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Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7, ESV).
When was the last time you heard a sermon encouraging you to give tithes and offerings?
Let’s be specific: a tithe means giving 10 percent of your gross income, and offerings are monies given above that. Both tithes and offerings indicate financial exchange, and a sacrifice of time, while admirable, doesn’t qualify in the tithes and offerings category.
Churches, too often, shy away from asking for tithes and offerings while preaching and teaching on generosity, but not specifically defining an aspect of generosity as tithes and offerings. Perhaps pastors don’t want people saying, “That church always talks about money.”
This logic falls short as Jesus talked a lot about money with 11 of his 40 parables on the topic. The entire Bible has about 2,000 verses on the topic of financial generosity. In the New Testament Greek, we find the word “give” used about 420 times, with the word “prayer” about 100 times.
Preaching about tithes and offerings can be observed as self-serving, and I felt uncomfortable when preaching one of my over 200 sermons on generosity (preached over 50 years) to audiences that always included new people in the church.
But I still preached about tithes and offerings because. . .
- Learning the art of cheerful giving releases a person from discouragement and depression.
- Financial blessing derived from generosity gives glory to God while receiving riches from an erroneous belief in our own wisdom or hard work devolves into selfish enslavement to the god of Mammon.
- We learn giving, so it must be taught by those who set an example of generosity.
- When I teach “tithes and offerings” as opposed to “being generous” (while both are true), the specificity of tithes and offerings reveals an exact path to follow. We know if we’re tithing, whereas how do we know if we’re being generous?
Admittedly, Jesus didn’t say, “Give tithes and offerings.” I’m using a passage from the Old Testament to undergird this blog post. . .
Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions (Malachi 3:8).
However, in both the Old and New Testaments, God offers a challenge for us to become generous — with our money — because it brings the blessing of true riches.
As Malachi encourages. . .
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need (Malachi 3:10).
And Jesus agrees with Malachi with almost the same words and thoughts. . .
Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you (Luke 6:38).
I was taught in the church of my youth to give tithes and offerings, my parents set an example of giving tithes and offerings, and my wife and I practice the discipline of tithes and offerings in our marriage.
My conclusion: Well worth it!