Nasty Giving Practices

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

The Fear of the Lord and True Wisdom

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. It is another Tuesday with Tuesday Guy in the house. Steve Cooley, give us some wisdom.

Wisdom can only be attained through study of scripture. Okay, that�s good. Okay.

I think this is True wisdom, anyway. Yeah. Yeah. We think Solomon was the originator of the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but I believe it was said back in the book of Job. Wow.

That�s even older. Yeah, the first book of the Bible or first book written.

Does that mean you have to be afraid of God and then you�re wise?

Well, I think there needs to be a certain fear of him in terms of, yeah, I mean, he�s all powerful and you�re not, but I think it mostly has to do with just viewing him rightly, understanding who you are and understanding who he is.

I mean, that whole creator-creature difference, that really, it�s pretty significant.

Steve, why do you think we immediately, automatically, primarily default to, oh, it�s just reverence? Why is it, say, for instance, in the New Testament, it talks about fear, it�s phobia. I don�t think it�s a cringing fear like a dog that�s been kicked too many times and its master comes over, but why do we go away from fear and default to reverence right away?

Well, I think there are a number of reasons. One is I just don�t think we like to think of, and I don�t mean you and I, I just mean generally I don�t think people like to think about God as he really is, perfectly holy, all-powerful, you know, these kind of things where if we just start stacking things up and thinking about how awesome he is, then we don�t feel so significant.

So if we just say, well, we need to reverence him, it just kind of minimizes the whole thing and gets us out of it faster, you know, without real contemplation, I guess.

Do you think in our society with, we have monarchs that we vote in and kick out every eight years who aren�t really monarchs, we don�t understand what it�s like to have a king. Can you imagine back in the Bible days, the kings had power and authority and you�d go into the throne room to be judged.

Part of it is I don�t think we know what a king is. So we just think, you know, the president�s a man of the people, etc.

Well, yeah. I mean, for example, can you imagine somebody going in and the ancient world going into the king�s throne room and saying, �You lie I mean, Nathan could do that, but, you know, your average person couldn�t do that.

Like they did the president here a few years ago in Congress or, you know, even some of the things, remember when George Bush was over there giving a little press conference and some Iraqi guy threw a shoe at him, you know, those kind of things, you just think about it.

Now with a king, you�re dead. Yeah, I mean, you�re just, that�s it.

Looking at Daniel chapter 7, �As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire.

A stream of fire issued and came out from before him, a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousands stood before him, and the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

Now you read that and you have a hard time thinking, �Well, he�s just like my next door neighbor. I mean, you know, so you reverence him, �Well, you know, it�s like, I don�t want to disrespect my neighbor.

I don�t want to disrespect God. Really? Kind of just like a town selectman.

Yeah, really. Well, that passage goes on to discuss the Son of Man. �I saw in the night visions, and behold, the clouds of heaven. There came one like a Son of Man, and he came to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before him.

And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

How could God the Father give that kind of authority to anyone else who wasn�t Yahweh himself?

He couldn�t. You know, but again, I just want to get back to that word reverence because it just reminds me of something that happened to me once in California. I was in, you know, Santa Monica, and I saw Tom Hanks.

I mean, this is, you know, many years ago, like 20, 25 years ago. You got a friend in me. Yeah. And so, you know, there's Tom Hanks, and he's, you know, in a little ice cream parlor with one of his kids.

And I mean, obviously, that kid is now grown up, but you know, just seeing him there, and I just thought, okay, I wanted to say, you know, hi, Mr. Hanks or whatever, but he's with it, you know, and you just kind of respect, you reverence his time and, you know, with his family and everything like that, and so you don't bother him.

But I'm just like, that's just a, you know, when you just say, well, you got to think of God. You have to give him his due reverence, you know. It's a big guy upstairs, man. Yeah. He's a buddy. Yeah.

He's the big man upstairs, you know. How about 1 Peter 1, and even if you call on him as father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you are ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers.

In other words, can you imagine, because of God's condescending love, we get to call him father, we are his children, but if you do, there's still an aspect of he's God and you're not. Yeah. Creator, creation, distinction.

It changes everything. Well, and especially, you know, let's just talk about holiness for a second. Here's the other part of that. If I just, if I think of him as the judge who rightfully ought to condemn me all the time for my sin, my lack of even loving him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength all the time, then right away, and I understand that he doesn't do that because he is also loving and kind and merciful and all these other things, it just, it sets things in perspective.

And as long as I keep that perspective, then my odds of sinning against him are, you know, much less and, you know, all these other things. If I think rightly about life, my life is happier if I view it as it is, you know, so.

The Holiness of God and the Need for the Law

Steve, there are very many attributes of God, probably an infinite amount, and we know many of them revealed in scripture. Which attribute of God do you think the average person on the street, the unbeliever, knows the least about and want?

