Sermon
Have you seen the bumper sticker that says, “Tithe if you love Jesus because any fool can honk”?
Today’s message is about tithing. But more than that, it’s a message about giving, and about being generous, and about God having given us a way to live free from the worries and fears of not having enough that weigh so many people down and keep so many up at night.
Tithing, as perhaps you know, is the biblical concept of giving one tenth of our income to the Lord. A bunch of years ago I did an exhaustive study of the tithe, boiling down everything I learned into a little leaflet I titled, “Something About Tithing”. I based it on Deuteronomy 14:22-23, which says,
22 “You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year. 23 Bring this tithe to the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for His name to be honored—and eat it there in His presence. This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds. Doing this will teach you always to fear the Lord your God.”
This shows us first that when we tithe we are cooperating with the Holy Spirit to nurture a healthy and wholesome fear of the Lord in ourselves. You see, every time you give the tithe, you must face and deal with the fears within: Fears about paying your bills; fears about security in retirement; fears about keeping up with the Joneses; fears about not being seen as good providers; fears about our kids complaints; fears about the hardships we might have to face; so many fears that are all tied up with greed and envy and worry that come down to whether or not we have or can ever have enough money.
Every time we give the tithe we face and deal with these fears, because to give away to God or to others is not to buy for yourself. And the weekly victory of putting our tithe in God’s plate is utterly important for each of us to maintain. We must fight greed, we must fight worry, we must fight fear, we must fight envy almost every day. And God has appointed an antidote: Giving.
He tests us again and again, week after week, check after check, envelope after envelope, collection after collection: What do we desire most—the advancement of His Kingdom, the lifting up of His name, the blessing that only He can bring, or 10% more security and comfort and fun for ourselves? As Jesus says, you know where your heart is by where you put your treasure. Tithing nurtures a healthy and wholesome fear of the Lord in us, and fights off greed, worry, envy, and the fear of other things.
Deuteronomy 14 has more to say about the tithe.
Moses makes clear that although the entire tithe is the Lord’s and for His purposes, that each Christian is to benefit from the tithes – whether in fellowship dinners and celebrations (like our upcoming Church-Family Thanksgiving Dinner, or in Sunday School and Bible studies; in all these ways and whatever ways we “feed” because of the tithes and because of the Lord.
Skip down a couple verses to v. 27 and about the tithe Deuteronomy 14 says there,
27 “And do not neglect the Levites in your town, for they will receive no allotment of land among you.
28 “At the end of every third year, bring the entire tithe of that year’s harvest and store it in the nearest town. 29 Give it to the Levites, who will receive no allotment of land among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all your work.”
So, another purpose for the tithe is to pay church-workers. Pastors, Praise Team Leaders, Secretaries, missionaries, etc… none of these do the “normal” work the Lord has given to other people for making a living, but do, in modern times, the work that the Levites are recorded as having done in Bible times. And they are to be paid – ministering among the people, spreading His good news and comfort, nurturing His abundant life around their communities, stirring up His hope and joy in their midst – and their pay comes from the tithe.
Of course the tithe makes the Lord’s mercy and grace clear, too. The poor and vulnerable and abused in our communities are to be served by the tithe, as well. Which is why our Youth Group is open to street kids as well as church kids, and why our church is known to be a place where friends and neighbors can come for help from our Benevolences Team, our White Gifts ministry, and our Food Closet in their times of need.
Psalm 103:8 says, “The LORD is merciful and gracious!” Exodus 34:6 says, “The LORD is merciful and gracious!” What do you think Psalm 145:8 says? “The LORD is merciful and gracious!” Yes! And He wants His mercy and grace proclaimed and made known to our neighbors in the tithe. And when we tithe, and faithfully use the tithes as He has called us to, He promises that we will be blessed in all our work!
Our fearful, materialistic, greedy, and untrusting culture wants us to believe that we need God’s blessing on our work first so that we can then tithe. But that’s not God’s way. That’s never been God’s way.
God commanded Noah to build an ark to save himself and his family from The Flood. “What’s a flood, Lord?” Noah must have asked Him. “Build the ark,” God said, “and you will see.”
God said to Abraham, “Leave your home and I will bring you to a place where you will be a blessing to the world.” Abraham responded, “Where is this place, Lord?” And God answered, “Leave your home and I will show you the place when you get there.”
God told the Levites of Joshua’s day to carry the Ark of the Covenant (that gold box that contained the Ten Commandments) into the fast-moving, deadly waters of the Jordan River, promising once they did that He would stop the Jordan’s waters so that Israel’s army could pass through. “Don’t You want to stop the waters first, Lord?” I can imagine them asking. “No,” He replied, “you step into the torrent and then you will see My wonders!”
We read of this all across the Scriptures. Of course, the most glorious example is the cross. Hebrews 12 speaks of it this way, “Because of the joy awaiting Him, Jesus endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” Jesus, as a human being like us, had to trust that joy would be His on the other side of the horrors of crucifixion. But He had to endure the crucifixion first.
It has always been our Father’s way to call us to faith and trust in Him first, and then to bless us with the rewards of our faithful obedience. It is the same with the tithe.
Jesus says, “Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38)
Giving in a regular, disciplined, generous way—up to and even beyond the tithe—is simply good sense in view of the promises of God.
In Malachi 3:10 the LORD puts it this way,
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of Heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put Me to the test! 11 Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 12 “Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
(“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies” is just one of the many titles for God in the Bible.) He’s speaking to Israel when they were a nation of farmers and vine growers working the land. The equivalent for us today is simply, “Bring your tithe so that I can do everything in your communities and worldwide that I long to do! And I will bless you so richly you won’t have enough room in your hearts or your homes to contain it all! All nations will call you blessed for your communities will be such a wonder and such a delight!” says the LORD.
What an amazing challenge from God. “Test Me,” He says. “You think you can’t afford to tithe? Test Me.” And what we find when we test Him is that we cannot afford not to tithe—and beyond! There is an absolute correlation between faith in the promises of God and the peace of mind He has for us when we give away what we think we need but in truth really don’t.
Every time you doubt that you can live on 90% of your income, let the glorious promises of God strengthen your faith. Because tithing boils down to a faith issue: Do we trust God’s promises?
Well, First Presbyterian Church, I appeal to you: Trust God! For as the apostle Paul writes, 19 “And this same God Who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19).