CE 1 YEAR: 37 Giving

Week 37

Giving

The first Christians were very generous givers. They sold their property and possessions to give to others (Acts 2:45). They shared everything they had (Acts 4:32). In fact, no one among them had financial needs because of their generosity to one another (Acts 4:34-35; 6:1). Financial generosity is an important practice of authentic Christians. This is why the Bible speaks so much about giving (Lev 25:35-37; Matt 5:42; 6:1-4; 19:21; Acts 11:29-30; Rom 15:26; 1 Cor 16:1-2; 2 Cor 8-9; Gal 2:10; Phil 4:15-19; 1 Tim 5:16; 6:18-19; Heb 13:16; 1 John 3:17-18)

God’s promises for giving

God promises that whatever you give to Him, He will give you more, so you can give more (Read Malachi 3:8-11 and 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 before reading further). In fact, God is so serious about this promise that He commands you: “’Test Me in this’, says the Lord Almighty” (Mal 3:10). One way to test God is doing something risky and foolish and expecting Him to protect and provide for you. Jesus said an example would be to jump off the top of a temple and expect God to rescue you (Matt 4:5-7). Such testing of God is normally a sin (Deut 6:16).

But God commands you to test Him with giving money! Why? Because there is no risk. He has clearly promised to give you more than you will give Him.

God wants you to have everything you need. But what or who do you trust for your physical and financial needs? The “pagans” trust the world and money. But God promises to make sure you have all the money and possessions you need if you will trust Him (Matt 6:32-33; cf. Prov 28:27).

God actually wants you to have MORE than you need. He promised His OT people that if they tithed, He would pour out an overflowing blessing on their lives from Heaven. In fact, He promised to be so involved in their lives that He would protect their crops from pests and disease (Mal 3:10-11). What specific things can God bless in your life if you give to Him?

The Bible promises that God will bless more than your possessions and finances. If you are a “cheerful giver,” God will bless everything in your life all the time! (2 Cor 9:7-8). Everything in your life will be enriched (v. 11). Do you want to see God working in your life and becoming more real to you? Then joyfully and generously give to Him. You will never give more to God than He will give to you.

Why will God always give you more than you give to Him? Because He wants you to keep giving more to others. God blesses givers so they can give more (2 Cor 9:10-11). When it comes to money and possessions, are you a river or a reservoir? A reservoir keeps most of what comes into it, just making itself bigger. But a river is constantly passing on what flows through it. When it comes to God’s blessings and your resources, God wants you to be a river instead of a reservoir.

The goal of the blessed Christian life is not how much you can get, but how much you can give. And if God finds you to be a faithful giver, God will give you more to give. God is offering you an amazing life of blessing you more so you can bless others more What a happy way to live!

This is what the “health and wealth” teachers misunderstand. God wants to bless you so you can give more to others, not to make you richer. God warns us not to be people who have evil motives and want to spend God’s blessings only for our pleasures (James 4:3). And it is because of the greedy and worldly motives that prosperity preachers promote, that their teachings do not work.

God wants to make you a bigger “river” of resources, not a bigger “reservoir.” If your goal is the latter, He will not bless you. If you are greedy, worldly, and stingy and still become rich, it is not because of God’s blessing.

It is tragic that Christians are afraid to generously give their money. They are afraid that they will have less. They somehow believe it is unsafe and unwise to generously give away their money. If they were honest, they would say the widow who gave everything she had to live on was foolish (Luke 21:4). But Jesus admired her. And you can be sure God took care of her. If you want to be financially wise and secure, then GIVE GENEROUSLY!

It is unfortunate that many Christians focus too much attention on saving money, budgeting, and investing. These may be wise practices. However, they are often taught to be as important as giving. They are not. None of them are commanded in Scripture. And God doesn’t make any promises about them either. Which should tell you how important God thinks they are when it comes to financial wisdom and security.

There is one command to pay off your debts (Rom 13:7-8). But many teach you should do this before you give to God. On the contrary, if you give to God first, you will find that you will be able to pay back people faster.

Giving your money will have a greater effect on your finances than anything else. No amount of savings or budgeting or debt reduction or investments will give you the financial blessing and security that giving will give you. If you save for your security at the expense of giving, you will forfeit the financial promises in Scripture.

Additional reasons for giving

There are many additional reasons to give generously. First, it is a measure of how much you love God. Jesus warned that a devotion to money means you hate God (Matt 6:24). Money is a dangerous idol designed by the Devil to steal your love for God. In fact, God told His people that they were robbing from Him when they were not giving to Him (Mal 3:8). Robbing God is certainly not loving Him.

Giving is God’s love language. It’s what He does when He loves someone. He gives to them. And when you give to Him it communicates love for Him. Giving to God and His Church is one of the primary ways we say, “God, I love You.” This is why the Apostle Paul said that our financial giving is a test of our love for others, and ultimately God (2 Cor 8:8).

Second, giving money is a measure of how much you trust God. Why don’t most Christians give more? As noted above, they are afraid. How much money you give tells you how much faith you have.

Third, giving money protects us from the powerful and dangerous idol of money and wealth. Job asked a question you should ask yourself: “Have I put my trust in money or felt secure because of my gold?” (Job 31:24). How do you know if money is an idol in your life? If you worry about money it is because you worship money.

