giving is giving, not getting

I have not watched Christian television in years, and I found out this week why.

I was channel surfing, and just for giggles decided to stop by for a second. What did I see?

A guy reading a laundry list of people who had sent in money. The attitude in reading the list was a "these people are awesome. These people have done the right thing. These people have heard God."

This train of thought carried over after the names were read off. The train of thought was: "those whose names are read off are the ones who can expect blessing from God" (for having contributed).

My first thought upon seeing this was thinking about the charge to Followers in the New Testament, and thinking about the nature and spirit of giving.

In the first chapter of James, we're told to look after orphans and widows. Period. There is no "and if you do you'll be recompensed by God for having done so" attached to it.

In Luke 17, Jesus presents a scenario to His disciples about a servant and a master. Jesus said the attitude of a servant should be: do what you're told to do and expect nothing. Again, do what you're told and expect nothing. Wow.

In Mark 6, Jesus said if you do your acts of righteousness before men there will be no reward from the Father.

He expounded on this, saying to give in secret and "when you give (to the needy), don't announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in church and on the street to be honored by men."

And further, "When you give, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

The emphasis here was on giving, and the way/manner/approach in which to give.

The Prosperity Gospel puts the emphasis backwards: "Do you want to be blessed? In order to do so, you'll need to give/sacrifice. Do you want to be in a better financial position? You can, but it requires you to contribute." The emphasis is on gain. The focus is on being or becoming blessed, and the manner by which to get to this goal of gain? Give.

In other words, if you want to gain you must give. The goal of giving is to get. The focus of the Prosperity Gospel, and what I saw on TV, was to gain, not to give.

Brothers and sisters, this is a stench. We may end up blessing the poor in the process, sure, but it is our hearts which will be judged and weighed, not our actions (Prov 21:2). If the purpose of our heart is GAIN even when our actions are giving...the Lord is not fooled, nor amused.

Jesus says giving is the goal. Giving is the end, not the means.

The Prosperity Gospel says giving is the means by which you reach the true goal: blessing and rewards in your earthly life, from God.

Jesus says (paraphrased) "Give, and do it unobtrusively. And oh, by the way, if you do then you'll be rewarded."

In Jesus' teaching the emphasis is giving, and the humility and secrecy in doing so. The fact we'll be rewarded by the Father for having given is a sidebar consequence, not the goal.

Along that same vein, of being rewarded by God for giving, Jesus didn't specify it would be a financial reward. There is heavy emphasis in the Prosperity movement that earthly financial reward is inexorably tied to the blessing to be expected from having given. You may be/become blessed otherwise too, but you can go ahead and salivate over what you can expect God to do financially for you...

I read recently that the Gospel is about divesting, not investing.

Jesus said to give. We are not to horde what we have, but give it away so that it multiplies. Not for our personal purposes or for our gain, but for the advancement of the Kingdom.

Read the parable about the person who was given one talent of money, went and buried it, then later returned to their master (Matthew 25, Luke 19). They were so proud of themself. Had a big smile on their face, saying "Look, Master! I didn't want to lose this, so I went and buried it. Here it is! I still have it, see?" What was the master's response? "You wicked, lazy servant. I desire a return with interest."

We are to take care of the poor, the orphans, the widows (James 1). In Acts we read of the early Followers selling their possessions and their things so that the poor could be sustained and helped. We are to abandon ourselves so that God's Kingdom will multiply.

There was no semblance of this Truth on TV. If there was any abandonment, the thought is "you'll only be abandoning your money temporarily, cause God will soon be blessing your socks off above what you gave."

This thought does follow the biblical truth of tithing and receiving back. But the gutcheck is on the motivation for giving. And let's be DEAD honest here. Have there not been times where we gave and there was a pondering/thought in our mind of 'wonder what God is going to do in return for me doing this". I used to give gladly, helping others, yet had that thought (curiously pondering the impending reward) quietly hovering in the background.

We need to examine ourselves, our hearts and our motivations very, very soberly.

Do we give publicly? Do we blow trumpets or make our giving known to man? Do we give for the purpose of man's recognition? Do we give with "oh boy, I'm going to get something in return for this" running through our mind? Are we motivated in our giving by what we hope or expect to get back? What do we secretly expect back? Money? A relationship?
Recognition?

A good barometer of this is based on what happens after giving. What if we give and there is no thanks in return? What if there is no reciprocation at all by who we give to?

There is no "me" in give, but a Prosperity enthusiast might say "there is an 'I' in give!"

All I'd say to that is, enjoy saying the cute quips now, cause down the road mouths and hearts like that will be too busy gnashing teeth to say anything else.