The primary purpose of giving, as taught in the New Testament, is for the support of the saints, the church. A Christian’s first obligation is to support fellow believers, individually and collectively. The church’s first financial responsibility is to invest in its own life and its own people (cf. 2 Cor. 8:1-5; 9:12-15; Phil. 4:14-16).
Obviously that is not the only economic obligation we have. The parable of the Good Samaritan makes it clear that we should minister personally and financially to anyone in need, regardless of religion, culture, or circumstances (Luke 10:25-37). Paul also teaches that we should “do good to all men” (Gal. 6:10). But in the same verse he goes on to say, “And especially to those who are of the household of faith” (cf. 1 John 3:17). In 2 Corinthians 9:13 the apostles calls for a generous distribution “to all.” Support of the poor and needy in the world in the name of the Lord is a high-priority Christian activity by Scriptural standards. (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 1 Corinthians. Chicago: Moody Press, 1984, 451).
Now, when it comes to helping the unbelievers, there are two important things I want to share:
1) We need to understand that salvation of the souls is more important than just meeting the physical needs of the people. What is the point in helping people just physically while eventually letting them go to hell! It is said that Christianity has often fallen into two extremes: treating a person either as a soul without body or a body without soul. Therefore, let us help the poor and needy with prime intention and effort to save the souls.
I believe, just giving our focus to the poor while neglecting evangelism is unbiblical. We need to strike the balance, saving the souls and meeting the physical needs. Remember, charity is not a substitute for evangelism. If Christians just focus on meeting the physical needs of the people while neglecting gospel preaching, they are no better than other religious people. And if Christians just preach the gospel and manifest no compassion in meeting the physical needs of the people, they are worse than other religious folks.
2) It is important that we need to preach the gospel, do evangelism, for this is our biblical mandate. However, let us not reject our physical help to people because of their denial to believe in Christ. Although we help others with a concern for their eternal security, we don't cease to help them if they reject our message, for our Heavenly Father causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt. 5:45). If anyone withdraws his physical help when others deny the gospel message, he/she is not manifesting Christ-like compassion, but trying to bribe others with their material things with a passion to win souls in an unbiblical manner.
So, let us continue to preach the gospel in spite of rejection and continue helping others irrespective of their positive or negative response to the gospel we preach. And who knows whether these people, after witnessing our unconditional love for them, may turn to Christ someday! May I end this section with a quote by an esteemed theologian of our day, Wayne Grudem:
The evangelistic work of declaring the gospel is the primary ministry that the church has toward the world. Yet accompanying the work of evangelism is also a ministry of mercy, a ministry that includes caring for the poor and needy in the name of the Lord. Although the emphasis of the New Testament is one giving material help to those who are part of the church (Acts 11:29; 2 Cor. 8:4; 1 Jn. 3:17), there is still an affirmation that is right to help unbelievers even if they do not respond with gratitude or acceptance of the gospel message.
Jesus tells us, “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:35-36) (Systematic Theology. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1994, 868)
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TO BE CONTINUED.....
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• 1 Corinthians 9:14 - In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. (Said within the context of the rights of an apostle)
• Gal. 6:6 - Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. (Of course, this text is debated among biblical scholars whether it refers to sharing monetary things with the instructors. The language isn’t readily apparent, leaving room for different opinions)
• 3 John 5-8 – Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth. (cf. Tit. 3:13-14) (Written about traveling evangelists and apostles)
• 1 Timothy 5:17 - The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. (Spoken about the shepherds of the church)
Now, let us come to the issue about how the early churches, although generally lacking affluence, were able give so much priority to the poor and needy people, without neglecting to support the laborious preachers and teachers of the word. There are two reasons why this was possible:
First, the early church gathered as small communities in a simple, informal structure, like a house (Acts 2:46; 8:3; 12:5, 12; 16:40; 20:7-8; Rom. 16:3,5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Phm.1-2; 2 Jn. 10). There was no huge investment for buying properties and constructing buildings for church gathering, including for its maintenance. In fact, they sold their property and gave to the needy people rather than taking money from people to acquire property.
It is a well known fact of our day that most of the church’s money is spent in constructing buildings and maintaining them rather than meeting the needs of the poor and missions. I appreciate those few churches, besides investing in buildings and salaries, giving generously to help the needy. But I am sad at those many churches that neglect the poor, needy and missions, and just increase the offerings in their bank account month after month and spend for structures than to support people. I am also troubled by those leaders who emphasize to believers on bringing tithes unto them while ignoring to motivate them to help the needy and to support missions.
