When Giving Becomes Grace
Generosity isn’t about losing; it’s about aligning. In this message, discover how giving becomes worship, deepens faith, and anchors our hearts in eternal investment rather than earthly gain.
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10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
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The Collection for the Saints
1 Now concerning[a] the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
The Rudder and the Wind: Biblical Stewardship and Regular Giving
In my office sits a sailboat—not a full-size vessel, but a model that serves as more than artistic decoration. It reminds me daily of two essential kingdom principles. First, you don’t reach your destination without the rudder angled in the right direction. That rudder represents the Word of God for the people of God. If we want God’s blessing in our lives and in our collective identity as a church, we need to align with the Word of God.
Secondly, it’s there to remind me that even when aligned with God’s Word, unless the wind blows (the Holy Spirit comes in His pneuma power), we won’t move toward a holy destination. That little boat symbolizes this reality: proper alignment with Scripture combined with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Something similar happened when the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. Their rudder was out of alignment, and he was correcting their course in many ways throughout his letter. After devoting three entire chapters to the proper use of spiritual gifts, Paul responded to questions about giving in just four verses at the end of his letter (1 Corinthians 16:1-4).
Why would Paul dedicate three chapters to spiritual gifts but only four verses to giving? Because giving is less complicated. The Bible contains more than 2,300 verses on patterns of giving and generosity. Sixteen of the 38 parables in the New Testament address principles of managing money and possessions. God has provided extensive instruction on this topic throughout Scripture.
We all know that money competes with our devotion to God. The temptation in that competition is to ignore the fact that God has instructed us so that money and possessions can complement our devotion to God rather than compete with it.
When we delve into topics like giving, many people experience fear. Some believers err on the side of fearing we’ll drift into some type of prosperity gospel. Others fear drifting into thinking the Bible teaches a poverty gospel. But the Bible doesn’t teach either extreme from Genesis to Revelation. There is no instruction that believers are to take on a life of poverty.
We see this balance reflected in the wisdom personified in Proverbs 30:7-9:
“Two things I ask of you, O Lord; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”
This proverb reveals a healthy balance. God has not called you to a life of poverty, nor is God saying you’re going to become super wealthy. There’s a place of protection in the balance of the Lord.
Warnings About Wealth
Nowhere in the Bible does Scripture say it’s wrong for a believer to be wealthy, but the Bible gives us many warnings surrounding wealth. Read what Paul wrote to Timothy:
“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” 1 Timothy 6:9-10
Paul’s warning is that riches and wealth can lead to the temptation to think, “God, I don’t need You.” We can well up in pride and live independently. Money has a seductive factor, and the power associated with it can blind us.
Jesus also picked up this theme and warned, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). A few verses later, He added, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Jesus was warning that money can have a seductive influence in our lives, blinding us to our need for God.
The Bible illustrates that we need to be wise about wealth and possessions, as we can focus on all that the Bible says about money and overlook the fact that God is the cause.
In God’s sovereignty, He gave you intellect and ability. He gave you the acumen to earn a living. It’s by His grace and His sovereignty. Wherever you live and whatever your economic circumstances, God has positioned you to put your hands to the plow and make a living for His glory. God is the cause; He’s given you the capacity to work and provide.
However, God is also the one issuing a caution to us about money and possessions. Whether we have much or little to steward, we must guard our hearts against allowing wealth to replace our need for the Lord.
How Should a Believer Give?
“Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper.” 1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Based on this passage, we see two clear principles about how believers should approach giving.
1) Give Regularly
The expectation at Corinth was that believers give every week as they come together for worship.
Practically speaking, some people get paid every other week. Some get paid once a month. Some who own businesses or corporations might wait until quarterly results come in. A few who own companies and corporations wait till the end of the year to see what their compensation will be.
But the point is that for a believer, giving is regular based on the pattern illustrated in Scripture.
When the plate is passed in a worship service, there’s a temptation for it to become a mindless routine. But it’s important to remember that giving is part of the worship of God, of magnifying God with our gifts. Each Christian brings his or her gifts regularly as part of worship, set aside for the specific purpose of honoring and expressing worth to Almighty God.
When the plate is passed, we collectively illustrate that God is Lord over money and possessions. We’re demonstrating that God is Lord and He is our ultimate security, greater security than our money, portfolio, or possessions. We acknowledge that as the plate is passed during a worship gathering, God in Christ, You are more glorifying, satisfying, and glorious than anything money can buy.
There’s a theology rooted in why we pass the plate as part of worship. On the first day of the week, verse two says, each of you should put something aside. The New Testament places a clear priority on giving and honoring God in worship, supporting the church, and advancing the ministry of Jesus, with resources expressed through the church.
This pattern appears in the book of Acts when early Christians honored God as an act of worship through generosity and giving, bringing their gifts and laying them at the apostles’ feet. They weren’t honoring the apostles but honoring God as the church gathered together. God has not called us to be isolated givers. A believer should give regularly in praising God as an act of worship.
2) Give as You Prosper
Verse two instructs, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper.”
This is a fundamental truth: Everything has come from God. Everything. You’re not your own idea, and neither am I. You did not invent yourself. God arranged a set of chromosomes unique to you, a unique strand of DNA. God breathed life into you.
That reality has implications because you’re a steward of your life. One day, all, we will give an account of our lives and all that we stewarded to Jesus. For the believer, it will not be a judgment of condemnation, but we’ll give an account.
