Tithing

Tithing. According to my dictionary it is "the practice of giving one-tenth of one's property or resources to support a religious institution as a response to God's blessings." We would all agree that it is good to give back to God, but a tenth of what we have received? Who's idea is that? Turns out that it is God's idea. We first see tithing mentioned in the Bible in Leviticus 30:30,

"Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord."

Moses goes on to say that animals are also to be tithed, ending the book of Leviticus saying,

"These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai."

Whoa! That's the Old Testament. We follow Jesus and live in the days of the New Testament, and Jesus never talked about tithing.

Well…that’s not exactly true. In Matthew 23:23 he said,

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others."

As Jesus called out the hypocrisy of the Pharisee's he noted how they followed God's law as far as tithing went, but they thought it was totally fine to neglect God's call over all parts of their lives.

Going a step farther, Jesus very clearly upheld the both the attitude and practice of giving generously, even sacrificially, to the work of God. In Luke 21:1-4 he watches a woman put all she has into the offering box, and says,

"Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

My own understanding of the Bible would say that as a matter of law, tithing is no longer required. It was a law for the Old Testament nation of Israel, given to them through Moses. But that country ceased to exist when they were conquered and carried into exile by Babylon. All of those laws were valid for a time, and that time has passed. But the question of how much we should give towards the work of God and his church is a valid one. At the very least, the idea of tithing confronts us with the question: Am I honoring God in the way I receive and use the gifts he has given me?

When I first became a Christian it seemed natural that I would give to the church. The offering plate would be passed and I would open my wallet and put something into it. Then I joined the church I was worshipping at and they invited people to make a pledge as to how much they would give. This was basically a promise that over the course of a year I would give what I had pledged. Every year I increased my pledge, as I was only giving a small percentage of what I earned, and I could see that I viewed my money as "mine," rather than as something I received from God. Over time, increasing the percentage of my pledge changed the attitude of my heart.

When Robin and I married we made tithing our practice from the beginning. We value the work of the church, and we desire to do our share in supporting it. I invite you to ask yourself this question, as you consider your giving to the Lord: Am I honoring God in the way I receive and use the gifts he has given me?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.