage them from thinking
and acting like the poor widow?
THE STORY MONEY TELLS
Jesus did not and does not call all his disciples to
give away their last pennies. But he also knows that
none of us can enthrone the true God unless in the
process we dethrone our other gods. If Christ is not
Lord over our money and possessions, then he is not
our Lord. The principle is timeless: There is a powerful
relationship between our true spiritual condition
and our attitude and actions concerning money and
possessions.
The early church exemplifies this connection. The
depth of transformation in the early Christians was
clearly evident in their willingness to surrender their
money and possessions to meet each others' needs
(Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35). It was no more natural for
these Christians to cheerfully liquidate and disburse
assets they had spent their lives accumulating than it
would be for us. And that's the whole point. Conversion
and the filling of the Holy Spirit are supernatural
experiences that produce supernatural responses-whether
in the first century or the twenty-first.
Although private ownership of property was still
practiced by the early Christians, the joyful giving
and sharing of this property became the new norm
of supernatural living.
A study of the early church, the poor widow, the
rich fool, Zacchaeus, the rich young ruler, and many
other Bible characters shows that our handling of
money is a litmus test of our true character. It's an
index of our spiritual life. Our stewardship of our
money and possessions becomes the story of our
lives.
If this is true of all people in all ages, doesn't it have
a special application to us who live in a time and place
of unparalleled affluence? who live in a country where
the "poverty level" exceeds the average standard of
living of nearly every other society in human history,
past or present?
If you have sufficient food, decent clothes, live in
a home that shields you from the weather, and own
some kind of reliable transportation, you're in the top
15 percent of the world's wealthy. Add some savings,
two cars (in any condition), a variety of clothes, and
your own house, and you have reached the top 5
percent. You may not feel wealthy, but that's only
because you're comparing yourself to the mega-wealthy.
Consider someone who works from age twenty-five
to sixty-five and makes only $25,000 a year.
Forget the huge value of benefits provided, interest
earned, pay raises, and other income sources, including
inheritance or Social Security. Even without these
extras, in his lifetime this person of modest income
will be paid a million dollars. He will manage a
fortune.
Because we all will eventually give an account of
our lives to God (Romans 14:12; 2 Corinthians 5:10),
one day everyone must answer these questions:
Where did it all go? What did I spend it on? What,
if anything, did I support with it? What has been
accomplished for eternity through my use of all this
wealth?
We will be held accountable for what we do in this
life, including what we do with our money. If we are
generous with our possessions and faithful in our
service, God will reward us beyond our imagination!
If we live only for ourselves, hoarding our money and
focusing on our earthly comfort, we will lose the eternal
rewards God had planned for us. As Christians, we
are saved by God's grace-but what we do in this life
will matter for eternity.
THIS IS THE LAW OF REWARDS: WHILE OUR FAITH DETERMINES
OUR ETERNAL DESTINATION, OUR BEHAVIOR DETERMINES
OUR ETERNAL REWARDS.
In the account of the poor widow, Mark writes,
"Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings
were put and watched the crowd putting their money
into the temple treasury" (Mark 12:41). Notice that it
doesn't say, "Jesus happened to see ." No, he deliberatelywatched to observe what people were giving.
How close was Jesus to the offering box? Close
enough to see that some people put in large amounts.
Close enough even to see two tiny coins in a shriveled
old hand and to identify them as copper. Jesus was
interested enough in what people were giving to
make an object lesson for his disciples.
This passage should make all of us who suppose
that what we do with our money is our own business
feel terribly uncomfortable. It's painfully apparent
that God considers it his business. He does not apologize
for watching with intense interest what we do
with the money he's entrusted to us. If we use our
imagination, we might peer into the invisible realm
to see him gathering some of his subjects together
this very moment. Perhaps you can hear him using
your handling of finances as an object lesson.
The question is this: What kind of example are
you?
GOD'S WORDS AS A GUIDE
Scripture contains many verses that give guidance
on money. In these sidebars throughout the book
we'll highlight some that may help you as you
rethink your attitude toward giving and rewards.
