Most people simply don’t understand tithing. To many Christians, it seems like some sort of country club due. Another bill in the long list of monthly expenses.
I hear questions like: “How Much Are You Supposed to Tithe?” “Do I tithe on my gross income or net income?” “My pay my tithe on my pay before Taxes and deductions or after?” “Does God really expect me to tithe if I’m struggling in my personal finances?” “I ‘tithe’ my time to the church. Isn’t that enough?” Still other will ask, “Is tithing still even required? Wasn’t it an Old Testament law? Didn’t Christ abolish the law with His death and resurrection?” (just for the record, I do believe that tithing is still a New Testament principle, but that is not where I am going today.)
These questions all have the same recurring theme — “What’s the least I can give and still receive God’s blessings?” When you debate these questions, you totally miss the point.
When I started tithing almost 40 years ago, my tithe check would be something like $73.22, If I felt particularly generous I would round that up to the nearest nickel. “There’s my 10 percent God. Hopefully that’ll cover the upkeep in Heaven until my next paycheck. Now bless me.” I just didn’t get it either. God didn’t need my money.[1]
These are not new questions or comments about giving. These questions have been around for thousands for years. The writer of today’s passage (Asaph, a tabernacle musician in David’s court) under the inspiration of the holy Spirit, wrote this Psalm about God judging his people. The section of the Psalm that we are looking concerns worship and the bringing of sacrifices.
Psalm 50:7–15
Opening Illustration: The Parable of the French Fry
Once upon a time, about a week ago, Darion and I stop at Burger King to pick up some dinner on the way home from Football. He was hungry so I got him something to eat. Well I bought for Darion 2 of his basic food groups, Chicken Nuggets and French Fries. After going through the drive through, tossing the bag of food in the car, I then do what any good Dad does, I reach over to the bag with the food to grab a couple of fries, just to taste. Darion's lightning quick reaction, he reaches over and slaps my hand and says, “Don’t touch my French fries.”
I’m thinking that Darion is being just a little bit selfish and stingy. I know who bought the French Fries and I’m really the true owner of the fries. I know also that Darion belongs to me. I could get angry and never buy any more French Fries to teach him a lesson, or I could “cover Darion in more French Fries than he could ever hope to eat.” both are within my power to do. So I’m thinking, “Why is my child so selfish, I have given him a whole package of French fries; I just want one French fry…
Isn’t that the way we tend to be with all our things and with all our money and all our possessions? God owns it all, but we begrudging will give up a french fry or two, just so He will continue to bless us.
The American way is to say "I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps," and "I worked hard for all I have." Do we realize it is God who gives, it is God who gives the opportunity and ability to work. It is God who ultimately owns all that we have and all that we are.
Psalm 24:1 (NKJV) The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.
God owns it all. He created it all, and He has given us abilities and opportunities to use what all he has given. The ancient Israelites, around the time of David, had a similar issue. God was calling them on their worship.
Psalm 50:7–8 (NKJV) “Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! 8 I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices Or your burnt offerings, Which are continually before Me.
God is not critical of the sacrifices that were being offered. The people were doing exactly as they were told to do.
Psalm 50:9 (NKJV) I will not take a bull from your house, Nor goats out of your folds.
God had no intentions of forcibly taking anything from them. The people were bringing just what the Law required. They were checking off squares on their checklist. Bringing in and making the sacrifices was becoming routine – business as usual. But that was not what God was after.
Psalm 50:10–11 (NKJV) For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
Here again, we need to realize, comprehend that God really does own it all. When we give to God, we are only giving to Him what is already His.
Psalm 50:12–13 (NKJV) 12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness. 13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats?
God does not need us to feed Him, unlike the pagan beliefs about the pagan gods of that day requiring and depending on the people to feed them. Our God’s well-being is not dependent on whether or not we supply Him with material goods. God’s wealth is not hinged on our donations to the church. God is not beholding to you are me when we give. when give to God, God is under no obligation to give back. Often the attitude in giving is that we're throwing God a bone so that He will be grateful towards us. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God owes us nothing. He already owns it all.
Psalm 50:14–15 (NKJV) Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High. 15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
God wants our hearts. God wants our thanksgiving. God instituted sacrifices not because God needed it, but because of our desperate need for Him. The problem is we do not always see our need for God. We are so lost in sin, and in our own creature comforts that our perceived need for God is wiped from our minds.
