The Gift of Giving

Romans 12:8 "He that giveth, let him give with simplicity."

MONEY: just mention it in a church service and most people stiffen up. Especially those that don't have the GIFT OF GIVING: the divinely enabled ability to not only very simply and cheerfully give money, but to also be such wise stewards of money, that these Spirit-led Givers have much more money to do what they enjoy doing the most: putting it to work in the service of the Lord. In every way, they look at themselves as being only stewards of the things the Lord has blessed them with, as being entrusted with property that is owned by the Lord and not themselves. "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" (Luke 16: 11-12) They have grasped this passage of scripture much better and much more quickly than some of the rest of us.

Many people act as though they have to hold on tight to their money and safeguard it. Remember the steward who was foolish with his handling of the money (Luke 19:12-27)? He hid his money to keep it safe, rather than utilizing it (this parable refers not only to money but to all the gifts and resources the Lord provides us with). Anyway, the foolish steward didn't see a return of investment on his money because he didn't invest it. It was actually his flawed view of the character of God that caused him to fearfully hide the money, rather than joyfully manage it for the Lord's benefit. There are a lot of people like him, who act as though the most important thing is "just hanging on" to their money. Which is silly at the least since we all know that we can't take it with us….

….or can we?

Erwin W. Lutzer, author and pastor, tells this story about how we CAN take our money and possessions with us when we die and how it is done:

"There is a story told of a European princess, a fervent Christian, who was burdened to start an orphanage for street children. She did not have money of her own, so she told her husband she wanted to sell the jewels he had given her so that she could help the orphans. Of course he was reluctant. "Don't you appreciate the jewels?" he would ask. "Of course," she would reply. "But there are homeless children we could help." Eventually he gave in. She sold the jewels for many thousands of dollars and was able to build the orphanage. The children came and were fed and shown love. They memorized verses of Scripture and sang songs. One day the princess returned to her husband, "I found my jewels today!" she said through tears of joy. "I found my jewels, the bright happy eyes of the children who were rescued from the streets. I found my jewels!" Smart woman! She beat the system! All of our lives we are told that we "cannot take it with us." We are told that we have to leave it all behind. Of course, we cannot take dollars and jewels with us, but if we transmute these into heavenly values, we can meet our money in another life. The princess found a way to get her jewels on the other side of eternity, she took them all the way to heaven. Forever."

People with the gift of giving have figured out how to beat the system also. The trick is to see things from an eternal perspective; fortunately this is something that comes along with all of the gifts given by the Holy Spirit. Without the ability to see everything from an "eternal" perspective, we would quickly become discouraged in all of our service to the Lord.

But back to giving….remember the scriptures that talk about giving a tenth as a tithe (Malachi 3:8)? Well, people with the gift of giving use the tenth as the STARTING point of their giving (as we all are to do, by the way. The tithe was a part of the law, we are no longer under the law, but under the Spirit of God; in all that we do, including giving, it should be directed by the Holy Spirit, not by the law and not by us! When led by the Holy Spirit, giving will be a privilege for which we are grateful and we will give at every opportunity possible!)

Gifted givers, strong in faith, have been known to give as much as 100% of their possessions and money to the Lord's work. And they have found that the Lord is faithful to His promises and returns to them a hundred-fold more (Mark 10:29-31). And so they easily turn around and give it all away again.

There is a man named Robert Morris who wrote a book entitled "Blessed Life", in which he talks about giving things like homes and cars away, just to have the Lord give them right back to him! His is a good book to give to anyone who doesn't understand that tithing is just the "first-fruits" of the provisions that God has given to us all; giving beyond the "first-fruits" leads to a very "Blessed Life" indeed. Both Robert Morris and my old friend, George Muller, whom you've heard me speak of many times, are living testimonies to the blessedness of living by the faith of knowing that God ALWAYS provides, as He has promised to do for those of us who love and serve Him.

You don't have to be wealthy to be a gifted giver. As with all the gifts, faith is a big part of serving the Lord. The widow who had only two mites left to her name (Luke 21:2-4), obviously had a gift of giving; she gave 100% of the money she had, something she could not have done if she didn't have great faith to trust the Lord for her every need. This great faith is a "manifestation" of the Spirit when one ministers in their primary gifting; the primary gift is the "motivational" gift, while faith is the "manifestation" of that gift through the "ministry" opportunities provided to gifted givers.

If you have the primary gift of giving the first thing that will come to your mind when seeing needs within the church, is: What can I "give" to meet the needs? Not "What can I "say"; not "what can I "do"; just "what can I "give".

Some characteristics of a gifted giver are:

1. whether it is money or possessions or something else altogether, people with this gift are generous;
   
2. they do not like the limelight. They prefer to remain anonymous. There are a few reasons for their anonymity: a) so that they will receive their reward from the Lord rather than from men; b) so that they are not treated any differently from anyone else, c) so that they won't be manipulated. People with the gift of giving, who have God-given instincts regarding the handling of money, can see manipulation or high-pressure tactics coming from a mile away. They give because they WANT to give and they are grateful for the opportunity to give to the Lord. But when someone tries to turn that opportunity into an obligation, they turn and run the other way, because it reeks of manipulation; they enjoy the freedom in the Lord to do as He would have them do. They see opportunities to give long before the rest of us do; they need no coercion to give;
   
3. they have the ability to see what the best use of money is; if they don't see good results they will put the money elsewhere next time. They look for a high return on their investment; after all they are accountable to God for their faithful stewardship of his resources;
   
4. they have to guard against judging others by their use or mis-use of money. Good handling of money comes easily to them because of their spiritual gifting, and they forget that not all others have the same gifting. They can get irritated by mis-management of financial resources. They shudder at the word "debt"; and loans are to be utilized ONLY when the interest on the loan is much lower than the interest that their cash is earning in the bank; paying interest with God's money is to be avoided wherever possible. If they do opt for that rare loan, they will have funds necessary to pay it off immediately if the interest rates go bottom up. They don't understand why others don't get the "evil" of high-interest debt, especially concerning credit cards. They take seriously that command of the Lord to "owe no man anything" (Romans 13:8); they look at going into debt as a lack of faith, a lack of trusting in God to provide; as living beyond one's means (worldliness) and not what God intended for them;
   
5. if not careful, they can overemphasize material needs to the exclusion of spiritual needs.
   

Even though they avoid the limelight in terms of their own giving, Spirit-enabled givers can be recognized by their efforts to motivate others within the church to become equally good stewards of all that God has provided. Thus they are a blessing to the church in more ways than one.