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 Stewardship?
What's "Grace Giving" all about?
What can we learn about tithing?
Why is stewardship our concern?
Bottom line: Just how much do I "have" to give?
Grace Giving
When I first began reading and thinking through 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, I wondered where the Apostle Paul had been all his life. Didn't he know about tithes and offerings? That tithing was the method for giving to the church? Ten percent used as the rule of thumb – no more or no less, it all depended. If more some called it an offering; if less some felt a weight of guilt, so much like a hypocrite.
Most everybody claims to tithe or they just don’t talk about it. But people have different definitions of tithing. Is it ten percent of the gross? Or ten percent of the take home pay? Then there are those pesky investments. A friend once told me God didn't expect to get a tithe from investments, since he was being faithful in the management of these talents in his possession. I’ve always thought that this response might serve as a principle of convenience.
Whatever your belief concerning tithing, the bottom line is that the Apostle Paul does not mention a percentage based method of giving in reference to the church. Not one word about it. In fact, the tithing system I have been taught all my life is never mentioned in the New Testament.
One respected pastor of a large mega-church a few years back taught his church what the Bible says about tithing: nowhere in the New Testament is the saint commanded to tithe; tithing was part and parcel of the Jewish lifestyle, developed and maintained as a rule under the law; because tithing began with Abraham, before the practice of the law or the birth of Moses, it is inaccurate to say that tithing is mandated now; although the New Testament tells us that Abraham is one to pattern our lives after and that he tithed, which was pleasing to God – in the New Testament Church, tithing is neither done away with nor encouraged.
Then this pastor proceeded to say, "But let me take the pressure off anyone who tithes, so do I."
I’m not sure what we’re afraid of. That if we explain to people that tithing may not applicable to the church today, they will stop giving? Are we apprehensive that not enough money will flow into the "storehouse" to support our church ministries and run our church programs? Is our faith so constricted that we pretend that using the law in this situation is justifiable, even when it's evident that the New Testament might suggest a better idea, a better way to determine and measure one's giving?
Might this be considered a pattern of sin that the contemporary church is not willing to face up to, repent of, and change for the sake of obedience to God's Word? We seem to have decided that since the New Testament is silent concerning a ten percent basis for giving, we're still free to arbitrarily maintain that the tithe is the preeminent method for stewardship within the life of the church. Could we not reassess the foundational basis for our giving today? Let’s do so from a Biblical perspective that includes and is informed by this lengthy treatise from the writings of Paul to the Corinthians. Let's try.
GIVING IS A COMMAND
Throughout the New Testament, statements having to do with a wild and imaginative way of giving are made repeatedly. Jesus said amazing things about giving: “Give to the one who asks you”; “Give with no concern for the notice of others” (Matthew 5:42; 6:1-4). He told us how a neighbor should give (Luke 10:35), how a widow gave away everything she had to live on (Mark 12:43-44), and why it isn't wasteful to give one's best to the Master (Matthew 26:6-13). Jesus explained how to give that which we would most like to receive from others (Luke 6:38), and how we can contribute to an expansive generosity that would help us to grow and be eternally rich (Matthew 19:21). Jesus even commanded His followers to sell their possessions and care for others (Luke 12:33) because He knew that those lives that were consumed by greed and covetousness would also be judged and condemned by these same attitudes (Luke 12:15).
What Jesus told a wealthy man who wanted eternal life was huge. The man had obeyed all the commandments of the law, yet Jesus said that what he still needed to do was to give away everything he had and then become one of his followers. This law-abiding Jew thought that that was too steep a price to pay, and he went away in sadness (Matthew 19:22; Mark 10:22; Luke 18:23). Yet on another occasion, in seemingly contradictory fashion, Jesus told Zacchaeus, the great sinner and tax-collector, that his promise to give half of his possessions to the poor and pay back four times the amount to anyone he had cheated was a pretty good offer. And on the spot Jesus assured Zacchaeus that salvation had come to his house that very day (Luke 19:9)! Hmmm, maybe different guidelines for different folks?
With the beginning of the New Testament church, a flood of instruction was given to help guide the early believers in contributing to the needs of others. In the book of Acts we see the early Christians sharing from their possessions (Acts 4:32-35), and Paul proclaiming that in caring for the needy it was important to remember Jesus' words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Even the disciples were mindful of the example they were to set for the church, and gave according to their ability (Acts 11:29).
