Here is a message that explains the Biblical basis for tithing. It is the final message in the "Right on the Money" series where we unpacked a God honoring view of money. The series begins on July 9, 2023 if you want to dig in deep. They are all on Youtube. If you'd rather read them I'll send them to you-just reach out to our office.
To watch the message "test me you'll see" just click HERE to get to the message skip ahead to minute 42 as it begins there, or to read it just keep going... bless you!
Today will finish
up our series called “Right on the Money” where I pray that you will be
right in your relationship to God and money based on what the Bible says. And
this leads in to our rhyming point-let’s say it together:
God makes it clear in his book, how giving to
him should look.
Over the last
several weeks (before I went on vacation) I had us consider what the purpose of
money is in the life of a person who loves God, from the Bible’s perspective. First,
we learned about what money can’t and can do in Proverbs. That it is a
tool-neither good or evil-but loaded with the potential for both. God’s people
choose good!
Then Thadd talked
about how Wealth is a powerful test of one's spiritual progress from the book
of James. And how prosperity is a greater burden/weight than poverty in God’s
eyes and should be in ours as well. God’s people take the responsibility of
riches seriously!
Then we learned how
joyful giving is the antidote for toxic greed. We found people from the very
beginning, felt a need to give offerings to God-and they did. Yet even in the
first family, with Cain and Able, we see a disconnect in Genesis 4.
This is where we
bump into the next logical question: what do we give and how? How do we begin
to give God what He deserves? This is what I hope we discover today! Just go
forward 10 chapters in Genesis and we find the beginning of the tithe.
Again, we can go to
Genesis chapter 14 :11 and we find the father of our faith Abraham (who is
still known as Abram) in a wild situation that led to a worshipful offering…
that was the first tithe, check it out…
11 The four
kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they
went away.
12They also
carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in
Sodom.
13One who had
escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near
the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom
were allied with Abram.
14When Abram
heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained
men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15During the
night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as
far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
16He recovered
all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together
with the women and the other people.
17After Abram
returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of
Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's
Valley).
18Then
Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most
High,
19and he blessed
Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and
earth.
20And blessed be
God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave
him a tenth of everything.
Genesis 14:11-20 Here
we learn the why and the what.
Abram went on a
little mission impossible but for God blessing him and he was thankful. Have
you ever been on one of those? You go out not knowing if you will be successful
-or even come back- but you do!
In gratitude he gave God an offering thru this
priest with one of the coolest names in the Bible (who some scholars believe to
be an OT Jesus sighting). This is where the tithe began. The word is then used
31 times in the OT.
Jacob gives a tithe
again 14 chapters later. And so the tithe or the 10th is established and it
runs as the standard offering for God to the end of the Old testament. Which is
where we need to go now to the book of Malachi, chapter 3. As we look out over
the entire Old Testament the tithe was always a primary indicator of Israel's faithful
relationship with God. Now it’s high-lighted clearly in the last hard to find
book! As you get over to Malachi 3 here’s a little tithing humor!
Someone once said
show me your checkbook and I'll show you how much you love God. Now we might
say show me your credit card, Venmo or debit statement.
One of my favorite
bumper stickers is this : Tithe if you love Jesus-anybody can honk!
My all time favorite tithing joke is… 2
billionares are in a plane that crashes on a deserted island in the Pacific,
one freaks out the other kicks back under a palm tree, what are you doing?
We’re lost-we’re going to die! I tithe my pastor will find me!
We come to this
last book of the Old testament and the people of God have fallen away and so
God offers them a challenge even with language like “test me-you’ll see” Read Malachi 3: 6 – 12
6"I the
Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
7Ever since the
time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept
them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty.
"But you ask, 'How are we to return?'
8"Will a
man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In
tithes and offerings.
9You are under a
curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me.
10Bring the
whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in
this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the
floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room
enough for it.
11I will prevent
pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast
their fruit," says the Lord Almighty.
12"Then all
the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,"
says the Lord Almighty.
Malachi 3: 6–12 Now
we learn the how.
This really does
sound like crazy talk for us doesn’t it. How am I, the average American going
to give 10% of my income away? If I can’t make it on 100% how will I make it on
90%??? The math doesn’t work does it? But this is one of the things I love
about God-his math ALWAYS WORKS
Time and time again
I heard tithing testimonies from folks who had never tithed and never had
enough, ends never quite met and no matter what, the money ran out before the
bills did. But then they were challenged by someone to tithe-that is again-give
10% of their paycheck to God first. Former SMC pastor and my mentor, Eldon
King's tells the story of getting $30 a week and God made the 27 stretch beyond
belief, as they tithed that $3.
God says put the tithe to the test! Somehow
when people give to God first everything else seems to fall into place. Suddenly
the ends could meet. Christian financial guru of the past Larry Burkett said,
after counseling thousands of people into Godly financial freedom, he never had
someone begin to tithe and come out worse financially.
