In our last post, we noted how the gold standard for Christian giving is purpose. So every month we should be praying, “God, how may I be a part of your giving this month?” That’s a very different question than, “God, how may you be a part of my giving this month?”

It’s God’s money, and you are God’s instrument. Never get that backwards!

So this is why at .W Church we collect the offering monthly instead of weekly. Each of us needs to be purposing what to give, not deciding at the last minute.

Throughout the month, each of us is disbursing the 70% of our offering that has been entrusted back to us and practicing the Works of Mercy we’ve learned about. As we pray daily and meet daily in family worship, we ask God and one another, “What should we be giving this month? What is God doing around us? How is he asking us to join him in that giving?”

We also conduct our “AAR” (After Action Review), asking each person or family to answer the following four questions about the giving they did for the month.

We don’t ask, “Did you tithe?” Because someone could tithe and still not give with purpose. And for most Christians (the ones who, for example, are not homeless or hungry), the tithe should be the minimum they give, not the maximum.

(And Christians who are poor should still give generously, by the way. You’ll see in the Scriptures that God uses the gifts of the poor to accomplish his most important work, whether it’s the widow feeding Elijah or the boy giving Jesus the fish and loaves. Everyone should give, sharing whatever they have. Everyone.)

So the four questions you should ask each person each month in each .W group are these:

Step 1: What was the intent of your gift last month? In other words, why did you make that gift? How did you decide to do it? What were you seeking to mirror about God’s character through your giving?

Step 2: What happened? Why? What are the implications?

Step 3: What lessons did you learn?

Step 4: Now what? In other words, how will you give differently—or more, or the same, or to a different person, or to the same person, or whatever—in the future?

It doesn’t matter if their giving was $0.05 or $50,000 for the month. We need to ask these four questions to each person each month as a means of accountability and as a means of helping them to grow.

Do not fail to be diligent in asking each member these questions each month. Few things can help members grow more than asking these questions. Few things can prevent members from growing than neglecting to ask questions like these.

Have you ever incorporated questions like these into your giving?  If so, how do you feel they helped?  What other questions would you add to this list?

People ask me, “So what’s the deep theological reason for doing one offering a month in the .W Church? And should Christians tithe?”

My answer to these deep theological questions is that I have no deep theological answer.

I’ve known people who would argue passionately that all Christians should tithe and that no Christians should tithe, and each side is convinced that the other is in apostasy or bondage. And I’ve also met people who insist that an offering should be taken every time the church gathers together.

My own solution to these dilemmas is that if something is specified in the Nicene Creed, it is a core belief which all Christians must hold, without exception. We lay no precondition of belief on members other than the Nicene Creed, which, in the words of Vincent of Lerins in 450 AD, specifies “…that which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.”

So I always say, “If it’s in the Nicene Creed, we believe it and do it, and if it’s not in the Nicene Creed, we do not treat it as if it is.”

So as regards when and how much and how often to give, you’ll notice that these things are not specified in the Nicene Creed. The Scripture gives us ample guidance in these matters, of course, and one recurring theme—which is especially important to note as we conclude this month’s emphasis, on the Work of Mercy of Doing Good—is that our giving should be planned and purposeful.

Some Christians who hate tithing say, “God wants us to give spontaneously and not in a way where we are bound to a set amount that drives the Spirit out of the process.”

But the Scripture does not commend spontaneous giving as the gold standard of Christian giving.  Instead, in 2 Corinthians 9:7, Paul says,

“Each one must give as he has decided [or the King James says “purposed”] in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Purpose—that’s the key word.

The gold standard of Christian giving is not spontaneity but purpose.

If you read the verses around this one in 2 Corinthians, Paul is stressing to each Corinthian Christian the importance of praying and thinking through what they will give to a special offering Paul is raising to send to the mother church in Jerusalem, which is experiencing hardship due to famine and persecution. Paul is saying, “Think about this ahead of time. Pray about it ahead of time.” He uses the analogy of sowing and reaping. Anyone who has planted so much as a single zucchini will know that sowing a seed requires planning, preparation, and ongoing cultivation.

Sadly, most Christians do not put that level of thought into their giving. If they’re immature Christians, they’ll pull out their wallet and toss a few dollars in the offering when they’re asked. If they’re long-time Christians, they’ll compute their tithe or giving budget and put that in the offering.

And some “modern” Christians believe that God wants them to give according to what we call “random acts of kindness,” which means that they give whenever they sense the Holy Spirit is prompting them to give.

But none of these practices get at what Paul is talking about here.

Of course you should give whenever the Holy Spirit prompts you, but giving only when the Holy Spirit prompts you is like cleaning your room only when your parents tell you to. Your goal should be to give as God gives.

