Giving: First Fruits, Pt 2
As I promised,
let us finish by talking about why Cain’s offering was rejected.
Genesis 4:3-4
And
in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the
fruit of the ground to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought of the
firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his
offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very
angry, and his countenance fell. 6 So the LORD said to Cain,
"Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 "If you do well, will you
not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its
desire is for you, but you should rule over it." 8 Now Cain talked with Abel his
brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up
against Abel his brother and killed him.
We see verse 6 telling
us that God asked Cain why he was angry. This means that Cain deep inside knew
why his offering was not accepted. This is subject to debate, but if I saw you
angry, and knew why you were angry, and knew you had no right to be angry, I
would ask the same question. After the question, God told him that if he did
well, he would be accepted. God was not and still is not a respecter of persons
(Acts 10:34). After telling him this, He told him that sin lay at his door.
Looking at these verses, we can tell that Cain had a heart issue. Even after
being warned by God not to do evil, he still went ahead to kill Abel. To see
this in perspective, if it was Abel’s sacrifice which was rejected, would he
have killed Cain? I do not think so, as Abel is portrayed as a soft-spoken and
an innocent man. I do not believe that Cain developed an evil and murderous
heart when God rejected his sacrifice; God’s rejection of his sacrifice just
exposed what was in Cain’s heart. This leads me to say that Cain’s sacrifice
was rejected because his heart was not right even in giving, and for the same
reason he did not give by or in faith. The same is echoed in Hebrews:
Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
Remember, there are two ways of becoming righteous: by faith in God, and by works of the law. Since there was no law, we see that it is through faith in God that Abel was perceived to be righteous, as his giving was prompted by his faith in God. Cain’s sacrifice evidently was not of faith, and since it is not written so, I would allude that he was giving to be made righteous or be acceptable to and by God, which is not righteousness of faith. Abel was not accepted after giving; he was accepted before giving. This is righteousness of faith. Again, this is subject to debate, but I truly believe that Cain’s heart was not right from the beginning, and he did not give in faith, which is why his offering was rejected. This shows us that our giving must be from the heart and with the right heart, as even Paul says:
2 Corinthians 9:7
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
In all your giving, whether you are giving a tithe, first fruit, offering or alms, ensure that you are giving cheerfully and from the heart, and that you are giving in faith, knowing you are righteous, that your offering does not make you righteous or give you a right standing with God. This is very important. Many people give because they have been coerced into giving, meaning they are giving grudgingly or out of necessity, which God does not like. Paul tells us clearly that God loves a cheerful giver. Giving cheerfully is the best indication of faith in God, and this is what I believe caused Abel’s sacrifice to be accepted, and Cain’s not to be. What is the condition of your heart as you are giving? Are you giving to be made right with God? No amount of giving can make you right with God, as no one has ever become righteous by faith. You become right with God (righteous) by faith in Jesus (Rom. 10:9-10).
I understand that there are many times you do not feel like giving, mainly because your flesh is rebelling against God’s word and command to give, and you force yourself to give. Even at such moments, you should not go and give without having resolved it in your heart to do so, and why you are doing so. Take time and understand why you are giving, and meditate on God’s word and love for you, and let these help align your heart to obedience. That’s why Paul said we give as we have purposed in our hearts. Our hearts have to be right when giving. If you are giving because someone made you feel guilty by pulling out some scriptures, this is not giving from the heart. God never operates with guilt; He operates by love. If however someone reads to you some scriptures and you feel moved to give as you feel compelled by God’s love and mercies, and your heart is at peace when giving, then this is giving from the heart. If your heart is not convinced, take time and ask God to help you come to the point of cheerfully giving, being fully convinced and persuaded to give, then meditate on scriptures to align your heart to what God is asking you to do. Notice my focus is on the heart.
Love should be your best motivation for giving. God Himself gave out of love, as He is also love (John 3:16). It is not your love for God, but His love for you, that should compel you to give. Whatever giving that is out of love is not beneficial, in any way, either to us or to whoever we are giving. 1 Cor. 13:3 says that even if we give all our possessions to the poor and bodies to be burnt, and have not love, it profits us nothing. In short, without being compelled by the love of God to give, whatever you give goes to waste. Meditate on God’s love for you, by focusing on what He has done for you and the much He has loved you, also majoring on His expressions of love towards you, and then when you do this you will always give cheerfully. If we all gave out of being compelled by love, trust me percentages and amounts would not matter. What will you give to someone you love, even here on earth? It is love that causes couples to get married and stop caring about what is theirs or not, and give their all to their spouses. If you have a spouse who is always giving you grudgingly, after you pressure them into giving, and when they do so they always expect you to give them something back, what does it say about their love for you and their understanding of your love for them, especially if you have given them everything and loved them wholeheartedly? When you understand how much God loves you, you will love Him automatically, as the Bible says we love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). When you love God, with a love that is prompted by His love for you, giving will not be an issue to Him. You will give anything and everything, whenever He asks you to.
