Matthew 6:33-33
Motivations for Giving
1. ACKNOWLEDGE AND RELY ON God as the source of all things. He owns everything and every good gift comes from His hand. (I Cor. 10:26) "The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it." Jesus said, "But, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you."
Illustration: The World’s Deep Spiritual and Material Poverty
Eighty percent of the world’s evangelical wealth is in North America—and the total represents way more than enough to fund the fulfillment of the Great Commission.9
A majority of people alive today do not know the Savior. This includes 1.19 billion Muslims, 811 million Hindus, 360 million Buddhists, 228 million ethnoreligionists, 23 million Sikhs, 14 million Jews, 768 million agnostics, and 150 million atheists.1
Of all the people who have ever lived, it is believed that half of them are living today.2
About 1.6 billion people have never heard the life-saving good news in this sentence: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).3
More than 1 billion people live in absolute poverty. This includes 700 million people living in slums, 500 million people on the verge of starvation, 93 million beggars, and 200 million children exploited for labor.23 The Church’s Explosive Growth
The church has grown more in the 20th century than in all the previous 19 centuries since the time of Christ combined, with almost 2 billion adherents worldwide.18
Every day 166,000 people hear the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time3
Every year, 27 million people profess faith in Christ as Savior for the first time.3
The current ranks of 81 million believers in China are expected to swell to 135 million by 2025. The 50 million faithful in India could mushroom to 125 million by 2050. And today’s census of 90 million Christians in Africa is likely to explode to 1 billion in 2050.6
Evangelical Christians comprise an estimated 35 percent of the U.S. population, or about 100 million people.22 The Church’s Huge Storehouse of Wealth
In 2000, American evangelicals collectively made $2.66 trillion in income.23
Total Christian [including nominal] income in the United States is $5.2 trillion annually, nearly half of the world’s total Christian income.8
Over the next 50 years, between $41 trillion and $136 trillion will pass from older Americans to younger generations, suggesting that roughly $1 trillion to $3 trillion in wealth will change hands every year.10 The Church’s Squandering of Resources
The average donation by adults who attend U.S. Protestant churches is about $17 a week.11
Among church members of 11 primary Protestant denominations (or their historical antecedents) in the United States and Canada, per-member giving as a percentage of income was lower in 2000 than in either 1921 or 1933. In 1921, per-member giving as a percentage of income was 2.9 percent. In 1933, at the depth of the Great Depression, per-member giving grew to 3.3 percent. By 2000, after a half-century of unprecedented prosperity, giving had fallen to 2.6 percent.12
Overall, only 3 to 5 percent of Americans who donate money to a church tithe (give a tenth of) their incomes though many more claim to do so.11
Thirty-three percent of U.S. born-again Christians say it is impossible for them to get ahead in life because of the financial debt they have incurred.14 The Link between Faith and Generosity
Among evangelicals, almost 90 cents of every donated dollar goes to their churches. The proportion drops, however, as people’s spiritual intensity and commitment to Christ decline.15
In 2001 American evangelicals gave a mean of $3,601 per capita to nonprofit organizations, which is high when compared to other demographic groups.16
From 1968 to 2000, members of U.S. evangelical Protestant denominations gave larger dollar amounts and larger portions of income to their churches than did members of mainline Protestant denominations.19
In 2001, American evangelicals gave four times as much, per person, to churches as did all other church donors in 2001. Eighty-eight percent of evangelicals and 73 percent of all Protestants donated to churches.20 The Potential for Funding the Harvest
If members of historically Christian churches in the United States had raised their giving to the Old Testament’s minimum standard of giving (10 percent of income) in 2000, an additional $139,000,000,000 a year would become available. 17
1 David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Trends AD 30-AD 2000: Interpreting the Annual Christian Megacensus (Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Library, 2001), 551.
2 Bill Bright, quoted in Ron Blue with Jodie Berndt, Generous Living: Finding Contentment Through Giving (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), 201.
2. REPENT of any unwholesome attitude toward money or possessions. (James 5:3) "You have hoarded wealth in the last days... the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence."
3. INVEST IN CHRIST’S KINGDOM. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age. (I Tim. 6:17-19)
4. AVOID PRIDEFUL ATTITUDES. "You say I am rich, I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich.’ (Rev. 3:17,18)
5. AVOID FEARFUL ATTITUDE. Paul wrote, "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:19)
5. DEVELOP WHOLESOME ATTITUDES TOWARD THE POOR. "And now brothers, we want you to know about the grace of God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will." (2 Cor. 8:1-5)
6. INVEST BOUNTIFULLY AND EXPECT TO REAP BOUNTIFULLY. "Remember, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all thigns at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
As it is written, He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Cor. 9:6-11)
7. AVOID STORING UP TREASURES ON EARTH AS IT IS SELF-DESTRUCTIVE. Jesus said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt 6:19-21)
8. FEAR GOD. "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, How do we rob you? In tithes and offerings, You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me. Bring the whoel tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not pour out so much blessings that you will not have room enough for it... then all nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land." (Mal. 3:8-12)
9. KNOW GOD ANSWERS PRAYER, BLESSES AND MULTIPLIES GIVERS TO HIS KINGDOM’S PURPOSES.
"Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter... then you will call and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help and he will say Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression and with the pointing finger and malicious talk and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.
Concluding Promise: The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up age-old foundations. You will be called repairer of the broken walls. Restorer of streets with dwellings." (Isa 58:7-12)
