Giving

Scripture and Thoughts About Giving
God is good, and has blessed us richly!!
Hymn: "Count Your Blessings"

Giving is a command of God. In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 we read, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also. On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper that there be no collections when I come." In this case, we see the giving here was to help the poor saints in Jerusalem. Notice also, fellow saints at Corinthians were to make a regular collection every first day of the week so there would be no collections when Paul arrived. Not to give on such a basis allows a lack of financial discipline to set in. To wait and give when a special need arises is what Paul has warned against such. Or to hold back from a monthly paycheck such that you can give something each Lord’s day does not fulfill, does not seem to giving as we have been prospered on the first day of the week. A good example is the widow who gave the two mites. Luke 21:1-3 As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. She could have held back one mite and given it at the next opportunity.

Paul had already given instructions to the churches of Galatia about giving as a Christian is prospered on the first day of the week and he is now instructing the Corinthians to do the same. It may have been that many people at that time received pay on a daily basis. This seemed to be the case in when Jesus talks about laborers in the vineyard. Matthew 20:1-16, Verse 8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'" In Acts 18:3, "and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.". Paul was a tent maker, but we do not know the basis of his pay. It could have been daily or at the completion of a making a tent.

So as saints, do we prosper today.

A self employed saint may receive funds daily if they chose or they may be paid at the completion of a project or service, sometimes after two or three days or even longer.

Other saints may receive pay based on two week pay periods.

Still other saints may receive pay on a monthly basis.

And a farming saint may have funds following a harvest, after selling livestock or produce.
There are saints that receive monetary funds from investments, stock market or real estate.
Some saints receive commissions that vary from week to week, such as, someone in Real Estate..
Also some saints receive an hourly wage, plus tips which may vary from day to day.
A cab driver recieves his wages daily above the cost of using the cab company car.
I am sure you may think of other situations as well.

      Should a saint give to the Lord His share on the first day of the week following the week any form of income is received?   Seems this is what Paul is instructing, since that week would be the one in which we have prospered and we are to give.   If a saint has not been paid since the Sunday following the next week after paycheck, then he would have nothing to give, until the next Sunday after having received another paycheck.   I have every reason to believe that God wants his share from what you earned that week on the Sunday when you worship.

      On a monthly basis, a saint would be giving God His share right of the top, once a month and meet the command that Paul provides in I Corinthians 16:1-2. "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also. On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper that there be no collections when I come." Seems that the command is fulfilled with a treasury of funds being weekly collected by the church (local congregation) to meet the needs of others as the needs arise, people in the community who have needs, mission efforts, orphans in China or a student in Zambia.

     Again, it seems if a congregation would wait until the need arises, there would not be sufficient funds because all the saints would have used the money for other things for several weeks and when a need is presented but they would only have the funds from the most recent paycheck he would have received. Is this is why Paul recognized that, saying “that there be no collections when I come?”

     We are told how to give in II Corinthians 9:6-7 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. Some have suggested we should use Old Testament tithing, but that is nowhere mentioned in the New Testament. If a saint wants to use that as a personal guideline, that would be between the saint and God, but it should not be bound upon others as a point of doctrine. On some occasions, even faithful Hebrews gave more than ten percent.

Other scripture about giving
Psalms 50:10 "For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills."
John 3:27 "John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven."
Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
II Corinthians 8:12 "For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have."
Matthew 6:1-4 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward openly."
Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."

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Based on the New King James Version.
Prepared by Lewis Armstrong
January 20, 2006