“I have
held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have
placed in God's hands, that I still possess.” (Martin Luther)
September 17 will mark the start of my 3rd year
here at Zion Lutheran Church. In two years I have never written about or
preached on giving. As move into fall and toward the end of the church year, I
thought this might be a good time to offer a few words about how we are to
respond to God’s blessings. So here goes…
For one thing, God doesn’t need our money; however, He has given
believers in Christ certain commands about how to use finances for the work of
the Church. In the New Testament God invites us to give each week in accordance
with how we have prospered.
You may say to yourself, "My
power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But
remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce
wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it
is today. (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)
In the New Testament we are told to “excel in this grace of
giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7). Our Lord tells us that “where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
Jesus said, “No one can serve two
masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and
despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)
We do not make God poor when we fail to give money to Him
properly, but we do make ourselves poor if we do not give according to the
standards He sets for us in His Word, the Bible. Giving must be done
voluntarily, not under compulsion, and cheerfully, not grudgingly:
"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 Corinthians
9:6-8)
Giving should be from the firstfruits of our labor. Our giving
is what we do on the first day of the week before our other expenses come due.
The word “tithing” comes from the Old English word for “tenth.” To tithe means
to give one-tenth of one’s income, or 10 percent. Tithing was a part of the Old
Testament law for Israel (along with the entire law for the nation, including
the dietary laws, which stated that one should not eat pork, shellfish, etc.).
As such, God promised to bless Israel’s faithfulness to this and all other Old
Testament laws:
“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.” (Malachi
3:10)
To say that God will necessarily bless us financially if we
tithe or do any other good work is to make God beholden to us and to deny the
cross of Christ. All things being equal, of course, a life lived in accordance
with God’s commands is more blessed that a life lived in disobedience. If we
are faithful, God will bless us, but we must realize that God will bless us in
the shade of the cross. God graciously promises to give us all that we need for
this body and life. We should give in faith, trusting that God will provide for
all our needs, though not necessarily our wants! After all, if we can trust God
with our eternal salvation, can we not trust Him to provide our daily bread?
"In all things I have
shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember
the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give
than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35)
God’s Word encourages us to cheerfully give faithfully—and
generously—not just of our treasures, but of our time and talents also, to
God’s work in the Church. It’s no easy task to be a pastor and talk about
giving, so I leave you with the following quote about it from C.S. Lewis:
“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give.
I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other
words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the
standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably
giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I
should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do
and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”
That’s it until next month…
Peace by with you,
Pastor E.B.
