Grace-Enabled Generosity
Last week, I preached the first part of a two-part message on the church’s generosity. We looked at 2 Corinthians 8:1-7 and how God’s grace enabled the poor and struggling churches of Macedonia to give generously toward a collection for the church in Jerusalem. Paul used the example of the Macedonian churches to encourage and exhort the Corinthian church to also give generously toward this collection.
The Holy Spirit inspired this text so that the Macedonian churches might also encourage generosity in all the churches of the Lord Jesus. I said that the Macedonian churches stand as an indictment to churches in our culture because they gave generously out of their poverty, while we give stingily out of our wealth.
To back that claim up, I referenced research showing that American Christians on average give 3% of their household income to churches and charities. One of the main reasons why this is the case is consumerism. Our culture has trained us to see wants as needs and to think that spending the vast majority of money on ourselves is normal and okay.
We talked about how giving is the best antidote to consumerism because our treasure always follows our hearts (Matt. 5:21). We talked about other ways to kill consumerism and live radically simple lives for the sake of greater generosity.
How Much Should Christians Give?
There are lots of questions that I purposefully left unanswered last week. Perhaps the one that many of us wrestle with the most is, “How much should we give?” Another way the question is often asked is, “Do Christians have to tithe?”
The word “tithe” literally means “a tenth.” Thus, tithing is giving one tenth of our income to the Lord. Tithing was part of life in Old Testament Israel. There were two tithes every year (the Levitical tithe and festival tithe) and a third tithe every third year (the charity tithe) that the Israelites were commanded to give. There’s great debate among God-fearing, Bible-loving, Jesus-following people about how these commands relate to Christians.
Let me give you a summary of where I’ve landed on this question and then I’ll try to unpack it. The New Testament doesn’t command Christians to tithe, but it also doesn’t cancel the tithe as a principle. Giving under the New Covenant is enabled by grace and should be filled with joy, generous, sacrificial, driven by love, determined by the individual, based on income, regular and deliberate. Giving in the New Covenant is integral to fulfilling the Great Commission and creates worship to God.
No Command to Tithe in the New Testament
The New Testament doesn’t command Christians to tithe. Theologian Thomas Schreiner says, “There are decisive reasons for concluding that Christians are not obligated to tithe today.” He points out that, because the temple, Levites, and whole sacrificial system have passed away, and because one of the regular tithes was to support this work, there’s no need for this tithe. Jesus is our Great High Priest and Jesus’ followers are a new priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9), thus tithing isn’t commanded for Christians because the reason for the command to tithe, namely, to support the work of the priests is no longer in effect. Because the tithe is tied to the Old Covenant, which is no longer in force, the tithe is no longer a command. The fact that Christians don’t have to tithe is wonderful news because it means that we no longer need the temple or the sacrifices!
Another reason the tithe is no longer commanded is because it’s difficult to know exactly how much the Israelites were commanded to give. It was without question more than ten percent. But most who support the command to tithe assume that the amount was ten percent, but it was clearly more than that.
Some support tithing by saying that Jesus supported tithing. They say that Jesus commended the tithe when he says to the Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others” (Matt. 23:23).
At first glance, Jesus seems to commend tithing, but when we remember that he was speaking to Pharisees who were the leaders in living out the Old Covenant, and that Jesus said this before his death and resurrection, we understand that he wasn’t commending tithing to New Covenant Christians. Jesus also commended sacrifices at the temple (Matt. 5:23-24), but that doesn’t mean that we should offer sacrifices if the temple were rebuilt. Jesus was “born under the law” (Gal. 4:4) and spoke to those under the law about what they should do, not about what we who’re no longer under law, but under grace (Rom. 6:14), should do.
Tithing is a Good Principle
This doesn’t mean that tithing can’t be a useful principle in our giving. The tithe may not be a command anymore, but it serves as a good template because of the example of God’s people giving a tenth of their possessions to the Lord before the Law of Moses was given (Gen. 14:17-20, 28:20-22). And Jesus or the apostles never tell us not to tithe.
