Christian Giving|Tree Top Ministries, Inc

Christian Giving

Author: M. Nicholas Brady

Published: 11/04/2021

Giving is one of those topics in the church that everyone dislikes. It makes Pastors uneasy to talk about because of the connotations about the "church is always asking for money." It makes parishioners uncomfortable because we think the Pastor is going to guilt-trip us into giving more money. Additionally, our whole concept of tithing is often skewed and warped and twisted into a mangled mess that we don't quite understand. Because we don't understand it, it isn't easy to get behind it.

What is Giving
The subject of giving almost always translates into the giving of money. Giving is much broader than that. The Lord has blessed each one of us with varying degrees of abundance. We give out of our abundance in that we must have something to give in order to provide it.

Giving can take many different forms, not just money: time, talents, money, investments, endowments, property, etc. Giving can go to the church, through the church, or around the church.

All giving,
regardless of the method or style,
is a form of
worship, thanksgiving,
and trust in God.

The Tithe
The modern-day tithe is a corrupted extrapolation of the Old Testament requirement. The tithe was a part of the Law of Moses; however, it has foundations predating the Law with Abraham giving one-tenth of the spoils of battle to the priest Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18-20). Also, Jacob, after having the dream known as Jacob's Ladder, decided to give one-tenth of his income to the LORD (Gen. 28:16-22).

Under the Law of Moses, giving to the LORD became a requirement; it was part of the Law. The tithe was simply one part of that giving requirement. Giving, in the Old Testament, was much more controlled and complex than it is today.

The modern church has embraced and modified (cherry-picked) the Old Testament version of giving to mean that Christians should give one-tenth of their income to the church. This teaching is the church mixing the Old and New Testaments as they so famously love to do.

SEE MY ARTICLE: Separating the Old and New Testaments

It also ignores what the New Testament has to say about giving:

We no longer need the Law to guide us:

And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the Law as our guardian.
Galatians 3:25 NLT

Giving comes from our hearts. A rule or requirement does not dictate it:

You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. "For God loves a person who gives cheerfully."
2 Corinthians 9:7 NLT

As Christians, we should be giving. The church has bills, Pastors need to be paid, church staff needs to be paid, and the church's ministries need to be funded. We should give because God has endowed us with tremendous blessings and God's Will is for us to share our blessings with others. We should also be giving because there is an immense blessing in giving.

There's nothing wrong with setting 10% (the tithe) of our income as the measure of our giving. However, lose the notion that this is some kind of Christian requirement; it is not. Giving should come from our hearts, not our duty. It is the Holy Spirit that talks to our hearts.

If you are not giving, there might be something wrong with your heart. Go to the Lord and ask him to provide you with a generous spirit, and he will.

As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:7:

Each of us needs to decide how much to give
We should not give reluctantly
We should share with joy

Those are the New Testament rules for giving.

Debt In Relation To Giving

There are three types of debt:

Good Debt - Housing, Business, and Investment. Good debt is "planned debt." It is debt that generates income or provides stability.
Bad Debt - Credit cards, Car Loans, and Consumer Finance. Bad debt is "unplanned debt." This debt is usually the result of impulse buying or poor planning.
Subjugation Debt - IRS, Family Loans, and Student Loans. To some extent, Bad Debt also qualifies under this category; however, Subjugation debt is debt that results in servitude or slavery.

Tithes and offerings are fine when one is living with Good Debt and Bad Debt. However, the giving of money is not acceptable when one is dealing with Subjugation Debt. Subjugation Debt has control over our lives. Through our actions, we have willingly given control of our lives over to someone else. Control of our lives should belong only to God.

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
Proverbs 22:7 ESV

and Jesus said:

"This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.
Matthew 5:23-24 MSG

Jesus was specifically talking about anger in this verse; however, we can apply this principle to anything that takes control over our lives. For a Christian to be ruled by anything other than God is an abomination! This includes debt, anger, addiction, children, family, friends, dreams, goals, health, money, causes, or commitments.

Don't Make A Big Deal of Giving
The Pharisees loved to go around demonstrating their holiness to others with public displays of giving. Modern-day Christians do precisely the same thing. When we help a homeless person or give someone money, we like to make a big deal of it to others. We cover the bragging by clothing the good works in "how God has blessed us." This is what Jesus has to say about that:

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:3-4 NIV

Giving should be very secret. No one should ever know details about our giving. That includes the giving of things other than money.

We Shouldn't Give to Get
There is a false teaching called "seed-faith" that has been around for many years. It's the idea that you give money sacrificially, and you get back many times more than you gave. There is a certain amount of truth to this teaching. However, at the heart of this teaching is that we "give to get." This type of giving is an indication of a worldly view of God's Kingdom.

The modern church has embraced and elaborated on this teaching with the idea of "giving so that we might feel good."

Our giving should always be based upon worship, thanksgiving, and trust in God.

When we give to God from the abundance of our blessings, we should never give so that we might feel good. Feeling good will inevitably happen; however, this is the fruit of giving, not the reason for giving.

God's Purpose For Our Lives
It is essential to understand that if we have surrendered our lives to God, he is sovereign in our lives. In other words, he is providing the resources, the people, the events, the circumstances, the financing, and the opportunities necessary for us to accomplish his purpose for our lives.

We may or may not know what that purpose is; however, as long as we are in motion and believe that God directs our paths, he will keep us. Jesus said:

"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers-most of which are never even seen-don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
Matthew 6:30-34 MSG

Final Thoughts
It is crucial to understand and remember that God is always working in our lives. Christians have hard times, just like everyone else. We give of our time, talents, money, and blessings during those times to demonstrate our complete trust in a faithful, loving God. Hard times for the Christian represent the shaping and molding of our lives by God himself.

The writer of Hebrews says:

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?"
Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV