”The Biblical Tithe”
(Tithes from the Heart)
Sermon by Rev. Tom
Cundiff
Deuteronomy 14: 1-2,
22-23
II Corinthians 9: 6-10
Deuteronomy 14: 1-2, 22-23
1You are children of the LORD your God. You must
not lacerate yourselves or shave your forelocks for the dead. 2For
you are a people holy to the LORD your God; it is you the LORD has chosen out
of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
22Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed
that is brought in yearly from the field. 23In the presence of the
LORD your God, in the place that he will choose as a dwelling for his name, you
shall eat the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, as well as the
firstlings of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your
God always.
II Corinthians 9: 6-10
6The point is this: the one who sows sparingly
will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully. 7Each of you must
give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for
God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to provide you with
every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you
may share abundantly in every good work. 9As it is written,
“He scatters
abroad, he gives to the poor;
his
righteousness endures forever.”
10He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for
food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of
your righteousness.
“Simple Gifts”. This is our stewardship theme in thinking
about the undemanding, uncomplicated blessings--gifts God has entrusted our
care. In the church, stewardship is the
time each year we contemplate the ways we can respond to God with the use time,
talents and funds. While we should be
thinking about what it means to be stewards of God’s gifts 24/7 and 365 days
out of the year, this is the season in asking for pledges so we can do the
specific work of building a meaningful budget in order to run this church for
another year. What I am learning again
in preparing these sermons: Stewardship
and deciding what to preach is anything but simple! Preparing a meaningful budget as stewards of
your gifts is also, anything but simple!
But simply, every year, we learn several things:
(1)
God is always
generous enriching our lives with an abundance of blessings.
(2)
This church is
always generous in sharing with God your time, talents and financial support.
(3) We continue to be a “Christ Driven church” church with many challenges, but also the resources we need to do God’s work in this community in this place in this period of time in our history.
In the end our stewardship is
between you and God. All we can do as
church leaders is ask you to simply do what you can do in faithfully supporting
the church. What we can do is church
leaders is the best we can in discerning what God would have us do with the
resources God has given us.
Today, in giving you more to
think about in considering your pledge, I am responding to a couple of requests
to preach a sermon on the meaning of tithing.
My sermon today: “The Biblical Tithe”. And I wonder, why do pastors preach on a
concept, tithing, that comes out of ancient, Old Testament Scripure that seems
to archaic and even irrelevant to the work we do as a modern church? I sometimes think this concept of tithing,
giving 1/10th of your income, is a ‘no win’ formula that
contributes to our feeling guilty when we either don’t tithe or because we cannot
or do not do more as stewards of what God has given us. Even for those who give a full biblical
tithe, there is a sense of guilt in not being able to contribute more! I abhor preachers who attempt to solicit
gifts through the use of guilt….particularly when it comes those who say in their
preaching the only path to heaven is through the checkbook. And yes, I am repulsed by those who would
place heavy spiritual burdens in judging those who cannot afford to do
more. We are all ONE in this place and God values/accepts each of us for who we are and
where we are in this time and place.
A reality check: Rules have changed in the modern society and
the modern church. While the Old
Testament talks clearly of a full one tenth tithe of income given to God, we
now see this as to mean: God or any
charitable organization that is doing God-type work. Or perhaps any gift we give to a non-profit
organization should be considered part of our tithe? I have always been taught that a good way to
promote giving is through “Proportional Giving”….giving a portion of what we have
with the goal of making increases as we are able…. And this approach of giving proportionately
can be “insulting” to those who actually choose to tithe!
THE BOTTOM LINE FOR ME: IS GOD
REALLY UP IN THE HEAVENS CHECKING A COSMIC LEDGER IN MAKING SURE ALL OF YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS ADD UP TO TEN PERCENT? I DON ’T THINK SO!
Something else to learn in
reading scripture: Tithing is mostly an ancient,
Old Testament concept. But in the New
Testament, while Jesus is always talking about money or wealth, tithing is only
mentioned three times. While in Old Testament
law tithing is a requirement, never in the New Testament is the Christian
REQUIRED to give a certain amount – in fact, as I have tried to share with you
on several occasions; New Testament
theology tells me God really wants everything, 100%, and our goal should always
be in asking: What is God asking from
me? How can I be more faithful? How can I better use all in life God has
entrusted my care?
This being said, what is God
calling us to give?
II.
GIFTS FROM THE HEART
I begin with this point: God
calls us to give from the heart. I
really believe this. More important that
calculations and tithes and formulas for giving: God mostly wants us to give
from what is deep within our souls – within the depths of our hearts!
