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Ten Reasons
Why I Tithe
While visiting in a neighborhood near our church, I met a
man who responded to my introduction by saying, "Oh, you are
the preacher who makes everyone pay ten percent to the
church."
"No, you are not talking about me," I replied. "There is no
way that I can make people pay ten percent of their wages to
the church if they do not wish. I do not have that
authority. The people who pay ten percent, or a tithe, of
their income do so because they want to."
Why do people tithe to the church? The reasons are many. As
I considered my own motivation, I discovered at least ten
reasons why I give ten percent of my income to the church. A
study of these reasons will help us to understand the great
blessing of tithing and the biblical responsibility to
tithe.
1: To Honor the Creator.
"Render … unto God the things that are God's" (Matthew
22:21).
Acquisitiveness is one of the basic drives of mankind.
Children grasp their toys and cry, "Mine!" Someone has noted
three attitudes in the parable of the good Samaritan. The
priest and the Levite had the attitude, "What's mine is mine
and I'm going to keep it!" The thieves had the attitude,
"What's yours is mine, and I'm going to get it!" The
Samaritan had the attitude, "What's mine is yours, and you
can have it." There is another attitude that should permeate
our thinking, even above the commendable attitude of the
Samaritan. That is, "Everything we have belongs to God, and
we are stewards of His goods."
God owns the entire world and its substance. "The earth is
the LORD'S, and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 24:1). "Behold,
all souls are mine" (Ezekiel 18:4). "The silver is mine, and
the gold is mine" (Haggai 2:8). It is God who gives people
the power to obtain wealth (Psalm 75:6-7; Ecclesiastes
5:19). We are not to glory in what God has given us, but to
glory in Him (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
Why should I begrudge God ten percent when everything
actually belongs to Him? If it were not for Him, there would
be no land, no seed, no strength, no income, and no life.
How generous He is to tell us, "The tithe ... is the
LORD'S"! (Leviticus 27:30).
2: To Acknowledge My Heritage.
'And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and
heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29).
Abraham was the first tithe payer of record (Genesis 14:20).
Abraham's grandson, Jacob, paid tithes (Genesis 28:22).
Scripture says that Levi, Abraham's descendant and the
father of the tribe from which the priesthood came, paid
tithes in Abraham (Hebrews 7:9). My heritage of paying a
tithe precedes the law of Moses. As a child of Abraham and
an heir of the promise of Abraham, I acknowledge my family
relationship by paying tithes.
Jesus said to the Jews, "if ye were Abraham's children, ye
would do the works of Abraham" (John 8:39). It would be
strange to claim to be a child of Abraham and yet to neglect
one of Abraham's most fundamental and noteworthy acts. I pay
my tithes as a spiritual descendant of Abraham, the father
of the faithful.
3: To Fulfill the Covenant.
"For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that
which remaineth is glorious" (II Corinthians 3:11).
In every comparison of the law of Moses and the new covenant
that came by Jesus Christ, the new covenant stands supreme.
The characteristic word in the Book of Hebrews is better,
and everything is better about the new covenant. If the law
demanded tithes, then how much more should we who are under
the "perfect law of liberty" give our tithe willingly. (See
James 1:25.) If the law is written in the fleshly tables of
our hearts and we follow God's commands not from outward
rules but because of our new nature, then how quickly and
how easily we should give the tenth that belongs to the
Lord! (See 11 Corinthians 3:3-6.)
Some people say, "Oh, we do not pay tithes, because tithing
was under the law." If that is a sufficient reason for not
paying tithes, then we could also mistreat our parents, for
the law said, "Honour thy father and thy mother" (Exodus
20:12). In actuality, we honor our father and mother and we
give our tithes because the principles of the law are
written in our hearts by the Spirit of God. We give
willingly and liberally because the Spirit motivates us to
give what God has said is His.
4: To Show My Love.
"Many waters cannot quench love" (Song of Solomon 8:7).
Love is the strongest motivation in the world. I have seen
bumper stickers that say, "If you love Jesus, honk your
horn!" Anyone can honk his horn. But David said, "Neither
will I offer ... unto the LORD my God of that which doth
cost me nothing" (11 Samuel 24:24). Someone should print a
sticker that says, "If you love Jesus, pay your tithes!"
For someone who genuinely loves the Lord, the tithe is only
the beginning of his giving. He gives not only his tithe,
but also offerings (plural), not grudgingly and not of
necessity, but cheerfully with love.
5: To Fulfill an Obligation.
"Ye pay tithe ... : these ought ye to have done, and not to
leave the other undone" (Matthew 23:23).
