In this series, we have learned that the Context of Stewardship is our covenant relationship with God. Part of our pledge to be faithful to Him includes being faithful in giving to Him. The Context of Stewardship means that we allow Him to transform our hearts through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit as He writes His laws into our minds and on our hearts.
We have learned there are five Foundations of Stewardship:
- God owns everything
- God entrusts to us some of that which He owns
- God Gives Entrustments to Us Based on the Abilities He Has Given to Us
- Stewards should know their masters well
- If We Are Faithful to God, We will Reign With Him Throughout Eternity
We have learned that the Life of a Steward means we assume debt only under the direction of the Holy Spirit. We also have learned that we save enough to meet future expenses and then we give the rest of our wealth away because amassing wealth for ourselves reveals a love and loyalty to ourselves, not to God.
As we have progressed through this series, we’ve gained more understanding in the central idea of this series:
Disciples of Jesus Christ are faithful to God in stewarding all that He owns by disadvantaging themselves in order to advantage His kingdom.
We become disciples by entering into a covenant relationship with God.
We are faithful to God by entering the new covenant and allowing Him to fully write His laws into our minds and hearts.
We become stewards of all that He owns by accepting the Biblical truths of God’s ownership of everything and His entrustments to us of that which He owns, based on the abilities He has given us.
We disadvantage ourselves by living at a lower standard of living even though we qualify to take on more debt because we assume debt only when God leads us to do so and we save for future expenses and give the rest away.
Behind all this is a heart that is warm toward God. As God transforms our hearts, we learn that giving and generosity is a heart issue, not an ability or capacity issue.
In this final Sunday, we’ll look at the Heart of Stewardship. We will look at several key passages and answer what should be the last of our questions or resistances to becoming generous toward God.
So, this morning, I’ll walk us through several common questions which Christians ask when it comes to giving. These questions are legitimate and they need to be answered. When I run a company, one of my standard operating principles is that no question is out of bounds. If asked with the right attitude, questions can be an important tool in our quiver of learning. So, we’ll finish our study of generosity today using a question/answer format this morning.
Does the New Testament Teach that We Must Give to Our Local Church?
The New Testament doesn’t directly address giving to a local body and we’re not under the tithe rules anymore since we’re not under the Old Testament law. So, I can see how this might be gray area for Christians. Does God really expect me to give to my local church?
Often, we like to have a 1:1:1 relationship when it comes to reading a passage, understanding it’s meaning and then applying it to our lives. We like it when God is simple and direct with us.
But you’ll often find the more important truths of Christianity are taught in multiple passages. God gives us parts of a larger truth spread across the Bible so that we must know His word well in order to understand fully what His instruction is to us.
Answering this question will require that we look at several passages to more fully understand what God’s will is.
So we will start in the New Testament and look at several examples of giving to the local church and the ministers who work full time. Then we’ll consider one passage from the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, there are four passages I want to draw to your attention:
Philippians 4.15-16
15Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need.
Here we see Paul being supported by established churches. He’s planting new churches and so those who were established in their faith in other churches gave to him and his ministries. This passage is also easily applied to supporting missionaries – those who are called hither and yon to share the Gospel with others.
Galatians 6.6
Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.
Through the ages, scholars have taken this verse to mean that we share our material wealth with those who are in full-time ministry, even though the passage doesn’t explicitly say this.
Here it lies on the duty of those who are taught to make material provision for their teachers. (1982, A Commentary on the Greek Text – F. F. Bruce)
If he gives you spiritual things, do not allow him to lack for temporal things. (1870, Charles Spurgeon)
How disgraceful is it to defraud of their temporal support those by whom our souls are fed – to refuse an earthly recompense to those from whom we receive heavenly benefits! But it is, and always has been, the disposition of the world, freely to bestow on the ministers of Satan every luxury, and hardly to supply godly pastors with necessary food…An earnest desire to preserve a gospel ministry, led to Paul’s recommendation that proper attention should be paid to good and faithful pastors.” (John Calvin, 1548)
Let’s look at another passage: 1 Timothy 5.17-18
17The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18 For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”
Again, those who serve us in full-time ministry should be supported by those who associate with that body.
1 Corinthians 9.14:
In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
It makes sense to realize that supporting our local church, under the leadership and direction of our elders, is how we apply these verses to our present day. They’re not just descriptive of what took place back then, they are also prescriptive for how we are to conduct our church affairs today.
The most direct instruction comes from Malachi 3.7-15:
Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 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.
The way to contextualize this Malachi passage for us today is to arrive at the principle that Christians express their generosity to God by giving financially to their local church so that they can be entrusted by God with more wealth so that they can give more and more away.
I arrive at this principle based on the following phrases:
“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house” = give generously to your local church so that your church can nourish members and the surrounding community.
“pour down a blessing” = God will entrust larger sums to us as we prove ourselves faithful in generosity.
