Speaker 0 00:00:00 One of the things I hear from lots of church leaders is that it's hard to talk about giving, but we know from scripture that there are biblical reasons why people are called to give. In this conversation, we're gonna unpack some of the reasons why you should never be afraid to talk about giving, and give you some tips to help you feel confident when you're doing it. We hope this conversation helps your church reach more people and grow. You're listening to The Reach Right podcast, the show dedicated to helping pastors and church leaders reach people the right way. Hosted by me, Thomas Costello, and with me as always as my co-host, Ian Hyatt. We're here to help your church see more visitors and grow,
Speaker 2 00:00:50 To get to get
Speaker 0 00:00:56 Well. Hey guys, welcome to the Reach right podcast. I'm Thomas Costello, and with me as always is my co-host
Speaker 3 00:01:02 Ian Hyatt. What's up, Thomas?
Speaker 0 00:01:04 Hey, not much man. Excited to talk about, uh, our topic today. It's five biblical reasons for Giving. I think it's really important. Um, it's important. I think our, our audience is mostly church leaders, uh, and those are the people that are watching the Reach Right. Podcast here. And you would maybe think, Well, that's a strange topic, but I think it's important just as a reminder, sometimes we get so caught up in the day to day life of church, Right. Uh, that it's hard for us to remember that like, that giving is something that a lot of people struggle with. Yeah. Uh, and it's important for us to remember that like there are real true biblical reasons that we're called to do it. Yeah. And to dive into some of those a little bit today. So just kind of as a, I don't think anybody's gonna hear something today in this episode that like, Oh my gosh, this is new to me that I'm supposed to give for that reason.
Speaker 0 00:01:51 Cause if you've been in church any length of time, you've probably heard talks on this kind of stuff before. But I think it is thing, something that is good for us to this kind of refresh ourselves. Now, you know, this about me, I'm sure Ian, that like money and giving is like my favorite thing to talk about. I do do, like when I pastored, when I pastored churches, like if I've had it my way, I would talk about tithing every single week. Not because we, like I'm a prosperity preacher or something like that, but just because I know it's changed my life so much, kind of grabbing a hold of this, uh, principle here. And it's been something that's changed me from the inside out. So, yeah. Anyway, I love talking about this, so we don't ever need a reason to bring these things up. But yeah, we're going talk about five, uh, biblical reasons for, for giving and why it's important.
Speaker 3 00:02:35 Yeah. Should be good. And it's kind of that time of year too, right? I mean, I mean, of course you always wanna give and be generous. Of course that's biblical. But, uh, we're in that Christmas se or holiday season, if you will, leading up to Christmas, Thanksgiving
Speaker 0 00:02:48 Too. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:02:49 Yeah. Thanksgiving and, uh, and, you know, year end giving, uh, to be, you know, uh, tax deductible and all of that stuff comes to mind a little bit. And again, something that should be done year round and but, uh, but is kind of a probably good apt thing for this, uh, season. And, uh, yes, I do remember Thomas, you do like to, uh, preach about that. I was very surprised when we first met and you were talking about things you like to preach on, that that came first. I was like, Oh, wow. But, but you know, it reminds me when I became a new believer, when I, when I became a Christian, actually one of the most compelling messages I heard, and one of the first ones was about tithing. And, and it didn't offend me. And I actually, it changed my life too. So, um, so anyway, I'm with
Speaker 0 00:03:35 Think sometimes we get scared, and this is some advice that it was given to me by, by Robert Morris, he, pastors Gateway Church up in South Lake, Texas there. And, um, he said, Don't ever apologize for talking about giving. Yeah. And from that moment on, I felt like it was something that I, you just mentioned that like, it wasn't offensive to you or anything. Right. And sometimes I'm sure it could be offensive, it'll be offensive to some people and all gospel presentations and anything, it can be offensive to people. We understand that. But yeah, I think that I was in that habit at one point where I would apologize whenever I was going to talk about finances or giving and say, I'm so sorry if you're here for the first time. Cause we're talking about giving, we don't do this every week. I'd say those kinds of things to qualify it, when really we have to remember that anytime we teach or talk about giving, it's actually there to bless the people that are hearing it.