Pete Knows the least about or cares the least about? Pete Okay, either one. Both make good radio. Pete I think they care the least about his holiness. And you know, I say that because if we really had his holiness in view all the time, none of us would sin.

But we just kind of, even as believers, I think our tendency is to just sort of ignore that for a little while, you know. But to the world at large, God's predominant, you know, attribute is love and holiness.

They don't even know what that is.

They have no concept of it. Pete. Probably a good reason why we need to give them God's holy law, which reflects his holy nature so they can realize how far they've fallen so that they need a Savior.

I mean, if you talk to somebody, if you're going to try to evangelize them, even if you say something like, well, we're all sinners, they might look at you quizzically and you say, well, none of us is perfect, they'll agree with that, right?

But what does that entail? You know, it's really kind of, everybody will say, well, I have, you know, this little flaw or that little thing I do or whatever, and they just kind of, we all do this to some extent.

We all minimize our sins, but unbelievers, like, wallpaper over them. What sin? What are you talking about? You know, oh, that little dust ball over in the corner. No, your whole life.

Peter. If I watch Freel or Ray Comfort talk to unbelievers on the street, I like how they can reveal the unbelievers' inconsistent behavior and inconsistent thinking. Because even if you ask them, the unbeliever, don't you think, you know, should rapists and murderers be in heaven and people that do X, Y, and Z?

Even unbelievers, if they believe in heaven, they want it to be a nice place where there aren't bad people there and no crimes go on. They would realize heaven is holy, but then how can they get there?

You know, that's a good one.

What would you like heaven to be like? You know? Well, but there are some people like, I just want it to be party, you know? Big party. Pete. Clouds and harps. So you'd be okay then if other people who were partying came in and crashed your party and took all your stuff?

Yeah.

No, man, that'd be a total bummer. I know. Steve, in front of me, I have something from the Christian Assembly Church. And by the way, the subtext of this church, you know, here's their little slogan.

What do you think their slogan might be? Just by the name, Christian Assembly Church. We assemble and we're Christians? The gathering of saints. This is called a place for you. Do not forsake the assembly.

A place for you. A place for you. Now, doesn't that remind you of the army and how they've had to change their advertisements in the old days for honor, for country, for others, sacrifice, and then now it's an army of one.

You. Duty, honor, country, you know? And then it was be all you can be. Let's see all you can be. Notice how it just got conflated on itself. I think that's Martin Luther-ish with the Latin incurvus something where you're curved in on yourself.

Right. What is the Latin for that? Incurvus Deo, but that's more of a

You know, last week in Latin class, let me think while we're here.

Now, come on, this is New England, that would be Latin. Latin. Latin class. Anyway, that's a really bad slogan, a place for you. Of course it's a place for you, it's a local church. But couldn't we come up with a better slogan?

I thought it meant they had a seating chart, you know, you come in and they have a place for you. Oh, Steve, yeah, yeah, you're over there.

That is what we talked about last Tuesday when we went on the men's retreat. I just wanted to be told what room and what bed was mine, that I don't have to do this faux humility, oh no, you take the best room, you take the queen bed, you do this.

No, I'll just go up there in a hammock. Hammock Bible church, a place for you.

Yeah, I didn't want much, you know, just space foam, a temperature controlled room and a nice little jacuzzi on the side.

The main room was very cold, so I could not turn off the heater. But my particular room was hot and we shut the door because there's some log snoring outside with some other men. And so I had to open up the window just the right amount to get the, you know, I don't want to get a cold.

Just to get enough fresh air in there, so, yeah, yeah, gotcha. You know how that works. Yeah.

Well, in front of me, this little chart, and I kind of like charts, it's got rows and columns. It looks like an actuarial chart.

It does. How much you're going to have to pay for life insurance if you come to our church.

And this is made of a little bit thicker paper, so it would be an excellent, not stocking stuffer, but bulletin stuffer. Oh, nice. Yeah, yeah. And this is true, I'm not kidding. Christian Assembly Church, a place for you.

At the top it says Malachi 3. I'm always glad to have Bible verses in church products. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's always nice. Sola Scriptura. Then it says Malachi 3, try me. Now when I think of try me, I think of my dad.

If I'm going to do something wrong, just try me on for size, you know, just give that a try, bub.

I think about laundry detergent. Try me? Yeah, try me. What's that? Well, like, try this new laundry detergent and see if it works. Oh, okay.

My wife usually gets Tide, but I buy the cheaper Arm Hammer. Because it says try me. Because I'm just washing bike stuff. I'm on sale. Try me. Try me. And now it says Malachi 3, try me. Activate the promise.

Now that could be for Tide or any of those. Activate the promise. Is that the red button, promise? And what this gives here is on the left, income level per week, 100, 200, 300, all the way up to $2 ,000 a week.

