It All Begins with the Tithe As we start today talking about giving, we must not stumble out of the blocks by tripping over tithing. Now the immediate argument is that tithing is Old Testament and Jesus never commanded it. Well, look at what Jesus said about it in Matthew 23:23. He criticized the Pharisees for their legalist approach, but He never said tithing was wrong. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone (v. 23) R.C. Sproul said, Jesus was not attacking the Pharisees for their attention to tithing. Rather, He was pointing out that they had failed to give the same attention to other matters that they gave to tithing. i.e. - they should be giving attention to some other things like they were to tithing. Jesus did not include tithing in the weightier things...and yet, we think it is one of the biggest. No, so. It is a small thing and one of the easiest of the Christian disciplines to obey and do. Look at three things tithing does...
I. The Tithe Honors God This was the first expression of tithe in the Bible. One of worth-ship - honor. Genesis 14:18-20 Melchizedek, king of Salem, and priest of the Most High God, blessed Abram and have him a tithe of all his possessions. It was a way of honoring who Abram was. Proverbs 3:9 "Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first-fruits of all your produce." To give first fruits is to imply that the whole belongs to God - indeed the whole worshipper. He owns it all. If I needed a place to store some of my stuff and I bring it to your house for you to keep. If I come and get it, and you get upset and call the authorities - report it to the police. Will I be convicted of a crime? No And in fact, they will look at you and say, "Sir, you knew this was not your stuff. Not only should you have not wasted out time by making a bogus report, but you should not have gotten emotionally attached to it to where it mattered to you when it was taken away." What do we have that God has not given us? Health - wealth - jobs - families
We are to honor Him. I believe that if I was unconverted and was never planning on being saved or going to Heaven, I would be a tither. I would want to honor God with my possessions so hell won't be as bad as it could be. II. The Tithe is an Act of Worship We know Malachi 3 and the promise of God opening the windows of Heaven if His people will stop robbing Him of tithes and offerings. But what about Malachi 1? This is a picture of the priests who were offering lame and sick sacrifices in worship. If we come to worship, we should give God our best and that includes our offering. It is a vital part of worship for when we give our tithe we acknowledge: * God owns it all. * Everything I have has been given to me by God. * I am only a steward, not a consumer. Our sin of robbery in this matter greatly affects our worship. If we rob someone and they know it, do you want to hang out with them? Go to their house and enjoy their company? No. And even if I had to go to their house and hang out - because the rest of the family was going and if I didn't go - somebody would be suspicious that something was up. So, to cover up what I had done, I would go to
appear everything was ok. But the last thing I would want to do is get alone with the person who I had stolen from. I would avoid it at all cost. The same with God. I wouldn't want to go to His house and worship Him. He knows about my robbery. I wouldn't want to "go into my closet and shut the door" with just me and Him. Dr. Jimmy Jackson, many years ago, taught that his people that we should bring an offering every time to worship I wrote Dr. Jackson an email September 28 to ask if I am quoting him correctly and does he still do this. He replied on September 30: You have quoted me correctly. I still encourage our people to give systematically even though they may not get paid but every two weeks. The times that they give faithfully will cover even the times when they do not have anything to give,... but an offering of money, time, service should be a part of every worship experience. Tithing and giving is an act of worship. The only thing Jesus ever said out of His mouth that rivals our worship of God is mammon - money, wealth, possessions. Luke 16:13 Tithing strikes a serious blow to that master of money and greed. III. The Tithe is an Act of Obedience Simply...we tithe because we want to be obedient. It s not because we have to - but we want to be obedient.
And we don t decide to be obedient in increments. 6 percent today; 7 percent next year; 8 - it would take us 4 years and the truth of the matter - we d never get there because disobedient hearts do not do the commands of God - not know, not never - until they change. Change your heart to obey. Be willing to start immediately and to even repay what you have stolen. I said willing. Remember Zacchaeus who got saved and wanted to restore four-fold what he had taken wrongly. Do you think God might want you to repay what you have stolen from Him? or at least be willing to? Able - God is able and will supply. He already has supplied everything you need to honor Him. Will it be a hard ship - I don't know. Could by. There are consequences to our sin. You must be willing. God must break your heart to such a degree that you are willing to do whatever to be right with God. If you are willing, God will lead you of what to do. I can't tell you - I'm not God. I'm just a follower. But we sure need to be obedient. It should deeply grieve us that the bride of Christ is stealing from her groom.
Southern Baptist Convention President Bryan Wright told trustees of the SBC Executive Committee Sept. 21. The average evangelical Christian gives about 2.4 percent of his financial resources to "the Lord's work," Wright noted,... Does that not grieve you greatly? Dave Ramsey, who I love and have given his books to my children, has what he calls Financial Peace University. Let me tell you have to have financial peace...stop fighting with God over the issue of the tithe and become obedient to give. In The Daily Devotional booklet on August 31, Billy Graham was quoted as saying, If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help strengthen out almost every other area of his life. Let me relate this to our series as a disciple. As a part of you being the student and He is the Teacher, Master - when He says to give at least a tithe, we do it. It is a matter of Lordship. Now, Jesus concerns and sayings are more important than yours. You are now under his authority and command. And if you are not a systematic, orderly, obedient disciple - then Houston (or Heaven) we have a problem.