Today, I am going to tackle another sort of broad topic, one that depending on the kind of preacher you are, you say one thing or another. Maybe you preach out of fear and trembling or you preach out of excitement and motivation. And that’s on the topic of tithing.
Why am I preaching on tithing? Well, because I felt in my spirit a couple of weeks ago to preach on tithing, and I thought I’d set that aside for a later date. A way later date. But the Lord had me set it aside for a much sooner date.
If you have your Bibles, we’re going to go to two scriptures today. They’re back to back in 2 Corinthians. It’ll be easy to remember because they’re one chapter apart, and the same set of verses in each chapter. So please turn with me to 2 Corinthians 8, and we’ll look at verses 6-15. And then, place a bookmark there, and we’ll go to chapter 9, and also look at verses 6-15.
I’ll also be using some other scripture verses this morning. You don’t need to go there, but the Bible sprinkles the idea of tithing like salt and pepper. A little dash here, a little dash there. So I’ll reference a few of them. But before we take a look at what Paul says to the Corinthian church, let me explain to you exactly what is meant by the word ‘tithe.’ You may have heard that you are supposed to tithe ten percent. That’s kind of redundant because the word, ‘tithe’ is actually Hebrew for a tenth.
The concept of setting aside any portion of one’s income begins within the first book of the Bible. In Genesis, Adam and Eve’s children, Cain and Abel brought “portions” of their flocks and crops before the Lord. The idea was to set aside a portion of the first crop of the season to thank God for a successful harvest. This general practice continued with the Israelites as they grew and even as they were enslaved in Egypt.
The concept of offering “first fruits” grew into offering God a “tithe” or a tenth of one’s income. And that can be found in Leviticus 27:30 where God commands the Hebrew people, “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord: it is holy to the Lord.” These gifts were a reminder that everything belonged to God and a portion was given back to God to thank him for what they had received.
So tithing is a form of praise and worship. And when I pray for the offering each week I intentionally add that part of our worship is giving back to you. It’s not only a praise to God, but also a form of worship. If you remember, I gave a sermon quite a while ago now, about the difference between praise and worship. Worship is setting God first in our lives, and giving back to him, it might hurt, but it’s forcing us to put him first when it comes to what we receive financially.
So speaking of giving out of obedience, let’s take a look at what Paul has to say about it. 2 Corinthians 8, starting with verse 8.
Scripture:
2 Corinthians 8:6-15
6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you[a]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, 15 as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Notice Paul begins this by saying that it isn’t a command. So what is Paul doing here? He’s urging the Corinthian church to give. And he’s asking them to complete a commitment that they made––some kind of financial commitment to another church––and it seems to be some kind of mutual commitment. Maybe a challenge for who can give the most?
He began chapter 8 talking about the Macedonian churches and how, through their hardship, they still gave beyond their means, and that it was a joy to them and, of course, to those whom their offering was given.
What God is saying to us today, is that He doesn’t want us to give because of a command. He doesn’t want us to give because it’s just ‘what we do.’ He wants us to give with purpose––in order to see the end result––a blessing of joy coming back to us in the form of seeing and knowing we can bring joy to those whom our gift goes to bless. And God will be pleased with that gift.
I want to go to Chapter 8, verse 12: “For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.”
You’ll notice again, Paul isn’t commanding, he’s encouraging. He’s not saying, “The scriptures say 10 percent. Why are you not paying your ten percent? I have a ledger here of what everyone is giving, and I know who’s been giving, and who’s not…”
There are some churches that do similar things. I was talking with my cousin one time who said a church that his girlfriend goes to actually writes in their bulletin how much money people owe the church.
Now, thank goodness we don’t do that. I have seen churches, where the giving is listed in the front like our hymns, are. And I don’t know whether I like that or not. I suppose it’s not bad, it might actually motivate people to give, but it seems kind of in bad taste.
But Paul isn’t giving any numbers here. He’s just encouraging them to give and to not only live up to their commitment but to exceed it as a form of excellence. Giving, Paul said, out of generosity, is a form of character.
I keep going back to these examples, in fact, I just used them last week and a few weeks ago, but I think they’re perfect examples.
In Luke, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’”
And that’s all the Pharisee says. At least in the parable. But you’ll notice the Pharisee wasn’t necessarily doing anything wrong. I mean, he did look down on the tax collector and lumped this particular individual in with evildoers. But he was faithful in his fasting and tithing. But the point Jesus was making was that it wasn’t the religiosity of the Pharisee that God wanted, it was the heart that the tax collector had.
The Pharisee had actions, but no heart. And that’s what Paul is saying to the Corinthian church. I want you to act out of your heart, not just out of religiosity.
If we go a few chapters to Luke 21, we read about another comparison. This is between the rich and the poor. “Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Now again, they weren’t necessarily doing anything wrong, they were still giving, and giving out of abundance certainly isn’t a bad thing. Even Paul speaks about giving out of abundance in chapter 9. So what was Jesus saying?
Again, it’s the heart of the matter. Imagine if those who gave out of their abundance gave more than 10 percent. What if they gave 25 percent? What if they gave 50 percent? What if they gave 75 percent? Even then, the widow would have given more because she gave all she had.
And Paul is saying that same thing. “For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.”
It’s about willingness. The gift is acceptable because of the heart. What made God accept Able’s gift and not Cain’s?
The Bible says in Genesis 4, “3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.”
