Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Guest (Male): The man who is not willing to give unless his name is to be carved in wood or engraved in stone has not understood the spirit of Christ, which gives without thought of return. It was Christ who said that we're not to let our left hand know what our right hand does. We're not to give with the idea of getting something in return.

We are to give because we have received all things from Christ. If the heart is truly transformed, it will be an open heart. True giving is illustrated by the story of two Christian lepers in Formosa, who took a third leper into their hut. They were already living on little more than starvation rations.

But when asked how the third was to be fed, they replied that they received rice for two and that they would make it do for three. They knew the Lord Jesus Christ, and in receiving him, they had received the gift of giving liberally. They were giving their very life. This is the exercise of a divine gift.

Guest (Male): Over a half a century ago, the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, then pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, saw the need to spread God's word beyond the hearing of his local congregation. He started the radio outreach which has become known as Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.

The application of God's word as taught by Dr. Barnhouse is as relevant today as when he first taught over the radio airwaves decades ago. The message we'll be featuring on today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is entitled Exhortation and Liberality.

What do you think of when someone mentions spiritual gifts? Many Christians immediately think of extraordinary phenomena such as speaking in tongues, healings, and miracles. But spiritual gifts include generous joyful giving as well as the ability to speak the right words in the right situation.

Exhortation and generous giving are often overlooked in the discussion of spiritual gifts. But they play a vital role in the building up of the body of Christ. The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible: Romans chapter 12 and verse 8. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled Exhortation and Liberality.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto thee, our father and our God, and in the Holy Spirit. How wonderful that we, who are creatures, can come boldly to thee, the creator, without fear because thou hast prepared the way for us through Jesus Christ.

Help us in this hour to rejoice that we do not come timidly or fearfully, but in confidence that thou dost love us and art more eager for us to come to thee than we as parents are to have our children come to us. Use the word in this hour to build us in the knowledge of Christ, for we ask it in his name and for his sake. Amen.

In Romans 12 verse 8, we come to the text: "Let us use the gifts. He who exhorts, wait on exhortation. He who contributes, in liberality. He who gives aid with zeal. He who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness." In discussing the gifts which the Holy Spirit has given to his people, the important thing to remember is that no one person has all the gifts.

But to each believer is given one or more gifts. We need to function together as a body functions with all of its members: bones, muscles, glands, organs, to make a coordinated whole. Each believer needs all other believers. We are saved in order to be joined to the Lord Jesus Christ and to each other for our daily growth and for the glory of our redeemer.

We have already spoken of the gift of prophecy, a prophet being the man who stands out to speak for God, and of the gift of ministering to the needs of other believers, of teaching the truths of God. We now pass down the list to the gift of exhortation.

This is a gift whose full scope is somewhat obscured by the fact that the idea of exhort and exhortation has become limited to only a small fraction of the original meaning of the word. Webster gives us as the sole meaning of the verb: "To incite by words of advice. To advise or warn earnestly."

You see, this is like defining the ocean as sea water. The original Greek verb is used 107 times in the New Testament and is translated "exhort" only 19 times. Some of the other translations will show the fuller meaning of the word.

It is rendered 43 times by "beseech," 23 times by "comfort," 8 times as "desire," 6 times as "pray," in addition to other scattered meanings. The noun "exhortation," used 29 times, is rendered "exhortation" only 8, "comfort" 6, "entreaty" once, and "consolation" 14 times.

If I were called upon to give a general definition of this gift, I would say that it comprises the entire pastoral gift. All that an older person does for a younger. All that a friend does for a friend. All that a pastor does to counsel and comfort. All that the strong do for the weak.

The Greek word means literally "to call alongside." It is *paraklete*, *parakaleo*. As we look at it closely, we recognize its parts. The first half of the word we know in parallel lines, which are alongside each other.

The other half of the word means to call and is the same word that is found in the original for church, *ekklēsia*, a group of people called out of this world. Now the Romans took this Greek word and translated it literally from Greek into Latin. And thus we have their word: "advocate."

In both German and French, this word has become the common name for a lawyer or an attorney. If you're in trouble, you call someone alongside to help you. Now in the light of this, it is not amiss to translate our passage: "Let the man who has the gift of being called to the side of a person in need really stand by him and help him."

Oh, there are so many people who are in difficulties and need counsel and advice. Elsewhere in the New Testament, God tells us: "Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." And again he tells us: "They that are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak."

The Lord Jesus Christ showed this in a thousand ways as he went about doing good. Jesus took a child in his arms and told his disciples that the life of love was to receive these little ones in his name.

Guest (Male): I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: The Lord sets forth in a passage like this that he is at present in this world, presenting himself to us in the guise of the weak, the infirm, the downtrodden, the miserable. And he asks us to help them. Here is a test that is put to each of us.

