STU:The grace of Giving

   The matter of giving is called a grace by Paul, who says,
"Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and
knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye
abound in this grace also" (2 Cor. 8:7). The context shows that this
particular grace is not the grace of God that bringeth salvation; it is
the grace of giving.

   Giving is supposed to be characteristic of Christian living
throughout the entire year. Some people make Christmas the time of
giving. Commercialization has almost ruined Christmas with stores and
advertising. To many people the spirit of Christmas is lost, for the
attitude is to receive gifts instead of giving, and honoring the birth
of the Savior. The first Christmas was marked by giving. God the Father
gave the gift of His only begotten Son to this world, and He later gave
His life. In celebration and commemoration of this, it is good for us
to give, but we should remember, "It is more blessed to give than to
receive" (Acts 20:35).

   Giving should characterize the Christian life from start to finish;
for example, the Christian should give liberally of his money, "for God
loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7), and he should give above the
tithe, for if he sows sparingly he reaps sparingly, but if he sows
abundantly he will reap abundantly (2 Cor 9:6). If Abraham gave tithes
under grace before the law, then certainly the Christian can give a
tithe under grace after the law. The Christian life should be
characterized by generous giving, giving not only of the tithe, but
offerings above the tithe; giving not only of his money, but of his
time, talent, and family; giving not only these things, but giving
forgiveness to his enemies, to those that abuse him and misuse him,
giving back good for evil instead of evil for evil (1 Peter 3:9). One
may say that giving is the most expressive word of the entire Christian
life: giving the gospel to sinners, and giving his time to minister to
other Christians.

   Giving is the word. When General William Booth was asked to send out
a cablegram to all members of the Salvation Army (which back in those
days was a Bible-believing outfit engaged in soul winning), General
Booth sent out one word in that cablegram: "Others." The way you mark
children is by their self-centeredness. The way you mark the adult is
by his concern for others. I'm not talking about the big father
government concern which takes money out of your pocket to feed itself
while it's feeding other people who use it as an alibi to get more
money. I am not talking about that. When I talk about concern for
others, I am not talking about organizations that make a living off
people who work. When I talk about concern tor others, I am talking
about a genuine concern for individuals, where an individual gives of
his time and money to help an individual. I am not talking about
corporate Socialism, where you pretend to be concerned about the social
problems and environmental problems in an effort to pass laws to take
away freedoms from Americans. We all recognize the fact that ninety
percent of the Congressmen are now Communist in ideology, even though
they don't hold a card. Communism is the philosophy taught in every
public school system in America, disguised as socialism, but who is
trying to kid whom? Who doesn't know that a little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump? You don't have to carry a card to be a Communist. All you
have to do is believe in evolution, believe in dialectical materialism,
and be in favor of the government controlling every aspect of life.
That's what a Communist is. Whether you call it Socialism, Fascism,
Catholicism, or something else is immaterial. They are all the same
system. These systems that would put you in jail, take your property,
persecute your family, shut up your Bible, and tax you to death are all
the same system, with various names for it.

   We can learn a lesson by studying what the wise men gave (Matt. 2).
We can find here a beautiful progression of the grace of giving:

   1. Seeking: they saw the star in the sky and gave up their homes to
go and follow it (Matt. 2:2).

   2. Finding: they went to Jerusalem and took time out to inquire of
Herod where the baby was (Matt. 2:9).

   3. Worshipping: they came on their knees and fell before the Savior
when He was about two years old, and then they gave (Matt. 2:11). As a
part of their worship, they gave their gifts.

   This shows the sinner seeking, finding, worshipping, and giving,
which is the proper order for the sinner who finds Christ. The unsaved
man should seek to find God; he should find God as Saviour and worship
Him when he finds Him, and his worship should be manifest by freely
giving to that Saviour.

   The gifts the wise men gave were very interesting. They were gold,
frankincense. and myrrh. The gold was a tribute to a king. The
frankincense was a gift to a priest. The myrrh was a gift to a prophet.
The gold was given because it is the highest thing on this earth;
therefore it is fitting to give the King of kings. The frankincense is
a type of prayer that a priest offers up (Rev. 8:3-4. Luke 1:10); they
acknowledged Jesus Christ's priesthood as Priest of priests. The myrrh
was a bitter herb used in embalming. This tribute was given to the
suffering Savior to show that He would die on thc cross, where He was
offered myrrh mixed with the wine in Mark 1:23. So, the bitter things
were given to Christ, the royal things were given to Christ, and the
religious things were given to Christ.

