GIVING TO GOD
Memory Verse: “In everything I did, I
showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering
the words the Lord Jesus Himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to
receive’ “ Acts 20:35. (NIV)
Bible
Passage: II
Corinthians 8:1-15.
INTRODUCTION
God
the Father demonstrated His love for the world by giving us the best Gift He
had – His own very Son! John 3:16.
And
having done that, He has not stopped giving us the very best. Listen to the way
Paul put it in Rom. 8:32: “He Who did
not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along
with Him, graciously give us all things?”
So, what are we giving in
return to God as an expression of our appreciation to Him for His inestimable
gift to us?
WHAT SHOULD WE GIVE?
Let
us begin by saying any giving to God from our side must never be imagined by us
to be a payment for the gift of the life of the Lord Jesus for our salvation.
It is impossible to pay for His exceedingly precious blood. And in any case,
His life remains a gift from God to us, and not an item to be purchased by
those who can afford it.
Rather
we give out of love flowing from grateful hearts – “We love because He first loved
us”, I John 4:19.
How then can we express our
love to Him through our giving? Put differently, what can we give as an
expression of our love to Him?
a). Our whole person or being,
including our bodies.
Timothy
was urged to commit all of us himself to the things of God, I Tim. 4:12-16, particularly v.15.
The
Macedonian Christians gave themselves to the Lord. They and their possessions
were at His disposal, II Cor.8:5.
The
Christians in Rome were urged to give their bodies to God, Rom. 12:1, because a proper and holy use of our bodies is
well-pleasing to God.
b). Our devotion and attention
to the word of God.
Whether
it be to listening to the word of God, or reading, teaching and preaching it,
God wants us to give our full attention to so doing because He knows it is for
our ultimate good. See Hebr. 2:1; I Tim.
4:13.
c). Giving ourselves continually
to prayer and thanksgiving.
That way we express our abiding faith and
confidence in the Lord, as well as our gratitude for all His goodness and love
to us, I Thess. 5: 17-18.
d). Giving our substance,
including money, to the Lord.
In
giving the example of the Macedonian Christians, Paul said that, “Out of the most
severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich
generosity”. See II Cor. 8: 2-4.
And
talking of these not so well-off Christians and their giving, we are also
reminded by the example of the widow in Mark
12: 41-44 that there is no child of God too poor to give to God.
HOW ARE WE TO GIVE?
a). Our giving should be
systematic, business-like or regular. It should not be what we do only when we
remember. See I Cor. 16:2. God’s
promised reward is there when we give, Mark
10:28-30.
b). Our giving should also be on
an individual basis. Every member of the family who has an income should give –
and that includes those who receive just pocket money.
c). Giving is not for the well
off only. Neither is the amount we give the most important factor with God.
Consider the cases given above of the Macedonian Christians and the widow whose
giving our Lord highly commended.
The
Lord looks at the heart of the giver. (Are we giving
willingly/cheerfully? – see II Cor. 8:12; 9:7).
And instead of looking at the size of our giving, He concentrates on the
proportion of what we give to what we have.
Remember,
the widow was commended by the Lord
because she gave “all she had to live on”, Mark
12:44. And she did so willingly.
d). We should of course give our tithe and offering. Even if we argue
that that is an Old Testament legal requirement (see Lev. 27:30) and therefore not binding on us, we should focus
our attention on the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ gave us 100% of Himself
for our salvation. If we understand and appreciate what He did for us, then our
tithe should in fact be the lower end of our giving to Him.
But
let us have no misunderstanding here: God is not a beggar – He owns everything,
and does not need our giving to make Him rich. Rather it is we who get blessed
in return when we give to Him. Psalm
50:9-15.
WHAT ARE THE REWARDS OF
GIVING?
How would you feel when your little child out of the
goodness of his heart walks up to you and gives you something which you know he
values?
Just
as you feel delighted with such an expression of love, so does our heavenly
Father when we give willingly to Him that which costs us something.
See II Sam 24:24 and Phil. 4: 18, 19 for examples of men who knew what it meant to give
to the Lord as well as to show appreciation for a gift received. Note also
God’s reaction in Phil. 4:18, and
that the promise in v. 19 is hinged
on the action in v.18.
We
are the losers when we fail to tithe for God’s promise here is not just a
hundred-fold return. See Malachi 3:
8-10.
Inadequate
giving is invariably a sign of inadequate spiritual life. Let’s check our
spiritual lives if we are not measuring up to God’s expectations in this
regard.