Hello,<\/p>\n
Please help me answer this question: A friend of mine told me that as he was going to church yesterday he met someone who was sick, and he gave all that he has on him that day to the sick person. Instead of using that money to give to the church, he gave that money to the poor. He did not pay a giving or offering on that day. Is it a sin because the Bible says to lay aside money and present on the first day of the week, which is Sunday?<\/p>\n\t
“And He answered and said to them, ‘Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, “Honor your father and mother,” and , “he who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.” But you say, “Whoever says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,’ he is not to honor his father or his mother.” And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away form Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.”‘<\/em>” (Matthew 15:1-9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What the Pharisees attempted to do was to play one command off of another command. They claimed that giving to the Temple freed a person from the obligation of supporting their parents in their old age. Your friend is attempting to do the same thing in the opposite direction. He is claiming that giving to the poor frees him from his obligations to give to the Lord.<\/p>\n
Weekly giving is required and it is based on what a person plans in advance to give. “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver<\/em>” (II Corinthians 9:7). In other words, because it is planned in advance, we are not giving God the leftovers of our income but the firstfruits of our labor.<\/p>\n
Helping the less fortunate is also a requirement of Christians. “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need<\/em>” (Ephesians 4:28). Where giving to God is a planned, scheduled event, giving to the needy is done as we have an opportunity. “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith<\/em>” (Galatians 6:10). There will be times that I won’t have enough to help someone else, but I’ll do what I can. There will be times that I will have something set aside to help another person, but I haven’t run across a need yet. If it is a choice between helping a fellow believer and a non-believer, then the believer takes priority.<\/p>\n
Therefore, if your friend saw someone in need and he had the means to help him, then it is expected that help. However, that does not release him from his obligation to give to the Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Hello, Please help me answer this question: A friend of mine told me that as he was going to church yesterday he met someone who was sick, and he gave all that he has on him that day to the sick person. Instead of using that money to give to the church, he gave…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[194,159],"class_list":["post-14376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-benevolence","tag-giving"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34375,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-doesnt-the-church-sell-everything-it-owns-to-give-to-the-poor\/","url_meta":{"origin":14376,"position":0},"title":"Why doesn’t the church sell everything it owns to give to the poor?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The church in Acts had people who sold their possessions and gave to those without. Why doesn't the church do that today? Is it a sin to deny someone something because you want to use it? Answer: An example of the selling of the possessions that you referenced in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52572,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-benevolence-by-christians-limited-to-other-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":14376,"position":1},"title":"Is benevolence by Christians limited to other Christians?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know whether sharing or any act of benevolence by Christians should be limited to the body of Christ alone. Answer: There are two standards for benevolence work.\u00a0 One concerns what the church can do and the other concerns what individuals are expected to do. The easy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7409,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-require-giving-everything-you-have-to-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":14376,"position":2},"title":"Does God require giving everything you have to the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Sir, My question stems from a statement made by a minister regarding how we ought to give to God. He said that if we give all the money in our bank account, we will not starve, God will find a way to provide for us. This statement troubled my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-give-his-contribution-to-his-unemployed-mother-instead-of-to-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":14376,"position":3},"title":"Can a person give his contribution to his unemployed mother instead of to the Lord?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: As far as the collection goes, would it be wrong to take the money one would put in the collection plate every Sunday and give it to his unemployed mother, who is living with her daughter, which would be his sister, instead? Answer: What is happening is a person\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54181,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-any-mention-of-god-the-mother-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":14376,"position":4},"title":"Is there any mention of God the Mother in the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Is there any mention of God the Mother in the Bible? I have to prepare for a group that is going to convince me from the Bible that it does teach about God the Mother. Answer: I'm assuming you have run into members of the World Mission\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65529,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-withdraw-his-gift-to-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":14376,"position":5},"title":"Can a person withdraw his gift to the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Brother Jeffrey, I trust you have been doing well lately. I want to express my appreciation of your unwavering commitment to the work of God, and all the scriptural answers you've provided to solve challenges confronting the Christian faith. During our weekly Bible studies, we happened to talk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}