The lack of dedication in a disciple is one of the greatest failures of his life. If you are not dedicated to the Lord, you put yourself into a no-man’s-land; you cut yourself off from the free flow of grace that God has for you. You cannot receive blessing through anything you have unless it has been surrendered in dedication to the Lord.
The early Church learned a principle which all of us need to learn: Why not give the Lord what you cannot keep anyway? What you are receiving from the Lord is worth more, and you cannot lose that. The second and the fourth chapters of Acts contain two passages which describe what the Lord did for the early Church. So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:41–47.
Acts 4:23–31 is very similar to this passage, except that by now the early Church had entered into the realm of persecution. Peter and John had been arrested and retained by the authorities. And when they had been released, they went to their own companions, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is Thou who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Thy servant, didst say, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ.’ For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur.
“And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Thy bond-servants may speak Thy word with all confidence, while Thou dost extend Thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Thy holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:23–31.
The apostolic ministry was functioning with such signs and wonders (recorded in the second chapter), that the people began to sell what they had and to share with others. And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. (Notice: abundant grace was upon them all; that phrase “abundant grace” is very significant.) For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay them at the apostles’ feet; and they would be distributed to each, as any had need. And Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means, Son of Encouragement), and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. Acts 4:32–37. (Acts 2:43–45 also tells of this sharing.)
It was probably not an apostolic directive that made the early Christians do these things. Rather, it was an application of the very principles Christ had laid down for disciples. If you want to be a disciple, giving will become your willing choice. It means a change of evaluation. Unless you see this, you cannot grasp why they laid everything at the apostles’ feet. Their motivation was not just the promotion of a church; it was not the provision of hospitality and care for the people only. It was more. We can assume that at this particular time, the church was functioning well, financially. But God had prepared the hearts of the people to place little value upon possessions which they soon would not be able to retain anyway. It was not long before they were persecuted and scattered, and many of the things they owned were taken over by others (Acts 8:1). The spoiling of their goods was one of the sufferings which the early Christians experienced in the persecutions (Hebrews 10:34). Why did the persecutions flourish? It was not that the other people especially hated the Christians, because many of them were very kind to outsiders; but because their own greed was so great, they would kill a Christian in order to get whatever he owned. However, the Christians “beat them to the draw”—they gave everything away first!
In Matthew 6:19–21, Jesus tells us, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves” (and often governments!) “break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
With the passing of a little time, you will be surprised to find that what seemed to be wealth yesterday will be inadequate tomorrow. There are ways in which God will help us to be well provided for, but why not relinquish (at least in your spirit and in your heart) what you cannot keep anyway? It is time to enter into the treasures of the Kingdom, treasures which we can never lose (Matthew 6:20). No one can take them away from us.
The government has not yet passed a law requiring a certain percentage of the blessings which we have received from the Lord. But if the government knew how wonderful the Lord’s blessings are, no doubt every effort would be made to tax us in some way. Depriving the people seems to be the design of governments. By contrast, it is the purpose of the Lord to bring joy and great rejoicing to your heart, no matter what you experience (Jeremiah 15:16). Discipleship has a different scale for the evaluation of things than the world has. As a result, the passing scene does not seem to be so important. It is the eternal things which are very important. Paul said, For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18.
Because of the wonderful gift he had received from Christ, Paul the apostle came to this conclusion: But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ (notice the priority: that I may gain Christ), and may be found in Him … Philippians 3:7–9. This passage goes on to tell of the high spiritual goals which were set before Paul. Everything else he counted as rubbish. Nothing else would hold a place in his heart as having any real and lasting value.
Concerning the Kingdom level of discipleship, Paul declared, “I am willing to pay the price; I count everything else but loss.” A Kingdom Proverb expresses it this way: “There is no inflationary price on the treasures of the Kingdom. They are still priced the same as they always were: They cost all!” There is no way you can inflate the price; if the cost is already a hundred percent, then your cost is also a hundred percent. You can pay no greater price than giving all to the Lord.
There are two parables about the Kingdom which are very much alike. In the first parable, the Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a treasure which a man found hidden in the field. He did not tell anybody about it, but he sold everything he had, and then he bought the field so that he could possess the treasure (Matthew 13:44). If the field was like many places in Israel, it was probably full of rocks, and nobody thought it was worth much. Nevertheless, there was a treasure in the field. In the second parable, Jesus said that the Kingdom of heaven is likened to a merchant who found a very expensive pearl. With joy he sold everything he had and bought that pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45–46). His was a joyful response; he did not stop to think, “Well, perhaps I should hold back.” He did not count the cost. There was no question in his mind but that he must have the treasure which was set before him.
