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Article for the Month of July 2005

How much should we Give?

How much we should give is a very important question, because every one gives something willingly or unwillingly.  What is the purpose of giving if the need is not met.  Therefore, first of all we should follow the guide lines given in the Bible to determine as to how much we should give, and secondly, when there are no clear guide lines, we should give what is reasonable under the circumstances.

1.  One tenth of all of our increase
One of the basic biblical principles of giving is to give tithes in all of our increase.  In order to fully understand the principle of tithing and all other aspects of tithing we should take a look at various scriptures that deal with the subject of  tithes.

Genesis 14:20- “And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he (Abraham) gave him (Melchizedek) tithes of all”.

Genesis 28:22- “ And this stone which I have set as a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shall give me I (Jacob) shall surely give the tenth unto thee”.

Leviticus 27:30- “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: It is holy unto the Lord”.

Numbers 18:21- “And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation”.

Numbers 18:24 “But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit..”(26) “..when ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you form them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer a heave offering of it for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe”. (28) “..and ye shall give the heave offering to Aaron the priest”.

Leviticus 27:30 “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord”. (31) “And if any man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof”.  (32) “And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord”.

Deuteronomy 12:11- “Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; tither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord".

Deuteronomy 12:6 “And tither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your free will offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks”.

Deuteronomy 14: 22 “Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year”.

Deuteronomy 26:12 “…and has given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled”

II Chronicle 31:5 “And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the first fruits of corn, wine and oil, and honey and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly”.  (6) “… and they also brought in tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things, which were consecrated unto the Lord their God, and laid them by heaps”.

Nehemiah 10: (38) “….and the Levites shall bring up the tithes of the tithes unto the house of our God…”.  13:5 “ And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offering, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the offerings of the priests”.

Malachi 3:8 “ Will a man rob God ? Yet ye have robbed me.  But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings”. (9) “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation”.  (10) “Bring ye all the tithes into the store house, that there may be meat in thine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it”.

Matthew 23:23 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites  ! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye have done, and not to leave the other undone”.

Luke 18:12 “I (Pharisee) fast twice in a week, I give tithes of all I possess”.

Luke 11:42 “But woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye tithe mint and and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone”.

Based on the foregoing scriptures we can come to the following conclusions:

1.       One tenth of all of our increase, income, etc. belongs to God.
2.       When we do not give our tithes to the Lord, it will amount to robbing God.
3.       We are supposed to give all of our tithes and not just a part of them.
4.       The tithe that we give is basically to support the servants of God in the church and to
          take care of the poor people (strangers, widows, fatherless, etc.), and to meet all the
          other operating expenses of the church.
5.       The servants of God who receive the tithes are supposed to give the tithes of tithes to
          the Lord.  This may be kept in the treasury of the church and used for the needs of the
          ministry or sent to the main church or to the apostle who oversees the ministry.
6.       In addition to the tithes we are supposed to give other kinds of offerings such as first
          fruits, thanksgiving offering, seed faith offering and vows.
7.       It is proper to teach and challenge the people to bring their tithes.
8.       The tithes should be brought in abundance and heaped up so that there will be a plenty
          of supplies of several things.
9.       It is important to prepare a place to collect and keep all the things that the people bring
          as tithes and offerings.
10.     When people rob God by withholding tithes they will be cursed
11.     When people obey God by giving their tithes God will open the windows of heaven and
          pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough for them to receive it.
12.     It is important to tithe but at the same time we should not neglect the other important 
         commandments including the commandments of love, mercy, faith, etc.
13.     When people do not pay their tithes, they cannot have a covenant with God.

2.  All of our first fruits
Whenever we begin to receive a new blessing the first one should be given to the Lord as an offering to acknowledge the fact that he is the one who has given that blessing, therefore, he must be honored.  While it is important to give the first fruits how much of the first fruits we should give is also important.  The bible does not say that we should just give literally the first fruit but it says “first fruits”. Depending upon what it is we should give a reasonable, fair or decent amount or quantity of the new blessing.  

Some key scriptures which command us to give the first fruits are listed below: 

Proverbs 3:9 “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase”.

Romans 11:16 “For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches”.

Based on the scriptures stated above on the subject of first fruits we can come to the following conclusions:

1.       Giving the first fruits of all the increase or blessings is required of us by God.
2.       It is a way of honoring God.
3.       Because the first fruits are holy all is holy.

The purpose of this book is not to restate the laws of God given to men down through the history, on the subject of tithes, offerings, etc, and to insist that we should follow every one of those laws, but rather to establish some guidelines based on the biblical principles on giving which have a lot of meaning, purpose, significance and value both to the giver and to the receiver.  Therefore if any one would follow these guide lines when it comes to giving he would certainly receive all the blessings of giving and avoid the curses and penalties which may otherwise come upon him.  Just like the natural laws which do not change, God's spiritual laws also do not change.  I am not talking about the written laws, but rather the principles by which God governs the whole universe and particularly the people on this earth.

