The Tithe
The Generous Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
So, we’re three weeks into a series that we’ve called “The Generous Life”.
We hope, this year, to use our teaching time on Sundays to introduce you to both the ideas and practices that form a lifestyle following The Way of Jesus.
Our Goal --- As author John Mark Comer always says: “To be with Jesus, Become Like Jesus, and Do what he did.”
Making and managing money is a pretty big part of how we invest our lives and Jesus spent a fair bit of time discussing how our use of money reveals something about our relationship to God and the state of our hearts.
A biblical perspective on money is different enough from the mainstream wisdom we find in our world to merit a few weeks of conversation on the topic.
A couple of weeks ago Lts Col. Morris and Wanda Vincent tackled the idea that followers of Jesus “have everything in common” when it comes to money. We don’t ascribe to a personal wealth ideal (which is the mainstream cultural norm) but rathar we take responsbility for the needs of those around us who are brothers & sisters in Christ.
They shared from the perspective of being Partners in Mission with a global church whose financial need is often great and I am so pleased that as a congregation you responded generously to the invitation to give to support these important global projects.
Last week Bill highlighted the many teachings of Jesus that warned that money can become an idol and a competitor for our affections - even edging out our relationship with God without us realizing this is taking place.
This week I want to walk us through a biblical concept called “the tithe”. When it comes to spiritual practices this is one of the simplest, most concrete ways to tangibly and consistently choose to honor God by committing to a weekly or regular rhythm of giving. Every time we write a cheque or see the money debit in our account we remember the central “WHY” of our lives is the worship of God over the pursuit of things.
Until pretty recently - maybe within the last 50ish years the tithe practice was kind of assumed as a part of the rhythms of church life. People were taught a tithe when they were very small, and the practice was incorporated into their lives as they matured to adulthood and the money they were responsible for changed from nickels and dimes in your Sunday school envelope to the kind of income that manages a household and, having learned the priciples young, as their income grew so did the tithe.
In our own congregation there are distinctive trends that could be charted along generational lines. Which tells me that we can’t rely on assumptions that tithing is a normative practice or even a concept everyone has run into. So, we do just want to take the time to give you some biblical context for what is a pretty counter-cultural lifestyle practice.
Because, honestly, it’s one of those practices of the Way of Jesus that might seem crazy to your friends, your co-workers, and maybe even your financial advisor. But it is a powerful practice both in the way it teaches us faith in God’s personal provision for us and also in the way that it demonstrates to the world the collective power of a group of people united in generosity for Kingdom causes.
So - let’s dive in and learn about this spiritual practice of tithing!
What is a tithe?
What is a tithe?
So - what exactly is a tithe and why might it be something you would want to practice today?
The word “tithe” actually means “tenth”. In it’s simplest form it was giving a tenth of all the benefit of the land back to God.
We first see this practice described in Leviticus 27:30-33
Leviticus 27:30–33 (ESV)
“Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”
This is imbedded in a chapter with many variations on how, why, and when one might want to give to the Lord.
Some of these offerings have to do with expressing gratitude or honoring a certain commitment to the LORD. They are ways of responding with a grateful heart to God when you are feeling the presence of His blessing.
But a tithe is different. It’s an unemotional, concrete, clear cut recognition of God’s ultimate ownership of everything you have.
It’s undiscriminating - if you look at the example in the scripture we just read you see a shepherd literally watching the flock pass by his staff and counting off: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Number ten belongs to the LORD - it is set aside in a seperate place to be used for the tithe offering. If number ten is your most beautiful, fluffy breeding ewe or if it is the gimpy, one-eyed stringy ram it belongs to the LORD - not because of merit but because it is the tenth.
This means that on the years of abundance when you have lots to give and it’s easy to share - you give a tenth. On years when the harvest fails, you’re not sure whether you have enough grain to store to get you through the winter - you give a tenth.
The tithe is representative of wherever you are in life. It is required of the rich and of the poor in good times and in bad.
Here’s how Deuteronomy 26:1-11 presents what the tithe could look like.
Deuteronomy 26:1–11 (ESV)
“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.
“And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.