I heard him on the
radio once and he said the foundation of financial freedom is the tithe. That
is giving 10% of your income to the local church. He would always say, try it
for one year if you are in worse shape after that year feel free to quit -he
claimed no one had ever quit! I would offer you the same challenge!
In verse 10 the
prophet calls for the whole tithe to be brought into the storehouse. This was
the Old Testament Temple. For the New Testament age which we live, the
storehouse is the local church. The temple was the primary hub of God's working.
It was where people were blessed with the Word and wisdom of God to find and
follow his will.
The local church
serves in that same function today. I had a visiting pastor once asked me “Todd
why don't your people tithe?” This was not Patrick or Owen-this was many years
ago. He looked at our attendance and our offering and made an assumption.
This pastor had
some very clear expectations of this in his church. No one could have a
position of leadership unless they tithed. How did he know? He just looked over
there giving records. I have no desire to know what each of you give but I do
think it's important to know that accounting of our offerings is done.
Our current budget is
$255,000. We have 70 giving units that bring tithes and offering. If you divide
that budget by our givers it equals $3642.86. If that is the average tithe we give, then to calculate our average income
we just move the decimal over two place which makes the 10% 100% thus our
average income is $36,486.
Applying that math, to make our budget on
average income, it would appear that our church is close to the federal poverty
guidelines for a family of 5 which is 35,140
I know there are some here who are struggling at
that level, but is that really our average income? Or is Malachi speaking to us
this morning because we've not been bringing the full tithe to God's storehouse?
Well if Malachi
doesn't speak to us I know Jesus will! There is the silence between the Old
testament and the New testament for around 300 years. Did Israel get on track? What
did Jesus do with the tithe?
Anybody remember
how many times the word tithe was used in the Old testament? Guess how many
times it was used in the New testament? That would be zero! Because Jesus came
not to abolish the law but to fulfill it! The tithe is where giving to God
began.
Jesus takes giving to the next level-where it
needs to go. Jesus gets to the heart of giving to God. There are so many
stories of Jesus talking about money and his challenges to us as his followers.
Jesus is Crystal clear when it comes to our
worldly wealth it's ALL GOD’S MONEY. The tithe is a good start but God may ask
for more and he did of the Rich Young Man. Let's look at Matthew
19: 16-30:
16Now a man came
up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal
life?"
17"Why do
you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who
is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
18"Which
ones?" the man inquired.
19Jesus replied,
" 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false
testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'
"
20"All
these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
21Jesus
answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give
to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22When the young
man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23Then Jesus
said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven.
24Again I tell
you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of God."
25When the
disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then
can be saved?"
26Jesus looked
at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things
are possible."
27Peter answered
him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for
us?"
28Jesus said to
them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of
Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29And everyone
who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or
fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit
eternal life.
30But many who
are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Matthew 19: 16-30 Jesus never talks tithe just total.
Jesus point blank called the man to account. There's
no game here. His wealth stood in the way to getting to Jesus. Does yours?
Notice he didn't
say “but Jesus, how about 10, 20 or 50%”, nope he went away sad because he knew
he couldn't give any away. Give till it hurts that's baloney. Give till it
feels good. This poor soul felt it would hurt too much. One of my life verses
is from Luke 6:38 -hear the Words of Jesus –“Give, and it will be given to
you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be
poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to
you." Sand dollar give away
story… the joy of giving a blessing away-it was a hoot!
If only this RYM had
known Zacchaeus.! The joy with which that we little man gave was huge! What
about the widows might? I don't believe for one second she was crying and
trembling as she gave her two cents.
No! I believe she
gave all because she knew who gives her all and she went home blessed because
she knew she gave more than anyone and Jesus said so!
In conclusion I
don't believe SMC doesn't tithe in fact I know some do because I do. If you
want to know how much just look at our total salary package, benefits and all in
the annual report and just move the decimal point over. That’s our minimum
offering-what’s yours?
That guest pastor of
long ago I talked about earlier said he takes out the top 25 givers for lunch.
I think that's a little sketchy. It's not the figure that counts it's the
faithfulness. So here's my lunch date. I'll take out 25 tithers that tithed to
SMC in the last year. Just let me know.
I don't care if you're a kid that made $100
and gave 10 or an adult that made $100,000 and gave 10,000 you were faithful
and that's what matters. But what about others like Eldon, who would say
there's just no other way. Will you take the test me you'll see challenge?
Bring 10% in and see what God does with the 90% that is left over the next
year.
Now let me just
tell you about a guy who blew my mind-Rick Warren shared in a sermon the
concept of reverse tithing-giving 90% and living on 10%-if you are doing
that-I’ll buy you b-fest, lunch and supper-b/c I want to hear your whole story ;)
For the next 12
months will you bring the full tithe 10% into the SMC storehouse if you are not
already? If you already are is God challenging you to increase your giving -so
he can increase his?
Prayerfully
consider this even today-let us pray… Oh
Lord we thank you that your word is clear and your intentions are for the best-
thanks for the thithers here who give, keep blessing them and for those who are
challenged to give, grant them the courage to test you and see all that you
have for them…
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