Sometimes, even after meditating on God’s word and praying for God to help you align your heart to giving, you still hear many voices telling you not to, and reminding you of the future and what will happen when you give and so on; these are in the head, and are usually the voice of the flesh and of the devil. If you wait for these to be quiet before you give, you will never give, as the flesh is always against the Spirit. So, how do you tell the difference? When you feel the prompting to give, and feel at peace in your heart doing so, and are doing so simply because you want to, this is giving from the heart. No matter how many voices are in your head and mind, just give. You can hush them and tell them to keep quiet, acting out of 2 Cor. 10:3-5. If you are being told to give and you are not at peace in your heart, and there is no inner witness compelling you to give, do not give, as your heart needs to be right. This is what helps us to give as we are led by the Sprit of God. The Spirit of God will always lead us through peace, His word and faith. Whenever you feel a prompting to give that comes with peace in the heart, through or in line with the word of God and that requires faith, that is of the Spirit of God.
Do not confuse lack of peace, regarding giving, with fear. Peace is in the heart, and is a fruit of the Spirit; fear is in the mind, and is from the devil. The Bible says that the peace of God should rule in our hearts (Col. 3:15). However way you take the word “rule,” it means to guide or make the ultimate decision, or dominate. So the peace of God should rule in your heart, and guide you. Whatever threatens the peace of God in your heart, in that you do not feel the peace of God when you do it, you should not do it. The Amplified version says the peace of God should rule our hearts as an umpire. An umpire is like a referee, in baseball. He makes the decisions during the game. The peace of God should make the decisions in all you do, in your life; the spirit of God will always guide you through peace. Whenever you do anything that is contrary to God’s word or the leading of the Holy Spirit, of which both work hand in hand, you should not have peace. This is why Romans 8:6 says that “to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” When you are keen on obeying God, and spend time in His word, you will be acquainted with His peace, and always be led by the same.
For example, if I go to a certain gospel meeting, and hear the minister preach on giving, and hear a voice telling me to give to that minister or into that ministry, and have peace in me though I still hear voices of doubt in my head, I should give, as the Spirit is leading me through peace. However, if I go to a meeting and hear the minister talk of giving and prompt people to give, and have no peace in my heart or even an inner witness in my spirit, I should not give. This is what is called being led by the Spirit of God. However, in order for you to walk in this and be accurate so that you do not end up missing out on God, you have to be intimate with God and with His word, to a point where you can know God’s voice and peace and tell it out from other voices, and the voice of fear. This only happens through intimacy. The more time a child spends with the parents, the more the child will become acquainted with the parent’s voice. That is why an infant only needs to hear the mother’s voice to be quiet, but what if the infant has never spent time with the parent? Through acquaintance and intimacy, it reaches a point that when the child has grown up, and when the mother calls from a phone that does not indicate the caller ID, the child can immediately know it’s the mother talking, just from the greetings. The same is true with us. When you got born again, as an infant, you did not know God’s voice clearly. If you have spent some time in salvation and still do not know or cannot tell out God’s voice, then the problem is that you have not spent time with Him, taking time to listen and get acquainted with His voice. Some of us complain we never hear God’s voice, while we’ve never listened. We never provide God with an opportunity to speak to us, and whenever we do it is just for a few minutes or seconds, before we go back to talking to Him or to doing other things Without listening, you can never hear. The more time you spend with God, the more you will get acquainted with it. The best way to be acquainted with His voice is through spending time with His word. I always say that behind every written word of God there is His voice. Fasting and prayer, while shutting out distractions and normal routines, are other very good ways to hear God’s voice. They do not make God speak to you, but rather make you sensitive to His voice as He speaks.
Whenever you hear of a prompting to give, just ask God if it is of Him. Remember, those who come to Him must do so in faith, and believe they have received that which they have asked of God (Heb. 11:6, Mark 11:24). When you ask God, do not do so in doubt, wondering if He will answer you. Do so in faith, believing that He hears you, having that confidence that comes from knowing His will (1 John 5:14-15), and believe you have received the answer, even without seeing or knowing it. We walk by faith, not by sight. When God confirms it is of Him for you to give, then give, even if there are voices in your mind telling you not to give and so on. This will help you to give as you have purposed in your heart, and give cheerfully. Remember, as we said in the previous teaching, giving starts with you giving your entire life to God, knowing that you are just a steward to what He has given you. If I gave you a thousand shillings to keep for me, and then ask you for a hundred, you will give willingly. If however I give someone a thousand shillings to give you to keep for me but the person does not tell you it is from me, then later I come and ask you to give me a hundred shillings, you will not be willing to give. The knowledge that all God has given you He has done so out of love and has given you as a steward will help you give cheerfully and willingly, whenever He prompts you to.
