The Fundamentals: Volume 10, Chapter 5: Our Lord's Teachings About Money

8/20/2019 The Fundamentals: Volume 10, Chapter 5: Our Lord's Teachings About Money

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CHAPTER

V

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OUR LORD'S TEACHINGS ABOUT

MONEY

BY ARTHUR T.

PIERSON

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Our Lord's teachings as to money gifts, if obeyed, would

forever ban,ish all ]imitations

0

1

n church work and all con

cern about supplies. These teachings are radical an

1

d revolu

tionary.

So

far

are

they

fro1n

practical

acceptance

t~at,

although perf

~ctly

explicit, they seem more like

a

dead

lan

guage that

has passed

out of use than like a living tongue

that

millions know and speak. Yet, when these principles

and precepts of our Lord on giving are collated and com·

p,ared, they

are found

to contain the materials of a

complet~

ethical

system

on·

the subject

of

money, its

true

nature, value,

relation and USe. Should these sublime an

1

d unique t

1

eachinrgs

be

translated into living the effect

not

only upon benevolent

Work, hut upon our whole spiritual character, would be incal

cu1able. Brevity

compels us

to be

content ·

with

a

simple

outline of this

body of

te,aching, sc.attered

through

the

fouF

Gospel narratives, but gathered up and methodically presented

by Paul in that exhaustive discussion

of

Christian giving in

2

Cor.8

and 9.

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I. THE PRINCIPLE OF STEWARDSHIP

The basis of Christ's teaching about money is

the

f

unda-

tnenta1 conception of stewardship (Luke 12: 42; 16: 1-8.) •

Not only

money, but every

gift

of

God,

is received in trust

for His use. Man is not an owner, b,ut a trustee, managing,......

•naJienable

Owner of

all. ·

The

two things required of Stewards

are th.at th

1

ey be ·''(aithful and wise, that they

study,

to employ

God's gifts

witli

fidelity and sagacity -

fidelity

so

that

God's

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entrustments be not perverted to self-indulgence; sagacity, so

that they b

1

converted into as large ,gains as poss1ble.

This is a perfectly plain and simple basal p,rinciple, yet

it

is not the acCepted foundation

of our

money-making and

using. The vast majority, even of disciples, practically leave

God o·ut of their · thoughts when they e·ngage in 6.·nance. M·en

consider themselves owners ; they ''make money'' by their

i.ndttstry, economy,I shrewdness,

.applicatio ,n; i.t

i.s th~irs to

do

as they will with it. . There is little or no sense of stewardship

or of its implied obligation. If they give, it is

an

act, not of

d·uty, but of generosity; jt ran .ks, not unde .r law, but under

grace. . Hence there is no inconsistency felt in hoarding or

spending vast sums for worldly ends and appropriating . an

insignificant fraction to benevolent

purposes. Such

methods

and noti ,ons

would be utterly turned upside down could .n1en

but

think of

th ,emselv

1

es as

ste·wards

1

,

acoo

1

untab

1

le to

the

one

Master for having wasted His goods. The great day _pf

account

wi.11

bring an awful

reckonin

1

g, not

on1y

to waste .rs,

but

to hoarder .s; for

1

even the

u.nfaitl1fu.l

servants brought b:ack to

their Jo,rd the talent and the pound at last, but

without pro~t,

and the condemnation was for not

hav·ing

used s.o as to

incr ,eas

1

e the entrusted goods. .

II. THE

PRINCIPLE

OF

INVESTMENT

• •

In

our Lord's

teachings

we

find this kindred principle of

investment : ''Thou oughtest to have put

my

money to the

exchangers'' (Mlatt. 25 :: 27). Mo·ney-changing and investing

is an ol

1

d business. T 'he '' exchangers,t' as. Luke

r·enders.,

are

the

ba1ikers

th

1

e

ancient

Trapezitae, who

received

money on

deposit and

paid

interest for its use, like modern savings insti

tutions. The argument of our Lor ·d refutes the unfaithful

servant on hi's

own

plea,

wJ1ich

bis course s'howed

to be

1

no

1

t

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an

excuse, but a

pretext..

It was true

tha ,t

he dare

1

d not risk

trading

1

0n his

1

own account ; why: notp without such risk, ,get

a moderate in·terest for his Master · by lending to professio

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Our Lord's Teaclz.ingsAbout Money 41

traders? It was not fear but sl

otl1

that lay behind h~s,unfaith-

£ulness and unprofitableness.. ·

Thus indirectl ,y

is, taught

tl1e

valuable

lesson

that

timid

souls, unfitted for bold and independent service in behalf of

the

ki11gdom,

may link

their

.incapiacity

t.o the capacity an.d

sagacity of others who will make th

1

eir gifts and possessions

of use to the Master and His Church.

