Giving in Scripture

Introduction

Good morning church,

This morning we are looking at the topic of Giving in Scripture - and we’re going to have a look at what we see in the Old Testament about giving as the people of God, and then we are going to look at what we see in the New Testament, and then we’ll have a think about what that means for us today.

Does that sound ok? Pretty straightfoward …

Now, I know that giving is not often a fun topic to discuss in church … but I want us to think a little bit differently about it today.

Can I ask … who of you has ever given anything to anyone before? … have you given a gift, your time, shared some knowledge, given a hug, a drink, a meal, read a child a story … who has given something before?

And how did you feel when you gave?

And who has given something in the life of the church before? … and I’m not talking just about money, I’m talking about giving anything … have you given your time, your gifts, have you listened to someone, have you prayed for someone, have you led a group, have you made coffee, have you welcomed someone … who has given before in the life of the church?

And how did you feel when you gave?

As people, we are made to give … we are not made to hoard and be selfish … we are meant to give. Paul tells us that Acts 20:35 “the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Say together: ‘Thank you Lord that I can give’

Giving in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament period, the people of God gave offerings in many different ways and for many different reasons. It is sometimes hard to read the Old Testament and think about what it might mean for us today as our lifestyle is so different, but it is helpful to think about what life looked like then to understand what giving looked like.

The people of God in the Old Testament were a nation, a group of people of the same ethnic background, all distantly related to their forefathers and mothers - Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and his family. Each of the children of Jacob, became the heads of the tribes of the nation, and Jacob was renamed Israel, so these were the tribes of Israel.

When the books were written, the people were a mostly farming people, so their main occupation was growing grain and raising sheep, goats and bulls. They started off as a nomadic people moving around and living in tents before they occupied the land of Israel, which was a trade route in the Middle East. They were a small nation, and were often defending their borders against larger nations. And they had a structure to their nation, for the most part they had a king, they had other leaders, and they also had a priestly system. One family group became the priests for the nation, those from the tribe of Levi, and they led not only the worship, but also a level of governance for the nation.

So, when we read about offerings and giving in the Old Testament, we have to think about it in this culture.

There were different types of offerings that the brought as part of their worship to God - offerings to give praise, to ask for blessing, to remember their relationship with God, and to ask for and receive forgiveness for sins. All of these offerings were brought to the tent of meeting in the wilderness, and to the temple when they lived in the land of Israel. And it was the priests who made these offerings on their behalf. And all of these offerings were made in kind - there were grain offerings - grains, flour or bread - and there were animal offerings - sheep, goats, bulls, doves or pigeons.

These were all specific types of offerings for specific things, but one of the key ways that everyone gave regularly was through giving a tithe - which means a tenth - of what they raised or grew on their farms - and they gave it as a gift to God - and this gift went to the upkeep of the priests, who were provided for so they didn’t have to work but could instead lead the worship and life of the people.

Leviticus 27:30–33 (NIV)

“ ‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord … Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the Lord.’ ”

Numbers 18:20–21 NIV

The Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites. “I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting.

The ministry and mission of the people of God was to be God’s representatives on the earth, and the plan starting with Abraham was that all nations on earth would be blessed through him and through his offspring. The world was meant to come to a knowledge of God through his people.

So, all of the offerings were part of the worship of the people of God, and the heart behind the tithes in Israel were for the people of God, including their priests, to be provided for, so that the people of God could be a blessing and a witness to the nations.

Giving in the New Testament

In the New Testament, we have a big shift.

In the Old Testament, the priests led the worship of the people of God and when the people brought offerings to God in worship - to give praise, to ask for blessing, to ask for forgiveness for sins - it was the priests who made these offerings on their behalf.

But this whole system of offerings in worship was an early picture of what Jesus would do for everyone when he made his life an offering for sins once and for all.

So, there is no longer any need to bring offerings for the forgiveness of sins because they have been dealt with in Jesus death and resurrection. And we don’t need to bring offerings to the priests to offer on our behalf for blessing or to petition God for something because we have access to come before God ourselves. When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple separating the ‘holy of holies’ from the rest of the people was torn in two - everyone can now come into the presence of the holy of holies.

We can have a relationship with Jesus Christ, the son of God. We have had our sins forgiven once and for all. We can bring our requests and petitions and thanksgiving to God in person - all of us can know his presence every day because the Spirit of God has come to live in us.

Our worship then flows from a place of thankfulness for what Jesus has done for us

The New Testament does not make specific references to particular offerings or tithes because the priestly system was only a foreshadowing of what Jesus came to fulfill, so it doesn’t apply any more. Instead the New Testament focuses on giving generously as a part of our life of worship, and it also talks about meeting the needs of the Lord’s people.

Tithing - the idea of giving a tenth - can be a good principle, it can be a good starting point, but I think the NT doesn’t refer to it because the danger with principles is that they become legalistic - we think that we are not doing well as Christians if we haven’t done something, or we think that we’re doing well as Christians if we have

Whereas what we see in the New Testament is a different idea, this is what we heard from 2 Corinthians 9:7-8:

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

The importance here is not on the percentage of what we give, but it is about the way we respond in our hearts to what God has done and continues to do for us through Jesus Christ, and our giving flows out of our desire to praise God and give him thanks and praise for everything.

Conclusion

How Much Do We Give?

How much we give ultimately is between us and God.

Whether you use the idea of giving a tenth as a starting point, or you use the idea of giving a percentage of your income, or if you go about it in a different way, whatever way we give, how much we give is ultimately between us and God.

No one apart from you knows what your income is, so when the treasurer sees what comes in, he doesn’t know what percentage of your income that is. That is between you and God.

So, it all comes down to being aware of God’s presence with us, being thankful for all that God has given us and continues to give us each day - not whether the sermon was good at church on Sunday, or whether we sang your favourite songs - but it’s about being thankful for all that God has given and continues to give. Then it’s being honest before God about what we have and what we can afford to give - and no one knows that apart from you. And then it’s about prayerfully deciding what to give - and delighting that we can give back to God to bless him and for the increase of his kingdom.

Purpose of Giving

Purpose of giving comes down to two things:

Practical purpose - To make sure that the ministry and mission that we are called to is provided for, and the ministers themselves are provided for.

That seems to be key to the Old Testament practice, and we see it again in the New Testament when Jesus says that a worker deserves their wages. It is good for ministry to be provided for.

Big picture purpose - To see God’s kingdom come and his will done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is our vision, this is our goal - we do not simply want to make ends meet, we want to see the kingdom of God increase.

As a church, we long to see that in our own lives, in the lives of those we know, in this town, and in all the places where we have influence.

We long to see our church shaped more and more in the likeness of Christ. We want to be church that is grounded in Scripture, who proclaim the good news of Jesus, and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. I have said before that my heart is for us to be an intergenerational and intercultural church - where everyone has a part to play, where everyone shapes what this body looks like.

We have often described our ministry and mission using these three dimensions of UP, IN and OUT. I really like this, but I particularly like a version of it that places Jesus at the centre:

We want to be a church that prioritises: UP - Being with Jesus, IN - Becoming like Jesus, OUT - Doing what Jesus did - spending time with Jesus, becoming more like him as we grow together as a community, and doing what he did through serving and sharing Jesus, seeing lives transformed through relationship with Jesus.

So as we consider giving in this season, I’d like to leave you with these words - Chris Tomlin did a rewrite of the well known hymn Take my life a few years back, and he added a short chorus:

Here am I, all of me; Take my life, it’s all for thee - Take my life, Chris Tomlin

Pray