This past Sunday we were inspired by the example of Barnabas and challenged by the hypocrisy of Ananias. Here is a quick summary of the four kinds of giving.
- Tipping – seeing an opportunity and chipping in a few bucks.
- Gifting – regularly contributing a percentage to church or charity (the national average of charitable giving is around 2%; evangelicals give closer to 4%).
- Tithing – setting aside 10% for church or charity (5% of Americans tithe)
What these three kinds of giving have in common is the mindset that what you have is yours and you choose an amount or percentage to give away. Many Christians think of tithing as the pinnacle of Biblical giving, but the truth is that the tithe was the Old Testament standard, and even then was only a starting point. It is hard to imagine New Testament Christians, living in the light of the cross, giving less than the Old Testament standard.
“We should value our riches in Christ in this new covenant relationship so highly, and our freedom from sin so highly, and our gospel so highly, that we would simply love to give.”
John Piper on tithing.
What the gospel calls us to is not giving a percentage of our resources but viewing everything we have as a gift from God for us to manage on His behalf. This is the fourth kind of giving, and it is different altogether from the previous three.
Stewardship recognizes that even the money we earn from our hard work and good choices is a gift from the Lord. After all, who gave us the ability to work and make good choices? If we are not owners of our possessions and resources, but rather are managers, then we should implement the desires of the true Owner. And this transforms how we approach giving.
“The question is not how much of my money I give to God, but rather how much of God’s money I keep for myself.”
R.G. LeTourneau
For more on giving, read this inspiring article by Robertson McQuilkin. The four kinds of giving I describe above are a simplified version of his six kinds of giving. Let this godly and generous man of faith lead you further into gospel-fueled, Spirit-led generosity!