APPEALING

Thanks to all those of you who have been praying - we had an appeal hearing today for Georgina to get a school place and were successful! No more home schooling!

All we need now is for our house to sell...

GLORY DAYS

Saturday was a big day for me as I was appointed to eldership at Alder Road. It was wonderful to have so many of my friends from New Community and elsewhere come along to share in the day - Grace & I felt very blessed and loved. David Holden and Guy Miller were in charge of proceedings and made an amazing team! Guy's outstanding message is available here.

It was also a big weekend for Gyp the dog as he made his debut in the big wide world now that he has had all his inoculations. As you can see, he is also going to find it tough in Dorset...

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

My blogging friend Phil has a great post about our attitude to money here.

MONEY 5: A PATTERN FOR GIVING

My friend Tim Lewis is a bit of a car nut and when I saw this Jaguar yesterday I thought it was meant for him…



The Bible doesn’t give us much instruction about expensive cars and personalized number plates, but it does teach us a lot about good stewardship. Paul’s instructions to the church in Corinth provide us with a helpful model when it comes to giving:

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come (1 Corinthians 15:58-16:3).

Paul instructs the church that they should set aside money for the offering every week and that the amount given should be in keeping with their income. This gives us a pattern for how we should give.

As an act of worship: Paul says that they should set aside money on the first day of the week – that is Sunday, the day when the believers would gather together to celebrate Jesus. By linking giving to the day when Christians remembered the resurrection of Jesus, Paul is clearly linking giving with worship. Our giving also is an act of worship. It is not charity, or taxation – giving to the work of the church is an act of worship.

With regularity: Paul encourages the Christians to give weekly. Paul knows about human weakness. If we do not give regularly we are less likely to give fully. If we think we will wait six months before giving it is likely that we will spend some of the money rather than keeping enough aside to give the full amount. If you receive a regular income it is wise to plan your giving to coincide with when you get the money.

In keeping with our income: I believe in tithing. It as a biblical principle that we should give away 10% of our income. But tithing, though a good principle, should not constrain our giving. Many of us can afford to give more than the tithe and many of us need to develop faith that comes from trusting God with more than the tithe. The truth is that for all of us expenditure rises to meet income. Many people with an income of £50k or £100k seem to struggle as much financially as those with an income of £10k or £20k. We fall into the trap of thinking that if we were only earning another £5k life would be so much easier when actually if we get another £5k our expenditure just rises to meet it and we don’t really feel any better off. There is the strange phenomenon that those who carry the highest debt are those who earn the most. People who earn £100k tend not to buy £200k houses but £1m houses and so end up feeling poor because of the amount of debt they are carrying!

So there is a challenge for us to keep our expenditure level while increasing our giving. We mustn’t settle for merely tithing year after year and thinking we are doing well when actually our income means we could be giving much more. And the more we earn the more we should give – “as he may prosper,” or, as the NIV puts it, “in keeping with his income.”

To the local church: It is clear from Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians and from other passages in the New Testament that the believers gave to their church, and then the church gave to others in need. An important reason for this is that the local church is the place where we find our primary spiritual community and leadership. Just as it would be wrong for me to make my own children go hungry because I gave all my money to other people’s children, it would be wrong for the local church to be under resourced because church members were giving their money to other ministries.

MONEY 4: GOOD STEWARDS

In Luke 12:13-21 Jesus tells a story about a man who was rich, but also a fool. He thought he had everything but ended up with nothing. He was a bad steward.

What does a good steward look like?

The rich fool was condemned because he was not rich towards God. A good steward knows where his money and possessions really come from, who actually owns them and so how he should handle them – by being generous towards God.

Our society encourages us towards one of two extremes – either profligacy and debt or selfishness and hoarding. Both of these extremes make us ill! They make us spiritually ill. They poison our relationships with others and with God. The antidote to this illness is generosity; a willingness to share our possessions and to give away our money.

Charity is trendy - Children in Need and Comic Relief, ribbons on our coats and bands on our wrists. Yet the reality is that one third of people never give anything to charity and last year the average Brit only gave away £16 per month. We have never been so rich as a nation, or as indebted, or so mean!

Shopping has become our national sport. It has become an addiction. And most of it is done on credit.

