EXCELLING IN THE GRACE OF GIVING

Steve Townsend

“The gifts you sent are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” Philippians 4:18

Preface

If this booklet makes you feel that you must give more, or leaves you with a sense of guilt about your level of giving, then I shall have failed in conveying what I believe God has laid upon my heart. My prayer is that you will instead be filled with intense joy: joy that comes from a deeper knowledge of the giving heart of the Father; joy that comes from realising that He wants to share His heart with you; joy that comes from the awesome privilege of participating in the growth of His kingdom. I believe that the Lord wants to transform our giving, whether it be of time, money, spiritual gifts, or anything else. He wants to overwhelm us with His grace, so that instead of giving because we are commanded to, or from a sense of guilt, we give from the heart, joyfully, exuberantly and effectively. If this booklet helps you to have a deeper experience of the grace of God working in you and through you then it will accomplish its purpose.

Introduction

It is impossible to come close to the heart of God without being challenged on the topic of giving. If God were to be accused of going 'over the top' in any area, it would be in the matter of giving. He delights in it. He is passionate about it. His enthusiasm for it knows no bounds. He Himself never stops giving. He loves it when we give. If you were to catch Him leaping and cheering like a football supporter whose team has just won the cup, it would be on account of the giving of His children. And not just any common-or-garden giving either. What really stirs Him is exuberant, extravagant, sacrificial giving.

If we are honest we are a bit taken aback by this. To our mind God should be eminently sensible and practical in such matters. We would expect Him to encourage a young lad to share a fish sandwich, perhaps, but not to hand over his entire lunch. We would expect Him to encourage a young woman to prepare a bouquet garni, or give a small bottle of perfume, not to break open an alabaster box of pure spikenard worth a year's wages. We would expect him to encourage Zacchaeus to start tithing, not to give half of his possessions to the poor. We would expect Him to advise a wealthy young man to donate a new roof for the synagogue, perhaps, or open his home to the homeless, not to sell up and give everything away.

But God doesn't fit into our mould. And we find it particularly difficult to adjust ourselves to His. If the truth be told, we in the UK find it more difficult than most. In the time I spent in Africa, in close contact with Christian missionaries from various backgrounds, it was striking how much lower the levels of support were for British missionaries compared with their counterparts from other western countries. Maybe it's the size and shape of our traditional church collection boxes, which (in my background at least) seemed to be shaped to be receptive to coins and resistant to banknotes and cheques. Perhaps if we had been brought up in a church culture in which wheelbarrows were trundled round at collection time things would have been different. But, for whatever reason, I think that in giving we continue to face one of our biggest areas of defeat and bondage. And that is a great calamity, because giving is so central to the heart of God, the gospel, and the growth of His kingdom.

Giving is not primarily or exclusively about donating money, although for almost all of us it will include this. Giving affects anything we have control over –time, money, homes, vehicles and goods, spiritual gifts, but most of all of our lives (2 Corinthians 8:4,5).

I believe there are six substantial reasons why our attitude and practice with regard to giving can fall far short of what God desires for us. There may be more, but it seems to me these are among the foremost:

1.      a poor understanding of our heavenly Father’s heart for giving;

2.      doubt that our heavenly Father can be relied on to provide for us;

3.      failure to give God appropriate thanks and glory for His provision;

4.      a false perception that we are owners rather than stewards of what God provides;

5.      lack of awareness of the kingdom principle of giving;

6.      living under the law instead of under grace.

In what follows we will look briefly at each of these six areas, in order to understand, with the Holy Spirit’s help, the biblical principles that apply to them. If we do this with hearts that humbly seek God’s will then I believe He will transform both our giving and our experience of His abundant grace in our service for Him.

God is the Ultimate Giver

“He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will he not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32

When we do anything that pleases God, we are merely reflecting a characteristic that He has already demonstrated to us in abundance. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). We forgive because He first forgave us (Colossians 3:13). And in the same way, we give because He first gave, and continues to give, to us.

God’s giving to us is through His grace; it is free and unmerited. He does not give because we deserve it, or because we earn his good pleasure by our obedience to His will (although, as we shall see later, we may lose out on much blessing if do not follow His example).

We are called to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1). This is what should primarily motivate us to give freely and abundantly. If we are taken up with wonder and praise at the giving heart of our Father, we will delight to give in a similar way ourselves. But if we have a poor understanding of our Father’s heart for giving then we will find it difficult to give ourselves. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the heart of the Father to us (John 16:15). In seeing Him we shall grow to be like Him (1 John 3:2).

