We started a series yesterday on the teachings of Jesus Christ on three important Kingdom principles.
Today we are continuing by looking at GIVING (Matthew 6:1-4)
Let's start right away:
The first thing that strikes our retina in verse 1 is ‘TAKE HEED’… ‘BE CAREFUL’.
First, this connotes a warning, and secondly, it suggests that there’s a high tendency to do what Jesus Christ was preaching against.
So Jesus Christ was saying, “This thing is subtle, and you can naturally and easily engage in them. But be careful not to (consciously make sure that you don’t) engage in them; if not, you have no reward of God.”
On giving:
a. Do not your alms before men, to be seen of them.
The thrust of the message in this verse (and in subsequent verses) does not lie in ‘before men’ (i.e. do not your alms BEFORE MEN), but in ‘to be seen of them’ (i.e. do not your alms TO BE SEEN OF MEN).
If the key were to be in ‘before men’, then it just means we wouldn’t be giving at all, because the person we’re giving the gift to is a man too (and we don’t want to do our alms before men!).
Or we had be sneaking around to give… like you wake up in the middle of the night to go and tie a goat in your uncle’s house so that he won’t know you were the one that gave him the goat.
That’s possible… but that sounds like bondage/slavery to me.
And Jesus came to bring liberty… to give us the sweeter song.
(Disclaimer: I’m not saying that you’re doing the bondage thing whenever you give a gift without ANYONE (even the recipient) knowing. I think you understand the context I was writing from… for even in the sweeter song, the Holy Spirit sometimes would lead us to do secret giving).
So the emphasis is not that men should not see that [which] we give (for Jesus was even consciously looking at what men gave in the story of the “widow’s mite”), but that we should not give SO THAT men will see that/what we give.
Simply, it is the intent of the heart that God is dealing with here, not the act itself.
So what this means is this:
Mr A. can dance in Church, ‘waving’ 5 pieces of N1000 notes which he drops as his freewill offering, and God would accept his offering.
Then Mr B. can dance in Church, ‘waving’ 5 pieces of N1000 notes which he drops as his freewill offering, and God would not accept his offering.
The same action but different response from God.
The difference in God’s response to both men is not because Mr A is His favourite son, but because ‘though the actions of both men were similar, they really were not… for their intents (motives) were different.’
Mr A could have been ‘waving’ his offering (not squeezing the notes in his hand) because he doesn’t like folding currencies. So had he N100 to give, he would have still ‘waved’ it around.
But Mr B could have been ‘waving’ it because he wants the pastor to see that he gives ‘big’. So had he N100 to give, no person would have seen as much as the edge of the note… for it would be well cocooned in the pavilion of his fist.
So with God it goes beyond the actions to the INTENT (See also Proverbs 16:2, 1 Samuel 16:7)
(Disclaimer: This intent thing is tied to good works. So you don’t go and sleep around and say your intent was to help someone raise money for school fees. Or you wear sexy revealing clothes and tell me God watches the heart, not the actions. Mind yourself o!)
So let your motive of giving not be that men may see that you give… let it not be so that you may have glory of men.
So whether men see your giving or not, the question is: what is your motive?
- Why did you wait for your pastor to be passing by before giving that sister that money?
- Why did you buy a cow and drag it to church to give to that poor man instead of just giving him the money?
- What is your motive?
Remember it’s not just about the action (so the above examples could be right or wrong), but about the spirit driving the action.
WHAT IS YOUR INTENT/MOTIVE?
b. Still on giving… and still on motives…
Another subtle wrong intent/motive for giving, aside giving so men can see, is ‘giving SO THAT you can receive.’
Yeah, you read me right.
If the motivation for every giving you make is to receive, then you can give your whole being as a gift and yet it will not profit you.
If you tie every offering (every giving) to an issue in your life…
If you give because you want to give away your problems…
If every help you render to people is just so God can bless you…
Then repent… for you’re still an ‘unbeliever’.
Ponder on and answer these questions:
- Do you give just so you can receive too? You give so your giving can come back to you ‘in good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over’?
- When does the joy of giving come to you? Is it when you have made ‘returns’ from your giving?
If yes is the answer to any of these questions, then your motive is wrong.
Of a truth, every right giving has a reward from God… but making the reward your motivation mutates your giving (makes it a wrong giving) and therefore robs you of the reward.
“So are you telling me there is no place for seed-sowing?” you ask.
No; there is the place of sowing seeds (of making sacrifices) for specific issues of your life.
But I’m saying that you have gone the wrong way when the intent for your everyday ‘normal’ giving is to reap… when the motivation for every one of your giving is the reward (the ‘returns’).
Such that you see a brother in need and the reason you help him is so you can receive.
You help him but you don’t have the joy of giving till you receive the reward of that giving; then you say, “That brother’s life is a fruitful/fertile soil o.”
C’mon! That’s ungodly.
Right giving is when you have maximum joy the moment you gave to meet a need… you’re just satisfied seeing that the need has been met; not that you’re waiting for the day one human being will pay x4 of the gift you gave into your account, then you will now come and ‘give testimony.’
“So how do I give right?” you ask.
Change your motivation!
“HONOUR the Lord with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors]… So shall your storage places be filled with plenty….” (Proverbs 3:9-10 AMP).
This Scripture defines the kind of giving that is acceptable. It is this:
GIVING AS AN HONOUR TO THE LORD
Simple.
So giving becomes an act of worship!
You give because you love the Lord.
Here the motivation for your giving is your love for God, and not the reward of your giving.
Oh! What purer motive than love could there be?
Little wonder 1 Corinthians 13:3 has this to say:
“…though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not LOVE, it profits me nothing.”
The giving will profit the receiver, but for you, it profits nothing.
LOVE brought forth the greatest gift to the world – our Lord Jesus Christ. John 3:16
Why not let LOVE, not reward, be the driving force for every one of your giving?
That’s when your giving will profit you.
When you have LOVE as your driving force, only then can you give cheerfully (joyfully) and only then can you give beyond measure.
Hope this blessed your heart.
Thanks for stopping by... see you on the next series day as we delve into Kingdom Principle 2 - PRAYER.
See you!