•

James Watt, in 1773,

f

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ormed

a partnership

with Matthew

Bo,ulton, of Soho, for the manufactu~e of steam engines

Watt, to fu.rnish

bra .ins,

and Bou ,l.ton, hard cash.

Thi ls

illus

trates our Lord's teacl1ing. The steward ha s money, or it

may

be other gifts , that can be made of use, but he lacks fa ith

and f'oresight, practical energy and wisdom. The Lord' s

''e:xchangers'' ·can show him how to get gain for the Master.

The Church boards are God's bankers. They are composed

of Practical men,

who

s'tudy

how and where to

put money for

the

best

results and largest

r.eturns,

and when they are what

theYi aught to be, tl1ey multiply money many-fold in glor ·ious

results. The Church partly exists that the strength

of one

member ,

may

help the weakness of another, and that by

co-operation of all, the power of the

least

and .weakest may

he

increased. ·

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III. THE SUBORDINATION OF MONEY

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Another most impor,t~'lt p,rinciple is the subordination of

money,as emph ,atically taught and illustrated in the rich~ oung

•

ruler. , (Matt. 19 :16-26.) Th .is narrative, rightly regarded, -

presents no enigma~ With all his attractive traits, th:is man

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was

a

slave.

l ?..?.~1.

w.~

Pt

~ ~

servant,

but hJs

~s -~e~;

and .....

dealt a blow at his money, the 1dolatry became appar ,ent, and

the slav~ . · reed "'.'~nt a\Y~l -~or,ro~f4.l, clinging ta his idol . ,,

It was not the ·mans havin reat possessions ti,at was wrong,

. ..;;ii

hut that hj~.pos.se~s~qn~ · the ~.?-~ they possessed him and

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controlled him. :

He

was so far the

slave

of

mone}'

that he

could not and would not accept freedom by the breaking of

its · fetters. His ''trust'' was in riches how could it be in

God ? Behind all disguises of respectability and refinement,

God sees many a man to be ,an abject slav

1

e, a victim held

in bonds by love of money ; but covetousness is idola try, and

no idolater can enter the kingdom of God. How few rich

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men keep the mastery and hold money as their servant, in

. . - .

absolute

subord1na .tion

to their own

n1anhood,

and the

master-

hood of the Lord ·

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IV. THE

LAW OF' RECOMPENSE

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We ascend a step higher, and consider our Lord's teaching

as to the law of recompense. ''Give, and it shall be given

unto

you

(Luke 6: 38). We are taught that getting is in

ord ,er to giving, and consequ ,ently that giving is the real road

to getting.

God is

an economist. · He entrusts larger

gifts

to those who use the:smaller well. Perhap ,s, one reason of our

poverty is that we

are

so far slaves of parsimony.

The

future

may reveal that God has been withholding from us because

,ve have been withholding from Him.

· It

ca,n S1~rc

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ely

be said by

any

carefu]

student

of

t,he

New

Testament that our Lord .encourages His disciples to look

or · ask for earthly wealth. Yet it is equa .lly certa ,in that

hundreds of devout souls who have chosen voluntary poverty

for Hi .s sake have been entr ·usted with jmmense sums fo ,r

His

work. George Miil1er conducted for over sixty years enter

prises

requiring

at

least some

hundred

and

twenty-five

thou~

sand dollars a year. Note also the experiences of·

W.il1iam

Qua .rrier and Hudson Taylor,

and

D.

L. Moody

and Dr .

•

Bamardo. Such servants

of

God,

holding·

all

as

God's, spend-

ing little or nothing fo.r self, were permitted to receive and

use millions for God, and in some cases, like Miiller's, with-

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out .

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any

appeal to men, Jook,ing

,solely

'to

God.

This . great

saint of Bristol

found,

in a life that nearly · rounded out

a

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Our Lord s T eachi1igs A bout Motiey

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century, that it was safe to give to God s purposes the last

penny at any momen ,t, with the perfect assurance that more

would

coine

in

before another need should

arise . . And there

Was never one failure for seventy years

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V.

SUPERIOR

BLESSEDNESS

•

Kindred to this law of recompense is the law of superior

blessedness. It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts


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gave out of a superfluity she gave out of a deficiency they

of t11eir

abundance, she

of

her poverty.