The tithe can be a good starting point for our giving. Randy Alcorn compares tithing to a baby’s first steps. They aren’t their last or best steps, but they’re a start. He says tithing can be like training wheels, or a mechanism to help you start giving. After a while, you don’t need the wheels. It therefore seems wise to start our giving at ten percent and see where God takes it from there. College students, start doing this early in your life so that it becomes a built-in discipline, then as you start making money, try to increase the amount you give to the Lord’s work as your income goes up.
The New Testament Vision for Giving
The New Testament doesn’t command Christians to tithe, but it also doesn’t cancel the tithe as a principle. Giving under the New Covenant is enabled by grace and should be filled with joy, generous, sacrificial, driven by love, determined by the individual, based on income, regular and deliberate. Giving in the New Covenant is also integral to fulfilling the Great Commission and creates worship to God.
Enabled by Grace
Our giving is enabled by grace. We saw this last week in 2 Corinthians 8:1-2. We know that grace has come to us when every aspect of our lives is redirected to God and his purposes.
Joyful Giving
Our giving should be filled with joy. In verse 2, Paul says that one of the things that fueled the generosity of the Macedonian churches was “their abundance of joy.” Grace created joy which created generosity.
The Macedonian churches refused to let hard circumstances keep them from the joy of giving. I’ll never forget my grandparents enthusiastically supporting me on every mission trip I ever went on. They’d usually give more than anyone else, despite only living on a meager social security income. They loved to give. They were happy to give. This is what grace does.
The Bible also says that joy results from our giving. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Some of the happiest people you know are probably people who don’t have a lot materially, but who live generously. They give out of joy and get more joy as they give. It’s a beautiful circle of joy. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, said, “The less I spent on myself and the more I gave to others, the fuller of happiness and blessing did my soul become.”
Look at 2 Corinthians 9:7 for how God responds to this kind of giving. Paul is saying that God loves those who give in a certain way, not just those who give. God sees our attitudes, not just our actions. God loves joyful givers, not givers who give because they have to (“under compulsion”), or who think about all the other things they could be doing with the money (“not reluctantly”). God loves joyful giving because it reveals a heart made happy by his grace.
Generous
Our giving should be generous. We saw last week how the Macedonians gave generously (8:2). God’s grace to these churches produced “a wealth of generosity.” Lack of money or affliction didn’t keep them from being generous.
Sacrificial
Our giving should be sacrificial. Verse 3 says they gave “beyond their means.” God’s grace gave them power to do things they didn’t think they could do. The Macedonian churches weren’t giving from their surplus. They joyfully gave out of their poverty, giving more than Paul expected or may have even thought wise.
Driven by Love
Our giving should be driven by love (vv. 8, 24). The mention of love in verse 8 prompts Paul to remember the greatest act of love in verse 9. Jesus’ death for us is the ultimate demonstration of love. It’s his love that creates love in us for others, which then results in generous giving. Paul says at the end of verse 8 that their love will prove to be genuine as a result of their giving. His argument is simple: no giving, no love.
Determined by the Individual
Our giving is something that we must determine to do. Paul says that giving should be determined by the individual (2 Cor. 9:7). This principle comes from Exodus. After the Lord saved his people from slavery in Egypt, he instructed them to build him a tabernacle. But the way he instructed them to give toward this work is amazing (25:1-2; 35:4-5, 21-22). The amount of their gift was left up to them. Those who’s hearts were moved to give generously and willingly brought gifts to the Lord.
Their gift wasn’t an exaction, and it wasn’t the result of just punching numbers into a calculator. It was based on a heart-level relationship with the Lord who’d redeemed them. The Lord trusted that his grace was enough to move his people to give generously. And he still does.
