This week we’re worshiping together in the
confession’s article on giving: “God is the source of all blessings, temporal
and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a
spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and
a binding stewardship in their possessions. They are therefore under obligation
to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions; and should
recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for
helping others. According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of
their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and
liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer's cause on earth” (Baptist Faith
& Message 2000, art. 13).
2 Corinthians 8-9 is my favorite New
Testament “theology of giving.” I’ve summed these chapters this way: “God, in
accordance to His plan and by the empowering of His grace, causes His Church to
be radically and unrestrainedly devoted to blessing the saints of God to the
increase of the giving of thanks to Him for His great glory." I love these
chapters and would teach through them every year if I could – not because I
love talking about giving, but because these chapters show giving as being started
by God’s grace in us, empowered by God’s provision to us, and having God as the
goal since He’s the One Who receives all the glory for it. It’s a God-centered,
not percentage-centered, view of giving. I love it. My prayer is continually
that God’s people get this into their understanding.
Giving is part of the covenant into which
all I.H.B.C. members enter when joining the Church: “Living in Christ, we
covenant to present our Christian experience in our community and world. We
acknowledge that all of our talents and possessions are from God, and we will
seek His guidance in their use. We commit to share our material resources and talents
for the support of the congregation, its ministries, and mission opportunities”
(CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS OF INDIAN HILLS BAPTIST CHURCH, IV., “Church Covenant”).
Most talk of giving in the Church today is
focused on facility payments. I don’t have any complaints about having
facilities, but it’s too easy for us to lose sight of the people for whom the
building has been built. So, I’d like give us a simple New Testament list of
reasons to give and spend on ministry:
·
Paying the man of God who works hard and
teaching and preaching (1 Corinthians 9:14; 1 Timothy 5:17,18). The
proclamation of the truth of God is foundational to the Church (1 Timothy
3:15), and those called/gifted of God to do this work are gifts of Christ to
the Church (Ephesians 4:4-16). The Church shows it understands this
indispensable and vital self-identity when it obeys the command of Scripture to
pay its preachers/teachers. This includes the support of missionaries who are
planting Churches and preaching the Gospel to the lost.
·
Making sure there are no needs within the
congregation (Acts 2:44,45; 4:32-37). Until a congregation has met the needs of
its own people it has no business doing so among the lost. Most verses used to
support caring financially for the poor in the Bible are taken out of context. In
the Old Testament these verses are speaking of the covenant people of God , Israel
·
The local Church is also to meet the needs
of other local Churches, no matter how far away they are. This is the context
of 2 Corinthians 8-9, the Empire-wide effort of the Churches to take up an
offering to help believers in Judea (Acts 11:28-30;
Romans 15:25-27). Churches are to help other Churches. I would observe that “help”
can include supporting those who travel to strengthen the faith of these
far-off Churches (Acts 14:21,22; 15:41; 18:23).
With all the great causes out there
(including paying a mortgage or rent on ministry facilities), let’s commit
ourselves to the basics of biblical giving.
God gives us the grace to desire to give.
God gives us the provision to give.
God causes those who receive the gift to
give Him praise for the gift.
God gets glory. This is biblical giving.
