So, You Want to Tithe

So, You Want to Tithe

Genesis 28:20-22

Sermon Slide

Good morning and welcome to worship today! Today, I am preaching on my favorite subject to talk about and your favorite subject to hear… tithing… OK, I’m being a little facetious. In fact, next to politics, talking about money seems to be one of the things that makes us most uncomfortable. But, if we are to fulfill the ministry we as a church are called to fulfill, then we have to talk about it. Yes, this is the time of year we talk about giving; but, it’s also time we talked about it because we aren’t meeting our budget.

Like last week, this is a call to action! Last week was a call to action as you serve together to further God’s Kingdom… The sign-up sheets are still there for you and will be next week. I am not here begging for you to sign up to fill a slot… I am calling you to action in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to find the place you are called to serve and make a difference in the lives of children, youth, and those in this community and beyond!

I heard a pastor share an excerpt from one of President Theodore Roosevelts’ speeches that I share with you today:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." (Theodore Roosevelt Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910)

Thank you to those in the arena! You are keeping us going, but for the rest of us, It's time to get off the sidelines and get in the game… it’s time to leave the crowd and step into the arena! We do that best by giving… giving of ourselves and giving of our resources. Last week was a call to action for the former, this week the latter.

There is a lot of resistance to tithing… I feel it in myself. I have struggled to be a tither my entire life, and yet when I am best at tithing or at least working toward a tithe, my life is most smooth, financially and otherwise.

I also know there’s resistance to tithing because of a study by the Barna Research Group that reported that only 3% of Christians tithed, which means that 97% of Christians don’t (Barna.org). The average American Christian now gives between 1.8% and 2.5% of their income to the Lord.

And yet, in spite of that resistance I sense that a lot of Christians really want to tithe. I’ve had people tell me, “I would love to tithe, I just can’t…(afford it after all the bills) or I just don’t… (make enough)… If that’s you, then I want to help you become the tither you secretly desire.

Now, as we get started, I want to clarify something for anyone who may be a guest or may be considering joining the church. As a guest, you are not expected to tithe here at FMC. I do expect you to tithe to your home church though… and if you wish to join FMC, then the expectation is that we are working toward a tithe. We haven’t talked about this in a while, but we are a tithe goal church… It is my hope and prayer that we are all working toward a tithe.

As I looked at how I wanted to share this sermon this week, I found 5 Biblical truths about tithing, 5 affirmations that once we understand them, they will help us take another step toward becoming the Tither we seek to be.

Affirmation #1: Affirm what God’s tithe is and is not.

Genesis 28.20-22 reads, “Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

This was the classic, If… Then… proposal. If God saves me, then I will tithe… Well, we can certainly say that God has saved us by becoming flesh and dwelling among us, teaching us to live and to love, and giving his life that we may have life. God has completed the if… the then is up to us.

And Deuteronomy 14.22 reads, “You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year.”

“Tithe” is literally translated as tenth. In the ancient Middle East when a nation was conquered in war, the people of the conquered nation had to give the conquering king one tenth of their possessions. In 1 Samuel 8.15-17, we find that under King David and Solomon a tenth of one’s income became the standard for the Israelites. Israelites were also expected to give one tenth of their crops, produce and cattle, etc., to the Temple to support the Priests and the religious life of the nation.

A tithe isn’t a tax. A tithe involves giving one tenth of one’s income to the Lord. But, that’s not what every Christian has been taught. I was once told, “I don’t give ten percent, but I tithe every week.” They had been taught that tithing was about giving on a consistent basis regardless of how much it was. For example, they have been taught that if a person makes $2,000.00 a month and gives $50.00 a month faithfully to the Lord, that they were tithing. That’s a myth. That’s not a tithe, that’s a gift, or maybe an offering but not a tithe. A tithe for a person making $2,000.00 a month is $200.00 a month. If it’s a tenth it’s a tithe. If it’s not then it ain’t.

I’ve also been told, “I give a tenth of my time to the church, that’s my tithe…” great… that is a part of your tithe, but your time isn’t all your life… Remember, in Israel, they gave 10% of their income and 10% of their crops… a tithe is for all our life, not the area we feel most comfortable with.

Affirmation #2: Affirm that God still supports the tithe.

I’ve been told that tithing is not a valid New Testament practice. It was part of the Old Testament law and therefore not applicable to New Testament Christians. True, the New Testament is somewhat silent on the subject when compared to the Old Testament. But listen to what Jesus had to say about the matter in Matthew 23.23.

