The Blessing of Giving - Part I

The Principles of Firstborn and Firstfruits

Recently one of our Elders, John Schardt, shared with our congregation that we are experiencing some financial difficulty as a church. Simply put - our offerings are down. We are having to scale back ministry and salaries.

We as a leadership team have been praying for several months regarding our church finances, and one of the things that God has put on my heart is this: In my efforts to not make people feel "pressured" about giving, I may have been remiss in not teaching the congregation what God has to say about our finances, specifically in the area of tithing.

You may recall, that "Giving" was one of our areas of focus for 2008 from our News Years exhortation. I believe the the time is now to share with you some truths from the Word of God regarding giving to the Lord. So for the next few weeks I will be sending out a series of teaching articles on the subject. Later on we will explore this subject deeper in a pulpit teaching series.

I also want you to know that the reason to teach the congregation about finances is not so that "the church will have more money", but so that you can experience the full blessing of God in this area of your life!

I pray that this series will enrich your lives, and reveal a new perspective of God's unchanging principles. May you be richly blessed.

Pastor Clay

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First, let me say that I view the lack of funds in the church as an indicator of a spiritual situation in the lives of the congregation. The issue is not how much money we have, but "what does God want to teach us about money?"

Fact: there are approx 500 verses in the bible that deal with prayer, approx 500 verses that deal with faith, but there are over 2000 verses that deal with the subject of money and possessions. Jesus talked about money in 16 of His 38 parables. Clearly, from the bible's standpoint, God wants us to understand His principles concerning money and possessions.

Why? Perhaps it is because money is a test of our faith & our priorities. Money is something that is near and dear to us. We need it to live. We use it to buy stuff that we need, and stuff that we want. How we manage money reveals volumes about what is important to us.

In this first issue, we are going to explore two principles: The principles of the firstborn and firstfruits.

Principle of Firstborn

The principle of firstborn is found throughout the bible, from Exodus to Revelation.

The first place we see this principle is in Exodus 13:

"Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine."
Ex 13:1-2

Here, God makes a declarative statement; "the firstborn is Mine". In fact, sixteen times God makes this statement in Exodus: Every firstborn was to be sacrificed or redeemed. Every time an animal delivered its firstborn, it was to be sacrificed to the Lord. If it were born unclean (with a spot or blemish), then it was to be redeemed.

But the firstborn of the animals, which should be the LORD's firstborn, no man shall dedicate; whether it is an ox or sheep, it is the LORD's. And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall redeem it according to your valuation, and shall add one-fifth to it; or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation. Lev 27:26-27

This principle was true for man as well, as the firstborn sons of Israel were to be set apart for service to God; they were to be the priests! Later on, after the golden calf incident, God set apart the Levites for His service (and also re-affirmed the principle of the firstborn):

"Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, because all the firstborn are Mine.
Num 3:12-13

Why is this important? This is a picture of our redemption in Christ, as when Jesus approached John the Baptist, John proclaimed

"Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John 1:29-30

Because man is born with a sin nature, we were born 'unclean'. We need to be redeemed. God redeemed us to Himself with the perfect, spotless, Lamb of God. Jesus was God's 'firstborn", His only begotten Son.

So this principle is not based on "we do all the giving", but in reality God gave to us first. God gave to us first, while we were yet sinners; He gave us His Son Jesus Christ. He gave us something that we could never put a price tag on. I mean, how much would you pay to be assured heaven? Everything you had!

The Principle of Firstfruits

Having noted that, there is a parallel principle that ties into the principle of the firstborn, and that is the principle of the firstruits.

The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. Ex 23:19

This scripture tells us two things: Bring your firstfruits, and bring them into the house of the Lord. Let's look at these two points.

First Things First
The bible doesn't tell us "give God what is left over". It says to give God the first. When an animal gave birth to it's first offspring, that first offspring was given to the Lord. When the crops were harvested, the first were given to the Lord.

How does this apply to us? When we sit down and write our bills, the first check we write should be our tithe to the Lord. This may sound somewhat ritualistic to some people, but trust me, this has meaning. What we do first says something about what we hold to be most important.

You see, as fallen people we are naturally selfish. Think about it, when the paycheck comes, our mind goes to the things we want or need to buy. Bills, clothes, dinner out, parts for my motorcycle. We hope that there is something left at the end so we can splurge a little. Why is it that our first thought is not "I get to give to the Lord!"

Guess what, God knows how we are. So God, in His infinite wisdom, tells me that I need to sit down and give to Him first, to establish a pattern in my life where I am thinking "Praise the Lord, I can give to the Lord! Thank you for your provision Lord!"

Think about it; When we give to the Lord first, it says "Lord I trust you."

Faith Before Feelings
How many times have we run out of money before we run out of bills? Or we have to determine what we pay now, and what we pay later? When we are in this situation, it can seem easy to skip the tithe (we certainly can't let our cable TV get shut off!). Our feelings tell us "I have bills to pay! I have stuff I need!". We feel bound to our bills. But what that says is "God, these bills are a higher priority than you are."

In other words, it requires an activation of our faith to give the tithe first. Giving the tithe first says "God, I am going to be obedient to you, and trust you for the rest." Faith is being obedient to God when we cannot see the outcome. Faith is knowing that it may require the supernatural hand of God to meet our budget needs.

Think about it:

• The first animal was to be given to God; there were no guarantees that more animals would be born.
• The first of the crop was to be given to God; there were no guarantees that more crops would come up.
• God told Abraham to give his firstborn son, and at Abraham's age, it was a certainty that there would be no more children!

When we give to God first, we are saying to God "I trust you". Do you think He will let us down? In my own experience, the answer to that question is unequivocal - NO! God will always come through! Why? Because it is His promise!

"Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, Deut 7:12-13

So when Satan comes at you and puts the thought in your mind "you're going to go broke if you tithe", you can respond: "No I won't, because God's Word says that God is going to bless me, and He will rebuke the devourer for my sakes!"

The House of God

Our scripture said to "bring your firstfruits into the house of the Lord, your God." It didn't say "give your firstfruits to whom you feel led". That means we don't give our firstfruits to a TV ministry, or to a missionary, or to some other organization as our "tithe". Now don't get me wrong, giving to worthwhile ministries and supporting missionaries are important, but we are not to take away from our giving to the house of the Lord in order to do so.

We've all heard Christian say "I gave to so-and-so ministry (or person) as my tithe." Think about it; would you send part of your mortgage payment to another bill? I'm sure they would understand. Thankfully, God does not foreclose on us (!), but we should heed the point: The firstfruits belong to God, and it belongs in His house!

Paul echoed this to the church at Corinth:

For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 1 Cor 9:9-11

The church is the place that we go for spiritual feeding, for ministry to our families. It is where we turn when we are having difficulties. It is where we turn when we have a financial need.

But more than that, the church is a place where we come and communally worship the Lord! And guess what, our giving is a form of worship. That's why giving is a matter of the heart:

God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 2 Cor 9:7-8

When our hearts are turned to the Lord, we are fully aware that all that we have is a gift from Him. He is the source of our provision. When we give the tithe, it is an act of worship, acknowledging God as our provider. And God promises us, that when our heart is in this place, He will direct to us "all sufficiency in all things", so we will "have an abundance for every good work!"