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“Most teaching I’ve heard on money and tithing has said, ‘Give! And give generously!’ I want to give as generously as possible and invest eternally. But at what point does my giving to the Lord become irresponsible? Right now, I don’t earn very much. But I also don’t need much. Of the $10,000 I earn, I only spend about $2,000. After giving over 20 percent to Yahuwah and investing the rest, I still can’t help but feel like my reward would be more significant if I gave more, which I’d happily do.
“The problem is, I think I would feel the same way after giving 30 percent or 50 percent or 80 percent to God, too. But is that a problem? Wasn’t the widow commended for giving everything? Aren’t we told not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear? Yahushua said, ‘Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old (Luke 12:33). You said in Desiring God, ‘Yahushua is not against investment. He is against bad investment — namely, setting your heart on the comforts and securities that money can afford in this world. Money is to be invested for eternal yields in heaven’ (193). So if Yahuwah has given me a generous heart and blessed me beyond my necessities, why should I not give everything?” - Noah
Well, I won’t tell Noah not to give away everything. I don’t know what Yahuwah may be calling him to do. Yahushua indeed called on the rich young ruler to give away everything. Yahushua told the rich young man, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22).
As Noah observed, Yahushua commended the widow:
And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41–44)
I don’t know what measure of sacrifice Yahushua financially may call Noah or anyone to undergo. I don’t know. I’m not assuming he shouldn’t give away everything, but here’s what I will do. I will say that I cannot biblically tell Noah that this is his duty. I can’t say this is his biblical obligation from Yahuwah or that it is the biblical obligation or duty of Christians, in general, to give away all that they have. There are reasons, and I’ll list seven.
First, Yahushua and the apostles never made giving away all our possessions a duty for all followers of Christ. The command to the rich young ruler was not a command to all.
Second, Zacchaeus was commended for giving away half of his riches to the poor: “‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ And Yahushua said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham’” (Luke 19:8–9). In other words, he saw in that kind of generosity — namely, 50 percent plus — that salvation has come. He’s showing he’s saved.
Third, Barnabas was admired as a son of encouragement in the early church. When the believers were selling their lands and houses to gather money for the poor, it says, “Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet” (Acts 4:36–37). So he gave one field — no doubt a very significant gift, but not everything.
Fourth, when Paul was taking up a collection for the poor in Jerusalem among the churches, he said to the Corinthians, “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 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” (1 Corinthians 16:1–2). The idea seems to be this: to the proportion that you prosper, put more aside — not everything, just more for those who earn more, less for those who earn less. Put something aside.
Fifth, Paul says, “Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one” (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12). It seems that in the ordinary life of the church, day in and day out in the world, we should at least seek a stream of income that keeps us from lazy mooching. He says, "so that you will be dependent on no one, work.” That means you need to have enough to pay your bills. You don’t give everything away. You invest and create a life that keeps you from being dependent on others.
Sixth, Paul said, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28). There are three options here: (1) you can steal, (2) you can work to have, (3) or you can work to have to give. The assumption is that as the money passes through our hands into productive uses — whether for the poor or invested in some way to help society — we are not dependent on others. Enough of our income supports us so that we can give and give and give and not be moochers off of others.
Seventh, Paul speaks of his pattern of partially foregoing the right of support:
With toil and labor, we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Yahushua Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. (2 Thessalonians 3:8–12)
The typical pattern in the early church — and in Christianity — for day-to-day life is to make a living, pay your way, and turn your whole life into a ministry.
“Remember that all of your money is Yahuwah’s, not just what you give to Him.”
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Now, lots of other passages could be brought in to show that owning nothing and giving away everything was not, in the New Testament, the way Yahushua and the apostles conceived of the ongoing corporate Christian life. In closing, I’ll mention two things that might guide Noah against this background.
First, don’t think just of percentages for how much you give away. Think of concrete people and needs as you live, and see if your heart loves people. Here’s what I mean.
The good Samaritan was commended that he stopped and helped the wounded man on the road. He had some wine to give him. He had a donkey that he would let him ride. He had the money to pay for his lodging (Luke 10:30–35). Yahushua didn’t question him, saying, “Hey, why do you have a donkey? Why do you have wine? Why do you have money? You’re supposed to give everything away.” The point was, Do you love the person in front of you at a cost to yourself? Shift your way of thinking. Do not merely think, “What percentage can I get rid of?” but rather, “The people that I deal with and that I’m aware of — do I love them as I ought with my resources?”
Here’s the second thing: remember that all your money is Yahuwah’s, not just what you give to Yahuwah. This means we should consider every expenditure in a kingdom-advancing way, not just what we give away. It is all Yahuwah’s. He owns you. He owns it. Everything you spend and give to the ministry should be designed to magnify Yahuwah.
Noah, I’m with you in the struggle just as much now, at age 73, as I was when I was 23. Let’s pray for each other that we not be taken captive by our possessions.
This is a non-WLC article by John Piper. You can listen to it here:
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-jesus-teach-us-to-sell-all-our-possessions
We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team