The antidote to this consumerism and to selfishness is not charity but generous giving. The Bible is very clear about this. The people of God – as good stewards of the true master of all our money and possessions – are to be generous and cheerful givers.

So where do we start with this generous giving? Randy Alcorn spells it out like this:

A logical place to start is where God started his Old Covenant children: “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord” (Leviticus 27:30).

The meaning of the word tithe is “a tenth part.” Ten percent was to be given back to God. There were freewill offerings, too, but the 10 percent was mandatory.

Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops”. God’s children give to Him first, not last.

When His children weren’t giving as they should, He said, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house” (Malachi 3:8-10).

Jesus validated the mandatory tithe, even on small things (Matthew 23:23). But there’s no mention of tithing after the Gospels. It’s neither commanded nor rescinded, and there’s heated debate among Christians about whether tithing is still a starting place for giving.

I have mixed feelings on this issue. I detest legalism. I certainly don’t want to try to pour new wine into old wineskins, imposing First Covenant restrictions on Christians. Every New Testament example of giving goes far beyond the tithe. However, none falls short of it.

There’s a timeless truth behind the concept of giving God our firstfruits. Whether or not the tithe is still the minimal measure of those firstfruits, I ask myself, Does God expect His New Covenant children to give less or more? Jesus raised the spiritual bar; He never lowered it.

This reflects my own understanding when it comes to giving. I would never consider giving less than the tithe and would try to give more. Sometimes people ask, “Should I tithe my gross income or what I receive net of tax?” While we all have to make our own decisions in good conscience in these matters, I have always understood tithing to be the giving of my “firstfruits” to God; and firstfruits are by definition what comes first, before taxation or any other deduction is taken into account. Levels of taxation vary according to our income and according to government policy. And there will be different opinions among us as to what taxation rates should be, depending upon our political views of what the state should provide. As Christians, our fundamental attitude to our giving should be one of generosity, and to me, calculating giving according to net income seems lacking in generosity.

THE TYRANNY OF THINGS

Recently I hear Terry Virgo teaching on Elijah. One of the points Terry made that had particular power was that when Israel went through a terrible drought as a result of Elijah’s prayers (James 5:17), Elijah himself was not spared the pain of living through drought – he was right in it. As the financial world goes through turbulence and pain we Christians are not unaffected by it – we are right in it as well. We too have mortgages to pay, petrol tanks to fill, pension schemes to save. The current instability and uncertainty in the global financial markets can make us all jittery. So, the question for us is, “Who will I trust? In what do I place my security?”

The word mammon (“that in which one puts his trust”) has the same root as the word Amen (“we agree”). Is our trust in mammon, or in God? Who do we say Amen to?

If we put our trust in mammon we are going to be disappointed. Mammon does not bring freedom. The reality is, even if I can afford to buy something, very often it does not make me any freer. Randy Alcorn, in his fantastic book The Treasure Principle, describes this as ‘the tyranny of things’. He puts it like this:

Nanci and I have lived in our house for twenty-three years. For the first nine years we had ugly, orange carpet. We never cared what happened to it. The day we finally installed a new carpet, someone lit a candle. The match head fell off and burned a hole in the carpet.

The day before we wouldn’t have cared. Now we were upset. Were we better off for our nice new possession?

Every item we buy is one more thing to think about, talk about, clean, repair, rearrange, fret over, and replace when it goes bad.

Let’s say I get a television for free. Now what? I hook up the antenna or subscribe to a cable service. I buy a new VCR or DVD player. I rent movies. I get surround-sound speakers. I buy a recliner so I can watch my programs in comfort. This all costs money. But it also takes large amounts of time, energy and attention.

The time I devote to my TV and its accessories means less time for communicating with my family, reading the Word, praying, opening our home, or ministering to the needy.

So what’s the true cost of my “free” television?

Acquiring a possession may push me into redefining my priorities. If I buy a boat, I’ll want to justify my purchase by using the boat, which may mean frequent weekends away from my family or church, making me unavailable to attend my daughter’s basketball game or teach a Sunday school class or work in the nursery.

The problem isn’t the boat or the television. The problem is me. It’s a law of life, the tyranny of things.

To find real freedom, refuse mammon, and say Amen to God.

