1 Thess. 5: 16-18; 2 Cor. 9:7-8
Today is our annual sermon on financial giving. We preach on this topic once a year, usually around the Thanksgiving holiday. This is because there is a close relationship between giving thanks and giving financially.
Let’s begin today by talking about thankfulness, about expressing thanks for all the blessings God gives us.
Two or three years ago I sought out spiritual advice on how to develop my prayer life. The suggestion I received was to give thanks throughout the day for ordinary things, for example, for vegetables when I’m at the grocery store.
You know, “Thank you God for this fresh broccoli, for these ripe bananas.” You get the idea. I tried doing that, but at first it seemed silly and artificial.
But soon I began to really feel thankful for these simple blessings. In my 70s I know every day is a gift. So I began to thank God – from my heart – for being able to brush my teeth, wash dishes, walk across a room. Each day brings countless opportunities for giving thanks for the everyday wonders of being alive.
The Apostle Paul encourages us to be thankful “in every circumstance,” and especially for the spiritual blessings we have in Christ. He writes in Ephesians, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing from heaven.”
We express thanks that our sins are forgiven through Jesus’ death on the cross. And that we have new life through Christ’s resurrection. We give thanks for our life together as church, where we grow with each other as Jesus’ disciples. And that we have received the Holy Spirit empowering us to love like Jesus’ loves. We give thanks that we will be part of God’s glorious future when God’s Reign comes in fullness.
We also give thanks for God’s gift of creation. One friend describes a few of the things she celebrates:
“Watching birds build their nests, bees and butterflies pollinating, dragonflies riding the breeze, lotus flowers blooming in our tiny pond where tiny fish swim. Mischievous squirrels hiding acorns in flowerpots, friendly cats and dogs scampering under our neighbor’s freshly washed sheets hanging on the line. Scents of fragrant flowers just opening, new leaves unfurling. God’s creation, freely given to all who are able to feel the wonder of it, the joy it brings . . . free for the having.”
We give heartfelt thanks too for the gift of loving relationships. Next to our relationship with God these are the most precious blessings that we have. As the old hymn says, “For the joy of human love: Brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth, and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild. Lord of all, to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise.”
Greatest of all our gifts is knowing God himself, the experience of intimate fellowship with God in Christ. We have the astounding blessing of living in communion with the gracious and loving presence of God. And of being God’s co-workers in repairing the world in love to be the kind of world God wants it to be. These are wonders truly worthy of thanksgiving.
Paul encourages us to “give thanks in every circumstance” that life brings us. He does not say to give thanks “for everything,” but “in everything.” We don’t give thanks for hunger and war and disease – the evils of this broken world.
Yet in such circumstances and in all the challenges and difficulties of life we give thanks because God is with us and helps us. And because even in the hardest of times, we can learn and grow in Christ. “In this world you will have many troubles,” Jesus says, “but be encouraged . . . I will always be with you, even to the end of the world.”
There is an intimate relationship between giving thanks and giving from our financial resources. Financial giving is one way that we can express gratitude to God for all that he has given us.
God calls us to provide for our own families, to give to those in need, and to contribute to the life of the church. We’re going to look briefly at three texts written by the Apostle Paul that help guide us in our giving. This is the practical part!
2 Cor. 8:11-12: Each of you should give . . . according to your means, for if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
Some of us are able to give more, some less. But we can all give something.
We’ve noted in previous years that the tithe, or giving 10% of one’s income, is not taught for Christians in the New Testament. It can be a helpful rule of thumb for some Jesus-believers. If the Holy Spirit leads us to give 10% that’s great. But it is not a New Testament teaching applicable to all.
Some Jesus-followers might give 10 percent, some more than 10 percent, some less. Rick Warren, a pastor and author, brings in a large income from his book sales. As a result, he is able to give a “reverse tithe.” He gives away 90% of his income and lives on 10%.
Few Christians have sufficient income to do that. But each of us can give generously and even sacrificially, according to our individual means and circumstances.
2 Cor. 9:7: Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Paul is saying that our giving should be a matter of thoughtful prayer and commitment.
There are times when we make a spontaneous decision to give, especially when helping someone in need. But when deciding on a regular amount for the church, each of us can take the time to make a thoughtful decision based on God’s leading and our capacity. Married couples should pray and make the decision together.
Paul also writes that our giving should be cheerful. The amount we give should not feel like a burdensome duty. “Not under compulsion,” he writes. We give an amount that we can give cheerfully and generously, while meeting the needs of our own families.
2 Cor. 9:8: And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
We can give generously because God promises to meet our needs. God usually meets our financial needs by providing us with a job. But he also may do that through fellow church members or friends. We should be ready to receive as well as to give.
Sometimes God meets our needs in quite miraculous ways. When Diana and I were younger, we once needed to buy groceries, but our bank account was empty. After praying, I looked again at my account. To my surprise there was $200 that I was sure wasn’t there before. Maybe I had somehow overlooked it, though I didn’t think so. Or maybe God worked a miracle. Either way, God provided, and Diana and I were thankful.
We read in Scripture that God also uses governments. Governments have a special responsibility to provide for people who are unable to meet their own basic needs. The U.S. government does this, for example, through SNAP and Medicaid, among other such programs.
God’s charge to governments to assist people in need is personal to me, so I want to talk more about that. Before I retired part of my work was to urge Congress to provide funding for the kind of foreign aid that helps people trapped in poverty around the world. Aid that helps provide food for the hungry and life-saving medicines for the sick in impoverished countries. Also, aid that enables people escape poverty by helping create jobs — supplying start-up funds for small businesses and seeds and tools for small-holder farmers.
This kind of humanitarian foreign aid was only about ½ of 1 percent of the U.S. federal budget. It had strong support from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Many members of Congress said that they supported this funding because of their Christian faith, because of Jesus’ call to help people in poverty.
But now, as you may know, the current U.S. Administration has eliminated much of this assistance and abolished the government agency that administered it. As a result, people in poor countries, including children, have died from lack of food and medicine that the U.S. once provided. Instead of serving as an instrument of God’s mercy, our government leaders have closed their hearts to our neighbors in need.
Hopefully, we here understand something that many of our government leaders don’t: That being thankful with full hearts for all the blessings God has given us isn’t a summons to selfishness. Rather, as the Apostle Paul writes, God’s abundant blessings call us to “abound in every good work” on behalf of others.
We’re going to close with a song I heard recently entitled, “Where Your Treasure Is” by Jon Guerra. He sings it in English, and we’ll project the words in Spanish.
[The song can be found on YouTube.].
Thank you, God, for the wonderful blessings that you freely give us, and for the grace to give back to you all that we have and are.
Marty Shupack, New Hope Fellowship, Nov. 16, 2025