Text: 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 Lent 3B
SN: 0044 03/03/24
How Much Should I Give?
There is a joke in our household. If our kids have a question about history, literature, or religion homework, they ask me. If they have a question about math they go and ask Mom. Understanding math has never been one of my strong suits. I can do enough to get by, but it is definitely not one of my favorite things, especially algebra and geometry. In our lesson this morning the Apostle Paul gives us a relatively simple math formula for what Christian giving looks like. Paul writes, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to set something aside in keeping with whatever he gains.”
That seems simple and straightforward. Paul is talking about proportional giving. We are to set aside a portion of our income each week as an offering to the Lord. But that still leaves us with the question of how much should I give. By nature, we all have a little lawyer in us who wants to know what the amount we need to give is to make God happy with us. We’re entering tax season right now and might wonder if is Paul talking about a portion of my net income or my gross income. But that’s not what Paul means at all. Paul is encouraging each of us to make up our own minds on how much we want to give to God. As Christians, we know that everything we have in life is a gift from God. We know that God asks us to be faithful stewards with those gifts and use a portion of them to support the work of his church.
In the Old Testament God was clear. He commanded his people to offer 10 percent of their income to support the work of the temple and his priests. As Christians, we are no longer bound by the law of tithing because Christ has fulfilled all the requirements of the law for us. We are free to bring whatever gifts we choose to the Lord. The purpose of these 10 for 10 stewardship Sundays is not to mandate that everyone in the congregation must give 10 percent of their income for 10 weeks. That would be placing our consciences back under the burden of the law. They are meant to encourage us to think about our giving habits. Tithing is one way we can give and it can be a beneficial blessing in our lives, but it is not required by God. We are free to give as we determine. This is why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each one should give as he has determined in his heart, not reluctantly or under pressure, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
In 1 Corinthians Paul talks about proportional giving. Proportional giving is going to look different for different people. It is also going to look different at different times in our lives. There will be times when we are greatly blessed by the Lord and can give generously. There are going to be times when we face times of trial and hardship. We may have numerous financial burdens like medical bills or raising a family. During those times we may not be able to give as much. We may need to reduce the portion of income that we give to the Lord for a time so that we can care for and support our families. This is good and God-pleasing. God has called us both to use our gifts to serve his church, and he has called us to our vocations as husband, wife, mother, or father. God has called us to serve him in a variety of different ways with a variety of different gifts. The purpose of these stewardship Sundays is to allow us to evaluate our giving and see if we are using the gifts God has given us to his glory.
In the Luther quote I shared on the last page of the service folder this morning Martin Luther gives us some good advice on the relationship between contentment and giving. He echoes the words of Paul from 1 Corinthians that we should give out of the abundance of what we have. God does not want us to give in a way that causes us to be a burden to others or financially burdens our family. We are to give out of our abundance. But Luther also cautions us not to think about our abundance as the world does. Luther urges us to be satisfied with our daily bread and not seek to have more. I think that sometimes when we hear that we should be satisfied with our daily bread this means that we should be content to survive on the bare minimum to keep us alive. In his explanation of the Lord’s Prayer
Luther says, “Daily bread includes everything that we need for our bodily welfare, such as food and drink, clothing and shoes, house and home, land and cattle, money and goods, a godly spouse, godly children, godly workers, godly and faithful leaders, good government, good weather, peace and order, health, a good name, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.”
As we think about that list of everything that is included in our “daily bread,” we realize that we have indeed been greatly blessed by the Lord. As we consider all the blessings, he has given us it is good to occasionally evaluate how well we are being stewards of those blessings. If we are honest, we must admit that we aren’t always good stewards of the gifts we have been given. We spend too much time pursuing leisure activities. We spend more time interacting with screens than we do with our own families. We foolishly believe that our money and possessions will bring us happiness. We are not content with the abundance of blessings that the Lord has given us and listen to the foolish message of the world that we need to find joy in having the next newest thing. Because of this discontentment, we are reluctant to set aside a portion of our income for the service of the Lord. We take care of our own needs first and give God whatever is left over.
Dear friends, this is something we all struggle with. None of us, including me are perfectly faithful stewards of the abundant blessings God has showered on us. None of us is perfectly thankful for all that God has done. We have all fallen far short of giving God the glory that he is due. No amount of offerings and no amount of tithing can ever make up for the sins that we have committed. We cannot earn God’s favor on our own. We needed a Savior.
Jesus is more than just an example of how to live a generous life. He is our perfect substitute. As we heard in our Gospel lesson this morning Jesus was filled with perfect zeal for the Lord’s house. He supported the work of the Lord every moment of his life. He helped the poor and needy. He showed compassion for the oppressed and the destitute. He showed perfect love to all people. He did this because he did what we could not. He was able to perfectly keep all of God’s commands. As we heard the 10 Commandments this morning, we know that Christ kept all of them perfectly for us.
Think of the perfect generosity of our Lord. He gave up the perfection and splendor of heaven to be clothed in human flesh and make his dwelling among us. He willingly lived in humility so that he could help and serve others. He willingly offered his perfect life as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of the entire world. He died so that we might live.
All this Christ did so that he could give you a gift that is far more valuable than gold or silver, emeralds, or rubies. Christ has given to you the forgiveness of sins. He has given you the right to be called children of God. By his resurrection, he has given the eternal riches of heaven that are not even worth comparing to the riches of this world that will be destroyed on the last day. All of this Christ gives to you as a free and gracious gift that is ours by faith.
In thankfulness for all that our Lord has done for us, we serve him joyfully with our time, talents, and treasures. Because we have been freed from the burden of the law by Christ, we are free to choose what we offer to the Lord in thankfulness. Paul and Luther both suggest giving out of the abundance we have after seeing our daily needs. This is going to change at different times and circumstances in our lives. Sometimes we will be able to joyfully give the Lord 10 percent of our income, sometimes we may be able to give far more than that. At other times we may not have that much to give to the Lord.
There may be times when we need to rely on the generosity of others just to get by. This is the blessing that we have in the fellowship of the church. God blesses us in different ways in our lives. Sometimes we have the blessing of being able to use our wealth to help others and sometimes we are a blessing by being the opportunity for someone else to serve. Dear friends God wants us to serve him faithfully in whatever circumstances we may be in. Sometimes this means being able to generously
support the work of the church, other times it means earning enough to provide the daily bread for your family.
My theme for this sermon was “How much should I give,” because I think this is a question that we want a short easy answer to. However, it is not an easy answer. God wants us to give in a way that is proportionate to how we have been blessed. Have we been blessed much, then let us give much. Have we been blessed with little, then let us give what we can and know that we are not doing wrong by making sure that we have enough for our daily bread. God blesses us in different ways at different times of our lives. Each one of us is different and unique. So let us serve the Lord with gladness and use all that we have to his glory. Amen.