Pay Down Debt in order to Support Missions

This is a good and practical post by Kevin DeYoung on paying down debt.

One of the Many Reasons NOT to Play the Lottery (even if it is the "largest jackpot in history")

1 Timothy 6:9-10:
"Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wondered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs."

Teaching Kids to be Givers

I enjoyed this short clip from Dave Ramsey about teaching our kids to be givers. It contains some good practical wisdom for us and our kids.

On Giving Money

Tim Challies has a 2 part series at his blog on the issue of giving.  In it, he answers 4 questions:

1. Do I have to give some of my money away?
2. What should be my attitude as I give money away?
3. Where am I to give?
4. How much am I to give?

I found Challies' succinct answers to these questions to be very helpful.  In summary, he shows that as Christians we are indeed to give money away. We are to give cheerfully, mainly to our local church. And, we are to give sacrificially, where we actually feel that it is costing us something to give. He closes the series by showing that the tithe (giving 10% of our income) is meant to be a starting point for giving generously.

So, as you prepare for the new year, evaluate your own giving and plan to generously invest in the Kingdom of God in 2012. No greater investment can be made.

A Plan for Giving Generously

Kevin DeYoung has a gently challenging article on some steps to grow in our generosity. Here is the post in its entirety:

P – Pray for a generous heart.  Make people a priority over prosperity.  Don’t think: “How much do I have to give away in order to be obedient?”  Ask: “Give me opportunities to sow.”

L – Lifestyle cap.  As we earn more, we should give more. If you are wealthier than you used to be, have you done more to increase your standard of living or your standard of giving?

A – Accountability.  Set goals and find someone you can trust who won’t be threatened by talking frankly about finances. Sex and money–we don’t talk about them nearly as much as Jesus did.

N – No less than a tithe. Whether the Old Testament requirement is a binding prescription or not, I find it hard to imagine that Western Christians who have seen the glory of God in the face of Christ and enjoy great prosperity, would want to give less than was required of the poorest Israelite.  Statistics consistently show that Protestants give less than 3% of their income to their churches. A tithe, for most churchgoers, would be a huge step in the right direction.

Proverbs on Money

After studying every verse in Proverbs related to money, wealth, poverty, and riches, I noticed they all could be put into 3 categories. In my sermon Sunday (scroll down to the Proverbs series), I tried to represent Proverbs' teaching on money with these 3 categories and 11 total principles:

(1) Acquiring Money Wisely

1. Don't make it your ambition to acquire money (Prov. 23:4)

2. God gives money through hard work and patience (Prov. 10:4).

3. Don't acquire money unjustly or unrighteously (Prov. 15:27, 22:16).

4. Don't seek to acquire money hastily (Prov. 13:11, 21:5).

(2) Using Money Wisely

5. Honor the Lord with your money (Prov. 3:9).

6. Be generous to others with your money (Prov. 11:24, 14:31).

7. Live within your means (Prov. 12:9, 22:7).

(3) Thinking about Money Wisely

8. Money comes from God (Prov. 10:22).

9. Money can be dangerous to our relationship with God (Prov. 30:7-9).

10. Money is fleeting (Prov. 27:24, 23:4-5).

11. Do not trust in money (Prov. 11:28).

Here is a great book on Proverbs: The Proverbs-Driven Life.

I'm Declaring It 'National Give Away $50 Week'

We should give more to others and keep less for ourselves. So, I thought I'd issue a simple challenge for myself and my readers that I hope in some small way makes an impact for the glory of Christ and encourages us to be better givers.

The challenge is simple: Give away $50 this week that you were not planning to give away (i.e. not part of your regular giving).

Think creatively. What would be the most eternally useful way to "invest" $50? Here are some suggestions (I'd love to hear other ideas):

• Give it to a gospel-proclaiming ministry that you benefit from (like Desiring God).
• Give it to the building fund or adoption fund at your local church.
• Buy 5 copies of your favorite book and give them away.
• Give it to your local pregnancy center or other gospel-minded organization.
• Give it to someone struggling to pay their bills.
• Use it to buy a nice dinner for a family that rarely gets to eat out.
• Give it to a missions organization (like Wycliffe or Gospel for Asia).
• the possibilities are endless...

A few disclaimers:

• $50 is just a random suggestion. Some of you need to give $250 to actually feel it as significant. Others may be stretched to give $5.
• I'm obviously not intending to put a guilt-trip on anybody. If you give, give cheerfully for the glory of Christ.
• My assumption is that you are already giving faithfully, sacrificially, and regularly to your local church. That is where your first and most significant giving should be directed. I think 10% of your income is a great place to start with regular giving (with the desire to be able to give more as the Lord entrusts you with more).

So, if you plan to participate in 'National Give Away $50 Week,' let's do 2 things: (1) leave a comment and tell us how you decided to give away "extra" money this week (not with the goal of exalting ourselves but to inspire others and glorify God), and (2) share a link to this post with as many people as you can. Use Facebook, Twitter, or your blog to extend this challenge to others and let's see what God does.

