GIFTS
OF MINISTRY
(see
Romans 12.4 - 8)
Brian
Favell
Part
5- GIVING
Our first reaction to this one is likely to be "Can this really be counted as a motivational gift - a gift of the Spirit?" And on being assured that it is so (and Paul certainly thinks so - see Romans 12 verses 6 - 8) the next reaction could be, "Fine! Where is a Giver? Lead me to him!"
Which may be good clean fun but it's altogether off the point. The Ministry of Giving is nothing like that. So what IS it about?
In a few words, it is about the motivation to entrust personal assets to others for the furtherance of their ministry. Which means of course that a Giver will have something to give. He (or she) will have money or possessions. He will have a God-given ability to (very crudely) make money. Coupled with that will be the ability to use it wisely.
Putting it another way, a Giver will be a person whom God trusts with material things. So he is going to be careful with money - he won't just splash it around according to the way he feels. He is very conscious that he has been given the stewardship of God's money, and so he is going to be even more careful with it than if it were his own.
That lets a lot of us out, doesn't it? Including me. Most of us are not Givers in the sense that giving is our prime motivational gift. We regard money as our own to do with as we like - and don't we splash it around when something takes our fancy! Nevertheless we all need to read on a little further: first because we DO have some money and in our own small way need to learn how to use it responsibly in God's name just as a Giver does; secondly because we need to understand how a Giver ticks, otherwise we are likely to think he's doing it all wrong.
Stewardship is a key word: awareness that what we handle is God's money and not our own to do with just as we like.
A Giver is able to make wise purchases and good investments. To us on the outside, it may look as if he's just got that knack which makes money stick to him. Indeed it may look as if he is much too concerned about money, so that by comparison we almost feel proud of our tendency to misuse it and let it dribble away. Nevertheless the truth is that most of us are far too hag-ridden by material things: we can't be trusted to acquire them wisely and use them well; we like them too much.
But there ARE people - a very few - who can be so trusted: and as with the servant who was given ten talents, God gives them more and more to handle for him as they prove worthy of his trust.
Just as a Giver uses wisdom and good judgment in gaining possessions, so he uses them in giving them away. He does not give in response to emotion but in response to a need that he sees and understands, and he is concerned that his gift will be used effectively and not wasted.
He likes to give in such a way that others are thereby led to give as well. That way his gift is doubly effective - even though an outsider may think he is being mean in not giving more, because he can afford it.
A Giver listens to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, not to high-pressure appeals from organisations or individuals; indeed such appeals are more likely than not to turn him off. He is aware that money too readily given can frustrate the work of the Holy Spirit within the recipient by providing an easy way out of a problem when - for instance - the Spirit is pressing for a radical change of direction. It is not always God's will that an organisation which has done his work well in the past should continue to exist or go on working in the same way. But a Giver will be alert to see needs that others might overlook, and he will enjoy meeting them effectively and without fuss.
Because he relies on the guiding of the Spirit he will not act entirely on his own: he will use others to test the Spirit just as we learn to do in other ministries. And if his leading is not exactly confirmed he will back off and pray some more. Although what he has to give is material rather than spiritual his responsibility is just as clear as that of, say, one who heals: he cannot give something 'just to be on the safe side'.
Because he is aware of the need to follow the Spirit's leadings he finds great joy when a gift turns out to be an exact answer to someone's specific prayer; his obedience to the Spirit is thereby confirmed and made manifest.
A Giver is concerned that what he does should exactly suit the need: if someone needed a car he would not give a Range Rover if the most suitable car were an Escort; nor would he insist on the Escort if the need were for a Range Rover!
Although he will aim to work quietly and unobtrusively his ministry is never impersonal; he is entrusting personal assets to others for the furtherance of THEIR ministry and by doing so he becomes a part of their ministry himself - he is involved.
When we look at a Giver we may feel (as I have said) that he is hooked on money and possessions, but the fact is that he is so little hooked on them that God can trust him with them, and trust him to give them away where they can be best used for God's work. He is concerned to see that God gets value for money, but the care he takes in doing it may look to others (even the recipient) like an attempt to dictate the pattern of work it is given for.
His carefulness - even of his own spending - can make him look stingy to those who don't see the way he works: so can his refusal to be pressurised. He will not forget that he is only a steward of God's property, but others (possibly friends and acquaintances) might rather easily forget it and feel themselves hard done by because their own pet ideas don't get any special treatment from him.
THE MAIN DANGER for him is - as always - pride. Pride in the scale of his giving, pride in what he has to give, as if it were his own doing and not God's provision.
They are rare people, Givers. But there are an awful lot of us who are not equipped to be Givers yet need to give on the smaller scale that matches our - maybe small - means, and we need to learn the techniques. So don't skip this and think it's not for you. It is..... and for me too!