In my message “why does Jesus care about my money” Sunday I mentioned tithing, giving and generosity. You can watch the message here. I was raised in a culture of tithing. From the beginning my wife and I have been careful to tithe on our income. This was often difficult early on as we struggled to make a living, yet God was faithful. Over the course of my ministry I’ve had many conversations with believers about the tithe. Often, believers will say the tithe was an Old Testament requirement that doesn’t carry over to the New Testament. There are certainly portions of the Mosaic Law that don’t apply to New testament believers. Consider Paul reminding gentiles they didn’t need to be circumcised or Peter’s vision allowing the consumption of meats once deemed unclean. However, giving certainly carried over to the new covenant and if anything seemed to increase. Early church documents indicate tithing was the floor for believers not the ceiling. The debate rages on as to whether or not tithing is required.
Each believer needs to reconcile the evidence and come to terms with what generosity should look like. We shouldn’t just trust our heart to make the decision. typically our hearts are greedy and stingy when it comes to giving. I’ll link a few opposing articles, some in favor of the tithe, some against, then I’ll share my understanding in light of it. Each article makes clear that regardless of tithing or not generosity is explicitly called out of believers.
Here are 4 articles with differing views on the subject.
Here are a few reasons I practice tithing and encourage it in our church.
Tithing is a biblical principle.
I do believe the biblical principle carries over into the New Testament. The command not to murder is made stronger by Jesus condemning hatred in our heart. The command not to commit adultery is made stronger by Jesus equating lust with adultery. To read the new testament and conclude that our calling as believers is easier than the old testament isn’t a serious understanding. In every way we are challenged to go beyond what the law required. To move beyond surface level obedience into deep abiding faithfulness. A tithe should inform us about God’s view of sacrifice. Left to our own considerations we tend to give far less than a tithe.
Tithing is a practical solution.
I am better with my money because I learned to tithe. Tithing forced me to save money to give, which helped me learn to save money in general. I learned the power of saving, living below my means, and giving. When Jesus said it’s more blessed to give than to receive He didn’t just mean it felt better (though it does). People who only know how to receive are more vulnerable. Those who know how to save, give and leverage money as a resource benefit from that understanding of money. Teaching people to give systematically forces them to confront their budget, their spending and their values.
Tithing is sacrificial.
The average believers gives between 2-3% to charity each year. That’s far below a tithe. We’d rarely choose 10% at random without the Word guiding us higher in our generosity. Whether you believe tithing carried over to the new Testament church or not there’s no argument that Jesus, Paul and the entire New Testament clearly calls out a form of generosity that is sacrificial and systematic over and over. I’m afraid many believers simply take the easy path of “tithing isn’t required” in order to justify their refusal to be generous. No matter your take on tithing there’s no escaping the fact that Jesus taught on money more than anything else and He calls out and required a level of generosity from his followers that was counter cultural. May we be found just as generous.