Are we willing to stand by those in need? We do not meet our obligation by flipping a coin to a beggar. It's giving of self that counts. It is willingness to share with the needy and to help them by giving the strength that God has given to us.

One winter day, passing through Rockefeller Center in New York, I watched the skaters whirling about on the ice. There I saw a girl in her teens being instructed by a man who was a brilliant skater. She moved around the large orbit of the rink, and he skated in a smaller orbit nearer the center, but always near her.

One could see that she was not sure of herself. Once her hands went up, and it was evident that she was in trouble. She was going to fall. Swiftly her teacher came to her side and steadied her with a touch.

She went on a little more surely while he executed classical figures, but with his eye on her at every moment. Again she became unsteady, and in a flash he was by her side, his hand on her elbow, maintaining her balance. It was a perfect picture of the life to which the Lord Jesus is calling us.

Our text tells us that God has given to many of us the gift of helping those who are younger in the Christian life or who are in need. We carry on our own life, but our eyes must always be open to the needs of those around us. We must be ready with the helping hand.

We must do it without show. The one who was unsteady will know that he's been helped and that the touch at the right moment kept him from falling. The world will not notice that we have helped him. But he will know, and the Lord will know.

This is the gift that each of us may have. We're not to shrug our shoulders and say that we're paying a pastor to do all this work. We are all responsible to stand by someone who is in need. A beautiful illustration comes from the life of the late Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes.

When Mr. Hughes was appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States and to the highest position on that court, he moved to Washington and transferred his letter to a Baptist church there. His father had been a Baptist minister, and Hughes had been a lifelong witness of his faith in Christ.

It was the custom in that particular Baptist church to have all new members come forward during the morning service and be introduced to the congregation. On this particular day, the first to be called was a Chinese laundryman, Ah Sing, who had moved to Washington from San Francisco and kept a laundry near the church.

His name began with A, so he was the first one up. He stood at the far side of the pulpit. As others were called, they took positions at the extreme opposite side. When a dozen people had gathered, Ah Sing still stood alone. A dozen people far away from him on the other side of the chancel.

Then Chief Justice Hughes was called. He walked to the laundryman and took his place next to him. When the minister had welcomed the group into the church fellowship, he said, "I do not want this audience to miss the remarkable illustration of the fact that at the cross of Jesus Christ, the ground is level."

You see, Mr. Hughes behaved like a true Christian. He took his place beside the laundryman, and by his act prevented embarrassment to the humble Chinese and showed too the love of Christ that he had this gift of standing by.

Now let every one of us who has named the name of Christ understand that we are to take our places quietly beside those who are in need. The man who has been touched by the Lord Jesus Christ will not shrink from opportunities to show that he belongs to Christ.

The Christian who goes to a gospel meeting in a jail will not think that he's done his Christian duty by singing a hymn or handing out a tract. He will be willing to meet the convict when he comes out of prison and to give him a job.

If he is not willing to do this, his singing and his praying are nothing more than the pious mouthings of the Pharisee. Now before we leave the discussion of this particular gift, we must speak for a moment of the more obvious meaning of the idea of exhorting.

We are called alongside the needy to help, but we are also called alongside those who need warning and exhortation in the commonest sense of the word. We're to be ready to advise and counsel those who need it.

We're to be willing to say to the adolescent: "Watch your step, boy. Others who've gone in that direction have wrecked their lives. Be careful." Some cynic has said that it's useless to give advice because those who would take it do not need it, while those who need it will not take it.

Nevertheless, there are those who need advice and who will take it. The Christian is to be ready with the word of advice, the word of strength, the word of experience, the word of testimony to blessing received from the Lord, and the word of explanation of the methods that have proved successful in bringing him on his way.

We should ask the Lord to give us opportunities to drop a word to those who need it so that they might also profit by knowledge of how the Lord has helped us. Remember the proverb that God gave us through Solomon: "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver."

In an earlier chapter in these studies, I told how I learned to obey the Lord God by heeding the command in the Bible to obey every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Because I loved the Lord, I have changed my driving habits and now drive not more than 15 miles an hour in a school zone.

And I stay at 50 in a 50 mile zone. Shortly after I made this change, when I was speaking at a series of meetings in a boys' school, the principal said to me, "Tell that story to the boys and apply it also to keeping the rules of the school."

You see, such words of exhortation are necessary. Anyone who has an opportunity to speak thus should be ready to do so since it is truly a gift from the Lord. Now the next gift in the series mentioned in our text is that of giving.

The Bible has a great deal to say about our material prosperity and our property. The Bible denies the doctrines of communism. The fact that there is a command which says "thou shalt not steal" is a clear recognition of the right of private property.

