Giving
It is sometimes said that missionaries don’t teach and train church members about what the Bible teaches about giving. Often that is true.
As a pastor in America, I did not preach on giving until a church member came and asked me to! Part of the problem is that in America, Christians are often bombarded with appeals to give. As a pastor in America, hardly a week went by when I did not receive a letter from a Christian organization asking me to give money.
Many people in America are turned off by the church because of the constant emphasis on money. When I listen to some television evangelists, it seems that the whole program is one long appeal for money. They are concerned only with raising more funds to support their ministry.
Missionaries tend to be slow in teaching about giving for other reasons as well. Salvation is a free gift (although it cost God His only Son), and we want people to understand that they cannot buy salvation. Nor do we want Christianity to be associated with begging or moneymaking. We are not charity-seekers or out to make money. Money is not our chief concern. Nor do we seek money for God’s work from people who do not know God. And sometimes missionaries feel that practices in Japanese churches are not biblical and are not sure what to do.
And yet the Bible has much to say about money and material possessions. The Bible teaches that money is a good test of our character. The way I relate to things shows where my heart is. My relationship to money is a key to understanding my relationship to God.
The basic emphasis in the New Testament is that Christians are managers or stewards. All that we have is given by God (1 Corinthians 4:7). All we possess—our children, our time, our abilities, our money and possessions—all is from God. And since God has freely given to us, we are to freely give back to Him and to others (Matthew 16:8, 1 John 3:17).
Rather than always wanting more and more four ourselves, God wants us to be content and generous.
Today I would like us to look at the biblical pattern for giving. There are different levels for giving.
Infant
The infant level of giving is not giving. This kind of Christian only wants to get. He behaves like a non-Christian.
In America, Korea, and other countries, there is a movement called the“Health and Wealth Gospel” that is quite popular among many Christians. It promises health and material prosperity and has attracted many Christians. “I’m a child of the King, so I go first class” they say. Or “Believe in Jesus and you will prosper materially and physically.” Actually, nothing could be further from New Testament teaching on the Christian and money. But in an affluent society, this teaching has great appeal.
Others insist on becoming wealthy by preaching the Gospel. In America, famous Christian writers and wingers and popular preachers often demand high fees and live like royalty. And non-Christians find it difficult to see any similarity with Jesus who had no place to lay His head and who insisted that those who follow Him should sell their possessions and give to the poor (Luke 12:33). The Gospel is never to be a way to make money (Acts 8:18ff). God pronounces great judgment on people who think religion is a way to make money. Some people, like little infants, do not give at all.
Childhood: Impulsive Giving
Some Christians move beyond the infant, self-oriented way of life and respond to impulses. On occasion such Christians may give very generously. But they give only when “they are moved.” The Israelites did this on one occasion giving “as their hearts moved them” (Exodus 35:21). Some Christians give only when there is a strong emotional appeal. They hear about an earthquake or famine and the great needs and they give. Or maybe they will see their name in print or on some building of they give and so they respond generously. Or group excitement may move them to give. They give depending on how they feel at the moment. Impulse giving is not bad, necessarily. But a person who gives only in this way needs to grow beyond the impulsive childhood level of occasional giving.
Youth: Legalistic Giving
When a person grows in their knowledge of God’s Word and obedience to it, he discovers the Old Testament principle of giving the first 10% of one’s income to God. In fact, the growing Christian discovers that should he spend that tenth on himself, God considers him a thief. Some people obey and give a tithe, afraid of the consequences of not giving. And then they discover God is true to His promises. He does take care of us and rewards us even now for our obedience.
I am not condemning tithing. It is far better to give legalistically than to not give at all. It is always good to give at least 10% no matter what. This should be an absolute minimum. But I do think that the concern over tithe sin many Japanese churches causes us to forget something even more important and basic. The tithe is not the central emphasis of the New Testament teaching on giving.
Adult: Management
When a Christian begins to obey God seriously, that is, seeking God’s will carefully in order to obey it fully, he soon discovers that the tithe was only to show the truth that the Christian is not an owner at all. We don’t own 90%, we don’t own anything. We are simply managers of God’s property. This teaching is clear n the Old Testament, but even clearer in the New Testament. God is the owner. All we have is His, not ours. And we have been given the responsibility of managing what belongs to God. We are not to use 10% of the resources for God and the other 90% for ourselves.
This basic teaching that the Christian is only a manager is taught throughout the New Testament. All we have belongs to God. We are not owners, but managers.
When we realize this, our lifestyle will begin to change. Managers live more simply than owners in this world. Think of how simply Jesus, the Owner of all, lived.
