Where Should We Spend The Tithe?

Money and Tithing (Roughly 30 mins)

Outline

Challenge: we ask people to give money to the church arbitrarily

Solution: consider the tithe a payment for good works

Projection: if we are doing the work and reporting honestly, we will be supported.

“Give money to the church”…why?

What work are we doing?

Can we be doing more?

Are people seeing positive effects from us in their own lives

2. Money isn’t a gift, but trust is

People are trusting us to do Good

We are trusted not to spend money arbitrarily

We should earn that every day

3. Giving up self serving ministry for lent

Transitioning to smaller, evangelical and house ministry (personal experience)

Worrying less about “will it pay the bills?” And more about “will it serve the people”

Trust is earned, and Christians are trustworthy.

Scripture:

Leviticus 27:30-34

And every tenth part of the land, of the seed planted, or of the fruit of trees, is holy to the Lord. And if a man has a desire to get back any of the tenth part which he has given, let him give a fifth more. And a tenth part of the herd and of the flock, whatever goes under the rod of the valuer, will be holy to the Lord. He may not make search to see if it is good or bad, or make any changes in it; and if he makes exchange of it for another, the two will be holy; he will not get them back again. These are the orders which the Lord gave to Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai.

Deuteronomy 14:28-29

At the end of every three years take a tenth part of all your increase for that year, and put it in store inside your walls: And the Levite, because he has no part or heritage in the land, and the man from a strange country, and the child who has no father, and the widow, who are living among you, will come and take food and have enough; and so the blessing of the Lord your God will be on you in everything you do.

Luke 6:38

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Luke 6: 48-49

They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Sermon:

I had an interesting question the other day, from a professed atheist who was angry at me for preaching. I mean really angry. I think he would have attacked me if I were a man. His face was red, and he was breathing like this. *huff* *puff*. It wasn’t really a question, I guess. It was an assertion. Christians are the worst people out there, he said, all they do is take money from stupid people and give it to themselves.

My first instinct was to rebuke him. When someone is angry and shouting it’s hard not to respond. It’s hard to avoid yelling back or defending yourself because it’s scary. When we’re scared we get defensive. But Jesus says “turn the other cheek. Turn the other cheek my brother. Turn the other cheek sister” and Christians say, “okay”. We say “Yes, Lord.”

So I’m going to serve the Lord. I’m not going to talk about all the wonderful works Christian charities are doing in my community. And they are. They’re housing the homeless, feeding the hungry, giving money and time and equipment to hospitals, caring for families. Churches are charities and most are completely open about how, when, and where they’re spending money. But someone had hurt this man. He clearly blamed the church…in general…for some sort of wrongdoing.

Somewhere beyond that instinct for anger, there was a feeling of communion. Of connection with this human being, and his anger and bravado which much have risen out of such deep hurt. And so I managed somehow. Only by the Grace of God, to find a way through all of this supercharged anger and fear and rage …. on both sides… to get through all of this emotion and just talk to this man

And well….he had a point.

He talked about all of these priests embezzling money from churches. A catholic priest who took half a million dollars meant for Syrian refugees. A Manitoba priest who used a church credit card to settle gambling debts. A Methodist priest who trafficked undocumented workers through the church he worked for. Another catholic priest who funded trips to Europe and Disneyland out of church funds.