Shaun Groves
At age 49, Mr. X suffered a stroke that transformed his mind. Afterward, he quit his job to live a life of “excessive and persistent generosity.” He “gave liberally” to strangers – food and drink to children living on the streets of his hometown in Brazil, for instance. His wife worried that such grandiose giving would ruin his family financially.
I recently read over a passage of scripture I’ve spoken about a hundred times. But Mr. X’s story sparked new insight.
A Warning About Giving
By the end of Paul’s letter to Christians living in Corinth he would ask them to contribute to an offering that would support the poor living 800 miles away in Jerusalem. But before asking them to give he warned them not to give too much.
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.
~2 Corinthians 8:13
Like Mr. X, the Corinthian Christians had been transformed to a potentially dangerous degree. Paul was concerned that their “excessive and persistent generosity” might result in the kind of unwise sacrifice that would needlessly endanger their own lives for the sake of saving someone else’s. (“Hard pressed” is translated here from the Greek word thlîpsis, which can also be rendered “affliction”, “tribulation” or “trouble”.)
Has the children’s minister at your church ever worried that too many already-stretched-thin parents have volunteered to teach three year-olds? Or has your youth minster ever been concerned that too many people are taking time off from work to be counselors at youth camp? Or has the accountant ever fretted that too many people dropped too great a percentage of their income into the offering plates on Sunday morning? Has your pastor ever had to warn against excessive generosity?
A Limit On Giving
The possibility that the Corinthian Christians might actually over-give surprised me. But so did Paul’s response: How strange that he didn’t limit their generosity with a percentage. No mention of a tenth…or any other number.
Instead, Paul restrained their giving with a single word: equality.
Paul defines that word in 2 Corinthians 8:15 as everyone having enough to feed everyone in their house every day. We could infer more generally that we’re to stop giving when doing so truly endangers our life.
How Much Should I Give?
I’m frequently asked how much a Christian should give. The conversation that follows often reveals what’s really being asked: “How much do I have to give?” or “What’s the minimum I should be giving?”
Paul didn’t answer these questions. The Corinthians afflicted with “excessive and persistent generosity” didn’t ask them.
After two years of treatment, Mr.X no longer experienced depression, irritability and memory loss caused by his stroke. But his giving continued. Mr.X believes this proves his generosity was not caused by brain damage after all. His explanation? “I saw death from up-close.”
A person rescued from death and given life is transformed into a joyful excessive persistent giver. There’s no need to set up a minimum giving requirement for such a person. Only a maximum limitation is necessary.
Thomas D. Dalke says:
I have heard it said that you should “give till it hurts”. But I believe that you should give in such a way as to enrichen both. That is you should give of your time, talents, and of course your money, in such a way so that both the recipient and yourself are enriched by your doing so. For only then does giving become a cheerful and enriching activity which grows ones faith, rather than being a grudging obligation that only stifles ones generosity of person and spirit. For giving is not just about “the gift” (either giving it, or receiving it) it’s about the effect “the gift” has on both. And so when a gift is well given and received, it becomes an activity with far reaching positive effects, that inevitably makes blessings abound to one and to all. Therefore give in such a way that your gift, will make others also want to give.
Christine Doe says:
We have been exposed to a lot of missionary stories thanks to the Sonlight homeschool curriculum we use. I will forever be in love with missionary stories now. They teach us about God’s amazing power–valuable to first-world citizens, who live very safe lives on purpose. We’re addicted to insurance policies and retirement accounts and the like.
I remember reading God’s Adventurer by Phyllis Thompson about Hudson Taylor, missionary to China. The book opens with Hudson giving away the last of his money to an impoverished family. He was a poor medical student himself, trying to get the training he needed before being sent to China. He was already scrounging to get oatmeal and apples only for his diet, if I recall. He had about two meals of oatmeal left when he gave the money to the suffering family. He did it partly to test God and find out how much he could count on God while he lived in China, not knowng a soul there. God sent money in the mail the next morning from an anonymous source.
Missionary stories are full of such accounts–people putting their own lives in peril for the sake of the gospel, and to care for the least of God’s people. There are times we have to pray for the $76 we give for two sponsor children. I pray knowing with 100% certainty that if our shortage of money didn’t arise from indulging ourselves or wasting money, then God will provide for our daily bread, and for our tithes and offerings. This is not true in regard to our wants because his desire is that we would want less and learn to get by on very little. Our motivation matters too; if our ego is not in our giving, God is more likely to provide for generous giving. I think it is okay for us to test God on matters of generosity (he says so in regards to tithing). We will probably find that when our motivation is pure, God will provide in miraculous ways. Faith pleases the Lord and daily-bread faith develops very slowly or not at all in people who purposely pursue safety, for safety’s sake.
I don’t know how this relates to Paul’s warning about overly-generous giving, but examples of this do exist, with God blessing the faith involved.
Amy Dixon says:
Perfect timing, Shaun. This is something I have been struggling with these past few days… how much to give.
Thomas D. Dalke says:
In regards to our pursuing and fulfilling our God given Kingdom purposes Jesus is quite adamant that we are too let nothing hinder us. Whether this is a concern for our daily food, or our clothing, or anything else, we are to put the
Kingdom of God first, and all these things shall be added to us. And so we see the sacrificial lives that believers have lived throughout the ages, in pursuing the will of God for themselves (Matt. 6:19-31; 20:27-30 etc.). Now in regards to our sacrificial giving the Bible is likewise clear that our doing good and sharing is likewise well pleasing to God (see Heb. 13:16 also consider Rom 12:16; 1 Cor. 9:14; 16:1-2; Gal 6:6; Titus 3:8, 14 etc.). And so giving and sharing generously in all things is the N.T. norm. And should be the norm in our own lives, towards each other, and towards all (consider Acts 20:35; Gal 2:10). Now in Shaun’s blog post I saw no hint of his denying any of that. Indeed his own life testifies to the grace of God in his generous living and giving. And so as we have opportunity and ability we should also give freely and generously of our own money, talents and time, as we think best (2 Cor. 9:8-9). For as we have been blessed, so should we bless. Therefore I do not measure myself by someone else. Instead I measure myself by myself, and what God has given me and entrusted with me, and just how well I’m using it. For that’s the only measure that matters in regards to giving, ones conscience, having a good conscience before God.
