Cheerful Giver

Nobody really likes being asked to give money. And nobody likes to ask for people to give either. Yet the Bible is filled with passages that teach followers of Jesus to give regularly. Nobody wants to hear and nobody wants to ask. So there is this natural tension within the church.

If followers would just strive to give 10% then nobody would ever need to ask and the church could do incredible things throughout its neighborhoods and the world. One of the reasons Christianity is struggling in the United States is because we are not making an impact on our communities. Because we are not in the habit of giving. When the church does have good offerings they seem to be using it all on their own wants rather than investing it into building God's kingdom.

Look, I get it, those multi-million dollar buildings are being used to attract people to the church. It is being used for kingdom work. But couldn't we build buildings that are more functional rather than so extravagant? I know what you are saying, we should build the very best for God, like Solomon did when he built the temple. How did that turn out?

I really think God is more into advancing his kingdom and reaching people who are far from Him rather than maintaining a nice building that has a lot of people in it every week. I know what some of you are thinking--that is success. By who's standards? Mans or Gods? It reminds me of Isaiah 1 when God tells Judah that he is tired of "meaningless offerings" and when they pray he "will not listen." Look, Judah was doing all the right things, but when it came to worship, he was still not pleased.

In Isaiah 1:16-17 it says, "Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encouraged the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Just because we give it does not mean we are doing the right things. Like Dave Browning says, “It is more important to do the “right things” than to do things right.”

I heard this great quote the other day that I am going to change around a little bit to apply to giving a regular offering-- "We are asking the wrong question, which is, 'How do we make people give a regular offering?' What if we started to ask, 'How do we let people give a regular offering?'"

The first question is out of law, the second is about grace.

We know the Bible teaches that we should give a regular offering yet the average for a Christian who faithfully goes to church gives an offering of about 2% of their income. And church leaders are constantly asking how can we make people give more? When they do give more a lot of leaders just turnaround use it for better things and not necessarily for ministry (encouraging the oppressed, defending the fatherless and pleading the case for the widow).

If the church could change how it uses it resources so that people could see real ministry and life change happening people would then become cheerful givers. They would live like 1 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Leaders need to begin to ask the question, “How can we let people give?”