Foundational

The first part of your money

November 11, 2019 by Steve Manuel No Comments

My dear readers,

It is now late (in the calendar year… possibly also in your lunch break, I dunno), and time is short. But I must tell you this little secret I’ve been pondering.

This secret (it’s one of God’s ways!) can lead to all kinds of wonderful things BUT, like so many other things of God, when we first confront it, it can feel a little bit like the twisty pinch grandma gives you for giggling in church. There might be “uh oh” moments.

But I beg you! Don’t let that dissuade you from getting in here. There is a rich vein here, and gold to be found. I just want to encourage you to gird up them loins, squint your eyes, and steel yourself to receive some good stuff. Ok, you ready?

Let’s ride.

My home church is presently going through Robert Morris’ brilliant “The Blessed Life”. This is a series he’s been taking his church through every 3 years or so since 2002, and it’s become a successful book. It’s about money and other things, and you’d be well served to check it out.

And now, I would like to participate in the luxury of ripping off his content and reacting to it… because it connects some dots for me. (I always get a thrill out of learning a deeper scriptural theme that connects data points that are floating around independently in my brain.)

Here’s the principle first:

God is preeminent over all things, at all times. Even if you deny Him this and temporarily steal His glory, He will eventually be proven right and you will be disappointingly corrected. As first and preeminent, He demands the first part of ANY and EVERYTHING to either be sacrificed or redeemed. The first part matters An Awful Lot To Him. Some examples:

He wants the first part of the week. It’s His. You don’t own it. It’s called the Sabbath and setting it aside for Him is one of the Ten Commandments. It’s not a gift you give Him; it’s something that’s His already and you just render it to Him.
When Israel marched around Jericho and it fell, God said “I want the gold and silver you find. Don’t keep any of that; bring it into My treasury. If you do that, everything else will be redeemed (and you can take whatever loot you find otherwise).”
He likes having the first part of your day. He wants you to roll out of bed and onto your face like some of your Bible heroes did. Often. He likes you seeking Him right at the giddy-up of your day.

The principle is that, when God gets the first part, there’s an unspoken agreement between Him and the giver that the REST of it (the other six days, for example; or the rest of the day) are under His covering and, yes, under His FAVOR! (oooooOOOOO!! This is something we deeply deeply crave!) So that first part establishes the relationship from us (which looks like submission, worship, offerings as He demands, and unending loyalty) and from Him (which looks like saving, judging, fathering, provision, protection, receiving worship… and unending loyalty).

Honor the Lord with your possessions, 
And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 
So your barns will be filled with plenty, 
And your vats will overflow with new wine. 
Proverbs 3:9-10

This is a pretty sweet principle, would you agree? (PS Don’t say this is just some old dumb law that doesn’t apply to you. Proverbs isn’t law. This is just one of God’s ways, and I can’t see that it goes away.)

WOULD YOU SAY IT’S SWEET, I SAID?!? Okay, cool.

Those are Real Good Examples above, and you should observe them. But as I thought about this principle, several other things came to mind and they all have to do with the family building/management area about which you Abrahamic zealots care so. And that is convenient, because that’s what I’m about to write about. So. I will elaborate on 4 of the aforementioned thoughts, then leave you to whatever world-changing you are up to these days. Here goes.

