TITHING 107: GIVING

GIVING

A discuss on tithing will be lopsided if we do not explain the vital place of giving in our Christian discipleship. When most people understand that they are not under any obligation to tithe, their first reaction is stop giving entirely. This is understandable having been under the weight of the somewhat oppressive regime called tithing for some times. However, such individuals need to be shown that it is our duty to give to support Christians works and to give to the weak. Giving is very pleasing to God (Hebrew 13:16) and it is in His very nature to give Himself, having given us His Son Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins. Anyone, truly converted by the Spirit of God, must of a necessity be a giver. In fact, I believe that it is that natural tendency for Christians to give that those who encourage tithing take advantage of and abuse. Though we are not under any obligation to tithe to churches, Christians should give and give without any inhibition.

The Grace of God

The scriptures show us that the grace of God is his free unmerited favor given to sinners (Ephesian2:8). When a sinner becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, the grace of God is made manifest to him first by his sins being forgiven. Then he is given a new nature – he becomes a new creation. At the same time, he is given the blessing of the Spirit of God that indwells him and helps him with life issues. The believer’s walk through life is a manifest panorama of God’s grace, as God is seen to give him everything that pertains to life and godliness (2Peter 1:3). Only Christians, of all religions in the world today, are called children of God. They are not simply creations, servants, or workers of God; rather the bible calls us God’s children. This comes about as we identify with the first begotten from the dead – Jesus Christ. So if Christ is a Son, we are then sons of God through Him. This is the manifest grace of God and indeed it is awesome. This grace is not just an intangible thing in the form of being saved through faith and enjoying peace, love and joy alone; rather this grace extends to other issues of life. Tangible things like food, clothing and shelter are things God provides for His children. When trouble comes, God is a shelter for His own from the storm. One of the greatest blessings we receive from God is the blessing of family – spouses and children. God is a giver and He has given us so much.

It is an understanding of God’s grace that should propel Christians to give. When we realize how much God has sacrificed for us and given to us because of our identification with him, it should not be difficult to give to His courses in return. The greatest motivation to give is a clear sense of how much God has given to us. This is another reason why tithing is incongruent with true gospel living. Tithing commands a giving of ten percent of one’s earning regardless of whether the individual is saved or not, or whether or not he understands the grace of God extended to him. At the end we have folks tithing with completely wrong motives and cannot enjoy the blessing of giving. However, when giving comes from an understanding of how much we have received from God through His grace, such giving will be totally unreserved and a mere ten percent may be too little to give.

Giving to the Poor

Most of the giving recorded in the New Testament church the apostles led was made to support the poor, the weak and the needy in the church. With the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the church of God was born on the surface of the earth. In Acts of the Apostles we see the Spirit of God coming to indwell the disciples with power to witness to the resurrection of Christ. The result was a large in flow of people into the church. In the church of that time there were the rich and the poor, but one could imagine that there would have been a great deal of poor folks among them as many people would have begun to suffer deprivation from family and society because of their profession of the Christian faith. It is safe to say that the very first thing the church did after it was birth was to ensure that the poor was catered for in its midst.

32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul:  neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.   33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus:  and great grace was upon them all.   34 Neither was there any among them that lacked:  for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, 35 And laid them down at the apostles' feet:  and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.   36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, 37 Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet – Acts 4

We see a communal system birth with the aim of ministering to the poor and needy. While such a communal lifestyle is impracticable in churches today, we catch a glimpse into the heart of God which is for the rich to supply the needs of the poor, such that a semblance of equality can be seen among the people of God.

The theme of giving to the poor runs through out the bible. When God instituted the tithes under the mosaic law, he instructed that those who shall be given tithe along with the priest and Levites must include the orphans, widows, and strangers (Deuteronomy 14:39) – these people would generally be regarded as the poor in their communities. The psalms speak about the blessedness of giving to the poor (Psalm 41:1; Proverbs 19:17). From the statement of Judas complaining about the expensive perfume poured on Jesus, it is clear that one of the things Christ did along with ministering to people was to give to the poor (John 12:5). Paul and Peter may have been called to minister to disparate groups of people but ministering to the poor was a common ministry they shared (Galatians 2:9-10). In fact the collections made and recorded in the epistles were mainly to minister to the poor (Acts 4:34; 1Corinthians 16:1; 2Corinthians 9:1).

These are the reasons why catering for the weak and the poor should be a leading ministry among Christians and churches. The priority of all churches that truly name the name of the Lord should be to first minister to the needs of the poor and needy in their midst. There is something essentially lopsided about having people who are in felt needs in a church that is considered wealthy. God ensures that there will be the rich and the poor in His church, in order for the rich to meet the needs of the poor so that the spirit of equality is maintained.

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. – 2 Corinthians 8

It is indeed a very sorry sight to see churches spending millions in raising buildings, meeting the needs of the pastor, organizing year long meetings, booking adverts in the media and so on, while there are people in their midst whose needs can be met by very little. After evangelism, the church should have no other pressing duty than to ensure the poor and needy in their midst are adequately catered for. This spirit is very likely to then pass on to each member of the assembly as they make it their priority to give to those who are in need around them. The idea of socialism, community, charity and welfare which the world practices was certainly taken from the bible. Giving to the poor and needy by Christians and churches is the greatest witness to the person of Jesus Christ because then the world can see the love of God in our midst and will consider the gospel message.