Speaker 0 00:04:28 Yeah. Like, it's not, sometimes we get caught up in this idea that like, I, I fall victim of this at least that like, somehow God needs our money, Right? If, if, and I don't talk these people into giving, then God is going, His mission won't be accomplished or Right. Uh, he's gonna fail at what he set out to do, which is so obviously false. Right. And so when we talk about giving, there's nothing to be ashamed about, especially when you have the right heart and knowing, uh, I re I'm reminded in my own life of how much learning about giving, uh, biblical views on giving, how much that's changed me. And I wanna see that same kind of thing for other people. So I think it's a good kind of a, a way to think about it as we get started with these five kind of biblical reasons that we see as to why we should give.
Speaker 0 00:05:10 So I'll say this before you jump into number one in, we're not gonna go into all of the scripture references in this, but that will be in the show notes, Uh, or on the actual YouTube video. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can head down and see the scripture references. We'll provide all of those so you know that, um, you know, we're, we're actually taking this from scripture, these kinds of principles here, but we're not gonna go through, We'll save you the time of reading. Uh, I think we have 15 different bible verses, uh, that we've kind of pulled out here that talk about why, um, why we're called to give the way that we're called to give in scripture. So, um, so that'll be in the notes, but why don't you take it away for us.
Speaker 3 00:05:46 Yeah, absolutely. First one is that giving is an act of worship. And I like that we're kicking it off with this one first because I think that might come as a surprise to some people or maybe newer Christians that, cuz I think when you think of worship, you're thinking of giving thanks to God, maybe singing and praising God for who he is and what he's done in your life. But mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's the same with giving, uh, it's showing our dependence, our trust, and, uh, us uh, giving thanks and returning to God what he's blessed us with. And so I think that that's, uh, a really neat thing, uh, and, and, uh, that we can't forget is that it's a part of worship.
Speaker 0 00:06:25 Hmm. Yeah. That's really well said. I went, uh, to a church once and, uh, in the service, they, the pastor or whoever was doing the announcement, say, Hey, it's time to, it's time to do our giving time, or it's time to, to do our ties and offerings. Yeah. And there was, the church was like trained, I guess, to everybody made like the loudest celebration noise. It was as if it was, it was like as if the team, the, it was as in San Francisco Bay Area. So it was as if the 49ers just scored a touchdown. Right. Everybody is like, like people start standing up and doing like, you know, arms raises and stuff and, uh, hooing and hollering and doing all those things that they do. It was, it was really amazing. And so I think what they were trying to do, and, and that's again, it's a trained response.
Speaker 0 00:07:09 People don't naturally do that in most cases. Maybe it is super spiritual people at this church here, but, um, it's something that, uh, it, they were trying to reinforce that this is something that is worshipful, that is something to be celebrated, not something that we have to do, something that we get to do, get to do. Right. Yeah. So I think it was really, uh, meaningful. But yeah, that's such a good reminder that giving is an act of worship, that it actually brings glory to God. It's no different from singing songs of praise or making changes in our life. They are all there to bring God glory. So yeah. Really good reminder something, uh, scripture definitely does teach and, um, yeah, I think, so we need to keep in mind,
Speaker 3 00:07:50 I remember seeing on our church's website, uh, several years ago that, uh, instead of the, the link for giving to be called Giving or donated, it said the joy button. Uh, this church actually, uh, they called it the joy button on their, the homepage of their website so that, you know, when someone clicked on that. So it was a reminder of that, you know, that it should be a cheerfully done and of course, a part of worship. So not very common on most church websites, but I never forgot it because actually
Speaker 0 00:08:20 It's a terrible idea for your church website if that's something. Cause what we're trying to do is be clear on there. So do not do that. Don't take that as advice, Right. But know that the church's heart was in the right place, I would say at least that they were trying to communicate. Well,
Speaker 3 00:08:32 It's funny.
Speaker 0 00:08:33 All right, well, next one is that giving provides for the needs of others. This should be very obvious. Uh, and I think again, it, it's something that we are able to, to meet needs whenever we start living the generous lifestyle that, that God calls us to. So for years, uh, at our, the church I was pastoring most recently, we ran a laundry love program. Uh, and it was just amazing to see that whenever we had any kind of a designated opportunity to give, the one that always did the best was that whenever we talked about laundry lover, we shared highlights of people that came to know the Lord because we were doing their laundry for free, because they didn't have any other way of, uh, providing that for their families. And I really think that there's a certain dignity that came with washing people's clothes for them.