The major text for this
series of stewardship sermons is from Matthew 6: 21, “where
your treasure is there your heart will be also.” Two key words: TREASURE and HEART.
The Greek word: thesauros*** (treasure) points toward those
things in life we value. Both texts
today talk of the highest of all values:
LIFE . From
Deuteronomy:
“……YOU are a people holy to the LORD your God; it is
YOU the LORD has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be (God’s) his
people, (God’s) his treasured possession.”
(Deut 14: 2)
We – YOU & ME -- are God’s most prized and valued treasure. And Paul tells us what God expects from us as
God’s treasure: EVERYTHING!
“……..God provides us with every blessing in
abundance. We will always have enough of
everything so that we may share abundantly in every good work.” (paraphrase, II Cor. 9:8)
While we may wish to debate
whether all God’s children are provided an abundance of all they need, the
point emerging from this scripture is the need for us to share a portion of our
abundance with those who aren’t as richly blessed. This is basic stewardship 101. We are called to share.
There is a second meaning to this word -- Thesauros (treasure).
This word also refers to the living ‘receptacle where things we value are kept’. Where do we keep our most valuable treasures
in life – our hearts.
What a wonderful piece of
scripture when looking at the meaning of this word from the Greek: ‘treasure’. Scripture tells us clearly of God’s
treasures that reside in a special vessel – within our lives and in our
hearts.
Kardia is
the Greek word for heart -- that receptacle or vessel where we place all that we cherish and value—our hearts/souls
that contain all of our treasures including the love God has for each of us
known to us through God’s only Son Jesus. If God is Love, then Love is the greatest and
simplest and most precious of all
gifts God has given us to place in our hearts. Love also becomes the most valuable
of all gifts we can give somebody else.
Everything else falls in place behind love….our tithes and offerings;
our time and talents; those things we value in life.
While scholars and teachers
and preachers can share dozens of reasons why we should give a tithe –
referencing ancient scripture and the law of Moses – it is from what we have in
our hearts, grounded in the love of God, that dictate ultimately what God calls
us to give.
Second point:
….emerging from all that God places in our hearts
….the gift we offer God each week in the name of FATHER and
….the gift that makes us Christ’s church?
WORSHIP!
FOR ME, THE MOST VALUABLE OF GIFTS FROM
THE HEART IS OUR WORSHIP!
There are lots of ways to
give to the church, but worship is time we invest each week to be with God and
to give glory to God and to enjoy what God has given us – entrusted us as
Christ’s church.
We gather in worship to be challenged with God’s Word that feeds our
minds and souls.
We gather to place our lives in God’s hands through liturgy and prayer.
We praise God through song.
We dedicate our lives to God with our offerings.
We commit our lives in service to those who are poor and heavy
laden?
Truly, I have come to believe worship is the most
precious of all gifts, in the name of Jesus, we can give God.
This makes a lot of sense to
me! In thinking about tithes and
offerings, the pledges we receive: We get
a number of pledges from people through the mail who never come to
worship. There are those who are
physically unable to be with us in worship.
While we never want to turn these gifts away, there is something missing
when we aren’t all together, to pass the peace, to hug and share stories and
hear God’s Word – to be enriched together in what it means to be a “community
of faith” – the “body of Christ” – the church!
I think most would agree, there’s something missing when we’re not
together…..that bond God creates and nurtures in and between us…...
So while we never want to judge
the person who doesn’t join us for worship – we also want to affirm: Worship really is the most important thing we
do as Christ’s church! Those who cannot
be with us still need to hear from us. They need to know we care. They need to know they are part of our
community. As stewards of God’s many
gifts, we still need to share God’s love with those who cannot be with us. Our mission and great commission: is to share what God has given us with others ….
whether they are here or not!
IV.
Wisdom from Paul
I leave you with one more
piece of scripture from Paul –
“…the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”.
As God has been generous with
us, I invite you to be generous in what you return to God! Whether it is the use of your time and
talents or financial resources, consider prayerfully what you can “reap (what
you can give) bountifully”.
Remember these two points:
1. God calls us to give form our hearts….the vessels
within us that contain all we value!
What we give doesn’t have much value unless they come from the heart.
2. Remember WORSHIP is the most valuable of all the gifts
God has given us as Christ’s church – the most valuable of all treasures that
emerge from our hearts..
Simple Gifts -- from God and
returned back to God. Tithes and
offerings that emerge from what God has placed in our hearts. Worship offered God in the name of Jesus our
Lord…..
Simple:
This congregation is our spiritual home!
May God continue to bless us in the name
of Jesus our Lord.
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