Why giving matters

In a sermon in 2004 Archbishop Rowan Williams notes the experience of a colleague from the House of Bishops. In several decades of making his confession and receiving spiritual direction the bishop had never once been asked about his use of money.

If we were asked would we like it? Buying a car on HP we willingly disclose to a total stranger our private financial details. Would we do the same to our pastor? Money is a powerful part of life and cannot be left out of spiritual growth. We need practical teaching of money management to think as Christians but the transforming key is giving.

• Giving is our investment in the church's ministry and in the things of eternity (Matthew 6:19-20). God's work always has an address and our church and the ministries we support is our address where ministry happens.
• Giving is counter cultural. What we possess can possess us, what we consume can consume us. Giving is an act that sets us free from the need to acquire and accumulate.
• Giving is a constant reminder that all we have we have received from God and that he is Lord of all we possess..
• Giving is the key to contentment. This is an important word, used just three times in the New Testament. It means having enough so that we are free, not dependant on others but upon God himself. Wanting what we have not having what we want.
• Giving reflects the nature of God himself for 'God so loved the world that he gave...' When we give we are not just giving back to God, though that language is biblical. In giving we are caught up in the flow of God's grace. It is the unwillingness to go with the flow of grace that brings judgment on the Unforgiving Servant in Jesus' story (Matt 18:23-35).
• Giving is the enactment of gratitude and trust. Israel learned to trust God's provision in the scarcity of the wilderness. It is harder to trust in conditions of affluence and easier to take for granted what we have. Giving puts into practice these two core principles of faithful living and discipleship.