I Will Give My Tithe Series

Five Life Changing Resolutions

Part 2

I Will Give My Tithe

Proverbs 3:9-10

Scripture Reading

9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

I. Our Sovereign

The Hebrew word for “honour” means to glory in or glorify therefore we are to praise and exalt God. The name that is used for God is the most common one in the Bible, Jehovah who the eternal self-existent one. For the Jews the name of Jah or Jehovah was so sacred that when a scribe was copying the text and came to the name of God he would leave what he was doing and go ceremonially wash himself before returning and writing the name for God! We should glory in or glorify God and to do this we must begin with;

a. You will never become a tither unless you honour Him and acknowledge His lordship

He is Lord of all or He is not Lord at all!

b. You will never become a tither unless you honour and adore of Him for who He is.

Remember our translation of the word honour is we are to glorify in the Lord.

c. You will never become a tither unless you honour and appreciate Him of His goodness and generosity

Part of the motivation for obeying this commandment (it is not just a good piece of advice or a suggestion); is in honoring the Lord we do so in appreciation of His goodness to us and His generosity with us.

II. Our Substance

We are to honor Him with our substance” which points to capital, “increase” and to revenue. The Septuagint as if to guard against ill-gotten gains being offered as an atonement for the ill-getting, inserts the quaifying words, “honor the Lord from thy righteous labors.”

I had a lady call me one time (she didn’t identify herself) and she asked me if our church would take money that had been won in the lottery or something like that, and I said, “Sure, the devil has had it lone enough!” I don’t think she liked my answer.

a. Our provisions

Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

b. Our portion

What are we to bring to the Lord? The phrase “first fruits” is a reference to the tithe. The Israelites were commanded to bring the first fruits of all the livestock and their living (what they had earned from honest labor) to the Lord as a sacrifice to Him.

Exodus 23:19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God…

Numbers 18:12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee.

I heard a story of a missionary in Africa who received a knock on the door of his hut one afternoon. Answering, the missionary found a native boy holding a large fish in his hands. The boy said, "Reverend, you taught us what tithing is, so here. I've brought you my tithe." As the missionary gratefully took the fish, he questioned the boy. "If this is your tithe, where are the other nine fish?" At this, the boy beamed and said, "Oh, they're still back in the river. I'm going back to catch them now."

1 Corinthians 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

c. Our practice

I have made this statement many times and I sincerely believe it to be true; “We only really believe those parts of the Bible that we are willing to practice.” Verse 5 of our text begins with a very important truth;

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

I believe it goes without saying that you will never become a practicing tither until you first trust in the Lord. But this challenge to trust Him is not without foundation, it is not a leap into the dark for God asks us to “prove” Him.