The New Testament contains many different types of offerings, including almsgiving and fasting, prayer, sacrifices and other forms of worship performed by individuals or the church in community.
The New Testament is the second part of the Christian Bible. It tells of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection, and includes the letters written by Paul and others to early Christian communities.
Churchgist will give you all you ask on spiritual meaning of giving, importance of giving offering in church and so much more.
types of offerings in the new testament
Giving is Biblical. Christians are to be generous with our time and treasure. God empowers us to live above the sins of covetousness and greed. Do you practice these four types of Biblical giving?
Christians should be generous. Our God is the giver of all good things and He expects His children to give as well.
Practice the following types of Biblical giving to honor the Lord and be supremely blessed.
1. Alms
Alms is anything given to relieve the poor. It could be money, food, clothing, shelter, etc. God expects for us to look for the needs of the less fortunate and fulfill them as He leads us by His Holy Spirit. Recently, a few men in our church noticed that a family that drives a long distance to come to our church had bald tires on their vehicle. Those men privately gave money to purchase tires. The beneficiaries don’t even know who provided the funds. That is alms.
A meal bought for a hungry man would be alms. So would a coat bought to protect a child from the cold. Groceries that are given to a family that no income. These are all examples of alms. When is the last time you saw a need and quietly fulfilled it?
Build some money into your budget so you can be a blessing as God brings needs to your attention.
Matthew 6:1–4“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”
2. Tithe
Abraham tithed before the Law. Moses penned it in the Law. Jesus commended it in the New Testament. Yes, you should Tithe. The Tithe is the 10% of your increase. The Tithe belongs to God. Truthfully, everything we are and have belongs to God. He allows us to keep most of our increase, but the tithe is not ours. We get the privilege of returning the Tithe to God in our local church’s offerings. Did you Tithe last week?
Each of us is blessed or cursed based on our obedience to returning the Tithe. Many Christians don’t trust God enough to give the tithe. This lack of faith is a shame. God dares you to prove Him! Put God first. He will bless your obedience with the true riches that cannot be bought with money. God will enable you to do more with 90% of your income after you tithe than you can do with 100% of your income after robbing God.
Leviticus 27:30 “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord.”
Malachi 3:8–11 “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, Even this whole nation.Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be meat in mine house, And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, If I will not open you the windows of heaven, And pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, And he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.”
3. Offering
An offering is anything given over and above the Tithe. If you don’t Tithe, you cannot give an offering. Until you give 10% of your increase, each penny you give is part of your unfulfilled Tithe.
An offering is a freewill gift. God doesn’t set the amount, but He does command that you give something. World missions, building programs, church initiatives, etc. are all examples of offerings. Did you give a freewill offering over and above your tithe last week?
Exodus 35:5 “Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord; gold, and silver, and brass,”
Exodus 35:29 “The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.”
Deuteronomy 16:10 “And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:”
Deuteronomy 23:23 “That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.”
4. Grace
Grace giving is the goal for the Christian. Grace giving is when God supernaturally enables you to give beyond your power. It happens when God knows He can funnel money through you without you keeping it for yourself. The Macedonians were able to give by grace in spite of deep poverty and great affliction. The average Christian looks at their budget and tries to decide what they can afford to give. The spiritual Christian prays and asks God what they should give.
Tithing is not mentioned much in the New Testament because God doesn’t want us to do only what is required. He wants us to learn that He can work through us mightily when we yield to Him. Tithing is the floor. The least acceptable gift. Grace giving is the ceiling. It is supernatural giving empowered by God. There is no limit as to how much God could give through you if you would surrender to Him.
2 Corinthians 8:7 “Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.”
2 Corinthians 9:7–9 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.”
spiritual meaning of giving
It means befriending the poor and the weak, alleviating suffering, righting wrongs, defending truth, strengthening the rising generation, and achieving security and happiness at home.
importance of giving offering in church
We’ve probably all heard these common complaints and questions: Churches today only care about money. There are too many abuses of church funds. Why should I give? How do I know the money will go to a good cause?
Some churches talk about and ask for money frequently. Most take up a collection weekly as part of the regular worship service. However, some churches don’t receive formal offerings. Instead, they place offering boxes discretely in the building and money topics are only mentioned when a teaching in the Bible deals with these issues.
So, what exactly does the Bible say about giving? Since money is a highly sensitive area for most people, let’s take some time to explore.
Giving shows he is Lord of our lives.
First and foremost, God wants us to give because it shows that we recognize he is truly the Lord of our lives.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17, NIV)
Everything we own and everything we have comes from God. So, when we give, we simply offer him a small portion of the abundance he has already given to us.
