On Giving

A Study of Matthew 6:1–4 [show]Matthew 6:1–4 “Beware of prac­tic­ing your right­eous­ness before other peo­ple in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. [2]“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trum­pet before you, as the hyp­ocrites do in the syn­a­gogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by oth­ers. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. [3]But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, [4]so that your giv­ing may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (ESV)

Originally pub­lished 5÷2÷2003

“Be care­ful not to do your ‘acts of right­eous­ness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trum­pets, as the hyp­ocrites do in the syn­a­gogues and on the streets, to be hon­ored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giv­ing may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (from the NIV)

I find this pas­sage to be rather inter­est­ing. It is one that, in our church ser­vices, is almost dis­cour­aged at times. Many churches “pass the hat” dur­ing their ser­vices and many pas­tors feel the pres­sure to even make a pub­lic dis­play of giv­ing their tithes and offer­ings as a way to encour­age oth­ers to give. What really gets me is when there are spe­cial times of giv­ing where we announce, Joe gave $1000, Frank is going to match em… etc.

Now, let me first state, this is a mat­ter of per­sonal con­vic­tions. I just have a ten­dency to take Jesus at his word. He empha­sized the issue by say­ing “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” This is of course fig­u­ra­tive but the truth of it is strong, giv­ing should be done in such a way that oth­ers do not even know you have given.

So how does this affect us?

If giv­ing is to be in secret, maybe churches should not pass the hat but pro­vide other more pri­vate means for peo­ple to give. Yeah, I can see pas­tors panic now. “People wouldn’t give if we don’t pass the hat!”

I pas­tored a church for four years with­out an offer­ing time. We pro­vided a place for peo­ple to slip their tithes and offer­ings in when they wanted, before or after the ser­vice. 100% of our mem­bers tithed and gave addi­tional offer­ings and many vis­i­tors gave as well. Of course, we were a small church and larger churches would have to work out the logis­tics but I truly believe that Christians want to tithe and give offer­ings. I also believe the Lord blesses not only the givers but also the church that encour­ages giv­ing in secret. [ed: I now attend a large church which has offer­ing boxes around the four cor­ners of the audi­to­rium where peo­ple can give as acts of wor­ship, I don’t know if it is finan­cially work­ing but I cer­tainly believe it is spir­i­tu­ally working]

If giv­ing is to be in secret, maybe we shouldn’t even use our giv­ing as a tax deduc­tion. Ok, this one will rile a lot of peo­ple. However, to me, the “need” to have it as a tax deduc­tion is an indi­ca­tion of a lack of trust in the Lord. Oof, yeah, low blow. Again, this is per­sonal con­vic­tion and there is no law or doc­trine that needs to be set out. It is sim­ply a ques­tion of “Do You Trust God?”