God wants the first year of your marriage.
1. As has been written about right here at the friendly confines of AW, God wants you to set aside the first year of your marriage, as a gift to Him (He’s super cool about gifts, btw… this is a bit of a spoiler which I’ll talk about later… but the “gift to Him” re: your marriage means that your marriage lasts a lot longer and there’s more love in it for the next 60 years. So, that’s cool, how you get blessed when God receives something from you.)
2. This would establish your marriage’s relationship to God: it’s from Him, it’s for Him, and He is the LORD of it, lock stock and barrel. The first year is set aside, but the subsequent years are included in the commitment.
3. Specifics on this are in the link above so imma stop here.
God wants your firstborn.
1. That sounds like something from the Simpsons Halloween episodes, like outrageously creepy and sordid… but ‘taint. Go to the next letter!
2. The firstborn, Biblically, gets a double portion of the inheritance (!), and also receives the father’s position as head of the family. This is a big deal; the authority and responsibility for blessing the family and stewarding its assets all rest with this one. This authority and responsibility is an earmark of their being set aside for holy purposes. YES!
3. So the firstborn child thing is just a dedication, and an inroad to blessing.
4. This firstborn thing also applied to cattle and livestock. Meaning, wealth that has babies of even more wealth. That means, the things that are stewarded which reproduce are of particular interest to God. More on that later.
5. What (I think) God really wants is for you to dedicate all your children to Him, meaning you’d say, “I dedicate MYSELF to raising godly offspring, for that is what You desire, God of the Universe, and I commit these kids to You for Your Kingdom.” Now, doing that with the first kid is important because, when you have your first kid YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO PARENT. There are many DUMB options out there and philosophies you could follow for parenting, but when you lay hands on that first kid’s head, you’re saying, “LORD, this kid is going to be my training ground for how to be a parent. I give this whole process to you, particularly with this one. Now, deal with both of us as we learn Your ways…”
6. BONUS LETTER: Jesus is God’s firstborn, and the Firstborn of All Creation. Think about that. Go back up and consider letters b and c through the lens of God as Father and Jesus as Son. He’s also the Firstborn from Among the Dead, the Firstborn Among the Brothers, and we are the Church of the Firstborn, meaning Jesus Himself. Hallelujah.
God wants the first year of each child’s life (*this is a totally extra-Biblical one and only out of my brain. Let’s go with it for a minute.)
1. The first year of your child’s life, they give back VERY VERY PRECIOUS LITTLE. If you get a smile every other day, or the occasional poo that isn’t THAT outrageously stanky, consider yourself blessed. The first year of life is about giving, giving, giving… and sometimes getting any return feels like a faraway dream. “Why am I patiently rocking this shrieking banshee as if she’s adorable right now? …oh yeah, it’s because I’m putting love into a bank and we won’t see the effects of my self-control (because I WANT to lecture this baby and teach it some kind of LESSON right now!! How can I punish something that can’t understand me!?!?) for a very long time.”
2. So… who was that first year for? Who are our acts of lovingkindness for when nobody’s there to receive them? Who notices when you’re kind to a stray cat? Who’s it for, exactly, when you pick up trash in a parking lot? Duh: it’s the LORD. We do secret, “unappreciated” acts of lovingkindness for One Audience alone. The Father sees what’s done in secret, and that includes the care of a newborn infant. Private obedience is His favorite kind, and it’s an act of worship. The first year is for the LORD.
3. That thankless service, and all the care that goes with it, establishes a pattern that will be carried on forever, as long as your child is alive. For example:
  1. You discipline your child. Yes it’s for them… but it’s for the LORD first. “I want to raise these kids to obey, Father, according to our relationship established by that first year!” That IS the code running in the background of my mind as I discipline my children, even when I’m unconscious of it. Because I dedicated them–and that first year of their care–to the LORD.
  2. You instruct them in His Word, because they don’t belong to you; you don’t own them. You are a steward of these hearts, and you’re prepping them for Him. Parenting is for God!
  3. You will sacrifice for them a million times as they grow up. You will be unseen in your service [PRO TIP: never expect your kids to wonder how YOUR day was, and did YOU feel cared for today? And say, “Dad, you must have had to really get several things in your schedule moved around to pick me up on time! Thanks so much!!” You are an overlooked servant by your kids, and that’s not necessarily sinful on their part–it’s just part of parenting!], and maybe called strict or stingy when you don’t buy them everything they ask for. So… Who sees? Who is the referee? Who appreciates your unending generosity when nobody appreciates it? Yup. It’s Him. You established all this in that first year.
  4. BONUS POINT that’s more just a place to rant: We all know those people who kinda laugh about how their dogs are their kids (it’s kinda funny but… why do you have their picture in a locket around your neck? That is… less funny) and it gets more and more uncomfortable as the years go by and they never get to see the magical, arresting transformation that happens in a human’s life as they GROW UP and your relationship radically transforms. That’s one of the returns on the first year of your child’s life: YOU, the PARENT, CHANGE from a selfish child into a grownup, almost 100% of the time. This… doesn’t happen with your favorite cat. …I can always quickly tell if/how someone has given themselves to raising a child based on their level of maturity. If you’ve been through the doo doo, you grow up.
God wants your first money.
1. The tithe is the first part. It comes right up front. You DON’T wait (ever EVER) to see if you have enough left over to “pay your tithe” (I hate that phrase). It’s what God demands as the first part. To apply some of the above:
  1. It doesn’t belong to you. You’re not even the steward of it. It belongs to Him, if YOU belong to Him.
  2. That first part isn’t a “gift” you give to Him; it’s His. You just bring it to Him.
  3. If you don’t render it to Him, it’s stealing.
  4. It establishes the pattern that the rest of it is His whenever He requires it and commits everything you steward as under His leadership as well.
  5. Remember when I said I’d say more about the livestock? I’m doing that now. Your money is just like livestock: it’s wealth that can create more wealth… if it’s just cared for properly.
    1. Note: God does not tell you to destroy all your livestock to honor Him. That’s masochistic and not Biblical. Don’t let anybody tell you God is delighted by poverty or financial irresponsibility. That leads to dead cows and money that flies away from you like some freaky bird that mocks you on its way out of your sad life.
    2. God wants the first part of That Which Reproduces, so that the rest of your livestock/cash can come under His blessing and favor. It’s nonsensical to say, “Okay, yeah, I technically belong to You, God… but practically, this money is all mine and I’ll throw You a bone if I have some extra and am in a good, generous mood at that point. Come see me on the 30th of the month.” You are a sucker if you think that way, and you will pay the penalty of being a sucker in all sorts of ways. Don’t do that.
      1. *If you do this, just repent right now and change your ways.
      2. You might be going, “Okay Regis but HOW MUCH is the “first part”? My answer: I don’t know. I think it depends on your sitch. Morris cites the fact that he dedicated the profits from his first book (The Blessed Life) to the LORD, and keeps everything else from every other book. He knew he’d be a lifetime author so that felt like “the first part” to him. But maybe if he knew “this will be the only book I ever write” he would’ve just given the first royalty check to the LORD. I don’t know. I think this is case-specific, and you gotta seek the LORD about it.
2. Do you ever see those store owners (think dry cleaner, nail salon) who put their first dollar in a frame and hang it at the front of the store. Why do they do that? The frame costs more than the dollar, and do you know when you need money the very most, in the life of a business? WHEN YOU FIRST START!! But they do this to commemorate some gratitude, perhaps, and also to remember all the hard work that went into earning that first dollar. There are many founders who take no small amount of pride from that first money, and see it as a justifying award for their genius. Guess what? GOD WANTS ALL THAT GLORY. Again,
3. He wants first earnings. In the OT, that’s the “wave offering”. In the example of the new business, he wants a relationship with all the money that will come after it. And HE doesn’t need reminding… WE THE DUMDUMS need reminding… which is why God gives us the gift of the wave offering. When we offer it to Him we say, “Oh God, all we have comes from You and belongs to You! Make us righteous as we apportion that which we’ll steward!” THIS IS A GOOD PRAYER.
4. It takes faith to give God the first part. This is part of His training for us. He WANTS to develop faith in you… if you’ll let Him. Obey Him.
5. Did I mention that God is awesome when it comes to giving Him what He asks? (This is rhetorical. I definitely did. It was a clever plant by me, because I knew I’d come back to it. I’M COMING BACK TO IT BABY!) One of my proofs that God is the best Gift Receiver of ALL TIMES! is the tithe He requires in Deut 14… and the way He wants it given is AS A SPIRITUAL FEAST that YOU GET TO EAT. He commands rich food and drink–like, really expensive, extravagant stuff. AND YOU GET TO EAT IT. How is that fair? How is that “a gift to God”? (I don’t have a great answer for that except to say, “Well, He’s wonderful and all His ways are gracious and kind…”)