Knit into the fabric of the Epistles, teachings on liberal giving abound: “In contributing to the needs of others give generously”; “Every week set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income”; “When there is a need, give aid liberally” (Romans 12:8; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4; Philippians 4:16).
NOT GIVING IS DISOBEDIENCE
Along with scripture's encouragements to give freely are warnings concerning the consequences of greed, such as death (Acts 5:1-5); God's wrath (Ephesians 5:3-7 and Colossians 3:5-6); apostasy (1 Timothy 6:10); and misery (James 5:3).
Unlike the friends of Balaam referred to in 2 Peter 2:15, believers are not to love money. We are to be content with what we have for in this way we will personally prove the reality of the resources in the promise of Jesus: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
OFFERING TIME, PASS THE PLATES
It is with the backdrop of this understanding that Paul brings a clear and precise message to the Corinthian Church. Referring to his earlier communication in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 (the first mention of the need for an offering for the Jerusalem Church and instructions on how to gather it weekly), Paul sets off in 2 Corinthians 8 with the admonishment to finish collecting the offering for those brothers and sisters in need in the Jerusalem Church (most likely the Mother Church).
Paul does not explain the need for such an offering, as it was, most certainly, already well known to the Corinthians. As the first Christian community grew in the capital center of Jerusalem, many demands must have been placed upon their resources. Their sharing, related by Luke in Acts 2 and 4, may have resulted in their poverty. There is a reference to a famine in Acts 11:27-30, which also probably resulted in pervasive poverty. In addition, the Christian Jews in Jerusalem no doubt supported many of the early church's workers, and suffered a heavy tax burden of living under the demanding Jewish and Roman political systems.
THE MACEDONIAN EXAMPLE: GRACE AND GIVING
So, in 2 Corinthians 8:1, Paul calls the Corinthians “brothers,” which they were in Christ even though they were Gentiles, and begins to explain the relationship between the grace of God and the need for this specific work of grace to be completed in the lives of others (8:8, 11). He refers to the Macedonian churches (congregations such as Philippi and Thessalonica) as the example for the kind of giving that must be imitated. These churches had been persecuted, gone through many hurtful trials, and suffered poverty by now well known. Nonetheless, when you add the overflowing joy that Christians possess personally because of God's grace to the realization of the responsibility believers have for others, the response is an unbounded giving. This kind of giving was a reality in those Gentile congregations mentioned. Their giving knew no limits.
THE MACEDONIAN EXAMPLE: GRACE AND GENEROSITY
Rich generosity is how Paul describes the giving by the Macedonians. And what he was referring to was understood quite well by the Corinthians. They knew that even amid the experiences of suffering, there would always be a sufficiency in Christ. Through the reality of God's grace, there would still be something to spare for others, a reservoir of riches to dip from.
It was a sacrifice for the Macedonians to give, but they gave anyway. They gave liberally and gladly. Out of a simplicity of purpose for themselves, with compassionate hearts in response to others' need, without any self-seeking motivations, the Macedonians gave in the same way David had given (1 Chronicles 29:17), and in the same way God always gives (James 1:5): with integrity and abundant generosity!
When the grace of God is manifested in the generosity of His people, the result is a pattern of giving that is remarkable and deeply moving. Not only did the Macedonians give all that they could give, actually beyond their real ability to give, they did it all on their own. In other words, it was a voluntary act of giving. It was so voluntary that Paul writes words that portray those churches as actually begging him for the privilege of taking part in this offering. I’m reminded of a church in St. Louis where the people explode to their feet in applause when the offering time is announced from the front of the gathered group.
Can you imagine a church full of energized people begging their pastor to let them give more? For me, the thought of such a thing is more a dream than a thrilling reality. Yet that is exactly what the Macedonians were doing. To them it was a ministry of service to other needy believers, and they were more than willing; they were absolutely overjoyed at the opportunity to give and provide others relief.
It is not hard to observe in this ministry of love a dynamic demonstration of God's grace in action. And it is specifically for the purpose of aiding fellow believers in need. Here we can see the proclamation of the Gospel and the ministry of helping needy people (Romans 12:8) forever being knit together. Truth proclaimed and help given are complementary.