So I want us to notice a couple of things here: First: The tithe is a theological statement. The whole rehearsal of their history and how God brought them to the land is a reminder that nothing is owed to them. Everything they have - any abundance, any profit from the land is pure grace. A gift from God.
Second: There are some real life practical mandates that the tithe provides for that will shape Israel into the kind of people who reflect the nature of a good, loving, and just God. The explanations are lengthy throughout Leviticus & Deuteronomy but here’s my attempt to summarize. The tithe supports:
Centralized worship space (tabernacle/temple).
Makes the manifest presence and the worship of YHWH the centre of community life.
Resists temptation to idolotry because a group of worship “professionals” (Levites and priests) make their full time job to know & uphold the law.
Supports the work of priests interceding for sin through sacrifice.
Gathering of the community for celebration & feast to ensure equity.
Inclusion of and provision for those who are vulnerable to poverty because they do not own land:
Levites - who have released land ownership and the income from it for full time holy work.
Aliens (immigrants/refugees), fatherless, widows. (All of these recieve a portion of the tithe every third year to supply their needs).
In the Old Testament the Covenant between God and Israel is based on God’s invitation to them to be a set apart Holy people. To learn what God is like and align themselves with His design for the world as represented by the law.
In Deuteronomy 28 God outlines all the blessings that will come as a result of their obedience: fertility, abundant crops, peace from enemies, honor among the nations, favorable weather, favorable trade relations - all in all a great situation. He then outlines that curses that would come if they reject and disobey God - basically the reverse of all the good stuff with some juicy and grotesque details on the miseries just to paint a grim enough picture to want to avoid them.
So for the Israelites there is good reason to connect obedience to God with physical wealth. The blessing on the land and their flourishing in it was part of the salvation work God wanted to do to make them a witness to the other nations of His goodness and nature.
However, the story of the rest of the Bible is pretty much the continual rejection of God by Israel and things getting increasingly worse as a result.
The tithing system seems to ebb and flow along with the spirit of the times. It fades in times where compromise with other gods and political powers draw them away from YHWH and it is often renewed in periods of revival and return to the law & covenant - under the leadership of people like Solomon, Hezekiah, Nehemiah. Over time what started as a very concrete ritual practice came to really indicate the state of the hearts of the people.
One of the last prophets to speak in scripture before the coming of Christ commented on the people’s heart attitude towards the worship of God as represented by their tithes.
“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 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?’
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.
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.
I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
God is a Generous God and he wants to be generous to us but he knows that wealth without a humility towards God and a life under His authority has the potential to turn us into tyrants. He is very concerned that our heart is oriented towards Him and towards the poor (who the tithe benefits).
I remember first reading this and feeling shocked at the possiblity of me robbing God - purposely keeping something from Him that really belonged to Him. And by how hurt God actually seemed - not because he needs our money - but because our stinginess towards him indicates either a lack of love or a lack of trust in Him.
And even with that God is willing to be generous. He challenges them and I think us too to trust Him and tithe and see if God doesn’t deliver on His promise to be generous to them.
JESUS & THE TITHE
JESUS & THE TITHE
So, when we talk about practicing the Way of Jesus the language switches a bit from tithing to generosity.
Jesus himself would have tithed in accordance with the law when he had income - which, with the itinerant life depicted in the gospels wasn’t likely significant during the years we know the most about him.
But he was also critical of tithing that wasn’t aligned with the heart of God but - merely religious grandstanding: Luke 11:42
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
He honored giving that represented a whole hearted sacrifice and took great trust in God’s provision: Luke 21:1-4
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
In Jesus, the things associated with tithing - the temple, the priesthood, and the role of the land of Israel as the centre of God’s blessing was passing away.
But the things they pointed to remain:
1. The necessity of being in the tangible presence of God - now present in the Church everywhere by the Holy Spirit.
2. The value of the people of God united in giving that makes space for:
a) gathered worship as priority ,
b) supporting leaders specially devoted to teaching and cultivating community in the Way of Jesus
c) creating space where poor and rich can gather - and the most vulnerable are cared for by all.
3. The propensity of us to drift towards idolotry and need for teaching and the fellowship of believers to correct us when our hearts wander.
