Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning.

For Valley Community Baptist Church, the weekend following our World Outreach Missions week is when we introduce our Faith Promise Giving initiative.

Our World Outreach Missions are funded through the Faith Promise giving, and so it is appropriate to spend some time concerning this endeavor.

Now, when I talk about giving and tithing, I give the same message every time.

This is not because I am lazy, and when I say the same message, I don’t mean to say that I use the same script, but rather, I make the same point every time.

Whenever churches talk about giving, its usually because they are trying to get their people to give to something.

Its like when your kids are super complimentary toward you as a parent, you know instinctively that they want something from you, again, usually money, or something that can only be bought with money.

And so, I know full well, that you may expect, in some way, that the only time that church ever talks about money is when they want more of yours for whatever purpose.

But how often do churches talk about money to teach you God’s Kingdom principles about money?

Other than through Financial Peace University.

Again, not because the church is firing up a new giving campaign, but because it is healthy and God-honoring?

Furthermore, at least, in my experience, whenever the church talked about giving, and why I should give financially and tithe, the motivation was essentially one of two general categories:

What tithing would do for me

The ministry needs of the church

While those motivations are valid and Scriptural evidence can be found in support of them, I think that there is another, more compelling, more inspiring motivation that, although it is in plain sight in the Bible, is often overlooked and under-taught.

And that is the message that God has for us today.

In examining God’s Word, we will look at a variety of Scriptures, from the old and new Testaments, so that when we leave this place today, we will know why we tithe, why we give offerings, and the Biblical motivations for doing so.

So let’s get started by spending a moment in prayer.

A tithe is a portion of one's earnings, usually one-tenth, that is given to those who perform the work of the Lord since it belongs to the Lord ().

Those who received tithes in the OT consisted of priests ().

Numberse 18:21-22

Numbers 18:

Further OT references are , , , ).

Here we have the OT references of the command for the Israelites to tithe, that is, to give back 10% of the fruits of their labors to God by giving said 10% to the priests who served in the temple.

The priests could live off of this tithe, as well as use it for ministry, and of course the priests were not exempt from tithing either, as they were commanded to give the same 10%.

The difference is that since the priests didn’t plow the fields, their tithes were not always fresh, yet God made provision for that.

Tithes in this day consisted of livestock, of fruits, and of vegetables.

Today, this would be like if you sold cars for a living, you would give 10% of the cars on your lot to the temple.

Why is that significant?

Because this is where we see that God wants the firstfruits of our labor, not our profit.

There is a difference.

You see, to give of our profit is really giving of our leftovers.

Its easy to give from our disposable account.

But to give God something matters, something that we otherwise could really use, shows our love for God because what we are giving Him is costly.

A car dealer sells cars, why would they give them away?

They can’t make money if they don’t sell cars.

Well, a farmer in Biblical times made money selling their cattle and/or their crop.

But God asked for 10% of the fruits of their labor.

And not only that, but the best fruits of their labor.

Why?

Some farmers would injure their cattle purposely to avoid tithing their best so that they could earn more money.

Priests would eventually learn how to do this too, that’s why Jesus turned over the moneychangers tables in the temple twice.

The tithes of the people had to be the best, yes for spiritual reasons, but also practical.

It was a practice at the temple to offer sacrifices to God for the forgiveness of sins.

Well, if a poor family could not bring an acceptable sacrifice to the temple, the temple had acceptable sacrificial animals there to use.

These acceptable sacrifices came from the tithes of the people.

The same with food and so on.

The priests could also sell these goods and they could earn money for ministry and for expenses.

The fruits of their labor were literal fruit, and cattle, and vegetables.

It was the product they sold to earn money, it wasn’t their money necessarily, though sometimes it could be, more so toward and in the New Testament than in the days of Moses.

Nonetheless here is the institution of the law of tithing.

And this law would exist all the way until the new covenant in Christ.

In the NT there is no command to tithe a tenth (since we are not under law but grace).

But the tithe is mentioned in , , and ).

This is an email and response that I wanted to share with you to help this make more sense.

Email:  What, specifically, does the Bible teach about tithing as it pertains to present day.

My wife and I have longed tithed, etc.  Regardless of the answer to this question, we will not quit tithing.

We give as we purpose in our hearts.

We are just curious about what the biblical answer is for today.

Response:  There is no New Testament admonition to pay tithes.

The reason is that we are not under law; that is, we don't "have to" pay tithes.

In Romans, the apostle Paul clearly points out that Christians are no longer under the law, but under Grace.

However, Jesus taught us to love God and to love our neighbor.

If we do this, then tithing, it would seem, would be a natural response in the freedom that we have in Christ rather than a requirement of Law.

Why?

Because the tithe that we give to the church can be used for furthering the gospel, the presentation of Christian literature, support of missionaries, and, of course, pastors.

Regarding the latter, let's take a look at what it says in .

(Paul responding to critics about his receiving of financial support from tithes)

"My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Do we not have a right to eat and drink? 5 Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

6 Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working? 7 Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?

Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat the fruit of it?

Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?

8 I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things?

9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.”

God is not concerned about oxen, is He? 10 Or is He speaking altogether for our sake?

Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops."

Paul is teaching us here that those who work at something have the right to make a living from it.

This is a basic and simple principle that is found in the scriptures.

In , Paul says, "For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages."

Clearly those who work in the ministry are allowed to make a living from the ministry.

How can they do this if they are not supported by tithes from the very congregation that they feed?

This becomes more obvious when we realize that ministers often work more than 40 hours a week and are usually on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Therefore, it seems fair to say that tithing is no longer commanded, but it is expected in the New Testament;

but we would not say that any Christian is under obligation to tithe.

It should be done out of the obedience of the heart to God, and as an act of worship before God.

And this is more inspiring motivation that I mentioned earlier:

Obedience

Our motivation to tithe should be obedience to God.

In fact, tithing existed in Scripture prior to Levitical law.

Cain and Abel offered tithes.

Abel’s was accepted because it came from a place of obedience, while Cain’s was rejected because his tithe came from a place of selfish manipulation.

Cain got mad and killed Abel out his jealousy and anger.

Abraham also paid tithes before the Law of Moses was ever instituted.

So we see that even more than a command, and more than a law, tithing is a matter of personal obedience to God.

Now, one of the hardest things to do is to part with our money, especially with no guarantee of its return.

To combat this, over time, the church has shifted the emphasis on obedience to God as our reason to tithe, to personal satisfaction, and even personal gain.

On the extreme end, is prosperity gospel doctrine which says that God’s main goal is to make you healthy, wealthy, and happy.

And if you want God to really make you healthy, wealthy, and happy, you’ll give Him more and more of your money, because God is obligated to return it to you 10-fold.

I assure you that that is no gospel at all.

It has nothing to do with Christ and Him crucified and is truly nothing but a poisonous elixir meant to prey on those who do not know any better.