TRUE FAITH AND TRUE GIVING
By P. T. Magan
THE remnant people have always believed that the time would come when all that they had of lands and of money would be laid upon the altar of God as a sacrifice for His cause. They have ever taught that when the time of trouble arrives, all their wealth and possessions would have been used for the advancement of the message that proclaims the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of glory. This belief has amounted almost to a cardinal principle of faith. It has been a sweet thought to many a soul that the time would come when God's people, alone in the forests and among the rocks of the mountains, would receive their bread and their water direct from their Maker. Thank God, these days will yet come, and those who are true and loyal will have part in this sweet and trustful experience. It is written of the remnant people: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Now giving is organically connected with commandment-keeping; and this experience of giving all that we have, is the perfection of commandment-keeping. Once, when a rich young man came to Christ to talk with Him about the better world beyond, the following conversation took place:— Rich Young Man: “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Jesus: “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Jesus: “Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Rich Young Man: “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?” Jesus: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” The vital point in the mind of the rich young man was what he should do in order to obtain eternal life. The answer of the Master was expressed in one brief sentence: “Keep the commandments.” Now all that is necessary in order to obtain eternal life is to keep the commandments. The commandments were ordained unto life; and the perfect keeping of them will insure to any man eternal life and all its glories. The Saviour, at the request of the rich young man, enumerated some of the commandments, which are to be kept. The rich young man professed to have kept these from his youth up, and inquired, “What lack I yet?” He was asking what he lacked in commandment-keeping, because how to keep the commandments so as to be sure of eternal life was the question under discussion. What lack I yet in commandment-keeping? he asks. To this the Lord replied: “If thou wilt be perfect,”—in commandment-keeping,—“go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” Now the giving of all that we have to advance the cause of God in the earth, is the perfection of commandment-keeping. It is one of the supreme tests of true commandment-keeping. When the Saviour gave this definition of perfect commandment-keeping, He did not give an arbitrary definition. Christ is the Perfect Commandment-Keeper. He had no other god before the true God. He never bowed down to images of wood or stone. He did not take the name of the Lord His God in vain. He remembered the Sabbath day to keep it holy. He honored His father and His mother. He267did not kill; He did not commit adultery; He did not steal; He did not bear false witness; and He did not covet. And high above all these, He did leave all the hoarded wealth of eternity; He did sacrifice all His property in paradise, that He might come to earth and save lost man. He, as it were, sold it all for the benefit of the poor whom He wanted to save. And this was the perfect commandment-keeping of the Perfect Commandment Keeper. This same test of selling all that they have for the benefit of a poor lost world will yet be applied as a test of the genuineness of the commandment-keeping of those of whom it is written: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” It takes genuine faith to do this. It takes the faith of Jesus, to give all that we have to the cause of God. In the second letter to the Corinthians it is written: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” The Lord Jesus Christ was rich; and He who was rich gave away all his riches, and for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich. There is a wonderful thought wrapped up in this verse. It is easier for a poor man to give of his means than it is for a rich man to give of his. Through all the ages the work of the gospel has been supported much more by the small gifts of the poor than by the great gifts of the rich. Many a rich man is willing to give if his giving will not impoverish him; but to give so that his riches will not only be sensibly affected, but until he himself becomes poor, is a test most supreme. The literal meaning of the word translated “poor” is destitute, yet this is just what the Master became. He was rich, and for our sakes He who was rich became destitute. In these last days this great test will come to the rich among Seventh-day Adventists. It will come also to the poor. It will come to all alike. Shall we have perfect commandment-keeping? Again: Christ not only gave all that He had, but He gave it for a purpose for which men find it harder to give than for any other. Many a time I have heard men and women say: “We hate to give our money to pay debts: we hate to pay for dead horses. If it were some new enterprise, we should feel much more kindly disposed toward it. Your institutions were all clear from debt once, why didn’t you keep them so?” Well, once upon a time to a man and a woman there was given a beautiful estate, the title was clear, and the estate was in first-class condition; there was plenty of gold on top of the ground, enough so that they could build houses with it and pave streets with it if they wanted to; silver by the ton was easy of access; the most precious gems were there in abundance: of fruit and grain and vegetables, of stately trees and fragrant flowers, of noble rivers, purling streams, babbling brooks, and effervescing springs I need not speak; they were all there in the greatest variety and profusion. The estate, moreover, was well-stocked with horses and cattle and sheep; the lakes and rivers were full of fish, and beautiful birds were in the air. It was a great estate, the like of which no man or woman on earth has seen from that day to this; it would seem impossible that any man having clear title to such an estate as this could ever get in debt or come to want; but, strange to say, this man and this woman sold the estate. We sometimes talk of people selling things for a song—but they didn’t get that much for it. They mortgaged it to the devil, and he foreclosed on them, and they got nothing for their equity. Have you ever heard of that man and that woman and that estate? of how they went into debt, and the sad, sad times that they and all their sons and daughters have had ever since? But, oh, let me tell you, when the great God and the dear Lord Jesus Christ heard what this man and this woman had done, they said, We will give all that we have, and we’ll give it to pay this debt that the men and women of the earth have incurred. We will redeem them; that is, we will buy them back, both them and their estate. Jesus Christ said, I will be the world’s Redeemer; that is, I will be the buyer-back of the world: I will buy back for humanity that which they have lost. I will give all the hoarded wealth of eternity for this great object. And from that day to this, all that God and all that Jesus Christ and all that the angels of heaven have done is to give blessedly and unselfishly all that heaven has to give, and to give it to pay A DEBT. The great sacrifice of heaven is about to yield its fruit. Thank God, many of us are to live to see the glorious end, and the still more glorious beginning. And to-day God calls upon those who expect to see this grand, grand sight to cast into the treasury of sacrifice all that they have, that it may become a part of the gift of heaven, a part of the sacrifice of eternity, and that they with Him may share in the work of redemption. Our colleges, our academies, our Scandinavian institutions, and our foreign missions cry out for help. In giving to them, we give to God, and gain for ourselves the blessed heaven-sent GIFT OF GIVING.