THE MACEDONIAN EXAMPLE: GRACE AND GOD'S WILL
In the context of this point of delineation, Paul makes a startling statement: “And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will” (8:5). They took part in this offering even beyond what Paul had hoped for. They did more. They gave more. To Paul it was a clear demonstration of grace giving. He saw them give in surrender to God and to the apostles as God's agents even before they gave generously from their extreme poverty. Of course this was God's will, but Paul seems shocked by it. He had hoped it would happen, but he had not expected it to happen. It did.
To comprehend better the relationship between expectation and hope, we could picture expectation as being either good or bad, hope or fear. For hope is differentiated from fear of the future. Hope as expectation of good suggests a trust or yearning, in which patient waiting for consolation or fleeing for refuge is emphasized. Paul hoped for good, at least an offering, and got much more than he expected: he saw the Macedonians give of themselves in every way imaginable! Paul must have experienced a tremendous excitement in response to what was happening beyond even his expectations.
JESUS CHRIST: THE SUPREME EXAMPLE OF GRACE GIVING
Paul points to Jesus Christ as a vivid example of the willingness to fully give: “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (8:9). The One who possessed the wealth of the universe decided to give it all up and succumb to the status of a beggar, a pauper. Destitute and drained of that which He once possessed by the acceptance of poverty and humiliation, He, Himself, became an act of grace giving. Could this be described as a kind of “poverty-like grace,” a grace out of which God empties Himself toward a people that He loves absolutely? I believe so. The extravagant way in which God gave Himself to us in His Son is grace that only the Creator of grace could have demonstrated. What a mystery of love! That mystery is fully revealed in Christ's giving of Himself on the Cross.
This kind of grace, grand as it is from our perspective, is an offense to the world around us. The people of this world only trust in themselves or their possessions, not in God. Nevertheless, true riches from the perspective of grace giving, consists of the love which expresses itself in self-sacrifice in following Jesus. This kind of life-style does not seek its own (1 Corinthians 13:4-13), but shows itself to be genuine in its giving. By not boasting about the riches it has received, by demonstrating a freedom from materialism, by an assured confidence that God will supply every need according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19), followers of Christ demonstrating this radical self-surrendering discipleship exhibit an open-handedness towards the needs of others.
GRACE GIVING: FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF OTHERS
In 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, Paul gave various recommendations about the collection to be taken, and it is apparent that the Corinthians did not follow through with these instructions. A year's time had passed and the collection was not much further advanced (2 Corinthians 8:10). Because of this Paul tells the Corinthians in verse 8 that he wants “to test the sincerity of their love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.”
The “others” he was referring to were the Macedonians and, of course, Jesus Christ the Lord. He reminded the Corinthians throughout this passage about the grace that was freely given to them by God. This kind of grace had been exhibited by the Macedonians' giving, and is most fully revealed in the giving of Christ Himself.
Paul wanted to see if the Corinthians' love was true or false, real or phony. He did not want to force his authority upon them, but he did want them to wake up to an awareness of the condition of their hearts concerning the needs of others. Were they willing to give in ways equal to that which they had received? The question is as important for consideration today as it was then.
Paul affirmed that the preexistence of Christ in glory, His emptying Himself of that equality with God and His willingness to surrender His riches to take on poverty, is the most vivid example for Christian giving. For the Christian's life in the world is also to be one of self-emptying and self-denial, which helps the community of Believers do in the same way as Christ the work of redemption and reconciliation.
GRACE GIVING: THE PROGRESSIVE ATTITUDE & ACT OF GIVING
This way of living springs from a progressive attitude of giving. Paul called it the “grace of giving” in verse 7. We can call it a way of thinking, a way of acting, or simply a way of being. Regardless of our terminology, Paul was certain that the grace present within the life of the Church is shown in the Church's overflow of generosity toward others. God's grace offered towards us, therefore, ultimately makes possible and motivates the Christian's generosity towards others. Grace authenticates the generosity by making it “Christian giving.”
Paul sent Titus and two other men to complete this work of generosity (the collecting of the offering originally commanded in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4). He wanted the Corinthians to finish the task. He pleaded with them “to bring to completion this act of grace.” He reminded them that though they may already excel in faith, eloquent speech and great knowledge, and though they may be in total earnest in showing their love to Paul and others, they still must excel in this grace of giving.