3.  It depends on how much we expect back
How much we should give is a very important aspect of giving.  For the purpose of clarity let us divide the type of giving under the following categories:

1.       Tithes
2.       Thanksgiving Offering
3.       First Fruits
4.       Seed Faith Offering
5.       Giving for any other good cause

1. Tithes
The word tithe simply means one tenth.  The next question is one tenth on what.  The Bible says that we should give one tenth on all of our increase (Deuteronomy 14:22).  The word increase means and includes all profits, salary and wages, all other revenue, income or receipts in cash or kind, appreciation in value, gifts, etc.  God blesses us in a variety of ways and we must recognize everything he does.  In the previous chapter several practical examples are given.  In dealing with tithes, the question of how much is not hard to determine.  It is one tenth or ten per cent.  The mistake many people make is not giving tithes on several increases or blessings that people receive.  Some of these items are mentioned below:

a.  Gross salary and wages
b.  Monthly, quarterly or annual bonuses
c.  All other financial incentives
d.  Monetary value of all other fringe benefits
e.  All other income, revenue and receipts
f.  Rent collected from the tenants Interest payments received from savings account,
    fixed deposits, etc.
h. Stock dividends                                                                                         
i.  Profits made in any business, sales or other transactions including sale of real estates
j.  Value of any gifts received
k. Value of any other benefits received

There are two ways in which we can prepare this list.  Because people are used to showing their income as little as possible for income tax purposes, (taking advantage of every loop hole in the law and claiming every exemptions applicable to them) they try to follow the same guidelines for paying tithes also.  We have established already that the more we give the more we are going to be blessed.  Therefore, first of all we have to make sure that we do not leave out any item by oversight, for payment of tithes, so that we will not be guilty of robbing God.  Secondly, we should not limit ourselves to ten per cent giving throughout our life.  We should also try to increase the percentage of our giving beyond ten per cent which is the bottom line.  We should find ways and means to increase our giving in every way possible so that the purpose for which we give will be fulfilled and at the same time we will receive a greater blessing.  Some people are able to give even ninety per cent of their income and live on one per cent.   Our goal should be to increase the percentage of our basic giving from ten per cent to as much as possible.

2. Thanksgiving Offering
Thanks giving offering is a very important offering.  The question is not just whether we gave any thanksgiving offering whenever we received a special blessing from God.  It is important to give a thanksgiving offering for every special blessing or favor we receive from God, and for receiving a positive answer from God for every one of our special prayer requests.  Equally important is how much we give as a thanksgiving offering. A lot of people think that after giving tithes we can give as offering whatever we want  and if we want to.  They think there are no guidelines or principles in the bible about the quantum of offering.  As mentioned earlier what we give, how much we give, when we give and in what attitude we give, is also important.  Just to communicate a point strongly, I want to give a few examples.  When our salary is doubled from $2000.00 a month to $4000.00 a month, is it fair and proper to give a thanksgiving offering of $5.00.  When you receive a brand new car as a gift is it fair to give a thanksgiving offering of $10.00.  When you get healed miraculously from an incurable disease is it fair and proper to give a thanksgiving offering of $20.00.  When your marriage is finalized and you are planning to spend $10,000.00 for the wedding, is it fair and proper to give a thanksgiving offering of $50.00.  If we give a token offering without any reference to the importance of the blessing, it will be an insult or a mockery to God.  Of course, we cannot compute or assign a monetary value for every blessing that we receive from God.  Rather than giving any figures I would like to state some guidelines and principles that should be followed to arrive at a figure.  The point that I am trying to make is that our offering must be fair, acceptable, meaningful and significant. 

BLESSING RECEIVED FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED
OR
'PRAYERS ANSWERED'
TO ARRIVE AT A FIGURE
TO GIVE A THANKSGIVING OFFERING

1.       Healing- Probable medical cost for treatment
2.       Passing an examination- Probable loss resulting from  failure
3.       Escaping a danger- Likely loss resulting from it
4.       Getting a promotion- Increased benefits resulting from  it
5.       Getting a visa- Probable loss resulting from refusal
6.       Getting married- Amount to be spent for the wedding
7.       Birth Day-Amount to be spent for the celebration
8.       Wedding Anniversary-Amount to be spent for the celebration
9.       Giving birth to a baby- Total medical bill
10.     Buying a car- Value of the car/ savings made
11.     Buying a house- Value of the house/ savings made
12.     Receiving a gift- Value of the gift/ savings made
13.     Getting a desired job transfer- Benefits  and savings
14.     Getting a driving license- Savings/ cost in the event of  refusal
15.     Getting admission in a College or School- Annual cost of education in a College or
          School
16.     Getting deliverance- Cost savings and other benefits

I believe that these examples and guidelines will help us to give a more meaningful thanksgiving offering to the Lord and show through this how much the blessings mean to us and how much we appreciate what the Lord has done for us.  Malachi 3:8 reads as follows, “Will a man rob God ?  Yet ye have robbed me.  But ye say wherein have we robbed thee ?  In tithes and offerings”.  God says that his children are robbing him in offerings.  People may rob God in two ways.  First of all in not giving an offering when it is due; secondly by giving a small or token offering without any reference to the to the value or the magnitude of the blessing; thirdly, giving an offering which has no meaning or significance; and fourthly, giving an offering which does not really express ones feeling of excitement, joy, love or thankfulness.

