tithing

Short answer? No.

For many Christians in a New Testament church it might come as a surprise that a 10% tithe, or a tithe at all, is not required.

Lon Hetrick at Average Us wrote a blog entry titled Why Pastors Should’t Teach Tithing and it begins this way–
Were you taught the tithing system? I was. I believed it, practiced it, and even preached it myself. But no more. … The system goes like this:

Tithing is commanded by God.
Therefore, Christians should give 10% of their income to their “storehouse” (i.e. the church you attend).
God promises to bless people who tithe.
Failing to tithe is disobedient to God, robs Him of His due, and shows that you don’t trust Him to provide for your needs with the remaining 90% of your income.
God withholds His blessing from non-tithers, and they forfeit the peace of mind and security which tithers alone enjoy.

And then Mr Hetrick continues with 4 reasons why he thinks Pastors shouldn’t teach tithing.

As much as I love church life, there is one thing that I have a peeve about. It is when a church decides to carry debt, the tithes and offerings start to decline, the powers-that-be get nervous, and the pastor decides to ~~browbeat~~ preach a series of ~~guilts~~ messages to the congregation on tithing. I am not speaking of my own church but I have seen it happen.

Here is Dr MacArthur at Grace to You on tithing:

Does God require me to give a tithe of all I earn?
Leviticus 27:30-33; Deuteronomy 14:22-29; Exodus 25:2; 1 Chronicles 29:9

Two kinds of giving are taught consistently throughout Scripture: giving to the government (always compulsory), and giving to God (always voluntary).

The issue has been greatly confused, however, by some who misunderstand the nature of the Old Testament tithes. Tithes were not primarily gifts to God, but taxes for funding the national budget in Israel.

Because Israel was a theocracy, the Levitical priests acted as the civil government. So the Levite’s tithe (Leviticus 27:30-33) was a precursor to today’s income tax, as was a second annual tithe required by God to fund a national festival (Deuteronomy 14:22-29). Smaller taxes were also imposed on the people by the law (Leviticus 19:9-10; Exodus 23:10-11). So the total giving required of the Israelites was not 10 percent, but well over 20 percent. All that money was used to operate the nation.

All giving apart from that required to run the government was purely voluntary (cf. Exodus 25:2; 1 Chronicles 29:9). Each person gave whatever was in his heart to give; no percentage or amount was specified.

New Testament believers are never commanded to tithe. Matthew 22:15-22 and Romans 13:1-7 tell us about the only required giving in the church age, which is the paying of taxes to the government. Interestingly enough, we in America presently pay between 20 and 30 percent of our income to the government–a figure very similar to the requirement under the theocracy of Israel.

The guideline for our giving to God and His work is found in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7: “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

“This article originally appeared here at Grace to You” in accordance with their general copyright policies.

Personally I believe the bible is clear on giving. We are to meet each other’s needs, to give generously, and sacrificially. We are to support our pastor and staff at the church. I believe firmly the bible teaches this.

But I don’t like it when pastors who don’t preach verse by verse feel free to pick and choose topics to preach on depending on their personal preference, fears, wants, vengeances, or perceived needs of the church members or the church in general. In this way, when money is tight, their go-to passage is Malachi and we’re off and running with the pressure to give. (‘Oh, nooo, the balloon payment is coming up!) This often means that people are targeted, or passages get left unpreached, and sometimes the meaning gets twisted, as so often the Malachi verse does. Worse, the giving that is done after these sermons tends to be emotional rather than cheerfully biblical.

If a pastor preaches verse-by-verse, money sermons will only come up when the text demands it. Everyone will be clear that the sermon isn’t a personal point he’s making to drive home, targeted at a church need, a controversy only a few know about, or personal likes or dislikes of the pastor, but simply a providential organization of sermons ordained by God as His under-shepherd preaches through the text.

Giving sacrificially doesn’t mean giving wantonly or recklessly. So often the Malachi verse on tithing is not only incorrectly applied to New Testament churches but is taken a step further by telling people to sow a seed, and you will reap a harvest, meaning, give money you don’t have and it will come back to you ten fold just because God will be so impressed with you. We are to shepherd our finances, not throw money away on a great adventure of testing God. You notice the Christians in the book of Acts sold property to give to the church, but they didn’t take a loan, give the loan money, and expect God to subsidize the debt until the property was sold off. They sacrificed, had the money in hand first, and laid it at the Apostles feet. (Acts 4:34).

Here is an essay called Their Greed, Your Seed: Apostasy in the Church Part 3, addressing the ‘sow a seed’ issue.

I urge you to search out the New Testament biblical stance on tithing, and giving- because the two are not the same. Be sure to give generously as your finances allow, biblically and cheerfully!

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Further reading:

Does the teaching on tithing in Malachi 3:9-10 apply to us today?

