How God Receives and Uses Offerings

Leviticus 7:35 – This is the portion of the food offerings PRESENTED TO THE LORD that were ALLOTTED TO AARON and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the LORD as priests.

Leviticus 7:36 – On the day they were anointed, THE LORD COMMANDED THAT THE ISRAELITES GIVE THIS TO THEM as their perpetual share for the generations to come.

During our childhood we were told that when we give tithes and offerings, we have given to God. We were curious to know how God looks like. We wanted to know at what point He will come to take the tithes and offerings we gave. We would therefore slightly open our eyes during offertory prayer hoping to catch a glimpse of God coming down to take the tithes and offerings we gave to Him. But God didn’t come! How does God receive and use offerings?

As we grew older, we wondered, does God use human currencies? We reconciled to ourselves that since God is invisible, He probably comes and picks the tithes and offerings unknown to us. But the question is, after God takes the money, how does He use it? Does He bank it? Does He go to the market? How does God receive and use offerings?

After we became adults, we learnt that this money was actually spent locally by church leaders. It felt like a scam. Are they God? Who gave them the right to touch God’s money? Why can’t God take His money?

Many adults go through life with these questions unsettled. Many times and wrongly so, religious leaders like myself make people feel like asking such questions is irreverence. Yet the questions don’t vanish. A large portion of worshippers therefore don’t give offerings because they know God doesn’t take it nor use it. Others give so little and insignificant to address pressure by leaders to give. They give little because they don’t care, knowing it’s not God who receives and uses what they give.

Others have grown up with evidence or without, that some church leaders misappropriates the money given. They feel or know there is corruption in the church, therefore they fight it by not giving or by withholding it until their wishes are addressed. They do this because they are helping God in ensuring His money isn’t wasted. If they were sure God received the money and used it, they wouldn’t worry about corruption, because God can fight corruption by and for Himself. The fighting and withholding of tithes and offerings emanates from the unanswered childhood question. How does God receive and use offerings?

Leviticus 7:35 – This is the portion of the food offerings PRESENTED TO THE LORD that were ALLOTTED TO AARON and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the LORD as priests.

Leviticus 7:36 – On the day they were anointed, THE LORD COMMANDED THAT THE ISRAELITES GIVE THIS TO THEM as their perpetual share for the generations to come.

The Bible tells us that when offerings are presented, they are presented to God. When you give tithes and offerings you are giving to God. When the church receives, God has received. It is PRESENTED TO THE LORD. When ushers, deacons, receive it, it has been PRESENTED TO THE LORD. When you rise up and go and give it, you have PRESENTED TO THE LORD. That is how God receives it. God receives through the church during offertory time.

The church is God’s agent in receiving the tithes and offerings that are PRESENTED TO THE LORD. The agents are appointed by God. The agents belong to God. If the agents steal the money or misuse it, the one who hired them will deal with them. He is able to hire, fire, maim, hurt or kill. What He does to His agents is His business. Once you give, your part is done and He does the rest.

If you give tithes and offerings and they are misused, you will still be blessed by God, because you PRESENTED TO THE LORD. As you get blessed for giving, God will deal with His own servants who stole it, as He deems fit. God receives during offertory time at worship and He blesses whoever gives regardless of what happens to the money after it’s given.

If you give and robbers come immediately and take it, you would have given and they would have robbed God not you. God will deal with the robbers. You don’t have to give again to replace the stolen amount.

During church processes, there is a point where we can choose leaders who receive and manage these funds. That is when God uses us to decide who will be His agent to receive and use His money. After that we let God deal with His servants. That processes is supervised by God. Even if it’s abused, God can address it or let it be. He is much more able than us to address any matter. He doesn’t need our help unless He sends us to address it, as He sent reformers.

Now we know how God receives the money we give Him. Next question is, how does He use the money in human local currencies? Does He go to the market? Does He have a bank account?

Leviticus 7:35 – This is the portion of the food offerings PRESENTED TO THE LORD that were ALLOTTED TO AARON and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the LORD as priests.

Leviticus 7:36 – On the day they were anointed, THE LORD COMMANDED THAT THE ISRAELITES GIVE THIS TO THEM as their perpetual share for the generations to come.

When we give, we present it to God. That which we give, God has allocated it to church leaders for their use. God uses it through church leaders. God has church leaders and a church that serves Him. The church and its leaders need money. God who receives and owns the tithes and offerings we give has allocated it to the church and its leaders.

1 Corinthians 9:13 – Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?

1 Corinthians 9:14 – In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

God receives what is given by worshippers. Then God gives a command that all of it is spent by the church and its leaders. When the church and its leaders are spending the money, they are spending God’s money not ours.

The money ceased to be ours when we gave it during worship. After giving it is fully God’s and He is better placed to protect it and supervise usage. The one we give the money during worship decided through a command that His money will be spent by the church and its leaders. That is how God uses the money we give Him.

If you are my tenant and I tell you to pay your rent in a school account where my children study, you do exactly that. Once you give the school that rent, it ceases to be yours. You don’t follow it up and rough up the school for misusing it. That is my business not yours. Once you give that rent to that school, haven’t you given to me? God receives through the church during worship and spends the money as He has commanded. That is how God receives and uses offerings!

My tenant has no right to give less because of their misgivings about the school. My tenant has no right to withhold money because they disagreed with the school. My tenant must give exactly what I asked for and let me deal with the school. We are the tenants. The church is the school. God is the Landlord. That is an analogy on how God receives and uses tithes and offerings.

We should be concerned how money is received and used, but we shouldn’t forget that God is able and in charge. We have our part to play. We should be glad and satisfied that God received and uses the money we give Him. May He forgive us for not giving. He He bless us for resolving to give Him good money for His work. In Jesus’s name, Amen!

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