Giving Which Pleases God
And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."
Any Christian wants to please the Heavenly Father. The desire to please the Father flows from filial devotion. God is our Father and as His children, we want to always do that which is pleasing to Him. We want to be wise administrators of all that He has entrusted to our care. Certainly, we are responsible to wisely administer the spiritual gifts He has entrusted to us at salvation. We are equally responsible to demonstrate wisdom in administering the earthly wealth entrusted to us.
The wisdom we are called to demonstrate in administering earthly goods begins with our understanding that possessions are entrusted to us by God. This neither denies nor depreciates individual resourcefulness, personal integrity, intelligence, or other positive character traits we associate with successful individuals; the Word of the Lord given by the Teacher recorded in Ecclesiastes 10:10 is yet true:
If the axe is dull
and its edge unsharpened,
more strength is needed
but skill will bring success.
The statement that we are to recognise God as the ultimate source of possessions is simply to refocus attention on the foundational issue, the understanding that it is the Lord God who distributes gifts such as intelligence, strength, and whatever abilities contribute to individual success. What do you have that you did not receive? [1 Corinthians 4:7] is the thought provoking biblical summary statement.
Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthian congregation, spoke of wise administration of possessions, and in particular instructed his readers in wise giving—giving which pleases God. Join me in examination of this biblical instruction that we may those characteristics which are pleasing to Him who gives freely to all who call upon Him.
Zeal — Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it. By this statement, Paul commends the desire of the Corinthians. They were eager to give and their eagerness is seen as a desirable trait. Lacklustre giving and grudging response to need in no way honours the Lord God. The congregation which will excel in the grace of giving is eager to give.
Zeal should mark every Christian endeavour. The ardent Christian is a comely Christian. Perhaps one of the darker blots on the church of this day is that Christians so long for acceptance in the world that we become casual and cool in the performance of our ministries. If the congregation expects that the preacher should blaze with fervour in the preaching of the Word, then does it not follow that the remainder of the assembly ought also to be zealous in every aspect of worship? The people of God should reveal the zeal of the Lord in all that they do. Even in the act of giving we should rejoice and eagerly come before the Lord with our gifts.
Have you ever noticed the worship of the Hebrews as described in the Old Testament? Listen to one call to worship recorded in the Psalms.
Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD.
[Psalm 150:1-6]
When Solomon dedicated the Temple of the Lord the nation united in worship. Listen to a description of that worship. When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark, and they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests, who were Levites, carried them up; and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted … The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang:
"He is good;
his love endures forever."
Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God [2 Chronicles 5:4-6, 11-14].
I cite one other passage from the Old Testament which speaks of the worship at the time the wall was dedicated in the days of Nehemiah. You will recall that this is worship offered after Babylonian captivity and in a day when the people had been divinely chastised for their sin.
I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate. Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed them, along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, as well as some priests with trumpets, and also Zechariah son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph, and his associates—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah and Hanani—with musical instruments prescribed by David the man of God. Ezra the scribe led the procession. At the Fountain Gate they continued directly up the steps of the City of David on the ascent to the wall and passed above the house of David to the Water Gate on the east.
The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of the wall, together with half the people—past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, over the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. At the Gate of the Guard they stopped.
The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; so did I, together with half the officials, as well as the priests—Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah with their trumpets—and also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam and Ezer. The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah. And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.
At that time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes. From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites. They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did also the singers and gatekeepers, according to the commands of David and his son Solomon. For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron.
On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people [Nehemiah 12:31-13:1].
From these excerpts we gain insight into the worship of our spiritual forebears. That worship was noisy and vibrant, filled with musical instrumentation and loud singing and shouts of joy. On occasion people even stood to dance before the Lord. I am not suggesting that it was chaotic, but it drew observers in as the worshippers exulted in the goodness of God. I believe it fair to say that above all else, Hebrew worship was exciting.
It is interesting, even tragic, to note that when the excitement of meeting with the Living God ceased, worship degenerated into mere rite and ritual. Whether we anticipate meeting with the Living God or merely attend the services of the Lord out of duty depends in no small measure on our view of God. Expectation reveals that we know God to be exciting.
In the New Testament, there was likewise eagerness to worship, so much so that Paul was compelled to comment on the alternate problem of too many trying to speak at once! When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church [1 Corinthians 14:26]. While he continued to insure that chaos did not prevail and that the Body was built up, he did not rebuke the people for their desire to each one participate in worship. New Testament worship is likewise exciting.
I have spoken of days in which I worshipped in the New Birth Baptist Church in the South Oak Cliff section of Dallas. On the first occasion I participated in Sunday morning worship, I had no idea what to expect. Lynda was with me; Rochelle was but a new-born and Susan was not quite five years of age. Before ever the preaching began, we had been at church for over an hour. The message was not as extended as you might think, but the words of the pastor were punctuated with exclamations of praise and agreement from the congregation.
