The Two Aspects Of Giving

To Give or Not To Give

As I begin this I must admit that I am doing it with an angry heart. I am not angry with people but with the attitude, actions and behaviors that are being displayed. They are prevalent in the church and it is destroying the testimony of Christ. These actions are in direct disobedience to God and the failure to correct these is one of the reasons that the church is failing to impact our neighborhoods.

I will let you know that many of you will dispel what I am going to write. Many pastors will deny it as will the deacons and many whom I hold in high regard because it is against our very nature to do what I am going to show you from God’s word that we are required to do. It has always been a sore spot for Christians because it hits them in the one place that many refuse to turn over to God, yet if we were to be obedient in this area then the blessings of God would flow upon us like a river. As we go through this I am going to break it up into two different studies because of the length of what God has laid on my heart. The entire subject encompasses the burden that has been laid upon my heart and the direction in which I feel God is leading me in regards to Vine Ministry. It is the basis of the ministry and I feel it should be the basis of every believer within the body of Christ.

The subject that we will discuss is that of giving. I believe that giving has two aspects that cannot be separated even though they are different. Neither has any power without the other. They are coexistent and are evident in each other. You cannot give one without the other because apart from each other they don’t make sense because they have no depth. They epitomize the very essence of the greatest command and obedience to them is obedience to the two commandments that Christ said was the essence of the law, which is to love God with soul, spirit and body; and to love your neighbor as yourself, because of this they are the very foundation of love. If this has gotten your attention I pray that you will allow the Holy Spirit to reveal these truths to you. I ask that you remove any preconceived notions that may exist so that He may be able to work within your heart. Please take note that I am not asking for money nor am I asking you to quit giving to the church or other ministries that you support, while these are important they are not to be where giving ends nor should they be the only place that we give. They are however, a good place to start.

Let’s get started.

The First Aspect

Physical

The first aspect of giving is physical, however it runs in conjunction with the second as it requires the second aspect to reinforce it. As I stated previously these two must run together as alone they do not have the power. We know the first aspect to be physical because we have it confirmed in scripture. John 3:16 states; “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” In my notes I had the first aspect as being spiritual, yet as I was writing I felt God laying it on my heart to change it to physical. I had this same verse in my notes and as I was transferring them here He showed me how His gift to us was physical first in that He gave us Jesus in the form of man. God, Himself became physical in order to provide us with the second aspect of giving. Because I had not finished this entire study in my notes much of what I will write now will be as the Holy Spirit leads me. With that being said let’s attempt to continue.

As I now change directions here I am reminded of creation. When God created the world and then man he provided man with the basic necessities needed to survive. He already had communion with man because before sin, man was in a perfect state. The need for the second aspect of giving did not come until after mans fall and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. After their expulsion God still gave but it required toil on mans part to meet their needs however because His second gift had not yet come they only had a promise by which to look forward too. When the law arrived its purpose was to show man their condition before God and how they could never stand up to the expectations required to obtain His favor on their own. They needed the second gift. They needed the promise to come and the promise to come behooved them to share the promise with others. It required them to share the current gift in order to reveal the one to come.

Let me see if I can put into words what is running through my heart at this moment. If all I had were promises of things to come and yet had no evidence that it would how could I hold onto that promise. Look at the children of Israel as they were being led by Moses to the Promised Land. While many had great wealth many more did not. God provided for their daily needs as they made their journey and while they were heading to a land flowing with milk and honey many would still be without, because of one reason or another they would not be able to provide for themselves and would soon loose hope in the promise to come. By others meeting their physical needs they were able to continue in hope of the promise to come.

Let’s take a look at Deuteronomy 15:7-11.

7) If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brethren.

8) but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs

The attitude of the Israelites (and us) towards the poor in their community was to be one of warmth and generosity. The poor were given whatever was necessary to meet their needs; even with the realization that such “loans” would never be repaid.

9) Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying the seventh year, the year of release is at hand, and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing and he cry out to the Lord against you and it become sin among you.

10) You shall surely give to him and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand.

11) For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘you shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’

Realistically the disobedience to the Lord on Israel’s, (and our) part meant that there would always be poor people in the land. Jesus repeated this fact in Matthew 26:11, which alludes to the fact that we are to still abide by this command from the Father. In fact He reiterates it in Matthew 5:42 “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. Now before you go quoting 2 Thessalonians 3:10 lets remember that the lost have not yet received the spiritual aspect of giving. Also Paul is adding the fact in verse 11 that there were many who went around as busy bodies. In other words they were busy getting into other peoples business instead of working. This also eliminates those who are working in the ministry to further the kingdom of God. The church at Thessalonica was not a wealthy church, which is why Paul stated he did not want to be a burden to them. If you take a look in the book of Philippians, he thanks them for meeting his needs while in Thessalonica because in doing so their fruit abounded. It is up to us to be obedient in giving and up to God to judge what is being done with the gift.

It is because of our disobedience to God that our country is in the condition that it is in, regarding the poor. We allowed our government to create a welfare system because it relieved our guilt for not caring for the poor. Pastors preached on tithes and we felt that if we gave to the church then we wouldn’t need to give to others. We then encouraged the church to use the money for other things rather than meeting the needs of the poor because we have welfare and after all if they really wanted to work they could get off of welfare, yet the businesses we run refuse to pay enough to even meet their needs because once they start working they lose all aid and now they can’t afford to pay their rent, put food on the table or provide health insurance for their kids. If you’re wondering how our giving to them helps in any of this then I will tell you. It involves the second aspect of giving, which is the spiritual, but it is generated by the physical aspect.