Speaker 0 00:09:19 And so, right. Uh, if you are wearing dirty clothes, uh, there is a deep need there. Uh, and it really is something that makes you different from the rest of the people that you're associating with there. So we saw that whenever we put that in front of people that, hey, there's this huge opportunity that we need your generosity to help fund. Uh, it was something that people always rose to that occasion. And it's just kind of a reminder that when we give, it actually can go to, people are likely, I guess said say to give to things that actually meet other people's needs. Right? So they're, they want that kind of inspiration and very biblical principle that when we give it meets the needs of those that have needs like that.
Speaker 3 00:09:58 Yeah. And I think it also goes against that stigma and idea that people have that when you give to a church, it's just going to the pastor or his, uh, luxury vehicle or his jet or something like that. And, um, you know, Yeah. It, it's, it's actually going to, to bless others and meet the needs and going to ministry. And same reason why we recommend, you know, when we consult churches day in and day out on their websites and what they're doing online, whenever there's a giving page, we recommend that, uh, you know, you actually have photography of any outreach stuff that you're doing. Um, you know, uh, sh you know, any, anything that the giving is about and what it goes towards, rather than just a button that says joy button, like we were joking about earlier, or give, um, you know, let's tell some story behind what it means to give. And this is one of the things, uh, that it does mean to give is, is that it goes towards blessing other people. So
Speaker 0 00:10:52 Yeah, you're so right. I, I just hate that reputation that there's, you know, yeah, there's maybe 10 pastors, maybe there's a 20, I don't know, that have jets, right? Like that's kind of the, the, uh, the idea behind the holding. They have their own personal jets and that's how they get around. And gosh, I mean there for every one of those, there's a million other pastors that are doing the exact opposite of that. And it really is going towards people's needs in, in Right. The vast majority of cases. So I know we hear about the outliers, but yeah, it's a really good reminder that this is about meeting needs.
Speaker 3 00:11:24 That's good. Well, I'll get the next one. It's also about, uh, giving is about the heart, uh, kind of similar to what we mentioned that it's, that's about worship. Um, this is though a little bit different in sense that it's about your heart. I think it just, you know, shows where your heart is at with God. Um, you know, where your treasure is, where your heart is, right? So, um, so that's basically, you know, an very important reminder is that I think it really does show the maturity, the heart of where someone's at, shows that they're trusting God for his, that, that, you know, you're taking him at his word as, again, there's so many scriptures that talk about this, that, that, uh, that deal with the heart as it pertains to money, right? We know that that's throughout scripture repeatedly. So really does have to do with the state of someone's heart.
Speaker 0 00:12:14 This is a message I think that's so important because this is one way that the church, uh, is radically different from the way generosity is portrayed in the world, right? Yeah. So like, when, when people look at generous people, they don't generally think of people that have little means, but have lots of means. It's people that have their names on wings of museums and those kinds of things, right? They're the ones you look at that and say, Wow, that person is so generous. But in reality, I think what, what Jesus did when he tells, like the story of the widows might and how she gave what she had, and, uh, the, the Pharisees would come and make a big scene and actually proportionally give less than what the widow gave in those stories. So, oh yeah. It's, it's that kind of thing. It's about, it's about the heart. It's not about the actual volume or the amount as the world would say, but in the church it's about the sacrifice and what's happening in your heart and what, what it's costing you actually. So what might cost someone a million dollars, you know, the hundred dollars that someone of less means gives might be more impactful for them. So really, I think that's what's so unique, and I think that's a message that is biblical and needs to be taught in our pulpits, that giving is first and foremost about the heart.
Speaker 3 00:13:26 That's good. That's good. Why don't you get the next one?
Speaker 0 00:13:28 All right. Uh, here's this one I think has a little bit of complexity and nuance to it, but we'll say this, that scripture teaches that giving, it comes with a blessing in return. That that's something that we, there are scriptures that seem to clearly teach that now. So this is one of those ones that is so abused out there, right? And I think this is like prosperity, right? Gospel 1 0 1, uh, is that if I give and my I, I give, I'm gonna be given back, uh, double or tenfold measure, I'm gonna be given that. And so people have taken that kernel of truth that we will receive blessing when we give. And they've taken that and twisted it to be to say that if my heart is to give so that I can get something back, that I will receive monetary blessing, right? When I do those things.
