(upbeat music) - Hello again, and thank you for listening to Ask Pastor John with longtime pastor and author, John Piper. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. While Jesus was never ashamed to tell his disciples or his potential disciples to liquidate all of their assets and to give away all of their cash first, giving rise to today's question from a college student named Noah.

Hello, Pastor John and Tony. This program has encouraged and strengthened me for over a year now, whether I'm at the gym or walking back from class or folding my laundry. I am truly blessed by the wisdom you share. Thank you. I am a Christian hedonist at Stanford University, finishing my third year of undergrad work.

I just finished reading the chapter that you wrote, Pastor John, on money in Desiring God, the book, and I am faced with this question. Why should I not give all or a significant portion of what I earned to the Lord? Most teaching I've heard on money and tithing have pretty much said give and give generously.

I wanna give as generously as possible and invest eternally, but at what point does my giving to the Lord become irresponsible? Right now, I don't earn very much, but I also don't need very much. Of the $10,000 I earn, I only spend about $2,000 per year, and after giving over 20% to God and investing the rest, I still can't help but feel like my reward would be greater in heaven if I gave more, which I'd happily do.

The problem is I think I would feel the same way after giving 30% or 50% or 80% to God too, but is that a problem? Wasn't the widow commended for giving everything? Are we told not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear? Jesus said sell your possessions, give to the needy, provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old.

And you said in Desiring God, the book, Jesus is not against investment. He is against bad investment, namely setting our hearts on the comforts and securities that money can afford in this world. Money is to be invested for eternal yields in heaven. So if God has given me a generous heart and blesses me beyond my necessity, why should I not give away everything?

- Well, I'm not gonna tell Noah not to give away everything. I don't know what God may be calling him to do. Jesus certainly called on the rich young ruler to give away everything. In Luke 18.22, Jesus said to the rich young man, "One thing you still lack, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me." And as Noah observed, he commended the widow.

Jesus, it says, many rich people were putting in large sums of money as Jesus was watching in the temple. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins which make a penny and he called his disciples to him and said, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box for they contributed out of their abundance.

But she out of her poverty has put in everything, everything that she had, all she had to live on." I don't know what measure of sacrifice financially Jesus may call Noah or anyone to undergo. I don't know. I'm not assuming he shouldn't give away everything. But here's what I will do.

I will say that I cannot biblically tell Noah this is his duty, this is his biblical obligation from the Lord or that it is the biblical obligation or duty of Christians in general to give away all that they have. There are reasons and I'll just list several. Number one, Jesus and the apostles never made giving away all our possessions a duty for all followers of Christ.

The command to the rich young ruler was not a command to all. Number two, Zacchaeus was commended for giving away half of his riches to the poor. Behold, the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham." In other words, he saw in that kind of generosity, namely 50% plus, salvation has come. He's showing he's really saved. Third, Barnabas was admired as a son of encouragement in the early church and when the believers were selling their lands and houses together, money for the poor, it says, "Thus Joseph, who was called Barnabas," which means son of encouragement, "A Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet." So one field, no doubt a very significant gift, but not everything.

Number four, when Paul was taking up a collection for the poor in Jerusalem among the churches, he said to the Corinthians, this is 1 Corinthians 16, 1, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so also you. On the first day of the 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." So the idea seems to be in proportion as you prosper, put more aside, not everything, just more for those who earn more, less for those who earn less, put something aside.

Number five, Paul says, "Aspire to live quietly." This is 1 Thessalonians 4.10, "Aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your own hands as we instructed you so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." So it seems that in the ordinary life of the church, day in and day out in the world, we should at least seek to have a stream of income that keeps us from lazy mooching.

That's what he says, so that you will be dependent on no one, work. So that means you need to have enough to pay your bills. You don't give everything away. You invest and create a life that keeps you from being dependent on others. Number six, Paul said, "Let the thief no longer steal, but let him labor doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need." Ephesians 4.28.

So three options, you can steal, that's option one. Option two, you can work to have, that's option two. Or you can work to have to give, that's option three. The assumption is that as the money passes through our hands into productive uses, whether for the poor or invested in some way to help society, we are not dependent on others.

Enough of our income is supporting us so that we can give and give and give as well as not being moochers off of others. And by the way, that does not mean it is a sin for churches to support missionaries. Paul, that's another whole, ask Pastor John, we can do how Paul in fact took money from churches in order to make it free for others.

But that's a parenthesis and I'll just stop there. Number seven, Paul speaks of his own pattern of partially foregoing the right of support, quote, "By toiling night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have the right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.

For even when we were with you, we gave you this command, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you are walking in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living." So the normal pattern in the early church and in Christianity, day-to-day life is make a living, pay your own way and turn your whole life into ministry.

Now lots of other passages could be brought in to show that owning nothing and giving away everything was not in the New Testament the way Jesus and the apostles conceived of the ongoing corporate Christian life. And I'll just mention two things in closing that might give Noah some guidance against this background.

Number one, don't just think of percentages for how much you give away. Think of concrete people, concrete needs as you live your life and as you see if your heart really loves people. Here's what I mean. The good Samaritan was commended that he stopped and he helped the wounded man on the road.

He had some wine to give him. He had a donkey that he would let him ride. He had money for paying for his lodging. And Jesus didn't question, "Hey, why do you have a donkey? Why do you have wine? Why do you have money? You're supposed to give everything away." The point was, do you love the person in front of you at cost to yourself?

So shift your way of thinking, not merely to think, oh, how much, what percentage can I get rid of, but rather do the people I deal with and that I'm aware of, do I love them as I ought with my resources? And here's the second thing I would say finally.

Remember that all of your money is God's, not just what you quote, "Give to the Lord." This means that we should think of every expenditure in a kingdom advancing way, not just what we give away. It is all Christ's. He owns you, he owns it. And every single thing you spend and what you give is ministry and should be designed to magnify Christ.

So Noah, I'm with you in the struggle, just as much now at age 73 as I was when I was 23. So let's pray for each other that we not be taken captive by our possessions. - Amen, same here. The really good example here, Pastor John, of explaining a truth by synthesizing a lot of other texts around it.

Thank you for that model. Thanks for the question, Noah. Blessings on your studies. Thanks for listening on campus. And as always, thank you for listening wherever you are, whatever you're doing. Thank you for listening. You can search or browse our past episodes or send us a question of your own.

You can do that through our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn. On Monday, we look at the glorious text in Galatians 2.20. What does it mean that Christ is alive in me? And what does that mean for the stewardship of this life? Is this life really my life anymore? We look at that on Monday.

I'm your host, Tony Reinhart. You have a great weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday.