Gospel-Driven Giving

The question of giving, giving for the Lord's ministry or charitable giving, and its relation to greed is something that comes up every now and then. I was once asked by a brother, "Pastor, are we really pampering human greed if we keep on encouraging other people to give more to God so they can receive more from Him?"

I assume he was asking out of a real experience. With the proliferation of the so called "prosperity gospel" in our country where some prominent preachers teach that if you give your money to God's work (primarily to their church or ministry) then God will bless you with running over blessings (like money, success, promotion, healing or good health, etc.), I could understand his question.

I responded to his query this way: First of all, Christian stewardship tells us that we have no absolute ownership on something, except probably of sin, as C. H. Spurgeon once said.

We own nothing (cf. 2 Tim. 6:7) and everything we have comes from the Lord. We are but stewards or managers of every resource God has put under our care.

Spurgeon also said that there "have been many who would do well if they would learn that they have nothing beyond what God has given them. And the more God has given them, the more they are in debt" ("Spurgeon at His Best," comp. Tom Carter, 199).

In that sense, when we give, we don't really give back anything to God that did not come from Him in the first place. I hope that is clear.

Secondly, if our motive in giving to God and for the cause of His kingdom (or to other people or to any worthy cause) is to receive back more, that is plain selfishness and greed. It is sinful and it does not really give God the honor due Him. Sin is abominable to God, remember. Motive matters to God. He sees every motive and intent of our hearts, and He judges us according to our motives, not just our actions.

One motive that glorifies the Lord is love - His love toward us, for He loved us first before we respond to Him in love (1 John 4:19). Another motive that is acceptable to Him is gratitude - being thankful to Him for every blessing He gives us which we don't deserve in the first place. By nature, as fallen human beings, we deserve His wrath. We are objects of God's wrath because of our sins (Eph. 2:3). It is only by grace, which we don't deserve and we don't earn, that we are saved and loved by God, accepted and favored in Christ.

Thirdly, when we freely and cheerfully give to God or to other people out of love or gratitude, and God rewards our giving with more blessings, we must NOT think that we receive those blessings from Him 'quid pro quo.'

We need to understand that every reward we receive from Him is A REWARD OF GRACE. It is not merited. God's rewards are ALWAYS above and beyond what we deserve.

Besides, it is God's prerogative to bless and reward. It is not ours to demand. The owner of the vineyard has all the right to give according to our wages or to give generously. We don't have the right to complain or to grumble when we don't get what we want or even name or claim or declare what we want. We may only plead for His mercy in all humility.

When we forget these things, we forget that Christian stewardship is all about being faithful to the God who saved us and provides for us by His mercy and grace, who deals with us not according to what our sins deserve but according to His goodness (Psalm 103:10).

Christian stewardship is PRIMARILY for the praise and glory of God, not for our gain (although there is a lot of gain in remaining faithful to God). Faithful stewardship is driven by the gospel of Christ, by what Christ did for us and in our behalf in His suffering and death, not by our selfish desire to have more.

As a pastor, I'd like to see God's people to be more generous and cheerful in their giving and to be wise in using God's resources, not in order to gain more but to please Him more.