Transcript

ANNOUNCER: What are some general principles for Christian giving? Hello, this is Grace in Focus. Glad you’ve joined us today. We are a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org, lots to learn about us there, including our bi-monthly magazine called Grace in Focus, which has a free subscription. Very well done, lots of great articles, full color, and yes, I did say free, all except if you live outside of the 48 contiguous United States, you have to pay the postage. That’s it. Otherwise, it’s free. Sign up for your free subscription today at faithalone.org. 

Now with today’s question and answer discussion, here are Ken Yates and Kathryn Wright.

KEN: We have a question from HB, and it’s basically about giving. 

KATHRYN: HB? 

KEN: HB, that’s his name. 

KATHRYN: That’s so funny, because my goddaughter’s name is Hannah Beth, and we call her HB. HB, but anyway, sorry, go ahead. 

KEN: He has a question about giving. His question is, how do we prioritize giving? Whether we should prioritize evangelism, or what he calls social giving, like when people are in need, and then what about between believers and unbelievers? 

KATHRYN: Also, the difference with evangelism versus just what if you have a believer in your church that’s going through a difficult time, too, right? So like, maybe it’s not a missionary or evangelism specifically, but you know, maybe somebody just passed away and you want to help, or they’re going through cancer or something like that, right? 

KEN: Okay, and I’m sure that if you have 10 different people, answer this question, you’re probably going to get 10 different answers. 

KATHRYN: Probably 15. 

KEN: Yeah, many, gosh, I’m going to say more than 10. But I think there’s some general principles that we see in the Scripture. The one is that we’re told to support those who teach the Word. 

Also, and by the way, here, Kathryn and I might be a little bit hard, in some people’s opinion here, but we would say support Free Grace teaching. I know that a number of people that we come in contact with say, well, there’s no Free Grace church in my area, and I go to this church. I would say don’t support them financially if you go to, for whatever reason, if you’re trying to go there to, you know, they let you have a say-so, maybe they let you teach a Sunday school class or something. I would not support a non-grace teaching pastor, or whoever does the teaching in that, wherever you’re attending. 

Now, I think there might be some people who would disagree with me on that, saying, well, if they let you teach a Sunday school class there, for example, it’s okay to give some money to pay for the electricity that you use or something like that. I think each person can make their decision on that. But we’re assuming here that you’re attending a place where grace is being taught. 

KATHRYN: I will say, 2 John does speak on this, right, about the idea of supporting teachers who are not solid in that we are to not have our part because you may lose the full reward, and so that you share in their evil deeds. And so if you are supporting someone who maybe you like what they teach on, inerrancy of scripture, but their soteriology is screwed up, well, you share in their, in their false doctrines if you’re supporting them financially. And so it does matter. 

KEN: Yeah, I agree. I would not do that. But if you’re attending a Free Grace church, you ought to support it. And then of course we’re told in 1 John, but even more clearly I think in James, if you see a brother or sister in need and you don’t meet that. And so we’re commanded to give when we see believers in need and we’re talking about in physical need, they lack. 

Now in James 2, it’s those people are in profound poverty. But we see it, even in our culture, if someone is going through a rough time, financially, we should love them by meeting that need. And HB calls that these, these social givings and we’re told to do that. 

Now, we’re also told in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, we have a particular case where there are other believers in need, right? Paul is talking to the church at Corinth and he’s going to collect an offering for poor believers in Judea in Jerusalem. Now, Paul does not say, okay, I command you to give. He says as each of you has prospered or whatever the case may be, that when we hear or know of believers in another location, then certainly even if Paul doesn’t command it there, that’s something that believers should do, I would say. So we have these principles here. 

KATHRYN: I also think of Acts when they were gathering the money to help widows.

KEN: There in Acts 6. 

KATHRYN: Yeah, and that was within the church, right? The priority being within the believing community. 

KEN: And Paul, when he writes to Timothy, he talks about widows being on the role, if you will, if they’re widows indeed, that was almost certainly a social program, if you will, of widows who didn’t have any children. And this is an example of what we’re talking about here of believers in need and we should meet those needs. Now, we do also need to say that there’s no commandment to give 10%. 

