Giving as a response to God’s grace

When people discuss giving, money tends to come up first. Other forms exist too, and giving is often framed as time, talent, and treasure.
 
This article focuses on giving to missions, mostly from the treasure angle. To do so, I draw on what the Bible says about money and on well-known examples of believers supporting mission, to consider what healthy giving looks like when done in partnership with God and for the furtherance of His Kingdom

Challenge
Giving to churches in general, and to missions in particular, faces a rapidly changing world, a global decline in giving, and congregations becoming more inward focused. These signs point to a difficult environment for missions giving.

• With challenge comes opportunity. The foundation of mission rests on the presence of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit, with money as a means and not an end.
• The sensitivity and misperception around giving money sit within a theme seen throughout the Bible. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus warns of the danger of divided loyalty in trying to serve both God and money.
• The tension is clear. We need money for daily life, yet we are called to steward it in ways honouring to God.
• Giving is best done from a willing heart of surrender, a spirit of thankfulness, and an overflow of joy at the realisation of God’s mercy and grace upon our lives.

The Acts and Macedonian models as frameworks for giving to missions.
We can explore the right way of giving from two models seen in the early church - Acts model in Acts 4 and the Macedonian model in 2 Corinthians 8. In both frameworks we observe common characteristics: surrendered hearts, thankfulness, willingness and joyful giving. Crucially, I believe it must start with surrendered hearts.

Acts Model
In the Acts model, Acts 4:32-36, you see a group of people who were surrendered to God and to each other – in verse 34 it says,

³⁴ There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold ³⁵ and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

‘Laying it at the apostles’ feet’ speaks of a posture of surrender. We also see that they did this willingly, and not under compulsion as verse 32 describes how they were of one heart and soul, with no one claiming that what belonged to them was theirs. They saw possessions as under common ownership.

Reading through the text one can sense that they were joyful in their giving. In responding to the grace that was undeniable, it was evident that it was a form of thankfulness that led to the response and giving to that depth.

³³ And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 

Macedonian Model
Compare this with the Macedonian model, and that theme is also prevalent, 2 Corinthians 8:1-5. Working back from verse five, there was again a response from a position of surrender.

⁵ And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

Similarly, a sense of joy and willingness in giving is on display in verses two and three:

² In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. ³ For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,  

There is no question of their willing giving, it goes as far as saying they urgently pleaded for the privilege of sharing.

Overall, the heart posture from these two groups is the same but there were some contrasts:

• The Acts church seemed well-to-do with people able to sell land and property to pool resources and the Macedonian churches pooled resources from a place of deep poverty.
• The Acts church was catering for local mission whereas the Macedonian church seemed geared for an international/regional outreach.

Overall, this demonstrates that all believers – rich and poor - can give to mission work and do so generously, if they do it in the right manner.

In summarising, a helpful resource is an extract of R. Kent Hughes book, Disciplines of a Godly Man. He notes (summarised): Paul holds the Macedonians up to shame the Corinthians, who excelled in faith, speech, knowledge and love but lagged in giving. Hughes states the principle bluntly. God can have your money without having your heart, but he is not able to have your heart without having all your money. Jesus said where your treasure is, your heart will follow. Hughes notes Jesus spoke about money often and consistently warned about trusting in wealth over God. Grace giving, Hughes writes, goes beyond a tithe and reaches the point of personal cost. He quotes C S Lewis, who argued you are giving too little if your spending on comforts and luxuries matches others on your income. Real charity should pinch and force you to forego things you would like to have.

We would do well to have an ordered way of giving based on offering ourselves to God first, to each other, and then give our treasure. In this way we will give in a surrendered, willing, thankful and joyful way. A way that is honouring to God. As a litmus test, I ask – do you consider giving a privilege as the Macedonian church did or do you do it out of duty?

If the former, you can truly know what Jesus meant when He said it is more blessed to give than to receive.

The Flame 1000 Club is seeking 1000 people who will commit to giving £10 or more a month to support the ongoing work of the charity. 

The Club raises money that is primarily used to fund new initiatives such as the early ‘recces’ into countries we haven’t visited before. It also provides essential funding for the less glamorous side of the work and enables us to get the very best office support team
in place.

We’ll send you a stylish Flame fleece when you sign up and keep you up to date with how your giving is making a difference throughout the year.

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