Charity

The New Testament is very clear: we are to love God, not money, for we cannot serve both.[1] Paul insisted that elders and deacons must be “free from the love of money,”[2] and he warned that “the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”[3] Jesus told us to store up treasures in heaven rather than on earth, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”[4]

Luke tells us that the Pharisees—who were often villains in the New Testament—”were lovers of money,” and that they ridiculed Jesus for his teachings on the subject.[5] The Pharisees were the “prosperity preachers” of their time, for they viewed wealth as a sign of God’s favor and approval. They believed that if God was pleased with you, he would bless you with riches. That was actually a common misconception of the time, which is why the people were astonished when Jesus told them “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God!”[6] The idea that someone God had blessed with prosperity—and therefore someone with whom God must be pleased—would not be saved was unthinkable: “Then who can be saved?”[7]

To be clear, money is not  the evil—the devotion to money is what is evil. Nevertheless, Jesus often viewed wealth as an obstruction to our relationship with God. That is why he told the rich, young ruler to sell everything he owned and give the money to the poor .[8] It is also why the Bible constantly emphasizes the importance of giving to God’s church and to those in need—for example, the Old Testament requirement to tithe;[9] the story of the poor widow who gave all she had to the temple treasury;[10] the parable of the sheep and the goats;[11] and Jesus’s advice to:

Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor does a moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.[12]

Clearly, God wants us to be generous with what he has given us. (I’ve already talked about how much we should give in another blog entry.) But we shouldn’t be foolish when we give. The parables of the minas[13] and the talents[14] teach that we should be prudent with what God gives us. Furthermore, Jesus told us to be “as wary as serpents,”[15] and to “beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”[16]

I believe God wants us to be careful to whom we give money—keeping it out of the hands of “ravenous wolves”—so that it will do the most good and help as many people as possible. That means we need to do a little research to ensure that what we give is going to help people in need and not just to buy someone a private jet or a fancy residence. There are websites that can help us in that regard. Here are a few that I have found useful:[17] Give.org (affiliated with the Better Business Bureau), Guidestar, Charity Navigator, and Charity Watch.

[1]. See Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13.

[2]. 1 Timothy 3:3; see also 1 Timothy 3:8, Titus 1:7, and Hebrews 13:5.

[3]. 1 Timothy 6:10

[4]. Matthew 6:19-21; see also Luke 12:33-34

[5]. Luke 16:14

[6]. Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25

[7]. Matthew 19:25, Mark 10:26, Luke 18:26

[8]. Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21, Luke 18:22

[9].  Leviticus 27:30-33, Numbers 18:21-32, and Deuteronomy 14:22-29

[10]. Mark 12:41-44, Luke 21:1-4

[11]. Matthew 25:31-46

[12]. Luke 12:33-34

[13]. Luke 19:11-27

[14]. Matthew 25:14-30

[15]. Matthew 10:16

[16]. Matthew 7:15

[17]. These websites provide information and guidance regarding many, though not all, non-profit organizations. To my knowledge, these websites won’t help you in deciding whether or not to give to a particular church. But most churches’ financial documents are available for members to inspect. And I would be concerned about any church that deliberate hides such information from its members.