What We Give

Scripture texts: 2 Samuel 1:1,17-27; 2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Ours is a culture that believes in charity. It’s a value we share, that it is good to give to those who are in need. We believe that it is good to give, but not that we should be compelled to give. It should be something that comes from the heart, so each one should have the right, and should be encouraged, to give freely; to give as much as one has made up one’s mind to give.
I think we got this idea from the Apostle Paul.
Paul tells the Corinthians that he wants them to be generous, basically for their own sake, but that he does not want to compel them to be generous. Because that would sort of defeat the purpose. He really wants them to want to do good. And you just can’t force that on someone.
That is essentially what I think Americans believe too. We are a land that celebrates freedom, and that includes freedom in giving. So in our country, we have a lot of charities.
I am sure you know this from first-hand experience. How many requests for donations have you received this week? There are so many charities we need other organizations that help us figure out which charities to give to. We need Charity Navigators, to tell us who is worthy and who is not.
You know that once you give, you get on everyone’s list and the requests multiply. I have known some people who try to respond to all the requests that seem worthy with at least a small amount, and others who try to narrow their focus to just a few and ignore the rest. I once knew a man who told me he and his wife were so overwhelmed by this problem they just ignored them all. And then they felt guilty about not giving, so they decided that their penance would be to pay every penny of taxes they might be responsible for, not looking for any deductions or credits that they might be eligible for.
The problem of giving can easily become an overwhelming and thorny problem for us. And we don’t have any outside authority telling us how to do it. It’s just up to each one of us to decide what and how to give.
Some of us use the tithing rule. We say that the Bible mandates we give ten percent of our earnings to God, so that is how much we pledge to the church. Of course, then we grapple with the question of whether it’s ten percent of gross or net earnings. And there is a question of whether we give the whole ten percent to our congregation, or if we divide it up between the church and other charitable organizations. Then finally there is the question of whether ten percent is meant to be the limit of our giving, or just the starting point.
The question of how and what we give is not a simple one. And to be told, “Just give as you want to give. It’s a personal decision,” is not all that helpful. We need more guidance than that.
Actually, we have more guidance than that. we can find it in both these passages we heard today.
Let’s look first at the story of David in 2ndSamuel. This doesn’t sound like a story about giving, but bear with me.
You know that when he was just a boy David was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the king of Israel. For years afterward, Saul remained the king. During this period, young David came to serve in the king’s palace. He played on his harp to soothe Saul’s troubled spirit. He fought in Saul’s army. He became close friends with Saul’s son Jonathan. He even married Saul’s daughter, Michal. But eventually, Saul turned on David and they became enemies.
David became a leader of his own army, a revolt against the king. But through all of this there was a great love between David and Saul’s son, Jonathan. Jonathan tried to facilitate a reconciliation between David and Saul when things first fell apart. He made several attempts, but eventually realized that his father was dead set on killing David. So Jonathan, who loved and honored his father, was in the position of having to choose sides. And here is what he did.
He stayed and fought with his father. But he also gave warning to David, protecting him from Saul’s wrath. He pledged his love and loyalty to David, even while fighting beside his father. He didn’t choose one over the other. He chose both.
Jonathan’s loyalty to his father was just what was expected of a son. But the love and loyalty he gave to David went beyond what anyone would expect. It was beyond what was even good for him. He suffered his father’s wrath because of his loyalty to David. His father’s army was weakened, partly, due to his loyalty to David, and eventually Jonathan died, in part, because of his loyalty to David.
And after his death, David sings of his great love for Jonathan, praising Jonathan’s love and loyalty that surpassed all expectations. Perhaps this story about David and Jonathan tells us something about giving.
Do we sometimes have a tendency to expect something back when we give? An expectation that the favor will be returned. Or that we will be lauded and praised for our generosity. Or that those we give to will use our gift precisely the way we want them to.
At the very least, I want to get a tax deduction.
But Jonathan could not expect to get anything back for what he gave David. Jonathan’s duty was to his father, but his gift to David was the truest form of generosity. He gave without regard for his own gain.
I think the letter of Paul to the Corinthians gives support to this notion, in a slightly different way.
Paul devotes a lot of ink to this matter of generosity among the Corinthians. However, there is something important that is not specifically denoted but would have been known to them. Paul is urging them to give to the church in Jerusalem.
Why is this significant? Something we know from the writings of the New Testament is that there was a divide in the early church. Paul was going out farther into the world to spread the gospel, but his ministry was evolving along the way in ways that were making it different from the church back in Jerusalem. There were tensions between them, power struggles, and attempts to claim authenticity over the others. You know, kind of like how things have always been.
So in urging the Corinthians to give generously to Jerusalem, Paul was urging them to give to a different church, led by different men, with different understandings and practices of the faith.
Once again, I suggest to you, it seems to be about giving beyond expectations – and without expectations.
And so we might ask ourselves: Do we sometimes have a tendency to make judgments about who is worthy of our gifts? Only those who think and act like us. Only those who show sufficient gratitude. Only those who will use our gift well. We have certain expectations that sometimes get in the way of generosity.
Giving freely is the idea. And it means giving what you are able to give – not more and not less.
And so, you might ask, how does that help me figure it out?
The answer to the question of what to give is really this: it should never stop being a question. It is never something to have solved and set in stone, so you won’t have to think about it again. Because what we give is something we should always be thinking about.