Voluntary giving is worship.

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me.”

Exodus 25:1-2

It can get lost in the excruciating details of God’s design for the tabernacle, but the project of building a portable sanctuary for the worship of Yahweh happened because people chose to give the materials for the tabernacle. The remarkable phrase is “from every man whose heart moves him”. This was voluntary generosity. The Lord wanted people to want to give.

Why? Isn’t it true that Moses could have come down from the mountain with a fully built ark of the covenant, as well as all the furnishings for the worship of God? God had a design in mind, so it is evident that God knew what was needed. But God wanted to worship from His people. And that can only be given voluntarily. And it was His desire to receive personal, willing worship. Material provisions were part of that worship.

This is still God’s desire. He wants people to willingly worship Him through praise, prayer, heeding His word, and giving to His kingdom’s advance. This giving comes in various forms, but it is most noticeable in terms of personal financial commitment and sacrifice, as will be seen when Israel generously provides so much for the tabernacle that Moses eventually has to command them to stop!

So when the plate makes its rounds on Sunday, or when a personal sacrifice is made to travel on a missions trip, or needs are presented for a ministry opportunity, it is all worship. It is sincere, real, visible worship and its most personal and meaningful, and we should not be shy of it just because some hucksters of the gospel have abused it in the past. They will suffer for their fraud. But God is real, and giving is real worship.

Technorati Tags: Exodus,Giving,Generosity,Worship

Giving where it is due.

Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
Matthew 22:21b

Tax day was just a couple of weeks ago, but this passage still rings with vital meaning. I have been serving in ministry as my primary means of vocation for over twenty years now. And historically, April is always a low month for giving to the church... I suspect because Uncle Sam comes calling. And I feel the tension.

The past four years have seen a downturn for my own personal ability to give. I used to enjoy giving substantially to the church and missions (at times nearly a fourth of my income). But 2005 found seminary obligations decreasing that amount. That lasted through last year. And then has come this vividly hard year of 2009, where medical bills have piled up... dental work... unanticipated surgery for one child... orthodontics in the future for another child... and suddenly it is very hard to find the means to give generously.

But the thing that convicts me is that I still render to Caesar. They throw you in the Big House if you decide not to do that! Now, I am in a VERY LOW tax bracket (another outcome of ministry), but even at that, this year it appears that my rendering to Caesar will be more than my giving to God. That is a first for us.

My desire is by the end of third quarter 2009, to have paid off medical debts to the point where we can restore generosity to the work of God. In addition to this, I am praying for God to somehow supply some additional summer income, so this might happen sooner. My heart is to follow Jesus' clear command.

Technorati Tags: Jesus,Generosity,Stewardship,Taxes