The Principle of Giving According to Blessing

Deuteronomy 16:16, 17

Worship and Thanksgiving

Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths.  They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.  Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.[1]

t is a myth, a caricature of horrendous proportions, that the Jewish people are penurious, parsimonious, stinting, stingy, tight-fisted—either toward fellow Jews or toward Gentiles.  My observations of the Jewish people inevitably lead me to anticipate warm-hearted generosity, even a sense of magnanimity toward all people.  Even toward the churches with which I have been affiliated, I have frequently observed a benevolent philanthropy demonstrated by Jewish people.

Having completed a Bachelor’s Degree, I sought admission to graduate studies.  Upon application, I was accepted for doctoral studies in the biomedical sciences at a Jewish school.  I was the first “goy” from west of the Mississippi to be accepted for training in the Sue Golding Division of Biomedical Sciences of the Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.  The school is located in the Bronx, and I was immediately disoriented by the transition from Kansas’ bluestem prairies to the concrete jungles of New York City.  I discovered that the cost of living in New York City would be a tremendous burden for my family.  Having grown up in Kansas, I adjusted poorly to city life, which I found to be far more expensive than I could have imagined.

During that period when I was most strenuously pressed by the demands of city life, I was the recipient of Jewish compassion and largesse.  The faculty of the medical school was exceptionally generous to me, and to my family.  Jewish benefactors provided for my family at a time of serious pecuniary distress, and the Jewish faculty was generous with their time and with their advice.  When it became evident that I would be better off in a school in the Midwest, I again experience great generosity from the faculty and administration of that Jewish school.  I can never forget the generosity of the Jewish people toward someone who was not part of their religious or cultural community.  I pray that one day I can repay the generosity and kindness shown to me and to my family.

Under the Mosaic Covenant, Jewish worshippers were expected to be generous on all occasions.  The lesson has been learned quite well, and the expression of generosity seems to be ingrained within Jewish culture.  Especially were the people of God expected to be generous toward the work of God and toward the workers of God during the three great feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Passover), the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Booths (Succoth).  During the great feasts, no Israelite head of household was permitted to appear before the Lord empty-handed.  This is because God had pledged to bless His people; and out of the blessing of bounty they would receive from the gracious Lord, they were to be generous toward His work.

The Requirement for Celebration — Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths [verse 16].  It is a tragic truth that we require reminders to be generous.  We easily forget the reasons under girding national celebrations, and thus we slip into self-centred activities that neglect the original purpose of holidays.

We once spoke of holidays—“holy days”—for that was the occasion for rejoicing in most instances.  We celebrated the Faith of Christ the Lord and rejoiced in the knowledge of God’s mercy and goodness to us.  Increasingly, our calendars are filled with secular days that celebrate indulgence and the exaltation of the “self.”

There was a day, not so distant from this day late in the Age of Grace, when Christmas was a celebration of the Faith.  People gathered in churches to remember the goodness of God in sending His Son into the world, and to worship the Son of God who came that we might have life.  Today, Christmas has become a sort of glorified celebration of materialism.  The reason for exchanging gifts is forgotten in what has become a modern version of Potlatch as the value of gifts received are weighed against what is given.  It is a “family” day, but the birth of the Son of God is all but forgotten.

Similarly, Thanksgiving is less a day of giving thanks than it is a time to indulge ourselves.  Far too many modern Canadians see Thanksgiving as an excuse to avoid work, gorging on rich bounty.  Observe the artwork produced by the children in any public elementary school in the week preceding Thanksgiving.  It will sadly become apparent that most children have no idea about the origins of the celebration.  Too often, there will not be even a hint of the spiritual nature of the observance.

The tradition of a Day of Thanksgiving did not originate in the New World, but the tradition wends its way through thousands of years of history to the beginnings of the Jewish nation.  In the English Standard Version of the Bible that I use, I find 38 instances of the word thanksgiving, 24 of which are in the Old Testament.  There are 132 occurrences of the word thank and its cognates, the majority of which are found in the Old Testament Scriptures.  The point of this exercise is to remind us that gratitude is integral to the Word of God from the beginning of the Faith.  Thanksgiving, under the Old Covenant, was integral to the three great feasts.  Thanksgiving, for the ancient people of Israel, was a time of feasting and fasting, of praising God, of singing joyful songs, and meditating on God’s goodness.  It was a rich celebration, and it is still a time of celebration for observant Jews to this day.

The Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation are usually credited as the first Europeans to observe a Day of Thanksgiving, but multiple services of Thanksgiving were held in the Americas before the arrival of the Mayflower.  The first Thanksgiving service known to be held by Europeans in North America occurred in Newfoundland on May 27, 1578, when Martin Frobisher declared a Day of Thanksgiving for safety in his explorations.  French settlers are known to have held regular feasts of “thanksgiving,” and even formed the “Order of Good Cheer,” dedicated to sharing their food with their Indian neighbours.[2]  The first Thanksgiving Day in Canada after Confederation was observed on April 15, 1872.  The day was declared in order to celebrate the recovery of The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness.

