Doc of Giving; 1 Cor.
16:1-5; 2 Cor 8:9
Giving is part of
the believer’s spiritual life. At the moment of salvation every believer is
given forty things from God the Father that are ours forever. One of those is
revokable: the filling of the Spirit. We can lose the filling of the Spirit in the
sense that it is no longer operational in our life. We don’t lose the Holy Spirit
but His dynamic influence in relation to our spiritual growth is shut down when
we are out of fellowship, when we are living according to the sin nature. At
the instant we confess our sins we are back in fellowship and so that is
activated again. But 39 of those forty realities are ours forever. In that
package we get two things that are somewhat related. The first is our
ambassadorship. We are royal ambassadors and this has to do with our ministry
in the direction of other people. Then we are also made priests, royal priests;
and priests have to do with our ministry toward God. As part of both our
ambassadorship and our priesthood we have spiritual service. This has to do
with the operation of our spiritual gifts, with our ministry toward others in
the body of Christ, and it has also to do with the function of evangelism. What
under girds a lot of operations in terms of ambassadorship and priesthood has
to do with this little issue called money, because ministries operate on finances. It doesn’t matter where you are involved in a
small ministry or an international ministry, a local ministry or foreign
missions, it still operates on finances.
As priests of God
we also operate in the realm of giving because giving is towards God. This is
our ministry to the Lord. When we sign our checks and we have worked for that
money it really easy to think that that is our money. But it is not our money.
The Lord can take it all away in an instant. Every dollar we make is from the
Lord and in giving we are giving back to the Lord from that which He has given
to us. That is part of our operation as priests, part of our worship as
priests.
Giving is not a
means of spiritual growth. Neither is prayer, witnessing, evangelism, the operation
of our spiritual gifts, memorizing Scripture, reading our Bibles. All these are
things that people think are means to spiritual growth, but the Bible never utilizes
that terminology. We grow by means of the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we grow by means of the Holy Spirit; these are the means statements. The
others are results. As we grow spiritually then the result that we will pray
more, we will get involved in giving, witnessing, utilizing our spiritual gifts,
etc. These are the products of growth, not the cause of growth.
Giving is also a
spiritual gift. Some people have this gift and some don’t, but notice that when
Paul comes in and talks about giving he doesn’t make that point. He says every
believer is responsible to give just as every believer is responsible to
witness and it is not dependent upon having a spiritual gift.
Basic principles on the
doctrine of giving
1)
Giving
is an expression of the royal family honour code that is grounded in grace. Everything
about our life in the church age needs to be governed by the principle of
grace. Grace is an attitude of benevolence and generosity; it is going the
extra mile.
2)
Giving is an
expression of mental attitude in every area of life. Giving doesn’t just have
to do with money, it has to do with everything in life—giving time, giving
effort, talents, using everything God has given us for the local church, for
ministry; it is part of the lifestyle of believers. As grace orientation is
developed in your soul then it will also impact your pocket book. 2 Corinthians
8:1 NASB “Now, brethren, we {wish to} make known to you the grace of
God which has been given in the churches of
3)
Giving is an expression
of our individual volition, not the result of guilt manipulation, gimmicks, or
other forms of coercion. 2 Corinthians 8:3 NASB “For I testify that
according to their ability, and beyond their ability, {they gave} of their own
accord.” They gave of their own will above their ability, they were generous
beyond anyone’s expectations and it had nothing to do with how little they had,
it had to do with how grateful they were to the grace of God.
4)
Giving must first
be related to our attitude towards the Lord before it focuses on people. It is
oriented to the Lord, not to other people. 2 Corinthians 8:5 NASB “and
{this,} not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and
to us by the will of God.” The issue is our relationship to God. Get that
straight and everything else is going to flow from that.
5)
Giving depends on
consistent spiritual growth, consistent learning and application of the Word of
God. 2 Corinthians 8:6 NASB “So we urged Titus that as he had
previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious
work as well. [7] But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance
and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, {see}
that you abound in this gracious work also.” So giving is related to spiritual
growth.
6)
The pattern or
motive for giving is based on the pattern during the incarnation of the Lord
Jesus Christ; He set the pattern. It is the work of Christ on the cross that gives
us the principle, the framework for understanding grace. 2 Corinthians 8:9 NASB
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet
for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become
rich.” The “rich” there isn’t talking about money in either case, it is talking
about the general principle of giving, that you have an abundance of something
and yet you give it, you use it for others.
7)
We realize that
giving is first a mental attitude and second an overt act. If you don’t have
the mental attitude right then you are going to fall apart on the overt act. 2
Corinthians
8)
Giving is related
to the motivation from the doctrine that is in the soul. 2 Corinthians 9:7 NASB
“Each one {must do} just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or
under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” The word translated “cheerful”
is the Greek word hilaros [i(laroj] which comes over into English eventually as
hilarity. It doesn’t mean hilarity, it has to do with
a positive, joyful mental attitude.
9)
God in His grace
supplies both the motivation and the resources for giving. 2 Corinthians 9:8 NASB
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all
sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance
for every good deed.” Whatever resources that we have, that is the basis for
giving.
10)
Giving is part of
our spiritual production. 2 Corinthians 9:10 NASB “Now He who
supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your
seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness [the production
of your spiritual growth].” God is the one who is ultimately producing this in
your life through the Holy Spirit.
11)
When we have
developed a grace oriented mental attitude it will result in generous giving. 2
Corinthians
12)
Giving, then, is
a result of spiritual growth as all Christian service is a result of spiritual
growth. 2 Corinthians