The Weak

34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.   35 I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive – Acts 20

The western world has a concept of social welfare where people who are considered “weak” are provided for. The weak in this sense would include the elderly, children, the sick, invalid, mentally challenged, the blind, deaf, those incapacitated in one or the other, the deformed, crippled and so on. The truth of the matter is that by no fault of one, sometimes things happen to people that suddenly renders them incapable of providing for themselves. In these countries there is a strong social programme that ensures that such people are catered for. Government does this by instituting taxes on the salaries of those who are strong enough to work. Thus in addition to other things government uses money for, there is a portion set aside for the “weak”.

These are things churches should be known to be doing also. The scripture above actually showed us that this was the culture that was predominant in the first century church. Ministers and members of each church worked a secular job. There was no such thing as a full time minister who collected salary from the church. Paul said in that scripture that his own hands ministered to his necessities and those around him. Paul was never a full-time minister, as he had a job as a tent-maker. The strong were the ones that worked and these people then gave to the weak – those who could not provide for themselves. This is a culture that must be restored to the Christian church if we truly want our witness in today’s world to be heard. It is even more needed in third world countries where we reside, since the system of welfarism from government is non-existent. The church should teach the nations how the weak ought to be provided for. Therefore, there is a pressing demand for the needs of the weak to be provided for in our churches, if we do not want to end up a society where we devour each other. No one knows tomorrow. The man that is strong today can suddenly become invalid tomorrow. When a culture of welfare has been put in place either in society or the church, we all stand to benefit from it somehow.

One of the most pitiable occurrences in our world today is how young people treat the elderly. Old people spend their days serving community and the young, but they then grow old and no one is there to care for them. When they are sick, some people are looking forward to their deaths so they can feast. If society cannot take care of the elderly, the church should not be seen to abandon them too. Another terrible thing that is happening in our world is the number of people who are rendered invalids as a result of being involved in motor accidents on our terrible roads. The church should be near enough to care for these people. Then we have children becoming orphans almost overnight as we continue to loose large number of young men and women, people in their productive years, to the scourge of HIV/AIDS. These and many more are the reason why the culture of giving to the weak is so very important. The church cannot afford to continue this attitude of feasting and celebrating the rich and the strong, while we neglect weak folks in our midst – we do not know who would be the next tomorrow.

  

Giving

As we give to the poor and the weak, we should also remember to give to ministers of the gospel. There are men and women who are missionaries to far flung communities. These people are to be supported by Christian folks.

It is at this junction I need to sound a note of warning about a pervasive kind of giving that has taken hold in the church and is bringing reproach to the name of the Lord. When scriptures speak about giving to ministers in passages like Matthew 10:41-42; 1 Corinthians 9: 13-14; Philippians 4:15-19; 1 Timothy 5:17, the bible was not talking about a means of money doubling. There is a gospel that is running around these days telling people to give to a particular class of clergy called “men of God” as a means of entering into great wealth. The result is that these men, who already have established themselves as chairmen of their church finances, are further enriching themselves by making gullible worshippers give to them in a said bid to enter great riches. This is not the picture that the New Testament gave of giving to ministers. Jesus Christ was the first to speak about minister’s remuneration when he sent out his disciples in Matthew 10 and Luke 10. In Luke 10, our Lord said

3 Go your ways:  behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.   4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes:  and salute no man by the way.   5 And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house.   6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it:  if not, it shall turn to you again.   7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give:  for the labourer is worthy of his hire.   Go not from house to house.   8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:  9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you

The impression we get from this passage and many other passages that speaks about giving to ministers is that the preachers of Jesus and the apostles’ times did not live on salaries. They had no financial security anywhere – this is what Christ meant by carrying no purse in verse 4. It was as they ministered to people, whatever those people were pleased to give them were they to receive. Verses 7 and 8 uses the phrases: “eating and drinking such things as they give…” and “eat such things as are set before you…” in the same context of the “laborers is worthy of his hire…” Jesus was saying whatever the people give you when you minister to them is your wage! Therefore these ministers were totally at the mercy of God who alone could move the people to give to them in response to their ministry. The concept of a minister receiving tithes, offerings and first fruits was totally alien to the New Testament.

I stated this to show a clear distinction in the kind of ministers Christians should support today. If a minister pastors a church and enjoys the financial security of a salary and his members’ occasional well wishes through gifts, that minister is not what the New Testament commands us to give anything to. He has his rewards already. The minister that needs our support are people laboring for the Lord, many of them missionaries, even social workers that take care of orphanages, etc, and do not have any source of income; these are the people we are supposed to help with our finances because many of them are pursuing laudable ministries for the Lord and do not have any financial backing from anyone. The attitude of “sowing” into the “life” of a rich “man of God” to obtain his kind of prosperity is totally unscriptural and it is the workings of Satan that he continues to use to deceive many people in organized church systems. It should be discouraged. This is the reason why giving to the poor, weak and needy is emphasized the more in this essay. It is to remind us that the New Testament placed greater emphasis on this type of charity than any other type.

In conclusion, God is very pleased with giving. God blesses every kind of giving that comes from a proper motivation in the heart. It is this writer’s desire that Christians be more selfless and give more to Christian works anywhere they find them. Many of us can reduce our expenses and consumption, so as to give more to the things of God. If we make such commitment, we can be sure that heaven will be pleased and God’s name and purposes further magnified on the face of the earth.