Christ and the writers of the New Testament clearly taught us that we have an obligation to give. Give of ourselves, give of our time and give of our monies. Paul taught this to each of the congregations that he established. He taught them that they were to help each other out. When the church in Jerusalem was having a hard time due to persecutions and a famine, he taught the gentile churches to send support to those starving Christians: I Corinthians 16:1 “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. 3 And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.” They were to understand that this was even part of the reason we come together to worship God. Their and our hearts were to be filled with a loving, sharing spirit. Our riches are not those material things of this world but we are to be filled with the riches that come through a love of God and focus of helping others.
Paul taught this to the church in Corinth. They, and again we, are to have a ready heart and mind to do good unto others. We are to support the works of the local congregation. Christ was our example in this as Paul noted Christ gave up everything to come to this earth and give us the words of eternal life, and through His poverty we are taught the lessons of true riches. II Corinthians 9:9 “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. 11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. 12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. 13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: 14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: 15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.”
Each year the leaders of this congregation establish a plan on what we can do financially. There are always things that are undone due to a lack of funds. We need to think about this. Are we giving to the level that we can? Is our focus on this world or the one to come? As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: I Corinthians 9:6 “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Our spiritual rewards will be based upon our attitude and specifically our attitude towards our giving. What is our attitude toward God? We can easily deceive ourselves and think we are doing well, and our attitude towards our giving reveals something altogether different. Our attitude towards God and our giving is reflected in the following two questions: How much of my money will I give to God? or How much of God’s money will I keep for myself? Whose money is it anyway? Who created this world? Who gave us everything we have? We should recognize that everything is God’s and is loaned to us while we are on this earth. Those things we call our possessions are actually God’s and the real question is how will we manage them for God’s glory? Remember the parable in Matthew 25 about the three stewards who were given ten, five and one talents? The two who gained returns from their wise use of the talents were rewarded, however the one who did nothing with his one talent had it taken from him and was punished. How are we using God’s resources?
Paul commended the Phillipians, as they were generous with their funds and used them to help advance the cause of Christ through their giving: Philippians 4:18 “But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.”
Christ recognized that the focus of our hearts can be seen in our giving. Are we thinking of the spiritual or the physical world? Do we have a love of heaven? Luke 12:33 “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Or are we stuck loving the things of this world?
Jesus observed that there was a fundamental difference in the motivation for the Jews that gave to the temple: Mark 12:41 “And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living”. The point of Christ’s thought is that those who have the proper attitude are willing to give even when they think they can’t. God will take care of us. We need to put God first.
What is our motivation? To only do those things that get us credit in front of others, or in quiet helping the church and others? Matthew 6:1 “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly”.
Although I can’t tell you what level of giving is proper, I will conclude with the following observation. Under the Jewish law everyone was required to give 10% of their income. Regardless of how little or how much they earned. As Christians we are told throughout the book of Hebrews that the blessings in Christ are better, and what the Law promised: Hebrews 8:6 “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises”. This being the case what should the level of our giving be in comparison? We each need to examine ourselves and our giving to insure that our heart is in the proper place.