A Means of Worship
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The message this morning has been on my heart for quite sometime. So, I have prayed a lot over it and put a lot of thought into it.
Money often times seems to be an issue in the church. But, I am not sure that it should be.
There are many unhealthy perspectives on giving. Those of us who have been in church for a while probably have some experience with giving/preaching/money that is hurtful.
My hope this morning is that by reading and looking at the word, that we can have a biblical understanding of giving and what it looks like in the church.
As a disclaimer before we begin, there are many different ways to give to the church. However, the focus of this message is in regards specifically in regards to money.
We just finished up the study on the disciplines, which I hope that you found helpful in the walk with the Lord.
I clearly didn’t write the Celebration of Discipline, but if I had, I would have included tithing/giving, as I believe it is as much a discipline of the christian life as the other disciplines.
So let’s look at some scripture this morning and hopefully walk away with a biblical perspective.
I want to start here in Matthew, but then head back in the OT and move to the NT.
Jesus says in:
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
And to jump down a couple verses..
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
I think this is probably the best starting point on giving as it’s the words of Jesus. I think what Jesus is trying to do here is to reframe how we think about money/treasures.
Jesus says here that our main focus shouldn’t be trying to accumulate temporal things, but to accumulate eternal things.
Which will we serve? God, or money?
Hopefully, we all say “God.”
But, we still have to deal with this money stuff. So first if we decide in our minds already that God is our focus, we still have to deal with money.
I am not going to preach a whole sermon on stewardship, but let’s go down to the basics of money. If God is first in our heart, He should be first in all areas of our lives, including our wallet.
So, what does the Bible say about how to do this?
Well, if you have been in church a while, you have probably heard of the tithe?
What is tithe?
It is a hebrews word that literally mean “one tenth” or, 10%.
Every Sunday we have a time set aside for “tithes and offerings.” What does this mean, and where does this come from?
The first time this word is mentioned is actually not a command from God! I believe it was from God, but not a direct command…
17 After 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). 18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,
19 and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
We don’t see a direct command from God to Abram to give the tenth of everything, but it is a response. I am willing to bet, since we don’t see otherwise in scripture, that God told him to…
we do know…
5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”
So, we can’t say definitively, but we can likely assume it was from God…nonetheless, for the first time we see the tithe
Interestingly, this comes up in the new testament…
One of the thoughts in the wider church is that tithing is an OT thing, but not a NT thing… we will look at that and see what you thing
But, before we dive directly there, we at least see this again in:
1 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” 3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
If you read through Hebrews you will see that the writer had a clear intention of proving that Jesus was better than…
Here we see that Melchizedek is connected to the Son of God, being Jesus…
Interesting correlation that Abraham submitted to the “king of righteousness” a tenth in the OT. And now we have the king of righteousness in the NT, being Jesus.
So, is it possible that we should continue to submit to the king of righteousness? Is it a stretch to extend the idea to our tithe?
Abraham did to the king of righteousness, maybe we too, can to the king of righteousness?
Interesting thought… not going to put too much weight in it, but worth considering.
Let’s look at the next time a tithe comes up:
You guys remember Jacob’s dream? Stairway to heaven with angels going up and down? He wakes up and then makes this vow:
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
So, Jacob vowed to the Lord, if He would do what He said in his dream, that he would give to God, one tenth.
Again not commanded by God yet, but the idea was still there.
So, interesting so far we have people who already understand the idea of giving one tenth before it was commanded of God…
Alright, so now we dive into the commands of God…I’m not going to dive too much into all of these as there is a lot!
But, enough to show the point is there
30 “ ‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.
The passage we read earlier in Deuteronomy
What is this money for?
Levites - priests, who would not receive part of the promised land, but would be funded by the tithing
And also
29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
foreigners, fatherless, widows…
So, they were commanded to give one tenth for the Levites and to take care of the needy
Does this command still apply today?
We can look at this in at least two ways. 1, in principle, and 2 in law
We know that we are no longer under the old covenant, the law, so the answer there can be simple
But, if we look at it in principle, does it still seem to apply?
So, before we even look at the new testament, could we see that maybe we aren’t bound by the law, but the principle is still good?
Do we think, that maybe we still need to take care of the leaders in the church, and take care of the widow, orphans, and foreigners?
Maybe, anyway, right?
Let’s jump to the most popular passage on giving, then we will jump back to Deuteronomy
6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors 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 mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring 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 there will not be room enough to store it.
So, here we see the people have strayed from God and His law. His promise here is if they return to Him, He will return to them!
God is harsh here reminding the people of the law. and He says to test Him!
This is the only time God says to test Him.
If we follow His word, He will pour out blessings.
Seems pretty straight forward.
Another blessing is shown in:
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
So, a couple times we see blessing associated with tithing..
So, maybe we aren’t bound by the law anymore, but seems like there is still wisdom and blessing in giving to God first, and 1/10th.
I think we could probably dive into the “why” of it.
Why give to God? Well, He answers it in what we read earlier
23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.
I believe we give back to God our first 10% because it revers Him.
We are being reverent to Him!
We are worshipping Him.
This helps us keep God as first! Our treasure first lies in Him.
So, the fun question: is tithing in the new testament