Luke 16:1-15
I want to do a little experiment this morning. In one hand I have a lighted match. Now in the other hand I have a piece of paper. What will happen if I put them together? [paper burns up]
How did you feel as I did this? What were you thinking? Did you have any strong emotions as I burned the paper?
Now I can take another match, light it and pull out another piece of paper. But this time the paper is a 200 dirham note. As I prepare to burn this piece of paper, are you feeling or thinking anything different than you did when I burned the piece of paper just a moment ago?
Money has power. It can make you feel powerful emotions. (I need to tell you that what I just burned was color copy of a 200 dirham note. I couldn’t bring myself to burn real money.)
When we talk about money in the church, that can also produce strong emotions.
How much money should you give to the church? When the collection plate comes by Sunday mornings, how do you decide how much to give? People talk about tithing, giving 10%. Does this mean you give 10% of what you have in your pocket Sunday morning? Does this mean you give 10% of what you earn? If you give 10% of what you earn, do you give 10% before taxes are paid out or 10% after taxes have been paid? What do you do if someone gives you a gift? Do you give 10% of that to the church? If you find money on the ground and there is no way of identifying the owner, do you give 10% of what you found? What if someone robs you? Can you deduct that amount from what you earn and then give 10% of what is left?
This morning I want to run through a brief history of the concept of tithing in the Old and New Testaments of our Bible and then address the question, “Why should I tithe?”
The word tithe in the Hebrew means literally, a tenth part. The Greek translation of the Hebrew word means to pay or collect tithes.
The practice of tithing existed in the ancient world before Israel was formed. The Egyptians, Syrians, Lydians, Babylonains and Assyrians all practiced tithing. But in none of these cultures was the concept as well developed as in Israel.
In the Old Testament, there are three tithes that are mentioned. There is first of all a tithe, 10%, that is given to the Levites, the tribe of Israel who functioned as priests for Israel. The Levites were given no land when Israel conquered Canaan and instructions were given that the tithe would provide for this tribe.
The concept of the tithe was that God had brought Israel safely to Canaan, the Promised Land, and now they were to return to God 10% of what he had given them. God gave them grain, new wine, olive oil, fruit, cattle and sheep and so they offered back to him a tenth of their grain, wine, olive oil and so on by giving it to the Levites.
Then there was a second tithe, a second 10%, that was to be brought to the temple and eaten there with family and friends in the presence of the Lord. This was a rejoicing feast, celebrating as a community what God had provided.
And then every third year there was a third tithe that was to be given to the storehouses so the poor and widows and orphans could be provided for.
The concept of tithing is well developed in the Old Testament. To fulfill one’s religious duty, it was necessary to tithe. To meet one’s obligations to God, tithing was necessary.
So in Malachi 3 we read that God’s blessing was withheld because the tithe was not given.
“I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
God’s blessing was withheld because Israel did not pay the tithe it was required to pay. This was the law of God. To be a follower of God, you had to pay the tithe. God gave you all you had and you were required to give back one tenth.
Now we move to the New Testament and I have some good news for you. You are no longer under the law. In Christ, you have been set free from the law. In the New Testament, the concept of tithing 10% is abolished.
When Jesus rose from the dead, Paul understood more clearly than anyone else that his death and resurrection meant we have been set free from the law. And he wrote in Galatians
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
We have been set free from the law and are no longer under any obligation to tithe 10%. Giving to the work of God 10% of what we have is an Old Testament concept.
What do you need to put in the collection plate to fulfill your obligation to God? Nothing! Not a single dirham! Not 10%. Not 5%. 0%!
But now listen. Remember when Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount and said:
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
In the same way, it was said that we should bring a tithe of 10% of all we have to the Lord each year, but now, in the New Testament, I say to you that all you have belongs to God. It is no longer 10% that is God’s share of what you have. Everything you have is God’s share. That is the teaching of the New Testament. It is no longer a case of a tenth of what you have belongs to God but all you have belongs to God.
It is not a question of what you need to give to fulfill your obligation to God. There is nothing you can do to repay God for what he has done for you. God has given you eternal life through the death of Jesus who died so you could live.
What can you give to God to repay him for eternal life? Nothing! God has given you his salvation as a free gift. You who have accepted his gift have been recipients of his grace. You have been given what you do not deserve and what you cannot earn and what you can never repay.
So how much do you put in the offering plate on Sunday? It is far more difficult than taking the sum of what you earn and dividing by ten. What you offer to God is your life. Every minute of your life. Every part of your life.
There might be some who feel liberated by this understanding. I am free from the law and can give 2% or 5%, whatever I want. The 10% has been abolished. But let’s review Jesus’ teaching. In the Old Testament the law was given because of the hardness of their hearts. So, do not commit adultery, do not murder, love your neighbor and hater your enemy. But now in the New Testament, the law has been written on our hearts. We have been given the Holy Spirit and in each case, the more exacting truth has been revealed.
Not only do we not commit adultery, but the deeper truth is that we are not to view each other as sexual objects. We do not murder but the deeper truth is that our anger is also an offense. We are to love our neighbors and now also our enemies. In each case the law taught the minimum and Jesus moved us to an understanding of the more exacting truth.
In the Old Testament the Jews were instructed to give 10% to the Levites. Now in the New Testament, can it be we can give less rather than more than 10%? This does not fit with the teaching of Jesus.
We did not move from no adultery to adultery once in a while. We did not move from not murdering someone to murdering on occasion. We did not move from loving our neighbors and hating our enemies to hating our neighbors every so often.
It is for the reason that 10% should be the minimum we give and then we can begin to see after that how generous we are able to be.
In the Old Testament giving the tithe was a religious obligation. In the New Testament giving is an expression of the joy of our Christian experience. Paul said in II Corinthians 9:7 that God loves a cheerful giver.
I don’t want to beat you over the head and make you feel guilty so you will give more. I want to help you this morning to see why it is in your own best interest to give.
One can never say everything about anything in one sermon. But let me present three reasons for giving to God’s work.
The first is rather simple. We give to show gratitude. We can never repay what God has done for us but we can show our gratitude.
In Luke 17 is recorded an experience Jesus had that came to my mind.
11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Jesus is walking to Jerusalem when ten lepers, keeping their distance from him as proscribed by law, called out to him to be healed. Jesus saw them and told them to go show themselves to the priests and when they obeyed, they were cleansed, healed from their leprosy (which by the way is quite a miracle since it requires regeneration of nerves to bring the healing). Ten lepers were healed but only one of them came back to thank Jesus and praise God.
Ten lepers received a free gift – healing from a disease that made them social outcasts from their families and communities. How much would they be willing to pay for healing from this disease? Everything they had. What could they offer to Jesus except their gratitude?
And yet only one out of the ten came back to thank Jesus and praise God.
Why did that leper return? Was he obligated to do so? No. Was his healing dependent on his coming back to give thanks? No. The other nine did not return to give thanks but were still healed. But the leper who returned came back out of gratitude and received in the process what the other nine never learned, that it was faith in God that brought healing, not the magic of Jesus.
Why should we give to the work of God in the world? Because we are grateful for what God has done for us and because when we give, we grow in our understanding of faith and the ways of God working in the world. We give out of gratitude.
How grateful are you for what God has done for you? Let that be your guide as you give.
A second reason for giving to the work of God in the world is that in doing so we are acting wisely, preparing for the future.
The parable of the Shrewd Manager that we read this morning is a difficult parable to understand. On the face of it, it seems to be commending dishonesty.
Let me summarize the story. A manager who has complete control over his master’s estate, is called in to the master and told he will be removed from his position. The manager decides he doesn’t like his future prospects: he does not like to do manual work and does not want to beg. So he goes to the people who owe his master money and lowers the amount they owe his master. In this way he puts them in his debt so that when he loses his job as manager, these people will help him out in his new life.
Now it doesn’t really matter if he defrauded his master of the money due to him or if he removed from the bills an unfair and illegal amount of interest charged. In either case, what Jesus commends in this parable is that he used his resources in his present situation to prepare for his future situation.
Picture yourself on the Titanic. The ship has struck an iceberg and is sinking. People are struggling to get into the lifeboats. The ship has begun to tilt as the stern of the ship takes in water so walking along the corridors and the deck of the ship is difficult. It won’t be long before the ship goes under and if you are not in a lifeboat by that time, you will most likely drown in the frigid Atlantic waters.
Being a conscientious person, you race through the hallway to see if there is someone you can save and bring to the lifeboats. As you race down the hall, you see a man ransacking the rooms, filling his pockets with gold and silver and jewelry he has found in the cabins. He is dragging a suitcase loaded with money and watches and other valuables. He is delighted at this treasure he has discovered. “I’m a rich man! Look at all I have!” he shouts at you and then races on to the next cabin to get some more. You try to persuade him that he should abandon all that and try to save himself but to no avail. His heart is so set on this treasure he has found he is incapable of thinking of the future.
This is the flip side of the parable Jesus taught. What good does it do you to accumulate money and wealth in this life when death is approaching that will take all you have accumulated away from you? The wise person uses what he or she has accumulated to prepare for the future, life after death. Jesus said (Luke 16:9)
I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
In the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Luke 12, Jesus taught
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Where are you accumulating treasure? It doesn’t matter whether you have it or are lusting for it. It doesn’t matter whether you have a lot or a little. Where are you accumulating treasure? If your treasure is in this world, then you are a fool, like the man on the Titanic gathering up treasure while the ship is sinking.
Don’t end up being bankrupt when your life in this world is over. Build up treasure now in heaven by using what God has given you here in ways that are pleasing to him.