Not only am I commanded not to steal the property of another person, but everyone else is ordered not to steal my property. In the early church, some people wished to give all that they had to those in need.

The Book of the Acts tells of Ananias and Sapphira who were struck dead for holding back part of the price of their land. Now this was not a teaching of communism but a teaching against lying.

The Holy Spirit through Peter flatly states the right of private property by saying: "While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?" But we must understand that we are not to dispose of our property by spending it all on ourselves.

In the Old Testament, the law of the tithe was established and 10% of each Israelite's income had to be given to the Lord. It was the income tax of the Old Testament. And funds from the tithe were used to operate the temple of God and to finance the court of Solomon and his successors.

In the New Testament, an even higher standard is set forth than that of the giving in the Old Testament. Under grace, we realize that everything that we have belongs to the Lord.

We must be just as sure that what we have put into the offering plate at church is dictated by the Lord as we are that what we spend on ourselves is the result of his leading. I have purposely put the order thus because we're told: "So whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God."

Now if we're to think about the Lord when we spend our money for groceries, how much more when we make an offering that is to be used to exalt his name? I have long since come to believe that every Christian, and I'm speaking now about true believers in Christ—I've long since come to believe that every believer really pays a tithe of his income to the Lord, whether he gives it freely or not.

Oh, how many Christians have been forced to exclaim: "Look at that fender! While I was parked, someone backed into it and it's going to cost $30 to have it repaired." That $30 is part of the tithe which you should have given to the Lord.

And thus it may often be the explanation for the moth hole in the coat, the run in the stocking, the puncture in the tire, the expensive dish that was broken, the little losses here and the little losses there. God will have his part of that which he gives us.

The yielded Christian learns from such texts as that which we are studying that the art of giving is in itself a gift from the Lord. If we give to him gladly and freely, he accepts it and blesses us in the giving. Now we must be careful to give without thought of getting something in return.

After the First World War, I traveled extensively in Europe and I often sent gifts to my mother: a bit of lace from Brussels, a marble vase from Rome, and so on. Suppose I had written to her and said: "I'm sending you these gifts so that you will love me."

My Irish mother would have answered sharply that she loved me before I was born. That her love for me was not increased or diminished by whether I did or did not send her a gift. But what I did write to her, of course, was that I was sending her a gift because I loved her.

This heightened her joy and increased my own joy. This is the nature of Christian giving. Our text says that we're to give with simplicity. The revision says we're to give with liberality. It is a Greek word that is elsewhere translated "bountifulness," "singleness of heart."

The lexicon adds "mental honesty" and describes it as the virtue of one who is free from pretense and dissimulation. In other words, our giving is to be without public show. The man who is not willing to give unless his name is to be carved in wood or engraved in stone has not understood the spirit of Christ, which gives without thought of return.

It was Christ who said that we're not to let our left hand know what our right hand does. We're not to give with the idea of getting something in return. There is to be no alloy of self-seeking in the coin of our gift.

We are to give because we have received all things from Christ and because we are now moved by the love of Christ to do for others as he did for us. If the heart is truly transformed, it will be an open heart. We must not confound the gesture of tipping with that of true generosity.

Much charity is an insult because it is so small in proportion to the capacity of the giver. True giving is illustrated by the story of two Christian lepers in Formosa who took a third leper into their hut at the government leprosarium when there was no official opening for him.

They were already living on little more than starvation rations. But when asked how the third was to be fed, they replied that they received rice for two and that they would make it do for three. They knew the Lord Jesus Christ, and in receiving him, they had received the gift of giving liberally.

They were giving their very life. This is the exercise of a divine gift. And our God and Father, we pray thee that the Holy Spirit will make us faithful in our counsel and advice of the young, in our strengthening of the weak, in our being friends to the needy, and that thou wilt make us liberal in our giving even as thou hast given to us. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Guest (Male): No one Christian has all the spiritual gifts, but every believer has received at least one from the Lord. We edify the church and glorify the Lord through exhortation, generous giving, and the exercise of all the spiritual gifts he has given us.

We hope you've benefited from today's message entitled Exhortation and Liberality. Listen to additional Bible teaching by Dr. Barnhouse via the internet. Visit us at Alliancenet.org. An audio copy of today's teaching is available by calling us toll-free: 1-800-488-1888.

Today's message again is entitled Exhortation and Liberality, or simply request message number R12-17. We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled The Bible Under Attack. Believers embrace the Holy Scriptures as the very word of God.

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Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is a radio ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We exist to promote a biblical understanding and worldview. Drawing upon the insight and wisdom of reformation theologians from decades and even centuries gone by, we seek to provide contemporary Christian teaching which will equip believers to understand and meet the challenges and opportunities of our time and place.

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