Since
the beginning of its existence, our
church has, as far as I
can remember, observed October
as a "thanksgiving month". It is the 10th month
of the year, and the biblical 10th portion reminds us of an OT principle on giving which guides, but certainly does not bind the NT church today. We
certainly do not want to propagate meaningless traditions in our church. God detests mindless habits. This is unfortunately a human
problem and it became one of the problems in Israel.
Many times
in Israel people were
bringing their tithes, offerings,
sacrifices in a thoughtless fashion. At other times, people were not only thoughtless. They were plainly irreverent towards God. In the prophecy of Malachi the prophet rebuked the people for bringing
diseased animals to the altar (Mal.
1:6-10) and the LORD God needed to remind them: “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you
might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the
LORD of hosts.” (Mal. 1:10). On
another occasion the people had to be
reminded, that “to obey is better than sacrifice” (e.g. 1 Sam. 15:22; Micah 6:6-8).
Mere
outward display for the sake of religious duty
does not please God at all. This
was the problem that Jesus had with the
Pharisees. In Matt. 15:8,9
Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah saying: "These
people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me… ". It is significant that the Lord Jesus says this in the context of the Pharisees’ hypocritical
approach to giving. It was not done as an act of worship to God. It was done in order to be seen by men (Matt
6:1-4). So then, we need to
explain why we pursue this
tradition.
A GENERAL OVERVIEW: THE
THEOLOGICAL BASIS OF GIVING:
Ever
since the beginning of biblical history, thank offerings were brought to God. Abel
brought the first acceptable
offering to God, whilst his brother
Cain brought an unacceptable offering (Gen. 4:1-7). Abraham gave his tenth to God through Melchizedek, that mysterious priest of God Most High (Gen.
14 : 17-24). So did Jacob at Bethel (Gen.28:22).
Thank
offerings were a regular feature in OT
temple worship. The bringing of tithes
and offerings into the temple continued
to be the practice in Jesus’ time, and Jesus never said anything negative about that! The story
of the poor widow’s offering (Mk. 12:41-44) shows that
Jesus did not discourage this practice at all. Here, He merely commented on the generous giving of a
Hebrew widow, while the rich were giving
out of their abundance and not sacrificially.
Jesus
also paid the temple tax (Matt. 17:24-27).
He assumed the practice of regular giving in Matthew
6: 1-4, as much as He
assumed the practice of regular
prayer and fasting (Matt 6:1-15).
The early church participated in regular giving, as an act of worship, on the
first day of the week (1 Cor.16:1-4). Part of this money
was used to help the poor among the
saints (Rom. 15:25-28). The early
church also looked after its elders who “labour
in preaching and teaching” (1 Tim. 5:17,18), remembering the OT
rule in
Deut. 25:4, “ you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain”. In
this they called to mind the OT Levites,
the priestly tribe Israel who were to be supported for their work in the temple.
And
so we note that the act of thanksgiving, and the giving of tithes and offering is a
practice that is deeply rooted in the worship
of the whole Bible. We believe
that it remains a thoroughly biblical practice for every believer.
The
New Testament however presents the
profoundest reason and motive for giving:
Jesus Christ and His Gospel! In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 we have a beautiful and touching example of cheerful, happy, willing and sacrificial giving reflected in the testimony of the Macedonian believers. Consider their testimony in 8:1-5.
How on earth do poor people give like that?
What moves them?
The answer given is that they had received the
grace of God (8:1,9; 9:8,14-15). They had understood
and appreciated the richness of God’s gift to them in Christ Jesus. They saw themselves as debtors to grace,
and they were now looking for ways to express their thankfulness to God for this great salvation.For this
reason they begged Paul, “Please allow us
participate in this act of giving. We want to show our
thankfulness to our Lord Jesus by helping to supply the needs of the saints
in Jerusalem” (8:4).
Background: Between AD
52 - 57 a considerable proportion of Paul's time and energy was devoted to
organizing a collection among his gentile churches for the "poor among the saints in Jerusalem" (Rom. 15:26). After their conversion to Christianity many people in Jerusalem (particularly orphans and
widows) were ostracized, socially and economically. The Jewish social system only cared for their own.
That is why Acts 6: 1,2 addresses the issue of caring for widows, for which purpose deacons were appointed in
the early church, to oversee this ministry. In addition, there was also the great famine which was experienced in this region , culminating in AD
46 (Acts 11: 27 - 30).
So
then, the great example of the Macedonians was used
by the apostle Paul to challenge the
Corinthian Church, a church that
appeared to have been very self- centered. He urges them that they should imitate their
Macedonian brothers, and to “complete
and even excel in this act of grace “ (8:6,7).