   What should the Christian give? The first item you should give to
the Lord has been carefully covered up by every major evangelist in the
United States. It is your body. In order to deprive you of your
consecration and sanctification, every major evangelist and preacher in
the United States has been talking about "letting Christ come into your
life." That is a Satanic counterfeit. God does not want your life; He
wants your hody. lf He has your body, He has your life, and the only
time He doesn't have your life is when He doesn't control your body.
Evangelists talk about "letting Christ come into your life" and
"sharing your life with Christ," which practically means absolutely
nothing. If the Holy Spirit is not in your body and doesn't have
possession of your body, that much of your body and that much of your
life is your life or the devil's life, even when you acknowledge
Christ. The part of you the Holy Spirit of God does not control, either
Satan controls or you control.

   The first thing you should give is stated as follows: "I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:1-2). The Macedonians
first gave their own selves to the Lord (2 Cor. 8:5). The Lord is in
the devil's life, but He is not in the devil's body. The Lord
eventually gets mixed up in the life of everything on this earth
because as a providential divine Creator, He has charge of all life and
death on this earth. But to say that God Himself is active in the body
of Satan as a controlling force is nonsense. Therefore, simply because
a person lets Christ into his life in one or two places where he thinks
he can get Him without doing any damage, doesn't mean that such a
"Christian" is even a saved man. A man is not saved until he has been
regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God, and the Lord Jesus Christ is
indwelling his body in the person of the Holy Spirit. That saved man
has given nothing to God until he has taken his members: arms, legs,
eyes, nose, ears, throat, mouth, tongue, lips, teeth, and jaw and given
them to Jesus Christ. You ask, "Where is that found?" That is the
entire subject of Romans 6. Read it. And it is the subject of Romans
12:14. Read it. If you have not given your body to God, you haven't
properly given anything to God that He asked for. God wants your body.

   Paul said this to the demoniac Charismatics in Corinth, who were
going to bed with their own mothers and bragging about their gifts:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost" (1
Cor. 6:19). Here is a bunch of people bragging about their gifts, and
they didn't know their body was the temple of the Holy Ghost. They talk
about "the baptism in the Spirit," which doesn't occur anywhere except
in new translations. There is no such thing: the Greek preposition "en"
is never translated as "in" unless it is in the locative case,
referring to location, but who didn't know that? That bunch didn't even
know their bodies were the temple of the Holy Ghost. Do you know why?
Because their bodies were being used for drunkenness (1 Cor. 11:21),
long hair (1 Cor. 11:14), and fornication (1 Cor. 5:1). They let Christ
come into their life, but He didn't have their bodies, and Paul had to
tell that bunch of Charismatics, "ye are not your own. . .ye are bought
with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit,
which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

   First we give our bodies to God; if that hasn't been done, then the
rest doesn't count. After that, we give ourselves wholly to the things
of God. The young preacher was told to meditate upon these things and
give himself wholly to them (1 Tim. 4:15). The things he was told to
give himself wholly to were certainly not giving and loving and making
peace with the brethren. He was certainly not told in the passage to
give himself wholly to prayer.

   It's amazing how little people know about the Bible when you put
them on the spot about it because the average Christian today has no
Bible. He has what he calls a "reliable translation," and consequently,
when you begin to talk about the Bible, he doesn't know what you are
talking about. Do you know what Timothy was told to give himself wholly
to and told to meditate upon? He was told to be "an example of the
believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith,
in purity . . . give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to
doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee" (1 Tim. 4:12-14). He
was told to give attendance to reading and to doctrine. Is that what
you attend upon? Give attendance to the reading of the word, Paul said,
"Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine"
(1 Tim. 4:13).

   We should give ourselves to prayer: "But we will give ourselves
continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4). If
a man has been called to be a minister, then his life has been reserved
for two things: prayer and the ministry of the word. That is for a
full-time minister, in this case a full-time apostle.

   What else should he give? He should give thanks for everything. "In
everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you" (1 Thess. 5:18).