When we meet the physical needs of the poor by helping them once they have a job then we reveal what the world does not and that is the fact that there is a hope of something more. Through our obedience to Christ we reveal His love towards them in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Does this mean that every time we give it will turn out for the good? No, it doesn’t but that is for God to judge not for us; nor does it need to dissuade us from continuing to give to meet the physical needs of those in our community. Our ability to lift them up shows that God is in control and not the world. If they are working a low paying job then we help them obtain a better education that will increase their earning so as not to rely on others. We do this by sacrificing our time to watch their children or by helping cover their childcare cost, which I am against to a certain degree because it separates the parent and the child too long. I would rather see the parent in school than working and going to school both because their children need them.

I know that it seems as if I am excluding the spiritual aspect of giving but I assure you that I am not. In fact I am expounding the spiritual aspect because without the physical what need is there for the spiritual. If all I do is come tell you that Jesus loves you and fail to meet your needs then what help is to you? To you I offer nothing but illusions yet by aiding the physical and then adding that Jesus loves you; now you see that there is something different. You realize that there is a promise to come because the world wouldn’t care about your eternal soul. You have experienced the love that God has for you through the physical and now you are willing to experience it from the spiritual.

I realize that this has been quite long. I only pray that you have allowed God to speak to you through it and that you would look for the second aspect which is the spiritual aspect of giving. I hope to have it finished soon. May God richly bless you in your walk with Him.

The Second Aspect of Giving

Spiritual

As I come to this section I pray that God has also revealed these truths to you and that the Holy Spirit is working within you concerning them. I also pray that God has shown you the importance of the physical aspect of giving and how it expounds the spiritual. As we continue we are going to look one more time at John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” The spiritual provides the hope of the promise to come. Just as in the Old Testament they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah so we look forward to eternal life, yet it took Christ coming in the form of man to be able to provide this. The spiritual aspect is Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17; Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW creature, old things pass away; behold all things become new. This is the second part of the second aspect; the first part being Jesus Christ and the second being a new creature, which creates in us new desires. The reason it creates new desires is that it feeds off the example of Christ.

What was the example of Christ? He displayed the love of the Father in actions unlike anything ever seen before. Unlike the religious leader of the time, He gave without drawing attention to Himself, although the news spread quickly, He gave with no expectations of reward, yet the Father still glorified Himself through Him. He gave without expecting thanks and yet one leper returned to give Him thanks. He gave because through His example many would come to Him and understand what love was. He gave even though He would be beaten, denied, spit upon, blasphemed, and ridiculed. He gave because by one mans disobedience many became sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. It is obedience to the first aspect that the second relies upon because without it, it doesn’t work. This does not endorse salvation by works, but what it does promote is evidence of your salvation through the work being done in us, through the gift of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we give to the physical needs of someone we are showing the Lord Jesus Christ. If done with a pure heart it is then blessed by God and allows us to share Christ with them. The reason this works is because it is something done for them without having strings attached. It reveals the true love of Christ and draws them to His character and not ours. It will allow them to see past mistakes that we might make because they are not looking at us but what pushes us to meet their needs in such a way and when it’s done regardless of the outcome, God works. All too often we do things expecting a certain response or action from the one we are helping and when it doesn’t turn out the way WE think it should we let everyone know how ungrateful the people were and then wonder why they won’t come to church. Remember what we were told in Deuteronomy 15: 9 Beware lest there be an evil thought in your heart. This is what has pushed many away from the church and God. Because the spiritual aspect of giving is so important it must be accompanied by a pure heart and it has to be able to recognize the needs of the one with whom you are sharing it with. If Christ was selfish or self-centered would His ministry have made such an impact? If He had done the things that He had done for the praise of man would it still be with us today? The answer to these questions is no. The simple fact is that He was God in the form of man and could do nothing more than reveal the love that He had for us from the beginning and to display it in a way that should have encouraged us to do the same. This love is what drew people to Him. It was what aided the Holy Spirit after Pentecost in adding to the church daily. It was the way the people met the physical then exuded the spiritual, so when they told someone that they loved them and that Christ died for their sins and rose again the third day the people could believe it because they were experiencing His love shown through them.

The reason why Christ said there would always be poor with us is because He knew we would not be obedient in providing for them just as He knew the children of Israel would not care for them in the Old Testament. Yet for a brief period in time we saw this obedience being practiced and the results were that thousands were added to the church daily. Did they accept Christ just so their physical needs would be met? No, they came to Him because they wanted what everyone else had. They saw it at work in their everyday lives and when they believed their lives were transformed and they became the examples to others. Is it any wonder why so many hearts are hardened against the gospel when you look at the lack of love among His people who are supposed to reveal His love through their actions? If we don’t truly love them enough to meet their physical needs then how can they believe that trusting Christ is going to make a difference in their lives? It’s not a prosperity gospel. There is no promise of great riches to all those who believe in fact it’s the exact opposite, we are promised trial and turmoil as well as persecution so who in their right mind would want to believe in someone who promised this? The answer is the person who has experienced God’s love through one of His children meeting their physical needs and then insuring that their spiritual needs were met also.

I pray that God has spoken to you through this and that you will allow the Holy Spirit to work within you. I am not sure if I am finished with this because I feel as if there is something more that God wants to show me concerning this so there may be another addition to this.

In Christ: SFT 8/07/08