Many in the modern Church think that by giving much money to their own local church, they are very pleasing to God. Gifts that a person makes can be a true abomination:
You may argue that you are giving for a righteous cause, not an unrighteous one. That may be true but that is not the real issue here. The issue is the heart, whether one gives freely, without a single desire to hold back what one gives. Giving for a righteous cause, such as a true genuine local church with a motive that it is out of obligation, or just to gain more eternal rewards from God, which is absolutely undeserved, is an abomination (Isaiah 1:13).
Gifts that are given without a true heart of love are vanity and abominations in themselves: "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting" (Isaiah 1:13). Such giving is not only vain, and vile, but hypocritical and blasphemous, making a mockery of what it means to truly give.
If one does not give ungrudgingly or gives out of obligation (2 Corinthians 9:7), one is acting out of self-righteous hypocrisy, seeking to want to give much money so as to be able to say that one gives, but not truly wanting to give. It is to show a false sense of graciousness, just like a person who insists on how offended he is by the ways others speak simply because it is too direct for him, but says that he will "extend grace" to the one who simply just personally offended him. Yet, he insists that the person speak in a way that conform to the way he desires, accusing the "offender" of being ungentle. Such graciousness is an abomination. This is the way of modern pharisees who are not the unsaved, but many in the modern Church.
To give unfreely, or grudgingly is to be unforgiving in one's actions, insisting on one's ways. This manifests in complaints by many in the modern Church of the west about feeling "offended" by another when that person has not sinned, but merely made that person "offended" owing to his own carnality, from which he is saved. His carnality, though, still manifests itself when he has unbiblical thinking about forgiveness, and insisting on his or her own way.
Gifts, whether it be gifts of money, acts of kindness to help others, or sacrifice of time are abominations when either the motive or the manner of spirit of giving such gifts is one that seeks to insist on one's own way. As long as one has the desire to insist on one's own way to the slightest extent, the gifts he gives or his graciousness are false. They are not only meaningless, like the sacrifices of the Israelites in Isaiah 1; they are abominations.
Many in the modern Church exhibit a false sense of graciousness ,and a false sense of generosity. The whole world can see this. No wonder the world thinks the modern Church to be hypocritical - because it often is. Such Christians who act with a false sense of graciousness and generosity are not merely posing a stumbling block to the world; they are the stumbling block.
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them (Isaiah 1:11-14).
You may argue that you are giving for a righteous cause, not an unrighteous one. That may be true but that is not the real issue here. The issue is the heart, whether one gives freely, without a single desire to hold back what one gives. Giving for a righteous cause, such as a true genuine local church with a motive that it is out of obligation, or just to gain more eternal rewards from God, which is absolutely undeserved, is an abomination (Isaiah 1:13).
Gifts that are given without a true heart of love are vanity and abominations in themselves: "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting" (Isaiah 1:13). Such giving is not only vain, and vile, but hypocritical and blasphemous, making a mockery of what it means to truly give.
If one does not give ungrudgingly or gives out of obligation (2 Corinthians 9:7), one is acting out of self-righteous hypocrisy, seeking to want to give much money so as to be able to say that one gives, but not truly wanting to give. It is to show a false sense of graciousness, just like a person who insists on how offended he is by the ways others speak simply because it is too direct for him, but says that he will "extend grace" to the one who simply just personally offended him. Yet, he insists that the person speak in a way that conform to the way he desires, accusing the "offender" of being ungentle. Such graciousness is an abomination. This is the way of modern pharisees who are not the unsaved, but many in the modern Church.
To give unfreely, or grudgingly is to be unforgiving in one's actions, insisting on one's ways. This manifests in complaints by many in the modern Church of the west about feeling "offended" by another when that person has not sinned, but merely made that person "offended" owing to his own carnality, from which he is saved. His carnality, though, still manifests itself when he has unbiblical thinking about forgiveness, and insisting on his or her own way.
Gifts, whether it be gifts of money, acts of kindness to help others, or sacrifice of time are abominations when either the motive or the manner of spirit of giving such gifts is one that seeks to insist on one's own way. As long as one has the desire to insist on one's own way to the slightest extent, the gifts he gives or his graciousness are false. They are not only meaningless, like the sacrifices of the Israelites in Isaiah 1; they are abominations.
Many in the modern Church exhibit a false sense of graciousness ,and a false sense of generosity. The whole world can see this. No wonder the world thinks the modern Church to be hypocritical - because it often is. Such Christians who act with a false sense of graciousness and generosity are not merely posing a stumbling block to the world; they are the stumbling block.
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