I have been enjoying facilitating a Sunday school class at our church, where we are reading through C.S. Lewis’ classic book, Mere Christianity. This week, our chapter ended with a gut-punch quote about generosity: "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, 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." Lewis' sharp intellect can make one feel as though they’re sitting in a philosophy lecture one moment, and then, with a crystal-clear metaphor or a piercing quote, he drives the point home. The quote above was one of those moments for me. I truly believe I live in one of the greatest countries in the history of mankind, yet I wonder if we who follow Christ in this modern age have allowed the American Dream to subtly infiltrate our faith in ways we struggle to recognize. When I read the Gospels, the book of Acts, and the epistles, I see radical generosity marking both the teachings of the New Testament and the example of the early believers. “They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need” is not a testimony I’ve ever heard in a North American church (Acts 2:45). Yet, it was a defining characteristic of the early church. When Paul first met the Apostles in Jerusalem, they extended the right hand of fellowship and emphasized one additional charge, as Paul recalls: “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along” (Galatians 2:10). This was not just a passing statement—Paul actively raised money from the churches he visited to help those suffering from famine in Jerusalem. Writing to the Corinthians, he highlights the extraordinary generosity of the Macedonians: “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations” (2 Corinthians 8:2-5). We, too, have brothers and sisters in Christ experiencing severe hardship. We, too, can respond as the early church did to meet their needs. We, too—even those of us who have little—can well up in rich generosity. Randy Alcorn, in his powerful little book The Treasure Principle, writes: “Five minutes after we die, we’ll know exactly how we should have lived. But God has given us His Word so that we don’t have to wait to die to find out. And He’s given us His Spirit to empower us to live that way now.” I’ve often thought that the moment I step into heaven, my first word will be “Wow!” and my second will most likely be “Oops,” as I realize all the ways I was so sure of myself but was wrong. One of those, I am increasingly convinced, will be the realization that I kept too much of God’s possessions for myself. Alcorn’s fifth principle in The Treasure Principle states: “Giving is the only antidote to materialism. Giving is a joyful surrender to a greater person and a greater agenda. It dethrones me and exalts Him.” Today, I want to give you opportunities to give. The organizations below are serving the very least of these—many of whom are our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Each of these organizations is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, ensuring that your money reaches the intended projects. May we be a people who live out the radical generosity of the early church, giving beyond what is comfortable, and embracing the joy of surrendering to God’s greater plan Samaritan’s Purse
Compassion International Blood:Water Mission Further Reading
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When Samuel Zwemer left rural Iowa to sail to Bahrain in 1891 there were few in the Arabian Peninsula who had heard the gospel. His work over the next forty years is seen in many ways as the genesis of missions work among Muslims in the Middle East and Zwemer is now known as the “Apostle to Islam.” He responded to the call of God to take the gospel to the Muslim world by leaving everything in order to live in Bahrain and later, Egypt. He learned the language, he started a literature ministry, he mobilized others to join him and he used every available means to share the gospel with Muslims. At the beginning of the 20th century however, those means were limited to the missionary himself and the printed page. In Western Christians in Global Missions (2012), Doug Birdsall is quoted saying, “The Great Commission is for every church in every culture in every generation. There are no exclusions. But . . . every church in every culture in every generation must determine the way in which they respond to this responsibility -- in a way that is appropriate to time and context.” Zwemer and his contemporaries were faithful to respond to the great commission in every way they knew how for their time and context. Missionaries like Zwemer have been sent by churches to the unreached places of our world for the last 200 years. They have done and will continue to do amazing work and we see the fruit of their labors all across the globe. Peggy is another believer from rural Iowa who is sharing the gospel with Muslims. She has not yet learned another language and hasn’t traveled outside the U.S. and yet every Tuesday morning she jumps on a video call with a young university student living in a Muslim majority country. They’ve been reading through a creation to Christ set of stories from the Bible as a way for this young lady to practice English, a language that will open up doors for opportunity for better education and future employment. Peggy is the first true follower of Jesus this young lady has ever met. For the first time in her life she is reading the living and active word of God. For the first time in her life there is a Christian who is praying specifically for her and her family. Peggy’s ministry, appropriate for her time and context, highlights the increasingly blurred edges of sending versus going. In Zwemer’s day, the missionary went and did their work and their sending churches prayed and supported them but had few other opportunities to connect with the work. Missionary work was literally a world away. Globalization and innovations in technology have quickly brought our world closer together than ever before. A recent search on a commonly used language exchange app found that over 200 people from Turkey, a country that is 99% Muslim, had logged onto the app in the previous 24 hours looking to connect with a native English speaker. Searches of several other Muslim majority countries resulted in much the same reality. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are actively looking for friendships with native English speakers online. And indeed, they are finding friends. They are connecting with secular humanists and new age spiritualists, radical atheists and run of the mill hedonists. As I lead Embassy, an online outreach for Crescent Project, the focus of our work is to see that more and more of them connect with true followers of Jesus. Jesus urged his disciples to pray for harvest workers to be thrust out into the harvest fields (Luke 10:2). The church is a slumbering giant, a harvest force that needs to wake up to the fact that every believer can be a part of completing the great commission among the nations. A love of Jesus and an Internet connection are all that is required. A new day is dawning when those who are sending are also going and the lines between sending and going are increasingly blurring. If you found this article helpful, please share it with your friends. |
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