Christine Doe says:
Hello Thomas. Thank you for your insightful comments. I in no way intended to challenge anything in Shaun’s blog post, which I think is an excellent one, as usual. Not sure if you were thinking that or not.
Thomas D. Dalke says:
Hi Christine, I think maybe my last post was little too assertive? If so I apologize. In considering your own post I was mostly in agreement, and was wanting to reply on a certain point but was not wanting to discourage your obvious generous person and spirit. No I don’t think living “safe” is what Jesus calls us to do. But neither do I think that God wants us to get by on very little, as you said.
But as Shaun in his post is working out a principal from 2 Cor. 8:8-15 there is a giving that is proportionate according to what one has, and not according to what one does not have (2 Cor. 8:12). And that would be my advice and desire for you, and for all. To give not by obligation, nor by decree, (as the Apostle Paul in the text does not command the Corinthians to give a once promised gift) but rather to give as a proof of one’s love for their brethren with a heartfelt willingness. Again according to what one has, and not according to what one does not have. If God then increases what one has, then absolutely we should give as He increases our capacity to do so.
And so I hope that in your generous giving you consider this point, for that was the main point in Shaun’s post, that the people of God in their generous giving and sacrificial living not forget that, nor each other’s well being.
Your Friend
Thomas
Christine Doe says:
No, Thomas, you weren’t too assertive; very respectful, in fact. When I say I think the Lord wants us to get by on very little, I don’t mean as an obligation or as a condition of salvation. Nor should we give out of obligation, but out of a cheerful heart.
But Jesus did teach, in his discourse with the rich young ruler, that wealth, or plenty, corrupts our hearts. It is a slow corruption, probably not discernable at first. When you compare the families Compassion serves, who have wild joy in Christ despite their circumstances, you begin to see how our things distract us from the Lord’s sufficiency in our lives. Rarely do you see that kind of sustained wild joy in Christ, except in Christians who have little.
If you take a simple shack with a few dishes, a change of clothes, food for the day, maybe a mattress, maybe not, and begin to transform that existence by slowing adding one comfort at a time, until you have your middle-class American lifestyle, you suddenly have so many distractions and things to care for, and the ego that comes with these things, that your relationship with God changes. Essentially, He is no longer needed to the same extent, and slowly, the wild joy that once was is replaced by the secret desire for more things because they bring a quick joy, a quick fix for mood, as opposed to the deeply rooted joy that is ours from fellowship at the Lord’s feet.
We should learn to get by with little because it teaches us that God is enough. Then, because we are filled with sufficiency and joy, we can begin to give our excess to relieve the physical suffering of the poor, so that we come closer to the “equality” that Paul speaks of.
None of this is out of obligation, but an outflow of a heart and soul that is keenly aware that Jesus is enough. Things, or riches, aren’t bad in and of themselves, but only because in our humanity, we can’t help letting them and the perks they afford us distance ourselves from God.
Each person should, as you said, decide by conscience and the whole of the Bible, how many things he should accumulate before corruption of heart sets in.
Still, I think the greatest spiritual joy comes from getting by with very little.
Thank you, Thomas, for your sharing heart and for your love of the Lord and of others.
Thomas D. Dalke says:
Dear
Christine
It is nice to converse with you about these things, and hear your perspective on them. Yet Christine it’s not an equality of poverty that the Apostle Paul commends to us, it’s an equality of sharing. Of meeting needs that we are capable of meeting. Of my meeting a need in your life by liberally sharing with you, and your meeting a need in my life by doing the same. If you consider that principal and how far reaching it is, you can easily see how every member of the Body of Christ can experience the joy of giving, of meeting a need in someone’s’ life that they could otherwise not meet, and thus both can have true gratitude towards the Lord who provides for us all.
As to your point about the heart being corrupted by wealth, yes that possibility does indeed exist for us all (Matt 6:19-24). But your linking joy in the Lord with it; that is our joy in the Lord being diminished by it, is misguided. Our joy in the Lord is from the Lord, from His Spirit as a fruit of Him in our lives (Gal 5:22-23). And so whether we are abased or abounding, we as the Apostle Paul learned from experiencing both, can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (see Phil 4:12-13). Thus riches do not inherently diminish our joy in the Lord, neither does poverty inherently increase it. Instead our joy in the Lord comes from knowing the Lord, of abiding in His love and keeping His Word (see John 15:9-11). And so I hope Christine that you can see yourself not just as being a monetary blessing to the poor (which of course you have been) but also a blessing in so many other (and maybe yet unsearched out ways?). I know you have been a blessing to me in your sharing of your sacrificial giving with those in need. And yet maybe there are other ways you can be even a greater blessing? Shaun’s list is full of creative ideas on how to do that, maybe some of them are well suited to you? Or maybe just create some of your own. For truly God gives us not only momentary gifts to be His blessing. But also Spiritual gifts and talents, as well as our unique personalities and often times life experiences, so that He can not only exemplify His Son’s Person and grace in a diversity of ways through us, but that we can all uniquely be His blessing to all those around us in need.
Your friend
Thomas