God’s word warns us that loving and trusting money is the root of all kinds of evil. It will lead to foolish and harmful desires that ruin and destroy our lives and bring us many sorrows (1 Tim 6:9-10). What is the best way to protect yourself from worshipping money? Worship God by giving Him money.

Fourth, giving is a way to show your gratitude to God. In the previous chapter you read about the importance of thanking God. Giving money is one of the best ways to express your gratitude for all of His goodness in your life. People who do not give, are not grateful to God. If He has forgiven all of our sins and promised us an eternal paradise we do not deserve, can we not give money to Him?

A final reason to give money is that it will make you happy. Jesus said it is more blessed (makarios, “happy”) to give than to get (Acts 20:35; cf. Prov 11:25; 22:9). Many people think that having more money will make them happier. But Jesus said giving more money will make you happier. Have you ever known a stingy or greedy person who was happy? No! Living for money promises so much happiness, but results in so much emptiness. Which is why rich people are some of the most miserable people in the world.

The purposes & amounts of giving

God told His people they were robbing Him because they were not giving their “tithes and offerings” (Mal 3:8). We see two kinds of giving here. First, God told them to “bring the whole tithe” to His temple so that the needs of the priests would be provided for (Mal 3:10). The word “tithe” comes from the Hebrew word masser which means “a tenth part.” God’s people were to give one tenth of everything they produced. God said this 10% belonged to Him. (Lev 27:30). This is why they were robbing Him when they were not giving to Him.

Unfortunately, many Christians believe that 100% of their income belongs to them. On the contrary, everything we have and earn belongs first to God. He only asks for 10% in return and gives us permission to meet our needs with the remaining 90%. Even our debtors and the government demand the “first fruits” of our labors. Does our God deserve anything less?

A common question today is whether or not God still expects a tithe from Christians. This is an important question, because we do not want to rob God of what we owe Him. Some argue that the tithe was part of the Mosaic law which Christians are no longer obligated to obey. However, giving a tithe to God was a practice of Abraham (Gen 14:20; Heb 7:4) and Jacob (Gen 28:22) before the law of Moses.

In addition, most ignore the fact that Jesus told the religious leaders of His day they should continue to tithe even their garden herbs (Matt 23:23; Luke 11:42). He said justice and the love of God were more important, but they should and not neglect tithing. Jesus was always very intent to help us understand what OT requirements still applied to our lives. He seemed to indicate that tithing was one of those.

Some Christians seem to be looking for biblical justification to give less than a tithe. But the nature of Jesus’ teaching would indicate that He expects even more than a tithe. Jesus said that God’s expectations for those under the New Covenant of grace (and indwelled with His Spirit!) are higher than His expectations for those under the Old Covenant of law (Matt 5:21-22, 27-28). If God expected His OT people to give 10% of their income, then it is doubtful He expects His NT people to give less.

Another reason to believe God wants Christians to tithe is that the same need exists. The OT tithe was meant to provide for the operations of the temple and the work of the priests (Mal 3:10; Num 18:21). Likewise, God wants his local church and its pastors to be provided for. Paul makes this connection clear when he says the OT priests made their living from working in the temple, and now God wants pastors to make their living from working in the church (1 Cor 9:7-14). A local church should be ashamed if its pastors have to be concerned about providing for their families (1 Tim 5:17-18).

However, there are financial needs that go beyond supporting the work and workers in the local church. This is why even the OT people were expected to give more than 10%. God told them to give both their tithes and additional offerings to the temple (Mal 3:8). Special offerings above the tithe are expected among God’s people. This is what is being described in 2 Corinthians 8-9. The Apostle Paul was probably asking for a special offering to help Christians in Judea where there was a famine (Act 11:27-30; Rom 15:25-26; 1 Cor 16:1-3).

The tithe is a consistent standard of giving for all Christians to provide for the ministers and ministries of the local church. However, special offerings for additional needs are a matter of free will choice (2 Cor 9:7), according to financial ability (2 Cor 8:12), and to meet needs beyond the purposes of the regular tithe (2 Cor 9:12).

Giving 10% of your gross income like the OT people is a challenging step of faith in God. You may need to work toward this goal. And then progressing to give even more in special offerings is especially generous. But God would say the same thing to you that the Apostle said to the Corinthians: Make sure you excel in giving generously (2 Cor 8:7). And when you do, He will give you more so you can give more. You will never out-give God.

Practical application: What percentage of your gross income are you giving now? How can you increase it? Test God in this and see what happens!

In your small group meeting this week, share praises and prayer requests and then discuss these questions:

1) How did the first Christians demonstrate generosity? Why is this challenging for us today?

2) Why are Christians often afraid to give generously?

3) What are the promises God makes if you will give cheerfully and generously?

4) Why does God want to give you even more than you need?

5) What is the difference between being a financial “river” and a “reservoir”? What would be the differences in these two lifestyles? How does this expose a common error in “prosperity” teaching?

6) Why will giving effect your financial security more than anything else?

7) What are additional reasons for us to give? Are any of these things you have not considered before?

8) How can you tell if money is an idol in your life?

9) What arguments are presented to suggest God expects at least a tithe from Christians? What do you think?

10) Are the ministries and ministers of your church being generously provided for? How could you determine this? Why would God want this?