The Holiness of Giving

A wealthy man died and went to heaven. On his “tour” of the celestial city, he came to a beautiful home. “Who lives there?” the man asked. The angel answered, “When on earth, this man was a gas attendant.”

The rich man was like, “Some kid pumped gas and this is his home! I can’t wait to see mine.”

After a while, they came across a magnificent mansion. “Wow!” the man said, “who lives here?” “This lady was a nurse,” the angel replied. The rich man was really excited now!

As they walked, the homes got smaller and smaller. Eventually they came to a tiny eight-by-eight shack, with no windows and only a piece of cloth for a door. They both stood there for a moment. “Man, what poor chap lives here?” The angel held his hand out to the little bungalow, “This is your home, sir.”

“I don’t understand. There must be some misunderstanding. Why is my home so tiny?”

The angel replied, “Well, I am dreadfully sorry, sir, but it’s all we could build with what you sent in advance. Tea time - ta ta.”

This man did not understand the biblical principles of being heavenly minded with his earthly finances. The same is true of a lot of Christians – they fail to have a biblical perspective of money or the stewardship of money – that we are the managers of what God has provided.

A biblical perspective of money falls under the category of stewardship, but it also falls under the category of holiness. I believe money, specifically the tithe is a holiness issue.

See, when it comes to stewardship, money itself is never the issue. The real issue is our character. Stewardship of money is more about who we are than how much we have. What we do with our money reflects who we are. And who we are, our character – a character that reflects Christ is what is most important to God.

Fred Wood says, “The most important aspect of tithing and stewardship is not the raising of money for the church, but the development of devoted Christians.” Financial stewardship and tithing is a character issue; a spiritual issue.

As we look at 1 Peter this morning, keep in mind two biblical truths: 1) God is the Lord and King. Our finances belong to Him. This is a Lordship issue. 2) The tithe, the giving of 10% of your income, is a biblical principle – and it concerns your wealth - either crops, livestock or finances – that’s it. (don’t tithe time – e.g. 168 hrs = 16.8 hours a week)

1 Peter 1:13–16 ESV

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

5 principles concerning The Holiness of Giving

1. Be Prepared

Prepare your minds for action. The word prepare refers to soldiers tying up their loose garments before heading into battle. Back in those days they wore outer garments that could interfere with their movement or fighting - so they tied everything up. When I was in the Army, we usually had a lot of straps hanging down so we used tape to secure everything. As a soldier going into combat, you don’t need any distractions or hindrances to stop you from accomplishing your mission.

And here Peter says to prepare your minds. In other words, get your head on straight. See, the mind is where most of our spiritual battles are fought - where many of our battles are won or lost.

The real battle of tithing is in the mind - not in the wallet.

It’s not about how much you make or your circumstances or how many bills you have. It’s not about how much money is left over at the end of the month. Tithing is a matter of trust and faithfulness to the Lord. Therefore, I challenge you to prepare your minds – to make the decision to tithe ….

This is a huge problem – many Christians don’t prepare to tithe. How do I know that? Roughly 2% of Christians who attend church tithe. 2%! It costs money to do ministry ….

Preparation is the easy part. It’s easy to say I’m going to tithe until the thing that you’ve been wanting goes on sale – right?

2. Be Self-controlled

A young man said to his pastor right before service, “Pastor, I am a wild spender. I spend my money like it’s going out of style. As soon as I get money, it burns a hole in my pocket. I throw money around right and left. Would you pray for me this morning that I may be cured of this bad habit?”

“Sure I would,” said the pastor, “right after the offering.”

Scripture tells us to be self-controlled or of sober mind. In other words, you may have made the necessary preparations to tithe and manage your money according to Scripture, but that doesn’t make it easy. Temptations and old spending habits can be difficult to overcome. For many people, controlling your finances can be one of the most difficult tasks you will ever face.

Let’s go back to the soldier – it’s one thing to prepare for battle, but when the bullets start flying... that’s something different. This is why discipline is so important in the military, soldiers need to remain steadfast. And it’s easier to stand ground when the bullets are flying if I know my buddies are with me (especially if they’re in front). Here’s the point –

Self-control often takes teamwork.

Some of you may think that money is a private issue – well, yes and no. How you spend your money may be private, but how you spend your money effects the church, which effects the mission of the church.

If you’re having trouble being self-controlled with your finances, then you need help and accountability. If you need accountability …

Testimonies:

Well, you’ve prepared and were self-controlled but the budget looks tight – looks like there is no way to tithe. I can’t afford this.

3. Be Hopeful

Peter tells us to set our hope fully on the promise of our future salvation. What does that have to do with tithing and finances? Well, not a whole lot specifically, but generally, Peter’s point is this – we fix our hope on Christ, not on the world or how the world operates. We fix our eyes on the faithfulness of God to do what He promises to do. And in Malachi 3, God promises to open up the windows of heaven when God’s people are faithful with tithing.

Be hopeful, that in the faithfulness of your giving 10%, God will be faithful to you.

A little side note here: The tithe is the giving of 10% of your income to God via the church and with the tithe comes a blessing. However, the tithe is not an insurance plan against poor choices of the remaining 90%. Don’t assume that if you tithe, you can do whatever you want with the remainder and God will take care of you.

Stewardship is about biblical management of all your resources. Tithing is about trusting a God who is completely trustworthy and obedience. Which brings us to principle 4

4. Be Obedient

Verse 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance

We are to have but one master – God. You can’t serve two masters. It is a spiritual impossibility.

Let’s go back to the soldier. Listen to some lines from some of our marching cadences:

× They sat me in a barber chair – spun me around I had no hair

× I used to date a beauty queen – now I have an M-16

× I used to where my tennis shoes – now I’m wearing combat boots

× I used to drive a Chevrolet – now I’m marching every day

Here’s the point, I used to … live one way as a civilian, but now I live a different life as a soldier. I operate under a new set of standards.

The same is true with finances. I used to spend my money this way, I became a follower of Jesus Christ and now I manage my money under new standards.

Side note about obedience. Obedience is a love issue. Jesus said, “If you love me you will obey me.” Simply put, when you love someone, you want to do what’s right and best and good ….

I hope you’re seeing that tithing has little to do with money itself and everything to do with our love of Jesus and obedience to Jesus and our hope in Jesus. And I hope you’re seeing that how we manage God’s money really is a holiness issue.

5. Be Holy

15 … as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct ….”

Holy (ἅγιος) means to be set apart, pure, sacred – and we are to be holy as God is holy - having the same moral purity as God. Holiness in ALL your conduct includes managing money the way God would.

So, the godly stewardship of money, including the tithe – is not a money issue. I want you to stop looking at tithing as a money issue and start looking at stewardship of money as a holiness issue.

It’s not “you better tithe or else!” No. You tithe because you love Jesus – you tithe, give 10% of your income to the local church because you want to be holy, you want to be right with God, you want to bless God and receive His blessings and be a blessing to others. God’s people tithe because it’s a spiritual issue, a love issue, a holiness issue, a trust issue ….

So be prepared, be self-controlled, be hopeful, be obedient and be holy.

Sir John Templeton (billionaire) said, listen to this –

“I’ve watched over 100,000 families over my years of investment counseling. I always saw greater prosperity and happiness among those families who tithed than among those who didn’t.” Sir John Templeton

As a pastor, I agree and believe me, there is a spiritual and emotional difference between people who tithe and those who don’t.

Is God trustworthy or not?

Challenge – begin to tithe now / Test God

Related Media

Related Sermons