Dear
Friends.
Recently one of our pastors taught a message on stewardship, and I applauded
him for his sermon as many pastors are reluctant to talk about money and
giving. I confess that I have never been one of them.
I well
remember the stewardship sermon I preached one Sunday in a church I served. It
was on tithing, and much to the surprise of the congregation, it was on
Mother’s Day. To this day they are still talking about that message. Although I
never felt pastors should shy away from talking about giving, the response I
received was a good reminder that Mother’s Day might not be the best time to do
it.
Jesus
was never uncomfortable talking about “money matters” because he knew that
money matters! He spoke more about giving than he did about heaven, hell and
faith combined, so he must have felt that it was important.
It has been said, “We are most like God when we give and most unlike Him when
we withhold.”
Each of us is called to be a steward of what God has given us. We are simply
God’s money managers, and we are responsible for how we handle what He has
given us.
As
stewards of God’s riches, He expects us to be faithful, for that is the first
requirement of a steward. The resources we enjoy our not our own, they are
God’s for God own’s everything. We only manage what he gives us.
How
faithful are we in handling what God has given us?
Are
we being good and faithful servants in the way we handle His resources?
With
these thoughts in mind, you might ask is there any benchmark we should consider
when it comes to our giving?
Is the tithe or the giving of 10 percent of our income the goal of our giving?
After all, this was what the Old Testament Jew gave. But I would ask you can we
who live on this side of the cross be expected to give anything less than then
the Old Testament Jew who lived in the shadow of the cross?
My
answer to that question is no. I believe the tithe is a good place to begin our
giving.
It
is true that tithing in the New Testament is neither directly commanded nor
rescinded. But I would point out that every New Testament example of giving
goes beyond the tithe and none falls short of it.
I
would ask does God expect his New Covenant children to give less or more that
the Jew living under the Old Covenant? Should we as believers lower
the standard? Jesus raises the spiritual bar. He never lowers it. Can we
who possess the Holy Spirit and who live in the wealthiest country in the
world, give anything less than the tithe?
Let me quote from Randy Alcorn’s wonderful book The Treasure Principle. “The
tithe is God’s historical method to get on the path of giving. It’s
unhealthy to view tithing as a place to stop, but it can be a good place to
begin. Even under the first Covenant it wasn’t a stopping place for the Jews
who also gave additional offerings beyond the tithe. Tithing is not the
ceiling for giving; it’s the floor. It is not the finish line of giving; it is
just the starting blocks. Tithing can be the training wheels to launch us into
the mind set skills and habit of grace giving.”
"Grace giving" should be sacrificial giving. Paul says of the
Macedonian Christians in 2 Cor 8:2-5 "Although they were going
through hard times, and were very poor, they were glad to give generously. They
gave as much as they could afford, and even more. Simply because they
wanted to. They even asked and begged us to let them have the joy of giving
their money for God’s people. And they did more than we had hoped.
They gave themselves first to the Lord, and then to us , just as God wanted
them to do."
I believe the Macedonian example should be the model for our giving. Our giving
should be generous, sacrificial, and motivated by our love for others. It may
be more than the tithe, or it might be less than the tithe, but whatever it is,
it will represent a worthy sacrifice in light of the sacrifice Jesus has made
for each of us.
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
P.S. Save your e-mails. I'm getting out of town and heading to Florida!!!!!!!!
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