Ben Franklin or Biblical Giving?

I remember hearing years ago that Benjamin Franklin, one of the foremost of our Founding Fathers, learned to leave his money pouch at home when listening to the great Colonial evangelist, George Whitefield. Because if not, as he had experienced, he would be moved to “give it all” through Whitefield’s persuasive oratory and appeal. Especially when Whitefield was raising funds to build homes for orphans.

Now I don’t know if that is completely true, but I do know that we often are challenged to give to short-term mission trips, or people from our fellowships who go out for brief, summer mission trips. But what about the career worker who is slogging it out year in, year out, often not returning home for years? What should our motivation be for giving to them?

Ethnos360 (formerly New Tribes Missions) has been one of our l o n g-term partners, and I have taken some liberties with an article they published called “7 Reasons to Give”… because I liked their emphasis on biblical giving to (career) missionaries. So here are my 7 Motivations for Giving…

7. Generosity God is infinitely more generous than any of us. We’re called to grow more like Him daily. Paul instructed Titus to have the Cretan believers support missionaries because they needed to learn to be generous (Titus 3:13-14). Giving to missionaries is a biblical avenue for generosity.

6. God-Focus In Numbers 18, God instructed His people to give to Him and provide for the Levites. Paul cites this as the reason people under the new covenant should give to God by giving to missionaries in 1 Corinthians 9.

5. Earth’s Ends Most, if not all, of our disciple-making work is local. Yet we are called to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18) and Acts 1:8 tells us to put an equal priority on Jerusalem and the ends of the earth. But how can you impact the ends of the earth? 3 John 8 tells us: By giving to missionaries. 

4. Heart-Alignment We know God is not willing that any should perish and desires all people to have the opportunity to know Him. This is clearly on His heart throughout the Bible. So how do we keep that on our hearts? Matthew 6:21 tells us that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. So, give to missionaries who serve Him so all can hear.

3. Heart-Healthy There’s a lot of emphasis upon staying heart-healthy these days. The Philippians gave generously and repeatedly to Paul’s missionary ministry, and he encouraged them to keep giving for their own sake. “I seek the fruit that abounds to your account,” he wrote in Philippians 4:17. Giving to missionaries is like the old commercial says about eating Quaker Oatmeal, it’s just good for you

2. Need-Fulfillment Normally, people who receive goods or services pay for them, providing a living for the people who provide them. But the gift of salvation is free. Missionaries can’t charge for their work. That’s why, in God’s model, believers give to provide for missionaries (Romans 10:15; Luke 10:7). Your giving is their living.

1. Priority The New Testament says more about giving to missionaries than about any other type of giving! 3 John 8 spells it out: We have a responsibility to meet the needs of missionaries. God’s Word tells us to give to missionaries.

Don’t believe me? All these Bible passages refer to giving to missionaries: Matthew 10:7-10; Mark 6:7-11; Luke 10:1-16; Acts 15:3; Romans 10:13-15; 15:23-24; 1 Corinthians 9:1-14; 16:6-11; 2 Corinthians 1:16; Philippians; Titus 3:13-14; 3 John