Our Motivation for Giving pt. 2
17-Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.
Just as we share in suffering, we also share in fruit. Paul says here that he is excited not for the gift itself but for the result of that gift. When the Philippians gave, he saw more than money; he saw ministry! However, Paul says that the sharing goes beyond the fruit because when we give in ministry, we also share in the reward. The Philippians supported Paul and God gave them credit for the ministry he accomplished. Not everyone can go, or is called, to the mission field but that does not restrict us from doing missions work. Maybe we will never set foot in an African village but we can still bear fruit in that village by our giving and for that we will be rewarded.
18-Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.19-And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Here Paul sees their giving as a sacrifice to God and not just any sacrifice but one that is “well pleasing,” “acceptable,” and even “sweet smelling.” At its very center, giving to ministry goes beyond supporting the work of the gospel, beyond bearing fruit, beyond the very plane of human existence! Giving is Worship! We are called to worship with our entire lives (Romans 12:1) that includes our wallet. Also, it here should be noted that sacrifice speaks of cost. When we give to God it should cost us something. Jesus displayed this attitude. One day as he watched people give at the temple, rich man after rich man gave much with much show but when a poor woman came and gave a mere two mites (about 1/8 a cent), Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”(Mark 12:43-44) God sees value in terms of what it costs us, not how much we give. If our money is to be an act of worship, we need to give not just our excess but give from our very means.
20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
The Glory of God is the ultimate goal of our giving. In fact, the Bible makes it clear that the Glory of God should be the ultimate goal of everything we do (1 Cor 10:31). Sharing in the suffering of a minster, bearing fruit, being rewarded, even worshiping God through sacrifice are all penultimate to this purpose. That means that if we give in a way that we glorify ourselves, the minister we give to, or even the gift itself, we have failed, for God shares his glory with no one.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Although I agree with your concern, that giving tends to be talked about in terms of our effort, I stand with my point that the ultimate goal(or maybe more-so the ultimate motivation) in our giving is to glorify God. We do this not by increasing “God’s bank account” as if God had need of our money to make him more glorious, but by giving the glory to God in our giving. Recognizing that all we have is a gift from him to begin with. Recognizing that God is our provider and will take care of our future needs, and by using our resources to glorify him (quite literally) by investing in ministries who’s sole purpose is to promote God’s glory. The real question is not IF giving glorifies, but WHO giving glorifies. As I said in the closing lines of the blog, we can give in such a way that we get the glory (blowing the trumpet as the pharisees did) or that the minister gets the glory(”Take this, you deserve it”) but if we are to give rightly, it must be in a way that God (and only God) gets the glory. Giving like that surely has very little to do with our effort, and everything to do with our responding to the work that God has done in our lives( a.k.a. Worship)
July 15th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
“Giving like that surely has very little to do with our effort, and everything to do with our responding to the work that God has done in our lives (a.k.a. Worship)”
Amen to that!
July 16th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Truly, everything we have has been provided to us by the Lord. How foolish we become when we forget that and hold onto our blessings not wanting to give God His rightful share. He does not ask us for very much, does He? Yet, He promises us an overflow if we give Him only a small portion of what is His anyway. What a Wonderful God we serve. He promises to bless us if we give Him what is His. (the Ultimate loving parent is our God!)
In my own life, I have found time and time again that when I give, the Lord pours out a blessing that is so wonderful. Of course this should not be the reason we give(hmmm…or maybe it actually could be) ..but I think one has to make the connection. We give and then He gives us even more. Although we never ever want a ministry to be built around this law, we also want to share with the Body that it is really true. In Malachi, the Lord asks us to ‘test him in this’.
There have been times in my life, where I have held back in my giving because of various reasons (lack - being one reason…or the sense of lack…because we who have the Lord never really lack anything). Each time I have held back ….I ended up having less than the times that I gave out of lack.
So, although we don’t build a ministry around “giving”….It sure is something to be encouraged. Truly, the Lord takes care of those who give to the poor and to “His House” –the local church…He pours out a blessing ….
….test Me no in this, says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the WINDOWS OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT A BLESSING UNTIL IT OVERFLOWS. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the filed cast its grapes”, says the Lord of hosts.
AND ALL NATIONS WILL CALL YOU BLESSED, for you shall be a delightful land, says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:10-12
I don’t like admitting this, but the times where I’ve held back, some of the grapes of my field were tossed to the ground (i suffered loss). But NOT ONCE, when I gave did I lose a grape! Everything was blessed…
Because of the Words of Malichi, I don’t even think it is wrong to give expecting a blessing. The Lord, after all, asks us to test Him in this. I think it is very wonderful and exciting that the Lord challenges us to do something so that He can bless us above and beyond so that the blessing overflows. THAT IS WHEN GOD RECEIVES THE GLORY! When we tell others, “wow, God’s Word is true, I gave and He blessed me beyond what I could have ever imagined”.
This weekend, we did a craft show in Montauk, Long Island. A beautiful beach town at the end of the south fork of Long Island. The weather was perfect. Too perfect. The show was NOT well attended. It was empty. But Our Lord, He made sure that many of my customers showed up…we had a record show! even though the show was empty!
Dare we not give? I’ve made that mistake….thanks for reminding me not to make it anymore, even at times when we feel we have lack. Think about it, Lorraine
ps…here is an interesting story:
Who is really poor?
And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
2 Corinthians 9:8 NLT
Plow Work
Dr. Roy L. Laurin tells of a Christian businessman who was traveling in Korea. In a field by the side of the road was a young man pulling a crude plow while an old man held the handles. The businessman was amused and took a snapshot of the scene. “That is curious! I suppose these people are very poor,” he said to the missionary who was interpreter and guide to the party. “Yes,” was the quiet reply, “these two men happen to be Christians. When their church was being built, they were so eager to give something toward it, but they had no money. So they decided to sell their one and only ox and give the proceeds to the church. This spring they are pulling the plow themselves.” The businessman was silent for some moments. Then he said, “That must have been a real sacrifice.” “They did not call it that,” said the missionary. “They thought themselves fortunate that they had an ox to sell!”
When the businessman reached home, he took the picture to his pastor and told him about it. Then he added, “I want to double my giving to the church and do some plow work. Up until now I have never given God anything that involved real sacrifice.”
From 1001 Great Stories and Quotes by R. Kent Hughes (Tyndale House) p 177