Honoring the Lord

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine (Proverbs 3:9-10).

How can you tell the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian? St. Paul writes, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17) But how does becoming a Christian change the way that a person lives his life? Is it possible to see a difference between how a Christian lives life, and how a non-Christian lives life?

The believer in Jesus knows that Christ made payment for all of his sins by suffering on the cross, and because of this God the Father is willing to forgive us for every way in which we anger Him; the non-Christian knows nothing of this. Through faith, the Christian is a child of God; the unbeliever is not. The Christian receives God’s loving guidance and care, along with the promise that God will cause all the events of life to result in benefits to those who love Him; the non-Christian has no promise of wisdom, protection, or good outcomes. When he or she dies, the Christian will be carried by angels to heaven; the unbeliever will be sent to hell. There are many fundamental differences between Christians and non-Christians, and these differences will show themselves in how each type of person lives their lives—especially in terms of how they handle their money and property.

God gave Solomon greater wisdom than any other man who has ever lived. Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs, using this wisdom from God, and it is here that we read Honor the LORD with your wealth. Both Christians and non-Christians have wealth, whether it is in the form of cash, investments, equity or possessions. God allows the sun to shine on both the good and the evil, on Christians and non-Christians alike. There are times when the unbelievers have more money or possessions than we Christians have. There is no great difference here: everyone has possessions. The difference lies in each group’s attitude toward their possessions, and how they put them to use.

Unbelievers do not honor the Lord with their money and property. In the story of the Prodigal Son, the younger child blew all his money on wild living. This is the way of those who see no other purpose for life than to satisfy their every impulse and desire. Our modern world is filled with people who have no savings because all their money is spent on alcohol, tobacco or gambling. There are many people who have burdened themselves with massive credit card debt because they are constantly shopping. Their attitude towards money results in a lifestyle in which there is nothing left to give to anyone.

In the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the rich man spent his money only on himself. He built himself a beautiful house, furnished it with only the best, ate well and kept his closet filled with the newest fashions—and he ignored the physical and spiritual needs of his fellow man. Our modern world is filled with people whose top priorities include having a large house, frequently eating out, owning several cars/trucks/recreational vehicles, and having an expensive hobby on the side. These kinds of people might occasionally make a donation to a charity in order to receive a tax break; they might even join a church and put one, two or even three percent of their income into the collection plate in an effort to appease their conscience over spending so selfishly. But notice that when this kind of person gives, it is to satisfy himself—to get a financial benefit or to buy off his conscience. Such a person knows nothing about honoring the Lord with his wealth.

The Christian is quite different. He realizes that God is his Maker and the Giver of everything that he possesses. He knows that he is a sinner and that Jesus is his Savior. He believes that Jesus freed him from the curse of sin at a tremendous cost, and that the blood of God’s Son frees him from the power of sin and the guilt of being a sinner. He knows that it is only by the effort of God’s Holy Spirit that he is a believer, and that whatever good he manages to do with his life is a result of the Spirit working within him. When the Christian remembers that all this is God’s gift, and that we in no way deserve any of it, he cannot help but be completely overwhelmed with love and gratitude.

Do you feel overwhelmed by God’s love? Take a careful look at the Apostles' Creed. The first article speaks of how wonderfully you were created, and how generous God the Father is in providing for you every day. The second article discusses Jesus’ incomparable love in His willing suffering and death on your behalf; in Him there is rescue from sin and death for all who trust in Him. The third article speaks of the Holy Spirit, of His desire to bring all people to faith in Jesus, and how He strives to help you to live your life, not for the devil’s amusement, but to honor God.

Do you understand the significance of all this for your life? Do you see how this impacts you personally? I hope that this God News as caused you to give your life over to Christ. When we so dedicate ourselves, we commit everything about us to God, including the fruits of our labors.

