Today we are going to talk about stewardship in regards to using our resources for the Lord. Usually we make this part of a series on stewardship, but last week I talked briefly about using our spiritual gifts for the Lord and I know that you are up on what was said last week. So instead of talking about using our talents for the Lord, or giving of our time we will talk this week only about tithing.
Two men were marooned on an Island. One man paced back and forth
worried and scared while the other man sat back and was sunning himself.
The first man said to the second man, "aren’t you afraid we are about to
die." "No," said the second man, "I make $100,000 a week
and tithe faithfully to my church every week. My Pastor will find me
This subject matter is often difficult for some preachers to talk about, we like to talk about the love of God, or how God wants to bless our lives, which he will if we tithe to his kingdom. This subject for me is just another subject matter that needs to be addressed because it’s scriptural and because it’s something that the healthy Christian does out of love and respect for the Lord. When I talk about tithing, it’s not me who’s talking but the Lord, so I will use many bible verses to back up everything that is said today. Before we get into the heart of the sermon, I want to thank you for your faithful giving over the past three months; we’ve met our needed monthly amount that’s listed in the bulletin. But I still think that this sermon is necessary, not for the churches benefit, but for your benefit and by the end of today you will know what I mean by that.
The idea of tithing is as old as the earliest book in the bible; in the earliest parts of scripture you can discover the principle of tithing. Please open your bibles to Genesis 14:18-20. 18Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Melchizedek was the king of Salem, a God fearing man, for his name means king of righteousness. This scripture also says that he was the priest of the most high God. He recognizes that God created the heavens and earth. In verse twenty we are introduced to tithing by none other than Abram, who is better known to us as Abraham. Abraham was known as the father of all nations, he was blessed by God because of his faith and because he was a righteous man. Part of him being righteous was the fact that he gave an offering to the Lord. He gave his tithe to the priest, which represented the kingdom of God. So you can see that tithing is not a new idea, I believe that it’s a Godly idea. Stan Toler says that, there are over 2300 references to money and possessions in the bible. At the same time prayer is mentioned only 500 times. Yet prayer is the very oxygen by which the soul breathes. This caused me to stop and ask this question, why is the subject of money and possessions in the bible so many more time than prayer. God is all knowing, so if this subject is in the bible so many times, than we must hold this subject close to our hearts. We must as humans really think about our money and possessions all the time. We must really cling on to our money and our possessions. The emphasis on giving is a reflection of our obedience to God’s will revealed in our lives. It is a sign of Christian life. If the bible mentions money and possessions so much, then there must be some good reasons for it. I mean think about it. Whenever a baseball player signs for an outrageous amount of money, then the sports talk shows are inundated with angry callers about the signing. It kind of gets me going as well, for example when Alex Rodriguez signed for a mere $125 million with the Texas Rangers, that really upset me a little. He’s going to make more money in one baseball game than many of us will make in a year. There’s something that really gets people passionate when it comes to money matters.
Maybe you heard about the pastor who attempted a record-breaking missions offering by wiring the pews to an electric current. Don’t worry, I haven’t done this for our chairs. He then asked the question, “How many will stand and pledge $100 dollars to world missions? The buzzer was pressed with shocking results. Dozens immediately stood to their feet in an unprecedented response. However, it was also noted that several hesitant members were electrocuted!
The next point I’d like to mention is that Tithing is an attitude. We can either have a good attitude about tithing and accept it for what it is and that is a command by the Lord or we can have a bad attitude about tithing. The choice is yours. One of the negative things that is commonly said, is that the church is only after my money. I don’t know about other churches, but I can tell you that myth is not correct with this church. We are not interested in your money, we are interested in your soul and we want you to grow spiritually and the bible refers to tithing as something we as Christians are commanded to do. If you don’t tithe, you lose out! You are cheating yourself, not this church or God. Take a look at what it says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-13. 6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
This section of scripture begins by addressing another myth about tithing. I know that there are some of you out there who are having financial difficulties. One of the most common reasons that some people don’t tithe is because they feel that if they do tithe, than there will not be enough money to pay the current bills that they have. Logically, that really makes sense to me, if you give more money in the form of the tithe, than there will be less money to pay the bills we currently have. I’ve always been a believer that God can do more with the 90 % of my money, than I can do with the 100% of the money I currently bring in. Try it and you will see that its true, you will begin to notice that your money begins to go further than it ever has. I remember early in my marriage, after we had the added expense of a new baby girl, we were struggling financially. We’ve tithed our entire marriage and God has blessed us. We were getting down to our last can of food or down to our last diaper, we were also running out of money to buy these items and God would send someone to help us. We would get bags of groceries and baby supplies to help us out. God knew we were running out of the necessities in life and he supplied our need. God was stretching our 90% back then and he blessed our lives. God is also continuing that process in my life and in my family, he always gets us through and there is always enough to have our responsibilities taken care of. I want to let you know that if you do decide to give of 10% of your total income, that we have a God who is able to provide for our every need and our every care. He’s powerful! In verses 6-9, it tells us that if you give a little you will reap a little. The blessings of God are proportional to what you give; it comes back to what I said earlier, that it’s an attitude. Do you want the little blessings of God? If you do than only give a little financially to his kingdom, it’s that simple. But if you want bountiful blessings from God, than give at least the 10% that God commands us to give. This theory is like the farmer who plants only 10 plants; he can’t expect to have an abundance of what ever was planted. If you plant a little, you will reap little benefits when it’s harvest time. Most serious farmers plants acres of seed or plants, so they can reap a greater harvest. That makes sense, the more you plant the more you will benefit. Tithing is a lot like that, if you give a little, than expect to get only a little blessing from God, but if you at least tithe, than the Lord will richly bless your life. In verse seven, it gives me the impression that