Let us stop there and continue next week, discussing Offerings and Alms, as the other types of giving. As we said, these principles such as giving cheerfully and not giving to be blessed and so on, do not only apply to first fruits, or tithing, exclusively. They apply to all other types of giving. This means that as we continue to learn, you can still be applying them in the other types of giving that we have not discussed, namely offerings and alms, just allowing the Spirit to lead you, and being willing to do whatever He tells you to do.
Hebrews 11:4
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
Remember, there are two ways of becoming righteous: by faith in God, and by works of the law. Since there was no law, we see that it is through faith in God that Abel was perceived to be righteous, as his giving was prompted by his faith in God. Cain’s sacrifice evidently was not of faith, and since it is not written so, I would allude that he was giving to be made righteous or be acceptable to and by God, which is not righteousness of faith. Abel was not accepted after giving; he was accepted before giving. This is righteousness of faith. Again, this is subject to debate, but I truly believe that Cain’s heart was not right from the beginning, and he did not give in faith, which is why his offering was rejected. This shows us that our giving must be from the heart and with the right heart, as even Paul says:
2 Corinthians 9:7
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
In all your giving, whether you are giving a tithe, first fruit, offering or alms, ensure that you are giving cheerfully and from the heart, and that you are giving in faith, knowing you are righteous, that your offering does not make you righteous or give you a right standing with God. This is very important. Many people give because they have been coerced into giving, meaning they are giving grudgingly or out of necessity, which God does not like. Paul tells us clearly that God loves a cheerful giver. Giving cheerfully is the best indication of faith in God, and this is what I believe caused Abel’s sacrifice to be accepted, and Cain’s not to be. What is the condition of your heart as you are giving? Are you giving to be made right with God? No amount of giving can make you right with God, as no one has ever become righteous by faith. You become right with God (righteous) by faith in Jesus (Rom. 10:9-10).
I understand that there are many times you do not feel like giving, mainly because your flesh is rebelling against God’s word and command to give, and you force yourself to give. Even at such moments, you should not go and give without having resolved it in your heart to do so, and why you are doing so. Take time and understand why you are giving, and meditate on God’s word and love for you, and let these help align your heart to obedience. That’s why Paul said we give as we have purposed in our hearts. Our hearts have to be right when giving. If you are giving because someone made you feel guilty by pulling out some scriptures, this is not giving from the heart. God never operates with guilt; He operates by love. If however someone reads to you some scriptures and you feel moved to give as you feel compelled by God’s love and mercies, and your heart is at peace when giving, then this is giving from the heart. If your heart is not convinced, take time and ask God to help you come to the point of cheerfully giving, being fully convinced and persuaded to give, then meditate on scriptures to align your heart to what God is asking you to do. Notice my focus is on the heart.
Love should be your best motivation for giving. God Himself gave out of love, as He is also love (John 3:16). It is not your love for God, but His love for you, that should compel you to give. Whatever giving that is out of love is not beneficial, in any way, either to us or to whoever we are giving. 1 Cor. 13:3 says that even if we give all our possessions to the poor and bodies to be burnt, and have not love, it profits us nothing. In short, without being compelled by the love of God to give, whatever you give goes to waste. Meditate on God’s love for you, by focusing on what He has done for you and the much He has loved you, also majoring on His expressions of love towards you, and then when you do this you will always give cheerfully. If we all gave out of being compelled by love, trust me percentages and amounts would not matter. What will you give to someone you love, even here on earth? It is love that causes couples to get married and stop caring about what is theirs or not, and give their all to their spouses. If you have a spouse who is always giving you grudgingly, after you pressure them into giving, and when they do so they always expect you to give them something back, what does it say about their love for you and their understanding of your love for them, especially if you have given them everything and loved them wholeheartedly? When you understand how much God loves you, you will love Him automatically, as the Bible says we love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). When you love God, with a love that is prompted by His love for you, giving will not be an issue to Him. You will give anything and everything, whenever He asks you to.
Sometimes, even after meditating on God’s word and praying for God to help you align your heart to giving, you still hear many voices telling you not to, and reminding you of the future and what will happen when you give and so on; these are in the head, and are usually the voice of the flesh and of the devil. If you wait for these to be quiet before you give, you will never give, as the flesh is always against the Spirit. So, how do you tell the difference? When you feel the prompting to give, and feel at peace in your heart doing so, and are doing so simply because you want to, this is giving from the heart. No matter how many voices are in your head and mind, just give. You can hush them and tell them to keep quiet, acting out of 2 Cor. 10:3-5. If you are being told to give and you are not at peace in your heart, and there is no inner witness compelling you to give, do not give, as your heart needs to be right. This is what helps us to give as we are led by the Sprit of God. The Spirit of God will always lead us through peace, His word and faith. Whenever you feel a prompting to give that comes with peace in the heart, through or in line with the word of God and that requires faith, that is of the Spirit of God.
