Grace Givings

Date: July 13,2025

Title: Grace Givings

Passage: 1 Timothy 6:17-19

Wisdom / Humility / Patience and perseverance.

Giving.

At the front end - always awkward for a preacher to talk about giving.

As I speak on this topic I don’t want to give the impression that I’m up here to ask for your money.

I despise the prosperity gospel!

Yet the theme of giving is a prevalent one that deserves our attention.

Given (during my tenure here) I’ve only spoke about giving in generalities, I thought now would be a good time to devote an entire sermon to this topic.

It is a very important aspect of the Christian life.

Since there’s oftentimes some confusion/misunderstanding, I thought it would be good to speak to this issue.

To set the stage, let’s begin with reading Mark 12:41-44.

Jesus makes the important point that a widow who gave out of her poverty, gave more than those who gave out of their riches.

1 Timothy 6:17-19, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

INTRODCUTION

Well, I want to begin this morning’s message by asking you what your response would be if someone were to ask you the question, what is the Christian standard of giving? what would your response be? What do you think God requires His children to give Him on a financial level? 5%? 15%? 50%? How much? What is the correct amount? What does God require of us?

First of all, it needs to be said that God owns all our money, right? In fact, God owns all our money just as much as He owns everything else we have, but when it comes to stewarding the money God has given us, how much are we to give?

Is the common position of American Christianity on the right track when it asserts that God allows you to keep 90% of His money? That seems to be the assumed position, isn’t it? Give 10% to the church, and any other additional offerings you want to give can be given to whomever you want.

That’s the typical way of approaching this subject.

And listen, I certainly don’t want to stand up here to disparage the practice of tithing because the reality is, a great deal of good has been accomplished by means of this approach to giving (more on that later). The question that concerns our attention, however, is, is that what the Bible really teaches? Because at the end of the day, we always want to make sure that our thinking on these matters reflect the teaching of scripture.

And hopefully we’ll discover what that is today.

Now, as we seek to discover what the biblical principles for giving are, we need to understand the differences between giving in the Old Covenant and giving in the New Covenant.

Remember, as Christians, we are not members of the Old Covenant; we are members of the New Covenant. There’s a different there! Now of course that doesn’t mean we don’t glean from the wisdom of the Old Covenant—surely we do!

But what it does mean is that we need to be careful not to make simplistic crossovers of certain laws by making them pass from one covenant to another covenant, without ever accounting for the unique and distinct situation of the New Covenant church, which is constitued a spiritual nation, in constrast to the nation of Israel under the Old Covenant which had a body of laws governing them as a religious geo-political entity.

So, that’s one point, and indeed an important point that needs to be understood; but in additiong to that, something else that needs to be underscored as well is that, not only do we want to avoid making simplistic applications of Old Testament law, but we also want to make sure we properly understand what it even meant to obey some of these laws within the context of the Old Covenant itself.

I’m afriad we don’t always do that. Sometimes we make ungrounded assumptions. I’m not specifically accusing any of you of doing this! This is something I’ve been guilty of doing before.

When it comes to the issue of tithing, for example, there was a time when I was making certain assumptions that upon further investigation, I came to find were wrong. My thinking about it was a little off-base, and needed further refinement.

And I say that simply to say that whenever we interpret the Bible, on the one hand, yes, we need to bridge the gap from Old Covenant to New Covenant, but then secondly, before we even do that, we need to first seek to understand what it actually meant to obey that specific law within the context of the Old Covenant itself, and that’s what I want us to now think about as it relates to tithing.

Now by no means is this going to be an extensive treatment on tithing. I don’t have time for that at all, but at the very least I do want to say enough so that hopefully we’ll be able to detect some of the obvious differences between the principles for giving under the Old Covenant in contrast to the New Covenant.

So with that in mind, how then did tithing function in the Old Testment?

Old Covenant Giving

Well, in the Mosaic law there are three key passages related to tithing and each one aids in our overall understanding of how the tithe functioned in ancient Israel. The passages that deal with this topic at length are Leviticus 27:30-33, Numbers 18:20-28, Deut 14:22-29.