When a person becomes a Christian, he or she is consecrated to God for His use, and so is his or her wealth. The Christian doesn’t dedicate 5, 10 or 15 percent of his money to God, any more than he dedicates 5, 10 or 15 percent of himself. Instead, he makes up his mind that all of his money and all of his possessions must serve God…either directly or indirectly. The offerings which the Christian brings to church serve God directly, by supporting the preaching of His Word and the bringing of the Good News to all who are still living in ignorance. The money which the Christian uses for food, clothing, housing and education serves God indirectly. Ideally, he buys food and provides shelter so that he and his family might continue to live, and by continuing to live, have ongoing opportunities to serve Jesus. The Christian wants to remain healthy and strong so that he can make more money with which to support Christ’s church. This was St. Paul’s perspective on life when he wrote, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

There is the noticeable difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. It is the question "Why do you live the way that you do? Why do you spend money the way that you spend it?" The non-Christian spends money to honor himself and satisfy his desires; the Christian spends money to honor God and extend His kingdom.

Solomon said, Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. Notice that the Christian is urged not only to honor God with his possessions, but to do this by bringing Him the first-fruits of his possessions. In the Old Testament, believers did this by bringing the first bushel of grain from the field or the first newborn animal of the herd to the house of God. If there were 20 new animals born, they brought the first two delivered; if there were 100 bushels of grain, they brought the first 10 harvested. God received the first 10th, and the believers lived on what was left.

The unbelievers have reversed this. They use the first portion of their income to buy their food, make their house and car payments, buy a new DVD player, get a carton of cigarettes, a case of beer, and dog food. Then, if they have anything left over, they might bring it to church or donate it to a charity. I am not saying that it is wrong to have a DVD player or a pet, but when a person places all these things first and brings God a gift for church work out of what is left over, then such a person is following the way of the unbeliever, not the way of the Christian! Through Solomon, God says Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.

Do you give the first portion of your income for church work? We are Christian people—yet our sinful flesh is still weak. We would certainly like to put God first in our lives all the time, yet before we know it, we with our many toys have pushed God to the back of the line again. Because of that tendency, it is good to set yourself a goal for how much you will routinely give. In the Old Testament, believers were instructed to bring first fruits representing at least 10% of their income. While there is no stated percentage demanded of Christians in the New Testament, the fact that God expected 10% from the people under the Old Covenant has set a precedent which we would do well to imitate or surpass.

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. Even unbelievers might give from their leftovers. Christians honor God with the first portion of their income. There is an obvious difference between the Christian and the non-Christian.

Returning to Proverbs, we read: then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. Human arithmetic and God’s arithmetic don’t agree. Human arithmetic says that the more you give away, the less you have. The more that you give to the church, the longer it will take to pay off your mortgage; the more you give, the less you will have to buy happiness for yourself. That’s cold, logical, human math. The only thing wrong with it is that it ignores God and God’s promises.

Take a look at God’s arithmetic. When God’s people were finally allowed to return home after 70 years of exile in Babylonia, they kept most of their resources for rebuilding their homesteads; only a little was given for the reconstruction of God’s Temple in Jerusalem. God explained their continuing poverty this way: "These people say, `The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built’…is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?…Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it" (Haggai 1:2-6). A purse or wallet with holes doesn’t hold much money; keeping most of their wealth for themselves made the people poor, not rich.

On the other hand, the Bible makes it clear that generous giving does not lead to poverty, but ultimately to riches. Proverbs 22 tells us, A generous man will himself be blessed. In Malachi chapter three God says, Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse…Test me in this…and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. And in 2nd Corinthians we read, Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. These promises of God contradict all cold logic and instead argue that when you give bountifully, you will be blessed in the same way.

Please don’t get the wrong idea. You can’t earn anything through your giving, or through the performance of any kind of good work. Even when we have served God to the best of our abilities, we must remember the words of Jesus: when you have done everything you were told to do, [you] should say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty' (Luke 17:10). God never owes us anything. Yet God is so gracious that He not only forgives us for all our sinfulness, He also blesses us for everything that we do in His Name. Whether it be taking a glass of lemonade to a farmer sweating in the field, helping your congregation to keep the doors open and the lights on, or sending money to support a missionary overseas, whatever you give of yourself to serving the Lord will be more than repaid—that is God’s promise to you. Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. Trust in the generosity of your God, and give as He gives to you.