In a very real sense, we mortals cannot give anything to God. It all belongs to Him already, since He made everything. Nothing truly belongs to us. All the things we have are only borrowed. We have the use of them for a short while, and then someone else takes possession of them. When we die, we leave everything.
It is only while we live that we have an opportunity to use things. Time, money, land, houses, businesses, clothing, food, cars, and all the things we enjoy possessing, are not really ours. They belong to God, and we are allowed to use them while we live.
Yet God has made a plan for the world so that we are able to give something to God. Since He has given us a will, by which we can determine to a limited extent what we will be and do, we can give that will to God. When we do this, our whole life is changed from being self-centered to God-centered. This change is made possible by God, and gives God the chance to guide us more surely in what we do.
We can give God our love. This pleases God, since he loved us first. We can give God our praise. The Psalmist called this “the sacrifices of our lips.” It is good to praise God with word and song. It helps us and pleases God. We can give God our time, by being careful to use all the time we have in such a way as to please God. To do this, we will have to set aside a part of our time for special periods of worship and prayer. Part of this needs to be done alone, and yet we must never neglect to meet together with others to worship God as a group.
We can give God our money, which represents our time, energy, and things. In the time of Moses, money, as we know it, did not exist, as the first coins were made in the eighth century before Christ. Barter was the method of trading. If one wanted to use silver or gold to trade for something, it would have to be weighed in balances, comparing the weight with that of something both of the persons would admit was accurate enough. So when one gave to God by giving to the tabernacle or temple, the gift was in the form of an animal, bird, or possibly grain, fruit or cloth.
Yet we live in a money economy, rather than the old barter system of economy. The money we have is representative of things, and can be traded for things. So instead of bringing animals or food to give to God, we give money, which the church can use to provide things.
The Bible Teaches Tithing and Giving
God taught Adam and Eve to give sacrifices to God, and they taught their children. We find Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob doing the same. We read, for example, of the way that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, when he found that they both loved and served the same God (Gen. 14:20). But there is no written record of a detailed command to give sacrifices until Moses was given the law at Sinai.
In the Mosaic Law we find descriptions of the sacrifices which were to be offered to God (Lev. 1–7). Some of these were to be offered for sin to be forgiven. But others were such things as thankofferings, and were expressions of love to God. Further, there are special laws about the giving of tithes to God.
Tithing existed before the time of Moses. As we have seen, Abraham gave tithes. Jacob vowed to give a tithe to God for the rest of his life (Gen. 28:22). Then God, through Moses, gave the reason for the practice of tithing: “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord” (Lev. 27:30 NIV). We are told also that a tithe is to be given for the support of the Levites, who were not given land to till (Deut. 12:6; 14:28; 26:12). This was God’s plan for the support of those who led in the worship, so that they did not have to support themselves by growing their own food and making their own clothing. They could devote themselves to the work of the sanctuary.
God was teaching the people that He owned everything in the whole world. The people were commanded to refrain from using more than nine-tenths of what they possessed, and to give the tenth of all they had to God, in recognition of the fact that God owns it all.
In addition to tithes, the people were to bring gifts to offer to God. In times of special need, there were special offerings taken for such purposes. The most astounding example of special offering for a special purpose is seen in Exodus 35:4–35:5, in preparation for the building of the tabernacle. God told Moses to make it very clear that the people must give freely. No pressure was put on them to give a certain amount, but they were to give what they felt in their hearts they would like to give to God for this purpose. The amazing sequel to this call for a special offering is seen in Exodus 36:6–7. They had brought in so much, that Moses had to stop the offering, and refuse to take any more!
Note here that Moses did not use any high-pressure method of fund-raising, but simply explained what was needed, and why. God’s people responded in love with a generous offering. They gave because they had the love in their hearts which made them desire to give. This is the way giving ought to be done—freely, generously, and wholeheartedly, Paul put it this way:
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver, (2 Cor. 9:6–7).
One man told me that there was no way for him to give cheerfully, so he was not sure he ought to give at all. Of course, he ought to give even if he cannot be cheerful about it. The money given will bless the church, though he will miss the blessing he could receive by giving.
Thus the Bible teaches that we ought to give both tithes and special offerings to God. But we ought to say a little more about tithes. Some people do not believe in tithing as it was a part of the Old Testament law, and they say it is not binding on Christians.
