Many people will always be poor because
they never give to the cause of God.
(C.H.Spurgeon)
We expect our young people to lay down
their lives for God, but most of us are not willing to lay down our bank
accounts.
(Paul B. Smith)
In PART 1 (Click HERE) we
saw that Paul told the Corinthians that God loves 'hilarious' givers.
In PART 2 (Click HERE) we
saw the FIRST of THREE REASONS from 2 Corinthians 8-9 why God loves these sorts
of givers: because joyful generosity is a mark of God's grace
In PART 3, we see a SECOND
reason God loves cheerful givers:
2. Joyful Generosity... is a Prelude to God’s
Blessing
In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul reminds the
Corinthians of a farming proverb:
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also
reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. (2 Cor
9:6)
You don’t have to be green-fingered to understand
the principle Paul is getting at here. In just the same way that a farmer can
expect a good harvest when he scatters his seed generously, so Paul says that if
we give generously to God’s work we can expect to be more fruitful as Christians.
The principle is really very simple:
- Miserly Christians are Miserable Christians.
- Generous Christians are Growing Christians.
Paul goes on:
Each man should give what he has decided in his
heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful
giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things
at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2
Cor 9:7-8)
When we give to God, says Paul, we get a
great return from him. God rewards our faith by giving us more of his grace in
our lives, so that we can ‘abound in
every good work’.
In verse 10 Paul goes on to say that God
blesses those who sow generously with a ‘harvest
of righteousness’. The implication is that those who give cheerfully and
generously are blessed by God with greater fruitfulness and growth as
Christians.
As far as the Bible is concerned, there are
really only two options when it comes to money: as Christians we either tithe to God or we thieve from God.
This was the charge God brought against his
people in Malachi. Tithing was
a well established principle in the Old Testament: it was stated specifically
in the law and practiced by Abraham long before then.
Our English word ‘tithe’ comes from the Old English word for ‘tenth’. Old
Testament believers were required to give a tenth of their crops and livestock
to God for two main purposes:
· To
provide for the Levites: the priests whose full-time job it was to serve in the
house of God.
·
To
provide for other needs as the priests saw fit.
The people’s tithes enabled the priests to do their job without
distraction and the work of God to continue without disruption. However in
Malachi’s day God’s people were not giving their full tithes and God had some
harsh words to say to them as a result. In Malachi 3 God accused his people of robbing
him and as a result, losing out on his blessing!
‘Will
a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?’ In tithes and
offerings. You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are
robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food
in my house. Test me in this,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and see if I will not
throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will
not have room enough for it.’’ (Mal 3:8-10)
The Hebrew word translated ‘rob’
is a very strong one. Our modern equivalent might be: ‘to take at gunpoint’.
The implication in verse 9 is that there was a small level of giving
still going on, just enough to salve the people’s consciences perhaps. However
God saw it for what it was: his people were prioritising their own comfort
before their responsibility to give to his work.
And so God confronted his people. He reminded them that their priority
should be to give to the House of God and he would not bless them until they
showed, in this most tangible of ways, that they were prepared to put him
first.
And although we are New
Covenant believers, not bound by the requirement of the law of tithing, there
is a clear principle here for us as well:
- While joyful generosity is a sign of a spirit-filled heart, and therefore results in blessing.
- Withholding from God is a sign of a rebellious heart, and therefore results in discipline.
Like the Old Testament believers we too should prioritise giving to
the House of God. There are many other good causes we could give to, but our primary
responsibility as God’s people is to give to God’s work: to support the local
community of faith we belong to.
Why is joyful generosity a prelude to blessing? Not because God
responds to bribes! But because the way we give to his work reveals the true
state of our hearts and whether we
are ready for God’s blessing to be poured out upon us.
And one of the ways we show that is by open-handed generosity:
- by bringing the whole tithe into the house of God;
- by giving sacrificially and willingly and joyfully;
- without demands or restrictions: but with faith that he will guide those who have the responsibility to divide it up.
Read the previous posts in
this series:
