Giving from the Overflow - Ken Gulliksen
By Ken Gulliksen In this 200-year anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain, you may have seen the thrilling movie
Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce, the man God used to press the British parliament to make the slave trade illegal in 1807. A brilliant book by the same title was also just released-both movie and book playing on the title of the song lyric written by John Newton, a former slaver trader himself who came to Christ and mentored Wilberforce.
A personal hero of mine since I can remember, Wilberforce was born to wealth with an arsenal of amazing abilities. A close friend of William Pitt (the younger), he became a member of parliament at the age of 21 and enjoyed significant power and admiration. At 26, after long and very careful consideration, he became a committed disciple of Jesus Christ.
Thinking he'd need to leave office and become meditative and monastic, he met with John Newton who wisely urged him to recognize that all the gifts God had given him were, in fact, to be used to advance His kingdom on earth. God had entrusted those resources to Wilberforce as a steward-the resources all belonged to God, not to Wilberforce. God had a unique call and purpose for him, and all those resources (time, energy, money, talents and opportunities) were to be used exclusively for God's purposes. As Paul wrote, "...those who have been given a trust must prove faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:2 NIV).
Wilberforce faithfully invested the rest of his life as a vessel of God's loving purpose. He not only saw the slave trade made illegal but lived to see slavery itself abolished in 1833. Three days later, his life's purpose complete, he died at 74.
Practical Purposes Wilberforce is a terrific example of the faithful steward Jesus describes in Matthew 25:14-30. The kingdom (rule and reign of God) is likened to a man who goes on a journey and entrusts his property to three servants, or stewards. The property does not belong to the stewards. They can't use it on themselves or on anything other than making wise investments on behalf of the owner-who will return and hold them accountable. Interestingly, the property, in the form of money, is called "talents," a measure of weight. We get our current word "talent" from this New Testament word. As stewards, our talents have all been given to be used exclusively to advance the kingdom of God. We might say that we have been "talented;" the word being a verb, a form of action.
In a similar parable in Luke 19:13, Jesus tells us to "Put this money to work ... until I come back." Many of us grew up on King James English which reads, "Occupy till I come." And many of us have been doing just that-taking up space. But the word in Greek is distinctly a business term, the word from which we get "pragmatic," which means, "concerned with and involved in practical considerations." God's resources have been entrusted to us to be used for His practical purposes, resulting in great multiplication.
Jesus tells us in John 15 that God is glorified when we bring forth "fruit that remains." We may use what we need to live and serve where we have been called, while we seek to live simply, that we might be vessels of the greatest service possible to others. Wilberforce, for example, sold a large estate he didn't really need in order to live more simply and to be able to care more fully for the legitimate needs of others.
Master's Interest As the Matthew passage continues, two of the three stewards invested their five and two talents wisely and both heard, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" Notice they had been given different amounts, different measures/talents, yet received the same commendation. We could also infer that these two stewards were not only wise in their investing, but had the interests of their master first in their hearts. The third steward, however, hid his resource. He didn't so much misuse it as fail to use it. Instead of being commended he was condemned.
We are all stewards. We have all been given different measures of gifts, talents and opportunities, and we've all been exhorted to understand everything belongs exclusively to God-we ourselves are even called holy, meaning set apart exclusively for God. The very first aspect of giving that matters is the yielding of ourselves to God. We are first to be set apart for Him. In Song of Solomon we see the maturing bride exclaim, "I'm my Beloved's...." Our privilege and responsibility is to invest all we are and have as He leads us to advance His rule and reign on earth ("as it is in heaven").
Yet herein also lies the great problem.
Being The great problem is that we are usually pressed to do before we are invited to be. We cannot be filled with God's Spirit and not do-but neither can we do (serve fruitfully) if we are not in an intimate love relationship with Jesus and filled with His Spirit. If we aren't serving from the overflow of our relationship with Jesus, we'll serve out of duty in our own strength and very quickly grow weary in well doing and lose heart. Even the best, motivated human effort can never accomplish God's purposes to His glory. Human effort is always about self instead of about God-ultimately born of pride to prove our worth through works.
David Letterman has been quoted as saying he only feels as good about himself as his last performance. When Christianity becomes a system in league with the flesh, it encourages us to perform-to prove we were worth saving. But an intimate love relationship with Jesus enables us to rest-to cease from our own labor and allow the Holy Spirit to work through us.
The only giving that matters is the result of our yielding ourselves and all the resources God has entrusted to us unto the Holy Spirit. We are to be and to do, but all doing must come out of being-being in love with Jesus and filled with His Spirit.
Jesus gives us a fantastic picture of how this works when He describes our relationship with Him as a branch to the vine. The vine (Jesus) gives birth and life to the branches (us). The branch continually celebrates its intimacy with the vine as it rests in relationship. A gardener can tell you, the branch actually presses itself into the vine. The natural result of that unbroken intimacy is that the branch, first of all, grows without self effort and, secondly, produces fruit in due season providing practical benefit to those who eat it-to the "glory" of the gardener who is God.
True to Self We don't have to nag a healthy apple tree to produce apples. We don't have to guilt-trip it. It produces apples because it has the nature of an apple tree and is rightly related to it. Its very life is given to it by the trunk to fulfill a specific purpose. Paul wrote to the Philippians, "For it is God who works in you to will [give you the desire] and to act [give you the ability and power] according to His good purpose" (Philippians 2:13). We don't so much need to be constantly told what to do as to be reminded of who we are in Christ, and who Christ is in us.
Our great friend Wilberforce-barely five feet tall and ill much of his life-had a stirring in his heart to serve the needs he saw. That desire exists in us all since, "we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10). Wilberforce discovered his purpose when he met Jesus. He chose to receive God's gift of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit-the new nature-who enabled him to rest, to abide in Christ and to serve from the overflow. The fruit that came from his life has remained and continues to multiply as God's good fruit is designed to do.
Without question Wilberforce heard, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" And so will we as we gratefully accept being "talented," being given all the resources we need to fulfill God's purpose in our lives and as we cease striving in our own strength and instead seek to press into Jesus, our Beloved, the Author and Finisher of our faith. As you and I allow the Holy Spirit in us to show us what we are to do and enable us to do it, we will learn how to live lives that give from the overflow.
After having written one of the first "praise and worship" songs that was distributed to the Church, "Charity," and being an significant part of the origins of the Calvary Church movement, Kenn Gulliksen planted the first Vineyard church in west Los Angeles. Kenn's ministry became one that had a strong draw for musicians. T-Bone Burnett (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) as well as other key musicians and worship leaders: Andy Park, Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Keith Green (who was saved in the Gulliksens' living room), have all been impacted by his ministry. One of the most recognizable results of his ministry was when Bob Dylan converted to Christianity in the late 70s as a result of the west LA Vineyard's ministry.