THE CHURCH’S ONE COMISSION - GRACE GIVING: SHARING WITH OTHERS
In the church today, we have many labels for our offerings. Whether they are described as tithes, offerings, faith promise gifts, or shares for others, we need to expand our understanding so that labels, methods, or percentages will not cripple our giving and limit our stewardship. Be it giving for the local church in our life, the “para-church” missions in our cities and on our college campuses serving throughout the nation we are resident citizens in, or for the support of the mission of proclaiming the Good News to the world and meeting the needs of all people groups, we must strive to never let anything mark our giving but unrestrained grace and love.
It is only with a genuine attitude of compassionate love for others that we are able to respond to Paul's advice on this matter of giving. With that attitude we are able to comprehend his imperative in verse 11: “Now finish the work!” Paul's desire for generosity to be expressed in love comes through with spiritual vigor and an affectingly contagious energy.
THE CHURCH'S ONE FOUNDATION - JESUS CHRIST
Because all Christians experience God's love, share in the riches of the Gospel, and in the spiritual possession of eternal salvation (Matt. 20:12; Acts 11:17), without regard for origin or prior history or achievement or merit, there is equality within the spiritual heritage we have as God's people. This inward reality necessitates and demands that our love and equality be demonstrated in external matters as well (8:13). This way of giving proclaims and demonstrates the unity and harmony of the Church of Jesus Christ!
Just as Paul asked the Corinthians, so we must ask ourselves today: are we ready, willing, and eager to demonstrate this grace giving according to our ability? “For if the willingness and eagerness and earnestness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have” (8:12). In other words, are our minds made up to give according to what our resources are? Do we have "a cheerless or a cheerful resolution" concerning the tasks at hand?
THE CHURCH'S ONE FUTURE – EQUITY
We should not give until we are impoverished. No! Paul makes that quite clear. His goal is equity. Not that one part of the church be relieved while another is hard-pressed, but that there would be an equal sharing in the blessings of God demonstrating the faithfulness of God to his people. Paul is suggesting that an essential motivation for our giving is being able to see others prosper. This principle is to be an equalizing factor in the life of the church.
Paul could appeal to the Corinthians on the ground of their experience of equality as Greeks. In their experience they had come to believe that it was important to maintain cultural and national ties. Racial divisions among people groups have been historical problems. But by giving of their surplus to meet the lack of the community in Jerusalem, they could bring about equality between brothers and sisters in Christ also. Racial barriers and walls would be destroyed, because this attitude of brotherly love means being free to love others, even enemies. It far exceeds the law of giving in order to get, which Jesus says even sinners practice when they help one another (Luke 6:34).
Since giving is a grace, it can never involve earning merit for the one who gives. Therefore, if there is any indication that a motive for giving to get is present, there is no further reward.
What would be the condition of the church today if believers would begin to apply the principle of “grace giving”? Paul declares that plenty would be reaped, and all real needs could be met. There would be a surplus, a super-abundance. There would be an overflow in which all could share. He was quick to illustrate this truth by the travels of the Israelites in the wilderness and the fact that “He that gathered much did not have too much, and he that gathered little did not have too little” (8:15). The entire company of God's people was covered by this equity during the wilderness wanderings. Every need the Israelites experienced was met by the grace giving of God.
The question for us today is whether our giving corresponds to our Heavenly Father's self-sacrificial giving of His only Son, Jesus Christ. Is our love proved genuine by our abundant willingness to meet the needs around us? The Macedonians were willing to give in this way, now how about all of us? Can we give as Paul pleaded with the Corinthians to give? I believe we can!
Lest we think that the job is too big for any single individual or any small church group, which has been the tear-filled excuse of so many today, we must remember the words of Paul in Philippians 4:12-13: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Many Christians apply the last phrase of this passage to mountainous situations, when it could be that Paul was simply talking about living with an ongoing and growing contentment, so as to be free to share more with others in simple yet need-meeting ways when an opportunity is presented or a need is identified.
The secret of grace giving is believing that God is great, that all possessions are His to begin with, and that as we, together, depend upon Him, we are then set free to begin meeting the needs around us; to give as given to. Our giving to others becomes a “mon semblable” (a giving from the same substance as that which He has given to us). Grace giving because grace has been given and grace has been received.
by Paul Huddle, ©2009.
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