CLICK HERE to offer your tax-deductible tithe or gift, either for general tithing (the default) or to support a particular area of ministry.
THE TITHE[1]
We live in a time of great trial and much depends on the tithe.
So that we can more closely imitate the churches of the Protestant Reformation in worship, fellowship, and works (works in which you, personally, are actively involved), we have made the conscious decision to remain a small face-to-face conventicle of few hands rather than to pursue growth into an impersonal mega-church with a large building and an equally large mortgage, a worship band, professional soloists and paid section leaders for the choir, big-screen televisions, barbeques, picnics, babysitting, entertainment programs, and the softball team.
Nevertheless—even as a small “house church”—funding is needed to care for those who come to us broken and hungry, to support our marriage and divorce counseling, to support our “Spurgeon Drive-By,” to support our work at Ohio’s correctional facilities, to sustain the recording and hardcopy publication of Godly materials and to place these materials into the hands of both believers and unbelievers, to pay for websites and licenses, insurance, office supplies . . . and the list goes on.
We understand that “big giving,” “right now,” may not be possible for everyone. But, because everything has an associated cost, contributing “something” to the work would be very much appreciated. We understand that not all can give “all,” but God knows that all can give “some.” And so we offer and we tithe as we are called and as we are able.
We do not, however, “pass the plate” so that others can see who gives what nor do we have “offering envelopes”; tithing is done online and is administered by an outside (church-tithing) entity with a receipt automatically generated for the IRS.
If you are new to God or to First Puritan, it is not assumed that today you can make the leap of faith and tithe the first 10% of your income. Begin with a small weekly donation and then, as you are led by the Holy Spirit and as you mature in your walk with Christ, increase your giving according to your faith.
God has promised that your blessing will exceed whatever you give.
Do you want more from God? Give more to God and then watch what happens in your life.
It is a matter of faith in God’s promise.
OBJECTIONS TO THE TITHE
Unfortunately, many come to First Puritan (and to other churches) to fulfill a misguided obligation of “going to church”; many come to receive the services, lessons, and sacraments but have little interest in experiencing what it means to actually be a member of the Body of Christ.
It was not so in past times but, today, so many expect to “receive”—and expect to “receive for free“—rather than to “give.”
The word “tithe,” in Hebrew, means “one-tenth”—but the suggestion of actually giving one-tenth of our income seems wildly absurd in the greed and selfishness of our 21st century. And yet Scripture plainly teaches that the first 10% of whatever comes to us is to be returned to the Lord, with any additional offerings and gifts to be beyond the mandatory “first fruits.” Think of it this way: When you give 11%, you are giving only 1%; when you give less than the tithe, you steal from the Hand of Almighty God.
Many object to the tithe, using the excuse that the tithe was an “Old” Testament requirement. Yes, it was “Old Testament,” but Jesus—in the New Testament—taught that we should give out of the willingness of a joyful heart (2 Corinthians 9:7-8, with 9:6 as “the warning”) rather than to meet a requirement.
The Jew of the Old Testament lived under the burden of the Law (see the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15) and met the tithe as a requirement; the Christian of the New Testament still carries the obligation of the tithe, but the obligation is to be met under a new paradigm. But the tithe was never “canceled.”
This was the shift—not that giving was no longer expected and that the Great Commission would be funded by some angelic bank account, but that the tithe would be a voluntary tithe and, like voluntary Baptism, would be a visible manifestation of one’s allegiance to Christ.
Many now claim that they are aligned with Christ but make no effort to follow Christ.
After all of one’s self-serving rationalization and excuses: no tithe, no baptism = no allegiance to a Savior in whom we don’t really trust and to whom we feel we owe so little. In many cases, “giving” (during a “passing of the plate”) is nothing more than a shallow allegiance to God, paraded out of our wallet for the admiration of those seated around us at the worship service.
Many object to the tithe or make excuses about giving to God and yet these same souls pay taxes—doing so because they understand that national security and schools and roads come at a cost. Or perhaps they are more afraid of being audited by the IRS than afraid of standing in judgment before the Throne of God to explain how many souls may have been lost or how many children were left hungry or even murdered in abortion . . . because their greed and selfishness exceeded their need.
Many live in a luxury unknown throughout most of the world and think nothing about donating to political or social causes yet are unwilling to pay their fair share to support their church, leaving it to others to pay for the church’s obligations and its ministries.