“Amen!” “Glory!” “Tell it!” “Preach it, brother!” “Preach on!” “Oh, my Lord!” “Yes! Yes!” and similar exclamations greeted Scriptural truths for the whole of the hour that the message continued. On occasion, a young man might stand, rushing to the vicinity of the preacher and wave his hanky while loudly exclaiming on some spiritual truth just stated. The people rejoiced in the presence of the Lord and revealed their joy.
I suppose in that entire congregation of about three hundred people, only my Susan slept. Lynda found it necessary to retreat to the foyer with Rochelle who had become restless and required a diaper change. The pastor’s wife assured her that she would look after Susan, so Lynda left just as the invitation was beginning. At the invitation, which would continue for more than an hour, the people stood and swayed in time to the rhythms provided by the choir. Cries of joy broke from many within the congregation even as cries of sorrow escaped the lips of others. A woman began to dance in the aisle and almost everyone was clapping and loudly praising God. With the eruption of joyful praise, Lynda was startled and surprised. Not knowing the source of the noise, she was concerned for Susan’s welfare. I could see what Lynda could not see, however. Susan had awakened at the sound of shouting and was standing on the pew swaying with the congregation, clapping her little hands and loudly praising God as that good woman beside her simply put her arms around her and moved with her. The overriding memory from those days was the sincerity of the worship, the spontaneity with which the worshippers expressed their joy, and the fact that it was real.
When the head of our Canadian Baptist Missionaries spoke at the B. C. Assembly about four years ago, he showed a film of worshippers in Angola during an offering received for missionary work. The people were poor and had no great wealth. They brought chickens and eggs, and what little moneys they might have. They danced to the front to give each gift, and their dance was punctuated with shouts and loud singing.
I am not suggesting that Canadian worshippers should adopt a particular practise simply because others do so; I only relate these experiences to demonstrate that worship, when God attends that worship, cannot help but be joyful; and the joyful soul cannot long be silent. There was an eagerness to give which apparently flowed from an eagerness to honour God, and Paul commended this zeal. Just so, if we will please God in our worship, and if our giving is an act of worship, we will be fervent in the act of giving.
Commitment — Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it. Zeal is worthless if it does not lead to completion of the contemplated deed. The great debilitating malaise of the churches in these dawning days of the Twenty-first Century is the lack of commitment witnessed among the professed saints of the Lord God. The symptoms of the illness are seen in expressions such as open membership (which is but tacit refusal to enter into covenant with one another), in failure to participate in ongoing ministries of the churches (which is but tacit refusal to share with others the gifts God has graciously entrusted to His saint) and in failure to share of material goods to the same extent that we squander the entrusted goods on ourselves.
As an aside which should be shameful to us as Christians, it is reported that we spend more on pet foods than on human relief efforts. It is reported that we spend more on cosmetics than on missionary advance. It is reliably reported that we spend more on entertainment than on provision of evangelistic literature and Bibles. We must confess that our spending testifies to our lack of commitment.
Modern Christians appear suspicious of commitment or to any call for an expression of long-term commitment. It seems somehow easier to simply set up housekeeping with one another than to make a public vow of commitment to love through every vicissitude of life. It seems easier to move from church to church than to work out whatever difficulties we may encounter in interpersonal relationships. While it may make some of us uncomfortable to be confronted with such demands, I am compelled to challenge you as the Apostle challenged the Galatian saints: Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? [Galatians 4:16]. Shall I reveal my love for you through expecting less of you than you are capable of providing? Does God Who created us and Who knows us ask too much of His people? The answer to such questions is self-evident and only one bent on determined rebellion would resist such a call.
Dear people, I am convinced that First Baptist Church is a people called by God to glorify His Name, and I am committed to declaring His truth so that we may fulfil that calling. Will we honour Christ in the conduct of your life? We must determine to commit ourselves to His great cause. Will we perform those deeds which make an eternal difference? We must commit ourselves to Him alone. Will we fulfil the ministry He has assigned us? We must commit ourselves to serve His people. Though disparaged by the world about us, commitment to a great cause results in great demonstrations of power and in glory to the Lord!
Willingness — Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable. Zeal and commitment underpin willingness. You know that I discourage participation in this act of worship by those believers who have no joy in their life. We encourage heavy-hearted individuals to reflect on the goodness of God. This is not to excuse anyone from worship; it is but to set aside the specific act until such time that we can honour God. Neither is this to discourage anyone from participating in worship nor from entering into the work of those whom God has appointed to such tasks as require our participation through giving. It is but to ask those who sorrow and who grieve to wait, perhaps holding their gifts, until such time that they can again view the giving as an act of worship.