God allows trouble to come our way so we will call on Him. "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you" Why? So that we will glorify Him. God wants our fellowship. When we come to God with our thanksgiving, it ought to be spontaneous. It should be genuine thanksgiving, not business as usual. Not just showing up at church, warming a pew, checking off a square and saying "I hope God is satisfied with the time I took for Him this morning." We should wake up in the morning singing His praises.
Hebrews 13:15–16 (NKJV) Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Then, why do we give. Why the tithe? Because God commands it.
Malachi 3:8 (NKJV) “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
We tithe because it belongs to God. Billy Graham, in his sermon “Partners with God,” says: “One of the greatest sins in America today is the fact that we are robbing God of that which rightfully belongs to Him. When we don’t tithe, we shirk a just debt. Actually we are not giving when we give God one-tenth, for it belongs to Him already. This is a debt we owe. Not until we have given a tenth do we actually begin making an offering to the Lord!” [2]
We rob God because we do not trust God. When we come to God through Jesus Christ, and we call him Lord as well as Savior, we are trusting to Him our very soul and spirit, to keep for all eternity. Then why do we not trust Him with our wallets?
What is the proof that God is first in our lives? What is the evidence that that we trust Jesus completely? Yes God want to bless you and me, but only if we completely trust Him. In fact, that is the one thing God tells us to test him in:
Malachi 3:10 (NKJV) Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
When I learned that, and when I, in my heart, comprehended that the fact that God owns it all, and I am merely a steward, managing His goods, that is when I decided to quit tithing. Do not miss understand me. My wife and I do tithe, but the tithe is only a starting point, not the ending point.
The question I ask now is not “How much do I give?” But rather, “How much should I keep?”
If you are giving out of obligation, you need to re-evaluate why you are giving. You know the verse from Paul’s writings:
2 Corinthians 9:7 (NKJV) So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
Yes, today we are taking a vote on our church budget for the next year. This budget is a statement of faith, based on the giving of God’s people. God has opened up many opportunities for Rosemont Baptist Church. The Question is: Will we be faithful, and joyfully meet those opportunities God has laid before us?
On Wednesday nights, we have started a Bible study in the Book of Esther. An interesting OT story that reads like a novel. I encourage you to read the story for yourselves. But I want to give you the punch line for the whole book. Esther is in a position to save her people, the Jews, from almost certain annihilation. Her relative, Mordecai warns Esther:
Esther 4:13–14 (NKJV) And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
God does not need our money. If it be God’s will for something to be done, it will be done with us and with our resources or without us and without our resources. We have an opportunity to be part of what God is doing in this community and around the world. We can, by God's grace, meet the opportunity He has given us or God will raise up another group to do His will. Either way, His will, will be done.
I firmly believe God has placed us in this community, to be His lighthouse, "for such a time as this."
Our deacon read this morning from Revelation 4. The scene in heaven is one praise and worship and thanksgiving. The 24 elders, representing the saved of all of history, we read:
Revelation 4:10–11 (NKJV) the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 11 “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
The 24 elders are seen giving their heavenly treasures, their crowns, to the Lord. Their song of praise say how all glory, honor and power belongs to the Lord. Why? Because He created all things, including us. And by His will, we are here and existing. When we consider all God has done for us, How He loved us so much, that He gave us Jesus, to take our penalty of death from our sins, upon Himself on the cross, How can we not fall before Him, offering up to Him all that we have and all that we are.
Paul tells us:
Romans 12:1 (NKJV) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
It is our "reasonable" service to give all. The question is not whether to tith, nor is it, how much should I give. The question is, how much should I hold back from Him?
For the invitation hymn we will sing this morning takes an interesting viewpoint. The Hymn, “I Gave My Life For Thee” is from the viewpoint of Jesus. What we will be singing is not from us to Him, but rather it is what Jesus is saying to us.
I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might ransomed be,
And raised up from the dead;
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou giv’n for Me?
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou giv’n for Me? [3]
Jesus gave all to us, what do we give in return?
[1] Adopted from the article, "Here's Why I Quit Tithing (and Why You Should Too)” By Larry Poole, Dec 7, 2017. Publish on https://churchleaders.com/worship/worship-articles/170630-how-much-are-you-supposed-to-tithe-quit-tithing-and-why-you-should-too.html?utm_camp…
[2] Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 473.
[3] Frances R. Havergal, 1858. Baptist Hymnal © 2008, #174.