God is the Certain Provider

“God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” 1 Timothy 6:17

Jesus taught His disciples repeatedly that God is a certain and reliable provider (Matthew 6:25-34; Matthew 7:7-11; Mark 11:22-24; Luke 12:6,7). This lesson was taught with equal force and confidence by the New Testament writers (2 Corinthians 9:8-11; Philippians 4:19; 1 Peter 5:7).

God’s providence is extended to all, righteous and unrighteous, good and evil (Matthew 5:45). But to those who are His children, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, His provision knows no bounds (Romans 8:32; Ephesians 2:4-7). So detailed is His care for us that He even ensures that we have the necessary number of hairs on our head (Luke 12:7).

One reason we why we can be reluctant to give is that we fail to understand and believe that God will provide for us. We are afraid that by giving we will deplete our resources and consequently have insufficient for our needs and enjoyment. We think this way because we don’t actually believe our income comes from God – instead we think it derives from our own efforts, or is supplied by some human agency or organisation. If you have an inexhaustible supply you don’t worry about it running out! When we hesitate to give out of the resources we have in hand it shows that we think the supply is limited to what we are capable of getting ourselves. We don’t really believe that God is the actual provider, that His resources are infinite, and that He is more concerned for our welfare than we are ourselves.

That God can be relied on to provide for us is an essential lesson of faith that we need to learn if we are to be people who give freely and abundantly in the way that He wants. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us not to put our confidence in ourselves, or in the world’s provision, but to place our confidence and faith entirely in the Lord.

Thankfulness is a Vital Response

“Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints” Colossians 1:12

One indication that we have a true appreciation of God’s providential care for us is a thankful heart. If we truly believe that God, and God alone, provides all that we have, then we will thank Him for our possessions every time we use them. Many of us give thanks to God regularly at meal times. But is it only food that comes from God’s hand? Why do we not likewise give thanks when we use our vacuum cleaner or drive the car, or write a cheque? I think the reason is that we can understand fairly easily that God is the provider of food, since without the rain and the sun, and the life within the seed, nothing would grow. But for some reason we place money and material possessions in another category, and act as though we ourselves were the essential providers of these things.

We should remember that the farmer who sows the seed and eventually reaps the harvest does so only because God gives the increase (! Corinthians 3:7). And the worker who helps the farmer is paid out of the increase God has provided. And the tailor who makes the worker’s clothes receives payment out of the increase God has provided. And the manufacturer who sells a sewing machine to the tailor receives his payment out of the increase God has provided. And so it is with the whole economy. We receive income in return for our work and investments only because God gives the increase.

When we don’t appreciate this we fail to give God the glory and thanks. This also means that we cannot worship acceptably (Hebrews 12:28). Such unthankfulness is another reason why we can be reluctant to give with enthusiasm. The Scripture says that in fact we are then in a state in which our thinking is futile and our hearts are darkened (Romans 1:21). By giving the proper glory to God, and living thankfully, our minds are released to think clearly and purposefully about our giving, and our hearts are enlightened to respond as Jesus himself would to the needs we encounter. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse us of all unthankfulness, to renew our minds and to set our hearts alight with thanksgiving.

We are Stewards of all that God Provides

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10

Whatever God gives us is for us to administer on His behalf, not for us to treat as our own possessions (Luke 19:12-26). Most of us, I am sure, have no difficulty accepting this principle as it applies to spiritual gifts such as healing and prophecy. We also need to understand that it applies equally to gifts such as money, time, goods and even our life (1 Corinthians 6:19,20).

As stewards we are answerable to the Lord for the way in which we use what He has entrusted to our keeping (Matthew 25:14-30). Instead of dividing our resources into two piles – one (usually the smaller) for God, and the other for ourselves – we should bring everything we are and have to God and dedicate it to His service and glory (Mark 8:34-37; Romans 12:1).

Some have the view that when we say, “Everything I have belongs to the Lord,” that this is really a way of excusing ourselves for not actually giving very much at all. Well it is always possible to say something and for it not to be really true. And the truth is that if we genuinely hand over all that we have and are to Christ’s lordship then we will walk with Him where He walks. Inevitably we will share His heart for giving, and this will be our motivation.

