1 Cor 1:25 – For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
1 Cor 3:19a – For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.
Isaiah 55:8-9 – “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,/neither are your ways my ways,”/declares the LORD./“As the heavens are higher than the earth/so are my ways higher than your ways/and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Matthew 16:25 – For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
We, the creatures, are incapable of fully comprehending the Creator. And I thank Him for that! Frankly if the God of the Universe could be fully grasped by a brain like mine, then we would all be in trouble! :) And woe to us if we assume that God is bound by our logic, or somehow subject to the laws of a physical universe that He created and outside of which He dwells.
And yet we limit God in this way every day. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we doubt that God has any power over natural circumstances; we do not have faith that God can do the miraculous, that His power, abilities, and even His Will supersede the laws of our physical universe or our own natural compulsions. This is why the sick go unhealed, the hard-hearted remain unconvinced, and believers in bondage to sins they have fought against for years, continue in their chains: because in our heart of hearts, God is not big enough or strong enough to overcome the obstacle before us. And certainly not if it requires some sort of supernatural intervention outside of our understanding of what is possible.
We do this with our finances – specifically our tithes and offerings – and we and the Church at large suffer as a consequence. In Malachi 3:8-11, we find the Lord delivering a message to Israel through the prophet, Malachi:
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.
Most of us know that a “tithe” literally means a tenth. Tithing was established as part of God's Law in Leviticus 27. The people were told that 10% of everything – every crop, every herd, all that they owned – belonged to Him. God wasn't asking for a gift, He was informing His people that the first 10% was His property, and it was to be returned to Him. This is why God tells the people in Malachi that they are robbing Him: because they are not giving the full tithe, not returning His property. And consequently the nation is cursed.
Flash forward to today, in the U.S. We are no longer an agrarian society, but we certainly labor, and that labor produces fruit, primarily in the form of income. I have yet to read anywhere in Scripture where God rescinded His claim upon His property, that first 10% of of the fruits of our labors. But a recent study conducted by the non-profit organization, Empty Tomb, revealed that the average American churchgoer gives 2.56% to the church.
I'll let you draw your own parallels between the America of today and the Israel of circa 400 BC. We are blessed as a nation in many, many ways. But a case could certainly be made for America being under a curse as well. But what cannot be debated, in my mind, is whether or not we are robbing God. If 10% of our income is God's property, yet we only give Him 2.56%, then we are certainly robbing God!
My family and I were once guilty of robbing God. But I want to share with you how the Holy Spirit convicted us in this area, and we took a step of faith – a very difficult one – and chose to believe God's Word, and he responded and continues to respond to our obedience in amazing ways! We have never looked back, and God has never faltered in His faithfulness. I want so much for all of God's people to experience the blessings He has for us, our families, and our churches if we would only “test Him” in this area.
Times are tough. We're in a recession, perhaps the worst since the Great Depression. Money is tight for many of us. And sometimes the math does not work. “If I give 10% to God, then the remaining 90% will not cover my bills,” one might say. “Surely God does not want me to default on my obligations?”
Entire sermon series, entire Bible studies, and thousands of books have been written dealing with managing money in a Biblical, God-honoring way, so I'm not going to get in to how good financial decision making can keep you from being so overextended that you cannot afford to give God what is His. Because frankly I do not believe that is the root of the problem. I believe we simply do not believe God can do what He says He can do. We do not believe that God is able to miraculously do things that confound the conventional wisdom or fly in the face of logic. And for many of us, we do not even KNOW what He says He will do if we are faithful in our tithes, because we are not in His Word. (That's another topic for another day). Basically we don't believe in the God who empowered His Son to feed thousands with a few loaves and fishes. It's a nice story, but not real for us today.
Of course God does not want you to default on your bills! But He wants you to trust in HIM to provide what you need, not your account balance, your employer, the economy, or anything else. He wants you to take a step of faith and obey His commands regarding tithing. Remember, Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is “trusting in what you cannot see.” You may not be able to see the money you need in the bank. You may not be able to see how God is going to be able to provide for you if you give 10% of income away. But if you could see, it would not be faith. As we pointed out at the beginning, God's ways are not our ways. Our wisdom is foolishness to Him! His math is not our math! If God wants 10 minus 1 to equal 11, He can make that happen. And he's done it for me and my family countless times.
“'Test me in this,' says the Lord...” These words are so intriguing to me because in Deuteronomy 6:16, God tells His people that they are not to test Him. Jesus even uses that very command to rebuke Satan in the wilderness. And yet here in Malachi we are invited to test God! He REALLY wants to show us something! In my mind, I liken this to a loving parent who really wants to bestow an exciting gift on his child, but he also knows he can't reward or reinforce bad behavior. So the gift goes ungiven if the child is disobedient.
About 14 years ago my wife and I were newly married, working several jobs, and didn't have two dimes to rub together. We were living on love, baby! Rent was coming due: $485 (boy, those were the days!). We prayed, and we talked about tithing. The money just was not there. By our math, if we gave 10%, rent would not be paid. But we felt the Holy Spirit really convicting us to test God in this, as His word said, so we tithed. A few days later, just days before rent was due, we received an unexpected dividend check in the mail from our insurance company. The amount? $487! We tested God, and He responded!
