Giving

In church tonight the lesson was on giving. Many people, especially people who aren’t active in a church, take great offense to the very concept of giving to a church. I think crooks like Robert Tilton and Benny Hinn deserve some of the blame. Perhaps another reason is that people normally give money to an institution such as a store in exchange for something tangible – a TV, a gallon of gas, a massage, a pizza. Perhaps for some people, churches don’t provide a valuable service. Others don’t object to the concept of giving to the church but claim that they cannot afford it because of their medical bills, house payments, credit card payments, car payments, and other expenses.

The Bible is clear that Christians are expected to share what they have with others, both with institutions of worship and with people in need. The question that many people, including myself, have is “how much is enough?” I was taught growing up to give ten percent of my income to the church, and I think many other churches teach the same. Why ten? In Old Testament days, the Israelites were commanded to bring ten percent of their crops or other “increase” as an offering to the Lord. BUT, that was only part of their requirements. On top of that ten percent, they also brought various animal sacrifices, freewill offerings, and other gifts both to keep the Temple running and to share with the poor. One scholar estimated that faithful Israelites gave away perhaps twenty-three percent of their total income.

Many things changed after Jesus came, and the New Testament never mentions ten percent as the goal for a Christian nor any other specific amount. Instead it discusses sacrificial giving. Tonight’s lesson focused on Mark 12, the story of a poor widow at the temple who gave a pittance, all she had left. Jesus compares her gift to those of the rich men who had given large amounts and made a great show of it: “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:43-44). The book of Acts describes the members of the early church selling their possessions and pooling their resources so that everyone had enough. Paul’s letters describe churches in wealthier areas taking up collections to send to believers in poorer areas. The focus is never on a specific amount, rather on sacrificing one’s own comfort and “security” to help those who have less.

But do these examples mean that we need to give to the church? If so, what is the appropriate amount? A USA Today article says that in one poll, the average churchgoer gave 2.58 percent of their income to the church, and that only five percent of people nationwide gave the traditional ten percent to a church. This CBS article discusses Christians with a variety of perspectives. GotAnswers.org, a Christian research site, offers this short discussion on tithing. BiblicalInsight.com argues against using a flat ten-percent amount. As always, you can find many more sites with a good search engine.

As for us, we do start with ten percent to our church. Why? Not because that’s a requirement, because I don’t believe it is. We start at ten because it’s enough to be a definite sacrifice but still allows us to pay the bills. We give out of gratitude to God for all he has given us. We give because we believe in our church and want to help it make a difference in our community and around the world with the ultimate goal of introducing people to Jesus and helping them grow closer to him. We give to remind ourselves (mainly myself) that my primary goal in life is not to make tons of money and live the sweet life, and that sometime in the next few decades I will leave this world and won’t be able to take a penny with me. We give because it makes us happy. But beyond the ten percent, we give to special projects at church and other organizations we believe in such as ALARM and Water is Basic. We also sponsor children through WorldVision.

Are we giving “enough”? I don’t know. I often ask myself that question. Maybe there is no answer. Could we give more? Yes, but it would require a sacrifice: less eating out, or less money into savings or Brenden’s college fund. Could we cut back on our giving and keep more for ourselves? Sure, but I’m glad to give where we give. Sometimes I wish I had a firm target to aim for so I could know whether I was hitting it. But perhaps such a target would reduce my relationship with God and my fellow man to a checklist, and I don’t want that. Instead, we’ll keep giving where we can, and I’ll keep hoping a giant sack of cash falls on our doorstep so we can give more.

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