While most everyone knows, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” precious few are aware that it was Jesus who made that expression famous and even fewer are convinced it is really true (Acts 20:35).
Receiving, after all, contains a blessed feeling that is impossible to deny. Giving to the government through taxes and fines hardly feels like a blessing, at least until we think about our national defense and infrastructure. In the Bible, however, giving becomes a matter of faith–whether it is providing for one’s household, giving alms to the poor or providing for the saints and proclamation of the gospel. The custom of the earliest churches of Christ was to provide for a weekly collection, on the first day of the week, which just happened to coincide with the weekly atonement memorial of the Lord’s Supper.
Does our giving need to increase? Definitely! As our lives progress and our prosperity expands, our giving should reflect gratitude to the ultimate Giver. In fact, we hope to mold a better attitude toward giving–one that is more selfless and liberal like the Jubilee of the Israelites.
The Custom Under Moses
When one thinks of religious giving, his mind probably turns first to the tithe of old, the custom by which a tenth of one’s production was given either to priests or kings. We first learn of the tithe when Abraham met Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth who delivered Abraham’s enemies into his hand (see Genesis 14:18-20). Abraham gave this royal priest a tithe, or tenth, of all the spoils of his victories (see Hebrews 7:4). Jacob promised to do likewise when he finally became impressed with the reality and majesty of God (Genesis 28:10-22).
From this unusual beginning, the tithe takes its place in the Old Testament economy. According to Leviticus 27:30-33, a tithe had to be given of the crops, the fruit trees (oil and wine) and of the herds and flocks, so that as they animals passed by on their way into the pasture, every tenth animal was taken as an offering to God and the owner was not allowed to rig the system so that the sickly or weak would be chosen. The tithe was to be paid, not to the king for there was not even a king until long after Moses, but to the Levites who had no land inheritance of their own and served as priests for the nation (see Numbers 18:21-32).
In addition, the tithe was to be paid at Jerusalem once the nation arrived there (see Deuteronomy 12:5,6,11,18). The tithe only began to have anything to do with money when the worshiper could not carry his materiel all the way to Jerusalem and was therefore permitted to convert it into a monetary tithe (see Deuteronomy 14:22-29). This custom prevails throughout the Mosaic era and is seen during the ministry of Christ, alongside of alms giving and monetary contributions to the temple; the Pharisees found the tithe to be a convenient place to enforce their oral traditions, mandating that people even tithe the smallest products of the soil, like seeds, stalks and leaves (Matthew 23:23-24).
From all this, one can see the digression of the tithe, from the heartfelt expressions of gratitude of Abraham and Jacob to the heartless acts of self-righteousness of the Pharisees.
This tithing included some provision for the poor, but beyond that, there was the matter of almsgiving, specifically for the needy, the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner. This was the eleemosynary function of the Jews, who often used the words righteousness, justice and kindness as synonyms for almsgiving, just as we use the word charity today to emphasize the proper motivation–love.
“For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land” (Deuteronomy 15:11).
When Proverbs 11:4 says, “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death,” the connotation is of using riches to aid the needy instead of hoarding them up for oneself, but here again, the religious establishment destroyed the impulse of giving and turned it into an exercise of self-promotion before Christ came along (see Matthew 6:1-4).
Along with other customs, every fiftieth year in Israel was to be a Jubilee year (see Leviticus 24:8-24). Jubilee comes from a word that literally means trumpet, because a trumpet made from a ram’s horn was sounded to proclaim liberty throughout the nation on the Day of Atonement (the tenth day of the seventh month).
During that Jubilee year, all real property was to revert automatically to its original owner, and those who had sold themselves as paupers into slavery were to be released. The point of all this is found in Leviticus 25:23: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.”
This practice was intended to prevent systemic poverty in the land by giving succeeding generations another chance to own their freedom and their land. Just as noteworthy, though, is that the Jubilee Year was to be a sabbatical from the rigors of life (Leviticus 25:11-12). God promised to provide for those who obeyed him, so that they would not be reduced to poverty themselves (Leviticus 25:18-22). How much faith does it take to leave fields untended while focusing on the commands of God, trusting that he will provide nevertheless?
The Jubilee was an occasion to revert to a simpler, more trusting life and to provide opportunity for the less fortunate, all trusting that God would reward the obedient giver. This is probably where one truth becomes most evident: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
Giving Today
Although the tithe survived for thousands of years, the new covenant of Jesus Christ placed little importance upon numbers and percentages and much more on the attitude of the heart.
