There is no question that the work of the church requires finances to accomplish, especially in this day and age. In fact, there is no work more important in our lives than the work of the church that is correctly following God's Word. I say that because often I have heard the defense that "once I give my money, what they do with it is not my problem." I disagree. The Bible implores us to follow correct doctrine and to not partner with the works of darkness. Sometimes we have to put our worshiping of our church aside and move on if we find ourselves in a church that is not doing the Lord's work. Giving in any situation that is not advancing the Gospel is simply not giving to God. We do have a responsibility to test everything and determine what is and what is not from God. The problem with the sowing and reaping principle is that our carnal minds assume that we are talking about a prid quo pro where I give something so therefore I expect something in return. Let us be clear. God is not short of cash. He does not need our help. We give because when we do we advance the Gospel and more lives will come to the foot of the cross. Also we must realize that the "return on our investment" may not always be financial. Quite frankly, most times I think it will not be. One of the far reaching damages done by the false prosperity gospel is that it has ruined the understanding of blessing. We are taught through false teachers that blessing is something to seek God for instead of being something God has already given. Thankfulness is replaced with petulance. When we sow correctly into the kingdom we might reap peace in the middle of our storm. We might reap joy in the midst of our sorrow. We might reap health and kids that are not wayward. The prosperity gospel dismisses these blessings in favor of cold hard cash and that is not what reaping necessarily is. Secondly, giving unto the works of the Lord is an act of worship.
They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. - Matthew 2: 11 (NLT)
The gifts given to our Savior upon his birth were part of worship. We were created to worship God!
The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise. - Isaiah 43: 20-21 (NIV)
The heart of worship is to realize that the glorious salvation we are blessed to live in is more important than anything else in this world. That God does not wish any to perish. That we need to let as many people know as possible what Jesus did for us and can do for them. That is why we give. Not everyone can go to the jungles and preach to those farthest away but the fact that we make missionaries come and beg for the funds they need to survive should be a scandal in the church. The fact that most churches brag about allocating 5% of their monies to missions should be a scandal. The change in mindset needs to be that the opportunity to worship God is a privilege. The opportunity to give to the cause of Christ is a privilege.
For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do. - 2Corinthians 8: 3-5 (NLT)
This is Paul speaking about the Macedonian Church, which he described as poor yet generous in their giving to the kingdom. Their first action was to give themselves to the Lord, which if we notice here is exactly what God wanted them to do. It is exactly what God wants us to do. Pursue Him first. Think of His kingdom first. Worship Him only.
Thirdly, we are meant to be cheerful givers. Beloved we ought to be happy about having the privilege to worship God! We ought to be happy that our money might help bring someone into the kingdom of heaven! That is the only thing that holds eternal value! He who dies with the most toys is still dead! We cannot be sad about giving. We cannot be angry about giving. We cannot be reluctant about giving. If we are then money has become an idol in our lives. Anything that we place as more important than God in our lives is an idol.
