How would our culture answer this one? ‘Indulge yourself’, ‘It’s all about you!’ the marketing of our age tells us. Our culture says that earning money to spend on ourselves is a marker of success: the more lavish the lifestyle, the bigger the toys, the more outfits and shoes on the rack, the more countries visited, the faster the car … the more happy we are? Sadly, the world has this one upside down!

As Christians, we need to recognise first and foremost that everything we have is given to us by God. ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,’ shouts the Psalmist (Psalm 24:1) – or hear Paul’s instruction to Timothy, ‘everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4).

Money is a great part of creation, which can do so much good if used faithfully. But of course, as we look around our culture and at our own heart, we know that the money rat-race can also be a trap and a burden, a slave-master who can take our allegiance away from the living God. Jesus was acutely aware of our temptation; He famously taught us, ‘you cannot serve God and money’ (Luke 16:10). So perhaps a helpful re-phrasing of the question is in order!

Thankfully, the Bible gives us some clear priorities on this one. Our first priority is to provide for our family and relatives, if needs be (e.g. 1 Timothy 5:8). Second, we are to acknowledge that Gospel workers need our support. In the Bible we see a pattern laid down from the very beginning of the formation of God’s people, that spiritual ministers (servants) of the people should be provided for by those who they serve (e.g. Deuteronomy 18:1-5).

In the early church, time and again Paul is found both thanking and encouraging the churches for their financial support of both his own and other missionary’s Gospel work (e.g. Romans 15:25- 29; 1 Corinthians 9:3-14). In 3 John, we are encouraged to see the significance and great opportunity afforded by our giving as our financial partnership in the Gospel means that we become a ‘fellow worker for the truth’ (3 John 1:5-8). Moving outwards in our circle of responsibilities, we are encouraged to care for the poor in the world, especially poorer churches (cf. 2 Corinthians 8).

There is no ‘right’ answer on this one, but there are some challenging principles. We are encouraged to be generous. Why generous? It is not difficult to see why. God has lavished the riches of his grace upon us in the Gospel of salvation (Ephesians 2:7-10; Philippians 4:19-20).

More than this, we are encouraged to be audaciously generous. It is not about the amount we give to Gospel work, but rather, it is about our attitude and generosity with what we have. Jesus commends the actions of a poor widow for putting two small copper coins in an offertory box and condemns the offerings of the rich since He knows how costly this donation was for the widow. Of the rich He says, ‘they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’ (Luke 21:1-4).

Jesus asks us to give up our private ambitions and idealised picture of chasing a career, wealth and all that this entails and ‘lose it’, so that we might save our true life by following Him (e.g. Mark 8:34-38). Sometimes the ‘tithing’ (ten percent of our income) principle is used by some Christians to guide their giving. Whilst this might match true generosity for some of us, for many of us, it may not. We, who live here in Australia, are certainly the rich of this age (see 1 Timothy 6:17).

Lastly, our generosity will only arise from a cheerful heart. We are not to give reluctantly, or under compulsion (2 Corinthians 9:6ff ). We are to take joy in our giving, knowing the steadfast love and rich blessings towards us from the one we serve!

If you have any other questions please email finance@cityonahill.com.au.