As you begin to explore the wonderful gifts that God has given us, you will discover that often He provides in a strange way. The God of grace has made all provision for you freely; yet in His wisdom He makes it cost your all. What a paradox! You would never value the things of the Lord if you were not required to give your all for them. When Christ ascended on high, He gave gifts to men: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:8, 11). These are great gifts that God gave to the Church. They were freely given, but no man can move in any of these ministries, such as that of a prophet, without having it cost him his all. Sooner or later he will realize that everything else must be subordinated to the ministry.
Does this mean that you must give away all your money? No, but you do have to acknowledge that it all belongs to Him. You cannot be a disciple and be selfish at the same time. But you can be a very rich disciple—both in spiritual things and material things—if you open your heart to the truth that they all belong to Him, if you acknowledge that you are a steward of them, and if you determine to be a faithful steward (Luke 12:42–44). If the people in the churches today were to do what the believers did in the apostles’ day, they would sell their property and lay the proceeds at my feet (Acts 4:34–35). Then I would say, “Good! Now you pick it all up again and be a faithful steward to administer it.” That is exactly how the Lord is working with us. He certainly is not lining the pockets of the apostles; all of our treasures are hidden spiritual assets. They are laid up in heaven where nothing can corrupt them or steal them from us (Matthew 6:20–21).
Acts 6:1–4 illustrates the dedication of the apostles to be faithful stewards. They called together the congregation of disciples and directed them to find men full of the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom, full of the grace of God, and full of faith who would be appointed to take care of the administration of food and other necessities to the widows. The apostles knew that they had to give themselves to the real treasures—to prayer and to the Word of God (Acts 6:4). You can see that this was their thinking, for when Peter and John went up to the Temple to pray and they saw a lame man, Peter told him, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I give you” (Acts 3:1–6). They were not preoccupied with the administration of finances. Instead, they were very concerned about being faithful stewards of the precious gifts which they had received from the Lord. Realize that this is the only attitude you too should have as the motivation behind everything you do.
Never have I found any indication in the Scriptures that Paul urged people to concentrate upon taking care of themselves by eating right, avoiding preservatives, and exercising regularly, as though doing such things would make you a faithful disciple! In fact, Paul told Timothy: Bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. I Timothy 4:8. Paul implied that a person’s motivation for taking care of himself should be his concern for taking care of the house, the vessel where the treasure is deposited (II Corinthians 4:7). Above all, you are to be concerned about that treasure!
Paul was much concerned about the Word that was flowing in his life. As he pressed into the Lord, he wanted all of the divine life he could obtain (Philippians 3:10–12). He wanted to attain to the resurrection from the dead. He yearned to be clothed upon with that body which was from above (II Corinthians 5:2), not because he was devoted to good health, but because he was dedicated to discipleship. It was Kingdom dedication that drove him.
Like Paul, the ministries today also find themselves anxious to be free, anxious to move in the things of God more than ever before. It is not for their own personal welfare, but because they see that in every step of liberty they take, the Word of God becomes freer. Because of this, there is a better flow of that Word through them to people’s lives. Greater impartation is coming. How we yearn to be stewards of the manifold mysteries of God (I Peter 4:10–11), of the wonders of God, so that we never speak to a man without making a wonderful deposit of the true treasures in his life that money could never buy. Such treasures are beyond any standard of values we know today. We must yearn for these treasures and cry out to impart them with everything that is within us!
Imagine the Lord saying to you, “You will be a prophet.” In response, you ask, “Lord, what are You going to charge me to be a prophet? What is the first payment? Let me see if I can make it on the installment plan.” He says, “No, I will just give the gift to you.” When He does give it to you, then you wonder, “What will happen next?” You are about in the same position as the Arab whose camel stuck his head into the tent. Soon the camel moved forward a little further and poked his foot in. Little by little he kept edging in until finally the Arab inside protested, “Hey, there is not enough room in this tent for both you and me!” The camel gave a snort or two, as if to say to the Arab, “Then you are the one who will have to get out of here—not me!” With that, the camel took over the entire tent.
When God gives you a free gift, it is amazing how simply He gives it to you. Then you must deal with it: “What do I have here? Why, I have an anointing to heal the sick. Isn’t this wonderful?” Yes, but you had better not abuse it; you had better be a faithful steward of it. Perhaps you will have second thoughts: “If I have to be a faithful steward, that means it will take a lot of my time, praying for people at hospitals and emptying them out. This gift of healing will turn out to be more than a hobby. When the news gets out that I have a gift of healing, I know what will happen—there will be a line of people a block long who want to receive a healing.” After God has given you the gift, you will discover that the gift is of no value unless you give everything to it.