Why give to the work of God in the world? Because we ought to be grateful to God for what he has done for us. Because it is a wise person who uses what he or she has in this world to prepare for the future. And thirdly, we give to the work of God in the world because we receive from God blessing when we use our money and possessions in ways that please him.
I read earlier a passage from Malachi 3 in which Israel was cursed because they did not bring a tithe as they were instructed to do. But I left off the last verse of that section. After the Lord says he is being robbed because people are not bringing him their tithe, he says:
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
There is a theme in Scripture that God’s blessing of us is in some measure dependent on how we use the money and possessions he has entrusted us with. We see this in the last verse of the passage from Malachi 3. We see this also in the teaching Jesus gave after his telling of the parable of the shrewd manager.
10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
What is Jesus talking about here when he refers to “little” and “much”? That becomes apparent when you read verse 11. So verse ten can be read, Whoever can be trusted with worldly wealth can also be trusted with true riches, spiritual blessing, and whoever is dishonest with worldly wealth will also be dishonest with spiritual truths.
If you are not using the money and possessions God has given you in a way that pleases him, you are depriving yourself of the spiritual blessing God wants to give you.
You can see this also in the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25. A man went on a journey and gave money to each of his three servants. To one he gave five talents, to the second two and to the third servant, one talent. The servant with five earned five more. The servant with two earned two more and the one with one buried it in the ground and earned nothing. Now is not the time to go into the meaning of the parable, but notice the reward that is given to the ones who earned more with what they were given.
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Because the servant used what was given him in a way that pleased his master, he was given more responsibility, more blessing.
Do you want to be blessed by God? Do you want to receive in your life God’s blessing? Then use your money and possessions in a way that pleases God.
At this point I need to clarify something. This sounds dangerously like the health and wealth gospel that is too widely preached. It is true that Scripture teaches you will be blessed when you give to God. That blessing may be a material blessing but it might not be. The blessing will be of God’s choosing. God knows what is best for you and as you are obedient to him, God will bless you in the way he wants to bless.
In a recent sermon I talked about the power money and possessions have over us. When we share our money and possessions, when we give them away, we shatter the power they have over us and make room for the joy of Christian life. Giving is a joyous act, unless it is done from a sense of duty or religious obligation.
This is why I focus in my preaching on growing in our understanding of the love of God for us. Money follows our heart and when our heart is given to God, our money will follow.
God’s blessing cannot be measured in material terms. If you put 20 dirhams in the offering with the hope that God will give you 200dirhams, you are on a dangerous track. Giving money or possessions to God so God will give money and possessions to you is not Biblical teaching.
Let me warn you. God is no fool. You cannot manipulate God for your own advantage. Beware of playing with God to get what you want.
We are not a rich congregation and this year we face a budget that has increased by 23% from last year’s budget even though we were 37% under our budget for this year. From a fiscally conservative point of view, we should not be increasing our budget when we had such a shortfall this year. But the question before us is what is God calling us to do this coming year. If God is leading us to take the steps we are taking, then he will provide the funds we need. And if we are the ones who will be privileged to provide the funds we need, then we will be blessed by God as we store up treasure in heaven.
I don’t want anyone to feel manipulation or guilt because of what I have said this morning. If I manipulate you into giving more to RPF, that will not benefit you or the church.
God does not need your money. The Kingdom of God will do very well without the money you give. In fact it is preposterous to think that the God who created the universe from nothing needs your money to accomplish his purposes. If it is God’s intention that RPF grow in the ways our budget is leading us to grow, do you really think that if you do not put money in the offering plate, God’s purposes will be thwarted? That’s absurd.
Why give to God’s work?
How grateful are you for what God has done in your life? Are you using the money and possessions you have been given to store up treasure on earth or treasure in heaven? Do you want to receive all the blessing God has for you?
There is a joy in giving. I remember a conversation I had with my father and the accountant for our company ten or fifteen years ago. We were having lunch and discussing this subject of giving to the church. The accountant began to ask me if a 10% tithe should be taken out before or after taxes. He asked what I would do if I had a tax-deferred investment? Would I tithe from that? He went on and on and finally I said to him, “You’re missing the point. It is not a matter of how much I need to give to fulfill my religious duty. It is a question of how much I can give because of the joy of participating in what God is doing in the world.”
This is what will happen if you are not generous with what God has given you. You will miss out on the blessing of God he has in mind for you, the joy of participating with him in his work in the world. You are the one who will suffer, not God.
John Wesley preached a famous sermon in which he called on Christians to earn all you can. Make as much money as possible. Secondly, save all you can. How little of the money you earned do you need to live on. And thirdly, he challenged the church to give all you can.
10% is not a limit or a goal. “How much can I give,” is the question, not, “What do I have to give.”
I challenge you to open your heart to God and let go of the treasures of this world to which you cling so tightly.
And God challenges you as well.
Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