Do not confuse lack of peace, regarding giving, with fear. Peace is in the heart, and is a fruit of the Spirit; fear is in the mind, and is from the devil. The Bible says that the peace of God should rule in our hearts (Col. 3:15). However way you take the word “rule,” it means to guide or make the ultimate decision, or dominate. So the peace of God should rule in your heart, and guide you. Whatever threatens the peace of God in your heart, in that you do not feel the peace of God when you do it, you should not do it. The Amplified version says the peace of God should rule our hearts as an umpire. An umpire is like a referee, in baseball. He makes the decisions during the game. The peace of God should make the decisions in all you do, in your life; the spirit of God will always guide you through peace. Whenever you do anything that is contrary to God’s word or the leading of the Holy Spirit, of which both work hand in hand, you should not have peace. This is why Romans 8:6 says that “to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” When you are keen on obeying God, and spend time in His word, you will be acquainted with His peace, and always be led by the same.
For example, if I go to a certain gospel meeting, and hear the minister preach on giving, and hear a voice telling me to give to that minister or into that ministry, and have peace in me though I still hear voices of doubt in my head, I should give, as the Spirit is leading me through peace. However, if I go to a meeting and hear the minister talk of giving and prompt people to give, and have no peace in my heart or even an inner witness in my spirit, I should not give. This is what is called being led by the Spirit of God. However, in order for you to walk in this and be accurate so that you do not end up missing out on God, you have to be intimate with God and with His word, to a point where you can know God’s voice and peace and tell it out from other voices, and the voice of fear. This only happens through intimacy. The more time a child spends with the parents, the more the child will become acquainted with the parent’s voice. That is why an infant only needs to hear the mother’s voice to be quiet, but what if the infant has never spent time with the parent? Through acquaintance and intimacy, it reaches a point that when the child has grown up, and when the mother calls from a phone that does not indicate the caller ID, the child can immediately know it’s the mother talking, just from the greetings. The same is true with us. When you got born again, as an infant, you did not know God’s voice clearly. If you have spent some time in salvation and still do not know or cannot tell out God’s voice, then the problem is that you have not spent time with Him, taking time to listen and get acquainted with His voice. Some of us complain we never hear God’s voice, while we’ve never listened. We never provide God with an opportunity to speak to us, and whenever we do it is just for a few minutes or seconds, before we go back to talking to Him or to doing other things Without listening, you can never hear. The more time you spend with God, the more you will get acquainted with it. The best way to be acquainted with His voice is through spending time with His word. I always say that behind every written word of God there is His voice. Fasting and prayer, while shutting out distractions and normal routines, are other very good ways to hear God’s voice. They do not make God speak to you, but rather make you sensitive to His voice as He speaks.
Whenever you hear of a prompting to give, just ask God if it is of Him. Remember, those who come to Him must do so in faith, and believe they have received that which they have asked of God (Heb. 11:6, Mark 11:24). When you ask God, do not do so in doubt, wondering if He will answer you. Do so in faith, believing that He hears you, having that confidence that comes from knowing His will (1 John 5:14-15), and believe you have received the answer, even without seeing or knowing it. We walk by faith, not by sight. When God confirms it is of Him for you to give, then give, even if there are voices in your mind telling you not to give and so on. This will help you to give as you have purposed in your heart, and give cheerfully. Remember, as we said in the previous teaching, giving starts with you giving your entire life to God, knowing that you are just a steward to what He has given you. If I gave you a thousand shillings to keep for me, and then ask you for a hundred, you will give willingly. If however I give someone a thousand shillings to give you to keep for me but the person does not tell you it is from me, then later I come and ask you to give me a hundred shillings, you will not be willing to give. The knowledge that all God has given you He has done so out of love and has given you as a steward will help you give cheerfully and willingly, whenever He prompts you to.
Let us stop there and continue next week, discussing Offerings and Alms, as the other types of giving. As we said, these principles such as giving cheerfully and not giving to be blessed and so on, do not only apply to first fruits, or tithing, exclusively. They apply to all other types of giving. This means that as we continue to learn, you can still be applying them in the other types of giving that we have not discussed, namely offerings and alms, just allowing the Spirit to lead you, and being willing to do whatever He tells you to do.
God is a giver. Be
an imitator of Him, and strive to develop the heart of giving, applying these
principles we’ve talked about, and abiding in His love.
Blessings.
-- Sam Gitonga.
(17/08/14 Sunday Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.)
Brother Sam Gitonga is a Youth Leader at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.
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