3. First Fruits
First fruits would include any kind of blessing that one may receive for the first time.  Some examples of first fruits are given below:

1.       First week's or month's salary
2.       First month's rent from the investment property
3.       First day's profit from the business
4.       Profit made in the sale of the first item sold
5.       First month's, quarter's or year's interest from a bank deposit
6.       First quarter's or year's dividend from the stock
7.       First month's increment in the salary
8.       First fruits, yield or increase from the garden or farm

 It is very difficult to make an exhaustive list all of kinds of blessings that we receive for the first time in cash and in kind, for which the principle of first fruit offering will apply. 

4. Seed faith Offering 

This is the offering that is given at the time of making a prayer request.  God's word says that he will bless anything we do.  Luke 6:38 says, give and it shall be given unto you a good measure.  When God blesses something it increases or multiples.  When we give something it is like a seed.  God causes this seed to grow and bear fruits.  After we sow, we have to wait for the harvest time.  The Bible says that in due season we will reap if we faint not (Galatians 6:9).  The Bible also says that we shall reap whatever we sow (Galatians 6:7).  Further it is said in the Bible that if we sow sparingly, we will also reap sparingly and if we sow bountifully, we will also reap bountifully (II Corinthians 9:6).  Now the question we are dealing with is how much seed we should sow to have a certain amount of harvest.  One guideline we can use is what is mentioned in Mark 10:29-30 which states, “…There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time…”  According to this scripture we can expect God to multiply our seed one hundred times.  Suppose you are praying for $100,000.00 probably you should sow a seed of $1,000.00. 

In another place it is said in the scripture that God will bless and multiply some 30 fold,  60 fold and 100 fold.  This scripture also gives us a guideline to follow when we sow seeds.  The seeds that we sow should be equivalent to approximately 1-3 percent of what we expect as an yield.  Even though the Bible does not clearly spell out in terms of dollars and cents how much we must give to receive a certain blessing, the fact that we need to sow more to reap more is clearly brought out.  So how much we sow when we pray for a blessing is very critical.  Our God is a just God.  He is not a respecter of persons.  He will reward us according to our works.

The concept of giving a seed faith offering when we pray is also very important.  A farmer knows how important it is to sow seeds to have a harvest.  But many Christians are expecting a great harvest without sowing.  I am afraid they are going to be disappointed.  Why should God give $10,000.00 to someone for no reason at all except perhaps because he is asking.  If he has not done anything to justify it, I do not believe it is fair to give him that amount and not give an equivalent amount to every one else.    

5. Giving for any other Good Cause
Whenever we give for any good cause the following factors must be taken into consideration to determine as to how much should we give:

          What is the total need ?
          How much is expected from other sources ?
          How much can you afford to give ?
          How much can you raise for that need with your influence ?
          What will be your fair share ?

 It is not a good practice to give just a token amount and get rid of that person. It is not proper just to say that I will pray for it, and not pray and give any reply.  Whenever people say that they will pray about a request you make, I know that their answer is no.  When they say that they will pray about it and never give back a reply to you, it will mean either of the following things.  (1) They did not pray about it (2) They prayed about it but they never got an answer to it.  If you are not seriously going to pray about it, do not simply say that you will pray. Also if you do not normally get a definite answer for your prayers from God, or do not expect to get an answer for your prayer, do not tell others that you will pray for it.  What difference it is going to make whether you are going to pray for it or not.  If you say that you will pray to God for the need to be supplied, without giving anything, that means that you are not interested in giving, but that you will only recommend this need to God so that the need may be supplied through someone else.  When a request comes, the best thing to do is to give whatever you can, whether it is little or much, and pray for what you cannot do.  In most situations when a financial request comes, people are in a situation to help at least to some extent, if not to give the whole amount.  Why they are reluctant to give a little is because of pride.  They think it is below their dignity to give $1.00 or $2.00.  But at the same time, when they can afford to give more, they are  not willing to give.

 If you truly regret your inability to give, and just pray for the needs of others, you must ask that individual to let you know after a period of time, whether that need was met or not. If you do not care to know what happens to them, that means you have made up your mind already not to help them, even at a later date, regardless of whether you might be in a position to give or not.  Some people are interested in knowing only if their prayers are answered and their needs are met, so that they can take credit it and publicize it in their magazine.  A good principle to follow when needs are brought to our attention is to do what we can, and pray with real burden for what we cannot do.  

 4.  It depends on your Spiritual Maturity

Ultimately how much a person gives is determined by his capacity and the degree of his spiritual growth.  We have established already that giving is a spiritual act.  As a person grows more and more spiritually he will become a more liberal giver.  How much one gives depends on his level of love, compassion, faith, etc.  It depends on to what degree or extent he wants to sacrifice, obey the Word of God, please God, honor God, harvest, etc.  How much a person will give depends on how good he is and how thankful he is.  If giving becomes number one priority in our life giving will be easy, natural, spontaneous, liberal, an act of joy and according to the biblical principles. 

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