Just as the believer with an improper motive ought not to approach the Lord’s Table, so the believer with bitterness of heart ought not to endeavour to worship through giving. Just as the injunction to examine ourselves before the Lord’s Table does not permanently exclude us from worship but is rather a temporary expedient to assist us to return at another time with proper motives, so the injunction against giving while in angry or ungrateful is not to permanently excuse us. It is a temporary expedient to assist us to recover our ability to worship.
One of the reasons I cannot bring myself to institute a pledge system is this issue of willingness. I do not question that those who pledge what they intend to give in a given year can complete that pledge with willing hearts, but I also recognise the subtle shift from a condition of personal freedom to a promissory system. A pledge is in effect a promissory note, and God would have us worship willingly.
In a wonderful church, one which blessed my family and me greatly, it was the custom for all the membership to make a pledge each year. I recall that it was a continuing source of conflict between others on the staff and myself. My immediate supervisor, a godly man whom I deeply respect as a man of God, asked on one occasion, “Mike, are you going to co-operate, or do you still have a constitutional prohibition against pledging?” Laughing, I simply told that good man, “Methodists pledge. Baptists give. I’m a Baptist.” That good man held the opinion that an individual who would not pledge would not give. I did not agree then, and I do not agree now. It is love for the Lord which leads us to participate in the worship of giving, and that must always be a willing participation.
Since every individual enrolled in Sunday School and every member of the congregation were encouraged to sign a pledge card, the Business Administrator on one occasion phoned my home and asked if Stephen, at the time a mere toddler, was going to pledge. I would say to Charlie, “I don’t know. I’ll put him on the phone and you can talk to him.”
What is interesting is that privately many would concede that I was correct, but nevertheless felt it was not expedient to trust such a large number of people. Dear people, I do believe in worship through giving. I also believe in mutual trust. If you trust the administrators of your gifts, you will give. I also trust the people of God to do more then I could ever anticipate when they are first submitted to the Lord—zealous for His work and committed to His church and to His people. Then, the people of God will give willingly and the gifts will be sufficient to meet the expectations of God and thus exceed every human expectation.
Responsibility — The gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. Are you surprised that a message on the act of worship through giving begins with exploration of zeal and commitment and willingness? The prevailing attitude seems to be that people must be put under constraints if they will do what is right. Such attitudes demonstrate a desire to control the will and actions of others and to enforce conformity instead of expressing trust in the operation of God’s Holy Spirit. The whole of the instruction on the exercise of spiritual gifts and the whole of the teaching on worship emphasises mutual respect and mutual trust. If we will please God, we will endeavour to recapture trust and respect for one another as God’s Spirit leads us individually. The Baptist genius lies in this concept and is seen in the unity of the Spirit as individuals express oneness, the Spirit working personally to unite openly.
Without the desire to participate in the advance of the church, we cannot please God. Without determination to continue to serve God, we will not long stay at the task. Without willing hearts, our gifts cannot please God. If we are zealous for God—committed to His work and willing to participate in that work—we shall act responsibly. The biblical language is that of verse twelve: the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. The focus of giving is on attitude and not on ability.
Two thoughts predominate in any consideration of this verse. First, we are responsible for that which God entrusts to us. Second, we honour God through responsible administration of our goods. Consider these two concepts with me. We are responsible for that which God entrusts to us. Such a statement recognises that God is the source of what we have. We may argue that we want more, but realistically we are hard pressed to argue that we deserve more. Throughout the Word of God are a number of statements which speak of God as the giver of our goods.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows [James 1:17]. Most of us will agree that God does give what is good and perfect. We are quick to acknowledge that He gives freely to all in need. However, even what we may consider the negative side of His giving is yet by His will, and not by ours. Writing the Corinthians, Paul asked: who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not [1 Corinthians 4:7]? Any possession and all possessions are ultimately derived from God.
Concluding Hebrews Chapter Eleven the chapter, the author writes: And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised [Hebrews 11:32-39].
These great men and women administered what they possessed. They did not consider God unfair because they did not receive ease of life. The reason they are considered heroes is because they honoured God through wise use of what they did possess, beginning with their very lives! We conclude that we honour God through responsible administration of our goods.
The widow at Zarapath to whom Elijah was sent possessed only some flour and a small cruse of oil, yet she was willing to use that to the glory of God by feeding His servant. Consequently, she was blessed. The widow who put into the treasury all that she possessed, two small copper coins, two lepta, was blessed by Christ Himself because she thought to honour God [Luke 21:1-4]. It is not what you possess which is of consequence to the Living God, it is the manner in which you administer what you have that matters.
