Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.
2 Corinthians 8:13 NIVUK
After Typhoon Haiyan, my wife’s family's church had taken a severe beating. And no wonder: the eye of the biggest typhoon ever to make landfall had smashed into their island, not far from the church. It had been built of strong materials, but I don’t know many constructions that could withstand being hit by a wind of more than 160mph.
The damage was so bad in the village that it took a week for us to even know if my wife’s family was alive.
After having found out they’d survived, and having received some pictures of the damage, my church in Scotland allowed me to talk about the situation from the pulpit. I shared some of the photos and provided avenues for people to help.
Without having asked, I was approached by our church leaders. You see, the church had spent a huge amount of money - £500,000 – on renovating and remodelling the church to bring it up to code. It didn’t sit well with them that another church thousands of miles away, to which they had an attachment, should be in ruins when it could be repaired for what seemed to them a relatively small amount of money.
And so they paid for the repairs.
My daughter’s school was also moved to do something. They fundraised to repair the stage of the village school so that, even if they had lost three classrooms, the children could at least have somewhere to graduate from.
Generosity is an amazing thing.
But it’s also commanded.
If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards them. Rather, be open-handed and freely lend them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbour this wicked thought: ‘The seventh year, the year for cancelling debts, is near,’ so that you do not show ill will towards the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open-handed towards your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.
Deuteronomy 15:7-11 NIVUK
And it’s from this principle that Paul is teaching the Greek Corinthians to be a generous, giving church.
You see, there were three areas where the Old Testament Jews were commanded to be generous.
The first of these is the fabric of the place of worship. They were asked to make contributions to the place where they would gather to worship God (Exodus 25:1-8; 35:4-29). If you look at the designs for the Tent of Meeting, they are more practical that ostentatious. But all the same, giving was asked.
Of course, this is a one-off gift, in the sense that it was required to set up the Tent of Meeting. However, we also see that offerings were taken for the physical upkeep of the sanctuary – which was the Temple – during the tine of Joash (2 Chronicles 24:8-12) and Josiah (2 Chronicles 34:9-11).
Whether we like it or not, there will always be material bills that need to be paid, and there is Biblical precedent for this money to be collected from the Lord’s people.
They were also asked to give for the work in the place of worship – that is, to fund full time workers who would take care of the place of worship and lead the nation in acts of worship.
These are, of course, the Levites, who had already proven their zeal for the Lord and their desire to put Him first above everything and everyone else, and so were granted this awesome privilege (Exodus 32:25-29).
I’m sure every pastor, preacher, missionary and full-time Christian worker is really glad that they don’t have to prove themselves the same way the Levites did. Missionary training centres would be very different if they did.
But as a result of the immense privilege of serving the Lord, they were not given an inheritance of their own – the tithes and offerings given by the Jews were to be their inheritance (Numbers 18:20-24).
In other words, the gifts given by worshippers of the Lord were to be their sustenance.
Paul uses this very commandment to justify why Christian workers should be financially supported by the church:
Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
1 Corinthians 9:13-14 NIVUK
Of course, he goes on in verses 15 to 18 to state that although he has this right as a Christian worker, he himself has not used it. In fact, Paul used his trade as a tentmaker to provide for himself (Acts 18:1-3).
However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that churches should be involved in supporting those who dedicate themselves full time to the Lord’s service, whether they are at home or abroad, and that this giving forms a part of their worship to God.
Thirdly, the Jews were required to give to the poor – those who genuinely cannot provide for themselves.
When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. Then say to the Lord your God: ‘I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.
Deuteronomy 26:12-13 NIVUK
The Jews were even commanded to not be ruthless in the harvesting of their crops, but to leave some behind for the needy (Deuteronomy 24:19). It’s this right that Ruth the Moabitess used to provide for her and her mother-in-law Naomi (Ruth 2).
Note the three specific groups mentioned here:
· The foreigner:
‘Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.
Exodus 23:9 NIVUK
Let’s be done with the, quite frankly, idiotic xenophobic statements that come from the ignorant right wing lobbies in our churches. If non-natives are working hard, excelling and generating wealth, then we should take this as a challenge to get up and work hard, and not pull them down for it.
· The fatherless:
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Psalms 68:5 NIVUK
God sets the lonely in families
Psalms 68:6 NIVUK
God’s care for those without parents to care for them is uncompromised. Woe betide anyone who exploits them.
· The widows
As we saw above, God defends widows. In ancient Israel, poor widows were among the most vulnerable in society, particularly those who were elderly. They had no husband to provide for them.
The early church believed that it had a duty to look after widows (Acts 6:1-7). However, Paul was absolutely clear to Timothy that there should be criteria to determine which widows were helped – and it should be those who were genuinely in need and unable to work, not those who were seeking to take advantage of the church’s help (1 Timothy 5:1-16).
When churches are engaged in all three of these acts of giving, then the blessing really flows.
And that’s why Paul was seeking to get the Corinthian church involved in the act of giving.
You see, they had no building, so they had no need of offerings for three fabric of the church. As we saw earlier, Paul had sought to persuade them that it was his right to ask them to support him financially, even if he didn’t use this right.
But what he is asking them to do here is to make a financial gift to the church that birthed them – the church at Jerusalem.
A possible reason for this is the famine that had been prophesied to hit the entire Jewish world (Acts 11:27-30). Another reason could be the fierce and unrelenting suffering the Jerusalem Christians would have been facing (Acts 8:1).
Whatever the reason, Paul was clearly asking richer Corinthian believers to help their poorer Jewish believers. And the precedent he uses to persuade them to do so is very challenging:
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9 NIVUK
Jesus Himself is the precedent: He who let go of Heaven to grasp a calling that led to the cross, just to save us. He is the One Paul uses as an example of why the Corinthian believers should serve their poorer brothers and sisters with their material wealth.
And that’s exactly it. Yes, we are commanded to financially support the place where we meet, and those who work there and abroad to bring God’s Word to all who should hear it. And yes, we cannot escape the call to support those who cannot support themselves.
But the call to give isn't just rooted in these things. No, it’s also rooted in the very nature of the call of Christ that saved us.
So a Christian church – a Christ-like church – must be a generous church. And this is something we must all seek to be.
Questions
The Jews were required to give to support their meeting place, full time workers and those who are unable to support themselves. Is your church involved in giving in these three areas?
Why is Jesus Christ coming to earth to die on the cross to save us the greatest example of generosity? What can we do to be as generous as Him?
What can you do practically to better support the work of the Lord through your local church?
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