REPLY TO BEGGING LETTERS (letters requesting money)
Dear one,
Pardon me for saying so, but the appeal for funds that you have sent shows how thoughtless, selfish, shameless and certainly how unspiritual professing Christians have become in our times. To send appeals for funds for yourself to any other human is wrong, and when you send them to a missionary who is serving the Lord and living by faith himself, is thoughtless. To God's glory I can testify that He is faithful, and although I have to set a table for 10 people 3 times each day, He has never failed us, and we have never made our needs known to others or asked for money. All such servants of the Lord certainly have scores of other "needs" like any other human, as well as the countless needs of the ministry of preaching the gospel, making disciples and founding assemblies, however, we who live by faith trust the Lord, and never ask anyone but Him for our needs to be met. If there were no God, no heavenly Father, people like you would continue to have their needs met by men, but people like us would starve to death, because we depend solely upon Him. Think about it! Therefore for you to solicit funds from such people is thoughtless to say the least.
But it is also selfish to do this, because it is thinking of yourself, and trying to cause other people to think of you. It is promoting your own interests as the best, the most urgent, or the most worthy. Yes, I realize that the apostle Paul asked for money, however you must realize that he did not do so for himself or his ministry, but rather for the poor who lived in Jerusalem. When one professes to serve the Son of man who came not to be ministered unto but to minister and give His life (Mark 10:45), he must not advertise himself or ask for himself or his ministry, but rather think of others. Selfish behavior like advertising your needs and asking others to meet them is certainly unbecoming to those who profess to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. You may say, "but it is only so I can help others", and think that this justifies your asking. But remember that the Lord and the apostles truly did help others, and they did so without advertising their needs to men or asking men to give them money. How then did they do it? By faith. By prayer. By patient waiting on the Lord and at times even by taking work! To beg for money is impatient. It is presumptuous, as if you knew by revelation that your ministry was better and more deserving than all other work of the Lord, but no one can say this!
Also, to reduce yourself to this that we will have needs, and He cares about this because He cares about us. He wants to supply our needs and teaches us what to do, but how many of us remember or obey His teaching? The Lord says that we should go into our closet [literally in greek - our storeroom or supply room], shut the door, and ask our Father in secret, and He will reward us openly. To do otherwise is to show a lack of faith and with it a lack of spirituality. That one should ever consider to be insufficient what the Lord said in Matthew 6 casts doubt upon whether that person, whoever he is, should declare himself to be a servant of this Lord. All who behave thus would do well to consider the Lord's question: "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).
Such behavior is not only thoughtless, selfish, and shameless, but also it is most certainly unspiritual. How much better to trust in the Lord, for He is trustworthy, isn't He? Can't He be trusted? How can you exhort and encourage others saying "Faithful is He who has called you" if your own life shows a basic mistrust of Him as your Master? How can you read the 121st Psalm to others to comfort them if you are unwilling to look unto the Lord to help you? An older brother once told me that the Lord pays for what He orders. So if we live by faith and make no appeals but to the Lord, we know what the Lord "orders" because He provides the funds for it without us having to ask men. "The squeaky hinge gets the oil" says the world, and unspiritual believers "squeak" a lot, hoping for the oil of money to be applied to them. There is no question that sometimes their appeals are for noble causes, but the nobleness of the cause does not justify publicizing your needs. It calls for increased and intensified prayer. He sustains His servants. Faith is the evidence of things unseen, not the obtaining of pledges of support from men. Oh yes, I already have heard many reply that "the laborer is worthy of his hire", but remember, don't forget, it is the Lord who has "hired" him, or else he is not the servant of the Lord! The world certainly has success in appealing for funds in this way, but we are not of the world, are we? We are to be spiritual, not carnal and not worldly. It is unspiritual to scorn the idea of faith, for it puts a bad light on the promises of our Lord and on His own faithfulness. It is a bad testimony to the unsaved who hear your appeals, too, because they say scornfully like the infidel Voltaire, "When it comes to money, all men are of the same religion."
There is no need to appeal to us to "be more practical", because there is nothing more practical than for a spiritually minded person to trust in the Lord. One could certainly understand how a young, immature or ignorant believer might mistakenly adopt worldly attitudes and methods and ignore the promises and example of the Lord and His apostles. But for one to do so who professes to certain maturity and to be dedicating himself to serving the Lord, is inexcusable.
I realize that you may be shocked by this letter, because it is possible that in your circles no one disapproves of begging and no one teaches workers to trust in the Lord for the supply of their needs and the needs of their ministry. You may object to this letter or take offense at it if you like, but I certainly hope you will not. It was written to reprove behavior that is not glorifying to God, and Proverbs says that if you reprove a wise man he will love you for it. You may say that you disagree with me, but that is only a distraction. Your disagreement is not with me because I didn't write the Scriptures. I am not the one who said that you should enter into your closet and pray in secret. The Lord Jesus Christ said it, so if you have a problem, you have it with Him and with the Scriptures. Neither is it a question of interpreting them, but simply of reading what they say and doing it.
Therefore, although I am happy to receive prayer requests and information about your ministry, I must stipulate that this is as long as it does not include appeals for funds, publicizing of budget shortfalls, statements of what you could do if you had more money, etc. I have a special file for all such correspondence and it is emptied every day.
