112 - Doctrine of Giving

Doc of Giving; 1 Cor. 16:1-5; 2 Cor 8:9

Giving is part of the believer's spiritual life. At the moment of salvation every believer is given forty things from God the Father that are ours forever. One of those is revokable: the filling of the Spirit. We can lose the filling of the Spirit in the sense that it is no longer operational in our life. We don't lose the Holy Spirit but His dynamic influence in relation to our spiritual growth is shut down when we are out of fellowship, when we are living according to the sin nature. At the instant we confess our sins we are back in fellowship and so that is activated again. But 39 of those forty realities are ours forever. In that package we get two things that are somewhat related. The first is our ambassadorship. We are royal ambassadors and this has to do with our ministry in the direction of other people. Then we are also made priests, royal priests; and priests have to do with our ministry toward God. As part of both our ambassadorship and our priesthood we have spiritual service. This has to do with the operation of our spiritual gifts, with our ministry toward others in the body of Christ, and it has also to do with the function of evangelism. What under girds a lot of operations in terms of ambassadorship and priesthood has to do with this little issue called money, because ministries operate on finances. It doesn't matter where you are involved in a small ministry or an international ministry, a local ministry or foreign missions, it still operates on finances.

As priests of God we also operate in the realm of giving because giving is towards God. This is our ministry to the Lord. When we sign our checks and we have worked for that money it really easy to think that that is our money. But it is not our money. The Lord can take it all away in an instant. Every dollar we make is from the Lord and in giving we are giving back to the Lord from that which He has given to us. That is part of our operation as priests, part of our worship as priests.  

Giving is not a means of spiritual growth. Neither is prayer, witnessing, evangelism, the operation of our spiritual gifts, memorizing Scripture, reading our Bibles. All these are things that people think are means to spiritual growth, but the Bible never utilizes that terminology. We grow by means of the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we grow by means of the Holy Spirit; these are the means statements. The others are results. As we grow spiritually then the result that we will pray more, we will get involved in giving, witnessing, utilizing our spiritual gifts, etc. These are the products of growth, not the cause of growth.

Giving is also a spiritual gift. Some people have this gift and some don't, but notice that when Paul comes in and talks about giving he doesn't make that point. He says every believer is responsible to give just as every believer is responsible to witness and it is not dependent upon having a spiritual gift.

Basic principles on the doctrine of giving

1)  Giving is an expression of the royal family honour code that is grounded in grace. Everything about our life in the church age needs to be governed by the principle of grace. Grace is an attitude of benevolence and generosity; it is going the extra mile.

2)  Giving is an expression of mental attitude in every area of life. Giving doesn't just have to do with money, it has to do with everything in life—giving time, giving effort, talents, using everything God has given us for the local church, for ministry; it is part of the lifestyle of believers. As grace orientation is developed in your soul then it will also impact your pocket book. 2 Corinthians 8:1 ^NASB "Now, brethren, we {wish to} make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, [2] that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality." Affliction was their external circumstances; the abundance of their life was their focus on eternal realities and their spiritual maturity; their deep poverty relates to their financial circumstances. They didn't have a lot of money. Because of their spiritual maturity they didn't let their actual financial circumstance limit their giving, they abounded in the riches of their liberality. The point here is that their giving is an expression of their spiritual life and it affected every area of life. The test for us is how we measure what God's grace has done in our life and how it is going to affect our giving.

3)  Giving is an expression of our individual volition, not the result of guilt manipulation, gimmicks, or other forms of coercion. 2 Corinthians 8:3 ^NASB "For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, {they gave} of their own accord." They gave of their own will above their ability, they were generous beyond anyone's expectations and it had nothing to do with how little they had, it had to do with how grateful they were to the grace of God.

4)  Giving must first be related to our attitude towards the Lord before it focuses on people. It is oriented to the Lord, not to other people. 2 Corinthians 8:5 ^NASB "and {this,} not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God." The issue is our relationship to God. Get that straight and everything else is going to flow from that.

5)  Giving depends on consistent spiritual growth, consistent learning and application of the Word of God. 2 Corinthians 8:6 ^NASB "So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well. [7] But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, {see} that you abound in this gracious work also." So giving is related to spiritual growth.

6)  The pattern or motive for giving is based on the pattern during the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ; He set the pattern. It is the work of Christ on the cross that gives us the principle, the framework for understanding grace. 2 Corinthians 8:9 ^NASB "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich." The "rich" there isn't talking about money in either case, it is talking about the general principle of giving, that you have an abundance of something and yet you give it, you use it for others.

7)  We realize that giving is first a mental attitude and second an overt act. If you don't have the mental attitude right then you are going to fall apart on the overt act. 2 Corinthians 8:12 ^NASB "For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what {a person} has, not according to what he does not have." The willingness is an issue.

8)  Giving is related to the motivation from the doctrine that is in the soul. 2 Corinthians 9:7 ^NASB "Each one {must do} just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." The word translated "cheerful" is the Greek word hilaros [i(laroj] which comes over into English eventually as hilarity. It doesn't mean hilarity, it has to do with a positive, joyful mental attitude.

9)  God in His grace supplies both the motivation and the resources for giving. 2 Corinthians 9:8 ^NASB "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed." Whatever resources that we have, that is the basis for giving.

10)  Giving is part of our spiritual production. 2 Corinthians 9:10 ^NASB "Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness [the production of your spiritual growth]." God is the one who is ultimately producing this in your life through the Holy Spirit.

11)  When we have developed a grace oriented mental attitude it will result in generous giving. 2 Corinthians 9:11 ^NASB "you will be enriched in everything for all liberality [generosity], which through us is producing thanksgiving to God." Giving is related to grace, grace is related to gratitude and gratitude is related to thanksgiving.

12)  Giving, then, is a result of spiritual growth as all Christian service is a result of spiritual growth. 2 Corinthians 9:12 ^NASB "For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. [13] Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for {your} obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all." That generosity is a demonstration of the validity of the ministry in their life, that they are growing and maturing.