Written by Stephen Rohrer

 

Does God give us any guidelines for generosity? Or are we simply supposed to be generically generous? It turns out God does give us many guidelines and priorities for our generosity. In fact, there are more than 1,000 verses in the Old and New Testament that deal with giving, generosity, or offerings. Let’s explore what the Bible says.

First, let’s define what we mean by generosity. Generosity is different from tithing. The Biblical pattern is to set aside the first fruits “off the top” of our increase. God does not require a certain percentage, but the Hebrew word used for tithes means a tenth. There is also a recurring theme of setting aside a tenth to God’s ministers beginning with Abraham through the Old Testament. This tithe should be the first thing we do with our income and should be directed primarily to our immediate ministers, i.e. the local church. All other generosity falls into another category. We call this category “Offerings” (i.e. showing generosity towards others) when teach through the Five Biblical Priorities for our money. In this, God gives us great discretion.

God does not lay any specific obligations on our generosity, but He makes it clear that as we have the opportunity, we should make room for giving above our tithes. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). Like tithing, God does not require a certain percentage for generosity, but there are areas that He makes it clear we are expected to be generous in. Three of the main areas are supporting ministries, generosity to others, and hospitality.

 

Supporting Ministries:

We should make sure that we give offerings to those who have ministered to us – whether that be a guest preacher in your church or an online ministry that has strengthened and challenged you. As the Apostle Paul says in 1 Tim. 5:17-18, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” The lesson here is that we should not be miserly to those who labor on our behalf. Muzzling the ox that is treading out the grain from our fields may sound like a smart and frugal way to operate a farm, but God says otherwise. Both Man and Beast should benefit from fruit of his labors. God made the world so that “in all toil, there is profit” (Prov. 14:23). Far be it from us to go against the system that God has established by being cheap in this way. (Of course, if the shepherd is bleeding his flock to death for his own greed—that is another error.) While this passage obviously applies to our tithes to our local church, it also includes any ministry or minister that has specifically discipled or blessed us.

But once we give to those who have ministered directly to us, another key method for us to further the kingdom is to support mission work. This could be via a trusted mission agency or directly with the missionary. We should, however, be diligent in researching any mission organization or missionary to ensure that the funds are being used wisely. But back to the 1 Timothy passage above, using funds wisely does not mean that our missionaries must live in constant poverty. Not at all. “The laborer deserves his wages” so that he can provide well for his household as God has commanded him to do. Being in ministry or missions work is usually extremely demanding emotionally, spiritually, and physically – we should not compound their difficulties by not supporting them well. But doesn’t their need create many wonderful stories of God’s provision? Certainly. God wondrously provides for His servants, but He likes to provide through us, His stewards.

 

Generosity to Others:

Generosity to others is such a demonstration of love that the word, Charity, which only means love, has become synonymous with generosity. When we are generous to others, we show them God’s love. Fortunately, God does give us guidelines for our generosity because we cannot meet every need everywhere. The old saying, “Charity starts at home”, is true. Jesus gives us comfort by pointing out His order of natural affections in Matthew 7:9-11: “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”. Like our Father in heaven, we should display generosity to our own children and family. As Jesus made clear, it is a disgrace for even a sinful human father to not give good gifts to his own children.

Next, we should be generous to our brothers and sisters in Christ. “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:10). Do good to all, but we must especially seek to bless fellow believers in expanding circles. The widow in your local church must be taken care of first before we help Christian widows in another country. Why? Because God requires those closest to those in need to step up first. “If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows” (1 Tim. 5:16). If we have taken care of our own family members, and then immediate church family, and we still have extra to contribute, then we can support our Christian brothers and sisters in widening circles around us. We have an example of this type of generosity in the New Testament when the Macedonian church took up a collection to help the Jerusalem church during the great famine.

 

In the second blog in this series, we will look at the third major area of generosity: Hospitality.

 

All Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.