The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
August 20, 2006
In
This Issue:
Giving
Too Much?
by
Steve Klein
The
Briar Patch
author
unknown
What
is Your Price?
by
Jason Cicero
Giving Too Much?
Recently, billionaire Wall Street investor Warren Buffet made headlines by giving away 36 billion dollars to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Foundation works to improve health and education worldwide. Most would say it's a worthy cause. Even so, some may have thought that Buffet's gift was too generous. It was the largest single monetary gift ever made to a charity in the United States.
The church that belongs to Jesus Christ is also involved in a worthy cause - the worthiest cause. Think about it. The cause of Christ not only betters life on earth through the charity and compassion of Christians, it also provides the only real hope of a perfect world to come. No man-made charitable organization holds such promise. Poverty, disease and ignorance have plagued mankind for thousands of years and will continue to do so. Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you" (Matthew 26:11). Through the noble intentions of good hearted people, life on earth may be improved, but it will never be made into paradise. But Jesus promises, "To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7).
The Bible contains a number of examples of those who gave lavishly to the Lord's cause because their hearts were in the right place.
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In gathering materials for the building of the tabernacle, "The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the LORD, all the men and women whose hearts were willing to bring material for all kinds of work which the LORD, by the hand of Moses, had commanded to be done" (Exodus 35:29). In fact, the children of Israel gave so much toward the building of the tabernacle that they had to be "restrained from bringing" more (Exodus 36:6-7).
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Concerning his gift for the building of the temple, David said, "Moreover, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, my own special treasure of gold and silver: {4} "three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver&ldots;" (1 Chronicles 29:3-4)
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Jesus commended a poor widow who gave two mites because "she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had" (Luke 21:4).
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Christians in the churches of Macedonia gave "beyond their ability" and "were freely willing" to do so (2 Corinthians 8:3). They were happy to give because "they first gave themselves to the Lord" (2 Corinthians 8:4).
These examples illustrate that when a person's heart is in the right place, no one will have to worry about whether they are giving enough. If anything, the concern might be that they are giving too much!
Now, examine your own giving. If others knew what you gave to the Lord's cause, is there any chance that they would be concerned that you might be giving too much? Is your heart in the right place?
--Steve Klein
The other day at work I mentioned to a co-worker that he was caught up in a "tar baby". It never occurred to me that he, being from Pakistan, had never heard of Uncle Remus, Brer Bear, Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit, the briar patch, or even the "tar baby". Well, after a little education on the finer points of Southern culture, he came to realize that he was in a whopper of a predicament.
Just like Brer Rabbit, most folks today don't realize what kind of mess they've gotten themselves into, until it's too late. But unlike Brer Rabbit, the briar patch is not our hope of salvation. Instead, it represents what may be our undoing. Please recall the following Old Testament illustration:
Upon entering the land of Canaan, the Lord commanded the Israelites to drive out the idolatrous inhabitants of their new land. God even promised to help them, but they were still ultimately responsible for the initiative (Exodus 23:27-33). He even warned them that if they failed to complete their task, then "those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell" (Numbers 33:55). However, their punishment would exceed this, for He added, "Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them" (Numbers 33:56). You would think with that kind of promise and warning that the Israelites would have been highly motivated to follow through on their mission. Unfortunately, that is not how history unfolded. After dominating most of Canaan, the book of Judges records multiple unfinished "loose ends" (Judges 1:17-36). Following the recitation of these remaining inhabitants, Judges records this message from God:
"I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.' But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? Therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you'" (Judges 2:1-3).
Although the Israelites were initially zealous, when met with resistance, their zeal waned, and they tried to become comfortable in the "briar patch". Instead of peace, they found constant irritation, but possibly even more detrimental, they made themselves vulnerable to temptation:
"Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods. So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs." (Judges 3:5-7)
Not unlike the Israelites, we have found ourselves in the "briar patch" of the world. But, it is not a place of security. If we cozy up too close, we may find ourselves like the seed that sprang up, but was choked out by the briars, thorns, thistles, cares, worries, and love of this world (Matthew 13:22; I John 2:15-17). The question for us is, "Are we gonna' get caught up in this her' tar baby?" Or, are we going to instead, "lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and &ldots; run with endurance the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1; II Timothy 2:3-4)? If we fail to do so, we should not be surprised when the briar patch entangles and overcomes us, just like it did the Israelites (II Peter 2:20-22).
-- Via www.insearchof truth.org
"And He said to them, 'Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses'" (Luke 12:15 - NKJV).
Jesus had a definition for greed. He called it the practice of measuring life by possessions. Greed equates a persons worth with a person's purse:
1. You got a lot = you are a lot.
2. You got a little = you are little.
The consequences of such a philosophy are predictable. If you are the sum of what you own, then, by all means, own it all. No price is too high. No payment is too much. Greed is not defined by what something costs; it is measured by what it costs you. If anything costs you your faith or your family, the price is too high.
-- Jason Cicero
--Via The Perry Hill Road Bulletin, Montgomery, Alabama