it’s the attitude we take in regards to tithing. God looks at the attitude we have when you give to his kingdom. He really doesn’t care about the amount you give, he cares about the condition of your heart when you give to Him. Do you give to him with anger in your heart? God knows that! Do you give because you expect to get more from him? Do you have a heart that says, I’m going to give a lot of money to his kingdom, so I can get more back? God knows that as well! We should give for the right reasons. We should give because that is what God expects of me. We should give because we want to see God’s kingdom expand. We should give because we want to see people come to this church and be able to find Christ, we give to bless others lives. We give to make sure that my church is a healthy church and that all our commitments are paid in full. I want to remind you that we as a church do have to pay a water bill, we have to pay an electric bill, we as a church have to take care of our pastor, and we as a church have to take care of this buildings maintenance. All these areas require a group of people, who faithfully give of their monies to the furtherance of God’s kingdom. I know that you care about this church and you want to see this church do great things for the Lord. I want to let you know you can be a part of the success that we have here, by faithfully giving of your time, talents and finances. The more that you give, the better able the gospel message can be shared with others. God loves a cheerful giver! Give for the right reasons, and give with a cheerful heart. I want to challenge you to begin to tithe, with the right heart. Try it for 6 months and see if your life is better for your commitment you’ve made with the Lord. I’m also going to try tithing as a church. We as a church are going to begin to tithe. We are currently meeting all our financial requirements, the bills are getting paid, except for one and the one that is not getting paid in full is known as our budgets from the general church. All Nazarene churches are expected to give to missions, to the district, to pay for Dr. Strait’s salary and benefits, we’re expected to give to the pensions of retired ministers and there are a few other areas we as a church are responsible to pay, as well. If we paid all those in full, it would make us a tithing church. I am committed to getting all those budgets paid in full, we have until May to do it and I want to let you know that we are running behind. I am committing us as a church to tithe and I want you to accept the same challenge that the church is and begin to tithe. I believe that when we tithe as a church, God is really going to use us. If you think that things are going well for us now, wait until we begin to tithe as a church. And you can be a part of that! God will see us as good stewards and he will bless our church even more. That holds true for you as well, God will see that you are tithing, with a cheerful heart and you will begin to notice his blessings as well. God will richly bless you. I believe that, I really do!
I like the old story about the guy who came to church with his family. As they were driving home afterwards he was complaining about everything. He said, “The music was too loud. The sermon was too long. The announcements were unclear. The building was hot. The people were unfriendly.” He went on & on, complaining about virtually everything. Finally, his very observant son said, “Dad, you’ve got to admit it wasn’t a bad show for just a dollar.”
I want to leave you with a few scriptures on this subject of tithing. Proverbs 3:9-10 says, Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. Those verses are self-explanatory.
Psalms 24:1-2 says, The earth is the LORD’S, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. This basically is telling us that everything on this earth is the Lords anyway. It tells me that we are only stewards of what the Lord has provided for us. It tells me that all I am and all I have are the Lords anyway. It tells me that I really own nothing. If that’s true, than I don’t own anything because everything is the Lords and I am his manager of the things that he allows me to have. So if he owns everything in my life, than I need to give to God, as he requires.
1 Corinthians 16:2 says, On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. In a nutshell, this is what tithing is all about. Giving to God on the first day, which is Sunday for us Americans and according to what income we have been blessed with. The sum of money that we are expected to give is 10% of our income. So if you make $100 a week, then you give to the Lord $10. Then comes this tricky question that is commonly asked. Do I tithe on the net income or the Gross? My answer to that question is always answered with a question right back. Do you want a net blessing from God or do you want a Gross blessing from God?
The last scripture that I want to finish on is Malachi 3:6-11. “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ 8“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty
What a great section of scripture this is! But, it’s also convicting, isn’t it? This is God’s word, this isn’t something that I made up, this is from God. It basically lays it out for all of us to read. It basically says that if you do not put your best foot forward in this area, by bringing in the entire tithe, than you rob God. What harsh words that Malachi writes. Malachi here is urging the people to stop holding back their tithe, to stop keeping from God what is rightfully his. It’s kind of like you give your child a $10 bill for something that cost $6 and they only give you $3 worth of change. They decide that they want to keep that extra money for them selves and cheat you out of it. God is giving us the same scenario here in Malachi. Enough about that, it want to take a look at what is being said in verse ten. God wants us to test him in this area and to see if he will bless us. This is one of the areas that we can test God in. Test him by giving him the whole tithe, if you are not currently doing so. Let’s read again verses 10-11. 10Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty.
God through Malachi tells us that he will throw open the floodgates of heaven and that he will bless those who are faithful to him and faithful to his kingdom. It works, it really works! On the very day I moved here to South Haven, I had to stop twice to fill up my back tire because of a leak. When I arrived here my tire went flat a third time, so I went to Wal-mart and bought one of those instant flat tire fixers in a can, I put it in the tire and to this day it is still holding air. God kept me from having to spend $40 on a new tire and it was fixed for only $3. God will open the floodgates of heaven and for me that’s exciting. Isn’t that exciting for you as well. We cannot out give God. God’s resources are greater than our resources are. I want to pull from his resources and not rely on the limited resources that I have. So today, I want to challenge those who are not currently tithing to begin to tithe and see the blessings that you will receive from God. You will also begin to have a better relationship with the Lord and you will begin to see Gods house be blessed here on Phoenix road. For me it’s a no brainer, when it comes to tithing. My life is so much more blessed by tithing, than it ever could be without tithing. I want to encourage you to try tithing for at least 6 months and see how God is blessing you, if you do not see his blessings, than you can always go back to what you are currently giving. God loves a cheerful giver and he will open the floodgates of heaven. Test him in this area and see if what was said today is right
Let us pray!
