Thursday, May 13, 2010

Biblical Basis for Tithing

Tithing. The word will provoke many comments like “That’s Biblical. We’re supposed to be doing it.” Or “Isn’t that the same as giving in general?” Better yet, “I’ve never heard of that!” These are things you might expect to hear if you were doing a Man On the Street Interview in a city in the Deep South (Bible Belt). However, sad to say, you would be more likely to hear these responses in the typical American church on any given Sunday. The truth is that American Christians are virtually clueless as to what the Scriptures teach in regards to how we are supposed to give our finances in worship to God. For the next three months through these articles, it is my intent to correct this gap in instruction at least for the readership within the range of this blog. Since our giving according to Scripture falls into three categories (i.e. tithing, gifts/vows, and offerings), we will begin with tithing, when it began, how it progressed and how it is applied to today.

The tithe, or 10% of one’s personal gain or income, began as a measure of gratitude given unto God, a least token from the recipient of benefits and blessings from God. It was an act of worship unto the Lord, a concrete effort borne out of a heart overwhelmed by God’s goodness. This is what was experienced by Abraham (rf. Genesis 14:18-20, Hebrews 7:4-10) and Jacob (rf. Genesis 28:20-22).

Later, in the Old Testament, when the children of Israel became a nation and God’s law became the glue that bound them together into a distinct people-group, the tithe became to them a requirement. It served both as a means of sustenance to the Levitical tribe as the priests for the nation. You see, the Levites were not given land by which they could sustain themselves when the Promised Land was divided, but were made the keepers of the worship of God and dependent upon the other eleven tribes for their physical support via the tithes and the sacrifices. The tithe was also one of the chosen means by which God gauged the hearts of His people in terms of their obedience and real desire to worship Him. He made it very clear that the tithe was His and was to designed to sustain His continuous worship(rf. Leviticus 27:30-33). Because Israel was a Theocracy, there were two separate tithes taken for other efforts on behalf of God's people. The first was to establish and continue the feasts that were celebrated in His Name (rf. Deuteronomy 14:22-27). The second was taken every three years for the provision of the poor (rf. Deuteronomy 14:28-29). The total yearly tithe then was 23 1/3% for the typical Israelite with 10% of that amount going specifically toward the worship of God. All of this amount was required by God. Any attempt to use it for one’s own purposes and not for His worship was stealing from Him (rf. Malachi 3:8-10), thus making oneself subject to His wrath.

There are some within the Christian community who believe that when Jesus arrived on the scene, He did away with the Old Testament commitment to tithing, that it was an outdated part of the Old Testament Law. However, this could not be further from the truth. At no point in His ministry did Jesus speak against the tithe. Indeed, He was adamant about being diligent in one’s finances. When asked about Roman taxation, which was very unpopular with the Jews of His day, Jesus’ response was very enlightening, “Render to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” (rf. Matthew 22:21) In that one statement, Jesus not only shared with His followers the principle of paying your taxes as good citizens of whatever country God places you in providentially, but also viewing giving the tithe (the 10% of our personal gain or income that belongs to God) as seriously as we would paying our taxes to the government!

Wow! With this kind of understanding of tithing, we would never even consider using God’s money to fund another summer vacation or paying off a bill or buying an appliance, etc., now would we? Indeed, for many of us who are now reading this information, we are realizing for the first time that we have been systematically sinning because we have not been tithing at all for many years. We actually have been using God’s money for our own purposes and wondering why the money that we’ve been making hasn’t been covering all of the bills that we’ve been getting. God has promised that, if we would trust Him with the 10% that belongs to Him, He would bless and make the other 90% to cover all of our needs (not necessarily all our wants, though). Tithing is, after all, an act of worship as well as an act of faith. This is why it is something He requires of His people, not of the rest of the world. It is a spiritual duty. The unbelieving world has not a clue nor comprehension of what God is up to when He commands His people to tithe, nor the blessings that He showers down upon them when they are obedient to do so.

So, my challenge to you is this. If you haven’t been tithing, start now. Whatever your income is as within your power when your paycheck comes to you, take 10% off the top, designate that as your tithe, and give that to your local church where you attend. Do this as a commitment and do not fail to uphold it no matter what arises. You will be tested to see if you will be obedient. Then watch God work in your life. He will not fail to meet your needs as He will not fail to keep His Word and His promises to His people. Remember Malachi 3:10: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”

As it was true then, so it is true today. God never changes!

Reminisces

Memory is a funny thing. The older you get, the sweeter and more elusive the memories become. We tend to choose not to remember the bad things as readily as the good things. This is the reason why we refer to the past as “The Golden Years” as if it were all a bowl of cherries with no pits.

