On Tithing
Tithe on the gross to 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, and as a pastor you probably won’t be, to worship money. Financial status does not drive 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.
Here’s an easy way to determine if you or your congregation is worshipping money: do you think more money will solve your problems? Do you lie awake at night worrying about your congregation’s financial situation? Will you go to any means to raise money in your church, as long as it “works”? Do you rest easy when the balance sheet is positive and well heeled people are in your new member class? Remember what Luther said about the first commandment? “We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.” To the degree that we worry about money, do summersaults for 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 lead a ministry of significance. Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and money.” Clearly 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 does two things. 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.”
Second, tithing forces you to trust in the true God. You cannot afford to tithe. You are a pastor! You don’t get paid much as it is. If anyone can’t afford to live on less, you can’t. For you to get by on just 90% of your income it 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 him. 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 congregants. They will not have a disproportionate influence on you because you won’t be so impressed by money. Pastors should never show partiality, especially not to the rich.
Second, you will be better able to assess your congregation from a stewardship standpoint. Your interest won’t be how much money people contribute, but rather whether or not your flock increasingly trusts God. A big dollar contribution will mean nothing. Percentage of income giving will be the key.*
Third, you will learn to manage better the rest of your money. Good financial management begins with tithing and does not exist without it.
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.
Notice something I did not mention? I did not mention that tithing really increases the cash flow at church. It will. And it is the only Biblical model for doing so. We are not encouraged to sell candy or wash cars. Please leave that for the boy scouts and the marching bands to do. We should not beg, shame or cajole people into giving to meet the needs of the congregation as if our God is a needy God. Let the non-Christian religions do that! Regularly modeling and teaching tithing will in fact provide for plenty in the Lord’s ministry—but this is a by-product not the motivation.
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.** One commentator has even called it a “varnished Jewish practice.”
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, following the practice of Abraham’s pre-Covenant tithe to Melchizedek, that God’s people 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.
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 student 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)
* Note: Pastors should be informed of what individual congregants give. You don’t have to do this often, in fact, just a few times in your entire ministry may suffice to give you an idea of what is really happening in your congregation when it comes to trust in God. To be ignorant of the actual giving patterns of God’s people makes as much sense as having no idea who comes to church how often!
** Note: Never in the New Testament is the baptism of babies specifically endorsed, but the Church has long since maintained this salvific practice!