Based on Income
Our giving should be based on our income (2 Cor. 8:3, 12). Paul restates this principle in another way in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, “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.” The key phrase is “as he may prosper” (v. 2). Paul says their gift should be proportionate to their income. This principle is also based in the Old Testament (Deut. 16:16-17).
The principle is that those who make more should give proportionally more. This is called proportionate giving. Our giving should be proportionate to our income. For example, those who make $100,000 a year should give a higher percentage than those who make $40,000 a year. If we consider it wise and good for our government to base the tax code on this principle, then surely it would be wise and good for the church as well.
This principle also helps guard us from thinking that 10% is all we need to give. If we make tithing a rule, many will see their giving as faithful as long as they give 10%. Frankly, many of us, and probably most American Christians, can afford to give more than 10%. One writer says, “While tithing should not be advocated as a minimum contribution based on Scripture, the affluence of our country is such that giving at least 10 percent, for the majority of Christians, would be the natural application of (this principle). Affluent Christians giving 10 percent should not think that they have fulfilled the giving requirements of Scripture.” In a sermon he preached in 1982, John Piper said, “My own conviction is that most middle and upper class Americans who merely tithe are robbing God.”
Those who make more should give more proportionally. Sadly, the exact opposite seems to be the trend in America. Research has shown that the poor are more generous than the middle class, and that when people move from the poor to the middle class, those same people become less generous because their perception of what is a need changes. As we make more money, we should start giving away larger percentages of it.
This is why I talked last week about figuring out how much you need to cover your basic expenses and then give away the rest. That number may start at 2% when you’re in college. But as your income increases, the proportion of what you give away should also increase.
If American Christians like us gave “according to what we have” and “as we may prosper,” the church would have billions of more dollars to use for ministry. In the research I referred to last week, sociologists Christian Smith and Michael Emerson estimate that if American Christians gave, on average, 10 percent, instead of the current 3%, the church would have an extra $46 billion to fund ministry. Now think about what the church would have if we didn’t view 10% as a ceiling for our giving? What if wealthy American Christians started giving 20%, 30%, 50%, 80% of their income to the Lord?
The principle of proportionate giving is meant to protect us from thinking that, because the New Testament doesn’t command us to tithe, the amount we give doesn’t really matter. The amount does matter, and the amount will vary from person to person based on their income.
Regular and Deliberate
Our giving should be regular and deliberate. Paul told the Corinthians to set aside money on the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:2). Giving wasn’t supposed to be spontaneous. It was regular and planned.
Giving faithfully means making a plan to give faithfully. Then we must follow through with our plan. Paul tells the Corinthians to follow-through with their plan to give (2 Cor. 8:10-11). Desire to give is not the same as giving. Desire must be followed by actual giving. The best way to do this is by making a budget. Making and living by a budget will ensure that your desire to give translates to actual giving.
Another tool that can help us give regularly is online giving. Setting up a recurring gift online can be a good application of the principle of planning our giving and giving regularly. If you’d like to give in person, we provide black offering boxes in each foyer.
As you plan your estate, or write your will, do so with God’s work in mind. You should have a will, especially if you have children. None of us are promised tomorrow and planning for the worst will bless those we love the most. But as we do so, we can also plan to bless churches and ministries with our assets. Why do we assume that we have to give everything to our kids when, most likely, their needs are already being met? Churches and ministries would profit tremendously if we all designated a part of our assets to them after we die. This is also a way to ensure that our resources continue to advance God’s mission long after we’re gone.
Some people ask if they should give if they have debt. Suzy and I wrestled with this early in our marriage and I’m thankful that a godly brother encouraged us to give while we worked to get out of debt, and the Lord was faithful to provide for us in ways we couldn’t have planned for. Ordinarily we should be giving if we have income.
Some people know they’re not giving as they should be and wonder how to get started. Get a friend you trust to look over your budget with you. Talk through your reasons for not giving. If it’s just plain stinginess, repent and ask for God’s forgiveness. The best thing to do is to just start giving to your church. The only way to make this a regular habit of your life is to start somewhere.