In the New England settlements, some historians contend that the Popham Colony in Maine held the first Thanksgiving observance in the American colonies, though it is generally recognised that the Jamestown colonists gave thanks for their safe arrival and again held a service of Thanksgiving when a supply ship arrived safely in 1610.[3]

Nevertheless, it is the Pilgrims’ observance of Thanksgiving that most of us remember as the first Thanksgiving observance in the New World.  What is less widely recognised today are the religious roots of the Pilgrim’s observance.  William Bradford, the leader of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts Colony, studied the Hebrew Scriptures, as did almost all educated people among the Puritans.  These Pilgrims took seriously those ancient writings.  The idea of giving thanks to God with a feast was inspired by their knowledge of the Word of God.  The Pilgrims saw themselves, just as the Jews saw themselves, as a chosen people of God being led to a Promised Land.[4]  In all likelihood, they fashioned the Thanksgiving observance after the Feast of Booths (Succoth).

At the Thanksgiving table, the Pilgrims acknowledged “God’s good providence” and “blessed the God of Heaven who brought us over the furious ocean.”  For, said they, “What could sustain us but the Spirit of God and His grace?”  Bradford then quoted Moses, “Our fathers cried unto Him and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity” [Deuteronomy 26:7].[5]

The foundation of a national day of Thanksgiving was later promulgated by the first President of the United States, George Washington.  On October 3, 1789, Washington proclaimed a Day of Thanksgiving for the American States.  It would perhaps be good for us to hear what this noted leader said in that proclamation.

WHEREAS, It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour;

WHEREAS, Both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favourable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted' for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Later, in 1863, while the American States were torn by the War Between the States, President Abraham Lincoln again instituted a Day of Thanksgiving for the nation for the final two years of that dreadful conflict.  Again, in 1941, with a global war having already broken on the European continent, the American Congress established the fourth Thursday of November as the day for Americans to “thank God.”  However, Thanksgiving is not solely an American observance.

Thanksgiving has been observed nationally in Canada, either in November or in October, from 1879 onward.  The observance has been either by statute or by proclamation on an annual basis.  In 1957, Parliament permanently fixed the observance of a Day of Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October.  The Proclamations of Thanksgiving have been primarily for abundant harvests throughout the years of our nation, but the proclamation of Thanksgiving in 1957, and for the years thereafter, was “For general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessings with which the people of Canada have been favoured.”[6]  In other words, Thanksgiving is a day of “worship!”  It is a day to remember God’s blessings on us as a nation.

As has been true since the earliest days of worship of the True and Living God, at the heart of our modern observance of Thanksgiving is expressing gratitude to God!  Thanksgiving is not about pumpkin pie or squash or corn or Indians.  Thanksgiving is a time for joyful reflection on God’s goodness to us as a people.  Though others may fail to see the religious nature of the feast, let none of us forget that we worship a good God.

The Requirement for Generosity — They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed [verse 16b].  There is an aspect of Thanksgiving that is too easily overlooked.  In our rush to feast, we often overlook the responsibility to be generous toward God and toward others, especially at times of celebration.  When the Israelites were commanded to celebrate the goodness of God, they were instructed to appear before the Lord with a freewill offering in their hand.  Moreover, it was incumbent upon each family to instruct their children in generosity and to set an example for all who were part of the family.

The people of Israel were not simply to gather as families in their homes; God instructed them to appear at the place He would choose.  In other words, the holy days (holidays) are days for communal commemoration and worship in the presence of God.  Though it doubtless offends modern sensibilities, the various holidays, especially those with religious connotations—Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas—should still be observed as days for worship.  What better time to instruct one’s children in the Faith of Christ the Lord then during the holidays that are regularly observed?

Integral to the act of worship on the holy days commanded was the expectation of generosity by those observing the day.  Worshippers were to bring generous gifts as an act of worship.  It would have been unthinkable to have a service of worship without providing opportunity for the worshippers to present an offering before the Lord.  The act of giving provided opportunity for those worshipping to demonstrate in tangible fashion their gratitude toward the gracious Lord of Heaven for His rich provision.

There is another aspect of worship that is sometimes in danger of being neglected—worship, if it is true, is to be joyful.  It is possible to become so focused on the act of worship that we forget the joy of worship.  The people were commanded to rejoice before the Lord [their] God [verse 11].  To emphasise the point, Moses writes a second time, you shall rejoice in your feast [verse 14].  According to this verse, each family was to celebrate joyfully.  As the worshippers feasted, remembering the rich blessings of God, they would become altogether joyful [verse 15].

