What Do You Need to Be Generous?

What do you need before you can be generous? Not more money. You need a settled heart: trust in a God who doesn't change, and the conviction that everything you have already belongs to Him. Generosity is going beyond what's expected, and you can't go beyond until you've first been faithful with what God asks.

What is the difference between obedience and generosity?

Obedience is doing what is asked. Generosity is going beyond it. For example, if your spouse asks you to take out the trash and you do it, that isn't generous. It's just keeping the home in order. Generosity starts where the expected ends.

Malachi 3, a passage often quoted about giving, is mostly about what comes first. On Beyond Sunday, Pastor Sean Sloan pointed out that the chapter is mainly about God's generosity. It is also about the obedience and stewardship that lay the foundation for ours. Until you're doing what God asks, you aren't yet going beyond it.

Why does it matter that God doesn't change?

It matters because you can only trust Someone who stays the same. God's unchanging nature is the ground your generosity stands on.

I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you.

Malachi 3:6 to 7

Theologians call this immutability: God's character and purpose never change. The guest on the episode, who directs Calvary's SEU program, compared it to a football field. The ball moves up and down all game, and the plays change with the defense, but the goalposts never move. God was telling Israel He wasn't the one going back and forth. They were.

His actions do look different across history. What He did with Noah or David looks different from what He did in Christ, the way a running play differs from a passing play. But it's the same God with the same purpose. Leaders in the early church, as well as ancient Jewish teachers, held this view.

Notice the good news in verse 6. Because God doesn't change, His people are not destroyed. If He were moved by anger the way we are, we'd stand no chance. His justice never cancels His mercy, and His mercy never cancels His justice. You look for that kind of consistency in a friend or a boss before you trust them. God has been faithful to every generation.

Does tithing still matter for Christians?

Yes, tithing still matters. Jesus affirmed the tithe and pointed to the heart behind it. In Malachi, God tells His people to return to Him, and when they ask how, He answers with a question: will a mortal rob God?

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."

Malachi 3:10

A tithe is a tenth: not five percent or nine, but ten. And you can only rob someone by taking what belongs to them. Scripture says the tithe belongs to the Lord. Anything that belongs to a holy God is holy, like the Sabbath, and like the tithe.

So bringing the tithe is faithfulness more than generosity. It acknowledges that God is holy and that everything you have comes from Him. The question shifts from "How do I spend my money?" to "How do I spend God's money?"

Some people online now argue that the tithe no longer applies. The guest offered a helpful lens: every law has a spirit behind the letter. For the early church after the resurrection, a tenth was the low bar, because the spirit behind it is generosity. Jesus said as much to religious leaders who tithed even their spices but neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Matthew 23:23

Does God care about the attitude behind your giving?

Yes, God cares about your attitude. A grudging gift is barely a gift. Think of the obligatory office present: one more mug for a cabinet already full of them. If you give only because you have to, trimming everything down to the exact amount, you've missed the point.

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Giving is a way of returning your heart to God. It says, "You are my Source. Everything I have is from You, and how I use it matters to You."

How do you move from faithful to generous?

Start by treating everything you have as God's, then give beyond that from gratitude. Think of your family, your health, your job, your home, your community. When you see each one as belonging to Him and holy, you have a foundation. From there you can go above and beyond, because you serve a generous God.

Malachi shows that generosity starts with Him. Even when His people were unfaithful, He kept being good to them, because that's who He is. Pastor Sean said he's grateful God doesn't always give him what he deserves, and gives him many things he doesn't.

Common questions

Is tithing the same as generosity?

Not quite. The tithe is faithfulness and obedience: returning to God the tenth that already belongs to Him. Generosity is giving beyond what is asked, and the tithe is the foundation it grows from.

Do Christians still need to tithe?

In Matthew 23:23, Jesus told religious leaders to keep tithing without neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness. For the early church, the tenth was the low bar, because the spirit behind it is generosity.

What does "test me in this" mean in Malachi 3:10?

God invites His people to bring the whole tithe and see His faithfulness for themselves. It is a rare place in Scripture where God invites people to test Him.

What does it mean that God is immutable?

Immutability means God's character and purpose never change. His actions may look different across history, but He remains the same faithful God to every generation.