By His grace, for His glory, according to His Word,
Pardon me for saying so, but the appeal for funds that you have sent shows how thoughtless, selfish, shameless and certainly how unspiritual professing Christians have become in our times. To send appeals for funds for yourself to any other human is wrong, and when you send them to a missionary who is serving the Lord and living by faith himself, is thoughtless. To God's glory I can testify that He is faithful, and although I have to set a table for 10 people 3 times each day, He has never failed us, and we have never made our needs known to others or asked for money. All such servants of the Lord certainly have scores of other "needs" like any other human, as well as the countless needs of the ministry of preaching the gospel, making disciples and founding assemblies, however, we who live by faith trust the Lord, and never ask anyone but Him for our needs to be met. If there were no God, no heavenly Father, people like you would continue to have their needs met by men, but people like us would starve to death, because we depend solely upon Him. Think about it! Therefore for you to solicit funds from such people is thoughtless to say the least.
But it is also selfish to do this, because it is thinking of yourself, and trying to cause other people to think of you. It is promoting your own interests as the best, the most urgent, or the most worthy. Yes, I realize that the apostle Paul asked for money, however you must realize that he did not do so for himself or his ministry, but rather for the poor who lived in Jerusalem. When one professes to serve the Son of man who came not to be ministered unto but to minister and give His life (Mark 10:45), he must not advertise himself or ask for himself or his ministry, but rather think of others. Selfish behavior like advertising your needs and asking others to meet them is certainly unbecoming to those who profess to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. You may say, "but it is only so I can help others", and think that this justifies your asking. But remember that the Lord and the apostles truly did help others, and they did so without advertising their needs to men or asking men to give them money. How then did they do it? By faith. By prayer. By patient waiting on the Lord and at times even by taking work! To beg for money is impatient. It is presumptuous, as if you knew by revelation that your ministry was better and more deserving than all other work of the Lord, but no one can say this!
Also, to reduce yourself to this that we will have needs, and He cares about this because He cares about us. He wants to supply our needs and teaches us what to do, but how many of us remember or obey His teaching? The Lord says that we should go into our closet [literally in greek - our storeroom or supply room], shut the door, and ask our Father in secret, and He will reward us openly. To do otherwise is to show a lack of faith and with it a lack of spirituality. That one should ever consider to be insufficient what the Lord said in Matthew 6 casts doubt upon whether that person, whoever he is, should declare himself to be a servant of this Lord. All who behave thus would do well to consider the Lord's question: "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).
Such behavior is not only thoughtless, selfish, and shameless, but also it is most certainly unspiritual. How much better to trust in the Lord, for He is trustworthy, isn't He? Can't He be trusted? How can you exhort and encourage others saying "Faithful is He who has called you" if your own life shows a basic mistrust of Him as your Master? How can you read the 121st Psalm to others to comfort them if you are unwilling to look unto the Lord to help you? An older brother once told me that the Lord pays for what He orders. So if we live by faith and make no appeals but to the Lord, we know what the Lord "orders" because He provides the funds for it without us having to ask men. "The squeaky hinge gets the oil" says the world, and unspiritual believers "squeak" a lot, hoping for the oil of money to be applied to them. There is no question that sometimes their appeals are for noble causes, but the nobleness of the cause does not justify publicizing your needs. It calls for increased and intensified prayer. He sustains His servants. Faith is the evidence of things unseen, not the obtaining of pledges of support from men. Oh yes, I already have heard many reply that "the laborer is worthy of his hire", but remember, don't forget, it is the Lord who has "hired" him, or else he is not the servant of the Lord! The world certainly has success in appealing for funds in this way, but we are not of the world, are we? We are to be spiritual, not carnal and not worldly. It is unspiritual to scorn the idea of faith, for it puts a bad light on the promises of our Lord and on His own faithfulness. It is a bad testimony to the unsaved who hear your appeals, too, because they say scornfully like the infidel Voltaire, "When it comes to money, all men are of the same religion."
There is no need to appeal to us to "be more practical", because there is nothing more practical than for a spiritually minded person to trust in the Lord. One could certainly understand how a young, immature or ignorant believer might mistakenly adopt worldly attitudes and methods and ignore the promises and example of the Lord and His apostles. But for one to do so who professes to certain maturity and to be dedicating himself to serving the Lord, is inexcusable.
I realize that you may be shocked by this letter, because it is possible that in your circles no one disapproves of begging and no one teaches workers to trust in the Lord for the supply of their needs and the needs of their ministry. You may object to this letter or take offense at it if you like, but I certainly hope you will not. It was written to reprove behavior that is not glorifying to God, and Proverbs says that if you reprove a wise man he will love you for it. You may say that you disagree with me, but that is only a distraction. Your disagreement is not with me because I didn't write the Scriptures. I am not the one who said that you should enter into your closet and pray in secret. The Lord Jesus Christ said it, so if you have a problem, you have it with Him and with the Scriptures. Neither is it a question of interpreting them, but simply of reading what they say and doing it.
Therefore, although I am happy to receive prayer requests and information about your ministry, I must stipulate that this is as long as it does not include appeals for funds, publicizing of budget shortfalls, statements of what you could do if you had more money, etc. I have a special file for all such correspondence and it is emptied every day.
By His grace, for His glory, according to His Word,
