Essential Tithing

I’m a day behind on my entries on the Essentials–those things God built us to need and to have in our lives for spiritual health and growth.  We’ve talked about the first five:  Worship (individual and corporate), Prayer, Bible Study, Service and Relationships.  Today is the one I used to have the hardest time with–tithing.

Yes, tithing.  For Christians.

For years I dodged this topic by saying things like:  “Tithing was an Old Testament Law–it isn’t for Christians.”  Or, “I don’t want people to see me as ‘after their money'”.  Both true.  Both irrelevant.

Before addressing these, let’s define tithing. Tithing is the giving of the FIRST (“firstfruits” is the agrarian term) 10%, off the top of our gross income–whether it is monetary or in goods (like crops in the Old Testament) to God.  It is an expression of worship in which we acknowledge that everything we have comes from God.  It is the first of our giving–“offering” is above and beyond the tithe.  So, no one “tithes” 5%–they are in actuality only giving half a tithe.  No one gives an “offering” of $50 when they aren’t tithing.

But then, this is the Law, it isn’t for Christians, right?  Wrong.

The first Christians were Jews.  They didn’t stop being Jews because they became Christians.  They tithed to the temple, as Jews did.  But they also gave to the Church.  AND they gave to special needs, like Barnabas giving for the benefit of those in the Jerusalem church who didn’t have means of support.

In other words, for the early Christians, tithing was the LOW bar.  The starting point.

But we don’t want to be after other peoples’ money, right?  Right.  But, of course, the only people this applies to are those who don’t belong to Jesus.  If someone does belong to Jesus, “his” money is actually the Lord’s.  So we aren’t after someone else’s money.  We are after faithfulness with the Lord’s money.

I believe there are only two reasons Christians don’t tithe–selfishness and fear.  Neither is a way for Christians to live.  So I issue a challenge to Christians in our congregation (without knowing what–or if–they give):  If you aren’t tithing, start now.  If you just don’t want to, do it anyway.  If you are afraid, ask the Lord for the faith to trust him.  And if you think this is being said so NOCC can get more money, write the check to another church.

Assessing our tithing is simple.  Two factors enter into the assessment.  First, am I tithing (10% of our gross income off the top)?  Second, am I doing it with what Paul describes as a joyous attitude?  If I am only giving 5%, I can’t rate myself more than a 5 on a 1-10 scale.  However, if I’m giving 5% and doing it grudgingly, I am probably more like a 3.

One more note.  We need to be careful not to believe that once we give 10% the rest of “our” money is for us to spend on ourselves however we like.  “We” don’t have money–we belong to the Lord.  What we have is actually his–we are only entrusted with managing it.  Some of us barely get by on the remaining 90%.  Others have a lot more than they need.  I challenged one family to give 50% of their income (10% tithe, the other 40% to be given as God leads them).  I don’t know exactly what they give, but I know they are the most giving family I have ever known–and not co-incidentally one of the only wealthy families I have ever known to be faithful to the Lord.