Why Converting Giving to Money is Unscriptural

We know that God created everything for the use and management of man. But then man created money for ease and convenience of trade. Unfortunately, money not only took away the stress of exchanging potatoes with goats; it also took away relationships that were being enriched by those transactions. In pursuit of efficiency man became mechanical.

In the business arena (domain of mammon, the god of this world) nothing designed by man has promoted trade like currency. But we tend to overlook the fact that nothing gives mammon his status and power like the same money.

Yet I will avoid speaking like an economist. I am simply a bearer of tidings from on high and will therefore concentrate on how money comes between God and His people in worship. You see, as long as money does not interfere with worship and ministry, there is nothing wrong with it. However, if it becomes a tool to dilute worship or minimize ministry, there is a big problem.

I have posted many times on what a tool is. Like a hammer or gun it is harmless on its own. It is the wielder who determines the usefulness or otherwise of the same.

I need to say that money is of this world and therefore subject to the ruler of this world. He is the wielder of money for the most part and it is no wonder that very little spiritual good comes from it. that is the reason Christ said that it is impossible to worship God and serve money.

It is interesting that there were two types of currency in the Bible. There was the spiritually acceptable and unacceptable. Money is not just money when we read the Bible. There is money that was unacceptable in worship.

Ever realized that there were more than one type of shekel and only one was acceptable in worship? That was the reason it was called the shekel of the sanctuary. Remember Jesus saying we give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God? How come that we are now evaluating our relationships with what is Caesar’s?

I have posted elsewhere on my blog that tithing is a doctrine of the Old covenant, that there were new standards established (title; Tithing on biqil.blogspot.com). But for the purposes of this message we will assume otherwise.

I grew up on the farms and it is evident that greed and selfishness is not as pronounced where transactions are not monetary. A farmer does not wrestle much to give a chicken even when he has only five. Yet it is very difficult to give the monetary equivalent of that chicken if he sold a hundred. Interestingly the one given the live chicken, even if just a chick, might never forget that gift though the one given the money may easily forget.

Farmers give food. And that is what God wanted when He gave His laws. It is easier to give what you produce than giving the proceeds of the same. It is also more fruitful for all concerned as it builds relationships. You see a cow will many times reproduce and that seed will always remind one of the relationships that brought that seed about. And even if it is eaten, rarely will it be eaten like that. Chances are that it will be for a ceremony that will not be easily forgotten. And that is why bride price in the past involved live animals as opposed to their monetary equivalent. (I remember when I was getting married there was a quarantine and so cows were impossible to get and so my in laws did not have any option but accept cash. But they immediately went and bought cows since his family lived beyond the quarantine).

What are the limitations of cash and why am I saying that it blocks worship and ministry? You see, apart for those who work for salaries, the bulk of the rest trade in one thing or the other, meaning that their production is not monetary. According to the Bible, your giving should come from what you produce or trade in (tithe of your increase). And that is from first fruits to the tithe to thanksgiving offerings. Converting into money opens the door for abuse and misuse. But worse is that it many times blocks the gift from reaching the intended recipient. Ananias and his wife could not have died had they given their land instead of selling it as there could have been no chance for greed to creep in.

I have said that nature operates in such a way that one man’s need is another’s opportunity. God will most times answer two prayer needs by connecting the two people praying so that the two needs cancel out and gratitude is offered to God. A person praying for a good landlord is connected with a landlord praying for good tenant. Someone praying for a good mechanic is connected with a mechanic praying for a good customer. A person needing a good cow connects to a farmer looking to get a cow he values in good hands. I wonder why we have for the most part divorced giving from the equation. But I will emphatically state that mammon has been given free rein even in the church.

Why is it that people sell what God asks them to give to take the money to church? Why didn’t God ask you to give money yet He knew you had it?

We have narrowed the church to a building and God’s people to a pastor or two. We therefore evaluate our giving using the pastor as our reference. If the pastor drives a better car than the one I am being challenged to give I reason it can’t really mean the car. Or I have three bags of farm produce I need to give and sell because the pastor/s won’t be able to consume it all.

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. (Malachi 3:10)

Do you realize that the tithe was basically food? Do you realize that the Levitical tribe lived on the food produced by the other Israelites? Why do we assume that God did not know that money is easier to give than farm produce and meat?

Another problem with mammon is that he centralizes giving. This of course blocks the gift from reaching its intended recipient as money is fluid. No wonder it is called liquid cash. Again money is such that we will always need it however much we may have. And that is the reason billionaires barely sleep looking for money yet they have money they would not exhaust however wasteful they became.

In the Bible all the Levites were given the tithe and not in the sanctuary alone. Incidentally it included their whole families and not only those serving. There were storehouses even in the villages so that even the needy (orphans, widows, strangers) would access food. Is that translatable to money?

And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:10)

Is this possible with money? Yet this is God’s command to His people. That is what brings out the story of Ruth the Moabitess in the Bible.

And it is possible with the things we trade in. If I deal with computers for example, it is possible that there is a computer that will refuse to be bought that I can comfortably give out (gleaning). And it is the same for a lawyer representing someone who would otherwise be unable to afford legal fees. It is easier for one with a school waiving fees for a needy student.

Yet it is very hard to give out the money if I disposed the computer at a quarter its price, or give out the money of a client who had paid very little or of a student who paid drastically reduced fees. Yet the giving would not reduce the value as ‘selling cheaper’ would. Giving out a 50 000/- computer to one who needs it is better than selling it at 10 000/- and taking the money to church. Giving out that car or house to the one God leads you to is much better than devaluing it and selling it for peanuts to take those peanuts to church. In fact it might be the reason God may have blocked its sale.

Let us give the fruit of what we do to God instead of converting it into money. I am sure those who are paid in money can do the duties that require money in the commonwealth of believers.

Let me give my example. I have several skills that have opened many ministry doors over time. As someone with technical leaning and training I have been able to offer my expertise where money could not have done much when I find people in electrical or electronic crisis. That gift of my skill especially to those with no access to a technician does more than giving loads of money.

God has also called me to empower Christian writers. The books industry is a labyrinth and as I have walked people through it have seen gratitude that no amount of money can pay for. I have helped a few people who had had manuscript for even more than ten years without knowing what to do next. The joy you see when someone holds their first book can never be exchanged for anything in the world. Editing without charging is folly to mammon and his followers. Yet the joy and fulfillment I see when someone who had never anticipated seeing their book printed motivates me again and again. The prayer and favor I enjoy from those people is one reason I find it impossible to charge for those offerings.

Give what you have. Do not be deceived to dilute it or lower its value by converting it to its monetary equivalent. It is not Biblical, however logical it appears.

There was money even when God was giving those commandments. He was not trashing money but was simply saying that giving and money are on different value planes and should be treated as such.