God And Your Giving
Part
I
During the reign of Oliver Cromwell
the government ran out of silver with which to make the coinage of the
realm. Cromwell therefore sent his men
everywhere to see if they could find more of the precious metal. They returned to report that the only silver
they could find was in the statues of the saints which were on display in
various cathedrals of the land. “Good,”
replied Cromwell, “We will melt down some of the saints and put them into
circulation.” I think God, in His
grace, would like to melt down some of the saints in today’s churches and put
them and their money into circulation for His glory. What does the Bible say about the Christian and his giving
responsibility to the work of God?
Once every year or so we expect the
pastor to wail away on the subject of giving – especially if the churches
finances are down. So we tolerate the
pastor’s meddling because we love him – right?
But next Sunday we’ll get to the things that are really important – the
spiritual things such as prayer, Bible study, the deep things of God. However, giving of tithes and offerings is
probably the most spiritual thing we could ever do. In fact the Bible associates Christian giving with the presence
of the love of God (John 3:16).
YOU CAN GIVE WITHOUT LOVING GOD BUT
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LOVE GOD AND NOT GIVE.
In fact giving is said to be an element of fellowship (II Cor.
8:4). Giving is put on a par with other
areas of the spiritual life (II Cor.8:7).
In this Pen Pulpit (and Part II next week) I want to ask and answer five
questions about giving: (1) Who should give? (2) Why should we give? (3) How should we give? (4) What is the standard for giving?
(5) What happens when we give?
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. I Corinthians 16:2
1. WHO
SHOULD GIVE? First of all everything we
own belongs to God. Giving is an
individual responsibility incumbent upon every believer…both wealthy and poor
(II Corinthians. 8:2). Under the
old covenant offerings were to be brought according to the personal ability of
an individual…but no one was exempt.
Some in the church have the spiritual gift of giving (Romans 12:8). However, every believer has the
responsibility to give.
2. WHY
SHOULD WE GIVE? It is God’s nature to
give. He cannot help but give –
and He gives where there is need.
In Genesis 2:18 we read that He provided a helper for Adam and then gave
adequate provision in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15-16). Throughout the Old
Testament God gave to the needs of the people – manna in the wilderness, water
in the dessert. But the greatest demonstration
of giving He ever performed was the gift of His Son – to give us eternal life
(John 3:16). And once we receive that gift, He gives His people all things
according to their needs in Christ (Romans 8:32; Philippians 4:19).
God has placed His nature within
believers (II Peter 1:4). We therefore,
are to imitate God and walk in love
(Ephesians 5:1-2). To love is to
give and to give is to love (I John 3:17).
God gives because it is His nature
to give. Christians give because God’s
nature is in them and thus it is their nature to give!
3. HOW
SHOULD WE GIVE? Giving is to be
planned, consistent and systematic - as systematic as planning for our savings,
joining the Christmas Club at the local bank, building an IRA, planning our
vacation, our retirement, or our children’s education. Giving should be the #1 item in our budget.
Next week we will look at God’s
standard for giving and what happens when we give. God bless.
In His love,