Integral to Fulfilling the Great Commission
Our giving is integral to fulfilling the Great Commission. Our giving is the gasoline that makes the engine of the Great Commission go.
Another way to say this is that our giving is for the purpose of meeting the needs of the poor, the pioneers, and the pastors. These are the three groups mentioned as needing financial support in the New Testament. Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians 8-9 is all about a collection for the poor Christians in Jerusalem. He’s following God’s own example (9:9, quoting Psalm 112:9).
We should also support pioneers, those who’re taking the gospel to the unreached areas of the world. In 2 Corinthians 11:1-12, Paul talks about receiving financial help from other churches while he was in Corinth preaching the gospel (vv. 7-9). He didn’t want to be a burden to unbelievers. He made tents until financial support came in from other churches so that he could focus on preaching the gospel (Acts 18:3-5).
Paul expected the churches he planted to support him and his team when he moved on to other unreached places. He said to the Roman church, “I hope…to be helped on my journey (to Spain) by you…I will leave for Spain by way of you” (15:24, 28; cf. Phil. 4:10-19 and 3 Jn. 5-8). This is not an unfair expectation for church planting missionaries today.
Our giving is also for the support of pastors. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:14, “The Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.” This isn’t always possible, but ordinarily churches should pay their pastors, those who preach the gospel to them (cf. 1 Tim. 5:17-18).
This principle is also found in Galatians 6:6, “One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.” Those who’re taught should share a portion of their material goods with those who teach them. Paul’s concern here is larger than money. His larger concern is that the ministry of the Word be able to continue in the churches. He’s not asking these churches to support him. He’s asking them to support the men who teach them “the word.” Churches who value the Word being taught will be willing to pay pastors to teach the Word.
An application of this is that, since the local church is (or should be) our primary source of teaching, it should also be the primary source of our giving. We may want to give to every good cause that comes our way, but our local church should be the place we prioritize our giving.
Worshipful Giving
Finally, our giving creates worship (9:11-15). The giving of the Macedonian churches created worship to God. The generosity of these churches created thanks and praise to God. Verse 11, their generosity “through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” Verse 12, “The ministry of this service…is overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.” Verse 13, “By their approval of this service, they will glorify God.” Verse 15, “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”
The grace of God produced joyful generosity in the people of God which then produced worship to the glory of God. Giving starts with God and ends with God. It’s all about God, from start to finish. It’s not about keeping the law, not about guilt, not about keeping the lights on and your pastor’s family clothed and fed. Giving is about God.
The New Testament doesn’t command Christians to tithe, but it also doesn’t cancel the tithe as a principle. Giving under the New Covenant is enabled by grace and should be filled with joy, generous, sacrificial, driven by love, determined by the individual, based on income, regular and deliberate. Giving in the New Covenant is integral to fulfilling the Great Commission and creates worship to God. May God bless our giving for these great ends.
Lord’s Supper
The grace that compelled the Macedonian churches to give generously wasn’t vague or undefined. It “flowed from their confession of the gospel of Christ” (9:13). God’s grace in the person of Jesus Christ is what motivated their giving (8:9). “Rich” refers to the preexistent status Jesus had in heaven as God the Son. “Poor” refers to his humility in taking to himself a human nature. God stepped down from the throne and out of the glory of heaven in order to put on human flesh, to become “poor.”
Why did he do this? “So that you by his poverty might become rich.” The Son of God’s descent to earth was so that he might “make rich” all who trust him. Jesus gave up the status and privilege that were his in heaven so that we might gain the status and privilege of his sons and daughters. The eternally rich God became poor so that he might share his riches with poor people like us.
As I said last week, God is not a taker. He is a giver. Everything that is is God’s. And the thing most precious to himself, his Son, can be ours through faith in the person and work of Jesus.