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Don't Forget Your Offering On Sunday |
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Don't Forget Your Offering On Sunday |
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Someone has written "You Will Never Be Sorry:"
I say "Amen" to all them and especially the last one. No one has ever been or ever will be sorry for the money they have given or will give to the Lord's work. I think of a story I once read about the great composer/pianist Paderewski. Two young men were working their way through Stanford University. At one point their money was almost gone, so they decided to engage the great pianist for a concert and use the profits for board and tuition. Paderewski's manager asked for a guarantee of $1,000.00. The students worked hard to promote the concert but they came up $400.00 short. After the concert, they went to the musician, gave him all the money they had raised, and promised to pay the $400.00 as soon as they could. It appeared their college days were over. What Paderewski did is a great lesson in giving. He told the boys to take out of the money they had raised their expenses, keep for each of them 10 percent for their schooling, and give him the rest. Years passed. Paderewski became Premier of Poland following WWI. Thousands of his countrymen were starving. Only one man could help, the head of the U.S. Food & Relief Bureau who at that time was Herbert Hoover. Paderewski's appeal to him brought thousands of tons of food. Later Paderewski had the opportunity to meet the American statesman and personally thank him for his help. Hoover said to him, "That's all right. Besides, you don't remember, but you helped me once when I was a student in college." Hoover had been one of the two young men that had got him to do the concert. Anyone who has learned to give to God's work has discovered that somewhere and somehow God returns what we give. No one has ever been sorry that they gave to God's work. I read about a fellow who bought a new boomerang and killed himself trying to throw the old one away. Giving has a boomerang effect. It always comes back to us with blessed rewards. Jimmy Carter once said, "When it comes to giving, some people will stop at nothing." I also say "Amen" to that. I think of how tragic that is when you realize that God blesses our giving. In Chapters 1-15, Paul has dealt with moral and doctrinal issues. In the last chapter he deals with personal matters. One writer called this final chapter "a little chatty section."1 The first thing that Paul "chats" about is our giving. He gives us certain instructions concerning our giving. To me, this is the most instructive passage in all the New Testament about giving. We read in verse 1, "Now concerning the collection for the saints…" I find the word "collection" a very interesting word to be used for giving. As used here it simply speaks of the gathering of money. Yet the word itself says much more. The word comes from the word "logos" which speaks of words and communication (Cp. John 1:1). The word "collection" has embodied in its meaning the ideal of saying something. The way we give says something. It says something about a person. A persons giving is a tattletale of the heart. Our giving says volumes about our love for God, a faith in God, and our obedience to God. The offerings that are received each week say a lot about a Church. A good measuring stick of a Church's commitment and spiritual depth is the offerings on Sunday. A growing people are a giving people. If people are growing spiritually the offerings will grow numerically. A good question that each of us could and should ask ourselves is, "What does my checkbook say about me as a Christian?" One of the most regular entries in our checkbook ought to be our Church. Our checkbook ought to reflect that one of the largest categories of our giving is to God's work. When you look at other references to giving in the Bible you find the same ideal that our giving saying something about us. We read in Acts 24:17, "Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings." The word "alms" speaks of a merciful expression. Giving expresses something. Also in II Corinthians 9:5 we read, "Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness." The word "bounty" means "a good communication." It literally means, "fine speaking." Again, the ideal is that giving is saying something. It says something about me, you, and even the Church." Understanding this about giving lets notice what Paul says in the first four verses of chapter 16 and consider 4 things he teaches us about giving. 1. THE 'WHO' OF GIVING In verse 2 notice the words, "let every one of you." This tells us who is to give. The "who" of giving is identified in the words of verse 1, "as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye." Who is to give? The churches are to give. To be more specific, the members of the churches are to give. Every believer that makes up the membership of the churches are the ones that received this direction and order from Paul. To put it very simply, if you are a Christian, you are to be a giver. A. GIVING IS AN INDIVIDUAL MATTER Paul says "you." When we read the words "let everyone of you" we should read it as if Paul were writing directly to each of us and not just the Corinthians. I am to be a giver. I am to give to God's work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans spend their income as follows:
I found it interesting that charitable giving was not listed. I am not sure if it was included in miscellaneous spending, but it would appear that charitable giving does not play a large part in how Americans spend their money. When it comes to Christians, giving to the work of God should always be a part of how we spend our money. Why? We are told by God to give. Each one of us is to be a giver. B. IT IS AN INCLUSIVE MATTER Paul says, "let everyone of you." When we gather on Sunday every person should participate in the giving. I am to give, but also everyone here is to give. I wonder if on Sunday when the offering is received if every person gives. I seriously doubt it. But everyone is to give. On one occasion, R.G. Lee was baptizing. The candidates for baptism were always instructed to leave their valuables in the dressing room so the water would not damage them. One fellow got into the baptistery with his billfold. He said he wanted his billfold baptized too. Many believers need their billfolds baptized. On any given Sunday in any given service there will be many that will not participate in the giving. Paul tells us that giving is an inclusive matter. Everyone is to give. When you come to church on Sunday you should bring your checkbook. Every one of you should bring your checkbook. The "who" of giving is every one of us. None of us is excluded. All are included. Each individual is to give. 2. THE 'WHERE' OF GIVING The order that Paul gives is to the "churches," which would indicate the church is to be your place of giving. A. THE CHURCH IS TO BE A PLACE OF GATHERING In verse 2, we read the words, "Upon the first day of the week." The first day of the week is Sunday, the day that Paul implies believers were gathering for worship. To the early church, the first day of the week was recognized as the "Lord's Day" and became the day that Christians met to worship. It was distinguished from the seventh day (Saturday/Sabbath), which was identified with the law. The first day of week was identified with the resurrection and grace. In the very