A story in Acts has always struck me as an inter­est­ing story. I think quite pos­si­bly God was try­ing to show us the impor­tance of why Jesus would say to give in secret. Acts 4:32–5 [show]Acts 4:32–5:42 [32]Now the full num­ber of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had every­thing in com­mon. [33]And with great power the apos­tles were giv­ing their tes­ti­mony to the res­ur­rec­tion of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. [34]There was not a needy per­son among them, for as many as were own­ers of lands or houses sold them and brought the pro­ceeds of what was sold [35]and laid it at the apos­tles’ feet, and it was dis­trib­uted to each as any had need. [36]Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apos­tles Barnabas (which means son of encour­age­ment), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, [37]sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apos­tles’ feet. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of prop­erty, [2]and with his wife’s knowl­edge he kept back for him­self some of the pro­ceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apos­tles’ feet. [3]But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for your­self part of the pro­ceeds of the land? [4]While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your dis­posal? Why is it that you have con­trived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” [5]When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. [6]The young men rose and wrapped him up and car­ried him out and buried him. [7]After an inter­val of about three hours his wife came in, not know­ing what had hap­pened. [8]And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” [9]But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your hus­band are at the door, and they will carry you out.” [10]Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they car­ried her out and buried her beside her hus­band. [11]And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. [12]Now many signs and won­ders were reg­u­larly done among the peo­ple by the hands of the apos­tles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. [13]None of the rest dared join them, but the peo­ple held them in high esteem. [14]And more than ever believ­ers were added to the Lord, mul­ti­tudes of both men and women, [15]so that they even car­ried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. [16]The peo­ple also gath­ered from the towns around Jerusalem, bring­ing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spir­its, and they were all healed. [17]But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jeal­ousy [18]they arrested the apos­tles and put them in the pub­lic prison. [19]But dur­ing the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, [20]“Go and stand in the tem­ple and speak to the peo­ple all the words of this Life.” [21]And when they heard this, they entered the tem­ple at day­break and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the coun­cil and all the sen­ate of the peo­ple of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. [22]But when the offi­cers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, [23]“We found the prison securely locked and the guards stand­ing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” [24]Now when the cap­tain of the tem­ple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly per­plexed about them, won­der­ing what this would come to. [25]And some­one came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are stand­ing in the tem­ple and teach­ing the peo­ple.” [26]Then the cap­tain with the offi­cers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the peo­ple. [27]And when they had brought them, they set them before the coun­cil. And the high priest ques­tioned them, [28]saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teach­ing, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” [29]But Peter and the apos­tles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. [30]The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hang­ing him on a tree. [31]God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repen­tance to Israel and for­give­ness of sins. [32]And we are wit­nesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.“ [33]When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. [34]But a Pharisee in the coun­cil named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the peo­ple, stood up and gave orders to put the men out­side for a lit­tle while. [35]And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. [36]For before these days Theudas rose up, claim­ing to be some­body, and a num­ber of men, about four hun­dred, joined him. He was killed, and all who fol­lowed him were dis­persed and came to noth­ing. [37]After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the cen­sus and drew away some of the peo­ple after him. He too per­ished, and all who fol­lowed him were scat­tered. [38]So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this under­tak­ing is of man, it will fail; [39]but if it is of God, you will not be able to over­throw them. You might even be found oppos­ing God!” So they took his advice, [40]and when they had called in the apos­tles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. [41]Then they left the pres­ence of the coun­cil, rejoic­ing that they were counted wor­thy to suf­fer dis­honor for the name. [42]And every day, in the tem­ple and from house to house, they did not cease teach­ing and preach­ing Jesus as the Christ. (ESV)
:11 is the story of con­trasts, a man, Barnabas, who gives every­thing gladly and a cou­ple, Annanias and Sapphira, who con­spire to look like Barnabas, prob­a­bly to get the honor he did. They lie to God — yes, the con­gre­ga­tion too, but that isn’t really the point of the story — about what they are giv­ing. As such, that cou­ple ended up struck down dead before the church.

The story is a visual rep­re­sen­ta­tion of the sim­ple truth, when we give to the church, we give to God and it is only God that mat­ters. When we give in a pub­lic man­ner so that the giver receives honor from oth­ers in the church, it can lead to dis­as­ter. Jesus also says, we get exactly what we wanted, tem­po­rary honor from peo­ple and squat from God.

