Offerings: Not an Act of Worship

[Parakaleo]

I searched through some of the older threads on this topic and didn't see some of the most critical points (in my opinion) being made against the practice of taking up an offering as an element/act of worship.

• Cain's offering was of his increase. Even though it was with thanksgiving for God's provision, it was still a gift of his own hands to God.
• Abel's offering was fundamentally different. He did not view the animal sacrifice as an expenditure of his goods. The emphasis was upon the atoning blood, in keeping with the animal blood God shed to make clothing for Adam and Eve.
• Paul tells the Athenians that God is not worshipped with men's hands (Acts 17:25). Thinking that an expenditure of your goods (which is really an expenditure of your life) is a fitting element of worship is to make the same mistake as Cain.
• Christ has made full satisfaction. Our worship is possible through his expenditure. We worship in spirit and truth. The truth is we have nothing to bring. All praise and glory is the Lord's alone.
• Giving to the Lord; for his cause, for the maintenance of the ministry, for missions, for the poor, etc., is a part of regular Christian service and is outside of worship. The original Directory made this clear with the words, "The collection for the poor is so to be ordered, that no part of the publick worship be thereby hindered."
• The "all of life is worship" hogwash needs to die. Sure, you could say that an attitude of worship pervades your life (though I would call that "thankfulness" or "giving glory to God in all things"), but worship itself is comprised of specific acts that will either be authorized/revealed by God or else invented/polluted by the imagination of man. There's no middle ground here.

 

[requested deletion member 13777]

https://www.puritanboard.com/threads/is-the-offering-an-element-of-worship.52529/ I found this thread helpful.

• Paul tells the Athenians that God is not worshipped with men's hands (Acts 17:25). Thinking that an expenditure of your goods (which is really an expenditure of your life) is a fitting element of worship is to make the same mistake as Cain.

Couldn't the same argument could be used for say, singing or prayers? Worship is a matter of the heart, it is not an outward act, does that mean we don't perform any outward acts? Are not "hands" used in Baptism and the Lord's Supper? I don't think Paul is forbidding the use of external acts in worship, he's rather pointing to the truth that true worship is a matter of the heart.

• Christ has made full satisfaction. Our worship is possible through his expenditure. We worship in spirit and truth. The truth is we have nothing to bring. All praise and glory is the Lord's alone.

The truth that we have "nothing to bring" in terms of salvation doesn't mean we have nothing to bring in worship. We have what God has given us to bring. You are right that God doesn't need our external gifts or acts... he doesn't need anything from us. The question is does he ask of it?

1 Corinthians 16:2 gives enough Biblical warrant for me personally to allow it in worship. However ,I would echo 2 Cor 9:6-7... "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." It is in the cheerfulness of our giving that our worship lay.

Peace brother.