The power of a gracious giver part two.
This is a continuation of my previous blog on the subject of showing the generosity of God and being a good witness to the grace of God.
I addressed the subject of the tithe and gave my view on that and spoke of the importance of every christian growing in their confidence to hear Gods voice in the area of how they give and to whom they give.
In this second part I would like to continue by addressing the issue of the motives for our giving and the Lords system of rewards.
When we most often think of motive we of course most naturally think of the primacy of love and this is a truth that can never be overstated.
However I also have come to see that there are other motives that can be a real bind upon a Christians heart and upon their mind and the most significant of these is fear.
Fear will spoil our joy and our ability to freely give and it is important that we learn to eliminate fear in our giving in order to be more effective in it.
There are in most churches a wide range of people from comfortable retirees to good earners to those who may have no job at all.
Yet none of these is immune from fear seeking to encroach upon their giving,and it can never be assumed that because someone has money their giving will be more freely and joyfully offered.
Those who have worked hard and saved diligently may hold back out of a fear of not having enough for the future.
Or they may fear that those in need will come to depend on them in an unhelpful way.
Similarly those who are blessed with good jobs and are industrious may secretly resent those who don't appear to work so hard as they, and feel that their money is the just reward of their labours and should not be depended on by others.
They may feel an unspoken pressure from others to give more and respond to this by actually going in the opposite direction.
And then there may well be those who have low paying jobs or no jobs at all and their concern is that they feel unable to give as they would like.
The common denominator in all of these different scenarios is fear, and fear will always bind and restrict.
It may well be that those who have been materially blessed are looked to, or do feel a certain unspoken expectation placed upon them by others in their local church in ways that are not always helpful.
This I believe is in part because often ministers as well as congregations have not learned to look to the Lord alone as their ultimate source not to any one human channel or lesser source(it is a great temptation if someone of means is in your congregation but it is still wrong)
This simply betrays that our eyes are not on the Lord alone to provide for us and to give to us what we need,and that it is always better to let him speak to those whom he wishes to use than to try to apply subtle tactics and hints.
Gods word clearly states that he rewards diligent labour and hard work,and those who have worked industriously to gain their comfortable lifestyle should feel a sense of entitlement to reap the benefits of their hard work without guilt.
However the Bible is also clear in its instructions to them that,

"Charge them that are rich in this world,that they be not high minded,nor trust in uncertain riches,but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy;
That they do good,that they be rich in good works ready to distribute,willing to share
Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come,that they may lay hold on eternal life. 1 Tim6 17 19
God is the One who gives to us richly all things to enjoy;He is not asking of us to strip ourselves down or of those who have to have not.
Rather the exhortation to them is to be willing.
To be willing to share and to be ready to give.
There should be an alertness and an attentiveness to be always ready and prepared to give where ever and whenever the Lord leads.And it should be whatever amount the Lord requires.
Likewise those who may have very little to give should not hold back any the more due to a sense of not having enough.
Rather they should raise the bar and give in the expectation that as they are obedient to the Lord he will reward them.
The bible says that our giving is acceptable according to what one has not according to what one does not have.
Our giving therefore has to be proven in the measure that we can give now not in a greater measure that we hope to be able to give in the future,and as we are faithful God will bless us.
Fear is such a controlling motivation if we allow it, but when fear is not resisted(and we resist it by acting on our heart instinct in spite of any fear that we may have)it develops another attitude which is equally pernicious and that is guilt.
How many Christians I wonder have given financially out of a guilt to give rather than out of a place of faith?
Some may feel guilt that they do not give more and end up giving not by heart conviction but as a gesture to relieve themselves of feeling guilty.
Frankly such giving does not impress God and brings no joy to the giver, and the Bible has much to say about the motive of our heart when we give being one of willingness and eagerness to do so.
So why do many in the church struggle with fears in this area and battle against guilt?
One of the primary reasons I believe is because their giving is not done in a heart attitude of faith and with out faith it is impossible to please God.
There is probably no area in the scriptures as designed to inspire our faith as that of the principal of seedtime and harvest.
Throughout the scriptures the principal of seedtime and harvest establishes a God given law;what you plant is what you will harvest and what you sow is what you are going to reap.
gen 8 22 says that
"As long as the earth remains,
Seed time and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And winter and summer,
And day and night shall not cease."
It is an inviolable law, as certain as the ending of every day and the inevitability of the coming of each night,as inevitable as the change of seasons from year to year.
How foolish we would consider it to observe a farmer standing in a field looking out over his fields in the anticipation of seeing a crop soon come up when he had not planted any seed in the ground.
This law of sowing and reaping is given not just to cover agriculture but as a spiritual law that governs everything.
It is called the law of returns.
"Whatever good thing a man does the same will he receive from the Lord"
"Do to others as you would have others do to you"
"Be not deceived,Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap"
This law of sowing and reaping affects also our giving of the tithe and offerings.
Paul speaking to the Philipians says,
"Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel,when I departed from Macedonia,no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.
