God & Money

Exploring the interesting world of giving
The popular musical Hello Dolly! had many memorable lines; but my favorite is this one: “Money,” said Dolly Levi, “pardon the expression, is like manure. It’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around, encouraging young things to grow.”

I’ve heard more than one preacher say he could tell a lot about individuals based on how they spent their money. Christians, of all people, should be generous out of gratitude for what Jesus did for us. If we truly trust God to provide for our needs, we should not be afraid to give liberally to causes that honor Him.

John Cortines and Gregory Baumer, two Christians in their 20s earning more than half a million dollars a year between them, recently wrote a book titled God and Money: How We Discovered True Riches at Harvard Business School. “The Bible,” they found, “contains roughly 500 verses on prayer and faith, but well over 2,000 verses on money.”¹ Obviously, God has much to say about wealth and giving.

So, I decided to explore the world of giving, beginning with the Jewish people, who often are characterized as being cheap when, in fact, they are among the most generous. For example, Ruth and Raymond Perelman donated $225 million in 2011 to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Penn Med).² Penn Med’s Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine houses the Abramson Cancer Center, a world leader in cancer research and patient care, made possible by a gift of more than $140 million from Madlyn and Leonard Abramson.³

Jewish people generally give liberally, although their reasons for giving differ from those of evangelical Christians.

Tzedakah and Tikkun Olam
A study by Giving USA shows the average annual Jewish household donates $2,526 to charity yearly, compared to $1,749 from Protestants and $1,142 from Catholics.⁴ And, while Jews give about the same percentage to their local congregations as other faiths, they give a greater percentage to other causes.

Jewish giving is fueled by two concepts: tzedakah and tikkun olam. Both observant and nonobservant Jews embrace these ideas, producing the most philanthropic of all faiths.

Tzedakah is a Hebrew word composed of two words, tzedek (righteousness) and chesed (lovingkindness) and means “philanthropy” or “charity.” Jewish people consider giving to be a righteous act that pleases God and a mitzvah, or commandment (also translated “good deed”), because God commands His people to give. For example, Leviticus 27:28–33 deals with the command to tithe (give 10 percent of) one’s land, produce, and livestock. God calls the tithe “holy to the LORD” (v. 30).

Unfortunately, Orthodox rabbis teach that this mandatory, righteous giving is so important it has the power to take away sin.⁵ Herein lies a major difference between Jewish and evangelical giving. Evangelical Christians believe no amount of tithing or giving to the Lord can remove sin. Leviticus also says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (17:11). Only blood can remove sin.

In addition, the prophet Isaiah said, “All our righteousnesses [Hebrew, tzedkotanu, from the word tzedakah] are like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6).

Rabbinic Judaism, of course, isn’t alone in believing good deeds remove sin. All religions, including within Christendom, share that misconception. Bible-believing Christians, however, take Leviticus 17:11 literally, as well as 1 John 1:7: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

The point of Jesus’ ministry on Earth was to bear our sin and be punished in our stead. As Isaiah wrote, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). Jesus (Hebrew, Yeshua, meaning “salvation”) became our blood sacrifice; and because He is God, He arose from the dead. He sacrificed Himself to save us from eternal punishment. Is there any better reason to love Him or any better motivation to give than that one?

Tikkun olam, Hebrew for “repairing the world,” is the second term associated with Jewish giving. Originally, Orthodox Jews saw tikkun olam as partnering with God to repair our broken world. Today, the term is associated with Jews who support social-justice causes thought to make the world a more equitable, peaceful, and tolerant place.

They believe giving generously to such causes benefits everyone and follows the spirit of Torah. For them, political action, along with acts of charity and kindness, retranslates the words tikkun olam from repairing the world through mitzvot (commands, good deeds) to repairing it through social justice.

‘We Shall All Be Changed’
A recent study, “The Generosity Factor: Evangelicals and Giving,” revealed that, over a 12-month period, the average American evangelical gave $1,923 annually to church and $622 to charity, for a total of $2,545 (a mere $19 more than the average Jewish donor).⁶

Sadly, it also showed 19 percent of evangelicals during that period gave no money at all.⁷ Surprised by that statistic, I asked Tom Geoghan, The Friends of Israel’s vice president for Ministry Advancement, why Christians should give. Tom has studied evangelical giving for more than 30 years. Here was his reply:

We give because of 1 Corinthians 15, which, in my opinion, is the greatest chapter in the Bible. The apostle Paul testified to Jesus’ resurrection and how we will be resurrected. He said, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. . . . This mortal must put on immortality” [vv. 51, 53]. Therefore, and as a result of all that, the practical value is to be “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” [v. 58].

After such dynamic preaching on Jesus’ resurrection and the assurance of our resurrection, Paul immediately said, “Now concerning the collection” [16:1]. It’s like, wow, okay, you learned all this stuff, and now he throws the collection at them. It seems mundane, almost comical. How can I be thinking about the collection when you’ve just taken me to the heights of resurrection power? But he does because it is so important. Christians should give “hilariously” because Christ gave us abundant, overflowing life by His death, burial, and resurrection. There is no way we can pay Him back for our salvation, but we can express our gratitude.

We should give regularly, prayerfully, and consistently. We were never commanded to give a certain amount. Our giving is supposed to be something that spontaneously emerges from a thankful heart. Paul said a believer should give “as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” [2 Cor. 9:7]. To whatever level you feel that the Lord is leading you, do it!

Giving should be done joyfully. The word cheerful could rightfully be translated “hilarious.” It’s all a question of the heart.

I believe Dolly Levi had the right idea. What good is money if we don’t spread it around to encourage growth and provide for people’s needs? As believers, our treasures are to be stored up in heaven, not on Earth. As Jesus said,

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Mt. 6:19–21).

I want my heart to be with the Lord. How about you?

ENDNOTES

1. 1. (godandmoney.net/buy).
   2. “Raymond and Ruth Perelman Donate $225 Million to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine,” PennToday, May 11, 2011 (tinyurl.com/Penn-Perl).
   3. “Madlyn Abramson: Penn Alumna, Trustee, Benefactor” (pennmedicine.org/cancer/about/remembering-madlyn-abramson).
   4. Hanna Shaul Bar Nissim, “American Jews and charitable giving: an enduring tradition,” theconversation.com, December 10, 2017 (tinyurl.com/TheConvJ).
   5. “Tzedakah: Charity,” Judaism 101 (jewfaq.org/tzedakah.htm).
   6. Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research, “The Generosity Factor: Evangelicals and Giving” (infinityconcepts.com), 8.
   7. Ibid., 4.

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