31
January 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
“The liberal soul shall be made fat,” Prov. 11:25. THE MINISTRY OF GIVING. Here is a ministry that all may engage in. Young and old may cultivate this royal service. How little did the canal boat captain know that when he said to young Colgate “Give God your heart and then give Him ten cents out of every dollar you earn” that he was making one of the greatest soap merchants in t h e world. This ministry has m a d e some of the greatest men this country has produced. Think over the great Christian merchants and manufacturers of the past generation. John Wanamaker, John Converse, Wil liam Colgate, Huyler’s choeolotes, Heintz 57 varieties, etc., etc. So many many Christians are missing the joy and reward of this ministry in these days. At a meeting of a woman’s missionary society, the president arose and said: “We will open our meeting by singing the beautiful consecration hymn, beginning: “Take my life and let it be, i: i f ; Consecrated Lord, to Thee; “Take my silver and my gold, Not a mite would I withhold!” If it were just the singing of it, it would not be so bad, but we are omitting the practice of it in our church life, and funds are short everywhere. Children should be taught this ministry as well as older ones. If all of God’s children individually practiced this min istry cheerfully, we should never lack for funds in any department of the church. Hold then this stewardship ministry as sacred as the preaching ministry. Some one has said there are “three kinds of giving: Thanksgiving Heb. 13: 15; Eph. 5 :20. Substance-giving, 2 Cor. 9:7; Heb. 13:16. Self-giving, 2 Cor. 8:5; Rom. 6:13.” A little struggling mission in Guate mala City heard of the poor natives in east Africa who needed the gospel. They gave $17.50 for the Africans. The poor Indians in the Mohava desert heard of the need of the gospel in Guatemala and they sent a gift of $5.45 to this struggling mission that had given to Africa. This is a modern reproduction of 2 Cor. 8 :2, “How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.”
something to his fel lows and m a n y of them give their lives to make it possible for other animals to live. Even the in sects/ give and the very stones of the ground give out the heat they r e c e i v e from the sun or the metals that have been stored there in ages past. God in His infinite wisdom has placed in all His creatures something that they can give that will be of benefit to their fellows. Like the little girl who said to a visitor, “Tomorrow’s father’s birthday, and I’m going to give him a beautiful pair of slippers!” “Where will you get the money to buy them?” asked the visitor. “Why, father will give me the motley,” she answered. And so we give back to God what He has given to us. In our lesson text, we find a Measure of giving, some Methods of giving, the Mes sage of giving and the Ministry of giving.- The MEASURE OF GIVING is found in the words, “He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also boun tifully.” This verse is often applied to any kind of good deeds but it has special reference to the giving of money, for. this is the subject context of this passage. Giving abundantly whether we are rich or poor will bring us an abundant harvest. “We all might do more than we have done, And not be one whit the worse. It never was loving that emptied the heart, / Nor giving that emptied the purse.” Whatever we may think of tithing legis lation, it can hardly be conceived that in a world where Christ is to be made known we should be less liberal under the Gospel than the Jew was under the law. “I never knew how it came about,” said Richard Baxter, “But I always seem to have the most come in when I give the most away.” “Give, and it shall be given you; good measure, pressed down and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” Luke' 6 :38. Don’t forget then that giving is the re quisite for receiving but don’t give with the motive of receiving in view, for it is a selfish motive. Stop and measure your giving by your receiving, then turn about and measure your receiving by your giv ing. THE METHODS OF GIVING sug gested in verse seven are four; two of them positive and two negative. Two tell how to give and two tell how not to give. The positive motives a re: give purpose fully and cheerfully. The negative: give not grudgingly and not of necessity. When we give grudgingly we do not want to give and when we give of necessity we are forced to give. In both cases we give unwillingly. God’s way is, give because we delight to give. Some one has said that there are three kinds of givers, the flint, the sponge, and the honey comb. To get anything out of the flint you must hammer it, and then you get only chips and sparks. To get water out of the sponge you must squeeze it,
and the more you squeeze the more you will get. But the honey comb just over flows with its own sweetness. Which kind of a giver are you? Have a plan for your giving and pur pose to lay aside a portion to give and then purpose to give it where God leads you to give it. And do it cheerfully be cause you are doing it for God and not for man. But the MESSAGE OF GIVING is needed for every Christian’s heart. One of the most wonderful statements about the favor of God found in the New Tes tament is used here in connection with stewardship. Let me connect this verse with its context. “For God loveth a cheer ful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound unto you;- that ye, having always all sufficiency in. everything, may abound unto every good work.” What a message to the heart of the man or the woman who is faithful in giving a pro portion of earth’s material blessings en trusted to them. It may seem like a selfish motive in giv ing to say that God’s favor abounds more toward those who give than toward those who do not give but here is the promise nevertheless and it is backed up by a quo tation from the Psalms 112:9 where the Psalmist says, concerning the man that fears God, “He hath scattered abroad, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness abideth forever.” Of course God’s favor is always available through the redemp tion in Christ; a favor that provides par don for the sins of us all. But there is special favor promised to the man or woman who gives proportionately, sys tematically, increasingly, i and cheerfully. Giving is a privilege as well as a duty. Giving is a blessing and not a blight. Giving increases one’s material possess ions Instead of decreasing them. Giving has its reward. When a young man, the writer was prompted to give five dollars to missions. He had but seven in his pocket at the time. This was the extent of his earthly possessions in cash. He thought and prayed about it for sometime and finally came to the place where he surrendered the five dollars out of the seven to the Lord’s work. The next day while walk ing down the street he was approached by a man who said, “Here is ten dollars for you to use as you see fit in God’s work.” How humiliated he felt to think he had thought of withholding five dollars from God when God returned it to him, doubled. There is the side of reward in giving. The wise man in Proverbs has said, “there is that scattereth, and yet increaseth and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.”: The late Victor F. Lawson, owner and publisher of the “Chicago Daily News,” bequeathed three-fourths of his millions to religious and benevolent purposes. His life was as fine an example of unselfish .service to a community as this country has ever seen. A deep religious prin ciple with him was “to own is to owe; to live is to give; to love is to lift.” “I am among you as he that serveth” was
THE LITTLE FOLKS B y M abel L. M errill
The Story of the Three Servants Matt. 25:14-28.
Memory Verse: “His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful ser vant.” Matt. 25 :23. Approach : Mother had to go out on business even before the work of the day had begun. Did you surprise her by hav ing the dishes washed, the floors swept, and perhaps the beds made before she returned ? Lesson Story : Boys and girls who always obey father and mother are the happiest. Adam and Eve were very happy in the beautiful garden of Eden, but after
one of his favorite texts. “There are loyal hearts There are spirits brave;
There are souls that are pure and true. Then give to the world the best you have And the best will come back to you.”
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