God plans his giving very carefully! He gives us what will help us, not whatever we ask for.

How have you navigated this question in the past?  What is your personal practice when it comes to giving?

As we progress through our series on Doing Good (specifically to our enemies), there’s one question that always comes up:

Won’t we just be taken advantage of?  Won’t people use our love against us?

Answer: yes.  And here’s a story that illustrates that:

Late in the winter of 1569, Dirk Willems of Holland was discovered as an Anabaptist and a thief catcher came to arrest him at the village of Asperen. Running for his life, Dirk came to a body of water still coated with ice. After making his way across in great peril, he realised his pursuer had fallen through into the freezing water.

Turning back, Dirk ran to the struggling man and dragged him safely to shore. [As in the story of Acts, perhaps he “takes him by the right hand” and “helps him up.”] The thief catcher wanted to release Dirk, but a burgomaster – having appeared on the scene – reminded the man he was under oath to deliver criminals to justice. Dirk was bound off to prison, interrogated, and tortured in an unsuccessful effort to make him renounce his faith. He was tried and found guilty of having been rebaptised, of holding secret meetings in his home, and of allowing baptism there – all of which he freely confessed.

“Persisting obstinately in his opinion”, Dirk was sentenced to execution by fire. On the day of execution, a strong east wind blew the flames away from his upper body so that death was long delayed. The same wind carried his voice to the next town, where people heard him cry more than seventy times, “O my Lord; my God”. The judge present was “finally filled with sorrow and regret”. Wheeling his horse around so he saw no more, he ordered the executioner, “Dispatch the man with a quick death.”

Why did Dirk Willems turn back?

In Matthew 5:42, Jesus says, “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (Do not turn away—do you see the physical dimension of that request?) So what will we give? We will give something far greater than what they ask for.

We will give them the mercy of God made physical, the mercy that he first gave to us.

Jesus assures us that there is no hope in wealth or in saving our own lives. Our lives and our wealth already belong to God. In fact, our lives are part of his wealth. But here is what is much more important: his life and his wealth already belong to us!  His life isn’t just part of our wealth; it is our wealth!

Martin Luther wrote that “in marriage, everything that properly belonged to the groom now comes into the possession of the bride, and everything that properly belonged to the bride now becomes the possession of the groom… ‘The believing soul can boast of and glory in whatever Christ has as though it were its own, and whatever the soul has Christ claims as his own’” (Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand, The Genius of Luther’s Theology.)

So Christ, as the husband of his bride, says, “Let’s use my father’s limitless wealth to do good to his enemies. This will please him.” How can the bride refuse? And when that wealth is his life, and when our life is part of his life, our lives become a “touching place” for God to touch and be touched—and sometimes struck and spat on, too—by his enemies.

God doesn’t fear his enemies, and we do not need to fear ours. Scripture tells us in Colossians 3:3, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

So he directs us to spend his life and his wealth by lending to his enemies as he directs, and in his name.  The money is the smallest part of it, but when we give the money, we end up being more likely to give our time, our attention, and our sight to them, too. When we give our money, our focus is drawn more and more to our enemies.

Our lives will be so tied up in theirs that we will want to do them good, not harm, even if only for our own sakes.

How can your life serve as a “touching place” today?  What steps do you need to take to make this a reality and not just a nice thought?

We discussed in our last post how sometimes, the best gift we can give to our enemies is the one that ties us to them long-term.  That way, we become more concerned about their welfare.

Here’s a related story that presents an important lesson for us:

In August 2010, a homeless man came up to a woman in New York City. He asked her for money so that he could buy water and cigarettes. She loaned him her American Express Platinum card (story here).

Do you think she was more interested in the welfare of this homeless man during the time he had her credit card? Of course!

When I was in high school, I worked for a radio station and Carl W. was my boss. Down the street lived Carl C., a high school dropout and troublemaker.

One day Carl C. called and asked if he could borrow my father’s power tools. I told him I would ask my dad. So I said, “Dad, Carl wants to borrow your power tools.”My dad assumed I meant Carl W. So he said, “Of course! Just give me half an hour to polish them up.”

Imagine my father’s surprise when Carl C. showed up and carried away all of his power tools! Do you think my father became more concerned about Carl C.’s welfare once Carl C. had all of his tools? Of course!

But it is important to remember that we are not commanded to simply give everyone whatever it is that they are asking for.

When a homeless man asks for money for cigarettes, for example, Jesus does not tell us we should give the homeless man what he asks for. Look at Acts 3:1-10 and notice how physical this encounter is. Keep track of the words that relate to the five senses:

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.

