I believe that there are three ways to give as New Testament believers, tithes, freewill offerings, and alms. Tithing is giving one tenth of your income to support the priest and Levite of today which I believe are all ministers and many of those which volunteer with no compensation. The next are freewill offerings which should be the means to pay for things that the church needs such as utilities, buildings, materials, and other tools to carry out ministry. The last is alms which is to help the needy and what I want to share about in more detail.
Especially this time of the year, the holiday season when I am writing this, there is a lot of activity among the church and secular organizations to give food baskets and gifts for less fortunate people. These things are being promoted on TV and all around us even to the bell ringer outside the local department store. Many ministries do drives to collect clothing, canned goods, blankets, and items to make up food baskets this time of year. Mostly people like to give to causes they think are worthy and others give to the person on the corner with the cardboard sign with little regard for the person let alone their use of the money. Others never give to the homeless and state they will just use it for drugs or alcohol to defend their position.
Pastoring for more than a decade I noticed many people want to give and participate in programs and or events to help the needy. I may come off as judgmental, but I must say what I see and feel about the motive of people. Most people are in the right place, they wish to be a blessing, see needs and a way to be a part of a blessing. Here is where you may call me judgmental, but some people participate because they get to bless the people that are less than they are and look on them as always being in this place with no hope. Of course, no one every voices this, but I feel it in my spirit and even these people may have their heart off the path in one area, they still do wish to help people.
There are three things to know about giving to the needy, God blesses us when we do it, God wishes us to make provision for alms in our lives, and no matter what, poverty will never be over come on the earth completely until the Lord returns.
Matthew 26:11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
Three of the gospels repeat the words of Jesus that you have the poor always. Jesus was not being negative but stating the facts. There are always those with poor judgement and many other circumstances that contribute to a life of poverty. Eliminating poverty even to the point of taking away freewill like communist countries have done only made more poverty instead of decreasing poverty. Some countries the poverty is created by governments and powerful leaders as way to retain their own power. So, poverty will remain in some fashion.
The blessing of giving, it’s bigger than you think.
Matthew 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me.
Proverbs 19:17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.
Not only does the Bible make promises to us for blessing the needy, but the Bible also gives us direct New Testament examples of the blessings.
Acts 10:2 [A] devout [man], and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway… …4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God…. …31 And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.
This is the best example since the alms of Cornelius are mentioned three times we can take note his alms were very important. I believe this story is teaching us that not only our prayers and other devotions are important but giving to the needy adds to God hearing us, remembering us, and using us. We can literally take away from this story that God specifically chose Cornelius for all his dedication and service which included much alms. So often many of us cry out, “God please use me” and if this is truly our heart we are opening up the possibility to be used when we give our alms.
I have said a lot but the main reason for discussing helping the poor is all about doing it the right way. The Old Testament pattern was not feeding programs, collections, and all the things we do today but leaving a little in the fields or orchards so the needy could come and glean for themselves.
Leviticus 19:9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. 10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather [every] grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I [am] the LORD your God.
Today we deliver directly to the needy and make it as easy as possible for them to collect provisions that people choose to give them. God’s example, heart, and direction was to leave some crops in obvious places so the needy could come and find it and put out their own effort and time to gather some free food. Today we are not even close to the agrarian culture of centuries past so the exact method of the Bible in most cases cannot be produced in our modern society. Though our society and culture has changed, the heart of God is the same! We should be crafting our lives to bless the needy that are willing to put out some effort on their own to receive our blessings like the biblical example and heart of God. So, what does that look like? The answer may be harder than you think in our culture when people that stand on corners with a cardboard sign are sometimes making hundreds of dollars tax free. I used to be upset when I would see people raiding my recyclables container but maybe that is one solution, leaving my recyclables for them to come and get on their own time and schedule, literally gleaning my recyclables. We have gone so far in the wrong direction; correction may even seem cruel. (Actually expecting needy people to put out effort) To protect wildlife, signs are put up telling people to not feed wild animals because they will become dependent on the hand outs, yet that is exactly what we do to fellow humans.
When we compare how many that are truly seeking the heart of God in everything we do, to believers that don’t even pay their tithes and to others that are not even believers, we will be a small percentage of people doing what represents the heart of God and that should include our alms.
There are many outlets to give to help the needy that are for children or the handicapped that have no way to help themselves and of course that is a great way to give alms. Even the help we give to the mission field or just the needs of a third world country are all valid giving of alms.
Matthew 6: 1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2 Therefore when thou doest [thine] alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Many ministries are busing this time of year for the holidays and due to the winter weather are on campaigns to raise money and tout their accomplishments in helping people. At the time I am writing this, Thanksgiving has just past, and I remember seeing TV stations doing pieces on turkey and food basket drives. Over the years I have heard churches also touting that they gave out so many baskets last Thanksgiving and hope to give even more this year. All these forms and methods are so far from the pattern God gave us. Not only does the right hand know what the left hand is doing, so does everyone else, because they are sounding the trumpet and they really do have their reward, the praise of men and completely losing the blessing of the Father. Just as your tithes and free-will offerings, alms are a personal thing in which God has promised us personal blessings.
The key to giving alms is in Matthew 6:3, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Typically, the left usually symbolizes carnal actions or thinking, and the right usually speaks of spiritual actions and thinking. Our carnal nature wants the recognition and is taking count of the alms while the spiritual drivers in us are listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and is apt to be more spontaneous in our giving of alms and discerning in the subjects that receive our alms. When the left and right are in communication, we will be judging whether the alms will be used properly or maybe how giving will affect my own personal budget and lifestyle both of which will hamper our giving. Separating the two and moving by the Spirit directs our giving to the right places or people and puts us into the position to receive our reward that Jesus promised. We don’t know exactly how Cornelius gave his alms, but a life of giving and prayer Cornelius was rewarded to be used by God as documented in the book of Acts.
Proverbs 19:17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.
Proverbs 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower [is] servant to the lender.
As I conclude on giving our alms, look at the two proverbs above. Proverbs 19:17 echoes what Jesus said, when you do this to the least of these you have done it unto me. When we help out the needy whether by direct giving our or in a modern way of not harvesting the corners of our fields, our giving is as if we are giving directly to God, lending to the Lord. Proverbs 22:7 shows our position of blessing as we lend to the Lord, the Lord becomes our borrower and the borrow is servant to us the giver of alms. Obviously, we don’t tell the Lord what to do, but the Lord by his word, says if we give we have placed ourselves in position to move Him to bless us. As always, doing things God’s way always delivers a bigger blessing than most of us can imagine.
Complete your balance in giving and not only be a tither but forget not the special offerings for other needs and put yourself in position to regularly and spontaneously give alms.
Flagship Apostolic 
Margaret Patras
December 30, 2023
Thanks God your servant shared great good news