The
example of the Macedonians continues to
challenge the modern church. Our
church has come to a point in time when it appears as if the
Lord is challenging us to expand the ministry of the Word to particular segments of our community. To do this we are in need of dedicated giving in order to
do the work that the LORD has
burdened us to do in our own generation. And in the spirit of Paul, I appeal to you as thankful worshippers of the Living God, as men and women liberated by the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ - and "debtors to God's
Grace in Christ" – and as stewards, and not "possessors"
of your material gifts : "excel in this grace of giving" (8:7) as
you consider the need of our own day.
The
Bible, the Word of God although it
is respected and possessed by many in our city, is little read, little studied, little understood
and therefore little appreciated by
the vast majority. There is little real
gospel preaching heard in our city. I remind you that “the gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone that believes…”
(Rom.
1:16-17). Feel good,
psychological pep talks and mysticism dominate our pulpits, but this accomplishes nothing in the minds and hearts and lives of people. On the contrary, it
appears as if the Word-less, gospel
–starved church in Windhoek becomes more and more conformed to the image
of lost-ness, capitulating to
the ever increasing trend of moral
relativism. People are not really helped to look to Jesus. They are hurting because they have been taken
captive by hollow philosophy. There is no answer for their sin , because
they are not confronted with the gospel,
by which they are shown their sin
and then the Saviour. We need
to invest in gospel labourers.
Now,
if you have been freed by the grace of God
from a vain and meaningless life
, then I challenge you to consider what Paul has to say in 9: 6 – 15 in terms of investing in the kingdom of God: Follow the logic of the text.
a. Engage in bountiful kingdom giving – not stingy giving (v.6).
The law of sowing and reaping is
applied here. To give is to sow. What
is given for kingdom work is not lost.
Like the seed sown by the farmer it is
multiplied. Lives changed by the power of God, one person
at a time change our society, and we will benefit much more from that
than from economic or political
reforms.
b. Engage the heart in your giving ! (v.7)
Reluctance and compulsion
are bad motives for giving. Cheerful, heart felt giving
pleases God. The word ‘hilaron’,
translated as cheerful, forms the basis of our word hilarious and exhilarating
. God loves a hilarious giver!
c. God helps you in your giving.
(v.8-11) The ability to give by the
poor Macedonians is attributed to the grace of God which they had received.(8:1) It teaches us
that God is able to triumph over human
inability, as His power is made perfect in our weakness. Paul is confident that what
God did for the Macedonians He
could do for the Corinthians… and therefore He can do it for Eastside. If you have it in your heart to give, even when it hurts, God will make sure that it you have sufficient. Your jug of oil and your flour will not run
out. In support Paul quotes Psalm 112: 9 (v.9) in which we find the example of a man who gives freely because he delights in
the Lord. It is a righteous act that
endures forever. God honours such a man. In fact , v.10 continues to magnify the grace of God as we
are reminded yet again, that God supplies the seed for sowing
and for making bread. We ultimately need
to remember that we have nothing which
we have not received. V. 11 provides us
with an interesting perspective. John Chrystostom (349-407 AD), bishop of Constantinople
said upon this first portion of
v.11 text, “in
things which are necessary he allows them to seek for nothing more than
need requires, but in spiritual
things counsels them to get
for themselves a large superabundance.”[1] .
d. Vv. 11b,12, 13 such giving itself
produces thanksgiving to God! Enabled giving perpetuates worship ! “… is not only supplying the needs of the saints” – one of the highest acts by
which we worship God is seen in how we take care of the needs of the
saints in the church – the poor, the
orphans, destitute, widows, and those who work on our behalf i.e.
those serve us through preaching
and teaching the gospel by which men and women are redeemed from their slavery
…(2 Tim. 5:17,18) … but
is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God … NOTE how
the cycle is completed : (i) The
act of giving (an act of worship) (ii) meets the needs of
the saints (iii) and
the thankful saints again return thanks back
to God for the faithfulness of
your giving which is based on your confession of the gospel of Christ (v.13)
e. Generous
giving is a benefit to the giver [v.14] while they long for you and pray for you, because of the
surpassing grace of God upon you. Those who are generous will be genuinely
appreciated and they
will be prayed for.
f. Thanks
be to God for his inexpressible gift! [v. 15] Here is
the ULTIMATE MOTIVE for our thanksgiving
expressed in clearest terms. Glory goes to the Lord God for His
indescribable gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have become what we
are! We give because we have been made glad!
SUMMARY AND APPLICATION:
The supreme motive for giving
is a profound thankfulness to
God for the Lord Jesus, His indescribable gift. This is at the heart of cheerful giving (9:7). People
that give in such a fashion do not give
reluctantly or under compulsion.
They give with a free heart. Their
first question is
not “how much can I keep for myself?”
Their heart is where their treasure is. (Matt.
6:20,21).
As
a church we have yet much to accomplish
in terms of a country where the true gospel
is understood by so few. We have much to do in a country where many
of our churches are so poor! May God
give us a heart filled with wisdom and compassion in these things. May He
continue
to encourage you to give
generously , as you think of yourselves
as debtors to grace and as you are
filled with joy at the thought
of your future heavenly reward.
AMEN!
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