Perhaps you have been part of discussions about whether or not a Christian is required to tithe? Perhaps you have even discussed whether tithing should be based on one’s gross earnings (before taxes and deductions) or on one’s net earnings (the take home amount of one’s check).
Such discussions demonstrate that Baptists sometimes can act like Pharisees and turn God’s good gifts into a type of bondage. That includes the good gift of giving. Sometimes it seems we are more interested in what the law requires than in the benefits that giving our money can bring to us and others.
In many Baptist churches giving is encouraged for a lot of wrong reasons. Passing the offering plates is not supposed to be a fundraising ritual. After all, the Psalmist declares our God owns “the cattle on a thousand hills” (Ps. 50:10). God is the Creator of all. He has no need of our money.
Why then do churches continue to promote giving out of obligation, need and guilt rather than help Christians realize that giving can be one of the highest points of true worship?
Motivation for giving
Frequently giving to God through the church is treated more like organizational dues than worship. If one belongs to a service club or most any kind of organization, annual dues are part of that membership. Churches often emphasize all the benefits one receives from the church. The logical conclusion is that because one benefits from the programs of the church one should help finance the church’s activities through regular financial contributions.
Sometimes need is the motivator used to promote giving. The need might be an ongoing need such as paying the bills for utilities, literature, personnel and more. The need might arise from special circumstances such as a leaky roof or a worn out air conditioner. The church’s message in both instances is similar — “help us meet this need.”
That approach has a lot in common with raising money for new high school band uniforms — only a different organization.
Increasingly passion is becoming a motivator for giving. Someone wants the church to be attractive so they give for landscaping, furnishings, etc. Another loves the music program so that person’s giving is channeled toward music.
Still another is invested in missions and directs giving toward the church’s missions outreach.
People like to see the results of their giving, we are told, so giving is linked to one’s passion so the giver can see the difference made by the contribution.
None of these is bad. Indeed, the Bible says in James 4:17, “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Obligation, need and passion all help one know what is “good” and provide opportunities to do something about them.
Churches do need to pay bills and churches do a lot of good things with the money they raise. But how are these motivations different from any charitable fundraising program and what do they have to do with worship?
One theologian expressed it this way: “The offering is an act of worship, an instance in which we are invited to give up something that we value — our money — as a sacrifice to God.”
That insight is consistent with the teaching of Leviticus where the principle of tithing was incorporated into Jewish law. But even in the Old Testament we are told God is not as concerned about rules and rituals as He is with one’s motivation. In 1 Samuel 16:7 the Bible says, “People look at outward appearances but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Jesus expanded that principle in the Sermon on the Mount, saying, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21).
Since God examines our hearts and how we use our treasure reveals the nature of our hearts, then why we give is important. When we are able to give our money instead of keeping it for ourselves, we demonstrate that our hearts are not tied to our money. We validate that our love for God is more important to us than our love of money.
God controls our hearts more than money controls us. In fact, God is in control of both our hearts and our money.
When that is true, rules and regulations fall away.
Giving expresses our heartfelt devotion to God who has saved us through faith in Jesus Christ and who lives in our hearts through the presence of His Holy Spirit. The offering time then becomes the highest expression of true worship for no other point in the service provides so pure an opportunity to worship God as the sacrifice of giving our money to God.
Giving cheerfully
The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:7 urged that giving to God not be done reluctantly or under compulsion, “for God loves a cheerful giver.” When the Christian is able to give cheerfully, the act itself affirms the sacrifice of praise offered with the lips during other parts of the service. If one chooses not to worship through giving or gives reluctantly then the truthfulness of the sacrifice of praise comes into question.
It is not the size of the gift that counts. The story of the widow’s mite in Mark 12:42–44 clearly teaches that. It is the motivation of the giver. When the offering plate is passed each Sunday morning it is not because the church needs the money. It is because we need the opportunity of worshipping through giving.
In God’s great economy, He takes the heartfelt sacrifices of our money, combines them with the sacrifices offered by others in the community of saints and produces extravagant results that bless us, bless others and reflect His glory into the world.
Why do we give? We give because we need to worship God and giving is a pure act of true worship.
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