Well, keeping all these troubles and sad examples aside, isn’t it still a good model to gather as small communities in an informal structure, like in a spacious house, or in an economical rented place, or build a simple hall, and use money for better purposes? The commentators of Life Application Bible Commentary of Mark, warned, “If our churches spend large amounts on their physical buildings and ignore missions, evangelism, and CARE FOR THE POOR, they will likewise come under God’s judgment” (Brue B. Baton, et.al., - Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1994, 319)
Secondly, it is important to note that in the early church there were primarily two kinds of ministries— itinerant and local ministry. Gordon Fee, a highly respected New Testament scholar and commentator, points out that leadership in the New Testament was generally of two kinds – itinerant and local. (Listening to the Spirit in the Text (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1959, 141)
The itinerant teachers, evangelists and church planters were constantly on the move and therefore required help from the churches. But the local church leaders who were settled in their own locale, known as elders or pastors, were generally bi-vocational, which means, shepherding the church as a volunteer with another occupation to support themselves. To these local leaders, Paul exhorted, “You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:34-35)
Of course, Paul did say in 1 Tim. 5:17, “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work (literally in Greek, 'labor,' i.e. work until exhaustion) is preaching and teaching.” There are workers, though not all, in the body of Christ who labor extensively in preaching and teaching and such laborers ought to be helped by the church (we need to think whether giving a sermon on Sunday with few activities during the week is truly what labor is in ministry?). But to claim that whosoever aspires to lead a church must resign from his job and be completely dependent on the church for his sustenance is something not known or taught in the New Testament Scriptures.
Jackson W. Carroll, Professor Emeritus of Religion and Society at Duke University Divinity School, notes, “Christianity has a long tradition of bivocational pastoral leadership… Indeed, most pastoral leaders in the early church were bivocational.” (God's Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006, 79)
Well-known author of Understanding and Applying the Bible, Robertson McQuilkin, implies that one reason why the early church gave more to help the poor and also to support missions is that there were no church buildings and the local ministers were bivocational. (Five Smooth Stones: Essentials Principes for Biblical Ministry (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2007, 139). Space would not be sufficient to provide plethora of evidences on how the early local church leaders were practicing bi-vocational church ministry.
Well, what is the point I am trying to make? I am in no way condemning the traditional practice of church buildings and salaried local shepherds. My whole concern is how best we can use the resources of God—in helping the poor and needy, supporting itinerant teachers and missionaries and also helping those few local church leaders who labor in preaching and teaching—by practicing the simple, yet efficient, model of the early church.
One of the best contemporary models I have seen and studied are the churches planted by Dr. Joy David. He is a native of India, born and brought up in the state of Kerala. He had done his PhD in Engineering and while working as a professor in a university, he felt the leading of God to commit himself to missionary work. He took voluntary retirement service and gave himself to planting churches and building them since twenty three years. He, along with his team, had planted some good churches, especially in south India, and raised many leaders. I am glad to know him personally and am blessed through his exemplary lifestyle.
Unlike many I have witnessed, it is amazing to see how the churches Dr. Joy David had planted are faithful stewards of God’s resources. The churches generally gather in simple structures, as small communities, and follow the NT pattern of plural leadership. With very few being in full-time preaching and teaching, most of the local leaders are bi-vocational. Therefore, all the money that comes to these churches are used to help the needy, missions, the orphans, and also to support itinerant workers….etc. Since the believers know how carefully and generously the money is spent to meet the appropriate needs, thousands of rupees from all the churches are given every month as love offerings, even without any emphasis of giving from the leaders.
May the Lord plant such charity-mission-centered churches that would use its finances in a way God honored in His word!
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Note: Dear readers, thank you for writing to my personal mail and sharing how the articles in this blog have been a blessing to your heart. Besides e.mail, feel free to write your comments below. Bless you!
At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. (Deut. 14:28-29)
Sadly, where is most of the money going today? Are poor and needy in the priority list of the modern day churches? Sometime back, I did a survey of some churches in my city to rate their overall activity in charity. Do you know what the result was? Not more than 8% of the churches are active in doing service to the poor and the needy.
