A Generous People

Mark Dunagan
03/17/13 - Sunday Morning

A Generous People

A Generous Nation

Americans give fourteen times as much money to churches or religious organizations than they spend on sports. When you combine government and private giving, America is the most generous country on Earth. Americans give three and one-half times more per capita than the French, seven times more than the Germans and 14 times more than the Italians. The biggest givers in America tend to be over 55, college educated, conservative, Republicans who live in the South.

A Giving Myth

Often people say that they would give more if they made more, but generosity and a large income do not necessarily go together.  In 2006 John Stossel with the television news show 20/20 set up a Salvation Army bucket in two places: Sioux Falls, South Dakota and San Francisco, California. San Francisco has a higher income bracket and a lot of people who classify themselves as politically liberal; only 14 percent of the people who live there attend church. Sioux Falls is a rural, middle-class community in which half the folks are churchgoers. So which city gave more? The Sioux Falls folks did, hands down. Stossel pointed out that liberal folks tend to believe the government should take care of the poor, whereas religious folks tend to be big believers in giving their own time and money.

Stossel found that almost all the people who donated to the Salvation Army in Sioux Falls were churchgoers. In fact, churchgoers are four times more likely to give to charity than those who are not.  Another interesting finding was that the people who give the most, as a percentage of their wealth, aren't the richest Americans or even middle-class Americans — they're the folks on the lower end of the economic scale. They give almost 30 percent more of their income than anyone else. For more information see “American Generosity” by Tom Purcell, Pittsburg Tribune Review.

A Troubling Trend

Using information from ten mainline Protestant denominations plus the Southern Baptist Convention, we learn that, in terms of percentage, church members give less today than they did during the darkest days of the Great Depression; and that church members give an average of only 2.52 percent of their incomes. As far as groups go:  Catholics on average give 1.5 percent of their income.  Protestants give on average 2.9 percent.  Muslims are expected to give 2.5 percent.

We Can Afford It

How very easy it is to become focused on what you may not have and forget your vast and countless blessings.  As Christians we have:

• Every Spiritual Blessing: Ephesians 1:3
• An Inheritance in Heaven: 1 Peter 1:4
• Countless Friends: Mark 10:29-30
• We are royalty.  Not by automatically by blood or man-determined royalty, but royalty designated by God Himself: 1 Peter 2:9-10
• We have many priceless things, such as the forgiveness of our sins, contentment, peace, genuine love, access to God in prayer, loving relationships, the Word of God, wisdom, and hope.

When I Give I am Acting Like Christ

God is the ultimate giver (John 3:16), “for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you though His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).  Giving is a privilege because it means you are moving through this world as a leader —one like Jesus. 

When Giving is Placed at the Wrong End of the Budget

“And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the multitude were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums.  And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent.  And 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; 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” (Mark 12:41-44).

I believe that the key phrase in the above passage is “out of their surplus”, that is, they were giving out of what was left over after all the bills were paid and after they had purchased whatever they wanted for themselves.  It is easy to fall into this kind of giving.  We make a budget that starts with rent or a mortgage payment, then other bills, food and so on, with the last item on the list being our giving to God. In this form of giving, the heart of the giver is revealed: The temporal is valued above the investment in eternal things.  From the Old to the New Testaments, God has made it clear: our contribution needs to be the first thing on the budget and everything else needs then to work around our giving, rather than our giving having to work around all the other expenses.

Over Thinking Our Giving

The Corinthians had promised to help the poor Christians in Jerusalem and yet they let a year go by without fulfilling their promise.  Paul then sent some messengers ahead of him, so the promised gift would be ready and “that the same might be…not affected by covetousness” (2 Corinthians 9:5).   Paul knew that as time went on the Corinthians could be tempted to scale down their gift as they thought about what might happen in the future, “I might need that money”.  How can we avoid a similar pitfall? For one, we can simply look at what we've earned, cheerfully give a fair portion to God, and then forget about it.  Do you tend to falter in what you know to be right as the Corinthians did when their time to give arrived? A practical solution may be to thoughtfully write out a check before coming to worship, rather than just taking money out of what just happens to be in your wallet.

Postponing Our Giving

The poor widow could have reasoned that she was exempt from giving for she needed that money for her daily needs.  It is easy to think that God does not expect me to give anything because:

• I am just a kid with a minimum wage job.
• I am just a poor college kid and I need to save up as much as I can for school.
• I am single and I need to pay off my college loans or save up for the day I marry.
• We are a young couple that needs to save up for a house.
• We need to save up for our kid's education.
• I am older, on a fixed income and need to make sure that I have enough for retirement.

If you looking for one, you'll always find a reason not to give.  How much more honorable the poor widow and the Macedonians who tended to be blind to excuses.  “That in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality” (2 Corinthians 8:2).   Isn't it noteworthy that two of the most beautiful examples of giving in the New Testament were both giving by extremely poor people.

How I Benefit

How wonderfully wise of God to created giving for the benefit of the giver as well as the receiver:

• “The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered” (Proverbs 11:25).
• “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good deed” (2 Corinthians 9:8).
• “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Corinthians 9:10).
• “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap” (Luke 6:38).

• Giving helps us think more about others and less about ourselves.
• Giving reminds us that we have had a good life, that we've been richly blessed.
• Giving reminds us that one of the reasons why we work, is not simply to buy things for ourselves, but rather to be in a position to help others in need: Ephesians 4:28
• Giving allows us to put our convictions into action.  Do I really believe that the world needs Jesus and the gospel?  Where one invests one's time and resources surely indicates the convictions closest to our hearts.

Teaching Children to Give

• Long before they earn an income or even an allowance I can instill in my children the habit of giving.  And just how can one train a heart to love to serve and volunteer?  At a very early age, our children can be giving of themselves, helping out at work days or moving days or going with mom and dad and visiting someone.  You may have noticed: those who are generous with what they have, are likewise often generous with their time and talents,  just as people who are stingy with their money also tend to be so with their time. When one's children start earning an allowance or making money by doing chores for others, what an advantage you give them by instilling the habit of putting some of their earnings aside for God.  We can help them early on.  “So, they paid you 20 dollars?  How much do you think you would be honorable to give back to God?”

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.com
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net