Reasons Why Financial Giving is an Act of Worship
The Big Idea: Worship Is More Than Singing
Worship is faithfully stewarding what God entrusts—time, abilities, relationships, and resources—for His glory. In the Garden, Adam’s mandate “to work” used the Hebrew word avad, also translated “worship,” tying vocation to devotion from the start. Jesus clarified it further: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” revealing that money choices expose what—and whom—we actually worship.
Work, Worship, Wealth
Mattera summarized Scripture’s pattern succinctly: work is the means, worship is the motive, wealth is the manifestation. The goal of wealth isn’t self-indulgence; it’s to confirm God’s covenant and advance His mission in the world, with every faithful act echoing into eternity. In other words, life is a trust—what God places in hand must be offered back from the heart.
Honor and the Offering
Citing Malachi, Mattera warned that offering God leftovers dishonors Him, just as it would dishonor a spouse to give a thoughtless, cheap gift on an anniversary. Honor means giving God what is worthy, not what is expendable; anything less shrinks worship into convenience and leaves the heart unchanged.
The First Commended Worship: Abel’s Offering
In Hebrews 11, the first hero highlighted isn’t a king or prophet—it’s Abel, who offered God a more excellent sacrifice, and “though dead, still speaks”. God “testified of his gifts,” showing that offerings can move heaven and leave a voice that outlives a life.
God’s First Word After the Mountain: “Take Me an Offering”
When Moses descended from forty days on Sinai, the first directive was to receive an offering to build the sanctuary—linking God’s presence with God’s house and God’s people’s generosity. If treasure reveals heart, the tabernacle offering was God’s way of uniting a people’s love with His dwelling among them.
When God’s House Is Neglected
Haggai confronted a stalled building project: people paneled their own homes while the temple lay in ruins, and life grew inexplicably frustrating—bags with holes, meager harvests, diminished joy. The correction was simple: put God’s house first, and God would bless their house; reverse the order, and fruitfulness would dry up.
Firstfruits and Overflow
Proverbs ties honor to “firstfruits,” the practice of giving God the first and best before any other obligation, with the promise of barns filled and vats overflowing. In modern terms, generosity isn’t the last line item if something’s left—it’s the first response to income because God is first in affection and priority.
Paul’s Two Chapters on Giving
While Paul penned a single towering chapter on love (1 Corinthians 13), he devoted two full chapters to generosity (2 Corinthians 8–9), not to elevate money above love—but to show that love is proven by sacrifice. The Macedonian believers gave out of poverty, revealing that God measures not the amount but the cost, the trust, and the heart. Those who sow sparingly reap sparingly; generosity scales like seed to harvest.
Jesus, Mammon, and the Heart
Jesus spoke about money frequently because it represents life—education, sweat, late nights, early mornings, perseverance, and priorities. He named Mammon as a rival master; serving God with money frees the heart from serving money as god.
God Gave His Best—Love Gives
“God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” Love is generous, not stingy; it releases, it doesn’t hoard. In response, believers “no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose,” offering their lives back as worship through surrendered living and sacrificial giving.
Treasures in Heaven
Earthly accounts are not the only ledgers—Jesus taught storing treasure in heaven through generosity aligned with God’s mission. Participating in the renewal of all things means gifts may leave the hand, but they never leave the life; they compound eternally.
The Tithe and Generational Blessing
Malachi’s promise is startling: “Test Me” in tithing, and see the windows of heaven open beyond capacity to contain. Mattera argued that such overflow isn’t waste—it’s inheritance; when blessing exceeds a life, it spills into children and children’s children, shaping favor and spiritual momentum across generations. Hebrews 7 even depicts Levi “paying tithes” through Abraham centuries earlier, illustrating how covenant obedience can mark a lineage before individuals are born.
A Multigenerational Mindset
Scripture’s horizon is multigenerational and corporate, not merely individual and immediate. David’s costly worship affected leaders long after him; many believers stand today on the prayers and obedience of ancestors who never saw the outcome with earthly eyes. The call is clear: live, give, build, and bless with a vision for future households, churches, and nations.
Putting It Into Practice
Make worship whole-life: connect work, giving, serving, and daily choices to honoring God, not just Sunday songs.
Put God first: practice firstfruits—give before anything else, trusting God to fill barns and overflow vats.
Build God’s house: prioritize the local church’s mission with regular, sacrificial offerings that match the worth of God and the weight of the call.
Sow for eternity: invest where rust and inflation can’t reach, aligning resources to the gospel and the renewal of all things.
Think generations: expect overflow to bless children and grandchildren; live now as if your obedience will preach after you’re gone—because it will.
An Invitation to Surrender
Mattera closed by inviting hearers first to give themselves to the Lord—receiving Jesus as Savior and yielding life, time, talents, and treasure as worship. The ask wasn’t fundraising; it was formation: become a people whose generosity matches God’s worth, whose houses rise because God’s house comes first, and whose legacy is measured in transformed lives, not just in balanced ledgers.