Speaker 0 00:14:19 So that is the kind of a kind of a pact that we have with God. I put $10 into God, God gives me a hundred dollars back, I put a million dollars into God, he gives me $10 million back. Yeah. And that is not scriptural at all. But what is scriptural is that it does, we, we do see this over and over again in scripture that when we give, we are blessed, but blessed, I think this is where the, the, the, the term really is important. Blessed does not mean you get money back like that. You get, you'll get even more money back if you give a certain amount of money. That is not the case. I, um, I can stand and comfortably preach to any church that say, if you give, you will be blessed. It may not come in the form of, uh, it often doesn't come in the form of financial blessing.
Speaker 0 00:15:07 Sometimes it does. I've seen that happen in my own life. You probably have too. I think I have much of our audience has seen financial blessing when we give, but often it comes in the form of other things, health and family, wholeness, and, uh, just the feeling that God puts on our heart when we give, and that encouragement that we hear, or the blessing of hearing what our finances are doing. Or there's so many different ways that God can choose to bless us with that. And here's the other reality is that sometimes we'll give and bad things will still happen. You'll go and you'll write your tithe check and then you'll get sick the next day. And you sometimes we kind of are, are, we try to put those together. So I, God, I just gave, why is it that I'm dealing with this now? That's not a promise that God makes, is that he won't he'll spare us from hardship if we give. It doesn't say that. But the idea is that we are blessed when we give. And we think that's really taught clearly in scripture.
Speaker 3 00:16:01 Yeah, it is. I keep coming up with these website references, but I've seen so many funny things over the years as you and I both have. But, uh, I'm glad that you, uh, address the prosperity preaching aspect of it. Uh, Yeah. And that it's not that, because I do remember seeing on one particular homepage of a website, a pastor leaning, he was in a very nice white suit, and he was leaning against a golden pillar, and then underneath his feet was the amount that you typed in to give. Um, and so anyway, um, again, so not from the
Speaker 0 00:16:36 Heart. It's so funny, we wrestled with these things. I think this is probably, what, 10 years ago or something? You saw
Speaker 3 00:16:42 This? That was, that was a while back, that point. I, I haven't seen that on a website in a long time.
Speaker 0 00:16:46 We wrestled with this kind of stuff so much in the early days of church websites. And, you know, you and I, we've been in this from, we started in the, in like 2006, I think for you. We started helping churches with this. And back in those days, most churches didn't have websites. We had to like convince churches as sales people, we convince them, Hey, you need to have a website. It'll actually help you. And we were trying to figure all these things, like, how do you take what we were doing in person and turn it into something that makes sense online? And so I guess in those churches, there was a, the teaching that you bring, you bring forth your offering, you bring it, maybe they lay it at the apostle's feet is kind of like, what the, what scripture would teach there. So they're trying to, they probably did something like that in their church service.
Speaker 0 00:17:30 That's where you put it at the foot of the pastor, you sitting up on the stage. I don't know what it is, but it's so funny to hear about these things that we tried to do back in the day, uh, that, you know, just, uh, didn't go anywhere. So, yeah. And I, I bet 10 years from now, we're gonna look back at this, at the videos that people made on TikTok or That's funny. Uh, the, the Facebook posts that we do or whatever it would be and say, Oh my gosh, I cannot believe we tried that kind of stuff. And a few things will have really worked well, but most we'll look back and kind of laugh at a little bit in the future.
Speaker 3 00:17:59 I bet. I bet. Well, good. Well, lastly, giving is an investment in the kingdom of God. And I think that's a good one to close on, is just that this is, uh, bigger than ourselves. It's bigger than just the local church. It's, it's, it's bigger than just giving to fund the mission at your local church, which is, uh, this is a, that's a great thing too. You should care about the mission of your local church. But bigger impact is that, uh, as Christians, we're all a part of God's kingdom and his work, uh, that he is doing here on earth within his kingdom. And, uh, that again, you mentioned at the beginning, not that God needs our money, but we get to partner with him in this effort to bring his kingdom here to earth. And, uh, as his storehouse is full, and as the local church thrives and the kingdom thrives here, more people are obviously gonna be led to him and impacted, uh, by what he's doing in his kingdom.
