No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life’s span? And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? Do not be anxious then, saying, "What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?" or "With what shall we clothe ourselves?" For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
(Matthew 6:24-33)
Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you." So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, "Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink." And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand." But she said, "As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die." Then Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. "For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’" So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.
(1 Kings 17:8-16)
Why should anyone desire to give? Living in a world that places such a high value on money, why should anyone want to give it away? What are the reasons we should want to become people who regularly give a substantial portion of our incomes to the Lord through His church?
Jesus told us that it is impossible to serve two masters — that we simply could not serve God and money at the same time. It is really a question of priorities. And He also told us that we should not be worried about even those basic needs that we all have — needs like food and clothing. The reason is clear. He has committed Himself to provide for our needs, and He wants us to trust in Him for those needs.
The Old Testament story of the widow of Zerephath illustrates this point well. The widow was at the end of her resources. She was literally down to her last meal when Elijah asked her to give it to him! She did and the Lord caused her supply to continue to be replenished for many days. The story illustrates that when we are obedient to God, He will provide for our needs.
It is because we serve a God who provides for us that we can give with the confidence that He will take care of us. This provides the motivation for giving. Let’s look at several characteristics which should mark Christian giving.
The first reason we ought to give is because we love the Lord and we are thankful for all God has done for us. Remember, Jesus gave His very life for us. Considering what He gave, how small is the gift of the tithe we are asked to give? Small indeed. God has blessed us beyond what we deserve. Because of all He has done for us, we give out of a heart full of love for Him. We give because we want to — because we are thankful. So our giving, first of all, should be thankful giving.
It is so easy to take things for granted. We live in a wonderful, free country. We are well fed. We have a roof over our heads, and money in our pockets. It’s true, we might not be as well off as some, but compared to most of the world we are rich. We are not only blessed materially, we are blessed with friends, family, and a future.
But, in spite of all this, we are sometimes slow to acknowledge our blessings. Because we have grown so accustomed to them, we take them for granted. It’s easy to do. Occasionally we need to be reminded of just what we have been taking for granted, and what we have to be thankful for. It is at special times, like Thanksgiving, that we are able to focus our attention on the things which really count.
What is the basis for true thanksgiving? Well, to be thankful, one must be grateful for something, and to someone. Mary Ann Vincent said, "The atheist's most embarrassing moment is when he feels profoundly thankful for something, but can't think of anybody to thank for it." The real basis for giving thanks is found in a Person.
The greatest gift ever given, by the greatest Person, was God’s Son, Jesus. He’s the real basis for all thanksgiving. 2 Corinthians 9:15 says, Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! The greatest gift that anyone has ever given to humankind is the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
This is what is called the Gospel. Gospel means good news. And it is good news indeed! Those of us who have experienced the effects of this good news in our lives also know the gratitude we feel toward God. How can we ever thank Him enough? Surely human words fail to adequately express the overwhelming gratitude which wells up in our hearts.
The basis for true thanksgiving is an encounter with the living God. As we get to know Jesus better, we will find that our gratitude grows. We ought to give because of an attitude of gratitude.
Our giving also ought to be cheerful giving. The Bible says that "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7). It has been said that while God loves a cheerful giver, He will take money from a scrooge. But that is not His desire. The word for "cheerful" in 2 Corinthians 9:7 is the word from which we get our word "hilarious." God loves a giver who gives joyously, hilariously; not simply because he has to, but because he delights in giving. And that kind of giving brings God’s blessings.
O.S. Hawkins words bear repeating: "The principle hindrance to the advancement of the kingdom of God is greed. It is the chief obstacle to heaven sent revival. It’s seems that when the back of greed is broken, the human spirit soars into regions of unselfishness. I believe that it is safe to say there can be no continuous revival without ‘hilarious’ giving. And I fear no contradiction: wherever there is ‘hilarious’ giving there will soon be revival!"
Giving should be characterized by a certain euphoria. It should be a joy to give to God. Perhaps we should take the offering in this church in a new way. Instead of passing the plates, we should ask the people to march down the isles in hilarious laughter and give. Giving should be a celebration of the grace of God.
Our giving ought also to be liberal. Now, I am not a liberal. But the Bible teaches that our giving ought to be. Luke 6:38 says, "Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." Also, a pertinent Scripture is 2 Corinthians 9:6: "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully." If we are stingy with our sowing, we shall be sadly disappointed with our reaping. The measure we pour out shall be the same measure we get back. If we give stingily, we shall receive little. If we give bountifully, we shall receive in abundance. While you can’t out-give God, many certainly under-give him. It has been said that, "Some give their money as they give their teeth to a dentist." In fact, there is even a disease associated with a lack of giving.
There is a disease which is particularly virulent in this part of the twentieth century. It is called cirrhosis of the giver. It was actually discovered about 34 AD and ran a terminal course in a couple named Annanias and Sapphira (Acts 5). It is an acute condition which renders the patient's hand immobile, when it attempts to move from the billfold to the offering plate. The remedy is to remove the afflicted from the house of God, since it is clinically observable that this condition disappears in alternate environments such as golf courses, or clubs, or restaurants.
This is not Christian giving. The Lord loves a liberal giver.
Our giving, as was the giving of the early Church, ought to be sacrificial in nature (see 2 Corinthians 8:1-4). They not only gave out of their excess, they gave out of their need. Most people give only out of their surplus. Jesus is not impressed with that kind of giving. But He rejoices in the person who gives over and above the tithe, over and above what is expected by God. The person who lives more simply so that the Lord’s work can prosper is the one who is storing up treasure in Heaven. The story goes that a man died and went to Heaven. There, he made this comment concerning his use of money on earth. He said, "What I spent, I lost; what I saved, I left; and what I gave, I have." We do not lose what we give. We send it on before us that there may be treasure in Heaven.
As Christians who are serious about our faith, giving is not an optional practice. If we are serious about bearing the name of Christ, we ought to heed the call to serious Christian giving. The only proper response to the call is obedience.
A friend of mine, a pastor in the area, recently preached several sermons on giving. Realizing that so many people casually neglect their giving and really do not evaluate what they are doing, he asked his church financial secretary to give him a report on how much he had given so far this year. When he compared the record with his income, he found that he was $2000 behind in his tithes and he didn’t have it. Do you know what he did? He took out a loan to pay the money to the Lord. He told his congregation this and said that he would have done the same to pay any other debt he had incurred.
As we respond to God, let us respond in faith, desiring to be obedient to the Lord’s call because we love Him and we delight to do His will. He has promised His open-windowed blessing to all those who give according to His plan (Malachi 3:10). It is true that you cannot out-give God. As you are faithful in your giving, He will be faithful to bless you with such abundance in your life that you will wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
Copyright © 1995 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
This data file may not be copied in part (except for small
quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale or
incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances,
displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of the
copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and e-mailed to J. David Hoke, at David@JDavidHoke.com.