TheChristian Privilege And Duty Of Tithing

About a year ago, I was in Londonserving as the assistant pastor of the New Life B-P Church.One day, on my way back to the church, I notice a large crowd milling around inthe compound of a church building not too far away from us. Curious, I look fora banner to see what the occasion was, and quickly discovered that it was afood and fun fair organised by the church for fund raising purposes. Not toolong after that I received a letter from the London films commission to ask if we wouldlike to earn some extra income by renting out our church sanctuary for locationfilming. And, around the same time, I received a call from a lady asking if wewould be interested to rent out one of our halls for yoga classes.

These are just some of the many seemingly innocent ways in which achurch in London(or elsewhere) may raise funds in order to support her programmes. Church fundraising committees often spend much time to decide what is the best approach aswell as to plan the events. Some of these approaches can indeed be verylucrative, not to mention giving every member in the church opportunities to‘serve’.

Nevertheless, as believers desiring to please God, the question wemust ask is not whether it is lucrative, or whether it provides the members ofthe church with a sense of belonging and contribution; but whether there is abiblical basis for them. Particularly, we must firstly ask whether there is abasis for the Lord’s work to be supported by funds from unbelievers; andsecondly, we must ask whether the Scripture gives us any guideline orinstruction on how funds for the church must be raised.

When we turn to the Scriptures, we will notice that every time theScripture refers to anything close to church building work, the funds ormaterials would be raised from the people of God, i.e. the members of thechurch. For example, when the tabernacle was about to be built, the Lordinstructed Moses "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me anoffering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take myoffering" (Ex 25:2). When Ezra was preparing to rebuilt the temple, weagain read that it was the Jews who contributed the materials (Ezr 1:5-6; 2:68-69). In fact, when they came to the actual work of rebuilding, theSamaritans and non-Jews were not allowed to participate though they requestedto be of help (Ezr 4:2-3). The statement by Zerubbabel to this effect isinstructive: "Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto ourGod; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel"(Ezr 4:3).

The Lord’s instruction in Exodus 25 and Zerubbabel’s prohibitionin Ezra 4 gives us the two major principle of fund raising in the Church:Firstly, the funds must come from willing hearts constrained to give to thecause and to give without any props or enticement. The people are to give it asan offering to the Lord, out of love for the Lord. The Lord did not instructMoses to give the people any incentive nor did He propose a carnival forfund-raising. Anything collected for any reason other than devotion to Godwould be tainted with impure motives and hence unsuitable for the work of theLord. This principle is reiterated by the Apostle Paul when he tells us thatanyone who gives to the Lord’s work must do so "not grudgingly, or ofnecessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:7). Secondly, it isclear that the support should come from the people of God, not unbelievers. Howcould unbelievers give out of love for the Lord? Thus again, Paul insists:"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship[partnership] hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hathlight with darkness?" (2 Cor 6:14). This passage, we must remember, is notprimarily about marriage, but about partnership in the work of the Lord.

With these two principles in mind, may I propose that theScripture sanctions, nay commands, that the work of the Lord must be primarilysupported by tithes and free will offerings from God’s people. I sayprimarily,not because I believe it is permissible to have a concert to raise additionalfunds, but because I do not think we need to be fastidious if it happens thatsome of the funds come from unbelievers who give when the offering bag is passedbecause they feel uncomfortable to be the odd ones out. Similarly, a churchmust not engage in profit making business to support the work, but if thechurch owns a building which incidentally appreciates in price after a numberof years, and the church sells it to buy another, I do not think it isimproper.

Now, an offering refers either to the act of giving, or to what isgiven unto the Lord, whether spontaneously or planned. A tithe simply means a tenth, and so, customarilytithing refers to the systematic giving of atenth of one’s substance or income unto theLord.

While hardly anyone would dispute that Christians must offer untothe Lord of their substance; tithing, on the other hand, is frequently viewednot only as draconian and contrary to the principle of uncompelled giving; butas a Jewish practice that is completely abrogated in the Gospel dispensation.