CAUTION: LOW BRIDGE

Earlier today I had to drive from Poole to Winchester, where I was meeting with John Groves, leader of Winchester Family Church. Early in the journey the traffic slowed to a crawl and I could see flashing lights ahead. Rather than a crash or other incident, this turned out to be the lights of a police convoy escorting a massive yacht that was being transported along the road. We travelled slowly along until the yacht got stuck under a bridge. After a while the lorry carrying the yacht continued under the bridge and then pulled up in a service area – it looked like the yacht was a bit scraped on its top and I guess someone was going to get their knuckles rapped for not plotting the route more carefully.

Scraping a luxury yacht under a bridge is an expensive mistake to make, but many people’s approach to money is a bit like that – just about scraping through, but doing damage along the way.

Most people do not recognise the influence of the spirit of mammon in their lives. Identification of the influence of this spirit is the first step to freedom from it. Here are the top ten symptoms:

1. Worry and anxiety over money: Many people carry much anxiety and fear over money. The rich fear losing their money, and the poor fear never having enough money.

2. Money mismanagement: Many Christians have no system of record-keeping for personal finances and as a result have no financial accountability: money is in control not you! It has used the classic oppressors tactic of divide and conquer. And think about it, if you were in God’s position, who would you choose to bless with finance: someone who has a good record system and knows where his/her finance is going; or someone who has little idea at all?

3. Consistent financial lack: “I don’t ever have enough money” or “there is always too much month left at the end of my money.” Financial lack afflicts both the rich and poor alike. Many people believe the lie that if they could just make more money, their financial problems would be solved. In reality, it is the way money is spent that is the problem, not the amount available.

4. ‘I can’t afford’ it mentality: Again, the focus here is on money rather than God as the source. Saying “we cannot afford it” is often a mental stronghold, rather than the result of a specific financial situation.

5. Impulse Buying, Coveting & Greed: Impulse buying is the inability to resist the desire to purchase things that are not needed. Coveting is desiring something I don’t already have. Greed is the desire to have more of what I already have.

6. Stinginess: Fear that I won’t have enough money to meet my own needs. Feeling the need to hold on to all my money.

7. Discontentment: Paul learned to be content in every situation. The key is to look to God and know he is your source in every situation - never allow yourself to become discontent because of your circumstance. Godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6).

8. Exaggerated Emphasis on Money: What do you talk about the most?

9. Bondage to Debt: Debt is mammon’s trump card. It is the chief mechanism used by the spirit of mammon to get us into, and keep us in bondage.

10. Inability to settle in hearts, and maintain a regular habit of tithes & offerings: Regular, consistent, costly giving away of money is ultimately the only true proof that one has conquered mammon.


How can I get free and stay free of Mammon?

1. Admit: soberly and honestly assess where you are currently positioned with regard to mammon.

2. Repent: Don’t dodge this. Be sincere and thorough. God will immediately forgive you.

3. Show fruits of repentance: Matthew 3:8 says, “produce fruit in keeping with repentance”. Matthew 12:33 says, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.”

FREE PLEASURES

I woke up yesterday feeling irritable and irritated - no good reason for it, just my sin! As it was my day off and as the sun was shining Grace and I walked out to Old Harry Rocks, and it didn't take long for my spirits to lift. It was an amazing day - more like May than February, with children paddling in the sea and all the spring flowers in full bloom.

One of the best things about a day like yesterday was that it did not cost any money (other than to get across the chain ferry to Studland). Often we see money as being something with which we can buy happiness, but equally often it can leave us feeling glum.

Leading a church requires a surprising amount of focus upon money. Churches need money! How much ministry can you do with £100? About £100 worth! But it is not only the practical requirements of "doing ministry" that make money a central topic in church life - it is also money's incredible spiritual power. So, as I have just taken on the leadership of a new church and will have to start thinking about money again, it might be worth me doing a few posts on the subject. This first one adapts material produced by my friend PJ Smyth (whose 3-year-old church plant is now gathering nearly 500 adults on a Sunday - bless him...!).

The Biblical emphasis on money
There are just over 200 verses in the bible on Faith and about the same number on Salvation. Compared with these, there are over 2,300 references to finance in the scriptures. Sixteen of the 38 parables deal with financial issues. There are five times as many scriptures in the New Testament on money morality as there are on sexual morality. The only thing taught in the bible more than money is love. Maybe God takes the matter of finance so seriously because money is so central to life.