It seems most of the money is going towards buildings, administration and programs, but the poor and needy are greatly neglected by the churches when they should be on their priority list. We need to ask, “Is this pleasing to God for whom the church exists? There is a great necessity to do the former which is our highest priority.
We need a reformation in the way we use the finance of the church. The preachers and teachers of our day must realize the importance of the poor and raise their voice to wake up the churches. Someone rightly commented, “No kind of religious services paid to the Deity can be of any avail, if we neglect the royal law of charity.” Our words have no value if we do not practically demonstrate the love of God. So the leaders must change and bring change into the churches.
The churches must take heed to what John MacArthur said, “Support of the poor and needy in the world in the name of the Lord is a high-priority Christian activity by Scriptural standards.” May God’s people and churches wake up to walk worthy according to the good purpose for which God has prepared us in advance – "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph. 2:10)!
But some may question—what about giving to missions? What about supporting the pastors? How did the early church give much to the needy when it seems to be highly difficult in our modern day church?
TO BE CONTINUED.....
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Feel free to post your comments below or you may write to :
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Feel free to post your comments below or you may write to :
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You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' (Acts 20:34-35)
We are well acquainted with this Scripture, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” especially in our preaching to others. But let’s look into the context and consider to whom it was actually exhorted.
When Paul was in Miletus, he sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church (Acts 20:17). Now in the New Testament, the terms - elders, pastors, overseers and shepherds - were used synonymously. Eminent theologian Wayne Grudem, in his classic Systematic Theology, notes, “Elders are also called “pastors” or “bishops” or “overseers” in the New Testament.”[1] So, after the arrival of the pastors, Paul began to give various instructions to them (20:17ff). At the climax of his instructions, Paul exhorted the leaders, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (20:35). Later, he knelt with all of them, prayed and departed (20:36-38).
By instruction and example, Paul taught the leaders of the church to be generous givers. He had to especially remind them, “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” as they probably are the ones who will be receiving more from others. Sad to say, these days, this Scripture is often used as a means to raise money from the believers while neglecting to follow it themselves, for it was first exhorted to the church leaders. Isn't it obvious that this Scripture primarily apply to the leaders and then to the believers of Christ Jesus?
It is regretful to acknowledge that, generally, leaders are well known for receiving than for giving. There are those who are known for their eloquent preaching, sound knowledge, great talents, good fund raising and skillful administration but not for generous living. Before exhorting others to give, shouldn’t leaders first model themselves in giving? Are they not called to be examples of every good act?
God’s word speaks that the leaders must rise up first to live a sacrificial life by their generous giving. Then the believers will learn the pleasure of giving to the poor and to the Lord’s mission by seeing (not just by hearing) the good acts of their leaders. When leaders model generosity in their lives, then they can challenge the churches to follow after their example. Even the Scripture says to observe the lifestyle of the leaders before following them - “Remember your leaders, who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith” (Hebrews 13:7, NLT).
Moreover, people will be inspired to give more when they know that their leaders are generous with what is received. Why do you think people sold their property and put it at apostles’ feet? Because the apostles were generously distributing to anyone as he had need (Acts 4:34-35). One major reason for poor givers to exist in the church is because there is a lack of generous leaders. To the leaders, “What we are, they will become,” isn’t said in vain.
Here is a challenge to us, the servant leaders, from the life of John Wesley. Wesley’s simplicity and frugality enabled him to limit his living expenses to a very small sum so that he would have more money to give to the needy.
One year, when his income was 30 pounds, he lived on 28 pounds and gave away 2 pounds. The next year he received 60 pounds, the year after that 90 pounds, and the year after that 120 pounds. And yet in each year he spent only 28 pounds on himself and gave all the rest to the needy. It is calculated that in his lifetime he gave away at least 30,000 pounds. On one occasion, when the Tax Collectors paid him a visit, it was found that four spoons were the only silver plate that he possessed.[2]
Wesley lived what he preached. Sales of his books often earned him 1,400 pounds annually, but he spent only 30 pounds on himself. The rest he gave away. He always wore inexpensive clothes and dined on simple food. “If I leave behind me 10 pounds,”he once wrote, “you and all mankind bear witness against me that I lived and died a thief and a robber.”[3]
How blessed it is to have such wonderful and generous leaders these days! May the Lord enable us to live a life of generosity for His glory and to be a blessing to people!
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