I’m ready to be generous! What now?
Christians are to be generous, living as we do out of Christ’s great generosity to us. So, how can we best express this? Who should benefit from this generosity? We and others benefit from thoughtful giving that asks how our money can do most good to whoever receives it.[1]
The poor are always with us. Who are they?
Jesus says the ‘…poor are always with us…’ (Mark 14:7) and so we do not need to look far for people who need our help. As we have already considered, a personal investment is often more useful, either to an organisation we know and trust, or directly to the people to whom we are giving. [2]
We are free to give our money wherever we wish. So, we can start with our own locality and look for the holes in social and government support. These might be needs you identify where you work or live or study, or on your daily jog. Prayerfully consider how you might make a difference to the poverty you see your neighbours experiencing. Consider pooling resources with others to achieve beneficial outcomes[3]. If you start an initiative of some kind in Australia, you will need to become aware of legal and other administrative restrictions regarding what you can and cannot do and make yourself aware of insurance requirements. If you decide to support a local initiative, it would be wise to investigate these aspects of their organisation, and whether there are any agendas that you might struggle to support. It may be important to you to consider long term projects with the best outcomes.[4]
This seems to be problematic for reflexive giving as good as it is. Reflexive giving, where we just respond to a situation or person immediately and without thought seems to be what Jesus calls us to in passages like Matthew 6:4. Reflexive giving as almost a habit might seem ideal but should be spontaneous? Yet, quick giving (while still generous) may not always be wise and is open to exploitation. Slowing down to consider how your money might be most useful to the poor in your world is an outworking of loving your neighbour and caring that they receive the best outcomes.
Preventing poverty
What if we are landlords?
We can also give thought to how our money or use of it might have an impact on others. One concrete example of this is for those who let properties to others. The media is quick to polarise renters from landlords, with caricatures being drawn on both sides. It is easy for us to allow our thinking to be secularised and to miss Scriptural principles that will enable us to minimise the poverty in our world. For example, there are principles we find in the Old Testament law reiterated in the New Testament about paying wages fairly and in a timely manner.[5] These Scriptures can prompt us to be thoughtful about how meeting our financial obligations in a timely manner can have a positive impact on the lives of our workers, tenants, neighbours and others. We can go further than that and consider a person’s capacity to pay alongside their needs to consider whether we can alleviate their financial stress by foregoing some or all of our financial rights. Using the example of owning a house, this might mean lowering a tenant’s rent or giving free use of the house to someone in need.[6] These somewhat public expressions of our faith in the Lord Jesus serve to glorify him and demonstrate the real good the gospel does in our lives and its impact on our society.[7]
What about the kingdom?
As Christians, we will want to use our money to bring the gospel to others. There is a myriad of opportunities to make a difference to the workers involved in these ministries. As with the opportunities to give to the poor, we will want to give our limited money thoughtfully. It is wise to investigate how the gospel is presented and to whom and what the accountability structures are operating within the ministry. We all know of deception and fraud having operated in apparently gospel centred ministries. By doing this research, we minimise contributing to those ministries.
One of our contexts for gospel giving is to our churches. We are usually well aware of the effects of our church’s ministry and the accountability structures. We also benefit from our church in all kinds of ways and financially and prayerfully supporting those who minister to us and have the care of our souls is a biblical principle.[8] Despite this, we are free to give to church or not, as the example of Anaias and Sapphira demonstrate.[9] Furthermore, by contributing to the church, we join those whose privilege it was to provide for the physical needs of the Lord Jesus and later, those in the earliest church who provided for the Apostles and other gospel servants.[10] Such provision and sacrifice do not go unnoticed.
Growing generosity
As we come to know God more deeply in Christ, we can expect our godliness to grow in all kinds of ways. Our generosity towards others is part of that. We can expect that to expand organically as God’s Spirit transforms us into the image of the Lord Jesus. Furthermore, as we co-operate with his Spirit, we can discipline ourselves to stretch our generosity. We can review our finances regularly, and think about who we give to, how we give and whether we need to change our giving. One idea is to think about increasing our giving every year by 1% (or in line with each year’s rate of inflation).[11] Some of us might save a proportion of our giving money in order to have money for needs we identify as we go through the year. Whatever way we identify as helpful for us as we grow into more generous people, it is wise to prevent ourselves ruminating on or having unnecessarily long conversations about our giving in order to obey Jesus’ teaching to be reflexive givers, not building up our own egos.[12]
[1] The Gospel in Society Today committee is grateful for the time and expertise of Dr Andrew Bain. Andrew is QTC Vice Principal, Ethics lecturer, and former economist. Although any errors remain the responsibility of the writer, the wisdom he provided will be reflected throughout these articles and from time to time will be directly referenced.
[2] This also helps prevent losing our giving to fraud.
[3] Chapter 4. (Economics in Christian Perspective: Theory, Policy and Life Choices by Victor V. Claar and Robin J. Klay; IVP: Downers Grove, Illinois 2007)
[4] Claar and Klay, ibid., pp 159-161
[5] Deuteronomy 24:12, James 5:1-6
[6] When we do these things, we also relieve some of the pressure on the government of the need to regulate to preserve people from each other. (Claar and Klay, op. cit., p. 26)
[7] Westminster Confession of Faith XVI.2
[8] Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 5:17-18
[9] Acts 5:1-11
[10] Mark 15:40-41; Luke 8:2-3
[11] Claar and Klay op.cit., p. 87
[12] Matthew 6:4
Questions for Group Discussion
Please see below for Part 5 Study Questions, or download the whole series’ Questions for Group Discussion.
Part 5 Study Questions
Read 2 Corinthians 9
If you haven’t done the previous study in 2 Corinthians 8, skim read the chapter so that you know the background of the Corinthian (and Macedonian) giving.
- Why did Paul send the brothers to get the Corinthian’s giving ready? (verses 1-5)
- Why does our internal willingness to give matter? (verses 6-7)
- What does verse 8 mean? How does knowing this about God shape our generosity?
- Describe Paul’s confidence in God. (verses 8-11) How might you prayerfully extend your confidence in God?
- What kind of ways did Paul sees the generosity of the Corinthians encouraging and building up other Christians? (verses 13-15) Why did that matter?
- Is your giving cheerful? How might knowing God cares so much about your willingness in this area changes your giving? How might you grow to be more cheerful in this area? How would you like to pray about this?
- Describe how you would like your giving to have an impact on the lives of others. What tangible ways would you like them to benefit? Spend some time praying about how you can serve God in this way and for him to do this work in your and other’s lives.