Money has always been a difficult subject for churches to teach. Some churches are too scared to teach about it, for fear of offending people, while others probably talk about it too much.

Another danger is to teach about giving without also teaching people broader financial principles (E.g., Avoiding debt, How to budget). The result of this can be strain on an individual who wants to give but finds himself paralysed by poor financial management practices.

Jesus drew the battle lines over money:

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24)

The word cannot here does not mean don’t, it means impossible. If you are serving money, you have squeezed God out of your life.

One of the things that attracted me to Poole was its financial diversity. Poole/Bournemouth is a major financial centre with a number of the big banks and other financial institutions having offices here and there are many wealthy people in the area. At the same time there is significant and genuine financial hardship in some parts of the town. It makes for an interesting mix and adds to the challenge of building a church here.

Jesus used the ancient Aramaic word, mammon (which is not quite the same thing as money) to denote an entity that exists in the heavenly realm, which people had worshipped as their god of finance. As with all demonic entities, the primary assault of mammon is not direct. Rather, it operates in a cloaked manner through deception. It tells us that a little more money will make us happier, that we need just a few more possessions to be satisfied, that having more money or possessions will make us more popular or more powerful. It tells you that your net worth as an individual is based on your net wealth. The primary tactic of mammon is to entice people into serving him without realising that they are actually doing so.

Whether we are rich or poor, we need to walk free of mammon's grasp.

INCOMPARABLE

A number of my London friends have been telling me how much they have appreciated the "Tough in Dorset" video clips - it makes them feel much better about where they live. So one more before I start proper blogs again...



Before we moved to Poole we knew it was a lovely place, but it is only since being here that we have realised just how much there is to enjoy here. We almost moved to a couple of other places in the UK which would also have been great places to end up, and were invited to South Africa, but God seemed to lead us here. And it really was for the church rather than for the scenery. But we can't help feeling we have landed in an English version of Cape Town!

Tomorrow we are beginning a three week preaching series titled "Incomparable." I'm not preaching this one at all, but shall be anchoring the meetings and enjoying listening to some other guys. We've taken the title from Andrew Wilson's book of the same name. If you haven't read this yet, you really should. We will have a big stack of them for sale at Alder Road. It is a brilliant book to read devotionally - a chapter each day (they're only 3 pages long) that will lead you into worship of our incomparable God.

Even better than Poole!

OK, just one more then...

THE ENGINE ROOM

The past two days have been spent at the amazing Kingsgate church building in Peterborough where Newfrontiers now holds its regular days of Prayer & Fasting. These days, which take place three times a year, really are the heartbeat and engine room of what we do in Newfrontiers.

We covered a lot of ground in prayer this time! Praying about the situation in Kenya was especially moving. Just as we were about to pray a text came in from Edward Buria, who leads our churches in Kenya, describing the latest needs - which are very great. As well as praying around the four corners of the globe there was a lot of prayer and prophetic encouragement about what we are doing in the UK. I am increasingly excited about the "Together at..." bible weekends that are being launched this year, and very much looking forward to Acceler8, the Wessex regional event in August.

Here is a brief clip of 600 of us enjoying the presence of God...

TOUGH IN POOLE

Its a hard life...

OLD DOG NEW DOG

At last… It is a month today since I moved to Poole and finally I am back online; my friend Martin came round this evening and got things sorted out for me – thanks! So I will try to get back to blogging soon.

Yesterday we made a family trip to Burton Bradstock, near Bridport, to get a puppy. Twelve years ago Grace and I went for a few days holiday in the Peak District and came home with a border collie pup from a cattle farm in Buxton, so there seemed a nice symmetry in getting another collie from another cattle farm in a village called Burton Bradstock. Jess has been the perfect dog – house trained almost immediately, never stolen food, completely obedient. We will see how Gyp shapes up in comparison… Jess isn’t too impressed by the new arrival though.



I finished a five week sermon series on the book of Titus this morning. Notes and Listen Again are available here. It was a great morning at Alder Road! We were packed out again and God felt very present with us. This week I am off to the Newfrontiers Prayer & Fasting days in Peterborough and am looking forward to catching up with lots of friends. P & F is always a significant time and it is a privilege to be able to go.