For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.
Not that I seek the gift,but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account."
And he concludes this passage by assuring them that "My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Notice that he describes it as the matter of giving and receiving;not just giving,and not just receiving but both giving and receiving.
They were obviously ahead of other churches in this revelation and in their willingness of heart to practice it.
Paul is pretty blunt with them in that he reminds them that "not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account".
We have so much that we need to grasp from this single statement.
God is a God of justice.
He sees and he knows; he marks every good thing that we do to another, and He will reward.
For good or for evil we are going to reap what we sow.
"Do not be deceived whatever a man sows that shall he also reap."
Paul carries this same principal over specifically into the area of our giving financially in " Corn chpt 9
"Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully, and he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly."
And God is able to make all grace abound towards you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance to every good work."
"Now may he who supplies seed for the sower and bread for food supply and multiply the seed that you have sown and enlarge the harvest of your righteousness."
As I said in the first part of this blog God is our source in everything.
This is the revelation that Abram had and this is the revelation that we too must have.
He is the one who will provide us with both the seed to sow (the means to be able to give) and He will multiply the seed which we have sown.
What does this mean?
It means simply that God will not only continue to provide us with seed to sow as we trust in Him but will multiply that seed that we have sown,bringing increasing fruit to our heavenly accounts from it.
It means that as we are obedient in our giving He will increase our capacity to give, and meet our needs also"He that provides seed for the sower and bread for food" so both are given to us from God.
However our minds should be as focused upon the seed to be sown as the bread for our food or our own needs.
This is not to say that our own needs are neither important or should not have any concern, however it is our giving that generates our receiving and not the other way around.
Far to often Christians have held back through fear of leaving themselves not enough because they have not grasped and taken to heart this principal.
Our needs are not to be met exclusively by our own capacity to provide for ourselves(it is important to take responsibility for our needs,but so to, to be able to receive as we give)
Rather the Lord I believe wants to expand our understand of this Kingdom lifestyle we give as freely and generously and quickly as the Lord enables us to, never holding back.
And in return the Lord causes His supernatural Grace to minister more powerfully towards us in inspiring and increasing our giving and multiplying its fruitfulness, and ministering back into our lives the meeting of those needs which we possess.
This of necessity involves our being willing to receive from others too.
Some Christians freely give to others as the Lord directs because there is a need in the life of the one that they are giving to and that person cannot meet it by themselves.
And yet the same person who gives to help another considers that they need to provide of all of their own needs and would feel embarrassed to receive from someone else concerning an area of need in their own life.
Their attitude is that of "I will help others as much as I can, but I will take responsibility for myself and my own needs"
This may sound commendable but actually it is nothing more than pride.
It is not letting God minister back to you.
It is saying in effect I can do it all myself.
Humility is therefore the key to sowing and reaping.
God wants us to be responsible but not at the expense of learning to trust in Him alone as our ultimate source.
Often our obedience to give may leave us short for a future need, but that leaves us open to be able to see how God is going to minister back into our lives by his supernatural grace to meet that need through the giving of others.
Really this is the most exciting way to live!
There is a religious spirit that has the attitude of
"I give but never to expect anything in return"
That is simply unbiblical.
Certainly we always give with the heart motive of love not looking to anyone in particular to give to us also however the Lord has also given to us the incentive of promising to us that "give and it will be given to you"
Good measure pressed down shaken together and running over will men pour into your bosom, for with the measure that you give it shall be given to you."
This is not just talking of forgiveness, but of every aspect of our lives, and to give looking to the Lord alone to remember is a biblical truth.
Therefore whenever I give I do so not as a duty or an obligation.
I do not give as a debt that I owe but as a seed that I sow and do this in the conviction that the Lord of the harvest will bring a harvest to me from what I have sown.
This area of teaching is one that I believe we need to lay solidly in place especially in these days in which we live.
We have to begin to operate by the kingdom of God in our finances and giving, for it is only that kingdom which shall not be shaken.
We are living in extremely troubling times and I believe that the economic crisis is only about to begin to be unveiled.
The American dollar is going to fail, and the implications of that for us all are immense.
Likewise the basic price of food and oil and other commodities is going to continue to increase.
We will witness a greater surge of fear in the world, but to those of us who know the Lord we cannot and must not allow fear any room for maneuver.
People will suffer real needs in the days to come and the Lord will call us to rise up and help others to meet some of those needs as we reach out in faith and in love in our giving.
And as we do so we can have a godly confidence that my God will meet all of our needs according to his riches in Glory in Christ Jesus.
As we learn to operate in the supernatural grace of God more in our giving (by listening to Him and acting in faith and not fear) so too we will begin to see more powerful demonstrations of Gods grace ministering back into our lives independently of our own labours to earn sufficiently to cover all of our needs.
Is this not the very definition of Grace?
Rather we need to build our lives in every area,no less in our giving upon those principles of Gods kingdom that are found in his word, knowing that as we seek first his kingdom and His righteousness all these other things will be added to us.