Why Give?
- Fr. Rob Griffith
Giving is Love
As Jesus called His disciples around him, a community began to form. As He taught and healed, there were also those who supported His ministry financially. After the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, communities of believers began to form and grow, first throughout Judea, and then through Samaria and towards the ends of the earth.
In Acts, believers shared what they had with others out of mutual love and support. Churches, drawing from the Jewish Scriptures, established a pattern of worship that included the act of giving sacrificially to support the leadership and activities of the church.
New Believers were also encouraged to give for the needs of others beyond their own congregations. The Apostle Paul, as he traveled on his missionary journeys, called upon churches throughout the Mediterranean to take up offerings to help Christians back in Judea who were facing severe famine.
The loving, self-sacrificial act of giving is a way to express thanks back to God for all that he has done. It is an expression of love for the Church as it provides for the spiritual leadership, the pastoral care, and the basic provision of the needs of the community. Since the earliest days of the Tabernacle, God has called his people to be generous with one another and to provide for the worshipping culture - the priesthood, the Temple and, eventually, the Church.
Giving is Worship
As these new communities began to form, so did their pattern of worship.
In one of our Eucharistic liturgies we pray, “And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee…”. When we give back to God, it is a response to the boundless grace and generosity that he has shown each of us. It acknowledges that all we have, as individual members of one Body, comes from God, and that we are all made in His image. Giving to God reflects his grace and generosity back towards him in the lives of others who are made in his image.
Giving also says that we are not afraid of what may come in this world. When we hold on to resources out of fear, we rely on ourselves. But when we walk in faith, we give sacrificially and show that we trust God to be our source in this life. Giving sacrificially declares our reliance on Him who saves us.
Giving is Biblical
The Bible is clear. Each of us are stewards of our time, talent, and treasure. We are not owners. A steward is a person who has been entrusted with and who manages another’s resources according to the owner’s vision and values. King David wrote in Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” The Apostle Peter wrote, “Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God” (1 Pet 4:9-10). Resources are placed in our care by God that we would have the ability to minister to the needs that he places before us.
Giving has always been an expected part of the family of God. Beginning with Moses, laws were enacted to support the care of the temple. A tithe of ten percent of the “first fruits,” or the best of the crops, was given to the priests as a declaration of thanks to God for the blessing of his fruitfulness. It was also meant to support the tribe of Levi who had no other income or inheritance, but were expected to rely on the giving of the people.
Giving was a serious nature to God. During the exile the prophet Malachi called out the Israelites for “robbing God” by not giving what was required to support the Temple. But God also gave them a promise. In Malachi 3:10-11, God says, “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my temple. Test me in this matter,” says the LORD who rules over all, “to see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until there is no room for it all. Jesus himself, echoes this promise in Luke 6:38, when he says, “Give, and it will be given to you: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use will be the measure you receive.”