BRINGING OUR TIHTES TO THE LORD
--Luke 11:42-44 and II Corinthians 8:1-7
I believe in tithing and have been practicing it since my very first job. My parents set the example and taught me to tithe when I had my first job, which, as I recall, was while I was still in junior high. I began mowing lawns in our neighborhood, and my first customer was a good friend of my folks who cared for her elderly mother. If my memory still serves me correctly, my beginning wages for mowing Mary Forster’s lawn was $2.00 per week. Tithe literally means ten percent so my offering amounted to only twenty cents, but that was dedicated to the Lord for the ministry of His Church.
Tithing is an Old Testament principle, and there is never a New Testament Commandment that reaffirms it for the Church, yet Jesus acknowledges the validity of tithing from the words of our text in Luke 11:42, “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.” Here Jesus shows us that the Pharisees had become pridefully hypocritical in their attitude and spirit of giving. They had misconstrued their priorities. Here Jesus reminds them and us that the important priorities and motivating spirit of a true disciple are those we find in Micah 6:8:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
We must always do justice, love kindness, and humbly love our God while at the
same time not neglecting our practice of tithing. When we neglect justice and the
love of God, our tithing becomes meaningless for it is not given in the right spirit.
Paul shares guidelines with us for our giving to support the ministries of
Christ’s Church in multiple places in the New Testament. One such passage is our
text from II Corinthians 8. Corinth is in Southern Greece. Macedonia is in Northern Greece, and today the former State of Yugoslavia which is also called Macedonia borders Grecian Macedonia. Paul shows the Church at Corinth and us that the
Macedonian Christians were motivated by the right spirit in their giving. In the midst of suffering severe affliction and extreme poverty their offerings for ministry overflowed in wealth of generosity and abundant joy.
What made that possible? It was the all sufficient grace of God at work in their hearts and lives, for Paul says in II Corinthians 8:1-2, “We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” God granted grace to His poverty stricken and severely afflicted Churches in Macedonia, and with abundant joy they gave generously towards the ministry of His Church and the advancement of His kingdom and are our model for today.
The Offertory time in worship should never be a time of drudgery, but one of extreme joy. Remember the Macedonian Christians. They did not give out of their abundance but out of their extreme poverty, but they gave in the spirit of abundant joy. Paul continues his sermon on giving and stewardship throughout chapter into chapter nine of II Corinthians. When we turn over one more chapter to II Corinthians 9:7 we hear him say, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Perhaps the way The New King James renders this verse is more familiar to many of us: “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” We are never to give grudgingly or of necessity, but as we “have made up our minds” or “as we purpose in our hearts.”
That calls for prayer and seeking the direction of the Holy Spirit as to the amount He directs us to give. We don’t make up our minds without discerning His will and guidance in the amount we are to give. Once we have the assurance of His peace in our hearts that this is indeed His will, we will give cheerfully did the Macedonian Christians despite their severe affliction and extreme poverty. May our offertory times always be filled with gladness and joy.
As we give joyfully, may the tithe always be our minimum rule of thumb in guiding us in thing God we are not to neglect our tithe.” Tithing can be another “Means of Grace” to bring us into a closer relationship with God and experience His blessings. In Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, we have this commandment along with this promise to claim in chapter three, verse ten: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”
Tithing brings the blessings of God. My brothers and sisters, you and I can never out give God. He is our Lord and Creator and everything in this universe belongs to Him. In Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 6, verse 38, Jesus does give us a commandment to give: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” Here Jesus does affirm Malachi that we can never out give God, and that giving with a joyful, loving heart will lead us down the pathway to God’s blessings.”
Many people always grumble and complain, “But, preacher, you don’t know my circumstances and my situation. I can not afford to tithe. I’m on a fixed income. I have bills to pay.” John Wesley always counseled the early Methodists, “Earn all you can; save all you can; give all you can.” Dr. W. Curry Mavis was my Professor of Pastoral Ministry at Asbury Seminary. He always encouraged us to give ten per cent of all our pay checks to the Lord, save ten per cent, and live on the eighty per cent. I have been faithful to giving the ten per cent but not done well in saving the ten per cent. Some of my colleagues in ministry, however, have been faithful to both. I can testify beyond all doubt that I have never missed or needed the 10 per cent I’ve given. Paul also assures us in Philippians 4:19, “And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” The great Gospel Song writer Mosie Lister speaks the truth when he testifies:
My Jesus knows just what I need
O yes! He knows just what I need
He satisfies and every need supplies
Yes, He knows just what I need.
Jesus knows just what you and I need, and He always meets the needs of His faithful tithers.
It has always been my experience that a Church that is abundantly blessed with tithers is a Church that never has any financial needs. The tithe must go into the “store house” which in Malachi’s day was the Temple in Jerusalem. Today the store house is our local Church, not your favorite televangelist no matter how dynamic he or she may be. The purpose of all our tithes and offerings is to support the ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ and the advancement of His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven, and you can not make a more lasting investment than that.
Beulah Church in Lawrence County, Illinois, was a country Church I served for over four years beginning in 1980. Beulah has never had a financial crisis one reason being the fact that nearly all the Church family tithe. Another reason is that they are missionary minded people. They support I don’t know how many missionaries and one of their own for over twenty years was a faithful missionary with World Gospel Mission. The Church that supports missionaries at home and abroad is also a Church that never has a financial need at home. The people at Beulah give with a “joyful heart.”
This is the time of year Churches work on their budgets for the coming year, and we’ll approve our 2007 budget at our October Church Council meeting. If we apply the tithe as our minimum rule of thumb in our giving, I am confident the Lord will meet all our needs both personally and collectively as the Body of Christ. Notice I acknowledge the tithe as our “minimum rule of thumb.”
As we pray and seek His discernment, the Holy Spirit may direct and enable some of us to give even more. Do you remember the story of the “widow’s mite” in Luke 21? She only put in two small, copper coins, but Jesus reminded His original disciples and His disciples today that “she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.” Like the churches of Macedonia, she gave with joy in her extreme affliction and extreme poverty. She did not give just ten per cent. She gave everything she had.
R. G. LeTourneau was known as the “Father of the Modern Earthmoving Industry.” His company was Caterpillar’s biggest competitor. His firm supplied seventy percent of all the earthmoving equipment used by the allied forces in World War II. He invented the bulldozer and had over 297 patents with the US Patent Office. R. G. LeTourneau is also remembered as “God’s Businessman.” Christians best remember him because much of his life he gave God ninety per cent of his income while he lived on the ten. He is a prime example of why I refer to the tithe as our minimum “rule of thumb” in giving for ministry. Some of us God may direct to give even more.
May the Holy Spirit always direct us in all our giving. We give to enable ministry and, to advance His Kingdom, and to meet the needs of His children. With extreme joy may our offering always “overflow in a wealth of generosity.” May we always give in love and gratitude that the world may come to know Him who gave His all for us.