Reformation in Giving

3 Fantastic articles by Aaron Menikoff on Biblical giving. Please take the time to read these.

1. Reformation in Giving 1
2. Reformation in Giving 2 (tithing is the floor, not the ceiling)
3. Reformation in Giving 3

The Judge is Coming: Warning to the Wealthy

James 5:1-6 sounds like something out of the mouth of an OT prophet. James preaches against the rich with prophetic zeal. After calling the ungodly rich to weep and mourn in verse 1, James gives at least 3 ways that riches lead to judgment.

1. Money leads to judgment when it is selfishly hoarded (5:2-3).
2. Money leads to judgment when it is gained through injustice (5:4, 6).
3. Money leads to judgment when it is used for self-indulgence (5:5).

I closed Sunday's sermon on this passage with 7 exhortations (you'll have to listen to the sermon to get the context of these words of application):
1. Christ is coming back.
2. Live with the end in view.
3. Don't desire to be rich.
4. Stop worrying that you won't have enough for yourself.
5. Beware of judging others.
6. Lift your eyes from what does not satisfy (riches) to the only One who can satisfy (Jesus).
7. Jesus is the only One who can rescue you from eternal condemnation.

Some Piper Thoughts on Saving and Accumulating

Should I Invest for Retirement?

Preparing for the Future Financially.

What is the Right Way to Be Rich?

What is your heart set upon?

"...if riches increase, set not your heart on them." -Psalm 62:10

Don't Play The Lottery

Some things to ponder by John Piper:

Why is gambling wrong? (Ask Pastor John audio)
Don't Play the Lottery for me.
Why I'm Opposed to a State Lottery
Picture Jesus Playing the Lottery

Convicting Article on Giving

If you don't want to be convicted regarding your practice of giving, you shouldn't read this article: The Only Safe Rule for Giving.

Here is the CS Lewis quote from the article:
“I do not believe one can settle on how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”

Breaking News: Money CAN Buy Happiness

Whoever said that money can't buy happiness? You CAN use money to increase your happiness: give it away.

Jesus said, "it is better to give than to receive." Why is it better? Because God loves a cheerful giver. Because giving frees us from the grip of our stuff. Because giving stores up treasure in Heaven. Because giving is a practical expression of love for others.

Hudson Taylor said, "The less I spent on myself and the more I gave to others, the fuller of happiness and blessing did my soul become."

Here is a "secular" article I stumbled across that reminded me of this truth. I couldn't believe I was reading a "worldly" article about how, "one of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make someone else happy."

Warning: true happiness is only possible in Jesus Christ. If you give away everything you have and don't trust in Christ, you will be eternally unhappy.

Trusting God's Promises When Everything Else is Gone

Helpful reminder from John Piper:

We Give Little and Own Much

“God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized, uneducated, unmedicated, and unfed millions. The evidence that many professional Christians have been deceived is how little they give and how much they own. God has prospered them. And by an almost irresistible law of consumer culture, they have bought bigger (and more) houses, newer (and more) cars, fancier (and more) clothes, better (and more) meat, and all manner of trinkets and gadgets and containers and devices and equipment to make life more fun.”

-John Piper, Desiring God.

Giving that pinches and hampers

Be challenged by this CS Lewis quote:

“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusement, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our giving does not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say it is too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our commitment to giving excludes them.”

My Heart Follows My Treasure

Jesus taught, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I used to think of this teaching as just another way of saying that if you love God, you will give to His causes. That is certainly true, but this verse says so much more.

Jesus is saying that my heart follows my treasure (not just that my treasure follows my heart). The radical implication of this verse is that I can help determine the direction of my heart by what I do with the treasure entrused to me.

How do I increase my love for God's purposes? Answer: give more of my money to them.

"My heart always goes where I put God's money" (The Treasure Principle, chapter 3).

“As surely as the compass needle follows north, your heart will follow your treasure" (p. 42).

This is so true isn't it? When you buy something expensive, you begin to order your life to take care of that thing don't you? If you have stock invested in a particular company, you begin to take a personal interest in that company. If you support a particular missionary, you take personal interest in how the work is going.

So, what will you invest in?

Less Stuff = Fuller Happiness

Hudson Taylor: “The less I spent on myself and the more I gave to others, the fuller of happiness and blessing did my soul become.”

“The greater the mass, the greater the hold that mass exerts. The more things we own—the greater their total mass—the more they grip us, setting us in orbit around them. Finally, like a black hole, they suck us in" (The Treasure Principle, p. 33).

The Treasure Principle

If you haven't read The Treasure Principle, do yourself a favor. It will be for the joy of your own soul. Here is the point of Alcorn's The Treasure Principle:

“You can’t take it with you—but you can send it on ahead.”

“Anything we try to hold on to here will be lost. But anything we put into God’s hands will be ours for eternity" (p. 18).

In case you don't recognize it, this is simply an exposition on Jesus' teachings in Matthew 6:19-21.