The first objection is easily answered when we consider that everycommandment of God is to be obey out of love for the Lord: "If ye love me,keep my commandments" (Jn 14:15). To the second objection, we must insistthat the practice of tithing was not instituted by Moses, and so it is notabrogated completely with the ceremonial system. It existed even before Moses,and was practised either according to the dictates of the light of nature (cf.Rom 2:14) or as an ordinance of God, instituted at creation, and passed downverbally. We read the first clear reference of tithing in Gen 14:20 whereAbraham gave "tithes of all" to Melchizedek, king of Salem. Thewriter of Hebrews, referring to this incident, suggests that Melchizedek was atype of Christ, and argues that because Abraham paid tithes to him, even beforeLevi was born (and so Abraham tithed on behalf of Levi and his descendants),that the Melchizedic Priesthood is of a higher order than that of the Leviticalor Aaronic Priesthood (Heb 7:1-10). This comparison suggests to us that thoughtithing was enforced by law under the Mosaic system, it was practised as anordinance even before that. This gives rise to two implications: firstly,tithing is an ordinance not solely for the Jewish people (Abraham practised it,"being yet uncircumcised" – Rom 4:12); and secondly, though theMosaic regulations pertaining to tithes (e.g. Lev 27:30ff; Num 18:26, 28; Deut12:6-11; 14:22-29) have passed away as shadows and types together with theLevitical Priesthood, the principle of tithing remains.

What is this principle of tithing? It is really the principle ofstewardship. It is the principle that all we have belongs to God who has placedthem under our stewardship; and therefore, we are always to return a portion ofour substance to Him as part of our privilege of worship and service. Davidunderstood this principle clearly when he prayed on behalf of his people:"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer sowillingly after this sort? for all things come of Thee, and of Thine own havewe given Thee" (1Chr 29:14). When we understand this principle we willunderstand why the Lord commended the widow who gave her two mites, rather thanthe rich men who were probably paying their tithes to the letter. "Thispoor widow hath cast in more than they all" says our Lord, for "ofher penury" (extreme poverty), she "hath cast in all the living thatshe had" (Lk 21:3-4). The poor widow obviously understood that all she hadbelonged to the Lord. Thus she reverently returned all to Him, though she couldhave kept a mite for herself, if she wanted to obey the law strictly. The richmen, on the other hand, probably had the attitude that they were fulfillingtheir duty of giving a tenth of what they had to the Lord. So then, instead ofcomplaining that tithing is legalism, the principle of tithing teaches us thatwe should rather consider retaining only what is necessary for our ownsubsistence and returning the rest to the Lord.

But what about the 10% recommended in the Old Testament? May Isuggest that that is a minimal recommended proportion necessarily imposed forthe enforcement of the civil laws pertaining tithing under the old economy.Anyone who failed to return a tenth, was considered to have robbed God (Mal3:9-10). Even so, we must realise that the Israelites did not just give 10%. Infact, they actually gave two tithes. The first tithe was given to the Leviteswho dwelt with them and taught them the law (Num 18:24; cf. Deut 14:27); thesecond tithe was brought to the temple or tabernacle (Deut 14:22-26). Inaddition to that, any sin offering and free-will offerings were taken from whatremained after the two tithes.

So then, we should not be asking, "is 10% stillapplicable?" or "should I give 10% of my net or gross income?"Yes, some may consider 10% to be a reasonable minimum guideline, but we must becareful not to approach tithing with a legal mindset that we have done our dutyonce we have given a tenth of our income—be it gross or net. Rather, as theLord has prospered us (1Cor 16:2), we ought to purpose in our hearts to give,and to give bountifully, cheerfully and not grudgingly: "for God loveth acheerful giver" (2Cor 9:6-7). How are we to give? Paul suggests that weare to give by setting aside a sum each week, presumably to be collectedtogether when the congregation is assembled each Lord’s Day (1 Cor 16:2). Thismeans that it would not do for us to set up an inter-bank giro to transferfunds to the church account, and then conveniently forget about it thereafter.Let us, rather, give personally and prayerfully when the offering is collectedeach Lord’s Day. And what a tremendous privilege it is to give, for Paulreminds us that when we do so, we participate in the work of the Gospel (1Cor9:14, 23; 2Cor 9:8).

Beloved, are you faithfully exercising the stewardship of theriches that God has apportioned to you? Are you returning to the Lordpurposefully, systematically and worshipfully? Forget not your duty ofstewardship (see 1Tim 6:17-19). The Lord promised: "Bring ye all thetithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove menow herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows ofheaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough toreceive it" (Mal 3:10). Are you poor? Neglect not your privilege ofstewardship. Never mind, that your two mites be too insignificant, the Lorddoes not look at the smallness of your mites, but the largeness of your heart.May the Lord grant us that we may learn to return to Him in grateful responseto Him for His love toward us and or redeeming us from sin and misery both nowand forevermore. Amen.