How to Give an Offering

Here we are today at the end of this series about why we do the things that we do when we come to church. There is one more piece of worship for us to talk about: the offering. For most of the time that this church has been around, the offering took place in the middle of the service. Deacons come forward with baskets and pass down the rows. Ever since Covid, our deacons have made the switch to having the offering baskets right at the door as we leave. I had one person here make the comment to me that he liked the offering better in the middle of the service because that’s when he would read through the bulletin. I don’t think he was being entirely serious; it is certainly not the reason we take an offering—so that you have a few minutes of down time to flip through the announcements.

I suppose if the offering was nothing more than a business transaction, then it wouldn’t matter much what you do during that time. I mean, if the only point of the offering is for the church to collect money, then there is not much that is ‘worshipy’ about it. After all, the church is a non-profit organization which depends of donations to fund its activities. Somehow, this exchange needs to happen so that the church can pay our expenses and keep ministry activities going.

the opportunity we have every Sunday to express generosity with our blessings is an act of worship

But the offering is more than that. This is more than a business transaction or fund-raising endeavor. It is part of worship. The opportunity we have every Sunday to express generosity with our blessings is an act of worship. Let’s consider today how that works and what it means for us to be worshipping God through an act of generosity.

2 Corinthians 9:6–15 NIV

6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 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. 8 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. 9 As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” 10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

This passage from the apostle Paul is so often misinterpreted by television preachers who promote a health-and-wealth gospel. They preach that the secret to getting more money is to give more money to God—specifically send it in to their television ministry. I remember one of the chaplain visits I made while working at Bronson Hospital was to a sick man who was not at all engaging in any conversation during my visit. He did not want me to read the Bible with him; he did not want prayer. I kept the visit short and got up to leave. That’s when he stopped me and asked me this question: why didn’t you ask me for money? In this man’s past experience, people who represent God or the church are only out to get your money. It explained to me why he was avoiding any engagement during the few minutes I was in the room. After I explained that I was not there to ask for money, he invited me to sit back down and we visited further.

That is not an isolated incident. There are churches around that will not preach about tithing and stewardship because they think it offends people and turns them off—that same line of thinking: the church only wants to get our money. I suppose that is understandable since there are these health-and-wealth gospel preachers out there who are just trying to swindle people. So then, let’s spend some time figuring out what this offering is really all about and why we do this every week as part of our worship.

Greek charis = gift, blessing, generosity, thanksgiving, grace

There is a key word in this passage from 2 Corinthians 9 which gets a bit lost in translation. It is the Greek word charis. This word comes across into English with many nuances. Charis literally means “gift.” But the root word charis is found all over the place in this passage. It is also behind the English word “bless” or “blessing.” It is the word this passage translates into English as generous and generosity. It is the root of the Greek word eucharist, which shows up in this passage as “thanks” and “thanksgiving.” And most prominently it is translated into English as “grace” — which we hold as the very center of the gospel.

connection between the actions of God on our behalf, and the actions of the church in response to what God has done and continues to do

Look again at this passage. Every mention of gift, generosity, blessing, thanksgiving, and grace all come from the same word—the same idea. It all points to the same meaning. The apostle Paul is not just setting up the business logistics for financial assistance to be received from the Christians in Corinth. He is making a connection between the actions of God on their behalf, and the actions of the church in response to what God has done and continues to do. The grace of God, the blessing from God, the thanksgiving of the church, and the generosity of the church are all connected—in the Greek Bible it all comes from the exact same word (charis).

Let’s spend the rest of our time working through these connections to see we can better embrace this thing we call the offering as an act of worship.

Old Testament tithe — 10% religious tax

Tracing back through the Old Testament, it wasn’t always referred to as just an offering. The Old Testament calls it a tithe. In fact, the Old Testament law mandated that all Israelites were supposed to give 10% of all their earnings as a tithe to God. That money would help support the the Levite people who served in Israel as priests as well as for costs of maintaining the temple and synagogues and all the associated costs of Israel’s system of religious sacrifices. And do not forget that in the times of the Bible, Israel’s entire legal and justice system came from the law of God. The tithe would also provide resources for the religious scholars, judges, and courts. For Old Testament Israelites, the tithe was not so much an offering as it was a tax—something they had to pay.

