(P)alm Sunday

It is hard to get the balance right, I have to confess, between talking too little and talking too much about money!

Biblical principles for giving

The purpose of a Gift Day is two-fold. First it enables us to review our giving and increasing (or decreasing) it according to our income and ability to give. Secondly, we are asking you to consider your planned regular giving as well as one-off gifts to meet new, one-off expenditure items.

However the third advantage of holding a Gift Day is that it gives us the opportunity to re-examine our stewardship in the light of some of the things the Bible says about money.

We are suppose to use money and love God. However we have a natural tendency to love money and use God! Consequently a Gift Day will help both you and me to see whether our love is rightly focused!

Jesus said: "You cannot serve both God and money" (or Mammon). Money isn’t just neutral, a medium of exchange. For most of us it has an idolatrous hold over us.

The story of the Rich Young Ruler reminds us that money naturally try to displace God from the central place in our life. When it does that we break the first commandment. However, when we give our money away we release that hold over us.

Some Biblical principles of Christian Stewardship are seen most clearly in the generosity of the Macedonian Church which Paul commends in 2 Corinthians 8-9

1. We give out of Gratitude and Joy in God (8:1-2)

Is it is possible to not only give but to enjoy it?! Paul assumes nothing less! The attitude with which we give matters! (For God loves a cheerful giver (9:7)). Giving should be not only our duty but our joy!

The Macedonians were a model example of this Godward focused attitude. They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to others (v5).

In practice we know when we do give generously that it is "more blessed to give than to receive". But that attitude should be ours whenever we give because the generosity of God motivates a generous response (v9). And of course in practice it is all His anyway!! Remember these words we say every Communion Sunday:-

Yours Lord is the greatness, the power, the glory, the splendour and the majesty. Everything in heaven and earth is yours. All things come from you and of your own have we given you.

2. We give until it hurts (8:9)

It was costly for God and it should be in some measure sacrificial for us. Giving is good for us because it releases us from the deceptive lure of the wealth of this world! (1 Timothy 6:10). The widow who gave just a ‘mite’ (Luke 21:1-4) gave more than ‘all the others’ because she gave what was costly to her.

v3 Notice their attitude to giving

Not out of
Not according to
But beyond their own ability

For some people £5 a week may represent a great sacrifice; for others £50 per week may be little more than loose change!

3. We give in order to iron out inequalities (8:13)

This isn’t a primitive form of communism. Rather Paul’s concern is that those who have much share what they have with those who have little in order that the spiritually wealthier provide for the materially wealthier! Is that not what is happening to us with our relationship with Ruaha Diocese? We are gaining immeasurably from their Gospel-focused richness as we help provide for some of the material needs for planting Churches and meeting physical needs.

This is why Paul encouraged the collection money at the weekly meeting, so that he could take it Jerusalem to help the poorer Christians. (1 Corinthians 16:1-4). A compassion heart should motivate us to have concern for others (Matt 25:44ff.; Luke 10:25-37)

4. We give as part of our overall Stewardship (8:5,7)

(see also: Luke 16:1ff.; 1 Cor 4:1ff.; Titus 17)

We are to be shrewd in our use of money. By giving generously we release its hold over us. But that doesn’t release us from the obligation to use money wisely: to plan, budget and ensure that what we spend and save (as well as what we give away) is used to ends which glorify God and extend His kingdom.

Practically, this has meant that the PCC spent quite some time discussing where the 10% share we give to missions. It also means that the Finance Committee and Property Committee try hard to be wise with the money you have given.

5. We give in a planned and disciplined manner (9:7; cf 1 Cor 16:1-3)

Leviticus 27 outlines the command to give to the Lord a tithe of everything..... grain from the soil, fruit from the trees, every 10^th animal born etc. It BELONGS to the Lord.

A tithe was the minimum requirement, because on top of that there were freewill offerings and other expressions of thanks to God.

NOT to Tithe is described by Malachi as robbing God of what is due to Him. It is non-negotiable.

In the New Testament no absolute standards are laid down, although we’ve thought about the general command to put money aside on the first day of the week. I don’t think that negates the use of monthly standing orders, or course!

It is tempting to turn to the challenging OT passages and berate the congregation with the requirements to give 10% of income to the work of the Lord. No Christian organisation would have any problem with their funding if we all followed this rule!

And be sure: the Bible assumes that a tithe is a given basic bench mark of commitment.

But I have resisted that because we can easily slip into legalism - the idea that we have to jump through certain hoops to be accepted by God or the Church community.

We are under grace not under law. Paul seems rather to emphasise that joy that will be ours when we do what He requires of us. It is not just a duty, but a delight!

Delight in God can’t be commanded but understanding grace makes us active, committed - and gracious - 8:3, 8-9 (cf. 9:8)

6. We give to spread the Gospel (9:10, cf. Phil 4:14-20)

Paul assumed that money would be used to relieve the poverty or poorer Christians in Jerusalem, and in order to further the spread of the good news of the Gospel.

Giving money is likened to sowing seed. As we are generous with our money we enable generous sowing of the seed of God’s word which will produce a harvest of righteousness. God has already out-given us in sending His Son (v15), we give in order that the world may know Him!