Formulating A ‘Giving Policy’
I have followed your insightful presentation, richly illustrated with historical facts, of what New Testament Giving is not. My quest, as a Believer, is to determine what a Scripturally based ‘giving policy’ should be.
The eighth and nineth chapters of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian Church deal extensively with the subject of acceptable giving in the New Testament (NT). It will do you a lot of good to read it several times over, perhaps in various translations, to get the full force of it.
The only kind of giving acceptable to God in the New Testament can be described under one word: GRACE. It is not giving by law, or as a commandment. Unless and until we understand grace and how it motivates giving, we really cannot understand God’s plan for our money as revealed in the NT. This is made clear in 2 Cor. 8:7 NKJV: As you abound in everything–in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us–see that you abound in this grace [of giving] also. The Bible speaks of both Law and Grace. Law is external, written on tablets of stone. It says, “Do this”, “Don’t do that”. But it is not inside us. Grace, however, is different. It works internally; from within, not from outside. It is written on the heart, not on tablets of stone. The source of grace is Jesus: ‘the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ’ (John 1:17 NKJV). Further, it is made available only through the Cross and what Jesus did on the Cross. This is true in our finances. 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NKJV) says ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich’.
What an exchange, a manifestation of grace! Jesus was rich, but He became poor out of His grace that we, through His grace, being poor, might become rich with His riches, that is, the wealth of the kingdom of God. Grace, the NT reveals, can only be received through faith. It is not what we deserve or can ever earn. It must also be emphasised that the faith that appropriates grace works by love. This is the foundation for NT giving.
Paul uses the example of the Macedonian Believers to ‘provoke’ the Corinthian Church and, by extension, us ‘unto love and to good works’ (Hebrews 10:24 KJV). The Macedonians began by first giving themselves to the Lord. That is how it must begin with every one of us: we must first give ourselves to the LORD. Do not give your money to the Lord if you have not given yourself first. You cannot buy a good relationship with God. He is alright by Himself and gets on well without your money. It is like a marriage in which the husband thinks all that is required of him is to provide the necessary comfort of life such as a beautiful, expensive, and tastefully furnished house, luxurious holidays and such like for his wife but he doesn’t have to be around. This erroneous thinking has brought many a marriage to grief. The wife craves for the presence of the husband more than all these presents. The woman may endure the marriage just for the presents — but NOT God. He wants you FIRST.
This principle is also expressed in Romans 12:1 (NLT): …I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
It is for our benefit that He requires us to give, but He has an order: He wants us first; then out of the giving of ourselves the kind of giving the NT talks about will flow naturally since all we ever get comes from Him. “Didn’t God give you everything you have? Well, then, how can you boast, as if what you have were not a gift?” 1 Cor. 4:7 (TEV),
In the United Kingdom the Exchequer, under a Chancellor (read: steward), is charged with the receipt and disbursement of royal revenues. Likewise, Believers are chancellors of the Exchequer of the Kingdom of God (see 1 Corinthians 4:2) — with a mandate to disburse (read: give) what God brings our way (income, salary, profit, increase in general) in line with the Agenda of The Kingdom (read: focus and emphasis). It is expected of the finance minister of Nigeria, for example, to be faithful to his Administration’s 7-Point Agenda.
Before we focus extensively on the Agenda of The Kingdom next, it’s beneficial to know that what we do with our money can establish us forever in God’s righteousness (2 Corinthians 9:9), and proper giving is an insurance against evil times (Psalm 41:1 & 112:9).
When evil times come, as they often do, if we have dealt faithfully with our money, we can confidently expect God to protect us and our families because we have committed, first, ourselves, then our finances to Him.
To be continued
Next: Testing ‘the soil’ before ‘sowing’
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First published on 12 July 2009 in my Making Sense of Life column in The Nation on Sunday, a Nigerian newspaper.