Congregations need to con­sider the ram­i­fi­ca­tions of the meth­ods of giv­ing, how they encour­age peo­ple to give so that they do not lead peo­ple down a wrong path. Most impor­tantly, Christians need to always con­sider the fact that giv­ing is an act of faith in God. He will sup­ply our needs. When con­gre­ga­tions lean on other means and meth­ods of encour­ag­ing peo­ple to give they are dis­cour­ag­ing faith and lead­ing peo­ple down the path seen in Acts 5 [show]Acts 5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of prop­erty, [2]and with his wife’s knowl­edge he kept back for him­self some of the pro­ceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apos­tles’ feet. [3]But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for your­self part of the pro­ceeds of the land? [4]While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your dis­posal? Why is it that you have con­trived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” [5]When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. [6]The young men rose and wrapped him up and car­ried him out and buried him. [7]After an inter­val of about three hours his wife came in, not know­ing what had hap­pened. [8]And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” [9]But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your hus­band are at the door, and they will carry you out.” [10]Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they car­ried her out and buried her beside her hus­band. [11]And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. [12]Now many signs and won­ders were reg­u­larly done among the peo­ple by the hands of the apos­tles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. [13]None of the rest dared join them, but the peo­ple held them in high esteem. [14]And more than ever believ­ers were added to the Lord, mul­ti­tudes of both men and women, [15]so that they even car­ried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. [16]The peo­ple also gath­ered from the towns around Jerusalem, bring­ing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spir­its, and they were all healed. [17]But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jeal­ousy [18]they arrested the apos­tles and put them in the pub­lic prison. [19]But dur­ing the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, [20]“Go and stand in the tem­ple and speak to the peo­ple all the words of this Life.” [21]And when they heard this, they entered the tem­ple at day­break and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the coun­cil and all the sen­ate of the peo­ple of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. [22]But when the offi­cers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, [23]“We found the prison securely locked and the guards stand­ing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” [24]Now when the cap­tain of the tem­ple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly per­plexed about them, won­der­ing what this would come to. [25]And some­one came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are stand­ing in the tem­ple and teach­ing the peo­ple.” [26]Then the cap­tain with the offi­cers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the peo­ple. [27]And when they had brought them, they set them before the coun­cil. And the high priest ques­tioned them, [28]saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teach­ing, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” [29]But Peter and the apos­tles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. [30]The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hang­ing him on a tree. [31]God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repen­tance to Israel and for­give­ness of sins. [32]And we are wit­nesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.“ [33]When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. [34]But a Pharisee in the coun­cil named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the peo­ple, stood up and gave orders to put the men out­side for a lit­tle while. [35]And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. [36]For before these days Theudas rose up, claim­ing to be some­body, and a num­ber of men, about four hun­dred, joined him. He was killed, and all who fol­lowed him were dis­persed and came to noth­ing. [37]After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the cen­sus and drew away some of the peo­ple after him. He too per­ished, and all who fol­lowed him were scat­tered. [38]So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this under­tak­ing is of man, it will fail; [39]but if it is of God, you will not be able to over­throw them. You might even be found oppos­ing God!” So they took his advice, [40]and when they had called in the apos­tles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. [41]Then they left the pres­ence of the coun­cil, rejoic­ing that they were counted wor­thy to suf­fer dis­honor for the name. [42]And every day, in the tem­ple and from house to house, they did not cease teach­ing and preach­ing Jesus as the Christ. (ESV)
. When a group of believ­ers gather together and encour­age faith, that faith is then expressed in giv­ing just like we see in Acts 4 [show]Acts 4 And as they were speak­ing to the peo­ple, the priests and the cap­tain of the tem­ple and the Sadducees came upon them, [2]greatly annoyed because they were teach­ing the peo­ple and pro­claim­ing in Jesus the res­ur­rec­tion from the dead. [3]And they arrested them and put them in cus­tody until the next day, for it was already evening. [4]But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the num­ber of the men came to about five thou­sand. [5]On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gath­ered together in Jerusalem, [6]with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly fam­ily. [7]And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” [8]Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the peo­ple and elders, [9]if we are being exam­ined today con­cern­ing a good deed done to a crip­pled man, by what means this man has been healed, [10]let it be known to all of you and to all the peo­ple of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you cru­ci­fied, whom God raised from the dead–by him this man is stand­ing before you well. [11]This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cor­ner­stone. [12]And there is sal­va­tion in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.“ [13]Now when they saw the bold­ness of Peter and John, and per­ceived that they were une­d­u­cated, com­mon men, they were aston­ished. And they rec­og­nized that they had been with Jesus. [14]But see­ing the man who was healed stand­ing beside them, they had noth­ing to say in oppo­si­tion. [15]But when they had com­manded them to leave the coun­cil, they con­ferred with one another, [16]saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been per­formed through them is evi­dent to all the inhab­i­tants of Jerusalem, and we can­not deny it. [17]But in order that it may spread no fur­ther among the peo­ple, let us warn them to speak no more to any­one in this name.” [18]So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. [19]But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to lis­ten to you rather than to God, you must judge, [20]for we can­not but speak of what we have seen and heard.” [21]And when they had fur­ther threat­ened them, they let them go, find­ing no way to pun­ish them, because of the peo­ple, for all were prais­ing God for what had hap­pened. [22]For the man on whom this sign of heal­ing was per­formed was more than forty years old. [23]When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. [24]And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and every­thing in them, [25]who through the mouth of our father David, your ser­vant, said by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peo­ples plot in vain? [26]The kings of the earth set them­selves, and the rulers were gath­ered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’– [27]for truly in this city there were gath­ered together against your holy ser­vant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peo­ples of Israel, [28]to do what­ever your hand and your plan had pre­des­tined to take place. [29]And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your ser­vants to con­tinue to speak your word with all bold­ness, [30]while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and won­ders are per­formed through the name of your holy ser­vant Jesus.” [31]And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gath­ered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and con­tin­ued to speak the word of God with bold­ness. [32]Now the full num­ber of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had every­thing in com­mon. [33]And with great power the apos­tles were giv­ing their tes­ti­mony to the res­ur­rec­tion of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. [34]There was not a needy per­son among them, for as many as were own­ers of lands or houses sold them and brought the pro­ceeds of what was sold [35]and laid it at the apos­tles’ feet, and it was dis­trib­uted to each as any had need. [36]Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apos­tles Barnabas (which means son of encour­age­ment), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, [37]sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apos­tles’ feet. (ESV)
.

Jesus said, “Be care­ful not to do your ‘acts of right­eous­ness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Give in secret, “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Written by William Reveal 5÷2÷2003