GETTING THE MOST OUT OF GIVING
Part 5
Another important part of our worship to God is giving of our means, and it should bring us joy to be able to offer back to God a portion of what He has blessed us with, but for some Christians this is not the case. To them, giving of their money seems like a necessary evil. They don’t like the idea of letting go of their hard earned cash, yet they want to reap the spiritual benefits of God. Some are so greedy when it comes to their money that they will even limit how often they go to church so they don’t have to give every week.
Some have the view that the preacher or the church is just a racquet and they just want all your money. I can understand why some might have this misconception because there are many preachers on TV that have been caught trying to swindle people out of their money by giving false prophecies and by faking miracles.
However, as members of Lord’s church, we should not hold such animosity toward giving of our means to the Lord because when the church is pattered after the 1st century church, we can know that the church is not a racquet and the preacher is not trying to get all our money. Instead, we are simply following the commands of God, just like we follow the command to sing, pray and to partake of the Lord’s Supper. When we give with the right spirit, not only will we feel better about ourselves, we can know that our money is being used for the Lord’s work.
In this lesson, my goal is to help you to get the most out giving. The first thing I want us to examine is what the Bible says about the collection of the saints.
As
Paul went around teaching in different churches, he taught all of them the same
Gospel as we read in:
1 Corinthians 4:14 I do
not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. 15 For though you might have ten
thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers;
for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate
me. 17 For this reason I have
sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will
remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
As
Paul told the Ephesian Elders in Acts 20, he declared the whole counsel of God.
Now notice what he wrote about the collection for the saints:
1 Corinthians 16:1 Now
concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the
churches of Galatia, so you must do also:
2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay
something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections
when I come.
While only these two
specific churches are named, this is the standard by which all churches are to
follow. We are to give on the first day of every week. Since love is our
motivating force for serving God and obeying His commands, love will also play
a crucial role in us getting the most out of giving. I just saw an interview
where some scientist have proven that it is better to give than it is to
receive. They measured endorphins of several subjects and told them to think
about giving money to their favorite charity that they believe in and their
endorphin levels would increase more so than if they thought about receiving
something.
While they tried to
explain this reaction away by using evolution, they were in fact backing up
what Jesus said almost 2,000 years ago.
Acts 20:35 And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that
He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "
When you love God and you
know that your money is helping His kingdom grow, it will cause you to find
great joy in giving of your means.
Paul tells us to lay
something aside each week as we prosper. This tells us that some planning
should go into how much we are going to give to God. One of the worse things we
could do when it comes to giving it to open up our purse or our wallet each
week and just pull out what find there. If we do this it shows that we have not
put much thought into what we are willing to give to God. It is almost like we
are giving God our leftovers. This kind of giving didn’t work out very well for
those of Malachi’s day:
Malachi 1:6 " A
son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the
Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My
reverence? Says the LORD of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you
say, 'In what way have we despised Your name?'
7 "You offer defiled food on My altar. But say,
'In what way have we defiled You?' By saying, 'The table of the LORD is
contemptible.' 8 And when you
offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the
lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he
be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?" Says the LORD of
hosts.
Do we really think that
we can show honor to God by giving no thought in how much we give and by giving
Him our leftovers? Of course we cannot.
When we sit down and
examine the amount of money that we have coming in and then we determine
beforehand what we are going to give, we are going to know exactly what we are
going to give each week to God for the cause of His kingdom.
Paul’s gives us more
insight in:
2 Corinthians 9:6 But
this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who
sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
This is a passage that
has been twisted by some to teach a prosperity gospel. The preacher will stand
up and tell you that the more money you give the more money you will get back,
and they will even say that God may give you back 10 times as much or maybe
even 50 or 100. This is not what Paul was teaching.
Yes, the more we give the
more we will reap, but what we reap is not always more money. Sometimes we may
reap more joy by knowing that our money has strengthened the church or touched
someone’s life. Many times we gain great spiritual strength and a stronger
trust in God by giving.
It is also possible that
God may bless us with more money so that we can give even more. What Paul is
teaching here is taught in several other places as well.
Isaiah 32:8 But a generous man devises generous
things, And by generosity he shall stand.
Luke 18:29 So He said to them,
"Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or
brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 "who shall not receive
many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal
life."
Proverbs 11:24 There is one who scatters,
yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right,
But it leads to poverty. 25
The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered
himself.
Paul continues his thought in the next verse:
2 Corinthians 9:7 So let each one
give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for
God loves a cheerful giver.
Most of the denominations out there will teach
that you are supposed tithe, that is you are to give 10% of your income to the
church. However, the practice of tithing was an OT command and you will not
find tithing being commanded under the new covenant that we are under. Paul
makes it clear that we are under a different system of giving because he said
that we are to give as we purpose in our heart.