Jesus did not criticize the Pharisees for paying tithes. He
commended them. He said it was something they "ought" to
have done. The word ought expresses an obligation or duty.
It is one of the strongest words in the English language. To
pay tithes is something every Christian ought to do.
The word ought has three meanings: (a) obligation or duty;
as in, "He ought to pay his debts"; (b) desirability; as in,
"You ought to eat more slowly"; (c) expectancy or
probability; as in, "I ought to be through by Monday." Each
one of these meanings puts an obligation upon the Christian.
It is desirable for him to pay his tithes, he is expected to
pay his tithes, and he has a duty to pay his tithes.
6: To Escape Condemnation.
"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me ... in tithes and
offerings" (Malachi 3:8).
How sad it is that people who are honest in business and who
pay their debts to the bank, the store, and the government
will not pay God what belongs to Him! Sometimes people
quibble about whether they are "paying" or "giving" tithes,
but both terms seem appropriate. The tithe is the Lord's,
and He expects us to pay it to Him; at the same time, He
does not receive it until we give it to Him. He does not
give us the authority to use His tithe for other purposes,
but we have the power to spend it as long as it is in our
hands. Nevertheless, a person is condemned if he spends
God's money.
7: To Spread the Gospel.
"So hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel" (I Corinthians 9:14).
God has ordained for people to be saved by the preaching of
the gospel (I Corinthians 1:21). "How shall they hear
without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14).
Tithing is God's way of supporting the ministry. In the Old
Testament, the Levites and the priest were God's ministers
to the nation of Israel, and they were supported by tithes.
In the New Testament, God has called people to minister the
gospel. These ministers can be more effective if they do not
have to provide for their livelihood by working on a secular
job but can devote themselves full time to the work of God.
They need time to give themselves to prayer and to the
ministry of the Word.
It is not wrong for a man to labor with his hands, nor
should a minister feel too good to engage in honest labor.
Yet God's plan is for those who preach the gospel to live of
the gospel.
When God inspired Moses to write that the people should not
put a muzzle on the ox that labored, God was not as
concerned with the ox as He was with the principle that a
laborer should receive his livelihood from his work. The
application of this principle is that the minister of the
gospel should earn his living from his ministry. (See I
Corinthians 9:9-14.)
Some ministers have endured financial hardships and
deprivation in order to proclaim the gospel in needy areas.
If the tithing income insures that the minister can live in
a good house, drive a good car, and buy sufficient clothes
for his family, why should I begrudge providing these things
to a man who would preach the gospel even if he had to work
on a secular job to do it? It is a disgrace to a church if
the pastor has to take a secular job to supply his family's
needs when there should be sufficient tithing income
available to allow him to do God's work on a full-time
basis. My tithing can help to spread the gospel.
8: To Avoid a Curse.
"Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me" (Malachi
3:9).
Someone has said, "You can't outgive God, and you can't
outsqueeze Him either."
Some people put their money into "a bag with holes" (Haggai
1:6). They do not give God His tithe, but they eventually
spend the money for automobile repairs, medical bills, and a
thousand other things that they might have avoided if they
had been faithful to God in their giving.
God said that the whole nation of Israel was cursed because
they had not given God His due. God asked Israel to dedicate
the gold of Jericho to Him, but Achan took a wedge of gold
and hid it in a tent. It became a curse to him and his whole
family.
I do not want God to curse my blessings. I want to give Him
His tithe.
9: To Enjoy God's Blessing.
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, … and prove me
now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open
you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that
there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi 3:
10). (See also Luke 6:38.)
God blesses the people who pay tithes. They do not always
have the most money or the best clothes, but they are
blessed.
However, I am wary of those who promise, "if you give God a
dollar, He will give you back four." The expectation of a
return should not be our motivation for giving. And His
richest blessings are not necessarily monetary.
But I do want God to notice me and remember me. He noticed
that the widow put money into the treasury at the Temple. He
noticed what Cornelius was giving. He noticed what Israel
was not giving. He knows what we give and He notices when we
give.
God has asked us to prove Him and see if He will not give us
His blessings. I have trusted Him, tested Him, and tried
Him, and I have concluded that it is better to give God what
belongs to Him.
10: To Be Consistent.
"Be thou an example of the believers" (I Timothy 4:12).
For most of my ministry, I have lived on tithing income. How
could I receive tithes and not pay tithes? I could not do so
and be consistent. The Levites, who received tithes, also
paid tithes on what they received (Nehemiah 10:38).
Preachers who receive tithes should be most faithful to pay
them.
Paying tithes will not save a person-everyone must be born
again to be saved. But paying tithes will reap a blessing.
Genuine Christians not only pay tithes, but they willingly
pay tithes.
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