What does the bible say about sowing and reaping?

Are we obligated to tithe?

Tithing

9 Marks of a Prosperity Gospel Church

Before I was saved, I used to think that churches were a racket. “All they want is your money,” I’d parrot, like so many other people say without thinking. LOL, I have no idea how I thought the church building electric bills got paid, or who paid for the gas in the church bus that takes meals to shut-ins.

On a less practical and a more spiritual level, tithing and making offerings should be a joy and a blessing to perform, just as any other service to the Lord. It is an act of offering to give something back to Him, who has given us and will continue to give us so much. GotQuestions.org has a good essay on tithing here, with scriptures.

When I ran my newspaper, it was paid for by advertising. The paper didn’t cost anything to buy, so the local businesses that placed ads in the paper paid for the printing, mailing, circulation, insurance, and salaries. When a business was feeling the pinch, they would look for ways to cut back. Of course, advertising was often the first to go. There was an intangible benefit to advertising that couldn’t be quantified and was rarely demonstrable. Frugal business owners would cut back anyway and their ads would stop. The benefit was there, it just couldn’t be seen.

Tithing is like that. Taking the spiritual obedience away, on the practical side, people who are iffy on tithing often don’t see an immediate benefit, so when their household budget gets pinched, they quit. It is like advertising in the paper: an activity containing an intangible reward that goes out the window when money gets tight. They want the tangible reward and they want the payoff now, not later.

But just as money gets tight, people want more for their money. In Christian churches these days, they want and expect entertainment. So churches spend more to hold on to their church-hopping congregants. It is a downward cycle.

This article from the Christian Post reports on that downward cycle we’re seeing so much of these days. “Tithing Hits Record Low; Churches Spend More to Make Congregants Happy“
“Are churches spending more on themselves than on the needs of those outside the church? According to a new report they are, with churches keeping a larger share of their tithe-generated income for their own in-house needs. In a report, titled “The State of Church Giving Through 2009,” released Friday by Empty Tomb inc., a Christian service and research organization, authors found that “benevolences” – or funds used for giving outside the church including giving to charities and seminary training – hit new lows compared to their first report in 1968. Understandably, with the tithing amount greatly reduced over the past few years because of a bad economy, a drop in benevolences was only normal. The report, which used data from evangelical and mainline churches including Lutheran, Presbyterians and Episcopalian churches, in fact revealed that tithing as a percentage of income was at its lowest level in 41 years, Religion News Service noted. Parishioners were only giving about 2.38 percent of their income to the church in 2009, down from 2.43 percent in 2008 – shockingly low percentages.” More at link.

One can only wonder what the levels are now, three years into the terrible depression we are living through. The article continues in the same sad vein:

“If Americans who identify with the historically Christian church had chosen to give 10 percent to their congregation in 2008, rather than the 2.43 percent given that year, there would have been an additional $172 billion available for work through the church,” the Empty Tomb website noted. Though the greatly reduced tithing rates garnered much attention, what remained more surprising to the authors was the church’s distribution of parishioner income. While only 0.34 percent went toward benevolences, over 2 percent was used on congregational finances. If the percentage of income for benevolences was at the level it was back in 1968 – 0.66 percent – there would have been an additional $3.1 billion in benevolence giving. “Churches on the whole are continuing to spend more on current members and less on the larger mission of the church and cutting back on missionaries,” Sylvia Ronsvalle, Empty Tomb’s executive vice president, told RNS.”

Wow. What is our prime directive from Jesus? What was the last thing He said to the people before he ascended to the right hand of the Father? “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20)

Our job as humans is to submit to God’s will for us. That will includes first and foremost, repentance to the Lord leading to salvation and a deep love of Him. After that, we’re told that the next greatest commandment is to love one another, and finally to witness to the ends of the earth. For those who can’t go, they finance those who can and do go. Failing to support missions, failing to support benevolences fails the two most basic things He told us we are put on this earth to do: love one another and witness to His glorious Gospel.

Far from being an intangible reward, the rewards we receive are very real: only delayed. Though we do not give in benevolent fashion only to receive a reward, but to honor Jesus, we do receive them. Here are a few of the verses which state this, as a reminder:

“Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:24)

“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32)

The reward is great:
“Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:12)

It is so great we cannot even conceive of what it is:
“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” (Isaiah 64:4)

When we make offerings to Him, do we do it in like attitude as David?: “And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.” (Psalms 27:6)

Because after all, He sacrificed Himself, freely, for us:
“And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.” (Ephesians 5:2)

Please do not let your church be one of these that expects entertainment while at the same time you are withholding a tithe or an offering to the Lord Jesus. Give, give joyfully and plentifully in love to Him and on behalf of others. And sing gladly.

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Category: tithing

Does the New Testament teach Christians to offer a 10% tithe?

Tithing is way down, entertainment expectations way up