   He should give money to the Lord. The Macedonians, out of their deep
poverty, gave liberally to the Lord and Paul accepted the gift as an
act of fellowship (2 Cor. 8:14).

   How are we to give to the Lord? Systematically: "Upon the first day
of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath
prospered him" (1 Cor. 16:2), not just giving at Christmas time, but
every week of the year. Be businesslike in your giving, be careful to
keep accounts, and make sure you give to God every week without failing
a week, upon the first day of the week.

   Put by you as God has prospered you, individually: "let every one of
you lay by him in store" (1 Cor. 16:2), not only the head of the home,
but the mother and the children. Giving is not just for the rich; it is
for the poor also. The only difference will be in the size and quality
of the gift.

   Proportionately, "as God hath prospered him" (1 Cor. 16:2). As to
figuring out a portion, the Holy Spirit has already done it for you
because long before the Old Testament law was given you were told that
a man saved by grace through faith gave a tithe. Abraham tithed before
the law. Jacob tithed before the law. The Jews tithed under the law.
So, you know what the proportion is. The minimum proportion is a tenth.
In the Old Testament under the law they gave a tithe, one-tenth of
their income. Before the Old Testament law under grace Abraham and
Jacob gave tithes, one-tenth of their income. The tithe was wholly for
the Lord and did not belong to the person.

   We're not under the law today. We are not forced to tithe, but under
grace we should be able to give more than a person under law.
Personally, I think you will find that if you give above the tithe God
will continue to bless you spiritually in every other way. R.G.
LeTourneau gave ten percent, and then as God prospered him, he
increased the gift to twenty percent, and now he gives higher than
fifty percent. God gives abundantly to those who give to Him. The thing
for you to do is to prove God daily in this matter. I could talk to you
all I want to about the grace of giving and the goodness of God, but
you cannot prove Him until you have proved Him yourself. Up and down
this country one of the preachers' most famous cliches is, "No man can
outgive God," and I believe that, and you believe that. At least we say
we do. Have you ever tried it? Do you think God would let you be more
blessed than He is? The Bible says, "it is more blessed to give than to
receive" (Acts 20:35). Do you think God would let you outdo Him in
getting a blessing? If "It is more blessed to give than to receive," do
you think God would let you outdo Him in giving? Why, of course not.
Did you ever try it? Why don't you try it? For two months give ten
percent, and the next two months give fifteen percent, and the next two
months give twenty percent, and the next two months give twenty-five
percent, and watch what happens to your income. Boy. that would take
some "guts," wouldn't it? Excuse me: "Christian courage." Now, wouldn't
that take something?

   We should give cheerfully. Not only proportionately, not only
systematically, not only individually, but cheerfully. "God loveth a
cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7). You shouldn't have the attitude that,
"There's that collection plate again. Do I have to give something?" You
should count it a great privilege and a joy to be able to give
something back to the One who gives so much to you. Atter all, if you
have health, where did you get it? If you have a good job, where did
you get it? The government? If you have good looks, who gave that to
you? If your family is saved. who saved them? Now, how could you be
stingy in view of that? God loves the one who gives willingly and
cheerfully. We like to receive gifts that have been cheerfully given to
us, not grudgingly. Give cheerfully.

   Give as Christ gave. Christ gave everything He had, even life
itself. Give sacrificially, like the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2
Corinthians 8:2 the Christians put their offering in out of their deep
poverty. The widow gave two mites, which was all her living. God
measures gifts by how much is left, not by how much we give. God sees
the heart of the giver rather than the size of the gift, so let us give
gladly and cheerfully, and let us give often.

   Our gifts, though small, delight the heart of the Father in heaven.
Blessings follow generous giving to the Lord. The blessing isn't always
material abundance, though many times it is. If you faithfully tithe
and have done the best you can, the Lord is certainly going to bless
you. Paul said, "the things which were sent from you, an odour of a
sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God" (Phil.
4:18). Christ said to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven"
(Matt. 6:20). Give to poor Christians and needy Christians. Give to
orphans and widows who are Christians. Give to the needs of your church
and its services. Give for the spread of the gospel to the ends of the
earth. If you can't go, give. If you can't give, pray. If you haven't
got something to give, pray and ask God to give you something to give,
and when He gives to you, give back liberally and cheerfully, "for God
loveth a cheerful giver."
