Resources by Topic: Money and Giving

Giving infuses life with joy. It interjects an eternal dimension into even the most ordinary day. That’s just one reason you couldn’t pay me enough not to give. The joy Nanci and I experience comes in envisioning what God is doing in people’s lives for eternity through what we’ve given to Him.

The Treasure Principle: You can’t take it with you, but... you can send it on ahead.

Tithing is done on profit—what you have truly made, how much you’ve actually come out ahead. That wouldn’t include all gross business income, since much, usually most, of that must pay for the business goods, employees, etc., which are providing the services making the money in the first place.

If I were you I would take the money I would have spent on the Corvette, and give it to missions and famine relief. Everyone comes out ahead that way—God is glorified, people are kept alive and reached with the gospel, and you will lay up treasures in heaven, and Jesus says your heart will follow your treasures.

There are two sides to the issue of savings. Scripture tells us that the wise man anticipates future needs, while the foolish man spends and consumes all his resources with no thought for the future.

I would tithe on gifts and scholarships because they are true income.

Over the last ten years, I’ve been suggesting that we learn how to share testimonies about giving in order to help the body of Christ grow in the grace of giving. 

To say that churches should receive the firstfruits does NOT mean they should keep them. They should set the example for their people by giving more to missions and the poor than they keep.

I would recommend caution on this. On the one hand, I’m hesitant for church leaders to know how much anyone gives because of the temptation to violate James 2 and treat big givers with favoritism and ignore lesser givers.

While getting out of debt is a high biblical priority it is as much a wisdom issue as a righteousness one, and requires discernment and good strategy not just a single act of obedience.

Ask yourself “Why am I in debt in the first place?” Is God responsible for my unwise or greedy decisions that may have put me there? And even if I’ve come into debt legitimately, isn’t my first debt to God?

When asked “should we tithe on the gross or the net?” it’s appropriate to ask “What do we want to be blessed on, the gross or the net?”

My stated belief on the tithe is that it is the training wheels of giving, merely a beginning point. As to whether it applies to Christians, the question is whether New Testament grace lowers the standards of giving or raises it.

Resources for Teaching Middle School Students about Money, as well as High school small group curriculum titled “What’s God Got to Do with It?”