Such is the case with my first pastorate. I look back and remember with great fondness the wonderful people with whom I was blessed to serve. They loved me for the most part with an unconditional love and acceptance, letting a young minister “cut his teeth” on the ministry without a great deal of complaint regarding his shortcomings. They were and are still a very earthy people, mostly farmers by trade. They taught me much about agriculture and provided my family with a huge amount of various types of vegetables and fruits during our tenure there. In many ways, they showed us the love of Christ and probably didn’t even realize it. To this day, through our continued connections they still do.

I remember how I first candidated for the position there. I had sent my resume to the chairman of deacons at the encouragement of the son of the pastor under whom I was first ordained to the ministry. I had assumed this deacon chairman was also the chair of the church’s search committee since I was told that was the way other churches handled pastoral vacancies. (Unbeknownst to me, the church had no search committee. Or better yet, the deacon chairman was it!) Shortly after he received my information, he contacted me and arranged for me to come and preach at both of that Sunday’s services, bringing my family with me (at that time being Lori and our niece, Amy. The Lord had not yet begun sending our other five blessings.) After the morning service during lunch with the deacon chairman and his wife, I asked him about the candidating process, my resume (scant as it was) and such, to which he replied, “We heard you preach this morning and will hear you again tonight. The deacons will meet with you this afternoon to ask you some questions. If we like what we hear today, we will ask you back to preach next Sunday. Then we will vote on you after the morning service. That’s our process. No need for a resume.”

The rest is history. It was just like it was yesterday, standing outside of his home. The chairman of deacons and his wife, Mr. & Mrs. Beard, Jeff and Margie, became as much a part of our lives as anyone ever could. When Josh was born, he was considered as the Beard’s first grandchild, having none of their own at that point. Each of our children and our niece, Amy, has been treated as such ever since. Jeff has just a few years ago gone into the Lord’s presence where no doubt he is keeping the Lord in stitches with his dry sense of humor. We see Mrs. Margie every time we make a trip to southwest Georgia. She’s still a treasure to us.

Why am I taking you along with me on this trip down memory lane? There are aspects of what I have shared in the above experiences that are necessary keys to be regained if we are to recover the Evangelical branch of the Church from the pit into which she has fallen. By the term, Evangelical branch of the Church, I mean that group that affirms the Bible as the final authority of all matters of faith and life, the deity of Christ, and the need to share the Gospel of Jesus as the only means of salvation to an unbelieving world, just to name a few of its main beliefs. The Southern Baptist Convention is but one of many denominations that are representative of this group. In any case, Evangelicalism has allowed too much of the world, its culture, its business concepts, its politics, its dress, its music, its attitude, etc. into its midst and now what we have is an ill-defined grasp of what the Church really is. We are more divided than united about the very things that should make us one in Christ (see Ephesians 4:4-6) and so our witness is diminished.

The experiences that I referenced are the very things we as believers need to return to if we are to show the world the reality of what Christ meant His Church to be. We need to go back to the place where we view the Church as a ministry not as a business. There are aspects of the organization of the Church that are financial in nature and must be accomplished by good financial practices, such as accounts payable and receivable. However, the remainder of the Church should be operated as a ministry, set up according to the dictates of Scripture, not according to the latest Business News magazine or the foremost leadership guru. The Church should be run by the leading of God’s Spirit through God’s appointed and Scriptural shepherds and servants, not on the basis of the “best laid plans of mice and men.”

Secondly, the foundation of all the Church’s actions and practices should be unconditional love for one another. Jesus Himself stated, “By this all men (the outside world) will know that you are My disciples, if you have love (Jesus’ love) for one another” (rf. John 13:35). This love should not just be an anaemic “I love you in Christ” as so many do today and yet persist in divisiveness and mean-spiritedness toward another. The true love of Christ is a love borne out of self- and mutual understanding that results in true unity within the body of Christ. It is a love that overlooks each other’s faults and really addresses each other’s needs whether they be spiritual or physical.

Apply the above and the Church will not only be the Church that Christ has called us to be, she will be the Church that changes the world once again. Such a Church will be as “counter-cultural” as the hippies were in the 1960s, grasping attention, refusing to be compromised in message or in goal. This would be the Church against such “the gates of hell shall not prevail” as per Christ’s own prediction (rf. Matthew 16:18). May such a Church arise again today and may it begin with us. May the love of Christ, the commitment to His Word, and the necessary power of His Spirit make it so.