Giving is an expression of our thankfulness and praise to God. It comes from a heart of worship that recognizes everything we have and give already belongs to the Lord.
God instructed Old Testament believers to give a tithe, or a tenth because this ten percent represented the first, most important portion of all they had. The New Testament does not suggest a certain percentage for giving, but simply says for each to give “in keeping with his income.”
Believers ought to give according to their income.
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. (1 Corinthians 16:2, NIV)
Notice that the offering was set aside on the first day of the week. When we are willing to offer the first portion of our wealth back to God, then God knows he has our hearts. He knows we are submitted completely in trust and obedience to our Savior.
We are blessed when we give.
… remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (Acts 20:35, NIV)
God wants us to give because he knows we will be blessed when we give generously to him and to others. Giving is a paradoxical kingdom principle — it brings more blessing to the giver than to the recipient.
When we give freely to God, we receive freely from God.
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38, NIV)
One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. (Proverbs 11:24, NIV)
God promises to bless us over and above what we give and also according to the measure that we use to give. But, if we hold back from giving with a stingy heart, we hinder God from blessing our lives.
Believers should seek God and not a legalistic rule about how much to give.
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7, NIV)
Giving is meant to be a joyful expression of thanks to God from the heart, not a legalistic obligation.
The value of our offering is not determined by how much we give, but how we give.
We find at least three important keys to giving in this story of the widow’s offering:
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41-44, NIV)
God values our offerings differently than men do.
In God’s eyes, the value of the offering is not determined by its amount. The passage says that the wealthy gave large amounts, but the widow’s “fraction of a penny” was of much higher value because she gave all that she had. It was a costly sacrifice. Notice that Jesus did not say she put in more than any of the others; he said she put in more than all the others.
Our attitude in giving is important to God.
The text says Jesus “watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.” Jesus observed the people as they gave their offerings, and he watches us today as we give. If we give to be seen by men or with a stingy heart toward God, our offering loses its value. Jesus is more interested and impressed by how we give than what we give.
We see this same principle in the story of Cain and Abel. God evaluated Cain and Abel’s offerings. Abel’s offering was pleasing in God’s eyes, but he rejected Cain’s. Rather than giving to God out of thankfulness and worship, Cain presented his offering in a way that displeased God. Maybe he had hoped to receive special recognition. Cain knew the right thing to do, but he didn’t do it. God even gave Cain an opportunity to make things right, but he refused.
God watches what and how we give. God not only cares about the quality of our gifts to him but also the attitude in our hearts as we offer them.
God doesn’t want us to be overly concerned with how our offering is spent.
At the time Jesus observed this widow’s offering, the temple treasury was managed by the corrupt religious leaders of that day. Yet Jesus did not mention anywhere in this story that the widow should not have given to the temple.
Although we ought to do what we can to ensure that ministries we give to are good stewards of God’s money, we can’t always know for certain that the money we give will be spent correctly or wisely. We can’t allow ourselves to be overly burdened with this concern, nor should we use this as an excuse not to give.
It’s important for us to find a good church that wisely manages its financial resources for God’s glory and for the growth of God’s kingdom. But once we give to God, we need not worry about what happens to the money. That is God’s problem to solve, not ours. If a church or ministry misuses its funds, God knows how to deal with those responsible.
We rob God when we fail to give offerings to him.
Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. (Malachi 3:8, NIV)
This verse speaks for itself. We aren’t fully surrendered to God until our money is dedicated to him.
Our financial giving reveals a picture of our lives surrendered to God.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1, NIV)
When we truly recognize all that Christ has done for us, we’ll want to offer ourselves wholly to God as a living sacrifice of worship to him. Our offerings will flow freely from a heart of gratitude.
A Giving Challenge
Let’s consider a giving challenge. We’ve established that tithing is no longer the law. New Testament believers are under no legal obligation to give a tenth of their income. Yet, many believers see the tithe as the minimum to give — a demonstration that everything we have belongs to God. So, the first part of the challenge is to make the tithe your starting point for giving.
Malachi 3:10 says:
“‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.'”
This verse suggests that our giving should go to the local church (the storehouse) where we are taught God’s Word and nurtured spiritually. If you’re not currently giving to the Lord through a church home, begin by making a commitment. Give something faithfully and regularly. God promises to bless your commitment. If a tenth seems too overwhelming, consider making it a goal. Giving might feel like a sacrifice at first, but soon you’ll discover its rewards.
God wants believers to be free from the love of money, as the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:10:
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (ESV).
We may experience times of financial hardship when we can’t give as much as we’d like, but the Lord still wants us to trust him in those times and give. God, not our paycheck, is our provider. He will meet our daily needs.
