Click on following links for earlier articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 and Part 11.
How to be a Radical Christian (vii).
Blessed is he who considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in a time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he will be blessed on the earth. You [the Lord] will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You [the Lord] will sustain him on his sickbed. (Psalm 41:1-3)
Looking at the Bible, the #1 way to be be blessed by your financial gifts is to obey the voice of God. If God tells you to give a person or a place, do it. You will always be blessed by your obedience.
The #2 way is probably different than what you have been taught. If you believe that you are automatically blessed for giving tithes and offerings to a church or a ministry, you’re wrong. There are no New Testament scriptures which endorse this theology. None at all. All of the scriptures that back up this teaching are in the Old Testament and refer to giving to the Temple or the Temple’s storehouse, and not a New Testament church.
But instead, all through the Bible, there are countless numbers of scriptures which promise a blessing for giving to the poor.
If I bestow all my goods to feed the poor…and do it in love, I will profit from this action. (1 Corinthians 13:3, written in a positive sense)
Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. (Luke 12:33)
And when he [Cornelius] observed him [the angel], he was afraid and said, “What is it, lord?” So he [the angel] said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.” (Acts 10:4)
He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given. (Proverbs 19:17)
Radical Christians will give radical-sized gifts to the poor. They will do this in love and without calling attention to their deeds (Matthew 6: 1-4). These unselfish acts will provide a measure of protection for themselves, their families, and their neighbors.
Larry Who 