So let’s sum up: When you’re entering into a new endeavor, be it a marriage, a baby, a business, a building project, WHATEVER… try to sacrifice or redeem the first part of it to the LORD. By doing so, you’ll:

Help ensure you don’t keep your grubby hands and greedy heart attached to it
Declare to the LORD that He is preeminent over anything else in your life
Establish a pattern for yourself and your family that IT’S ALL HIS
Establish a relationship with the REST of it- the other time, resource, relationship, etc. is for His worship
Plead His good leadership and favor over whatever it is.

[An aside: we’re not saying, “Hand over the first part SO THAT you can get more money or better kids”… but we ARE kinda saying that if you hand over the first part you’re likely to catch the eye of the owner who’s looking for people capable of handling his kingdom. I’m not saying there are no godly people who’re poor, or godly people that don’t raise kids. But I do believe that God’s perfect will for everybody precludes poverty and childlessness. It’s clear to me, as I’ve said before, that God intends to give us increasing amounts of resources, so that we’ll learn to rule and become like Him in all things.]

Morris makes the point that, if you refuse to give Him the first part, you’re going to lose it anyway. I’m sure you looked up that link to the livestock but you can do it again to remind yourself. So, dedicate the first year of marriage and you foster 60 years of God-infused love, dedicate your firstborn and you get back more child-rearing confidence and skill, dedicate months 1-12 of baby rearing and you get back a changed heart in your own self. Dudes: give Him the first part! And go forth in reproduction, abundance, blessing, and favor!!

Honor the Lord with your possessions, 
And with the firstfruits of all your increase; 
So your barns will be filled with plenty, 
And your vats will overflow with new wine. 
Proverbs 3:9-10