Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.


This verse from the book of Malachi leads into one of the most contentious areas in the Christians walk.  When it comes to the topic of money, you will get some of the toughest battles from Christians.  The topic gets into several major issues such as law versus grace, the prosperity gospel, the word of faith movement, televangelism, and many other topics that branch from the idea of giving money to the church.  Nothing stirs up more ire in an individual believer than when you ask him or her to open up their purses and wallets to help support their ministries. 


In this article I want to focus on giving to the church.  Is giving to the church mandatory?  How much should one give to the church?  Are we to give a tithe?  And I want to look at the bigger picture as well and take a peak at Biblical finances and how we can arrange our money handling to make the Lord and His work preeminent, and not just relegated to the leftovers.


This article I am writing for my own edification as well as the edification of other believers to help myself and other better understand the idea of giving in the context of the larger picture of Biblical finances and our personal walk in Jesus Christ and our relationship with the Father.  I ask the Holy spirit to guide me as I write this and that He open my eyes and the eyes of others to the truth found in scripture concerning giving to the church.


What is a tithe?  A tithe simply means tenth, or 10%.  The first time we run into the idea of tithing is in Genesis 14 when Abram pays a tithe to the Priest of Melchizedek.  This seems to hit right out of the blue as previously there seemed to be no mention of a tithe at all.  Just all of a sudden, there was Melchizedek and Abram paying tithes.  So Where did this come from?  I think we can see the beginnings back in the story of Cain and Abel and their offerings unto the Lord.  We did not get a lot of details about that either, but it was clear that there was some recognition that a portion of production was for the Lord. 


This idea was likely to have carried on orally as humankind spread and grew after the flood.  As families grew into communities and spread across the land, A form of taxation came into being to support the communities government and authorities which constituted mainly of religious leaders and their armies.  Do, Abram, upon leaving the Ur of the Chaldea was likely already familiar with the idea of the tithe as a means of support for religion and government which was at that time normally the same.  It would not have seemed odd at all for him to pay a tax to a religious and political leader of the region such as Melchizedek.


Years later as God people were delivered from slavery in Egypt, the mostly forgotten oral laws were given to Moses and written down.  The law given to Moses imposes a tithe or a tax upon the poeple for the support of the priests.  Leviticus 27 spells out that a tithe of what was grown or raised belonged to God. Being that most folks were farmers by nature, this was their incomes.  The principle of the tithe was God got his tithe first, and it was the best of.


In Deuteronomy 26:12 we get an idea of the purpose of the tithes.  It was for, " the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;"  The purpose for giving a tithe was to support the ministry of God, and to support the needy.   The levites were the priests, the equivalent of pastors, elders and other church personnel of today, who lived off of the tithe given by the nation, or congregants, of the community.  The tithe was the standard set by God, that He claimed for Himself to carry out His work through His ministers.


Does the tithe apply today? 


Many people make the argument that the law does not apply today and has been done away with.  These people like to point to 2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.  While it is true we are under no legal binding to give a tithe, the argument is often used to justify not giving at all, or giving very little.  But, if you truly love God, you should want to give, and you will cheerfully give at the standard God himself has set, the tithe.  You would do this not out of obligation, but out of love for God.  The tithe does not apply today as a legally binding tax as it did back then, but as a standard set by God himself that we can look towards as a guideline to our giving.  Our obedience to it should be something gladly done.  People only seem to see it as begrudging because they feel that they need it more that God does.


So really the answer to the question of whether the tithe applies today is yes and no.  Yes it still stands as a measure of what God wants and expects of us in our giving to support His church and for assisting the needy among us.  No it is not an enforceable law such as we have in taxation where we have to fear IRS audits and jail for not paying taxes.  The consequences could perhaps be much greater.  We will some day have to stand before our God and give account for ourselves.  Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.


But I can't afford to tithe!


Many people say this when it comes to giving to church.  They look at their checkbooks and seem to barely have a dollar to spare when it comes to the end of the month.  They got their mortgage or rent, car payments, insurance, cell phone bill, cable bill, electric, heat, children to feed, alimony, and a million other things that seem to sap their wallets dry of every last dime.  Then when it comes to giving to the church or others, they are left with nothing to give.  Then they say they cannot tithe or give.


The problem in this case is that giving to the church is the least of their financial problems as it relates to biblical principles.  They have lived their life ignorant of, or ignoring the things the Bible has said concerning finances.  They have often also not connected the dots that the results of disobedience to God can often have financial consequences.  Tithing is only one small part of an entire financial outlook and lifestyle the bible prescribes for us to follow. 


What needs to be done in these cases is education.  One needs to take some time to learn and understand God's principles for life and set out to live those out.  They need to repent of the ways they have been living and submit themselves to the authority of scripture and take seriously what the Bible says to do.  Sacrifices will need to be made to restore personal and financial order to ones life.  Discipline will be needed to implement  these Biblical principles into your life.  this may shake you to the core of whether  or not you are truly serious about your faith, or whether you are only paying lip service.  This is where the rubber meets the road.


This is where grace comes into play.  God knows where you are at and you are not under legal obligation.  He does expect us to be obedient though.  We need to begin by giving just a little bit tp the ministry.  The principle is found in Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.  As we begin to be obedient in giving, and are obedient getting the rest of our life in order, God will begin to bless us.  They are often not supernatural blessings, but rather they are consequential blessings based on truths promised in Gods word.  They are principles that when applied and stuck to will work every time.


To Whom should I give?


Obviously, if you are attending a church, that is the place where you should be giving.  Not everyone is attending a church though.  some people watch church on TV, or listening to the radio, through podcasts, or the internet.  Give to those places where you are hearing the word and are learning from, being diligent to search the scriptures to be sure what they are saying matches what the Bible says.  Give to those churches who are carrying out the great commissions of spreading the gospel to the world, or who are feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc... 


Some people try to argue that giving is not just of money, but also of time and talent.  While it is great to help in any way one can with their time and efforts, the entire concept if tithing is derived from first-fruits of our production.  In the old agrarian world that was what one grew or raised.  In modern times that would be the equivalent of money.  Money represents our labor and efforts of producing something of value.  god expects the first and best of those efforts.  Not too much to ask considering he gave us life.


I've heard people make the argument that they are not going to let their kids go hungry just so they can give a tithe to the church.  Family first, they say.  Well, above I already answered the problem of tight finances.  here I will talk about family.  Jesus put an interesting spin on family.  Matthew 12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.  Jesus says that the believers are our family.  So when we make the argument for family first, Jesus agrees.  other believers are your family.   Think of that the next time you bring up 1 Timothy 5:8  But if someone doesn’t provide for their own family, and especially for a member of their household, they have denied the faith. They are worse than those who have no faith.  Support your family.


Where the rubber meets the road is often in our finances.  Our finances encompass our entire lifestyle.  Where we spend our money will directly point to what we consider most important to us.  What we do with our money will show us directly who is most important to us.  Are we most important to ourselves? or is God preeminent in our lives?  Are we spending on earthly treasures where moth and rust corrupts?  Or are we investing in heavenly treasures?  Are we being obedient stewards?  Our budgets will tell the tale.