Consider a parable Christ has provided. The parable related in Matthew 25:14-30 tells of the division of goods by a wealthy man. Consider only the master’s commendation to the first two servants. The master is represented as saying: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness [Matthew 25:21, 23]! One faithful over small matters—the administration of goods of this world—will be blessed with responsibility over great matters. The principle is an axiom of the Faith and is pointedly stated in Luke 12:48: From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. The issue is stated equally well in Luke 16:10: Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
We are responsible to wisely administer all that God has entrusted to us—beginning with our lives and extending to the goods of this earth. We are to honour God through wise administration of those goods, but we are not to assume responsibility for what we do not have. Do not fall into the trap of comparing yourself to someone else, gauging worth by ability to give. Instead, realise that your worth rests in your relationship to God through the Lord Jesus Christ and that because you are His you can glorify His Name through employing what you do possess.
Proportionality — Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. The principle here stated has sometimes been given the title of proportionate giving. The concept is that believers are to give in keeping with their income and thus share the load equally. Those with smaller resources bear little burden and those with greater resources bear proportionately greater burden. The greater my ability, the greater my responsibility. The greater my resources, the greater my capacity to give.
I frequently pray for God’s people, asking that God will bless them with earthly goods. I do not particularly wish ease for God’s people nor do I wish that we could each live in luxury, although such is not wrong in itself. My purpose in so praying is that I seek greater blessing for the Body of Christ because in the wisdom of God, as He blesses us materially we are able to employ those goods to His glory. The dangers, on the one hand, are quite real. Listen again to the familiar warnings of 1 Timothy 6:6-10: godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Similarly, the potential blessings are tremendous if we can but discipline ourselves to honour God in our giving. Paul’s appeal to the Corinthians was for a generous offering to relieve the physical suffering of the saints in Jerusalem. The gifts of the Corinthians would relieve the Jewish believers until such time the Jewish believers were able to provide relief for the Corinthian believers. The principle flows from the sayings of the wise man recorded in Proverbs 11:24-26:
One man gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
A generous man will prosper;
he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
People curse the man who hoards grain,
but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell.
Regardless of what we possess, the plea is for generosity in giving; but it is a plea for generosity directed by the principle of proportionality.
This principle is neglected and/or misunderstood by the most of God’s professed people. An individual cannot necessarily give a small gift with regularity and claim to honour God. Neither can we set a dollar amount and say that such represents the will of God for everyone. The words of the Apostle bars the concept of a tithe, or the concept of any other ratio of giving. The principle teaches that participants in the worship of God through giving are to be viewed as individuals having worth and dignity and ability to judge for themselves what is appropriate.
In short, giving is guided by ability to give—the greater one’s holdings, the greater one’s responsibility; the less one’s possessions, the less one’s responsibility. Whatever amount I possess, I am not hindered by distributing the gifts with a generous spirit; and God is the final arbiter of the size of my gift relative to what I have received as a sacred trust.
Review your possessions. In honesty, do you spend more on cosmetics then on advance of the Kingdom of God? Can you justify your giving? Do you spend more on personal entertainment and personal enjoyment then on missionary enterprise? Can you continue to justify such giving? Before God, would you say that you are a generous giver? Perhaps you are in a straitened situation and wish you were able to give more. Have you prayed, asking God to entrust to you a larger gift so that you can do more then you are now doing?
A dear friend to our family died last summer. He lived on the funds provided by the standard Canada Pension Plan stipend and a GAIN cheque, being confined to a nursing home. When this dear man received an increase in the cost of care, an increase in the cost of oxygen (which he required to continue life), an increase in the cost of medications, he bemoaned to me his inability to continue to give a generous offering to his church. He longed to do more, but he could only afford twenty dollars a month from his cheque, all the remainder being attached by room, board, oxygen and medications.
How can you comfort such a one? What can you say to encourage such a person? I pointed out the story of the widow’s gift which moved Jesus to praise and exclamation. I pointed out the words of the Apostle. Just so, to any such who have the desire to give but lack the means, I point you to the words of the Apostle and remind you that if you keep the desire, in His time, God who maintains accurate accounts, will set the record straight and you shall receive a reward in due time. Keep the desire, and God may well provide you the means to fulfil the longing. Even if Christ should fail to entrust earthly riches to you, your desire shall assuredly serve to encourage others and enable them to wisely administer what they do have.
Let us each aspire to obtain all the goods of this earth that we can accumulate, but let us aspire to gather these goods that we may serve God in a powerful fashion. Let none of us think that our value in the eyes of God, nor that our value in the advance of the Kingdom of God, is determined by what we hold in the coin of the realm of the flesh. Let us each remember that our worth lies in the fact that we are citizens of the eternal home, that we are called by the Name of Christ the Lord, and that we have access to the throne of the Father through the merits of Christ. Amen.