“so there is no more need” = As we give more and more away, we reach a point where our members and our community have no more need for our giving.
I can hear you all right now: “Wait a minute, Bill. Are you suggesting that God could eradicate all of the social and financial problems in our church and surrounding communities?”
Yep.
Think about it. What would our church be like if we just took this seriously?
- Hunger could be eliminated in our community.
- Poverty could be eradicated in our community.
- Marriages could be saved.
- People would notice that we were living out our faith. They would notice that we were putting our money where our mouth is.
- They would have to admit we took our faith seriously.
- Thousands would come to know God because of our faithfulness in generosity.
They would look at us and say “I can buy into this” – “their faith is real” – “I want to invest myself in something that is real and life-changing”.
If you could just catch a glimpse of how foundational generosity is to the quality of our faith and the spreading of the Gospel, you’ll be forever changed.
So I’ll repeat myself here with what I said on the first Sunday:
Financial generosity is the solution to so many problems in our church and society that it is difficult to overstate or exaggerate the importance of Christians becoming generous with their money and their wealth.
But there would be temptations to avoid.
First, withholding financial giving a silent protest that you don’t like what’s going on in your local body is not taught in Scripture. The Scriptures never tell us to withhold our gifts to our local body just because we don’t like a decision or because our personal preferences are not being met. This would be antithetical to our covenant relationship with each other and with God. Stewards don’t get a vote in how God spends His money.
Secondly, giving a large gift with the expectation that you’ll be honored in the assembly – IOW, giving a gift so that men will praise you – is not taught or supported in Scripture. This is why Christ taught in Matthew 6 that our giving should be in secret. And BTW, just know that the pastors here never know who gives how much. Only two people know this on our staff. Our pastors and elders never know who is giving how much to this church.
Thirdly, treating your giving as a form of financial investing in which you give to God with the expectation that He will give back to you more than you gave so that you can spend more on yourself is essentially what the prosperity Gospel is and it is a corrupted, ungodly theology.
So, to summarize, we’ve learned one principle thus far:
Christians express their generosity to God by giving financially to their local church so that they can be entrusted by God with more wealth so that they can give more and more away.
So, are each of us required to give to our local church? The answer is “yes”.
What if I don’t Have Enough Money to Give and How Much Should I Give?
This is hard in one sense, because I’m going to use a parable about a poor widow. But our church is located in Maple Grove, MN in 2021 – hardly a poor community. In fact, based on the census numbers, we’re the 1,538th richest community in the United States, out of ~27,000 communities. Our median household income is $105K. Maple Grove is in the top 5.5% of the most affluent communities in the most affluent generation in the most affluent country this world has ever seen.
Now, we pull from surrounding communities as well. We pull from a radius of about 14-15 miles and there is variation on the median income across these communities. But our church is located in Maple Grove.
So, while we might “feel” poor at times, we’re still living at standards and with conveniences unthinkable by most people who have walked the face of this earth.
Happily, the Scriptures address both amount and ability. Let’s read Luke 21.1-4:
1As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
In this parable, we see a widow who is poor – so very poor that all of her wealth consisted in two copper coins. In today’s dollars, the value of these coins is debated with conclusions ranging from fractions of a penny to nearly a dollar per coin. So, if we take the highest value, the widow gave two dollars to her local synagogue.
By her example, we are taught that even the smallest amounts given to God are important because they reflect a heart that wants to give to Him. She could have easily said something to the effect that “I’m poor, I have nothing to live on, so I can’t afford to give to God.”
But this wasn’t her attitude. She wanted to give to God. She wanted to be generous. And she acted in alignment with what was in her heart – she gave all which she had to live on. She intentionally disadvantaged herself in order to advantage God’s kingdom.
Those who are generous toward God will always have money to give to God. Those who are not generous toward Him will never have enough money to give to God, even if they earn millions every year.
Sacrificing for someone else – disadvantaging ourselves for someone else – is always a heart issue. This is why parents often sacrifice for their children. They sacrifice because they love their children.
Show me someone who won’t sacrifice for God and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t love God. Show me someone who won’t sacrifice for their local body and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t really love their local body.
Christ mentioned sacrificial giving in John 15.13:
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
The Apostle John wrote this in 1 John 3.16:
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
The principle we learn is this: When we love, we sacrifice.
When we apply this to financial generosity, it means we give sacrificially. We don’t give only out of our abundance. We give sacrificially. We disadvantage ourselves in order to advantage others.
This means that even the poorest of the poor can give something to God. Even if it is only $1/week, we give that sacrificially to God.
This is another paradox in Christianity. Christ said in Matthew 16.25-26:
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul?
