The Gospel and Giving

*We recently had a series of financial workshops and a preacher who spoke on generosity. This blog is meant to complement/supplement that weekend.

The 5 G's of the Gospel:

God created all things very good;
Guilt entered the world as man sinned and death reigned;
Grace was the only way salvation could now come about, and it did as God unfolded His great plan of salvation;
Gratitude is the response of the believer who has been saved through faith in Jesus Christ;
Glory is where the believer is destined for and living for God’s glory his new desire.

***

The Gospel is central to every Christian belief. What then does the Gospel speak into the important subject of the stewardship of mammon (i.e. money and possessions), including giving?

God: In the beginning men and women we entirely dependent upon God and they knew it. Adam and Eve’s response was one of worship and enjoyment. God had blessed them with so much and they honoured Him for it.

Guilt:
As soon as sin entered the world our pride desired riches and possessions for ourselves. No longer did we see them as a gift but something we were due. Greed entered into our existence. Generosity was a thing of the past. Now one of the idols we would serve was mammon: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mt 6:24). (Jesus said more on the subject of mammon than any other subject).

In addition we even began to rob God what was His due (Mal 3:8), the tithe or 10%; not simply a command given to God’s people but a universal moral obligation (see Abraham [pre-Law], Heb 7:2, 4); a worshipful expression of dependence upon and thanks to God for daily bread. God has given us everything we have. It is a small ask to give 10% back to him and be allowed to keep 90%!

Grace:
In God’s grace, He began to train His people on the virtue of giving as a spiritual discipline to cultivate humility, built trust and engendered gratitude. The tithe supported the worship of the Lord, the discipleship of His people, and even care for the poor. Three things stand out under the Old Covenant:

• The Tithe: This was commanded under the Law of Moses (Lev 27:30). Malachi’s challenge to Israel perhaps stands out more famously:
  • “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” (Mal 3:8–10)
  • We cannot out give God and so the more we trust, obey and give, the more He blesses us.
  • We need an objective starting point in our giving lest in our subjectivity our greed take over.
• First Fruits: The Lord does not want our left overs, He wants our very best and He wants us to give first, trusting Him to provide the rest. If we give to the Lord after we’ve spent what we need and then on what we want, our selfishness will usually guarantee that there is less for the Lord. So trust Him, bring your tithes first and He will honour your faith.
• Honour the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. (Prov 3:9–10)
• Free Will Offerings: The Lord is so good, so worthy, that many in the OT brought free will offerings above and beyond their tithe. Perhaps they didn’t have extra but were led to praise God or give thanks for some mercy and so they gave extra. Perhaps they did have extra, like David, and lavishly gave the equivalent of billions of dollars so a Temple could be built for the Lord.
• With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good. (Ps 54:6).

The principle inherent in these things, a moral obligation, was in no way done away with by Jesus for the New Covenant. Contrary to a popular belief Jesus upheld the moral obligation of the tithe:

• Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. (Mt 23:23)
• He didn’t say don’t tithe, He said don’t think giving money will earn you God’s favour when you are not showing a heart for the things that God has said are most important. When our hearts are right with God many fruits will flow, including generosity.
• Paul picked up on this in 2 Cor 9:6–8 about the cheerful giver. While tithing is a duty, true worship occurs when we see God for who He is and so it also becomes a delight.
• The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Cor 9:6–8).

​Gratitude:
When we come to know God by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ we become a grateful and transformed people. We’re grateful in that we stood underneath a debt we could never afford and He removed it and pardoned us. We’re transformed in that what was once a offence and a drudgery because of pride (giving) is now by His Spirit it is a delight because we love to obey our King. We love to be generous.  We love to give God His due and not rob Him.

Glory:
Grateful we’re destined for glory we want to glorify the Lord and one way in which we can do that is by giving our tithes and offerings. Imagine what more could be done to ensure others made it to glory if every able Christian tithed.[1] O how strong the Church would be, spiritually as a fruit of giving and in provision for her mission as a result of giving if we would all bring the full tithe into the storehouse.

It is a sad reality mammon is not addressed more, perhaps because of the impression of Protestant televangelists or the sale of Catholic indulgences from the Middle Ages. The truth is Jesus spoke on money and so we need to understand what the Bible says about it and its spiritual importance. I’m not looking to get rich—I seek to lead by example—but I do want God’s Kingdom to grow and an important, though neglected part of that is to tithe and give generously.
[Read More: Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle]


[1] There may be times when intolerable debt, health, unemployment, etc, may prevent or limit our ability to give. However, what can you give, what plan do you have so that you might give fully? The story of the Widow’s Offering is helpful to those who give out of their want and not their plenty (Mk 12:41).