She

who cast her two mites into the sacred treasury,

by

· so,

doing

became

rich in

good

works and in the praise of

God. Had she kept ·t·hem s,he had been still

,only

the same

poor widow. Are not two sp,arrows sold for a farthing? And

the two

mites

''make

a farthing.'' He who, as the ,?uperin

tendin .g Providence of nature, watches the fall of a sparrow,

so that ''one of th.em is not forgotten before God," also, as

the 0

1

verseer of

the tre ·asury , invisibly sits ,

and

watches the

gif ·ts that are dropped into the chest, and even the widow's

111ite

is

not f

orgott:en. . ·

• He

tells

us here how H e estimates mo11ey gifts not by

,--· · what we give , but by

what we keep tlot by the amount

of

v

o·ur

contributions,

but

by their ,co·st

·in

self-denial.

This

- widow's whole offering counted :financially for but a farth

ing (1eo8p&vrYJ~, a quadrant, equal to four mills, or ·two fifths

of a cent, as three-fourths of an English farthing). What

cou]d be much more in.significa nt?

B.ut

the two ,

mites.

co·n .

stitut ,ed

her who ,le means of .subsistence ·.

The othe .rs reserv ,ed

wha.t they needed or wanted for them selv.es, and then gave

- out

Of

their superabundance (

7rEpiuuo1ovroi).

The contrast is

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emphatic; she ''out of

her deficie1icy,''

they ''out of

their

supersufficiency .

...

Not all giving so-called has rich reward. In many cases

· ·th .e keeping hjdes

the givi.ng, in the

sight of

Giod. Sel.f-induJ

gent

hoarding and

spending spre ,ad

a

banquet;

the crumbs fall

from

the

table, to be gathered up and labeled

•'charity.''

But

when the one possession that is dearest, the last trusted re-

sourc ,e, is surrendered to God, then comes the

vision

of the

~reasure ]aid up in

he·aven.,

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VII. UNSELFISHNESS IN GIVING

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We ascend stiJI higher to the law

of

unselfishness in giving.

''Do

good and lend,

hoping for nothin } agairl'

(Luke 6

JS).


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Our Lord)s Teachings A bout Money

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Much· giving

is not giving

at

all, but only lending

or excl1ang-

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. lng. He who gives to another of

whom he

expects to receive

as much a,gain, is trading. He is seeking gain, and is selfish.

What

he

is

after

is not

another s

profit, but his own

advantage.

·to invite to one s table those who will invite him again, is

sirnply

as if a kindness were done to a business acquaintan ce

as

a basis for boldness in aski11ga similar favor when needed .

This is

reciprocity,

and may

be

even mean and calculating.

Tru .e giving has an

1

other s 1

good solely in

view,

and hence

bestows upon those who cannot and will not repay, who are

too

destitute to

pay back, and too degraded , pe·rhaps,

to appre

ciate what is

done

for them. That

is

like God s giving to the

evil an.d unthankf ul. That i·s the giving prompted by love.

To ask,

therefore, Will

it pay? betrays the selfish spirit.

· E:,e is the noblest, truest giver who thinks only of the blessing

he can

bring

t0

another s

body

and soul.

He

casts

his

bread.

seed beside all water .s.

He

hears the cry of want and woe,

and is concerned only to supply the want

and assuage

the woe.

This sort of giving shows God-likeness, and

by

it we gro w

II

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into the perfection

of benevolence.

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VIII. SA CTIFIED

GIVING

•

011r Lord announces .also a Jaw of

sanctification. Th e

altar

sanctifieth

the gift -association

gives dignity

to a i

?lferfng

(Matt. 23: 19). If the cause to which

we ·

contribute

is exalted

it

ennobles and

ex~lts

t·he off

1

ering

to its

own plane.

:Nowo

objects

can

or

ought

to appeal to

us

with equal

force

Unless they are equa1 in moral worth and dignity, and a discern -

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tng giver will respond most

to

what is

worthi .est.

God s ·

a ltar

Was to

the

Jew

the central

focus of

all gif ts;

it

was associated

With His

worship, and the whole calendar

of

fasts and feasts

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tnoved r,ound

it.

The gift laid upon

it

acquired a ne,w dignity

by so being deposited upon

it.