When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

And Jesus says that when a Roman soldier asks you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two (see Matthew 5:41) and to offer the other cheek after they strike the first (see Matthew 5:39).

In these Scriptures, what do you think happens when we give something different than what is asked for? 

The “Golden Rule” (in Luke 6:31) says, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” But Jesus does not say this to worldly people. He says this to people who are following him. People who want to receive God’s mercy.

And we don’t want money or cigarettes. We want to receive God’s love mirrored into the world, and he intends that to be a physical manifestation—that’s why he created us. So what we pass on to other people is not what they are asking for…not our love…and not even our love offered in God’s name. Instead, we give them God’s love made physical—what he has given to us—and we offer that to them in God’s name.

Sometimes they choose to reject that. Sometimes they use that love against us.

Have you ever given something different than what was asked for in order to be a physical manifestation of God’s love?  What was it?  How was it received?

In our last post, we discovered how God is not threatened by his enemies.  Instead, he loves them (us) by giving his son up for them.  That’s a very physical kind of love.

Now compare God’s love to actor Brad Pitt’s:

He is considered to be one of the top celebrity do-gooders. He loves New Orleans and has worked hard to help people there recover from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

Then came the BP oil spill.

It happened because of the carelessness of BP and many fishermen lost their jobs as a result. Tourism dropped. Fish and animals died. It will take years for New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico to recover.

When Brad Pitt was asked about the oil spill, he said in reference to the executives at BP:

“I was never for the death penalty before—I am willing to look at it again”

Why does Brad Pitt love the people of New Orleans but hate the executives from BP? It might simply be because the people of New Orleans are victims and the executives from BP are trouble-makers, but that oversimplifies things considerably, doesn’t it?

A survey done by the Pew Research Center and reported in Christianity Today says that evangelical Christians favor cutting…

• assistance to needy people around the world (56 percent),
• assistance for the unemployed (40 percent), and
• assistance for environmental protection (38 percent).

On the flipside, evangelicals report being in favor of spending money for

• military defense,
• terrorism defense,
• aid to veterans, and
• energy.

I hope this is because evangelicals know that caring for the needy and unemployed is a task for the church and not only the government, but the survey does not say why. I hope it is not because evangelicals’ care for the needy and the unemployed is decreasing, but that may be true, too.

John Wesley said the reason why the rich do not have more compassion for the poor is that they spend little time around them and thus do not know much about them or how they live. Perhaps the same thing is even true with Brad Pitt and the executives at BP.

So maybe we hate the people we do because, unlike God, we are threatened by them. Maybe we hate them because we don’t see them very much and thus we can make assumptions about how and why they think and act the ways they do.

Brad Pitt and evangelical Christians give to those they love and those that can help them. They sometimes wish harm on their enemies. But in Luke 6:33-35, Jesus says:

“And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

Lend to your enemies without expecting anything in return??? That sounds crazy! But perhaps it is far more sensible than it first appears.

In Luke 12:34, Jesus says, “For where your wealth is stored, there also will your heart be” (WNT). When Brad Pitt gives significant money to the struggling poor of New Orleans, he has done a good deed. His heart is with the people of New Orleans.

But what if Brad Pitt took all of his money and bought stock in BP Oil—the company which is his enemy?

His personal well-being would now be completely tied up with that of his enemy. He could no longer have the convenience of being able to criticize them and wish them harm without hurting himself. If Brad Pitt invested all of his money in both his friends and his enemies, how do you think it would change his actions and his attitudes? Do you suppose he might go to BP shareholder meetings?

The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that God the Father invested all of his “wealth”—his only begotten son—in his enemies. Do you remember that verse? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…”

He gave his son as a gift to his enemies without expecting anything in return. In fact, they killed the gift. But God raised that gift, his son Jesus, from the dead. He was not afraid of what his enemies could do to him.

Are you afraid of what your enemies can do to you? 

When Jesus tells us in Luke 6:35, “Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back,” he is not asking you to do something new.

Instead, he is asking you to mirror into the world—to your enemies and his—what he did, and to do so in his name. In this way, our enemies will come to see—and touch—his great love. Because the kind of love he is talking about is a long-term commitment, not a one-time act. That’s the difference between loaning money to your enemies and giving it to them.

Sometimes the best gifts we can give are the ones that tie us together with our enemies for a long period of time. That gives God time to work on their hearts…and ours.

When you loan your enemies money, you will become very prayerful for them! And this is what Jesus is advocating: Tie together your well-being with that of your enemies and his.

In this way you will never forget to passionately intercede for them and do good to them.

How else might we be able to tie ourselves together with our enemies?