It is true that tithing is not mentioned often in the New Testament. We find the word used five times in Hebrews seven, but here it refers to Old Testament tithing to the priests. The rich young ruler stated that he had paid of all that he possessed, and Jesus did not condemn him for this, but showed him what he needed in addition (Luke 18:12ff).
The one time that Jesus mentioned tithing (Mat. 23:23; Luke 11:42) he told the Pharisees that they should do this, while not neglecting other requirements of the law. So Jesus must have tithed, and approved tithing in others.
Some object to tithing, then, as being legalistic. But we must not forget two things: First, giving of tithes and offerings is the only system of giving that God ever did command. Second, those who object to tithing usually give much less than one tenth, so they are not even doing as well as the Old Testament persons. Yet we have a gospel which far surpasses theirs. So we ought to give more than a tithe, not less.
Further, the wonderful gospel we enjoy in Christ ought to stir up our hearts to give offerings in addition to our tithe. We may do this in response to our blessings, or in response to a special need for the kingdom of God. When we give these extra amounts, in addition to one-tenth of our income, we ought to do it in the spirit of joy that we have something to give to God’s work. It is a privilege for us to cooperate with other Christians in the work of God, and we enjoy doing it.
Giving Is Spiritual
There are those who object to the whole idea of giving to God through giving to the church. They sometimes say that the church is always asking for money! But that is because they fail to see all that the church is doing with the money; and they fail to understand that the giving of money to the work of God in the church is an act of spiritual worship. We do not interrupt the worship in a service in order to give an offering of tithes and gifts. This giving is worship also.
The fact that giving is worship is taught in the New Testament. For instance, note that the author of Hebrews insists that Christians should give two kinds of sacrifices to God: Praise to God, and sharing our means.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased, (Heb, 13:15–16).
The “sacrifices of our lips” we give to God by speaking and singing our praise to God. This kind of worship is well-pleasing to God at all times, and it is good when we do it separately, or together in a worship service. It is appropriate anytime, any place.
As we share our money and things with others by giving to God through the church, we are also worshipping God. The sacrifices of money are a necessary part of our worship. We should do our giving in a Scriptural way by giving worshipfully, and in the Spirit. We are not merely giving to the church, but we are giving to God something which represents part of our time, energy and skills. We give ourselves to God, and do not withhold this part of ourselves.
We have no right to say that all we have belongs to God, if we are not willing to give tithes and offerings to God. How can we expect God to believe that we belong to Him if we neglect giving a small part of our money to Him? A further sign that giving is a spiritual act is seen In I Corinthians 16:1. Paul, in writing to the church in Corinth, shows what he thinks about giving in the church. In order to see this most clearly we need to remind ourselves of what the previous chapters are about.
In Chapter 11 Paul explains how to we ought to worship God in the Lord’s Supper. In Chapter 12 he shows how the Holy Spirit works in different ways in each of us to make the church one spiritual body in unity. Chapter 13 is that amazing chapter on Christian love. Chapter 14 deals with some of the problems caused by speaking in tongues, and shows that we ought always to speak in such a way as to build up the church. Chapter 15 is a long and helpful chapter on the resurrection of Christ and the final resurrection of Christians to live in eternity. Then, without a break, he says, “Now concerning the collection …” (16:1).
Paul feels free to discuss the collection on the same spiritual level as the other great truths of the Gospel.
This is seen very clearly In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. These two chapters are about giving money. Actually, Paul had been directing the churches as they each collected money and then were to pool that money from all the churches to send to Jerusalem. He was encouraging the church in Corinth to complete a generous offering to give to this cooperative endeavor. All the churches in Asia Minor (Turkey), Macedonia (Northern Greece) and Greece were working together in this fund-raising project, and Paul was encouraging them to do the best they could. Paul told how the Macedonian churches had given: “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity … they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints” (2 Cor, 8:2, 4), Paul then urges the Corinthian Christians to give in the same spirit: “See that you also excel in this grace of giving” (vs. 7). Note that he calls giving “grace,” as he does also elsewhere.
Paul then points out that he is not telling them how much to give but that what they give will be a test of the sincerity of their love (vs. 8). The more they love, the more they will give.
He explains in verses 13–15 that no one need give more than is possible. As each church gives according to their ability, all the churches together will be able to supply the needed funds for the work. The sharing should be according to ability.
Chapter 9 expands on these points, and also describes the way in which the money will be taken to Jerusalem by several people, so that there will be no question of the money being used for the good of any individual. They will all be responsible for delivering the whole amount to the treasury for which it was given. Paul understood the value of handling money in such a way that it would be clear that it was belong done responsibly. One treasurer can be perfectly honest and trustworthy, but it is wise for more than one person to count and record amounts, so that the church will know how it is being handled.