All of life is a stewardship in which we’re accountable to our Creator. Therefore, that has implications. If I’m stewarding my life and my life is accountable to the Creator, then stewardship of our lives is about lordship and whose lordship we’re submitted to.
The implication also raises several questions: Is Jesus Lord of my:
thoughts?
actions?
words?
marriage?
sexuality?
dating life?
work ethic?
parenting?
Is Jesus Lord of everything in my life, including my material possessions and the stewardship thereof?
Understanding the Full Tithe
When we examine what Scripture teaches about giving, some people think tithing is only an Old Testament concept. I want to encourage you not to use that as an excuse not to tithe, not only because Jesus referred to tithing as a practice believers should engage in, but because there’s important context we often miss.
“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” Malachi 3:10 (emphasis added)
Why didn’t Malachi just say “bring the tithe”? Why use the modifier “full tithe”? On the surface, it’s because people weren’t bringing a full tithe. But there’s a nuance we miss that’s very important.
In the Old Testament, the people of God, Israel, were a political nation—a theocracy. In that theocracy, there wasn’t one tithe. There were three tithes:
The Levitical Tithe (Numbers 18:21, 24): Brought once a year, this tithe was 10 percent of produce and livelihood, utilized to support the Levitical priests and their service in the temple and congregation.
The Festival Tithe (Deuteronomy 14:22-27): A second tithe for the journey of taking one’s family to and funding the religious festivals and celebrations in the theocracy. At these celebrations, families would hear stories of God’s faithfulness, like the Passover, which catechized generations in understanding the greatness of Yahweh.
The Poor Tithe (Deuteronomy 14:28-29): Given every third year, this tithe was laid up in towns for the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, the poor among them. This reflects the biblical thread that the people of God are not to be indifferent about the poor and marginalized.
The historian Flavius Josephus chronicled these three tithes: “In addition to the two tithes which I have already directed you to pay each year, the one for the Levites, the other for the banquets, you should devote a third every third year to the distribution of such things as are lacking to widowed women and orphan children.”
The first two tithes were taken once a year. The third tithe was taken every three years. In the Old Testament, people gave 23 percent of their income in worship to honor God. That was the full tithe.
Now, I’m not saying you should give 23 percent of your income to the church—that’s not my point. But here’s what I want you to think about: If people were compelled to give generously before Jesus Christ came, would it make sense to give less generously after Jesus came, died for your sins, took them at the cross, rose from the dead, and redeemed you forever?
Worshiping God with 10 percent of our income is the floor of giving, not the ceiling. We need to be wise when we say tithing is just an Old Testament practice. We don’t give out of legalism. We give out of joyful, cheerful, liberated hearts, because we love God.
The Story of John D. Rockefeller
At his time, John D. Rockefeller was the wealthiest man on earth. He was the first billionaire, making his money in the oil business. John D. Rockefeller was raised in a Christian family and started out as a tither.
But what happened to him, and to many believers, is that we start making wealth and then think, “If I tithe on this, this is a lot of money.” We begin to control things. That’s precisely what happened to John Rockefeller.
When he was around 50 years old, John began to worry extensively. He worried because he knew if part of his corporation fell, it would have a domino effect and implode. He worried so much that he began developing stomach ulcers, he stopped sleeping, and people said he didn’t smile because life began to mean nothing to him. John Rockefeller grew numb to life.
John D. Rockefeller came back to his first love of Jesus Christ. One of the signs of returning to his first love was that he began to honor God by tithing again. Rockefeller reflected on his childhood: “I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 a week.”
JESUS: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Luke 16:10
In the Corinthian church, God was training His people to put God first from the heart in their lives. They were reminded that ultimately all things belong to God.
Eternal Perspective
This is common sense, but one day our life is going to come to an end; it’s true for all of us. Whatever we possess, we can’t take it with us. There are no U-Hauls behind funeral processions.
Jesus declared that when you give, you’re actually laying up treasures for yourself in heaven. He’s saying eternal rewards are coming for your faithfulness.
We’re navigating a time when many people deal with high levels of anxiety. It has become an unwelcome companion in so many lives. Sixty-two percent of Gen Z and millennials say they feel constantly anxious, which is unprecedented in Western culture. That compares to 38 percent among older generations. Studies tell us that on average, people spend more than two hours a day worrying, carrying weight, and caught in the grips of worrisome thoughts.
Let me invite you to hear the words of Jesus with fresh ears.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Think about that picture of two oxen yoked together. Jesus said, “Just come, yoke with me. Move in my way. Move in my instruction. Follow along with me. I’ll empower you.” And He says, “Don’t just do this, but learn from me. Be teachable.”
Jesus is gentle—not a tyrant. He’s lowly of heart, humbling Himself and getting in the game with you. You will find rest for your souls, which consists of your mind, will, and emotions. That’s what John D. Rockefeller rediscovered when he was 53 years old. Wealth, the comfort, or even the worries that come with it, caused him to drift from God; He rediscovered the peace of God.
Think about the rudder of your life. Jesus says, “Align your rudder, align it with me, yoke with me. And I’ll put wind in your sails, the kind of wind that sets the captive free.”
Come to Him. Come home to Him.
TL;DR
Giving isn’t complicated—it’s a spiritual rhythm that expresses trust and worship.
Scripture warns against both greed and false poverty; generosity keeps our hearts aligned with God.
Believers are called to give regularly and proportionally, as an act of surrender and gratitude.
True prosperity is found not in wealth, but in God’s grace multiplying through cheerful giving.
