Living on God’s Economy—Giving Positions Me for God’s Blessings

In God’s economy, giving is like planting a seed. Just as planting seed positions a farmer for harvest, so giving our resources positions us for God’s blessings. Second Corinthians 9:6 explains it this way, “…He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”

Jesus also explained the direct relation between giving and blessing in Luke 6:38: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” This verse reminds us that giving follows four basic laws of harvest.

You reap what you sow.
“Give, and it shall be given unto you…”

You simply cannot out-give God! And every Christian who has been giving to God long enough to reap the harvest can attest to this truth.
(more…)

Living on God’s Economy—The Mission of the Local Church is Worthy of My Investment

I love the local church! I praise the Lord for the opportunity to have been raised in church. God used my many Sunday school teachers, each sermon I heard, the church camps I attended—every aspect of the church to influence and shape my life. Even as a child, He used the local church to give me a desire to live with eternal values. Today, I’m thankful for the love and fellowship of my church family. I’m thankful that God has allowed me to be a part of something so awesome, so needed, so eternal as the local church.

Do you love your church? Thank God for the many ways the local church has benefited you—salvation, spiritual growth, opportunities for service, help in directing your children’s hearts to God—the list is long.

The Mission of the Local Church
Your church has the responsibility of reaching every person in the community with the Gospel of Christ. Christ has commanded His church to “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23). What a joy to be a part of such an awesome responsibility!
(more…)

Living on God’s Economy—Grace-Giving

Second Corinthians 8 describes the sacrificial offering of the poverty-stricken churches of Macedonia: “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality” (2 Corinthians 8:1–2).

Why is the testimony of these Macedonian Christians so powerful? The significance lies in their motive. In God’s economy, the motive is as important as the gift. Some Christians give financially, but they give for the wrong reasons.

Early Christians were not guilt-givers.
These Macedonian Christians did not give because Paul pushed or coerced them into giving. In fact, they had to beg Paul to take their gift—“Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift…” (2 Corinthians 8:4).
(more…)

Living on God’s Economy

Giving is not a minor topic in Scripture. In fact, the word give in its various forms is used 2,162 times throughout the Bible—that is more than believe (271 times), prayer (268 times), and love (714 times) all combined!

Yet, in spite of the vast material on giving, many Christians respond to even the mention of the word by reaching for their wallets—to hold them tightly closed.

Does this response reflect a true lack of resources? Can we really not afford to give? Actually, the opposite is true—we can’t afford not to give.

Giving Meets Our Needs
God does not need our money, for He is the one who has given it to us! “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

(more…)

Each year during February or March, we have a special stewardship emphasis at Lancaster Baptist Church. It is during this time we consider God’s goodness to us and how we may honor and worship Him through our giving.

I can still recall how Terrie and I began tithing as a young married couple. Over the years, it has been a joy to grow in the grace of giving and to honor the Lord through our giving as a family. Beyond that, it is a thrill to pastor a people with hearts to give and to further the cause of Jesus Christ.

In writing to the Philippian church, the Apostle Paul said, “Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only” (Philippians 4:16). God blesses giving people and giving churches with abundant joy!

In his book Who Really Cares, Arthur C. Brooks recently described the effects of our faith upon our charitable giving. In the book he says, “Here is a curious fact: Families in San Francisco give almost exactly the same amount to charities each year as families in South Dakota – about $1,300. This may seem counterintuitive, because, in every other respect, the two communities – 1,500 miles apart – could not be more different. South Dakota spreads the same population as San Francisco County’s area over an area 1,615 times larger. A South Dakotan is half as likely to hold a college degree as a San Franciscan.”

“The $1,300 to charity represents a significance, as well, because the average San Francisco family enjoys 78% more personal income than a family in South Dakota. For a family making $45,364 [the South Dakota state average], $1,300 represents a much larger sacrifice than for one making $80,822 [the San Francisco County average]. So the real difference in giving between the two communities is this: the average South Dakotan family gives away 75% more of its household income each year than the average family in San Francisco.”

When Mr. Brooks asked an executive at the South Dakota Community Foundation why South Dakotans donated so much of their incomes to charity, her response was immediate: religion. “We are all taught to tithe here.”

Mr. Brooks’ book Who Really Cares definitively proves that in places where faith abounds across America, giving also abounds. I have always felt the more passionate our faith is, the more consistent our giving will be.

Ministry takes place when divine resources flow through yielded vessels to the glory of God. May ministry be strong in your life and mine because of our yieldedness to Him in the days ahead!