Recognising that God has full rights of ownership over all our possessions releases us to give liberally and freely. When we recognise that what we have is God’s anyway, we won’t have any problems giving it away when He prompts us to. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to deliver us from a grasping spirit, and to set our hearts free from bondage to possessions. Then let us present ourselves, and all that we have, to Jesus. We are not our own, we are bought at a price, in order to bring glory to Him.

The Kingdom Principle of Giving

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24

This is a universal principle that derives from God himself. We can see it operating in creation. We can see it demonstrated in Jesus. It is a principle that has many facets, and is expressed in many different ways in Scripture: mourning leading to rejoicing (Psalm 126:5,6); losing leading to finding (Matthew 10:39); humbling leading to exalting (Matthew 23:12); weakness leading to strength (2 Corinthians 12:9,10); suffering leading to glory (2 Corinthians 4:17); death leading to life (Romans 6:8; 2 Corinthians 4:11).

 

Jesus particularly applied this principle to giving in Luke 6:38: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” He taught this principle to His disciples, but more than this, He demonstrated this principle in His life. Though in the form of God, He made Himself nothing, giving Himself to servanthood and death, and God has in turn exalted Him to the highest place (Philippians 2:6-11). Though He was rich, for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Jesus gave all that He had. He had nowhere even to lay His head (Matthew 8:20). But He gave joyfully, knowing the harvest that lay ahead (Hebrews 12:2).

There are three important aspects of this principle that we need the Holy Spirit to engrave on our minds (Romans 8:5).

1.      Christlike giving involves sacrifice (Philippians 4:18)

In due time there will be a return, but the timing of that return is in God’s hands (Galatians 6:9). In the meantime, while you wait, you no longer have use of what you gave. When the farmer sows the seed it dies, and he is no longer able to make bread from it. This may be a great sacrifice if he doesn’t have much other food, but it is a sacrifice that he makes willingly, knowing that in the long term it is worth it.

There is a tendency amongst some preachers to gloss over this sacrificial aspect of giving, implying, or even overtly teaching, that when you give you will not suffer for it. This is a distortion of the truth, not least because it fails to distinguish between the short term and the long term. When Jesus gave Himself and entered into this world, the short term consequence was that He became poor. Yes, He knew that in time there would be a glorious harvest, but He gave Himself to death before seeing the fruit of His sacrifice, and even now that harvest has not yet been fully reaped (Hebrews 2:8).

The same kind of sacrificial giving should characterise Jesus’ followers (Matthew 16:24-26). And for them, too, the harvest will come in due time. For some a partial reward may be received in this life (Matthew 19:29). But many will not see the full benefit until the next life (Matthew 16:27). Jesus told the rich young man to give all that he had, not so that he would increase his wealth in this life, but to receive treasure in heaven (Matthew 19:21).

The apostle Paul lived according to this principle (Philippians 3:8). Through giving himself for the sake of the gospel he was sometimes hungry and in need (Philippians 4:12). This did not contradict the fact that God was caring for him and providing for him. Rather, it was a suffering that Paul cheerfully embraced for the sake of the gospel (Philippians 3:10), knowing that God would sustain him through it (Philippians 4:13).

2.      Christlike giving is always abundantly rewarded (2 Corinthians 9:10,11).

Jesus said that the return would be “pressed down, shaken together and running over.” You cannot out-give God. This is not to say that our giving causes God to give back to us, any more than our forgiving causes God to forgive us. God is the one who initiates the giving and the forgiving, through His grace alone (Matthew 18:23-35).

However, Jesus teaches us that there is one aspect of God’s giving to us as His children over which we have some degree of control – the measure that He uses (Luke 6:38). If we give sparingly we will receive sparingly. If we give generously we shall receive generously (2 Corinthians 9:6). But regardless of the size of measure, God loves to return to us, lavishly, many times the amount we give to Him (Matthew 19:29). And this is on top of what He gives us anyway because He loves us (Romans 8:32)! God longs for His children to share His heart for giving, and loves to give them the wherewithal to fulfil this (2 Corinthians 9:8-11).

Now we should not succumb to the folly of thinking that the individual who gives is necessarily the one who directly receives the abundant return from God’s hand. In any case the return may not be received in full, or even at all, until Christ’s Kingdom comes in all its power (Matthew 16:27). But whenever it comes the return may be received as much by others as by the individual who gave. Christ’s giving of Himself not only resulted in His own exaltation and glory (Philippians 2:9); it also resulted in riches for us (2 Corinthians 8:9). The young lad who gave the five loaves and two fishes did not personally receive enough food for over five thousand people. What he gave was multiplied thousands of times, and he himself received as much as he wanted, but the bulk of the return was received by the whole crowd (John 6:8-12). God loves to use the harvest from the giving of just one individual to abundantly bless many others (Romans 5:15).