And money itself is one of the most likely candidates for idolotry - putting it above our relationship and obediance to God. Jesus was clear on how money lures our hearts.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
And therein lies another Jesus principle about wealth. You are always making an investment with your money. You can invest it in treasure on earth - and it will be lost eventually.
Or you can use your money on earth to invest in the kind of treasure that exists in heaven. And that investment forms you as a person.
Author Randy Alcorn describes it like this:
“What we do with our money doesn’t simply indicate where our hearts are. According to Jesus, it determines where our hearts go. Suppose you buy shares of Ford Motor Company. What happens? You suddenly develop an interest in Ford. You check the financial pages. You see a magazine article about Ford and read every word. You probably buy a Ford as your next car.
Suppose you’re giving to help African children deal with AIDS. When you see an article on the subject, you’re hooked. If you’re sending money to plant Indian churches and an earthquake hits India, you watch the news, and fervently pray. You develop a passionate interest in God’s kingdom. As surely as the compass needle follows north, your heart will follow your treasure. This is a remarkable truth. If I want my heart somewhere, all I need to do is put my money there. I’ve heard people say, “I want more of a heart for missions,” I always respond, “Jesus tells you exactly how to get it. Put your money in missions, and your heart will follow.” Do you wish you cared more about eternal things? Then reallocate some of your money, maybe most of it, from temporal to eternal things. Watch what happens. You’ll be amazed… and happy. God wants your heart. He isn’t looking for dispassionate philanthropists for His kingdom. He’s looking for disciples so filled with a vision for eternity that they wouldn’t dream of not investing their money, time, and prayers where they will matter most.”
If you asked me: Debra, do I HAVE to tithe to be a Christian I would say ‘no’. Salvation in Christ is a work of God that we receive by faith.
But my next question would be: Do you actually have faith in Jesus? Can you genuinely put your life in his hands and not have it affect your money?
To me tithing is like training wheels for generosity -
It’s simple. It’s black and white - it’s measurable.
It’s ten percent when things are going well and you are able to give more.
It’s ten percent when the business is failing and the bank wants to forclose on your house.
It will stretch you at first. It is an act of faith in God.
Having faith to start tithing can be very difficult - even more so if you start late in life - but it gets much easier as we see God’s faithfulness to provide for us when we take a stretch in faith.
The end goal is not ten percent - it’s a generous life - and that will be different for everyone depending on our situations. But the tithe provides a simple starting place to grow our faith muscles.
300 Quotations for Preachers from the Modern Church (Establishing the Habit of Giving)
Only fix even the smallest amount you purpose to give of your income, and give this regularly; and as God is pleased to increase your light and grace, and is pleased to prosper you more, so give more. If you neglect a habitual giving, a regular giving, a giving from principle and upon scriptural ground, and leave it only to feeling and impulse, or particular arousing circumstances, you will certainly be a loser.
- George Mueller
God doesn’t ask anything of us that isn’t for our good in some way. He is a loving God. I think you will find, with the consistency of tithing comes a renewed sense of awareness of your partnership with God. He includes you in the giving and he includes you in seeing the fruit of it in the lives of people around you.
CHALLENGE:
So - our challenge today is to invite God into a conversation with you about your money. Or rathar, about HIS money. If you haven’t yet begun the basic practice of tithing - consider taking that step of faith. Acknowledging that in giving back 10% God is allowing us to keep 90% of all He has generously provided.
In addition to just putting money in the offering plate we try to make giving habits simpler through offering direct deposit or online giving options. You’ll find more information about this on the Spiritual Formation board.
When God’s people are faithful - God always provides one way or another. Not always as we expect and not always on our timeline but you will see His faithfullness.
Perhaps tithing and giving has been a part of your life for a long time - we have many people here for whom that is the case. Maybe take this time to reflect on God’s generosity through the years and thank him for it.
Almost everyone I know who has learned the practice of tithing has a story of a time when giving was really hard - but they took a step of faith and God made a way for them. Please, share your stories with one another - in your small group, or in spiritual friendships. These stories give courage to the next generation of believers who are just beginning to test God’s faithfullness with fear and trembling.
PRAY