Paul, instructing the Corinthians, and consequently instructing all Christians, wrote, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work [2 Corinthians 9:6-8].

Days of commemoration were expected to be days for worship, and unlike what passes as worship in many modern churches, Hebrew worship was both noisy and joyful.  One cannot read the 150th Psalm without coming to the conclusion that Hebrew worship was unlike what is experienced in perhaps a majority of modern churches.

Praise the Lord!  Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens!

Praise him for his mighty deeds;

praise him according to his excellent greatness!

Praise him with trumpet sound;

praise him with lute and harp!

Praise him with tambourine and dance;

praise him with strings and pipe!

Praise him with sounding cymbals;

praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

[Psalm 150:1-6]

Imagine what it must have been to worship with David!  Everyone singing loudly, as though each worshipper wanted the heavens to echo with the sound of their praise!  Worshippers trying to outdo one another in shouting reminders of the goodness of God.  Trumpets blaring, guitars strumming, tambourines shaking, drums beating a lively tattoo!  The atmosphere was so intense that some even danced with joy before the Lord.  Oh, my soul, this could not have been a Baptist crowd that the Psalmist describes!

And as part of joyful worship, the people brought their offerings as an act of praise before the Lord.  The requirement was that no worshipper was to appear with empty hands before the Lord.  Each worshipper was to appear with sacrificial gifts, as much as one could offer, according to the blessing of the Lord.  Surely, whenever the offering plate is passed, each Christian can give some gift expressing a joyful heart!

When David the King formally established worship of the Lord in Jerusalem, his first act was to appoint Levites who were to serve as singers and as instrumentalists to play loudly on musical instruments [1 Chronicles 15:16].  As the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the city, the Word declares that all Israel was shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and they made loud music on harps and lyres [1 Chronicles 15:28].

In the midst of the joy of worship, there was inevitably the act of giving.  When the Ark had been brought into the city and set inside the tent David had pitched for it, the people offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord [1 Chronicles 16:1, 2].  Forever after, thanksgiving would be sung to the Lord [1 Chronicles 16:7].  Worship, according to David, would ever after include joyful offerings [1 Chronicles 16:37-42].

Here in the First Baptist Church of Dawson Creek, we make every effort to remind worshippers at each service of the great opportunity that is ours to worship through giving.  Consequently, we discourage those who are not believers in the Son of God from giving, and we make it clear that those who cannot rejoice in giving should not participate as we bring our offerings before the Lord our God.  What should be apparent from viewing the Word of God is that giving is to be a joyful act of worship.

I have seldom witnessed such joy as that observed while worshipping with some of God’s poorest saints.  Black Christians, with whom I worshipped for a too brief time in Dallas, were joyful when presented with the opportunity to give.  They danced and shouted and sang as they filed past the offering plate, offering what they had.  What a contrast with the impact of our wealth in this great land!  How different from the attitude of far too many Canadian Christians who appear almost to resent the act of giving.

Integral to biblical worship is generosity.  The work of God on earth is dependent upon the generosity of God’s people, and the one who is grudging in giving cannot worship.  Therefore, it is impossible to imagine worship without an element of generosity.  Worship that honours God requires thoughtful participation.  Living in a world of instant gratification as we do, it is difficult for us to heed God’s Word that commands us to be still, and know that I am God [Psalm 46:10].

We become extreme, often without thinking.  We can present worship that appears as though worshippers are infected with Saint Vitus Dance, being noisy for the sake of being noisy and growing boisterous in an effort to create an atmosphere of worship; or we can sit in solemn solitude without even thinking of what we are doing.  However, if we truly worship, we cannot withhold our gifts.  If we truly worship, we will be compelled toward generosity both to support the work of God and to relieve those who are most vulnerable about us.  This raises the question of how much we should give.

The Rule for Giving — Every man [literally, “each male”] shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you [verse 17].  Principles to guide worship through giving are stated in this text.  Each adult male—each head of household is Moses’ intent—is to give as an act of worship.  Translating into the present, each family represented in the congregation is expected participate in the act of giving, giving as able.

The Word is quite clear that each adult male is to appear before the Lord [verse 16].  Because we live in an age that is so exceptionally sensitive to perceived slights of gender, I perhaps need to note that verses 11 and 14 make it clear that each member of the family is invited to participate in worship.  However, if you are a husband, if you are a father, you are responsible to lead your family in worship, bringing each member of the family with you to worship!  Let me state the precept clearly—worship is to be a family affair!

Giving must reflect God’s blessing; the greater the blessing one has received, the greater the ability to give, and the greater the responsibility to be generous.  If God has not blessed, one is not obligated to give; but, if God has blessed, what is given is expected to be a worshipful act of recognition of grace received.  The rule for joyful worship is to give as much as you are able, knowing that God has blessed you and that through your generosity, you are in turn glorifying Him.