3.      Without giving there is no increase.

If we don’t give what we have then it remains just that – what we have. It brings no growth, no increase, and no abundant blessing to others. Worse than that, the very act of hoarding precipitates corruption, decay and loss (Matthew 6:19). Those who hoarded manna in the wilderness found it infested by maggots the next day (Exodus 16:20). Instead of the exhilaration of the Kingdom cycle of giving and blessing all we experience is the desolation of seeing what we have trickle away fruitlessly (Haggai 1:6). This is not what God wants for us. Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit” (John 15:8). Only by following Jesus in a life of giving will we see this happen.

Any reluctance we have to give is so often because we fail to understand this Kingdom principle of sowing and reaping, giving and receiving, sacrifice and glory. We allow the enemy to deceive us that what we give is lost, whereas in fact it is what we keep back that is lost, and what we give that is multiplied over and over again. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us this principle, to make our attitude the same as that of Jesus.

Giving by Grace

“We serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” Romans 7:6

If there is one area of our Christian lives in which we find it easy to fall back into living under law instead of grace, it must surely be in the area of giving. The good news about Jesus’ death and resurrection is that through His grace

1.      His death secures our forgiveness from sin, and justifies us before God (Romans 3:24);

2.      His resurrection secures the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to empower us to live the life of Jesus (Romans 8:1-4; Galatians 2:20).

We receive these blessings by faith through grace. This means that we trust Jesus to do it for us, relying on Him completely. We do not merit it or earn it, nor do we achieve it by keeping a set of rules or following certain procedures.

Consequently in our giving, whether it be time, hospitality, possessions or money we need to depend on God’s grace. So we do not give because we have an obligation to do so, or because God will not be pleased with us if we don’t do it. We give because the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts, and prompts us to behave like Jesus. Without this motivation of love our giving accomplishes nothing (1 Corinthians 13:3).

2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 include a description of the differences between giving under the law and giving under grace.

Some of us are under bondage in this matter of giving. In some cases we are gripped by materialism or the love of money. Others of us give, but only because we think we ought to, not because the love of Christ constrains us. As a consequence, giving, which should be a joy, is a burden. The Macedonian Christians urgently pleaded with Paul for the privilege of sharing in the collection for the needy elsewhere. They gave lavishly, in spite of extreme poverty, with overflowing joy (2 Corinthians 8:1-5). Does this enthusiastic spirit of giving characterise us? Are we so caught up with excitement at the sheer delight of following Jesus down this pathway, that we plead with Him to allow us the privilege of giving more? Let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to excel in this grace of giving.

Conclusion

I believe God wants to do two things for us:

1.      to deliver us from what binds us, releasing us into the glorious freedom of the children of God;

2.      to introduce us to an adventure of giving which will fill us with inexpressible joy as we see the resulting growth of His kingdom in great power.

If God is speaking to you about your giving, and showing you that He wants to change you then respond to His voice straight away. You may find the following steps helpful as you make your response.

1.      Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what He wants to change. Tell Him that He has the freedom to do what He wants in your life right now. Allow time for Him to speak to you.

2.      Confess any area of sin that He reveals to you, especially: not knowing the Father’s heart for giving; doubt that He is able and willing to provide; unthankfulness for His provision; failure to submit yourself totally to Christ’s lordship; failure to give with the attitude of Jesus; trying to please God by keeping the law; gripped by the love of money.

3.      Receive the forgiveness and deliverance that Jesus won for you by His death and resurrection. Affirm with thanksgiving that your sin is forgiven, that you are set free from it’s power by His blood, that you no longer live under law but under grace.

4.      Tell the enemy to flee from you (James 4:7). Affirm that he has no power over you (Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14,15): no grounds to accuse you (Revelation 12:10), to darken your mind (2 Corinthians 4:4), to hold you in any kind of bondage (Luke 13:16; 2 Timothy 2:26); to have any foothold in your life (Ephesians 4:27).

5.      Invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, to control your mind (Romans 8:6), to live in you and control your life (Romans 8:9), to give the life of Jesus to you (Romans 8:11). Ask Him to pour out the love of the Father in your heart (Romans 5:5) and to transform you with the giving attitude of Jesus (Philippians 2:5).