In all the ways that God chooses you to walk with Him, He does the same thing. He tells you, “I will give you the Holy Spirit; I will give you the gifts of the Spirit. I have all these wonderful treasures to give you. You will have a wonderful ministry.” Although you are delighted with what you have just received, probably only about a week will pass before you begin to realize what has happened: He took you over! He gave you a gift that would require you to be a faithful bond slave of His.
When Paul identified himself by these two terms, calling himself “Paul, a bond servant and an apostle” (Romans 1:1; Titus 1:1), he was establishing the bottom line: A man cannot be an apostle unless he also becomes a bond slave. In the same way, you cannot really serve the Lord without your life being immediately enriched with something you can never lose. Everything that God gives you may be free, but you will find that these are the most expensive free gifts you have ever received! Proverbs 23:23a says, Buy the truth, and sell it not. The truth is very expensive, but praise the Lord for it!
The application of this Word in your life may take a little time. Once you receive the anointing salve, it takes a while to rub it in. It must go below the surface, until it affects deeply your relationships to the world as well as your relationships to the spiritual things. Then you come to a new evaluation of everything. For instance, have you thought that it was your money I wanted? I am not after your money; I want to get you! For a long time I have told you this. When I preach the Word, I am not after your money; I would never settle for anything so unimportant. You must realize that I want you. I want you to present yourself a living sacrifice to the Lord (Romans 12:1). It is what you will become as a result of opening your heart to the Lord that I am concerned about. I want to enrich you, just as the apostles did, who referred to themselves as “poor, yet making many rich” (II Corinthians 6:10). They were poor because their sense of values was not the same as that of the world. Instead, they had treasures from the Lord that could enrich any man’s life. They could make anybody who would listen to them become a rich man. They were “poor, yet making many rich.”
Exactly what has the Lord been trying to teach you? Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Do not grab onto values that are second-rate; hold onto the priorities that are most important. Do not worry about inflation and the rising costs of food and clothing. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Do not say, ‘What am I going to eat? How will I be clothed? Where will I live?’ Your Heavenly Father knows you have need of all these things” (Matthew 6:31–32). When you identify yourself with Him, and you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, these other things will be added to you. And you will rejoice in them with all of your heart!
There is no question about God’s demand upon you. What is the first thing for you to do? Never give away what is of value to you until you perceive that there is something better for you. Weigh this carefully. For instance, when the Lord does something for your life and He enriches it by His grace, then many other things must immediately become secondary. You must cling to that which comes first. This is what Paul did. He said, “Knowing Christ is what I live for! Everything else I count but loss; I place no value upon it” (Philippians 3:8).
I believe that Paul had a great potential to make money. Although being a tent maker does not sound like much today, he must have had his work quite organized. Undoubtedly he was a highly skilled man, with quite a capacity for earning money. He stated that with his own hands he earned not only his own living, but also the livelihood of all of the company that traveled with him (Acts 18:3; 20:34; I Corinthians 4:12; I Thessalonians 2:9; II Thessalonians 3:8). It was a very humble place he took; he had no ambition to be a “head apostle.” His way was to start a business wherever he went, so that he could make money to take care of the apostolic company. Paul set a wonderful example. Every minister should have a profession, a skill, or a trade of some kind, so that no matter where he goes to minister the Word, he can be self-reliant in that way. The purpose of such work is not to fulfill an ambition in his life, but to sustain the valuable treasure God has given him. Freely he has received; freely he is to give (Matthew 10:8). Doing that is sometimes very expensive.
You should beware of apostles and prophets and ministers who offer you wonderful gifts from the Lord. When they lay hands on you in prayer, there will be deliverance wrought and your walk with God will be renewed. What will happen then? One thing is sure to happen—you will pay and continue to pay! Each step you take with God means that there will be another shift of values until you are seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). The “other things” are brought down to the place where God says, “Do not even be anxious about anything.” Philippians 4:6 makes clear what we are to do: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. This is how God thinks about it.
Occasionally we are falsely accused of using mind control and holding people in bondage, which the cults do. There is no restraint imposed upon any in our midst. Anyone can come and go at any time. But if you decide to stay, there is a price to be paid. I will pay a price for what God has given me to minister to you. You will pay a price for receiving it, because you in turn will have to be faithful to minister it to someone else.
It all comes right down to one fine line: God gives you everything free but be careful when He hands you a slip of paper and asks you to acknowledge receipt of it. He says, “Son, go ahead and sign it.” But do you realize what you are doing when you sign it? Eventually, when He gets through filling in all the details, you may think that He is like the used car salesman who was sent to the penitentiary for cheating people. That salesman’s tactic in selling a used car was to tell the customer, “It will cost approximately this amount.” Then he would give the customer a blank receipt and say, “You just fill it in and sign it, and I will add in the figures later.” But when he finally finished, it cost far more than he had said.
