Why is giving so emphasized in the Christian faith?

Christian giving is something that has to come from the heart before it can have real value before God. If there is not a ‘willing mind’ (2 Cor. 8:12), the giving is just a legal thing. Practical Christianity is not a matter of keeping rules and regulations. It is the answer of our love to Him that reflects itself in every area and aspect of our life. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), and we give (ourselves and from our substance) because He first gave to us (Himself and all kinds of blessings).

Christianity is full of apparent paradoxes. One of them is the teaching of our Lord mentioned above: if we give, we will receive (Luke 6:38). There is a transfer taking place so that when we give, we are enriched. This divine principle of giving applies to many areas of life and certainly to the subject of Christian giving. ‘He is the richest man in the esteem of the world who has gotten the most. He is the richest man in the esteem of heaven who has given the most’ (F B Meyer). Where do we want to be rich?

What a marvellous train of happy results is attached to giving! No wonder it is enumerated amongst the "gifts" of Romans 12, or that elsewhere we read, "To do good and to communicate forget not." What spiritual enlargement flows out of it! And conversely, how often is spiritual poverty the direct result of the neglect of it! If believers are stingy in their handling of material things, the holy government of God will leave them poor and straightened in spiritual things.

All giving by the Christian flows from that which has been given to him from God. Hence the Apostle cannot close his exhortation on this theme without leading our thoughts to God's supreme gift from which all our giving flows. It is so great a gift as to be beyond all our powers of expression or description. We can only utter thanks for it.

In New Testament Christianity we are ‘not under law but under grace’ (Rom. 6:14). Does that mean we give less, or nothing at all? We may say with the Apostle Paul: ‘Far be the thought’! But it is necessary that we see that the principle of Christian giving is completely different and on a higher level. A Christian does not give out of a sense of lawful obligation but out of a grateful response to the grace of God, according as God has prospered him (1 Cor. 16:2).

In looking over then what has been said on the matter, we have found that the great source and motive power of giving is in the revelation of God Himself in the gospel. He is the Giver. He has given His Son. His Son has been to the cross, and paid the debt of every repentant and believing sinner; He has gone up to glory, as the accepted man, and by the communication of His own Spirit of life, believers are now connected with Himself in that place. Christ thus becomes the great pattern and example of giving, and, the believer having been set in connection with Him in glory by the Holy Ghost come down, he is sent forth to exhibit Him in this world, and in principle to give up himself and all he has for the good of others. Then we have seen that giving has a two-fold sphere of action, namely, towards the world, and towards the church. Towards the world, the attitude is to give as the Father gives: He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good; He sends His rain on the just and on the unjust. Towards the saints, we have a special relation in regard to giving, they are members of the household of faith, and are one with Christ by the Holy Ghost. In giving to them, we do it unto Him. But here we are brought into the sphere of the direct government of the Lord; who never even at the beginning, in regard to His own, paid the debts of any but repentant sinners. Consequently, in giving to the saints, we are to act wisely towards them for their good, so helping the Lord's debtors as that we may be received into everlasting habitations. The Father has conditions Himself of helping His children, and we are to be imitators of Him.

God is revealed to us as the giving God. He gave His Son (John 3:16). Christ gave Himself (Eph. 5:25). God loveth a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7). We do well to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35); and believers are instructed to "labour that they may have to give to him that needeth" (Eph. 4:28). The importance of this cannot be over-estimated. We are in a world of need, both material and spiritual, and the heart that knows the grace of Christ will be a heart that has learned the secret and the joy of giving. "The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand" (Isa. 32:8). There is ever the danger that through unfaithfulness in "that which is another man's" (Luke 16) we may lose "that which is our own." In other words, we lose the enjoyment of those heavenly blessings which are properly ours in proportion as we are unfaithful stewards of the bounty God has entrusted us with here.

This being so, seeing that believers are told to be imitators of God, as dear children, and that the Church is here to set forth Christ in His ways on earth, it is manifest that believers must be here in the same character of givers, for unless they are so, the character of God and of Christ is belied, and we are proved false witnesses of Christ. "Freely ye have received, freely give," is what the Lord said to His own. The disciples, who were to go out without money, were yet to shew boundless liberality. The widow, who cast in two mites, her all, is most highly praised: while the Apostle Paul, in speaking of giving, quotes the strong language of the 112th Psalm, "He hath dispersed abroad; He hath given to the poor; His righteousness remaineth for ever." (2 Cor. 9:9.)

These, and many other instances, which will occur to every reader, shew how God gives, how Christ gave, how believers should give; and that while of course the spiritual must ever be of incomparably more importance than the earthly, and the moral than the material, yet the giving necessarily includes material things, and care and thoughtfulness for others in matters pertaining to this life. (See James 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17; 2 Cor, 9:7, etc.)

How lovely are those words, "Thou shalt open thine hand wide!" They breathe the very air of heaven. An open heart and a wide hand are like God. "The Lord loves a cheerful giver," because that is precisely what He is Himself. "He gives to all liberally, and upbraids not." And He would grant to us the rare and most exquisite privilege of being imitators of Him. Marvellous grace! The very thought of it fills the heart with wonder, love and praise. We are not only saved by grace, but we stand in grace, live under the blessed reign of grace, breathe the very atmosphere of grace, and are called to be the living exponents of grace, not only to our brethren but to the whole human family. "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to them which are of the household of faith."

The Word of God provides an antidote so that we do not succumb to the tendency to do nothing else but save. This is to give to others out of the material means the Lord has entrusted to us. The Apostle Paul passes on an important word the Lord Jesus Himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35). Those who give find this principle always holds true in practice: it is much happier for us to give something than to receive a gift. God is a giving God. In His love, beyond our understanding, He gave His own beloved Son to die for us. He could not have given us anything greater. What response will we make to Him? Are we prepared to open our hands and give Him a material sacrifice and help people in need?

‘Begging of us with much entreaty to give effect to the grace and fellowship of the service which was to be rendered to the saints’ (2 Cor. 8:4). Grace — the way this word is used here has the same meaning as giving — does not make giving optional for it is a privilege and at the same time a responsibility. It is a tangible expression of our love for God and also of our fellowship with Christians who are suffering distress. The same word is used here as the one used for our fellowship with the Lord in order to emphasise this character of giving.

For it is not only that the need of the poor saints was supplied by the administration of this provision, but also it would draw forth "many thanksgivings to God." Is this not an excellent reason for our liberality? Others would glorify God on account of this precious proof of their subjection to the truth of the gospel of Christ, in the freehearted communication of their means for the Lord's sake. So there are not only results in blessings to the giver, but results in glory being given to God. And besides, the prayers of those receiving would be drawn out more ardently for the givers, not a small consideration, for the reality of the grace of God in some draws out the affections of others.

Moreover the results of large-hearted and cheerful giving are so very blessed. There is the supplying of "the need of the saints." This in itself is a very good thing. Who, that has seen the comfort and joy of some poor saint, when relief has reached them through the liberality of their brethren, could doubt it. Beyond this, however, God is glorified. The action "is abundant also by many thanksgivings to God." The saint, who has been helped and relieved, gives thanks to God again and again for the gift and those who ministered it to him. Presently too those who gave find themselves so blessed and enlarged of God that they begin to give thanks that they were ever privileged to give. We have, you will remember, the very best authority for saying that, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." And finally the poor saints, who have nothing to give in return, do repay what is given by an answering affection and by earnest prayer. The givers reap the blessing which flows from the love and prayers of those whom they have helped.