Giving to the Church is a Way to Cooperate
We can see from the discussions of money in the two letters to Corinth that it is good for the churches to work together in major projects. Just as the church in a place can do more together than any individuals in the church could do, so the churches of an area can do more together than the individual churches can do alone. Working together is the Christian way to work.
By working together, we show our unity in Christ. Individual salvation makes us members of the family of God, and builds us together in God’s church. As members of the church, we are bound together by the love of God. The Spirit of God brings us into unity with other Christians, and leads us to work together to do all we can for God and for one another. Giving our money to the common treasury of the church is a Biblical way for us to do the work of God.
We Can Do Together What We Cannot Do Separately.
It is easy to see that by putting our money in the church, we are able to support all the work of the church. We can do together what would be impossible for us to do separately. We can support a pastor to give his full time to the leadership of the church. We may even be able to support more than one minister if they are needed. We can build or purchase and maintain a building for the worship, education, and other needs of the church. We can do together the outreach work of bringing the gospel to others in the community.
In addition to the work of the local church, we can give a part of our church’s money to the World Service of the church. In this way we support the work of sending missionaries to other parts of the world, as well as to Home Missions, Church Extension, building new churches all over the country, and to support the church colleges for the training of Christian workers and pastors. We can do all this by simply giving a percentage of our church’s income to the World Service treasury, just as Paul taught the churches to give to a combined treasury.
Giving to the Work of the State
Not only can we cooperate with other churches all over the world by giving to World Service, but we can cooperate with the churches of the State in the same way. By pooling our money, we can do in a state what none of us could do as individual churches. Churches are working together in this way to do a variety of things which make the state a better place to live.
We know about many of the things we are doing together in this great state. Yet many are not aware of all that is being done, and how these things are supported. Many of us like to go to the camp meeting, but may forget that much of the support for it comes from this state fund. The same is true of the youth camps. They are not entirely self-supporting, so when we send our youth to the camps and see the spiritual growth they make while there, we need to remember that there would be no camp to send them to if we had not pooled our money in the state treasury to make this possible. We would like to see some new and better buildings and facilities on the youth camp grounds, but this can only be done if more of us give more money to the state treasury.
We are working in our state to plant new congregations in some of the cities which have no Church of God, and are having some success in this major project. This is part of the work of evangelism in which we can participate. When we give to the State funds, part of our money goes to help in this work.
When we give to the State treasury, we are helping in all the work of Christian Education in our state. We make it possible for our churches to have a state publication several times a year, which can help us to know what is going on in other churches. And we help to support the work of committees which help to coordinate the work of the State. We make it possible for us to support a State Evangelist/secretary to help all of our work together.
How We Give to the Church in Our Area
There are theoretically two ways in which we can give to area projects. We can give to the state treasury and let that money be divided up according to a budget worked out by the Executive Council of the State. This council is made up of ministers and laymen of the churches and works to coordinate all the work of the State. They consider the needs and the available money, and determine how best to use the money. In this way we are truly working together in a systematic, planned manner to do the work of God in our area.
On the other hand, we are permitted to give to the state treasury and designate that money to go to one project. But this is not the best way to work together. It can cause some work in the area to be well supported, while other essential work is neglected. This kind of designated giving should be done only after we have shown our faithfulness to God and our love for other Christians by giving our share to the work of the whole state. After that giving, it is permissible to make special donations to specific projects which need help.
Just as we give to the local church and let the church decide how to use the money, so we can give to the State and let the ministers of the whole state decide how to use the money. The advantage of giving in this way is that our money goes to support all the work of the church in the area. Otherwise some projects might be over-supplied, and others would not get enough to do its work. This method of giving into a fund agrees with Paul’s words in writing to the Corinthian church. There is need for equality in giving, and equality of support of our cooperative projects. We should not give to those funds we especially know about or like, while neglecting other worthy causes. If we give to the whole treasury, we are supporting both what we know about, and also other worthy causes we may not be aware of.
Look What We Can Do Together for God
Together, we can support all the work we ought to be doing for God in our state. If we will all pull together we can do more for God in this State than we have ever dreamed possible. We can establish new congregations. We can do more for our youth. We can do more, in Christian Education, in the state churches. We can help new congregations. We can do better evangelism in the whole state. We can help to build a better state. We can do it all—TOGETHER.