Sacrificial Giving

[Homer]

Consider the following:

A. There is a Christian man whose total income is below the poverty line. For this example, let's say he gives 10% of all his income. He has a very modest lifestyle, but is completely satisfied, that is, he has every possession he desires. In his mind he lacks nothing; there isn't any material thing he wishes he could have. All his needs for housing, food, and clothes are met.

B. Another Christian man is middle income. He gives 15% of all his income. He has a moderate "nest egg" he is saving for retirement or for his wife's needs if anything should happen to him, as he has no life insurance. His lifestyle is not extravagant; he has some "toys": small boat, small camp trailer, etc. He would like to have a small motorhome instead of the camp trailer, but could not give as much as he does if he bought the motorhome. He accepts what he has and is relatively satisfied.

C. Our third example is a wealthy Christian man. He gives 50% of all his income. He has a very large and beautiful home, a huge motorhome as large as a bus, a very expensive boat, and drives a Lexus, among other possessions. He very much desired a vacation home in Aspen, CO, which would cost more than the home of the middle income Christian. It was his dream but he gave up this idea because he too would have to cut back on his giving.

Did the poor man give less because he sacrificed nothing he wanted in his giving? Or does he get no credit for his modest desires? Is the wealthy man giving the most because of the amount of money, because he sacrificed the most, or both? Or is he discredited because he desires the most and has the most? What about the middle income guy? He is relatively satisfied. Should he "give until it hurts? Is he actually already giving more than the poor man?

Or should all three have the same minimal desires and thus the ones who desire the most are the most discredited?

Comments please; I'm studying about Christians and wealth.

Thanks, Homer

P.S. Was just reading comments at another site; some of those folks are mean!

[Suzana]

There is nothing in the new testament about giving by percentages. I think all three should work at having an attitude that ALL they have really belongs to God, and be ready to give generously, and cheerfully, when needs arise and/or they are prompted to do so by the Holy Spirit. There is certainly no shortage of needs in the world today! We are all at different stages of growth, & God sees what our heart attitudes are, knows the areas we need to work on, and convicts us as necessary. Of course, we'd need to ensure that our freedom from legalism does not translate into license & self-indulgence, and remain attentive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
So I don't think it's the percentage amounts of giving of any of the three people that's the most important, or the sort of car they drive, but what is in their heart, & their willingness to sacrifice any amount when called to do so by God; I don't think we are really in a position to judge accurately what may be in a person's heart.

What God is calling one person to do may be entirely different to what He requires of someone else. For example, we were enabled by God's provision to buy a house prior to my husband's death, and I did not need to worry about rent after he died. ( I have matured since then, and hopefully would not now stress about having a place to live, but the Lord was gracious to me at that time). On the other hand, one family in our church was recently led to sell their own house & rent instead.

As to perhaps all three of your examples having minimal desires, that surely is relative - who decides what minimal is, and does the standard change according to our surroundings & culture? I remember reading of a Russian immigrant years ago being astounded at our western housing arrangements, asking in wonder "you really only have ONE family per apartment?!"
Just some thoughts.

p.s. stay away from those meanies, Homer!

[Sean]

This story comes to mind.

Mark 12:41-44
41And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. 43 Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on."

It seems that God is looking at how much you hold back for yourself. The widow was said to have put in more than the others, even though the amount was less. Apparently because the others put in out of their surplus. I would say that the person in example "A" gave the most because he held back the least in which he could increase his standard of living. The others had more lavish lifestyles and were saving as well, so they indeed are giving out of their surplus. So it doesn't sting at all.

Having said that, it's often easy to point to someone who has more than you and criticize them because they don't live like you do when it would be better to consider those who live with less and see how they do it. No matter where we are in our lifestyle we need to consider what God would have us do with our money.

P.S. Was just reading comments at another site; some of those folks are mean!

Can you give an example?

[Paidion]

One of the biggest givers among the rich (if not the very biggest) was R.G. LeTourneau, inventer of the earth-moving machines called "Tournabulls". I just looked up the word in Google, and the word was found in our old forum. I found out that I, myself, had posted it:

"Mr. LeTourneau, who professed to be a Christian, was the creator of the famous "tournabull" earth-moving machines. He became rich, and practised reverse tithing. That is, he gave 90% of the money he received from his machines to charitable causes, mostly to the poor, and kept only 10% for himself. That certainly seems generous, when one considers that nearly all the rich people in this continent give a much lower percentage of their income to charity than do poor and middle-class people."

You can read a short article about this multi-millionaire and his inventions here:

LeTourneau

The question is, was the man giving sacrificially? The 10% which he retained each year would doubtless much more than the annual gross income of the average middle-class American.

[Homer]

Hi Suzana, Sean, and Paidion,

Thank you for your thoughtful replies! Regarding the mean folks at the other site, I was reading a post titled "Rich Christians - An Oxymoron?" at Peterants (I found it when I Googled "Rich Christians"). Someone posted his thoughts, one of which set off another poster who wrote:

PJVS, you are nothing other than a heretic. Jesus Christ would spit you out of his mouth for believing something as patently unChristian as “who’s life revolves more around money: the person with a mortgage free house and a million dollars in investments, who can focus on areas of his life other than making money or the person with a first and second mortgage, credit card debt and his car insurance coming due?” .....You are an apostle of the Romans (as in Herod-type Romans) not Christ!
......“Christ is probably very glad he is Christ and not a Christian” — and oh my Lord are you living proof of that.

I think the point the person had tried to make was similar to what Dallas Willard has written about poor people idolizing money, and the responder (I went to her blog) has made a vow of poverty and now appears to have a problem of looking down on others. Seems mean spirited and judgemental to me!

Suzana wrote:

There is nothing in the new testament about giving by percentages

I'm not disagreeing with you but if I was an advocate of the tithe I would quote the following which might be construed as based on percentage:

1 Corinthians 16 (New King James Version)

1. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: 2. On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.

You all make good points, but what is sacrificial giving? Is it doing without things you want? Making do with less than is the norm in the society in which you live? Or is it giving part of what you need (the necessities)?

Paul wrote:

1 Timothy 6:8 (New King James Version)
8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

If we have more than what Paul says he will be content with, would we say that we are not giving sacrificially? It seems to me that sacrificial giving is giving up things we want and not necessarily things we must have to live. If not, then who among us can say we give sacrificially?

God bless, Homer

[TK]

Homer referenced:

8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

but isnt it somewhat of a stretch to infer from this verse that Paul would not have also been content with a bit more?

in other words, I dont think Paul's words above should be used to suggest that if you are living in something more than a lean-to hut and have more than one change of clothes and eat more than one meal a day then you are not meeting a certain preferred standard. i think paul was simply saying that if we have Christ, that is all we really need.

i think Paul might have been quite happy to have a bit more comfort. having Christ and a bit of comfort doesnt seem to be mutually exclusive. didn't Lazarus have some comforts? Jesus still hung out with him, anyway.

TK