New Testament charis — freewill offering

In the New Testament, the language of tithe is replaced with charis—a gracious blessing of generosity given in thanksgiving. Often the church has still pointed to the 10% margin as a guiding reference. Just as the Old Testament people were required to give 10% as a tithe, so we look to a 10% threshold as a benchmark indicator. Let me explain what I mean by that. In this passage and several others in the New Testament we find examples of God’s people giving whatever they can as there were needs existing around them. But this was not reactionary giving. In other words, they did not just wait around until a need of some kind presented itself. They decided ahead of time that they would section off a portion of what they had for generosity. That way, when the need would arise they wouldn’t have to go digging in their wallet to see if there happened to be anything leftover which they could contribute. No, they were ready to be generous at the outset because they set aside a portion of their material belongings first.

Cain & Able — priority of firstfruits

Do you see the difference? The part of the tithe which carries forward into the New Testament and in the church for us yet today is an intentional decision to be generous to God FIRST, and then provide for our own needs out of whatever is leftover. Too often we see examples in our world in which generosity is not the first priority, but the afterthought. Too often we see in our world people who take care of their own desires FIRST, and then find generosity with whatever might be leftover, if there is anything leftover at all. The practice of weekly offering in church reminds us that we do not give from the leftovers; generosity is not an afterthought for us which only takes place if there happens to be anything left after I am done spending on myself first.

offering as firstfruits — intentional generosity comes out first, not leftovers

This helps us move away from thinking of the offering as a transaction, and closer to seeing our offering as a response of grace. I remember once hearing a sermon about offering in which the minister suggested that we take the collection, bring it out into the parking lot, and burn it all. He was not suggesting we ACTUALLY do that, but offered it as a frame of reference to think about the story from John 12 in which Mary Madeline pours expensive perfume all over Jesus. The Disciple Judas calls it a complete waste; but Jesus commends Mary for her action—a gift of love and thanksgiving simply given to God because it could be given. I am not saying we should go out and burn today’s offering—after all, it’s illegal by Title 18 of the US criminal code to destroy US currency.

offering as gift — the giver expects nothing in return

However, such a thing would help us understand that the offering we give is not intended to be a transaction; it is intended to be a response of grace. For those who view the offering as a transaction there is always a thought towards what we might get back out of it. To be fair, Paul gives us that kind of language in this passage. But the return-on-investment that Paul talks about here in 2 Corinthians is what he calls a “harvest of righteousness.” As those who have already been redeemed and made righteous by Christ, this is not an investment which comes back to us, but a return which comes back through us; that is, the blessing of Christ passed to others through our acts of generosity.

I think this is what Jesus had in mind when he teaches about generosity in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6 Jesus says…

Matthew 6:1–4 NIV

1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Jesus talks about a different kind of reward here. The return on investment is not an earthly reward. But only a few verses later in Matthew 6 Jesus talks about storing up treasures in heaven, and concludes by saying…

Matthew 6:21 NIV

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

These add up for us to make generosity an act of worship. The offering time in our worship service is our response of gratitude for the heavenly grace which has been poured out upon us which produces a harvest of righteousness. There are some ways in which you can make this offering time more worshipful; and this may apply differently as we may have different ways of participating.

pause as my offering is prepared to pray

gratitude to God for providing this blessing

that God wold bless the use of this gift for the benefit of others

If you are the kind of person who writes a check and uses those little envelopes that our deacons provide, there is an opportunity to pause as that check is being made to pray in gratitude to God for providing this blessing, and that God wold bless the use of this gift for the benefit of others. It is a prayer which can be repeated in your head in that moment of placing it into the basket which our deacons have set by the door.

keep the annual church budget (name the ministries)

If you want to be even more intentional, try this. Every year our council distributes an annual budget which the members of this church vote to approve. This means that you have before you an estimate of where we intend every dollar to go that is received. This can be so much more than a budget spreadsheet; it can be a prayer list which allows us to specifically name in prayer the ministry items to which we are giving.

Maybe you are like me and all of your finances are electronic. I cannot even remember the last time I wrote an actual paper check—or maybe you don’t even have an actual checkbook to go with your bank accounts. Like some of you, I do not bring an actual check or cash here on Sundays for the offering. Instead I give online and it comes to the church straight from my bank. But there is still the same opportunity to say that same prayer when I am inputing the online contribution as I could do if I were writing a check or donating cash.

posture matters (process does not matter)

The process we choose of giving an offering is not the important part. The posture of our hearts towards this regular act of generosity is the important part. I like the change that our deacons have made to place the offering at the door as we are leaving. There is something symbolic in knowing that the very first action we do when leaving this sanctuary on Sunday is an act of generosity. It is symbolic because it sends us out into a new week which will be filled with opportunities to be generous. It allows us to express an act of worship which is a response of gratitude to God and at the same time launches us into a week in which that response of gratitude to God may continue through our generosity. We practice and rehearse this piece of generosity every Sunday in worship so that we are ready to continue being generous when we leave this place and go about our week.