beginning, evidence shows that for awhile the church met on the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday), primarily on Friday evening after sundown. Much of the liturgy of the synagogues was maintained by the early church. However, by the time of the writing of 1 Corinthians, distinctions between Judaism and Christianity were becoming more apparent and distinct. To further precipitate this clear division, Christians began to worship on Sunday, the first day of the week. They also did so to honor and celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Paul's words indicate that the first day of the week was the day Christians were to assemble. I am not going to argue or loose sleep over whether a person worships on Saturday or Sunday, but I will say that Christians are to gather weekly. We as believers are to go to church every week. The church is a place of gathering. B. THE CHURCH IS TO BE A PLACE OF GIVING Not only should we gather at Church but also we should give to the Church. We read in verse 2 that each of us is to "lay by him in store." The words "in store," transliterated gives us our English word "thesaurus." A thesaurus is a treasury of words. The ideal is of a treasury. Treasuries were associated with religious temples. The temples had repositories, much like banks today, in which people put their money and valuables for safekeeping. Paul's words would indicate that the early church had developed their own treasuries, place of safekeeping; accounts, as we would call them today, for people to put money in for the work of God. To put it simply, the church took up offerings and managed the money people gave for the work they were doing. This implies to me that the Church is to be your place of giving. This is not to say that we are not to give to others beside our Church, but that the Church is to be the primary place of our giving. Every believer is to give, as God has commanded us to give, to the Church in which we belong. That is the 'where' of our giving. When we gather on the first day of the week, one part of our gathering is giving. 3. THE 'WHAT' OF GIVING What we are to give is described by the words, "as God hath prospered him." Paul's words do not give us a specific amount to give but they do say a lot about what we are to give and the amount we are to give. A. THE AMOUNT OF OUR GIVING The amount of our giving depends on how we have prospered. In other words, we are to give based on how much we have. As we have seen, everyone is to give. No one is excluded in the giving. What each is to give is based on what they have and are able to give. One may be able to give a large amount. Another may only have a small amount to give. What we give depends on what we have or how we have prospered. An independent study found that households with incomes below $10,000 give an average of 2.8% on their income, while households with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 give only 1.5%. Nearly half of the total contributions to charity in the U.S. come from households with incomes below $30,000. The average total giving to charity per household was $790.00.3 Now what that study reveals is that those who have the most give the least and that those that have the least the give the most percentage wise. That is a complete reversal to what the Bible says. We are to give in proportion to what we have. Take the matter a study found that the average church member gives $790.00 a year. That is a little over $15.00 a week. If your income is a little more than $7,000 a year, there would be nothing wrong with that amount. But if you make $14,000 a year you are only giving half of what you should give. If you make $20,000 a year you should give at least $2,000 a year. If $30,000 a year, our giving should at least be $3,000 a year and etc. In most cases $790.00 is both a shame and a sin. When God looks at our giving He does not look at the amount. He looks at what we have and what we have left. Giving is to be in proportion to what we have. B. THE APPRECIATION OF OUR GIVING Notice carefully that Paul says, "as God hath prospered us." He recognizes that God is the source of all we have. It is God that hath prospered us and all we have we owe to Him. The measure of our giving is to be based on what we have and the motive of our giving is based on our appreciation to God for what He has given us. When we give it is an act of thanksgiving and gratitude. It is an expression of appreciation. When we give less than we should it is the same as saying that fail to recognize the real source of what we have and that we are unappreciative of what God has blessed us with. To come to Church on any given Sunday, having been blessed with health and strength and the ability to work and earn a salary, and not give or just drop in a few bucks, is extremely ungrateful. We have all been blessed in different ways. Some have more than others. Yet, regardless of what we have, we must never forget that it comes from God. We would not have anything if it were not for the Lord. Our giving is an act of appreciation of what the Lord has given us. 4. THE 'WHY' OF GIVING We have seen that we ought to give because we are commanded to give and that it is a way of showing our appreciation. But there is also another reason why we ought to give as demonstrated in our text. A. THE MINISTRY OF THE MONEY GIVEN We read in verse 1 that the collection was "for the saints." We see in verse 3 that the saints referred to were the saints in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem church was experiencing great persecution and living in dire poverty. They had limited resources and going through great difficulty. The other churches were using money that was given to help these believers. The money was used in ministry. One of the reasons for our giving is to provide for the ministry of the Church. Churches could not engage in ministry if people did not give. We as a church could not operate the many ministries we have, support missionaries, build buildings, and help others if you as a people did not give. There is a ministry purpose behind our giving. B. THE MANAGEMENT OF THE MONEY GIVEN We read in verse 3-4, "And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. [4] And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me." Paul is talking about sending money to the church at Jerusalem. In so doing, he tells the church at Corinth to appoint certain ones to manage the money and deliver the money. He even adds that if he can go with them, he will. The point is that Paul is talking about certain ones that are entrusted by the church to manage the money given to God by the people. Their role and task is to see that God's money is used in ministry. Each church approaches the matter of finances and the management of finances differently. But however the process, God's people are to give and certain ones are to manage that money and see to it that it is used for the work of God. In closing let me say that it is a blessing to give. The passage before us does not bother me or disturb me. It is a delightful passage and that is because I have learned the joy of giving. I have learn the joy of giving each week and giving in proportion to how God has blessed me. I give to show my love to God as well as obey His command. Many of you do the same. Some of you need to begin to practice what the passage says.
When you start to church on Sunday don't forget to bring your checkbook.
1. Leon Morris, "The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians." |
