On Tithing

Tithe the gross through your local congregation. You cannot buy better financial advice than this. 

Money grips us in its hold more than we know. You don’t have to be rich to worship money. Rich people are not the only ones susceptible to the worship of money. Sometimes in fact poor people worship it more than the rich. They are downcast without it and envious of those who have it.

Money and what we do with it crystalizes the ultimate issue in life. Will we worship and serve our Creator or the created?

Here’s an easy way to determine if you are worshipping money instead of God: do you think more money will solve your problems?  Do you lie awake at night worrying about your financial situation? Does “more money” drive your decisions? Do you rest easy when the bank account and retirement funds trend up? Martin Luther wrote in his Small Catechism regarding the First Commandment, “We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.” To the degree that we worry about money, do summersaults over it or rest easy because of it, we have traded in the true God for a false one.

You must come to terms with money if you are going to be an effective Christian leader on the path toward significance. Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and money.” But note—you will serve one of them.

Keep in mind that money is not the enemy of God; Satan is. Money is the opposite of God. God creates. Money secures creation. Money is “liquid creation.” As God’s enemy, Satan schemes to get people, especially God’s people, to put their trust and confidence in the creation instead of the Creator. Satan wants us to buy the lie that money provides security, health, peace and even love.  

Nonsense.

That’s where tithing helps. Tithing releases two dynamics into your life. First, it breaks your trust in money. By tithing you are voluntarily giving lots of money away, more than you can afford. To the world it looks like a sailor on a sinking ship throwing away his life vest. Tithing kicks the false god in the shins. “You think I need you? You think I’m living for you? Watch, I’ll give you away.” Tithing results in freedom.

Second, tithing forces you to trust in the true God. You cannot afford to tithe. You are an American—you need 110% of your income not 90% to have a secure and fun life. You “need” more not less! For you to get by on just 90% of your income will take… an act of God. Oh, that’s the point. Your only hope to get by on what’s left of your income is the very power and love and generosity of God. Tithing forces us out of the way so that God can really be God in our lives. 

And guess what? He can handle the job. God really is able to do far more than you ask or imagine. He is God; he loves to give to his children. And you cannot out give him. Tithing calls us not just to believe in God, but to believe God. It puts money in its place: servant, not master.

Tithing provides at least four side benefits. First, you won’t be so awed by wealthy people. God’s word teaches us not to show partiality toward the rich. When you are set free from the power of money through tithing, wealthy people’s seeming power will not seem as much so to you. You will have learned that real power is with God, who made the heavens and the earth. 

Second, you will be more committed to Jesus’ mission through your congregation. Jesus said, “Where your treasures are, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21) He did not say it the other way around. Think about the truth of that statement. When you have invested a lot in a house or a car or some other “toy,” that item also grabs hold of your heart, your life. Where your treasure is, there is your heart. So also when you bring forward 10% of your income and place it on the altar of your local congregation, you will have a heart more steadfast on both Jesus and the ministry he performs through that congregation. Congregations suffer in effectiveness not because they do not have enough money, but because the congregants have divided loyalties. Tithing through the local congregation shores up loyalty to it. Remember, the Kingdom of God is incurably congregational.

Third, you will learn to manage better the rest of your money. Good financial management begins with tithing and does not exist without it. By engaging in the discipline of tithing, you will have better discipline with the 90% that remains. Tithing drives good financial management.

Fourth, you will grow in generosity. Tithing is not an ending but a beginning. Through tithing you will learn to share freely what you have with others.

One more point, many reject tithing as an Old Testament issue. People say it is law oriented and never specifically encouraged in the New Testament. 

Nonsense.

Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices–mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”  (Matthew 23:23) Clearly, Jesus assumed and taught that God’s people, following the practice of Abraham’s pre-Covenant tithe to Melchizedek, would thankfully offer up a tithe to God.

You may think that the length of this article belies too great of a love for money. “Why so much time thinking about tithing and money?” Just the opposite is the case. Its length argues for the crucial importance of breaking that very love. We want to love God and use money instead of loving money and using God. Tithing keeps that straight.

So… when you get your next paycheck, before you celebrate with a dinner out or make a contribution to a retirement fund or make a payment on a loan, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.* “Test the LORD in this and see if he does not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out blessings!”  (Malachi 3:10)

* If you are not presently tithing, there is a good chance that tithing sounds like an impossibility. It may sound like a couch potato beginning an exercise regimen by running the Boston Marathon. A place to start is to figure out what percent of your income you are presently giving and increasing your offering by one more percent of your income. Then each year increase your offering by an additional percent of your income until you are “bringing in the whole tithe into the storehouse.” Generosity will follow.