God does the same thing! Do you ever feel that if you had really known at the beginning how much it would cost to serve the Lord, you probably would not have been so hilariously excited about becoming a part of this walk in the Spirit? Perhaps you would have at least thought it over for a little while. But the Lord fills in the blank places later. Then you find out that He is saying, “You will have to put Me first here, because this gift will be completely without value unless you work at it.”
“Oh, I did not realize that it would require so much time.”
“One other thing—do not neglect this gift.”
“What else do I have to do?”
“Stir it up” (II Timothy 1:6).
“But all of that will take a lot of effort. Is there anything else I have to do with this gift?”
“I will show you.” And you can be sure that He will show you!
You must know in your heart that in spite of all the free gifts of God, His ultimate goal is to possess you totally as a vessel unto Himself (Acts 9:15). He wants to complete the work of redemption that was begun by the shedding of His precious blood (Ephesians 1:7). He shed His blood freely for every man to believe and to be cleansed from sin (Matthew 26:28), and to have eternal life (I John 1:7; 2:25). And when He gives eternal life to you, the ultimate goal is not that you become a member of a church; the ultimate goal is that He has redeemed you unto Himself. We are to be a peculiar treasure in the earth, a Kingdom of priests unto the Lord (Deuteronomy 14:2; I Peter 2:9; Revelation 5:9–10). That was the goal He had in mind.
Because the Lord bought us with a price, He intends to collect; He intends to possess us (I Corinthians 6:20; 7:23). Sometimes we may wonder if the price is too high. The disciples probably did not expect many of the things that happened to them. They came to the Lord one day, saying, “Lord, we have left all to follow You. What will we have therefore?” (Matthew 19:27; Luke 18:28.) The Lord made it very plain that they would have a hundredfold in that present time, including persecution and everything that went along with it. “If you follow Me, you will receive a hundredfold” (Mark 10:28–30). What would that hundredfold be? “If you are faithful with this talent, I will make you a ruler over ten cities” (Matthew 25:14–24; Luke 19:17). At the present time, I cannot even name ten cities that I would want to be involved with in any way, much less become the administrative head over them! But God says that He will give you a talent. If you are faithful with it, soon He will demand a little more of you. He has a reward for you. If you are faithful in that little job, He will give you a bigger job. Perhaps this is not what you had in mind; but that bigger job is a hundredfold more than the little job.
Sit down and count the cost (Luke 14:28). What will it be? There is a story about an old fellow who was splendidly dressed, wearing gold braid and a big gold watch, and sitting in the coach of a train. When he looked across the aisle, he saw a little Salvation Army lassie. She was so happy and had such a radiant face that he said, “You know, miss, I would give everything I own if I had the same happiness and peace you have.” She replied, “Sir, that is just exactly what it would cost you—everything!”
The Lord will help us in our unbelief; He will help us. He will help us to give what we cannot keep anyway in these troubled times, so that we can obtain what we will never lose. As we learn about the free gifts of God and what it means to walk with Him, it is quite a surprise to find out how expensive something can be that is free and from the heart of God. Do you want the gifts of God to take you over? Would you like to have something bigger than yourself to live for? Would you like to be clothed with the wonderful treasures of the Lord? (II Corinthians 5:2–4; Philippians 3:21.) Would you like to be a steward of the mysteries of God? (I Corinthians 4:1.) Would you like to speak to men a Living Word? (Colossians 4:3–4; I Peter 4:10–11; Acts 4:20, 29b; II Corinthians 4:13.)
If you were able to give silver and gold to men, you would find that they are not always happy with it. Politicians are not happy with how much tax you pay; they are never satisfied! They will ask more from you next year than they asked this year. Other things will come to erode away any sense of security you might have. But when you lay everything on the promises of God, and you possess those promises, you are one of the richest persons on the earth.
I and II Peter are epistles written to people who had been persecuted; their houses and their goods had been taken over. They had lost everything of value in a materialistic sense. In telling them what they really possessed, Peter used the word “precious.” It became a key word to those people who had lost everything. But available to them (as to us) were “exceeding great and precious promises” (II Peter 1:4). Peter said, “Unto you who believe, the Lord is precious” (I Peter 2:7). It is the precious blood of Jesus Christ which has redeemed you—not silver and gold, but His precious blood (I Peter 1:18–19). Suddenly, everything seems to be of infinite, tremendous value when you think of how precious are these invisible treasures of the Lord!
Lay everything on the altar. Tell the Lord, “I will be a steward of anything, in order to be a recipient of Your blessing.” Yearn for His wonderful treasures. Yearn to be a faithful steward of His treasures. As you look to the Lord, He will bless you.