Many think to avoid the tithe altogether by attending online or by watching “television church,” as if the tithe is meant to pay for after-service coffee and donuts . . . with “armchair church-goers” being exempt from the tithe.
GREED AS OBSTACLE TO THE TITHE
Our nation suffers under the Prince of Darkness. The pro-choice, alternative lifestyles, and pornography industries are well-funded and the laws and practices of this nation are an abomination to Almighty God.
And yet—while the church is tasked with the Great Commission and while the pulpit is still called to preach against the sins of the world—so many lukewarm Christians think to satisfy their obligation to be “a light unto the world” with an easy few dollars and change tossed into the collection plate.
Do you think that God needs your money? He doesn’t.
Just as the Commandments were given as a yardstick for us to measure our sin, the tithe is given to show the secret of the heart . . . and it is plain to see—by our action—how dear we hold God in our lives.
For many, God is “last.”
For many, God is an “after-thought” who deserves only the few coins that are left after everything else—after everything else “and then some”—has been purchased and paid.
The problem, Loved One, is not “the tithe.” The problem is . . . “you.”
It is not that you cannot afford the tithe but that—out of greed and selfishness and a lack of faith—you don’t want to tithe.
It is not that you cannot afford the tithe. It is that you don’t trust God to provide for you after you have given to feed His poor . . . even after He has commanded you to feed the poor and after He has promised to feed “you” in return.
THE PROMISE & PENALTY OF THE TITHE
Both the Old and New Testaments contain numerous warnings against “tempting” God, but there is a passage in the Bible in which God actually challenges His people to test Him:
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it (Malachi 3:10).
The tithe is what Almighty God demands as “His.” But He has also given His promise to abundantly bless His followers if they, in faith, will kneel in obedience to His revealed will.
Yes, God has given His promise to bless His followers if they tithe . . . but we too often ignore the three verse that precede “tithes to the storehouse”:
The general warning: Return unto me, and I will return unto you (Malachi 3:7). In other words, “do this, and I’ll do that; don’t do this, and I won’t do that.”
The specific warning: Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation (Malachi 3:8-9).
Yes, we read that God has promised to bless His followers if they tithe, but we often wish to ignore the “or else” . . . the “or else” that God will place a “curse with a curse” upon those who do not tithe.
Take this is an example of how lukewarm our pulpits have become in the 21st century. You’ve heard, many times, that God will bless you if you tithe (Malachi 3:10) . . . but how many times has your minister preached “the other half” of Scripture—the “or else” part (Malachi 3:8-9)?
You’ve heard many times that “God is Love” and that Christ came to forgive our sins, but how many times has your minister preached that Christ did not come to “forgive” our sins but to call us to conviction, repentance, and change so that then—and only then—might we receive the forgiveness we seek?
Money is the acid test of our faithfulness. God uses it more than any other thing in our life to test our faith. Why? Because the thing we cherish most is the thing we are most reluctant to give.
Are my words not true words?
Reach—”right now”—for your checkbook and prove me wrong.
CLICK HERE to offer your tax-deductible tithe or gift, either for general tithing (the default) or to support a particular area of ministry.
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[1] The first tithe recorded in Scripture was that of Abraham to Melchizedek, a prefigure of Christ (Genesis 14:20); it was not a tithe of merely one-tenth of Abraham’s “income” but one-tenth of everything that Abraham owned.
What if God asked you for that tithe?—not merely 10% of your income but 10% of the value of your home, the cars, the fishing boat, everything in your garage, money set aside for the family cruise to the Bahamas, your retirement fund, the value of your life insurance policies, etc.
One of the first questions often asked by those considering the tithe is whether the tithe is to be 10% of the gross (total) income or 10% of the net (take-home) salary.
Answer: In our opinion, after much discussion, “Net.”
Reason: If others over whom you have no control (the government, your employer, your insurance company) require a portion of your “income” before giving you the balance for groceries—the portion that, if you were to die this evening, would not be available for such groceries—your “gross” income does not truly reflect the money given to you for discretionary spending. Although much of what is deducted from your paycheck is for your eventual benefit, most of these deductions are mandatory and are not truly “today’s” income.
For example, the government will deduct for Social Security, but you won’t actually receive that income until you retire (or die, in which case you won’t get it at all!); your employer will deduct for medical insurance but, if you stay healthy, that monthly premium becomes a loss; you may choose to provide for your loved ones after your death by way of life insurance, but “you” will never cash that check.