A manager must make responsible choices. A tither uses a little arithmetic and pays his 10%. A manager must look at God’s work and make hard decisions about where to invest most wisely to accomplish God’s purposes of spreading the Good News. A manager must make hard decisions about how much he many honestly invest in his own “traveling expenses” on the way to his eternal home. Living as a manager will affect us as we buy clothes, cars—as we spend money on anything.
But there is a high level of giving.
Mature: Sacrificial Giving
The basic motive for giving a tithe could well be a sense of obligation. There should be a higher motive, one of gratitude to God for providing for all of our material needs. Some people give with the idea of making a deposit. They give to receive the rewards God has promised. This is giving in order to get. Some people give from a sense of guilt, trying to make up for a failure of some kind in their life. Others give from fear, seeking to avoid loss. The New Testament emphasizes another motivation—honesty. Some of these motives in giving are more worthy than others and most giving comes from a mixture of these motives.
Those are spiritually mature are moved, at least partly by the highest motivation—love. There may be love at the lower levels but the quality of love is proved by the sacrifice it makes.
David refused to make an offering that cost him nothing. Later David gave what was probably the largest offering ever—the fruit of 20 years of planning and a lifetime of saving for the temple.
The poor widow gave from her meager income “all her living.” We live in a world of avid getters and grudging givers. David and the widow stand out in stark contrast with their love.
Many Christians feel they have an option about sacrifice. This level of giving is for a select elite, and not for everyone. Jesus taught that the first step of discipleship was to radically realign our lifestyle. Where are heart is, there we will invest sacrificially.
But does anyone really live this way? Christians in poor Macedonia did, even when those in prosperous Corinth did not. (Unfortunately, this kind of giving is not seen very often today.)
In chapters 8 and 9 in his second letter to the Church of Corinth, Paul gives the most exhaustive teaching on Christian giving found in the Bible. And the focus of his teaching is on a group of Christians who gave sacrificially out of deep love, love for God and love for their brothers in Christ.
The Bible doesn’t say that God loves a successful getter or a careful keeper. It says that God loves a cheerful giver. We are to give eagerly and joyfully, not reluctantly as through giving is painful or under compulsion becausethere seems to be no alternative or because we are pressured to give.
The supreme model of sacrificial love is Jesus who deliberately gave us all, c hose to become poor that we through His poverty might become spiritually and eternally rich. Jesus left the glory of heaven and He voluntarily gave His life on the cross. The cross is central to His sacrificial giving for us.
Special Grace: Faith
These levels or giving are not mutually exclusive. A poor person, for example, needs to act in fait hand sacrifice to give 10%. But in general there are levels in spiritual maturity reflected in our giving.
The final level—faith—should characterize all our giving. Actually, most of our giving is “sight” giving—we look at what is available and figure out on that basis what we could give, whether as an honest tither, a wise manager, or a loving sacrificer. Faith moves beyond this to believe God to provide what cannot be given, even with sacrifice. All of us should seek this, yet the Bible speaks of a gift of faith which makes it clear that certain people are given a special ability to trust God in ways that others do not. A person with the gift of faith in the area of finances believes God for what he doesn’t have.
A. B. Simpson, the Alliance founder, would often suggest three steps in faithful giving: ability, sacrifice, and faith. First, determine what you can give, then add some by sacrifice, then add some by faith trusting God to give. Because of this, a relatively small denomination in America supports almost 1000 missionaries around the world in addition to giving for local church needs. Every year Alliance Christians give because of their desire and commitment to share the Gospel with those who have never heard.
What results from a life of generous giving? When we rightly handle money and other things, remembering that all is a trust from the true owner, and in gratitude and love seek to sacrificially invest those possessions as wisely as possible for God’s kingdom, two wonderful promises are ours.
First, the person who is a faithful manager has the guarantee that God will provide all his needs in full. This is a wonderful guarantee and frees us from worry. We can give, knowing that our Father in heaven will take care of us. Our resources will never prove inadequate.
Second, God promises to reward those who generously give. He rewards us not only in this life but also in eternity.
Our lives as Christians are to be characterized not by greed, but by generosity and contentment. The cure for the cancer of greed that destroys people is gratitude for all that God has given us, most of all, His Son. And we should trust Him to keep His word. God does not lie and He will fulfill His promises to meet our every need.
For those who are not yet Christians, the most important offering you can make is giving your life to God (2 Corinthians 8:5). He wants you, all of you—your complete commitment to love and obey Him. Some people give their money and thing they have done their duty. The investment God wants us to make is first from our hearts.
As I look at the offerings that have been given these past few months for the building, I am truly thankful as I have seen the generosity and grace of God in your lives. Let us continue to give, remembering that what we have doesn’t belong to us, but to the Lord. May we, out of hearts full of love for the Lord and for others, be cheerful givers. May we express our love for Christ, by giving, even as He loved us and He gave Himself for us.
(outline adapted from Robertson McQuilkin)