By Adam Parker
Since physical worship resumed at our church one thing that has been notably absent has been the offering. While we have had a collection bag at the back of the sanctuary, we have not included offerings in the worship service out of a concern for the situation with COVID-19. Many would have had understandable issues with touching and passing the same item up and down the rows during the worship service, and the Session accommodated that concern. At this point, however, in July of 2021, there is little concern that COVID-19 is transmitted via surfaces, and the Session has determined that it is time for us to resume offerings during the worship service beginning August 1st.
As the Pastor, I felt this would be a golden teaching opportunity for us to remember why the offering is included in our service to begin with, and why we don’t just continue to have the offering bag in the back of the sanctuary. While I suspect many of us like the “low pressure” approach to giving that this encourages, I also believe that this method of giving obscures the fact that giving really is a means of worshiping God and giving thanks to Him.
Our church confession says the following: “the acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men…or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture” (WCF 21). This is what we call the regulative principle. It tells us that our worship is regulated by the commands of Scripture. One of the protections that the regulative principle gives to the Christian is against having his or her conscience bound by a manmade command. Nobody should ever be commanded or compelled to worship God in a way that God has not told commanded them to worship. This means that Sessions need to be careful not to include things in corporate worship that aren’t commanded in the Bible.
My purpose here is to make the case that the giving of offerings really is an element of worship so that you as a church can be satisfied that our practice is not from “the imaginations and devices of men” and that it really is “prescribed in the Holy Scripture.” Because of that, this isn’t necessarily going to be a short read, but I hope it will be edifying.
The reality is, the mere fact that God’s people are commanded to give in Scripture repeatedly, consistently, and unceasingly would be sufficient to prove that it is appropriate to include it as an element of worship. When giving takes place during the worship service nobody can say, “My conscience is being bound by something unbiblical.” This is because it is incontrovertible that giving is a means of worship, it is undebatable that giving pleases God, and it is uncontestable that giving is commanded by God.
Old Testament Giving
I would begin by noting that giving was one important aspect of Old Testament worship. God’s people gave in several ways that we don’t have the space necessarily to go through in detail. One way was by giving a tenth of their produce twice a year (some years it was three times); these were agricultural contributions to provide for the priests. Another way was by giving a contribution in the temple. Malachi 3:8 calls this giving “contributions.” The NASB renders this word as “offerings.” God’s people showed their love and gratitude to God by giving back part of what He had given to them. In the case of Malachi 3, a lack of giving also was a show of reverse worship, to the point that God told the people they were robbing Him by not giving in a way that they could have.
Mark 12:42-43 is one of the great illustrations of giving in the temple. If you remember, the narrative tells us that “a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.” Jesus uses the judgmental reaction of some to correct them and make a point about giving that is worth a whole sermon. The point I’d like to note is that, in the time of Jesus, giving was done in the temple, and as in all aspects of the temple, this giving was a holy thing and an act of worship.
Christians do not copy temple worship or continue the practices of the temple. Jesus is a fulfillment of the ceremonies of the Old Testament. We don’t live in the types and shadows anymore. However, this does not mean that there is no help to be found from the Old Testament when it comes to New Testament worship. It seems clear that the temple offerings set a precedent that God is pleased by the gifts of his people. The Old Testament pattern also shows that our giving is a reflection of our own gratitude. Furthermore, it demonstrates for us that God wants to loosen the grip that things can have on His people, and giving is a way that God lovingly frees us from such bonds.
I don’t think it is controversial to say that prior to the death and resurrection of Christ, giving is extolled and is an aspect of the worship of God’s people in the regular life and rhythm of Israel.
New Testament Giving
This brings us, then, to the New Testament and what it has to say about giving. If one is expecting radical discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments they might expect the New Testament to downplay giving or ignore it on the basis that Christ gave the ultimate gift of his life, and so now Christians are not expected to give. Instead, the emphasis of the New Testament almost seems to be a heightened sense of response to God’s grace by the Christian’s own generosity. There are many verses where this happens, but one of the most profound comes from 2 Cor 9:7, where Paul says this about Christian giving: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
There is much in this verse that is a blessing to us, not least of which, Paul is telling us that the posture of the heart is important in how we give, not simply the act of giving in itself, or necessarily even the amount given. Paul is also saying that we should be persuaded to give, not compelled. However, especially relevant for our purposes is the second half of the verse where he says “God loves a cheerful giver.” This love that God has for the cheerful giver leads to one valid inference for us, which is that God is revealing about himself that He is pleased by giving that is done in a biblical way and from a right heart. Giving is a means of pleasing our heavenly Father.