As the Levites who received the tithes disappeared, so did the tithe itself, replaced in a sense by a different kind of contribution, one made weekly by an even higher standard. For the church, it begins as a collection for needy saints and is observed each first day of the week (see 1 Corinthians 16:1-2).
Yet from this same resulting treasury, the remainder of the scriptural work of the church is also supported, including the expense of providing the livelihood of preachers (see Philippians 4:15-16), edifying the saints (see 1 Corinthians 14) and conducting times of worship (see Hebrews 10:24-25). Also gone is the concept of the ten percent contribution, so readily enforced even today by many religious organizations seeking control over their members.
Since the New Testament is a covenant written on the heart of believers, it naturally follows that the matter of giving is placed before the spirit to determine (2 Corinthians 8:1-7). So often, preachers try to use the tithe as an example for the church today, but really, the congregations of Macedonia are the truest example of giving for Christ’s sake.
- they gave sacrificially and liberally, in spite of their own needs
- they gave urgently, sincerely caring about the requirements of those less fortunate
- they achieved this motivation, not by tithing seeds and stalks, but by first dedicating themselves to the Lord and then to their brethren
Sometimes we abound diligently in faith, speech, knowledge and love, but the grace of sharing is lost on us–our faith is only words deep (First John 3:16-19). Compassion for the needy saint, the preacher in the field, and even the man and his family laboring in your own presence is a vital motivation for giving liberally, but add to that a genuine concern for the advance of the kingdom (2 Corinthians 9:6-11).
Honestly, sometimes we are reluctant to give to the worthy poor or to the church either because we are addicted to materialism or because we simply lack faith. We are unwilling to share any of our produce because we are hoarding it up that we might be eased even if others are burdened or we lack faith that God can supply our own needs if we take the risk of opening our hearts and checkbooks for another of his creatures. We sow our money sparingly and are shocked when we reap little to the spirit.
Here is the proper attitude for the giver:
- he sets out to sow bountifully and liberally, not as a stingy miser
- his giving involves more than his hands, but is rooted in his heart where he purposes to give cheerfully, not grudgingly or out of a sense of unhappy obligation
- he is thankful that he has something to share and to give and shows his gratitude by doing just that
- he has faith that he will be rewarded by God who sees in heaven
Nowhere do we see this attitude more evident than in the temple during the ministry of Christ:
And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41-44)
Throughout the court of the women in the temple, there were coffers with large, open mouths to receive contributions for the maintenance of the facility–purchasing incense and making sacrifices, etc. This poor widow cast in far less than the wealthy, for her brass mites amounted only to ? of a cent, but Jesus never judged things according to the flesh or the appearance. What he saw was the liberal sacrifice of her heart, that she was more devoted to the service of God than those who had been blessed much more than she and gave only what they did not need.
We learn valuable things from this poor widow:
- God is very pleased when we sacrifice ourselves for his cause, whether it be aiding the needy or contributing to the kingdom
- as mere stewards of God’s possessions, we are duty-bound to employ all our blessings in an honorable manner so that none of them becomes an idol we love more than him
- the greatest giver is not always or even usually the one who writes the biggest check, but is the one who has the biggest heart for faith
- faith is required to give properly, to give sacrificially and not just of our excess
- God loves even the humblest offering if it is sincere, including the small offerings of young Christians and sinless children
Unlike this widow, very few exercise self-denial to fund their giving to the poor or to the work of the church; most give only of their excess at the bottom of their budgets after every other need and luxury has been supplied; where is the faith and sacrifice in that?
God promised to bless the tither: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need” (Malachi 3:10).
It is not that we should impoverish ourselves to help another or give to the church, but that we should feel at least a sense of self-sacrifice while we are giving liberally and not stingily (Second Corinthians 8:12-15). Jesus says, “[G]ive, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38).
Some Tips
- children should be taught to be generous and interested in giving
- young Christians should give if they are prospered, just as they should eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper if they are redeemed–whether from allowances, part-time jobs or birthday money
- travelers should make their contribution a week early or when they return, but should not just pocket their offering simply because they were out of town on Sunday
- the ill must also make up their offering or send it by the hand of another
- the amount we give should be considered often, not just set and left alone forever; the standard is our prosperity and if God has increased our prosperity, it is not just that our standard of living might increase, but more that our standard of giving might increase
- God, charity and the church should not be at the bottom of our budgets, but the top
Conclusion
Our giving may be the most obvious way in which we lay up treasure in heaven, investing our prosperity in the kingdom of our hope by providing money bags which do not grow old, a treasure that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:33-34). This is our Jubilee, not just every fifty years, but every first day of the week and every day in between–a simpler, selfless life.