Speaker 0 00:18:55 Yeah, That's, that's well said. Um, I, I think that's like, like we need to know, like in our hearts that our giving is an investment in the kingdom. Like, so you're right. Like in what you were saying, what we were saying earlier is that God doesn't need us to give in order to make his will happen on earth, or his kingdom will come whether I give or you give or not. But we need to know that we're playing a part in that. I'm reminded of, uh, if you ever have, when you were a kid in, um, I don't even see these anymore, but when I was a kid, there were like those, um, those little like fake lawnmower things that little kids push around that like pop up the little balls Yeah. When you roll them like a little clear dome on the top and it would make little pop
Speaker 3 00:19:37 Noises. Man, that's funny. I, I forgot all about that, but yes, I, if I didn't have one, one of my friends did.
Speaker 0 00:19:42 Yeah, I'm sure. And so you, you used to play with those and they're like little kid, like pretend lawnmowers, they would make some noise and they would kind of rumble. And I, it, I, I think of it this way, like, imagine that a little boy, maybe two or three years old is pushing one of those alongside his dad who's actually actually pushing a lawn mower out in the lawn and, and one's pushing a lawn mower, one's pushing a toy, and they're going along kind of at the same pace there. And it's almost like, um, like the, if the little boy were to look at his dad and say, you know, here I am, you and I are kind of doing the same thing and we're doing an equal, equal work on this whole thing, when in reality like the little boy is doing absolutely nothing to get the lawn mode right.
Speaker 0 00:20:23 It's just the dad is doing everything. And I kind of think of that as like a picture of the way it is with us and the way anytime we're working alongside God and what he's doing, but especially when we think about the way our money is an investment in the kingdom. So yeah. Yes, it really does. It is used for the, the kingdom. It is making a blessing, but in reality it's almost like pushing one of those, uh, little fake lawnmowers. Well, our father is doing, doing the real lawn mowing, his kingdom is coming whether we do it or not. Uh, but we get to have the joy of feeling like we're a part of what he's doing when we give that way. And so I think that's kind of, uh, the way I like to think about it. It gives me, uh, warm fuzzies to think about that you
Speaker 3 00:21:00 Probably just, uh, provided a great sermon illustration for someone out there, Thomas. That was good. Maybe.
Speaker 0 00:21:05 So maybe that's what it is there. So here's what it is in the end, I think, and I, I think we all know this, the giving is about the heart, right? Yeah. Uh, and so I think that's, uh, for those of us, uh, on this podcast watching, most of you are probably church leaders. And that's the thing to remember taking away with all this here, is that we are in the business of changing hearts and turning hearts towards God, right? And so in the end, that's why it's important to talk about giving, because giving is one of the clearest reflections of where someone's heart is. Uh, so when we are able to do that, when we're able to, to move someone's heart, they may say with their mouth that they're following Jesus. They may live certain ways or you know, they kind of follow laws, whatever. But a lot of times, and this is not, obviously, this isn't the, the standard for whether someone's saved or not, right? But it is a really clear indication in a lot of cases as to where someone's heart is, if they're able to give generously and we're able to change people's hearts to give towards what God is doing. I think that's how, you know, you're making a real disciple. Uh, so that's kind of the way I think about it as we close here.
Speaker 3 00:22:08 It's definitely, uh, not much. No, obviously we know that we're gonna provide, again, as you mentioned all those scripture references, but make me think of that it is more blessed to give than to receive. That's one of the more memorable ones. And uh, I know personally that, uh, whenever I've been cheerful at it and, uh, been generous with my finances, my time and everything, it's always very rewarding. Uh, and it is that, that's true. So
Speaker 0 00:22:33 Awesome. Awesome. Good stuff. Well, I hope this has been helpful to you. If it has, it would mean the world to us if you would rate, review, subscribe, like, do all those kinds of things. It helps the algorithm kind of pick up on what we're doing here and helps us to help more churches. And yeah, we hope it has been helpful to you. Uh, so thanks for being a part of the Reach right family, and we'll catch you next week.
Speaker 3 00:22:54 See you.
Speaker 0 00:22:57 Thanks for listening to The Reach Right podcast. We hope this episode will help you reach people the right way. Looking for more resources for your church, check us out
[email protected]. If this episode has been helpful to you, it would mean the world to us if you would rate, review and subscribe on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.
