When the baskets (or plates) are passed during a worship assembly, is the act of dropping something into that collection/contribution basket an action of worship? Consider this: how would we determine if congregational singing is an act of worship? if praying is an act of worship? if the preaching is an act of worship? if the Lord’s Supper is an act of worship? In whatever way we would decide the answer to those questions is the same way we would decide about giving — go to the Scriptures!
Some have decided that giving is not an avenue of worship on the first day of the week, and some congregations have even removed it from the worship assembly, placing collection containers at the rear of the auditorium or in the lobby. All we can know about worship and giving comes from Scripture — let’s have a look!
As a point of reference and to see the same principles addressed in the Old Testament, look at the instructions given to Israel in Deuteronomy 26. “You shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide…The priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. And you shall say…‘The Lord brought us out…He has brought us to…and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’ Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God. So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you” (26:1-11). Tie that powerful passage with these verses in chapter 16: “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses…and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you” (16:16-17). Do these verses not ring familiar to what we know from 1 Corinthians 16 and 2 Corinthians 8-9?
Now, add this to your thoughts: when Jesus was born, wise men came from the East “to worship Him” (Matt. 2:1-2). (Herod feigned that he’d go and “worship Him also” [2:8]). The wise men, when they saw Jesus, “fell down and worshiped Him” (2:11). Look at the very next statement, “And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him” (2:11). Giving was part of the worship.
When the Bible speaks about giving to God in these verses, it connects such with worshiping God. Think about it.