Now, we’re not going to look at all these passages, but since the passage in Levitcus contains the formal introduction to the tithe, I want us to briefly take a look at that section. Turn to Lev 27:30-33.

Leviticus 27 has a lot to do with vows.

In the first 25 verses, the emphasis is on what can be vowed.

In V. 26, a shift takes place, where it begins to outline what is not liable to vows.

Three things that cannot be vowed: (1) firstborn of animals, (2) devoted things, (3) and the tithe of the land.

Reason why you cannot vow to give these things to the Lord is because they already belong to Him.

Lev 27:30-33, “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD’s; it is holy to the LORD. If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the LORD. One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

When you look at this passage, it’s clear that there are three categories of things the Israelites were required to tithe on, all of which was connected to the promised land. The beginning of V. 30 says, “Every tithe of the land”—referring to the land of Canaan. So, that’s the first thing to note—whatever they were tithing on was based upon what they had received within the land that God had marked off as holy.

But secondly, this passage also details some of the specific things they were to tithe on: (1) they were to give a tenth from seed of the land, (2) they were to give a tenth from the fruit of the trees, (3) they were to give a tenth of all their herds and flocks. These are the items on which the Israelites were to tithe.

There were specific products that were liable to tithe laws, but that wasn’t true of everything. God gave specific guidelines over what was to be tithed, how many times they were to tithe, what the tithes were to be used for, and to whom the tithes were to be given. God did not leave His people without direction!

What were they to tithe on? Seed, fruit, and herd.

How many times were they to tithe? Well, there’s a little bit of a debate about this, but when it comes down to it, they were basically tithing seven times over the span of three years.

The reason for that is because there were multiple tithes: there were three general categories that would be funded: (1) Levitical tithe, (2) festival tithe, (3) charity tithe.

For the Levitical tithe—given to the Levites, and the Festival tithe—given in support of Israel’s special holy days, for these two tithes the Israelites were to give towards them once a year, which is why they were anually giving about 20% of their increase from the land, but the charity tithe was a seperate tithe, given in support of the poor and widows, which was something you only had to contribute towards every third year.

So, over the span of 3 years, then, they were giving a total of about 23-24%. Now even that is an approximation because when we’re talking about tithing on agricultural products and livestock rather than monetary income, an exact figure is impossible to reach. Think about it: if you’re tithing on 15 lambs, it’s not like you are required to give 1 1/2 lambs away. It’s not like you need to cut the second lamb in half to get your tithe in! To tithe on 15 lambs only required them to give 1 lamb away.

So an exact figure is impossible calculate. But certainly somewhere upwards of 20% would be in the ballpark.

Now, what were the tithes to be used for?

Well, with Israel being a theocracy, where you have the union of church and state relations, there was no distinction between funding the government and funding the church, so to speak. And so, to pay your tithes was really a form of taxation that supported the social and religious aspects of life in Israel. Such givings would be used in support of many things, ranging from the temple, big religious events, people who were especially in need, and then of course the Priests and Levites.

The Levites who served God in the tabernacle and later the temple, received their income from the tithes of the people. In fact, Numbers 18:21-24 specifies that the tithe given to the Levites was given to them as an inheritance. Why? Well, it’s because they didn’t get any land like the other tribes did, specifically because God had called them to serve in the temple… but even though they didn’t have much land to cultivate and make a living off of, God still ensured that they would be supported for their unique labors, which came to them by means of the tithe.

Now, undoubtedly much more could be said about this topic, but hopefully that gives you a little bit of an overview with regards to how tithing worked in ancient Israel.

If you want to learn more, listen to David Croteau.

But with that out of the way, I want us to now try moving toward an understanding of New Covenant giving.

New Covenant Giving

What does the New Covenant require of us in terms of giving? Well, I think it’s important for me to reiterate again that the New Covenant church is in a different situation than the nation of Israel was under the Old Covenant. When the Israelites gave their tithes and offerings, it was funding both the political and religious spheres of life within the kingdom of Israel, which for them was all one and the same thing.

But for us it’s different. When we give to the church, we are supporting a local outpost of the kingdom of God, which is not to be associated with any national political body here on this earth.