When during the Sabbatical Year Hebrew slaves were released, each one released was to be furnished liberally out of the flock, out of the threshing floor, and out of the winepress.  The overarching principle, as is also the overarching principle for giving in worship, is: as the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give [Deuteronomy 15:14].

God does not expect His people to give what they do not have, but He does expect us to give.  Instructing in the act of worshipful giving in the Second Corinthian Letter, the Apostle Paul extols the generosity of the Macedonian Christians.  They gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will [2 Corinthians 8:3].

The collective gift forwarded to needy Christians in Jerusalem was generous, but Paul’s point is that each individual gift was in keeping with the means of those giving.  In other words, together, the people reflected the love of God through generosity, but they did not impoverish individually themselves through demonstrating the love of God in giving.  The Apostle continues by stating, if the readiness is there, [your gift] is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have [2 Corinthians 8:12].

In other words, God blesses us, expecting that we will be generous on every occasion, so that He can entrust us with yet more of this world’s goods.  God is pleased by generosity, as demonstrated by Jesus’ response to observing the widow’s gift.  [Jesus] 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 to them, “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].

However, God does not compel us to give some fixed amount, demanding that we slavishly adhere to some artificial standard of generosity that permits boasting.  We are each responsible to voluntarily determine the degree of our generosity.  God anticipates that we will thoughtfully weigh obligations to family and society and the church, and that we will thus act wisely.  This is the message found in 2 Corinthians 9:7, 8.

Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Three truths stand out that demand our careful attention.  The first truth is that men are responsible to take the lead in generosity.  Husbands, fathers, you have an obligation to set the standard within your home and for your children in the business of generosity.  Second, each worshipper is responsible to give as much as he or she is able.  There is not a settled standard of giving that having been attained allows one to assume that the demands of the Word have been satisfied—each of us is to give as much as we are able.  Lastly, you must recognise that we are to give proportionately.  The greater the degree of divine blessing in our life, the greater the degree of responsibility imposed on our response to needs in the church and in the world about us.

It is the Thanksgiving Season, and the thoughts of God’s people should turn naturally to recalling His blessing.  As we rejoice in His blessing, we should consider how we can be generous toward His work and toward the needs of His people.  We are blessed in this church to witness continued growth in giving permitting increased outreach and to see the increase of people that God continually brings into the life of the church.  Remember that God has fixed a practical means for each one of us to worship through bringing the wealth He has entrusted to us to be used for His glory.

This month, we begin the congregational budgetary process.  What a wonderful time for the people of God to determine that this will be the year of worship—biblical worship as outlined in the Word of God.  What a glorious time to determine that we will provide for larger facilities, allowing for an ever-greater number of people sharing the services of worship as more and more people are brought to faith in the Son of God.  What a glorious time for us to determine that we will together build the Kingdom of God through providing for expansion and growth.  May God enable us to honour Him through reaching out with the message of life and through making every effort to worship generously, giving our time and willingly giving of all that God has entrusted to us.

Of course, you have no part in the act of worship, much less in the act of worship through giving, if you are not a Christian.  You must receive before you can give.  Only the person who has received the gift of life offered in Christ Jesus the Lord can offer acceptable worship.  If you have somehow never come to faith, my plea is for you to place your faith in the Son of God, receiving the life that He offers.  Do it now.

Christ the Lord provided His life as a sacrifice because of your sin.  He took the punishment that you deserve and removed the penalty that stood opposed to you.  The Good News is that Jesus did not remain dead.  Rather, He broke the bonds of death and rose to life from the tomb.  Now, the Word of God invites all who will receive the life He offers to believe this message and to accept Jesus as Master of life.  This is the Word of the Lord as recorded by the Apostle to the Gentiles.

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  That Word continues by attesting that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved [Romans 10:9, 10, 13].

We invite all who are willing to believe this message of life now.  Receive the life of Jesus and be born again.  Accept Him as Master of your life so that you will enjoy the forgiveness of sin.  Be a Christian.  Be saved, today.  Amen.

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[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

[2] History and Origin of Canadian Thanksgiving, (http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/thanksgiving/canada/) accessed 26 September 2006

[3] Thanksgiving in North America: From Local Harvests to National Holiday, (http://www.si.edu/RESOURCE/FAQ/nmah/thanks.htm) accessed 26 September, 2006

[4] See Max I. Dimont, Jews, God and History (Simon & Schuster, New York, NY 1962) 358

[5] Joseph Farah, Thankful for what?, WorldNetDaily, November 22, 2005, (http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47525) accessed 26 September, 2006

[6] Thanksgiving and Remembrance Day, (http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/jfa-ha/action_e.cfm), accessed 26 September 2006; and Proclamation and Observance of General Thanksgiving Days and reasons thereof, Canadian Heritage Web Site, (http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/jfa-ha/graces_e.cfm), accessed 26 September 2006