"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the
world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1)
"You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength
of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But
remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives
you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms
his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers."
(Deuteronomy 8:17-18)
LEARNING ABOUT GOD'S OWNERSHIP
In 1990 I was a pastor and on the board of a
pregnancy resource center. After searching the Scriptures
and praying, I began participating in nonviolent
rescues at abortion clinics. I was arrested several
times and went to jail for a couple of days. An abortion
clinic subsequently won a court judgment
against me and others. I told the judge that normally
I would pay anything I owed, but I couldn't hand over
money to people who would use it to kill babies.
Soon after, I discovered that my church was about
to receive a writ of garnishment, demanding that they
surrender one-fourth of my wages each month to the
abortion clinic. The church would either have to pay
the abortion clinic or defy a court order. To avoid this,
I had to resign. The only way I could prevent garnishment
in the future was to make no more than minimum
wage.
Another court judgment followed, involving
another abortion clinic. We were assessed the largest
judgment ever against a group of peaceful protestors:
$8.4 million. By all appearances, our lives had taken
a devastating turn-but it was one of the best things
that ever happened to us.
What others intended for evil, God intended for
good (Genesis 50:20). We began Eternal Perspective
Ministries, which owns all the books I write. Nanci
worked at a secretary's salary, supplementing my
minimum wage. Then something interesting
happened: Suddenly my books were on the bestseller
lists. Royalties increased. Our ministry has
been able to give away 100 percent of those royalties
to missions, famine relief, and pro-life work. In the
past three years, by God's grace, the ministry has
given away more than $500,000. Sometimes I think
God sells the books just to raise funds for ministries
close to his heart!
I don't go to bed at night feeling that I've "sacrificed"
that money, wishing somehow I could get my
hands on it. I go to bed feeling joy, because there's
nothing like giving.
If you wonder why God has blessed your business,
maybe it's not because the goods and services
you offer are so extraordinary. Maybe it's because he
wants to provide you with more money to give back
to him, and more reward in heaven! And if you don't
realize that, you'll never experience the joy of giving,
the thrill of kingdom investing he desires for you.
PATHWAY TO SPIRITUAL GROWTH
I wasn't raised in a Christian home, but from the day
I came to Christ as a high school student, giving has
been an integral part of my walk with God. Many of the
greatest joys of my life, and some of the closest times of
intimacy with my Lord, have come in giving. When I
become aware of a need and God leads me to give,
suddenly I'm infused with energy, purpose, and joy.
Go back to what Jesus said: "It is more blessed
to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). Why? Perhaps
because when we give it blesses not one but three
parties-God, the recipient, and us. We shouldn't
be content with the first blessing, which is when we
receive money from God. There is the second blessing
of our giving so that others receive, and the third
blessing of God being pleased. It is the second and
third blessings that keep the first blessing from
becoming a curse of having too much, and centering
our lives around money and things.
Ironically, the blessing on us when we give money
is always greater than if we had kept it. (This is part of
God's law of rewards.)
REWARD PRINCIPLE #1: GIVING BRINGS
GREATER BLESSING THAN RECEIVING.
By not giving, we don't just
rob God or rob others of blessing.
We rob ourselves of the
rewards God wants to give us.
How many blessings have we kept from ourselves in
the last year by failing to give as we could have? How
much spiritual growth and joy have we missed out on
by not living by God's law of rewards?
For my wife and me, the process of discovering
God's will about money and possessions has been
exciting and liberating. Our growth in financial stewardship
has closely paralleled our overall spiritual
growth. In fact, it has propelled it. We have learned
more about faith, trust, grace, commitment, and
God's provision in this area than any other.
I have also learned why Paul said, "God loves a
cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7). I have found that
cheerful givers love God and love him more deeply
each time they give. To me, one of the few experiences
comparable to the joy of leading someone to
Christ is the joy of making wise and generous eternity-impacting
choices with my money and possessions.
Both are supreme acts of worship. Both are exhilarating.
Both are what we were made for.
This book addresses what eternity holds for us and
how that relates to our money. I believe this is the
primary missing ingredient in most Christian books
on finances.
Continues.