Some

objects

which appeal

. lor gifts ·we are at liberty to .set aside because· they are not

- sacred. We · may give or not as we judge best, for they

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, The Fundamentals ·

depend on man's enterprises and schemes, which we may not

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altogether ap

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prove .. But some causes have Divine

sanc·t.ion,

and that hallows them; giving becomes

an act

of

worship

when it has to

do

with the altar. -

IX. 'TRANSMUTATION

•

Another law of true giving is that o,f transmutation.

I

''Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteous·

11ess; that,

wh ,en

ye

fail,

they

may

receive

,you

into

everlasting

habitations'' (Luke 16: 9). This, . though considered by many

an obscure parable, contains one o,f the greates ,t hi·nts on

money ,gifts

that

our Lord ever dropped. .

Mammon here stands as the equivalent for mo1i.ey prac~

tically wo1·shipped. It reminds us of the golden calf that was

made Ottt of the e,ar-rings and jewels , of the crowd. Now

our Lord refers to a second transmutation.

The

golden

calf

may in turn be melted down and coined into Bibles c·hurches,

boo,ks, tracts,

a,nd

even souls of men.. Thlus what was

materi ,al

and temporal becomes immaterial ,and spiritual, and eternal,

Here is a man wh.o has a hundred dollars ,.

He may

spend it

al1 on a banquet, or

an

e·v·ening party, jn

Which

case the , next

day there is

nothin ,g

t

1

0

show

£,or

i,t.

It

bias

secured

a tempo

rary gr ·a'tification of appe ,tite that is all.. On thle other hand,

he invests in Bibles at ten cents each, and it

'bu,ys

,a thousand

copies of the

Wor

1

d of God.. Thes ,e

he

judici,ously sows

,as

seed of the Kingdom, and that seed springs up a harvest,

not

1

0,f

Bib,1es,

but

of

s,ouls. Out of the unri ,ght ,eous mammon

he has made immortal fri,e,nds, who, whe ,n he fails, receiv ,e

him

.in.to,

everlasting habitations. May this not

be

what is

n1eant by . the true

riches

the treasure laid up in heaven in

imperishable good? . ,

. at . revelations await us in that day 0£ tr~ns ,mutation ,

Then, whatever has been given up .to God as an offering of

th

1

e heart, ''in righteousnes ,s,'' will be

se,en

as ,transfigured.

Not

Only

the magi's

gold, frankincense

a,nd

myrrh, and the .

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Our Lord- Teachings A bout Money 47

alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very preciouS,

and

the

houses and lands of such as Barnabas, but fishermen s boats

and

net,s,

the

abandoned seat

of

cu,stom,

the

widow ,s,

mi.te,s,,

and the cup . of cold water yes, when we had nothing else

to give.,

the word

of cottnsel,

the tear

of pity, th

1

e

prayer of

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ntercess·ion. Then s·hal1 be seen both the limitless possibilities

and. th,e transcendent riches , of consecrated poverty ..

Never

will th-e

w

1

ork

of miss..

ons,,

01· any other

f o,r.m

of

~ervice to God and man, receive the

he]p

it ought until there

ls. a

new

cons ,cience and a new consecration in the matter

of

?1oney. The

influen,ce

of the world a,nd the worldly

spiri ·t ·

Js d.e1de·ni·ng to unselfish g·iving. It

exalts

self-ind ·ul.gence,

~hether in

gross

or refined form. It leads

to

covetous hoard ..

1

?gor wasteful spending . It blinds us to the fact of obliga

t1on, and devises flimsy pretexts for diverting the Lord s

tn oney to

carna ·t

ends.

The

few who learn ·t,o give on Scrip

tural principles learn also to love to give. These gifts become

ab,undant

and systematic and self-denying. The stream .

of

beneficence flows perpetually there is no period of drought.

1

0n ce

it

was

necess .ary

to proclaim to

the people

of

God

that what

they

had brought was more than enough, an~

to

restrain

them

from bringing t

(Ex.

36:

6).

So

far

as

known, his is the one and only historic instance of such excess

?f

generosity. But should not that always be the case? Is

it not a shame and disgrace that there ever should be a 1ack

'

meat

in God s house ?

When His

work appeals

for

aid, sho1ld there ever b

1

e a relu

1

ctan,ce to r·espond or a d,oling

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ut o,f a rn,ere ·pittance? Surely His uns,peakable gift should

~ake all giVing to Him a spontan ·eous offering of love that,

lal ish its treasures on His feet, and fill the house with the

0

·dor

of self-sacrifice

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The Fundamentals: Volume 10, Chapter 5: Our Lord's Teachings About Money