Everyone Giving Series

One of the best books on generosity I’ve ever read is The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn. Here are a few of the main ideas.

1. God owns everything, and I am His money manager. Psalm 24:1: “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” When I honor God with my wealth, I am declaring He owns me, and everything that I have. He has the rights, and I have the responsibility. He is the Master, and I am the manager. I am the servant; He is the sovereign. It might be helpful when you talk about money, instead of saying “my money,” to change the wording to, “God’s money.” Abraham Kuyper put it like this: “In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare, ‘That is mine!’”

2. My heart always goes where I put God’s money. We tend to think that our money follows our heart, but Jesus said it’s the other way around in Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Money leads and our hearts follow. By giving to God first and by giving him my best, I make sure my heart is focused on heavenly things. S. Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, often said, “It’s OK to have wealth. But keep it in your hands, not in your heart.”

3. God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving. The church at Corinth experienced this in 2 Corinthians 9:11: “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” John Bunyan offered this insight: “A man there was, and they called him mad; the more he gave, the more he had.”

Generally, our preaching practice is to unpack one primary passage of Scripture, but today we’ll do a survey of several Scripture passages.

Giving in the Old Testament

Turn to the last chapter in the last book of the Old Testament and listen to Malachi 3:8: “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.” The word “rob” means to “take forcibly.” How could they be stealing from God? They were taking what belonged to Him and kept it for themselves.

As a way to recognize God’s rightful rule and omnipotent ownership of all things, God’s people in the Old Testament were instructed to give tithes and offerings. This word literally means “a tenth,” or 10%. While some would say this teaching is based on the Law, Abraham voluntarily practiced tithing 400 years before the Law was even established.

When we grovel about giving or withhold what is His, we are robbing God of His right to use us to propel His purposes in the world. Look at the first part of verse 10: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house…” The storehouse was the chamber in the Temple where the tithes and offerings were kept. Here are some summary statements about the application of tithing for today.

• While we are no longer under the Law, tithing is a good benchmark for believers. In other words, it’s a good place to start, sort of like a “minimum guide” for giving. Tithing is God’s historical method to get us on the path of giving; it’s a gateway to the joy of grace giving.