Seven Principles of New Testament Giving

Johannes Weiss:
Seven Principles of New Testament Giving

Love is the essence of our Christian Faith. Love is a manifestation. It must be demonstrated in order to exist. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” (John 3:16) Therefore, giving is the primary expression and manifestation of love. God’s word says, “He who loves has fulfilled the commandments (law). All the Lord’s commands are summed up in, “Love your neighbor as your self.” (Rom. 13:8-10) In this light we have to see the whole subject of giving.
Jesus requires under the New Covenant that if we love God and are born again, that we give our all as a reasonable service. (Rom. 12:1-3) Here, we arrive at principle number one.

1. Give your all to the Lord.
Defining the word “giving” in its totality, including all kinds of giving, you must be willing to offer 100%! As a Christian, your whole life belongs to Christ, including all your possessions, your wife and family, etc… “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you preent your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”(Romans 12:1)

2. Give as your heart directs you.
Talking about the financial aspect of giving, God’s word says, “Let every man give according as he purposeth iin his heart.”(2corinthians 9:6-12) This bives us the foundation for understanding the Lord’s will for our financial giving. This entails acting not upon the set rule of Old Testament tithing, but rather, obedience to the urging of the Spirit within the heart of each believer. This will likely result in greater generosity in giving than mere tithing. As it says in verses 6 and 7, “Now this I say, ‘He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”
Now, some Biblical interpreters claim that this passage in 2 Corinthians is only speaking of special monetary gifts which were separate from the regular tithe. However, it is clear that such interpreters are wrong and that this passage actually rejects completely the Old Testament legalistic view of tithing.

3. Give Willingly
In this same passage, we arecommanded to give “not grudgingly or of necessity or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”(2 Cor.9:7) Now, this could go with giving 10% if this is what your heart directs you to do. Make sure, however, that it is not misdguided teaching which compels you.
“Giving until it hurts” has become a popular refrain with many Bible teachers. Now, if this means that you, with a cheerful and glad heart, are denying yourself something in order to be able to give, this the Lord would love, because it would be following Christ’s example. “though He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor that you, through his poverty might become rich.”(2 Cor.8:9) What great need ther is today for Christians to live less sumptuous and more austere lives in order to bring the Gospel of Jesus!

4. Give Generously
Another aspect of Christian giving is generosity. There are tow main scriptures in which the Lord encourages us to be generous in our giving:
“Now this I say, ‘He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”(2 Corinthians 9:6)

“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”(Luke 6:38)

These exhortations are by no means an encouragement to give in order to get. This “give to get” teaching is very popular today, but it is also very un-biblical as it caters to our greed. They have a nice slogan for it and it sounds very spiritual. “Seed-faith giving”, it is usually called, but it is still very ungodly. The only right motive for giving is Love –Self-Denying Love!!!

5. Give Regularly and Proportionately
“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him.” (1 Corinthians 16:1-2)
Now, giving a set percentage is not what the Lord is thinking of here. Why not? He is looking at how much self-sacrifice is involved. How much did it cut into your basic needs? If the IRS realized that in order to have fairness of burden, they need to have different brackets (percentages) for rich and poor, how much more is our heavenly father looking for fairness of burden?

6. Give without “tooting your horn” about it.
“He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.”(Romans 12:8) Some other translators use, “without ostentation” (display). How different from the teaching in most modern churches. The use of pledges, envelopes, and bookkeeping systems seems to run counter to what the Lord Jesus taught us in Matthwe 6:3, “Let never your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” “But we need tax receipts,” you say. Do you, really?

7. Give out of what you have and not out of what you do not have.
The Scriptures teach that “…the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.”(2 Corinthians 8:12) Therefore, avoid any kind of pledge drive or those incentives to give money called “faith promises.” You can not and should not try to make deals with the Lord, setting conditions that when he is going to give you extra, then you will give it back to Him. It is subtle, but shouldn’t we rather focus upon faithfulness to Him with what finances we already have, rather than ask him to somehow bless us with an unexpected extra sum of money (which costs us nothing in terms of labor or finances) which we will then turn over to him?