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”

Jesus did not condemn the tithe! Jesus did not say the practice of the tithe was obsolete or should be ignored. In fact, Jesus said just the opposite. Jesus said to show more mercy while not neglecting the practice of tithing. He wanted them to practice the tithe - PLUS…

I once read the story of Gilbert Davis who served as director of church relations for Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. When he was a seminary student at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth he was stopped in the hallway one day by an elderly gentleman he had never met before. The first thing the man asked the young minister was, "are you studying to be a minister?" Gilbert replied that he was, and the man asked if he might talk with him a few minutes. He said “sure”. Sitting down in an empty classroom the man asked Gilbert whether he preached tithing in the student church he served on weekends. Before he could reply the man shared with him the value of tithing and why he and others should tithe and then invited Gilbert to become a tither himself. Gilbert responded, "But, sir, we are Christians now. We are New Testament people not Old Testament. We are not under the law, we are under grace." To which the wise man replied, "Young man, if you can show me anywhere in the New Testament where it says that less is expected of a Christian under grace than of a Jew under the law, I will be glad to subscribe to your position."

Affirmation #3: Affirm that the tithe belongs to God.

LEVITICUS 27.30 “‘One-tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy.”

According to this passage my money doesn’t all belong to me. God lays claim to a tenth of my income which means that it is not mine to do with as I please. It belongs to God. The implication then is that spending God’s tenth on myself is like using someone else’s money without their permission.

That is why God used the language he did in the book of Malachi when the Israelites resisted tithing. Malachi 3.7-10 reads,

“Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

“But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’

“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!

“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’

“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

That’s some forceful language. Why would God say it that way, because the tithe is sacred.

Affirmation #4: Affirm that God’s tithe is sacred.

Leviticus 27:30-32

“‘One-tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy. If you want to buy back the Lord’s tenth of the grain or fruit, you must pay its value, plus 20 percent. Count off every tenth animal from your herds and flocks and set them apart for the Lord as holy.

Because the tithe belongs to God the tithe is holy and sacred. This changes the way I look at my giving! The first tenth of my income is different than the rest and therefore should be treated differently than the rest.

A tithe isn’t like paying our car note! We aren’t just making a payment to God. It is God’s and as I offer it to him there should be a sense of reverence associated with it. It isn’t about pulling what’s in our wallet out and throwing it in the offering plate. Let me ask you… when was the last time you gave a tithe… I guess I could stop there for many of us, but my point is, when did you last give to God and pray over that tithe, or offering… that it would bless others… that it would further God’s Kingdom… that the lost would be found because of the holy nature of the tithe given?

And the final affirmation: Affirm that God blesses those who tithe.

Here’s where we preachers often get in trouble talking about the tithe… like getting into the Prosperity Gospel. But what does God say in Malachi 3:10,

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

God wanted the Israelites to know that they would be better off by tithing. God wanted them to know that he would bless them. If they tithed he would see to it that there fields and cattle produced more than enough to make up for what they tithed. Tithing was a win-win situation.

God’s blessings aren’t limited to financial. I’m not telling you that tithing is a get rich quick scheme.

Some of the most faithful tithers I have ever known live in poverty. In fact, I’ve seen statistics that suggest more people below the poverty line tithe than those with more wealth. They give out of their love of the Lord, not their desire to get more from God.

God’s blessings come in many ways… the gift of a generous person to help them in a time of need. A sense of peace. A step toward a growing faith.

Don’t give because of what you will get… give because of what a tithe is, give because the tithe is already God’s, give because the tithe is holy. Don’t look for the blessing… but don’t be surprised when you experience it.

Sermon Slide

Just because you believe these 5 Affirmations doesn’t make you a tither. You have one more step.

To start the process to becoming a tither.

How do you get there? I think there are two ways to get there.

First is the sold-out approach. You just start… You pull out your check book and make out a check to God for 10% of your paycheck… and really, if you write God on your check and put it in the offering plate, Stephanie will still be able to deposit in our church account.

Some of you may be able to do that, but many of us need to take a few steps to get there. I read a story of a man who didn’t start tithing until after he retired. He always wanted to tithe but he didn’t think he could make it financially if he did. Then one day in retirement he decided enough was enough and initiated a plan that would fulfill his secret desire to be a tither. He looked at what he gave to the church and what he received in income and found he averaged about 2%. He pledged to give an additional 2% every year… So, his monthly income was about $4000 and he found he had been giving about $80/month. So, he upped that to $160/ month the next year. Then $240/month the next year, and $320 the next year until he was giving $400 after 4th year.

That’s what I mean when I say that we are a tithe goal church… it is our goal to tithe and we are working towards it. I guess, if we were still in our prior series, I might say, Jesus changes our finances… because when we follow God, Jesus changes everything.

My question is, will you make tithing a goal? I have, and I hope you will join me.