giving

I've often spent time in prayer and conversation about my convictions on giving. It is a sensitive topic, but it should be discussed.

Personally, my views have changed fairly drastically since my early Christian days. These past couple of years I've tried to figure out when and where to give and when to withhold.

I've become increasingly convinced that giving to those who are outside the body of Christ (those who do not consider themselves Christians, not just those outside our immediate church) should not cease for any reason other than a loss of means to give. Basically, that we should give until we can't to those who are without Christ. The reason is simple: Christ gave to us while we were still sinners and saved us...and hopefully that will be true of us on earth, that through our continual giving, Christ might show himself and save them. (To note, I think it is necessary and good that we share the actual words of Christ, the Gospel, with those whom we give to, as well.)

To those within the church, it gets stickier. For those who call Christ Lord, it seems we should not give to excess if we are enabling sin. That could be the sin of laziness or the sin of irresponsibility or some addiction. There should be rebuke in those instances. However, if the family of the person is in need (if there are kids or a spouse) then you must give despite their sin, because others are dependent on the giving.

I think the latest essay in Themelios sums it up nicely. It's long, but worth the read.

-joe

how long should we give?

I've been plagued recently by some folks who seem to want to live off of what the church gives them. They are content to call me multiple (I got 4 phone calls today from one person) times at work or my cell phone or at the church and basically demand help. Now, as you know from a recent post, I like giving. I think we, as the church, need to be more giving despite what the gifts are used for, but...there just may be a reason why I can't find much 'relief' efforts going on in the early church.

The folks, as it would happen, are not members of the church, do not attend a church elsewhere, and show no signs of being a believer other than saying "I used to go to church." They are, for all intensive purposes, nonbelievers and non-attenders.

What then, is my responsibility to help them? Should I continue to give support to them despite the fact that they are not (by any means that I can see) trying to help themselves (2 Thes. 3:10) or responding to the Gospel? Does the common grace of God extend through us to them?

I must admit, the problem makes my head hurt. The other things weighing on me is the lack of Scriptural evidence that either Israel OR the church ever paid much mind to those who were not part of their community. I wonder if the lack of textual evidence points to the actual exclusiveness that I lean towards in these posts on missional giving and on giving in emergencies (such as natural disasters).

So, with a weary heart, I gave to the man who called 4 times today.
Did he deserve it? Probably not.
Did he need it? Not really.
Were there those in the church that would have benefited more? If I knew them, I'd be banging down their doors.

Thoughts?

-joe

giving

A few days ago I wrote about how it upsets me that people have to think twice about giving to someone in need. Now, in order to clarify a few things (since that post was written in haste...in a little bit of anger. ok...a lot of anger).

When someone approaches me (which happened just a week or so ago) and asks something of me, I gladly give if I can. I also do my best to share the good news of Christ with them. It is usually my 30-second Gospel and is usually met with a "Yeah, I believe in God." By this point the person is typically disinterested in what I have to say, so I ask if I can pray for them. To me, this is one of the greatest time of Gospel proclamation because I can thank God for His saving grace in prayer and ask for Him to show the Gospel to be true to that person.

And, since I am talking about giving, I have these thoughts to add. I think that any giving which comes from habit (meaning tithes and gifts to organizations that you do regularly), should go only to the church. That's right. I don't think a Christian should give a dime to any organization that is not evangelistic in nature. That means no Invisible Children, no Bono, no End World Hunger campaign. Nothing, unless it is directly involved with the Gospel and the church.

Some may call me cold-hearted because so many organizations exist to help people who are suffering physical and emotional distress. But, I counter that the good news of Christ is the only way to truly take care of those needs. By giving to a secular organization who cares for their worldly needs we have taken another step in hardening the hearts of non-believers who now think that salvation can come in many forms instead of just one, Jesus Christ.

Also, there are many Church and para-Church organizations that help with the same problems as the secular ones. If the people of the Church would faithfully give to those causes, then we would have many more resources for God to use through us for the spreading of the Gospel.

So, if you are a Christian, increase your charitable giving...to the Church.

(A PS before the end. I do think that if you are confronted with a one-time plea for help, like those at stores that ask if you'd like to give $1 to something or other, then we should give. To me, those show the love of Christ to those outside the church. I am only talking, again, of habitual giving, when I say one should only give to the Church.)

-joe