As you have purposed in your heart. And then on the right-hand side, or the farther to the right, percentage of giving for each income level. So for instance, from 3 to 10%, I've noticed that they probably don't have any rich people at the church and they don't have any Uber givers.

They just only go up to 10%.

What if somebody wanted to give 20? I noticed too that 3 to 9 highlighted in red like, you know, sinners in flames.

Now see, I make up things all the time. Steve is actually making this up. This is bad enough without your inflated, exaggerated, hyperbolic radio.

Well, if you want to get to the full Tide and be obedient to God, then you have to give them 10%.

I know. 10 of $700. I think that's pretty easy to figure out. But if you couldn't figure out 3%, it's $21, by the way, that you should be giving to Try Me. Hmm. Now what are we trying God for?

What's he on trial for? Well, to see, you know, I can almost recite this now, to see if you can out-give the Lord.

Why Begging for Money Misses the Point of Christian Giving

Steve, it's that time of year and we've got ministries that are begging for more money, $2 .5 million we need in December to make the year complete. What are people thinking?

If we're going to keep the lights on, we need, you know, $75 before the end of the week. So just send your money to NoCoRadio.

I'm not going to say who this ministry is because I like the leader of it, but I think he's got a bunch of clowns working for him in this department where you go ask for this money. Sanctified clowns.

Yeah, and the thing is, reformed clowns. The thing is, why? Why do we have to do this? First of all, shouldn't most of your money, Steve, I'm talking about the average person. If you've got, if you're Carnegie or J .P. Morgan or Rockefeller and you've got a lot of money and you're trying to out-give your friends, that's another thing.

But in this particular case, shouldn't the majority of your money as a Christian be given to the Lord through the church that you attend?

I would think so. And I mean, you know, here's the hard part. People say, do you have a verse that would show that?

Well, do you have a verse that would show the opposite? No.

But see, people want to be the We have questions. What's your ministry? I ask a lot of questions. Yeah, they want to be the arbiter of their own, you know, giving. You know, well, we give this way, we give that way, well, we give to homeless people that we see, and I'm like, okay, I don't think that's what the Bible would have in mind.

Maybe they don't want to give to a 5013CBQSLBGQ.

I'm with you though. I mean, my attitude is my primary giving is going to be the local church, and I don't say that because, you know, I'm on the staff here. I say that Give to yourself then. I say that because that's what I've always done, and that's what I think that's right.

I mean, doesn't it make sense that the place you go where you get your, excuse me, your spiritual nourishment, the people that you rely on to teach you the word and to shepherd you and everything else, aren't those the people, or isn't that the church where you should invest?

Isn't that the place, you know? Now I can hear some people, well, I don't really like our church, so we give our money to some other ministry, and my question would be, well, then what are you doing at that church?

Steve, don't you think it's true, at least anecdotally, that when people have been giving to the Lord through the local church, and then they stop giving, that's almost the first step on their way out?

Steve Oh, definitely.

No question about it. If you say, well, I can no longer give at this church, then my question would be, then why are you there? Because what you're really saying is, I don't trust the leadership here.

And I mean, you should if you can, and here's what I would argue and what I have argued. If you trust the leadership to teach the Bible, to minister to your family, then why would you not trust them with the lesser thing, which is your money?

Mark I say to myself, I, frail and weak and sinful though I may be, have been trained in gospel ministry, and I am telling your family every week what sin costs, who paid for sin, who will eventually pay for sin if you reject the promises of God, and how to get to heaven.

Eternal souls hearing the truth, and yet you don't like it that we spent a little money trying to patch the parking lot so you're going to not give and go to a different place.

Steve Boy, I hope nobody felt that way here at our place because if you could have seen it before we patched it, holy smokes, it was one sad.

Piece of asphalt. Mark. So back to point, when we have these ministries that are para-church, and this particular one, I've received a lot of good teaching from them, and then you're asking for money and begging for money, and it just

Steve. Well, I mean, what it may speak to is, you know, maybe some retooling of priorities that needs to be done. I mean, if you're that staff-heavy where, you know, you come up that short every year, then maybe something needs to change.

Mark If I could channel S. Lewis Johnson, S. Lewis would probably say Steve Ooh, that's dangerous. Mark Number one, don't call me, and number two, close your ministry if you've got to beg for millions every year.

I think this particular ministry, they begged, they were 2 .6 short last year, only 2 .5 short this year in December. Steve Oh, better stewardship. Mark Better stewardship. If you ever went to a church that had cardstock with the Activate the Promise, Try Me Malachi 3 taken out of context, what would you think?

Steve I would think it's probably pretty legalistic, and I would wonder when they're going to call me and ask why I'm not giving my 10%, or if I am, you know. So I would kind of feel like I was back in my Mormish days, Mormon.