The collective biblical picture up to this point, then, is this: In the Old Testament, God reveals himself to be pleased with the giving of His people, and he shows that giving is to be a part of the rhythm and pattern of worship. In the New Testament, Jesus amplifies the call to give by emphasizing the importance of the heart and intention in worship. The Apostles, likewise, draw attention to giving from the heart cheerfully.
Giving in Worship
Up to this point, there should be little controversy: giving is good. God calls Christians to give, and He is pleased by our giving for the needs of the church. So why do we believe that the taking up of a collection is actually meant to be a biblical element of worship that should take place during the worship service? I would point out that as with many aspects of worship there is not one single place where it is taught, but that it comes out in a cumulative way. Generally we see that Christians are expected to give. Jesus commends generosity and giving.
We also see that when Christians do give, they should do so as a gathered body and in a corporate way. Probably the quintessential passage that helps us to see when and how giving should take place is 1 Cor. 16:1-2, where Paul gives instructions about how the collection for Jerusalem is to take place: “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.”
By the end of verse 1, what can we conclude? First, that this instruction the Corinthians are about to receive is not a one-time command, intended only for them. Rather, this instruction is one he has given to multiple other times to other churches in the region of Galatia; it is not only for one time and context. Second, he calls it “the collection of the saints.” He gives a name to this act that is meant to be a blessing, in this case, as a gift of mercy (or “alms”) for the suffering Christians in Jerusalem. We can deduce, then, that this giving Paul is talking about is giving for the good of others, to provide in some way for the needs of the church both locally and abroad.
In verse 2 Paul then speaks of the method of the collection for the saints: “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.”
Note a couple of things: Paul does not say “throughout the week put something aside and store it up,” he says “on the first day of the week.”
This is indicative of the fact, first of all, that Christians were in the business of gathering together on the first day of the week; they are in one place together. It is a helpful indicator to show that by the time 1 Corinthians was written Christians had begun their own corporate meetings distinct from the synagogue on the same day of the week when Jesus was raised up – what John calls “the Lord’s Day” (Rev. 1:10).
Secondly, we see that Paul saw this as something that was appropriate to do when all the saints of the church were corporately gathered together in one place, and Sunday was when that gathering and giving happened. In other words, this giving coincides with the corporate gathering of the church.
Third, Paul instructs that the giving is going to be relative to the means of the giver: it’s not as though a poor man and a prosperous man were expected to give in the same way – no, Paul says, “as he may prosper.” In other words, some will be able to give more than others, as a simple matter of fact. This scale of giving matches with the fact that in the Old Testament there were different offerings and sacrifices that poorer Israelites could give.
Giving in PCA Churches
I would suggest that the picture which begins to form in Paul’s words is remarkably close to what is described in our own Book of Church Order, which says the following:
54-1. The Holy Scriptures teach that God is the owner of all persons and all things and that we are but stewards of both life and possessions; that God’s ownership and our stewardship should be acknowledged; that this acknowledgement should take the form, in part, of giving at least a tithe of our income and other offerings to the work of the Lord through the Church of Jesus Christ, thus worshipping the Lord with our possessions; and that the remainder should be used as becomes Christians.
54-2. It is both a privilege and a duty, plainly enjoined in the Bible, to make regular, weekly, systematic and proportionate offerings for the support of religion and for the propagation of the Gospel in our own and foreign lands, and for the relief of the poor. This should be done as an exercise of grace and an act of worship, and at such time during the service as may be deemed expedient by the Session.
54-3. It is appropriate that the offerings be dedicated by prayer.
I realize that this is a long article, but I hope that we as a church appreciate the fact that it is God who governs his church, and that we really shouldn’t worship in a way that is invented by human beings. Instead, God tells us how to worship, what we do in worship, and protects us from human invention in worship – including in the giving of offerings as an element of that worship.