God Is First – Tithes, Offerings, Church, and More
The Message | Pr 3:9
Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best.
Jesus talked about money more than He did about Heaven or Hell. Why did He do that? Because of the foundational connection to our spiritual lives, and also because He knows how we think about and handle money. We may try to divorce our faith and our finances from God and the Church. We must understand they are inseparable.
NLT | Lk 3:8
8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.
10 The crowds asked, “What should we do?”
11 John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”
12 Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”
14 “What should we do?” asked some soldiers. John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”
In verse 11, 13, and 14, His answer had to do with money and possessions. He knew money and possessions were central to their spiritual lives. Watch this!
The Message | Lk 19:6
8 Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, “Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I’m caught cheating, I pay four times the damages.”
9 Jesus said, “Today is salvation day in this home! Here he is: Zacchaeus, son of Abraham!
Here’s a practical reality for the ages…. Our raging current of culture is to keep far more than we give and at times we really need.”
The Message | Pr 3:9
Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over.
This is a subject that I will only touch the surface of today, but I hope to unpack it more in future blogs.
What is tithing? Tithing is giving God the first tenth of all your increase or income. In the Old Testament, most tithes were given from produce or livestock, but in modern times we tithe with money since most of our increase is financial. In the Old Testament, there were different types of tithes and different types of offerings. Tithes were required giving in the Mosaic Law, while offerings towards the church’s work were voluntary.
While tithing is found in the law, it did not originate in the law. Many refer to Abraham as the first one to give a tithe in Genesis 14:17-20, but required gifts came long before that. We see an encounter between God and Cain in Genesis 4:2-7 in which God rebukes Cain for not giving rightly. His brother Abel had given his best gift, but Cain did not. This eventually led to Cain killing his brother out of jealousy and envy. At the core of tithing are many issues, but today I will only talk about three of them: trust, redemption, and the storehouse or church.
First, God trusted us with what is His in the first place. He trusts us with an increase and lets us have 90 percent of it, but places a 10 percent sacred portion (Deut. 26:13, Num. 18:28) which we are to tithe back to Him. This sacred portion is entrusted to us and we are to return it to Him through the Church.
The second thing that tithing teaches us is redemption. The tithe is the first tenth or the first fruit of our increase. Christ was God’s first fruit. When God gave His Son to die on the cross for our sin, He redeemed us from the curse of the law. When we give our tithe we are worshiping God and recognizing His redemption. We are recognizing that through Christ we are redeemed and in turn God redeems and blesses the 90 percent that is our portion. Tithe is not the ceiling of giving, it’s the floor. Tithe is not the finish line for giving. Tithe is the starting point of giving. Tithe, to me, is the training wheels to launch us into the right mindset in cultivating the right habits of giving.
Pursuit of Excellence In Our Vocations
We make a big deal out of the pursuit of excellence in our vocations. We study, discuss, and even work hard to sharpen our skills towards our vocation. How about this novel idea? Let’s pursue excellence in the area of giving as well. Let’s study it, discuss it, and strive to do better at it.
A Last Word On Tithe
The tithe was brought to the priest or the storehouse. Today, this would mean bringing the tithe to the local church. Bringing the tithe to the local church reminds us that it is something that we are personally relinquishing control of as we give it to God, and yet we immediately receive the benefits of it as part of God’s people. It reminds us that we should not neglect God’s house for the sake of our own needs, and that we are called to live as a part of the kingdom of God, connected to a local church, together serving the purposes of God.
Just as they brought the tithe to the storehouse in the Old Testament, we bring the tithe to our local church in the New Testament. God in turn uses this tithe to further His kingdom on this earth through the local church. All this was part of God’s plan from the beginning. I believe God still desires to be worshiped and honored through the tithe today. Giving doesn’t end there; it only starts there. Continue reading about tithing and freewill giving in our next blog in this series!
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