KATHRYN: Right. Yeah. We were just talking, we did a couple episodes on, I just got back from Uganda and tithing’s a big deal there, and 10%, right? That’s just so ingrained, but we are never commanded to give 10%. Usually that’s based off of Old Testament Scripture, but it’s only one part of the tithing that the Jews were required to do to the temple. 

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KEN: Yeah. My understanding is that in the Old Testament, there were three tithes and there’s debating of whether one of them was every third year or so, either 30%, or 23%, but we’re not commanded to do that in the New Testament. And so, as Paul gives these principles of, “as you have prospered”, there’s going to be some people who are going to give 50%, 60%, but then there’s going to be other people who maybe only give 3%.

KATHRYN: When I was listening to HB’s question, the first passage that came to my mind was Galatian 6, and I’m going to read that. He says in verses 9 and 10, “And let us not grow weary while doing good. For in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart”, speaking of rewards, so I do think it’s important to remember when we are giving, specifically, that is a good work, that it’s rewardable, and so it is a commendable thing that HB’s asking about. But then verse 10, I think answers his question. “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do this.” 

KEN: There’s that principle again, as we have opportunity, right? 

KATHRYN: That’s right. As we have opportunity, so we shouldn’t give if we can’t, you know, we’re already struggling with maybe getting, you know, our groceries or paying for our rent, then that you don’t have the opportunity, so it’s okay. “But if you have the opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” And so there you have it. He says, do good as you have opportunity, so if you have it, then yes, share, and do good to all but prioritize those within the household of faith. So I think there you kind of get the method. 

KEN: Yeah. As I think about giving to an unbeliever or what we might call social causes, what I think of is, for example, in Romans 1, when Paul talks about the depravity that sin brings, not just to an individual, but to society as a whole, is it wise then as a believer to support financially, non-believing organizations, you know, what I mean, non-church, just, you know, what we would call social organizations that are trying to do something to stem the tide of evil, because that has a negative impact upon the society itself, or in your community. 

For example, if there was an organization that was trying to take away strip clubs from being next to elementary schools, or abortion, you know, if St. Jude is doing a drive for childhood cancer, but as we see the evil in our society and stuff, if people are fighting against that, you know, like mutilation of children, you know, the transgender thing. 

KATHRYN: Or I think of a birthing center, right, the opposite of Planned Parenthood, you know, these centers that you see for women to try and help them, you know, to not have the abortion, if you wanted to support something like that. 

KEN: Yeah, because, for example, in the scriptures, particularly in the Old Testament, you see that God has a particular, what will you say, soft spot for the defenseless. So if you have somebody who is a, can’t afford to give birth, or they’re going to abort the babies, or, you know, they need care or something like that. I certainly think that that is legitimate. Yeah, it improves the society which you live in. I guess the word that I would use is that it’s just wise to do that. Yeah, it’s loving. He says, do good to all, you know, and certainly God loves the world. So if we see people in need and we can meet that need, there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. And certainly, I think there’s times when we look at that, say, yeah, I’m going to support that financially. 

KATHRYN: Yeah, I guess though, with this instruction here in Galatians, if you see within your church, though, that there’s somebody in need, and you have, we all have a finite amount of money that we can give. And so I think the principle is you prioritize those within your immediate community, and then as out of your abundance, then you can make sure. 

KEN: Sure. When you say community, you’re talking about the church community. 

KATHRYN: Yeah, to clarify, yes. So kind of like our first priority is to our immediate family, right? We need to make sure that our families are fed and clothed and your children are taken care of, and then you can extend that to your church community, and then as out of your abundance outside of it from there. 

KEN: Yeah, AB, there was a part of the question I didn’t read, and I think it’s an important point, and that is when we help those who are unbelievers, does it open the door to present the gospel of eternal life to them. And that’s another reason why we’d say, yeah, we can do that, you know, and it could be just a person who’s going through a difficult time, to be kind to him that could open up a door. So yeah, well, that’s how we would answer the question HB. I’m sure other people would share some other insight on this, but we hope this is helpful. And in the meantime, keep grace in focus. 

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