So you could look at it as obedience to the law. God probably said something regarding what to bring as far as a sacrifice is concerned. The Bible doesn’t say. But when you really think about it, the matter is still the heart. If Cain’s heart was in the right place, he would have given an acceptable offering. There was no reason not to, only that he wanted to keep what he wanted to keep; and give to God what he wanted to give God. It wasn’t about putting God first or being obedient. His heart toward God was not in the right place. There was selfishness in his heart. He wanted to hold back.
And God was very compassionate and fatherly about it. “6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
So God is not angry at Cain––not yet. He’s saying, if you do well, you’ll do well. Make it a practice. God knows the sin that’s in Cain’s heart and he’s trying to help Cain overcome it. Cain could have and should have taken his brother’s example, but instead, he took his brother’s life.
Imagine if Cain did what Paul is encouraging the Corinthian and Macedonian churches to do––outdo each other with giving. Making it a friendly competition, not in a selfish way, but in a loving way. Giving the best out of joy.
Let’s look at Chapter 9 again, verse 7. “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
So again, it’s not so much about giving the 10 percent that God told the Israelites to give in the Old Testament. God gave them a commandment for 10 percent, but he wanted to see if mankind would give either out of fear, out of pride, or out of love. Strangely, it seemed that the more religious people were, the more they gave out of strict obedience and fear rather than out of love.
God wants us to give as an act of worship and love for Him. He wants us to give our money as an act of love for the people and places that we are giving to. Yes, it certainly keeps the lights on. More recently, a good chunk of change has gone to keeping us heated during the winter months. There’s a need for a new electrical box. And your tithing goes to that.
But it goes to more than just practical, everyday things for this church. Your tithe goes around the world to our World Vision sponsor child and our Samaritan’s Purse Christmas gift. It goes locally to help Katie go to camp this summer. These things should be your motivation to give, not just, “because God says so.”
I’ve heard pastors over-emphasize the opposite, too. You’ll notice in this chapter, Paul says in verses 10 and 11, “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”
This is the emphasis of what a lot of TV preachers and prosperity preachers like to talk about. And it’s a shame because God does not guarantee that the more you give, the more you’ll get. Paul was not wealthy, and he wrote this. None of the apostles were wealthy. None of the churches were wealthy. And we read a couple of weeks ago that the early apostles gave a lot of what they had to the poor. And I think their unity and love for each other had something to do with it. Paul is saying that God will bless the giver. When I pray over the offering, I ask that God would bless the gift and the giver.
A lot of prosperity preachers seem to misread what Paul says here. He’s saying that those who supply seed to the farmer and bread for the hungry will in turn have their own physical and spiritual needs met as well. When we look at verse 7, that’s what it really says. God will take care of you.
And through God’s provision, we can also increase our provision for others. It’s reciprocal. It’s not meant to be a financial investment.
Here’s an example from the Old Testament. I’m sure you’re familiar with this story:
God’s prophet, Elijah the Tishbite, faithfully tells King Ahab of Israel that God will withhold dew and rain in the next few years. The drought will only be reversed in accordance with Elijah’s word as the servant of God. God then tells Elijah to flee and hide at the brook Cherith.
God promises that Elijah will drink water from the brook and that ravens will take him food. True to God’s word, he drinks the brook’s water, while bread and meat are brought to him morning and evening by ravens. It is all the more remarkable because ravens are carrion birds which normally eat any food that they find!
As the lack of rain in the land causes the brook to dry up, God tells Elijah to move to Zarephath and stay with a widow who will supply him with food. When Elijah gets there, he finds she has only a handful of flour and a small amount of oil remaining.
Nevertheless, at Elijah’s request, she makes a small cake of bread for him, and, as Elijah predicts to her, God gives her a plentiful supply of flour and of oil on a daily basis. The jar of flour and the jug of oil are never empty!
The son of the hospitable widow dies. In despair she turns to Elijah. He takes the child, prays for him, and stretches out three times upon him. His prayer to God for the child is answered and he lives. The widow declares her confidence in Elijah as a man of God, and in God’s word in his mouth as the truth.
God blesses those who bless him and his servants. It’s only natural. The widow wasn’t guaranteed that her dreams would come true––her prince didn’t come and sweep her off her feet and they lived happily ever after in a fairy tale castle. She was provided for and her son was healed––in fact raised from the dead.
God will bless you, and maybe even do the impossible in your life. I’m not guaranteeing that you’ll never need to go to the grocery store again, or that someone you love is going to come back to life, but God is going to provide for you in such a way that you realize it was Him.
I just want to touch on this last part quickly. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I talked about wisdom, and how wisdom was more about doing than with what we know. In other words, if we have wisdom, our life will reflect it.
And not only will we reflect it, but people will gather our wisdom more from our doing rather than our preaching. If we practice what we preach, that’s the real way in which people will gravitate toward what we have to say. If they see us as hypocrites, they’ll not only dismiss everything we say, but they’ll not attend church, will they?
Tithing is the same way.
Now how can people know how much we tithe if we don’t tell them? Tithing, I think should be kept private. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 6, “when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
So how does Paul’s statement at the end of Chapter 9 make sense? He said,
13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
We’re not to brag about our giving. I have no idea who in this church gives, or how much. That’s none of my business. But when this church gave to Katie, she was very grateful for that. When this church gave to me to help me go to school so I could stand up here today, I was and still am very grateful for that. When this church gives to a local mission, to a local person, to a local food pantry, or to someone on the other side of the world, they are grateful and praise God because of us and our generosity for whatever it is that we give them.
They’ll thank God for us, our collected faithfulness, and collected generosity. Don’t you want to be part of that?
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen
Featured Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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