In 1999, we felt God calling my wife to pursue her graduate degree at a Christian school. Much prayer and research pointed to Dallas Baptist University. This would mean a move to a big city where we knew no one, and had no family support system. And frankly we could not afford a move. But God's call was undeniable, so we took a scary step of faith. We blew our savings on a trip to Dallas to find jobs and line up an apartment. We sold our little house, and pulled away from our home with everything we owned in a U-Haul, and $33 in the bank. But God was faithful! Within months, our household income was almost double what it was before the move. We continued to tithe, and hoped to save up to buy a house in a couple of years. But God honored our faithfulness by having my truck get stolen. How was that a good thing? Because the settlement allowed us to buy a house much sooner than we had hoped! We were working long hours, and Em was working hard at school, but we continued to be faithful in our giving, even when we did not have a home church. We found other Christian organizations to give to. We were dog-tired, and needed a break, but there was no money for a vacation. And then just a few months after that, we won a trip to Hawaii on the radio! God was faithful!
The examples above are just a few of the many, many examples over the years. Most recently, just a few months ago we felt God calling my wife to go back to school, and also felt strongly that we needed to keep our daughter in private Christian school. These things cost money, and we didn't see where it would come from. But once again, the call was unmistakable. So we began to move forward in faith, trusting God to provide as He always has. My wife registered for school. Just last week I learned that I would be receiving a raise at work! Enough to cover school for my wife, and to allow us to keep our daughter in private school!
For over a decade we've seen God bless us in amazing and miraculous ways, and I fully believe that it is in large part because we made a choice many years ago to stop robbing God, and we have never faltered in that since. Sure, God has had to deal with some of the ways we've managed the other 90%, and this can still be a struggle. But we tested God, and thereby gave Him the freedom to “throw open the floodgates of heaven with blessing.”
I do not believe in the so-called “Prosperity Gospel,” which is the idea that faithful Christians somehow have a right to wealth, and that God always blesses the faithful with material prosperity. I find no Scriptural basis for this doctrine, and God will not be treated like a big vending machine in the sky. The blessings He bestows can come in many forms, some material and/or financial, some not. The ways He chooses to bless one family will be very different from the ways He chooses to bless another family. Sometimes it's just giving us a new perspective or showing us where we can be more faithful, or helping us realign our priorities. Or just simply removing anxiety and replacing it with peace and security. And there are those who feel called to lives of meager asceticism, and count themselves blessed for it.
I say this because I would hate for anyone to approach faithful tithing as if it were some get rich quick scheme. We're not rich, at least not by American standards. Upper middle-class, I guess. I will admit that some months can still feel pretty tight. (Actually I take that back, because to say “I'm not rich by American standards” is a bit like Warren Buffett saying “I'm not rich by Bill Gates standards.” We can always find someone richer than us to compare ourselves to, but the fact is that even those below the poverty level in the U.S. are richer than 80% of the world. Of the 6 billion people on earth, 4.7 billion of them live on the equivalent of $7500 or less per year. If you own more than one set of clothing, have a consistent place to sleep at night, clean water to drink, and will eat a meal today, then you are better off than 75% of the world's population. So we're all rich, make no mistake.) The real blessings that have been poured out from heaven are freedom from fear and anxiety, peace and security in troubled times, and the incredible comfort that comes from knowing that a God who loves us is in complete control, and wants to bless us. God has always met our needs, and even blessed us with a few of our “wants.” Not once in 14 years has a bill ever been paid late, even though I have written tithe checks many times knowing there was not enough in the account to cover the tithe AND the bills. He has ALWAYS responded in faith when we have stepped out in obedience. Consequently, we do not worry about money any more. If we are faithful in our work, and faithful in our tithes, we know that God will bless beyond what we could hope for or deserve.
I so want this freedom and blessing for you all! But it will require a major step of faith on your part, a step that can be pretty scary. But I cannot encourage you enough to take that step! God is good, and He does what He says He will do! Give Him the freedom to bless you, your family, your church, and this nation as He longs to do.
A few additional words of guidance as you (Perhaps? Hopefully!) embark on this journey:
1.The Bible speaks over and over about “tithes AND offerings.” The two terms are not synonyms. The “tithe” is God's property that we are commanded to return to Him. “Offerings” are gifts given over and above out of respect, honor, and love for God. But sometimes we treat our insufficient attempts to tithe as offerings. That's sort of like if you owed your brother $20, but you put $10 in his birthday card and expect him to be grateful for the gift! :) I want to encourage you and challenge you to give God His property, and THEN pray about what sort of offering would express your love, respect, and appreciation for God and all He is and all He does in your life.
2.Many churches preach that the law of tithing is no longer applicable because we are under the New Covenant in Christ Jesus. Of course we are under a New Covenant, but I do not believe this relieves us of an obligation to obey God's commands. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Our righteousness comes from the blood of Jesus, and not from our performance against the Law, but God's commands are still His commands, and we show that we love Him by obeying those commands (John 14:15). But now because of God's grace and the sacrifice of Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it is possible for us to keep the law, whereas before Christ, it was not. 2 Corinthians 9:7 is often cited in these discussions: “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” This statement refers to gifts, not tithes, at least as I read it and can discern from the original Greek.
3.I've been asked many times whether or not a tithe should be calculated based on pre-tax or post-tax earnings. In my opinion, an obedient tithe should be calculated before taxes. Taxes are just another debt that we owe. Most of us just happen to have them withheld via payroll deduction, which can give the illusion of our “real” pay being after taxes, but of course that's not the case. And we wouldn't ask, “Should our tithe be calculated before or after our electric bill?” At least I hope we wouldn't. If we calculate 10% of our post-tax income, then that's not 10% of our actual income, and therefore not a tithe. What's more, throughout Scripture, tithing is tied to the giving of “firstfruits,” which means that we give first to God, and we give out of our best. If we are paying taxes first, and then giving to God out of what is left, that is hardly giving to God first. Lastly, Jesus said in Matthew 22:21, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” I believe Jesus was making it pretty clear that we should pay our taxes AND meet our obligations to God.
Keep the faith,
Lee