Therefore, what they supported in one form of giving is supported by us in two forms of giving. In the first form of giving, we give to government; now not any government but the specific one we are under. In other words, whatever nation it is to which we belong, and happen to be citizens of, then that is the nation to whom we are to pay taxes—that’s our Caesar.

In the second form of giving, which is far more important, we also give to the church. And the same rule applies here too: whatever church we choose to identify with and associate with, then that is the specific church which ought to gain our support.

Now, of course that doesn’t mean exclusively gain our support. There are many great Christian movements and missionaries out there in the world that the Lord really might be laying on our hearts to rally behind and support on a financial level as well. And we should be sensitive to that—sensitive to how the Lord might be leading us to give to some of our brothers and sisters who are in need.

But the question is, how do I know what to give? What are the principles for giving that should guide my decisions?

Well, as far as I can see, there are three basic principles that ought to shape our hearts and minds as we think about giving, and we’ll look at each of these principles ever so briefly.

Principle # 1: Proportionate Giving

1 Cor 16:1-4, “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.”

In this passage, Paul is instructing the Corinthian church to financially contribute towards a fund that was being taken up for the needy saints in Jerusalem. Every first day of the week—every Sunday, the Corinthians were to systematically set aside some money, store it up, so that when Paul came, it would be easy for him to collect it as he made plans to have it delivered to Jerusalem.

But there’s an important point Paul highlights here that I want you to notice. In V. 2, Paul basically instructs them to give in accordance with their own prosperity: he says, “each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper.”

You see what Paul is saying here? He’s saying every believer should give, but how much they give should be in accord with the degree to which God has prospered them. In other words, it makes sense that someone who makes $150,000 would give more than someone who makes $50,000, and that someone who makes $50,000 would give more than someone who makes $15,000. You see, the point is that there should be a proportionality to our giving.

When we give, there are many factors we have to consider, but one of those factors should be: how much do I make? How prosperous am I? What is a reasonable amount to give that is in keeping with my income and that isn’t going to result in my own starvation?

Charles Hodge’s comments on this phrase is helpful. Commenting on the phrase, “as he may prosper,” Hodge notes that the offerer, “was to lay aside what by his success in business he was able to give. This is another principle which the apostle would have Christians to act upon. Their contribution should be in proportion to their means.”

So, that’s the first principle to keep in mind: New Covenant giving supports proportionate giving.

Principle # 2: Cheerful Giving

2 Corinthians 9:6-7, “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

God loves a cheerful giver. He loves it when we give out of the well-spring of our hearts, rather than just giving because we feel compulsed to do so. Giving shouldn’t be a drudgery, it should be a delight. It shouldn’t be a burden, it should be blessing.

As the Bible says, “it’s better to give than to receive:” there is so much blessing in being a happy, cheerful giver! God will bless it, so much so, “that whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” Now that doesn’t mean God’s going to give to you double the amount you give to others. Paul’s not promoting the prosperity gospel here, but he is, nevertheless, saying that giving leads to blessing! Your joy, and peace, and thanksgiving will be overflowing as you give to others, cheerfully.

And look, according to Paul’s admonition here, how much you give is not so much the issue inasmuch as how you give. Don’t give reluctantly; give cheerfully, and when you give make sure you have firmly established in your heart that that’s what you want to give, because that’s what you think is right to give.

And listen, if you feel obliged in your conscience to give 10% of your income, and have decided in your heart that that’s what you’re going to give as a matter of principle, then praise God for that! I think that’s a great idea, and wonderful principle to live by, but when you do it, here’s the key: do it, cheerfully.

Whenever we give, and whoever it is we give to, we should always aim to do it with a happy, glad, and cheerful heart, because God loves a cheerful giver!!

Principle # 3: Generous Giving

Proportionate giving—cheerful giving—generous giving.

Since your in 2 Corinthians 9, just turn back a page to 2 Corinthians 8.

As Paul is seeking to stir the hearts of the wealthy Corinthians to hopefully become a little more generous with their money, you’ll see how, in this section, he challenges their self-oriented mindset by telling them about some of the other impovershed churches in Macedonia who gave so generously and sacrificially.