God has given us the responsibility to choose how
much we will give. If tithing were still in place, then Paul’s statement would
not make much sense because we would know exactly how much we are supposed to
give. But as Paul said, if we give sparingly, we will reap sparingly. If we
give bountifully, we reap bountifully.
It might be case that we purpose to give 10%.
There certainly nothing wrong with that, but then again, we may choose to give
12 % or even 15 %. It is entirely up to us and what we give is between us and
God. We know in own heart if we are giving as we should. Knowing that God has
given us the privilege to choose how much we want to give should help us to get the most of
our giving because we don’t have to worry about the amount we give because it
more about how we give. When we have the right attitude about giving then the
right amount will be given.
Again, as Paul said, our giving should be
something that brings cheer into our life. Giving should never be done
grudgingly or with the attitude I have to give. Instead, we should have the
attitude that we get to give because it is a wonderful feeling and blessing to
be able to give back a portion of what God has blessed us with. After all,
everything belongs to God in the first place because without Him nothing would
exist.
Another thing that will help us to get the most out of giving is to realize that the money we give is used for the work of God’s kingdom.
This convenient building that we meet it provides a central location in our community for all Christians to meet, but it takes our money to maintain it and to supply the basic needs we use when we gather.
The Bibles in the pews and the equipment we have is all used to enhance our Bible studies and make God’s Word easier to hear and understand. Again, our money helps provide all this.
The money we give supports the preacher so that he can dedicate his time to developing lessons from God’s Word that feed the church spiritually. Of course this support allows for him to be able to have more time to be able to evangelize and be available for those who need spiritual guidance. This is certainly a Scriptural use for our money. As Paul writes in:
1 Corinthians 9:8 Do I
say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same
also? 9 For it is written in
the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain."
Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10
Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this
is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in
hope should be partaker of his hope. 11
If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap
your material things? 12 If
others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even
more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we
hinder the gospel of Christ. 13
Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of
the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the
altar? 14 Even so the Lord
has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the
gospel.
Our money is also used for benevolence. From time to time those from the community or even those that are passing through will ask for food or other essential items. When we give of our means, we make it possible for the church to be able to help them out and it makes it possible for us to help our brother and sister in Christ out. The less we give, the less we are able to help those in need through the church.
Our money is also used to help support those who are preaching the Gospel through radio or TV programs.
All of these things are important to the
When it comes to our money and material things, we need remind ourselves that they are not very important to us in the scheme of things, which is why Paul said:
1 Timothy 6:7 For we
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry
nothing out. 8 And having
food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich
fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful
lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root
of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in
their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Similarly,
Ecclesiastes 5:15 As he came from his mother's womb, naked shall he return, To go as he came; And he shall take nothing from his labor Which he may carry away in his hand.
It is important that we don’t make our money or our material things our treasure because our true treasure is heaven, as Jesus said:
Matthew 6:19 "
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy
and where thieves break in and steal; 20
"but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 "For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also.
This is why Paul gave
some specific instructions to those who were wealthy in:
1 Timothy 6:17 Command
those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in
uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to
enjoy. 18 Let them do
good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a
good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal
life.
When we consider the
temporary nature of money and remember that heaven is our true treasure it will
make it much easier for us to give of our means and to give with joy knowing
that w will inherit the wonderful blessing of heaven one day.
Of course giving goes way beyond just giving of our money because as Christians we will learn to give of ourselves. We will be encouraged to be better givers by learning from the examples of those that gave in the Bible.
Jesus is the greatest example of someone giving of themselves, because He gave all of Himself including His life for us. Paul says:
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
Jesus loved us so much
that He was willing to give up His riches so that we could be rich. No one can
out give God, but He is our example. Since God was willing to give His Son to
us, we need to ask ourselves what are willing to give back?
There are certainly many
others just like us in the Bible that we can read about that will inspire us to
be better givers.
For example:
The last example I want
to share is about the churches of
2 Corinthians 8:1
Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the
churches of Macedonia: 2 that
in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep
poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. 3 For I bear witness that
according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they
were freely willing, 4
imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the
fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave
themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.
Looking at examples like these will help us to
find more joy in giving, and it will certainly help us to get the most out of
giving of our money and giving of ourselves.
As we have seen in this
lesson, giving of our money is an important part of our worship to God, and we
are to give cheerfully as we have purposed in our heart. Our money helps the
work of God’s kingdom, and we should never make our money our treasure because
our treasure is in heaven. We have learned that we should also give of
ourselves and we can be encouraged to do so by following the example of Christ
and other Christians from the first century. As Jesus said, it is more blessed
to give than it is to receive.