Giving, Stewardship, and the Local Church

Mark. Now there's a church in Santa Cruz called Vintage Faith Church, and they have a little cardstock, but it's a different color, and it's smaller.

Steve. Vintage Faith, now is the whole place decked out like it's the 50s?

Mark No, the whole place is decked out like it would be a Roman Catholic high liturgical Eastern Orthodox kind of deal. That's disappointing. Mark I haven't been in there lately, but last time I was in there, people were drawing on the walls and there was broken glass stuff.

It's emergent. Steve Wow. Mark Yeah. Steve It's emergent? Mark Now this tells you there are three ways to give. If you never walked into a church building and you said, you know, I just wonder how I would give.

I'm always wondering, you know, that's a very key question.

Steve. It's a number one key question when you walk in. Not, you know, what do you guys teach? Nothing else. It's just like, hey, you know what? Scratch my head.

How do I give? Mark That box in the back there that says Steve Offerings? Mark Offerings? What does that mean?

What if I wanted to do it online? You think I could? Steve. Yeah. What if I just want to mail in a check? Mark. There's three ways for Steve. Three ways to give?

Mark Yes. It makes it easier that way. Steve Is there a giving hotline? Mark Well, there's giving online, right? Only problem with that is PayPal probably takes a cut. They do take a cut. Did you know that?

Steve Yes, I did. Mark Yeah. Okay. In person with cash or check. That's option two. Steve You can give that way? Mark Yeah. And it actually shows a computer icon for online and it shows someone's hand with the pencil as a second option.

Right? And the third option is, I don't know if you knew this, but you could give on your device. Steve The giving app. Mark Mm-hmm. Download PushPay app and then select Vintage Faith Church.

Steve Well, I'd like to suggest a fourth way. I was watching a PBS telethon. I was like, what if we did that next year, BBC? What if we just got on a PBS telethon thing? Mark Jerry Lewis kind of thing?

Steve Yeah, where we would like show some, I don't know.

We could try to raise money for us. Mark. We could have those funny Jewish dancers, those rabbi dancers that we've seen. Steve L 'chaim. Mark L 'chaim. Steve, I know you love the Orange County Register, don't you?

Steve. My favorite newspaper.

Mark Back in the day. Steve Yeah, when I used to be conservative.

It's probably not anymore. Mark Eric and Maria Bensum of Orange County, California finally won their months-long battle. This was a decade or two ago, with the Social Security Administration to get rid of the mark of the beast on their one-year-old daughter's Social Security card.

Quote, Christians are supposed to refuse the mark of the beast. End quote, says Maria Bensum, 30, a pharmaceutical comp representative. We're glad they changed it. She won't have to carry 666 around with her for the next 85 years.

Steve. Well, you know, Social Security numbers, I don't want to brag and I don't want to give out my Social Security number on the air. But let's suffice it to say that if we were playing Social Security poker, I would have a very good hand.

Mark Wow, a lot of Ks and Qs and Js for just a just a lot of it. Let's just say it would be a very good hand. Steve Okay. Well, the newspaper that was reporting this, the journal that was reporting this particular case from the Orange County Register, they said in parentheses, italics, no less, Baby Bensum will be dealing with far worse things than the beast.

She'll have to endure life with her awfully silly parents. Mark Terribly silly. Steve Terribly silly. Okay, what else do I have here? Anything else, Steve? Mark I don't know anything else you want to say about giving.

Maybe the biblical model for giving. What would you say that is? Steve Well, this is in all sincerity. There's some sincere times. You know, sincerity is, speaking of Latin, without wax, sin. Without Sarah, without wax.

You don't have to have the pottery filled with wax. You could hold it up to the light and you would see real pottery. Mark Wow. Steve Sincere. Mark I'm writing that down. Steve I'm writing that down. If you do this one simple thing, it will affect your giving for the rest of your life.

If you consider that everything you are and everything you have is a gift from God and all the money he has given you is his and the ability to think back in the Deuteronomic time period, everything that I've given you is from me, well that's a double statement there.

But even the ability to make things and the brain that we have and our gifts and the abilities we have at work, it's all a gift from God. And then you say one more thing about gifts and you think the gift of eternal life that we have, and we get eternal life freely from the Lord Jesus, then when he asked to support his ministry at the local church, it seems easy to me.

Mark. Well, and I think too many people, I remember years ago a guy just struggling with this and just saying that he was tired of people wanting to know what he gave and things of that nature, and I'm just like, think about it.

It's always between you and the Lord. And if you someday are going to stand before him and say, you know what, I did the best I could and you know that, you know, you were giving whatever was in your wallet or whatever, well then you know that's not true.

It needs to be sacrificial, it needs to be, you know, purposed, and it needs to be exactly what you said with an eye towards the glory of God who gives you all things.

Pete. It has been said somewhere that it is more blessed to give than to preach.

Closing Credits and Ministry Information

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.