February 1929
93
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
Some have been heard to say that they are not tithers, because they believe in giving as they are guided by the Holy Spirit. But will the Holy Spirit guide a good Christian to give less than a mod erately good Jew would have done? In most cases, if Christians really got the mind of the Spirit of God, they would far outgive the Jew, for the New Testament commands us to give as the Lord hath prospered us (1 Cor. 16:2). How much did the Jew give? The primal offering was one-tenth of the in come. This plan dates back before the days of Abraham. Under the Mosaic law further dues were added which had the effect of securing for the sacred treasury the total of one-sixth of his income. Then after this, there were “free-will offer ings," which would bring the gifts of a God-fearing Jew up to at least one-fifth of his income. There are church members who say they keep no account of what they give, but they give as they are led. As trustees of an earthly estate, would they think of doing business after such a fashion? How would they know they had lived up to the legal requirements? And how do they know that God has been getting even that first portion, which, when unpaid, caused Jews to be characterized as robbers? Many sincere Christians who have been prevailed upon to do a little bookkeeping in their dealings with God, have been amazed to discover that their giving ab sorbed so much less than a tenth of their incomes, that they were filled with shame. Christians are often heard to say that they could not possibly afford the experi ment. That betrays a sad lack of confi dence in the promises of God’s Word. The Bible is with the tither. Someone has pointed out that of 72 references to giving, 48 show open promise of God’s pledged blessings to the giver. We forget that God has chosen to look upon our gifts as loans to be repaid with interest. “Tithing,” said Dr. P. W. Thompson, “is not so much a challenge to generosity as a challenge to faith.” If the blessing of God is upon us we can make a limited income go twice as far as a large income would go apart from His favor. He knows how to cut our expenses as well as to send us tem poral prosperity. “I will rebuke the de vourer for your sakes," said Jehovah, “and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast his fruit before the time in the field” (Mai. 3:11). Why is it that despite the prayers of so many excellent people in the churches to day, the church is spiritually inert, heresy is rampant, and missionary enterprises are crippled? Is there some disobedience on the part of believers that keeps the “win dows of heaven” closed ? Three essentials of spiritual blessing upon Israel were: (1) Sin offering. (2) Sabbath observance. (3) Tithing. The church today makes much of the all-sufficient sin offering pro vided once for all in the Lamb of God. It makes much of the Lord’s Day ob servance. What about the third essential? What proportion of professing Christians are tithers? A very large proportion give nothing at all. Says one writer: “Before the law, dur ing the law and after the law, the same obligation remains—a definite proportion of income for God, as a first charge upon income. Not until the church renders obedience to God, can our spiritual and
economic difficulties be solved as He wishes to solve them. Every fresh tithe- payer means another, step toward that goal.” The doctrine of stewardship must be more emphatically taught. God does not give in “fee simple.” He entrusts His possessions to us as Stewards and He can not bless a careless or dishonest steward. In Matthew 20 we read the parable of the householder, which begins: “For the king dom of heaven is like unto a man that was a householder, who went to hire‘ la borers into hii vineyard." It is needless to say that the picture is of God as the householder; that the vineyard is His, and that we are the laborers. In the next chap ter of Matthew we find the story of an other householder, who “planted a vine yard and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country." Time after time he sent his servants, but the husbandmen killed them. Then he sent his son, but they killed him. “When, therefore, the Lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen? He will miserably destroy those miserable men and will let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons." Can anyone read this lesson and fail to catch its teaching of God’s ownership and man’s stewardship, and the conse quences of our failure to be faithful stewards? Again and again Jesus teaches the truth of man’s stewardship, and says: “To whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required; and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more” (Lk. 12:48). We are His stewards to administer His possessions in accord ance with His will. Jesus Himself paid the tithe. He came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it. Pas sages like Mt. 23:23 and Lk. 11:42 com mend the payment of the tithes and appeal for the full acknowledgment of the weightier matters of the law. “These ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone." In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus very pointedly tells his hearers they are not to disregard the law or the prophets (Mt. 5:17-20). “Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets : I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jo t or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven : but who soever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." We acknowledge the ownership of the house in which we live by the payment of a fixed monthly rental to the owner. We acknowledge the ownership of the State by the taxes we pay. We acknowledge the ownership of the railroads by the fare we pay. We acknowledge ownership whenever we pay a price for the things we buy. We acknowledge God’s owner ship by setting apart a definite portion of our income for the work of His Kingdom. Dr. A. J. Gordon has said: “Human na ture cannot be trusted to carry out its gen erous impulses. If I should succeed in winding any of you up to the determina tion to do generous things, you would run down again before next Sunday. That is
what a solemn pledge to pay money to God amounts to—a ratchet to hold us up to the pitch we have reached.” Living on impulse and without system does not accord with thé importance of the work of God’s Kingdom. We must have some practical abiding measure, such as a definite portion of the income set apart in God’s treasury, to make sure that the principle of stewardship has become a reality in our lives. Said Dr. Mullins : “We ourselves be long to Him, and the Christian obligation requires that we shall give to God what ever He requires of us in the material good things He has bestowed upon us. One-tenth of the annual income, there fore, does not exhaust our Christian obli gation, so far as the ownership of prop erty is concerned. Our obligation to God extends to the utmost limit of our posses sions. Christian stewardship means that all we have is held at the disposal of our Lord and Master.” — o — P rinciples of S tewardship 1. God is the owner of all. 2. Man is a steward and should treat all that he has as a sacred trust for which he is accountable to God. 3. God’s ownership and man’s steward ship should be acknowledged by the con tribution of a definite portion of his time, energy and possessions to the special ser vice of Goçl., , 4. Faithfulness in our stewardship is the only adequate expression of gratitude and loyalty to Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord — G. N. Brink. — o — ■ S piritual G iving G ratefully...................Psa. 116:12-14. I ntelligently.................Deut. 15:7-8. V oluntarily.....................Acts 20:35. E agerly . . . . . . . Mt. 10:8. — o — G olden T ext I llustration It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful (1 Cor. 4:2). A poor man was once obliged to seek financial aid of a wealthy Christian wom an. After hearing of the need, the lady made out a check for the amount and as she handed it to the man, told him that he need not return the money. Then she made a strange remark: “This is more than God ever gave me,” she said. The man looked at her in surprise and said : “Mrs. D----- , I am surprised to hear you say that. You have abundance, and God has given you all you have.” She smiled and replied : “I speak the truth, for God has not given me but lent unto me what I have, that I may, in His name, bestow it upon those who are in need.”
March 31, 1929 The Future Life
Texts: Mt. 25:31-46; Mk. 12:26, 27; Lk 24:1-12; Jn. 14:1-6; 1 Cor. 15: 3-20, 50- 58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 22:1-5. L esson in O utline I. The Resurrection of Christ, the Basis of Hope of Future Life. Lk. 24:1-12. II. The Future Life taught by Jesus. Mk. 12:26, 27; Matt. 25:31-46; Jno. 14:1-6.
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