What does losing your life look like? For some, like missionary Jim Elliot, it means martyrdom. But many of us “lose our lives” on a daily basis. We sacrifice our time and talent and subject our vocations to Jesus’ imperatives. We sacrifice the right to enjoy money and possessions any way we please. We are called to sacrifice to Christ’s lordship our very thoughts and desires, our fears and our foibles, and let Him transform us into His image. We must be willing to sacrifice anything that we value as essential to “life” as we know it. Discipleship and stewardship in the kingdom require total allegiance. It’s a steep price to pay, but with eternity in the balance, it’s a great deal. As Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: “he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
The world system aims at fairness and equal rights and what is required of us. It asks What must I do? The Kingdom of God aims at sacrifice and giving up our rights and asks, What can I do for God and others? This is what Paul meant when he wrote this in Philippians 3.7-8:
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gainiChrist.
So what if you don’t have enough money to give and how much should you give? I think the answer is more about your heart. Do you want to give? Do you want to be generous? Have you allowed God to transform your heart so that you are eager to give sacrificially? If you’re not willing to give sacrificially, then are you willing to be made willing?
The precise amount which you give should be directed by God. It is important is that, as a steward, you give the amounts as God directs you to give and you trust Him to meet your needs. When we obey God, He shoulders the responsibility to protect us and provide for us. When we disobey God by not giving as He directs, we get outside His protection and provision. Giving is a heart issue. It is a covenant issue. It is a trust issue. It is a stewardship issue. It is never about amount, ability or capacity. Give as God directs, save as God directs and trust His protection and provision for your future.
There is a false teaching to avoid and it is this: any teaching about trading out time and talent for financial giving is not Biblical. Nowhere in the Bible do we find God approving of us not giving financially and in place of this, giving more time to the church. Nowhere in the Bible do we see believers not being generous while serving God more and more. Any teaching that one can withhold financial giving to God and just work more to make up for the difference is unbiblical. Such a tradeoff decision is never taught in the Scriptures.
So, are we required to give to our local church? The answer is Yes.
What if I don’t have enough money to give? The answer is that if you’re heart is generous, you’ll give out of that heart – even if it is two copper coins.
So, How much should I give? The precise amounts will be different for each person, but you should give the amounts God directs you to give. Percentages here don’t matter. Some will barely be able to give 1%. Others should be giving 80% or 90%. The point is to give sacrificially in the amounts directed by God.
What about Giving to Other Ministries Beside My Church?
When God directs our giving, from time to time, He may direct us to give to other ministries besides our local church. For example, in addition to our giving here at The Grove, Kathy and I also support children in Haiti through the Global Fingerprints program. And we support Open Doors, a ministry to persecuted Christians around the world. We often refer to these ministries as para-church organizations. Much of our missionary support goes through organizations like the Free church or Cru or Navigators.
The concept of para-church organizations as we have them today doesn’t exist in the Bible. So, a principle I use in the application of Scripture which we discussed last week is this: emphasize what the Bible emphasizes and rely on God’s voice to direct my steps in those areas where the Scriptures are silent.
In brief, as God directs, we give to these other organizations.
But we are never taught in the Bible that we can tradeoff our giving to the local church in order to give to para-church organizations. The Bible is clear that directing our giving to our local body is our first priority.
By the same token, I’ll talk to business owners for just a moment. Because the Bible has no concept of corporations, then any notion that your corporation should tithe as well as you personally is a decision to be directed by God. There’s no prohibition to a business tithing. But there’s also no Biblical mandate for a business to tithe either. So ask the Lord and follow His direction.
What Have we learned today?
We have learned two basic principles:
Christians express their generosity to God by giving financially to their local church so that they can be entrusted by God with more wealth so that they can give more and more away.
When we love, we sacrifice.
So our stewardship question to consider is this:
If you love this local body, the Grove, then will you commit to sacrificial financial giving to this body?
At the beginning of this series, I mentioned that I was making the assumption that what I would teach would be new information for many in this church.
But now, everyone here has the same light in which to walk. Everyone here now has a choice: either we’ll joyfully obey the light we have been given and we grow in our maturity with God or we’ll resist this teaching from God. Either we’ll choose to enter the great life of generosity which God offers us or we’ll settle for the American life of debt, hoarding and amassing wealth for ourselves.
We become rich when we become poor. We become strong when we become weak. We find our life by losing it. We lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven when we sacrificially give away our treasures on this earth. We give away what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose. We disadvantage ourselves so that we can intentionally advantage God’s kingdom. And when we disadvantage ourselves, we find a life more full of joy than we ever thought possible. When we hunger and thirst for God, we will be satisfied. And it’s just a foretaste of what Heaven is going to be like.
Will you participate in the new covenant by allowing God to write His laws into your mind and your heart?
Will you be a faithful steward who properly cares for God’s entrustments and takes the time and effort to intimately know Him?
Will you intentionally disadvantage yourself in order to advantage the Kingdom of God?
If you love this local body, the Grove, then will you commit to sacrificial financial giving to this body?
I pray that after receiving this teaching from God’s holy word, that we will each willingly and joyfully commit our hearts and minds to God and become more generous toward Him than we ever thought possible.