2 Corinthians 8:1–5 “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.”

When Paul mentions the churches of Macedonia, he’s referring to the church of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. These churches were known for their generosity, because even though they were relatively poor, there was a wealth of generosity flowing out of their hearts. They wanted to give. They wanted to help; even when they were facing a severe test of affliction, it still didn’t hold them back from doing what they could to give as they were able: as V. 3 says, “they gave according to their means,” that is, they gave proportionately, but then beyond that, they also went so far as to give “beyond their means.”

Now, that doesn’t mean they were incurring a bunch of debt to do so—that’s not a good idea, but what it does mean, is that if you were to look at how much money they had and how much money they were making, and then you were to look at how much they were giving, you would say, ‘WOW!!… that’s a lot to give away—those people over there, really aren’t leaving themselves much wiggle room.’ That’s how generous they were. In fact, their generosity was so abundant that even, Paul, was almost beside himself because even, he, wasn’t expecting them to give as much as they were giving!

But that’s just how moved in the hearts they were to give. Their hearts were overflowing with the grace of God that they just wanted to do what they could to help. And by freely choosing to give so sacrifically in this way, they, thereby made things tougher on themselves in order to make things easier on others. They gave up some of their own resources, which they had the right to hold onto, in order to enrich and bless others.

CONCLUSION

When you think about the manner in which they chose to so freely give to others, does it not remind you of the specific manner in which God so freely chose to give of Himself, for needy sinners like us?

God is a very generous giver!

Such generosity was demonstrated in the Son of God, who voluntarily chose to lay aside what was rightfully His, so that through His sacrificial offering, we might be spiritually enriched.

That’s why just a few verses later in 2 Cor 8:9, Paul would say, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”

If there’s two things I want to say about the theme of giving this morning, it’s this:

1 - We are not saved by our giving; we are saved by God’s giving.

You cannot earn your way to God by giving to charity or by giving to this church!

There’s nothing you can do to be saved, expect receive the free gift of eternal life that’s offered to you in the gospel!

It’s free. You don’t have to pay God anything back in return.

You simply receive it, and give Him thanks!

2 - As you have freely received, freely give—not as a way of paying back to God a debt you think you owe, but as an expression of gratitude for all that God has freely given you in Jesus Christ!

There’s a whole host of ways we can give; it doesn’t always have to be in the form of money. We can give meals; time; possessions; clothes—I’ll tell you what, we barely ever have to go shopping for our girls because so many of you are always handing us a bunch of clothes!

We can give in so many different ways.

Not to say you’re not allowed to buy and sell.

It’s good to have an entrepenerial mindset as well, because the fact of the matter is, if you’re outgo exceeds your income, then eventually it’s going to reach a point when you have nothing to give.

So, be generous to share what God has given you, but also be wise not to foolishly throw everything away without any thought or prayer, because we do have responsibitlies to fulfill.

We’re all in different situations; we walk through different seasons of life: there’s bills; there’s family; there’s debts; there’s all kinds of things we have to think through and work through as we seek to wisely steward the resources and money God has given us.

But with all of that said, let me say this: giving is not optional; it’s not just commended, it’s commanded. Now, it’s not that you need to impoverish yourself by giving everything away either—that’s not what the Bible is advocating for at all. But nevertheless, it is advocating that we view giving as more than just an incidental aspect of the Christian life that we think about every blue moon.

Christian giving is not incidental, it’s fundamental; it’s not simply patterned after the Old Testament tithe; it’s patterned after the cross of Christ; it doesn’t simply find it’s basis in the law of Moses; it finds it’s basis in the Law of Christ which amplifies the Law of Moses by a long shot!

In conclusion, then: Christian giving is essentially rooted in the grace of God—it’s rooted in the grace of God in the sense that just as we freely and frequently receive from God, so we should freely and frequently give in a spirit of joy and thanksgiving.

So, let’s aim to do that.

Let’s aim to develop and cultivate the mind of Christ, so that insofar as we seek to live out this important aspect of the Christian life, we will be moved in our hearts to give a) proportionately, b) cheerfully, and c) generously.

Prayer

Widow’s offering - gave two small copper coins - contributed the most.