If you do an Internet search on tithing one of the interesting things you discover is that there are quite a few sites dedicated to convincing Christians not to tithe. There are even anti-tithing websites that buy Google "adwords". (You know, those little ads on the right hand side when you do a search on Google. Those are ads paid for by people, business, etc. to try and drive traffic to their websites.) That means that these anti-tithers are paying Google to send people to their sites so that they can then convince them not to tithe. Talk about carrying coals to Newcastle. They obviously aren’t up on their Barna surveys.
For a number of years, The Barna Group has
also been following the practice of “tithing,” which is donating at
least ten percent of one’s income. While Christians dispute whether
tithing refers to giving the entire ten percent to churches or whether
that sum may include money donated to churches and other non-profit
entities, the survey data reveal that no matter how it is defined, very
few Americans tithed in 2004. Only 4% gave such an amount to churches
alone; just 6% gave to either churches or to a combination of churches
and parachurch ministries.
I’m thinking the anti-tithers mission statement must be something like, Stamping Out The Last 4% of Tithers.
There are all sorts of arguments put forth to explain why Christians
are not obligated to tithe. Some argue that the new testament doesn’t
explicitly say we should tithe. That’s probably true but Jesus does
commend tithing:
Matthew 23:23 "23 Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise
and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."
Some
people argue from a Jewish/Hebrew perspective that Jews today don’t
tithe because tithes are to be taken only from the produce of the land
of Israel and are to be given to the priest’s in the temple. Since
there is no temple and since what we produce doesn’t come from the land
of Israel anyway that’s why Jewish people don’t tithe. First off this
isn’t entirely true, some Jewish people do tithe, and tithes were paid
from other things besides the produce of the "land" of Israel. Edersheim, in The Life And Times of Jesus The Messiah, has
this interesting quote speaking of how the pharisees tithed
" Their
practice in this respect may be summed up in these words of the
Mishnah: ‘He tithes all that he eats, all that he sells, and all
that he buys…"
That means he tithed of everything not just what the
ground of Israel produced.
But when I hear these arguments the first thought that comes to my
mind is that when the Jews lived in the days of the temple and in the
land of Israel they didn’t all tithe either.
Malachi 3:8 "8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings."
Do
you suppose all the non-tithers said, " Well I’m just a
dirty, rotten, cheapskate, God robber, and that’s why I don’t tithe." or
did they have some excuse for their failure to tithe? I bet there were
even theologians going around explaining why they shouldn’t tithe.
There were probably people going around saying things like, "All those
priests in the temple want is your money." And yet God still says they
were robbing him.
All those arguments are fine and I think I could pretty much refute them, but my real take on the subject of tithing is this, Why wouldn’t Christians want to tithe? After all God has promised us tremendous blessings when we do tithe:
Malachi
3:10, 11 "10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there
may be meat in mine house, 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. 11 And I
will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the
fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before
the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts."
Somebody might say, " Well that promise doesn’t belong to us Christians Greg." It doesn’t? Well look at this scripture
2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
And then look at this scripture:
Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure,
pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give
into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall
be measured to you again.
and this
2
Corinthians 9:6-13, NIV Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also
reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And
God is able to make all grace abound to you, 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: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his
righteousness endures for ever." 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
made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion,
and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
and this
Proverbs
3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits
of all thine increase: 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and
thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
and this
Proverbs
11:24 There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there
is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. 25
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be
watered also himself."
and this
Galatians
6:6-9 (NLT) 6 Those who are taught the word of God should help their
teachers by paying them. 7 Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t
ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow! 8
Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest
the consequences of decay and death. But those who live to please the
Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So don’t get
tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we
will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.
So
God has promised to bless us when we tithe and has
promised that when we give we will be blessed in return. So
then, if God is going to bless us
when we tithe why wouldn’t Christians want to tithe?
Obviously because they don’t believe that God will
bless them when they tithe. There pretty sure that God is lying about
it.