The Salvation Army Planned Giving Conference, 2008
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The Salvation Army Planned Giving Conference, 2008
Lecture One
Why should we give to God? Part 1
Giving to God should be a willing response of love
to God’s provision for us
(Bible quotations throughout, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New International Version NIV. 1973, 1978, 1984. United Bible Society; and anglicised from www.biblegateways.com )
Introduction:
I am delighted to have the opportunity of presenting this lecture series on the theme of Christian giving at this Conference. As mentioned when I was introduced, I have links to both Australian Territories and New Zealand. In my last active officer role as Secretary for International Training and Leader Development, I visited India, Ghana and Kenya (as well as about 18 other countries)!
Some 12 years ago I undertook a similar exercise for a territorial group looking at biblical teaching on giving to God. In preparing for that exercise, I identified at least 13 themes from Scripture regarding Christian giving. I have been happy to re-visit that material and prayerfully refine it into six key principles of giving supported by Scriptural illustrations and much broader personal experience. I wish I could say that there is no overlap between these principles or the illustrations. Some Scriptural passages to which I will refer illustrate several of these principles – not merely one!
Each lecture is framed around trying to answer a particular question:
Lecture One: Why should we give to God? (Part One)
Lecture Two: Why should we give to God? (Part Two)
Lecture Three: How can we give to God?
Lecture Four: How much should we give to God?
Lecture Five: Is tithing a Christian concept?
Lecture Six: How do we know if our corps (division or territory) is healthy?
These lectures are being recorded in the hope that they might be useful for planned giving teaching in the years ahead. Try to ignore the presence of microphones and cameras if you want to ask a question! In fact, I want you to ask questions! Our technicians are making provision for you to contribute. Your questions will, no doubt, be expressing typical issues our dedicated people will want to ask as they listen to and view this material.
Each lecture will conclude with a series of further discussion questions for group work designed to stimulate your thinking. The discussions should cause you to reflect and ask questions that will further help your understanding.
I do not claim to have all the answers, but I will try to give an informed and thoughtful answer to each question. I have had a lifetime of Bible study and some six months to think deeply and pray over this material to distil these principles of Christian giving.
I hope this week will be an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with the Lord. He is in this place and he wants us to be in relationship with himself. If we are, we can better help our people into a deeper relationship with him also. Above and beyond any human voices, I urge you to listen for his voice.
The nature of relationships
Our God, who is Three-in-One – a Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit – is in fellowship with himself.
God also desires to be in fellowship with his creation. He has made us for this purpose. We have been created in God’s image as spiritual beings capable of listening to him and loving him (Genesis 1:26-27; John 4:24).
Genesis 1:26-27
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
John 4:24
24 ‘God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.’
He wants us to be his friends and be in relationship with him (John 15:12-17).
12 ‘My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.’
I believe that relationships develop through a series of episodes. Usually we start off by becoming aware of, or conscious of, another party often through sight or other senses. This deepens to attention – concentration of our mental powers on the other person – often demonstrated by intense listening to the person. If awareness and attention are mutual, then there tends to be mutual responses – actively or willingly seeking contact with each other. If the mutual response is satisfying then response moves to commitment – valuing the relationship so highly that we make time for it to continue. I sometimes describe this as the AARC of Growing Relationships (Awareness, Attention, Response and Commitment). If the process is interrupted, the relationship may fail to develop, and even break down completely.
In two-dimensions, the process of relationship development could be represented as follows:
Actually, relationship development is multi-dimensional. I believe it is a process of increasing internalisation of the relationship so that it becomes part of us. We mutually make it our own[1]. Initial commitment or valuing should lead on to better awareness, better attention, better responses, and stronger and more willing commitment.
Perhaps a spiral staircase to a higher level in a tower, a screw thread drawing two objects closer together, or the curling of a climbing plant around a stake or string typify the gradual movement toward an objective. And the upward movements against the forces of gravity, model the truth that some effort is required to grow against the “gravity” of competing interests and relationships.
On the right, the internal spiral staircase of Cremona Torrazzo at Chiocciola taken from an illustration in Wikipedia of a spiral staircase.
I will frequently refer to this concept of growing relationships as we proceed.
Responses
Many responses are possible to the person(s) we love. Gary Chapman in his well-known series on the Five Love Languages identifies five key responses. These are: words of affirmation; quality time; receiving gifts; acts of service; and physical touch. All of these presuppose the parties are aware of each other and are paying attention to each other.
We need awareness and attention to discover the preferred love language of our beloved, and for that person to respond to us. If we experience such mutual responses, then it is natural that we will value the relationship and commit to work on developing it.
In our relationship with God, these five love languages apply. Our praise, adoration and worship usually include many words of affirmation to God. Our prayer-times should be quality times with God, in which we may hear his words of affirmation to us and ‘feel’ his touch. All of us in this room have been called to give acts of service to God – and have done so for many years.
Because God is spirit (John 4:24), we cannot touch him physically. Some Christians try to fulfil the desire to touch God through handling a religious icon, rosary beads, a crucifix or the elements of the Eucharist. For Salvationists, who have well taught not to rely on anything external, our substitutes may be kneeling at the holiness table, touching the Army flag, putting on our uniform or even shaking hands with a leader of God’s people!
Especially in the context of this occasion, giving gifts to God of our time, our talents and our material resources (especially our money) are typically ways in which we can show our love to him. He receives these gifts gladly!
So, the First Principle of giving to God is: ‘Our giving should be a willing response of love to God’s provision for us.’
Let us look at some examples.
Cain and Abel
In Genesis 4:2b-7, we read the story of Cain and Abel.
2 Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favour on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
In the early history of the human race, these two early labourers on the land wanted to show their gratitude to God by a sacrifice. Gordon Wenham points out that Cain gave some of his agricultural produce as an offering as his sacrifice. Abel offered the fat portions of the firstborn of his flock – the best he had (my emphasis in both sentences)[2]. As we will see later, motivation is more important than the nature or amount of the gift (Principle Four). Cain’s priorities and motivation were wrong. His giving was not a willing response of love to God. Certainly his anger and violent action against his brother resulting in the first murder recorded in the Bible (4:8ff) indicates his heart was not right with God. Jealousy is a great destroyer.
Genesis 4:8-16
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."
13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."
15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Noah
After the great Flood (Genesis 8:18ff), we read of Noah, as the head of his family, building an altar and sacrificing to God some the animals preserved through the ark.
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark, one kind after another.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.
Noah and his family were abundantly grateful that they had been preserved through the trauma of the deluge and subsequent flood. They did not want to go through an event like this again. Perhaps they thought that such a sacrifice would appease God and stop him flooding the world in the future. Such an attitude would indicate that they did not really understand God very much at all at that time. Certainly, our perspective from post-New Testament times should be very different.
Noah’s response of thanksgiving led to a stronger relationship with God.
In Genesis 8:21-22 we read:
21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
22 "As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."
Abram
We read of Abram offering a sacrifice of thanksgiving after he defeated the five kings and rescued his nephew, Lot (Genesis 14:8-20).
8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim 9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills. 11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. 12 They also carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.