People seem to have strong opinions about tithing, and I have never really figured out if it is because they really, really want to give more than 10 percent. Well, I have always practiced tithing as really a baseline, a starting point, and then given offerings on top of that. Hello, church. In today’s video I want to share nine quick reasons why I tithe, and then I will go through the Calvary Classics series booklet we have in our booklet rack called Tithing, by A. W. Pink. It was written in the early 1900s, but it is still a good study for us today. These videos we are doing are addressed to our church, but they are for everybody, so if you are new here, my name is Ryan Rench. I am the pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Temecula, California.
Nine Reasons Why I Tithe
Just last Sunday I came through Ephesians 4, where it talks about not stealing but working so you can have more to give, and in that sermon I shared nine reasons why I tithe. That was taken from a video clip I saw from a pastor of one of these rock concert style churches. It is definitely not our style, but I really liked his nine points, and I told this to our church last Sunday. Nine reasons why I tithe. He said, number one, it provides for God’s house. Number two, it tells God I trust Him. Number three, it creates margin in my life for God to fill. Number four, it reminds me that I am not my source. Number five, it connects my money to a kingdom purpose. Number six, it gives my job eternal significance. Number seven, it transforms my money into a seed, meaning you reap what you sow, in 2 Corinthians chapter 9. Number eight, it breaks greed and self-reliance off of my heart. And number nine, it lets everything else in my life and heart know that God is first.
The Tithe in the Old Testament
When we are talking about the tithe, A. W. Pink says there are several things in Scripture where we do not know where they first came from. We do not see the first time God clearly told them to do certain things. We see examples of them doing them, but we do not know how God first commanded people to do them. Offering a sacrifice, for example, was something we know they did, but it was not clear how Abel or Abraham and others who sacrificed to God knew they should be giving blood sacrifices. So we infer from that that God must at some point have given them the commandment to make sacrifices, but we do not know exactly when. A similar thing is true for the Sabbath. We know God rested, and it does not seem that the Ten Commandments were the first time He told them to keep the Sabbath. He just said, “Remember the sabbath day,” and so it seems to have been something that was already in practice for some time. The same seems to be true about the tithe. The Scriptures do not record the first ever command to tithe, and yet we do see Abraham offering tithes to Melchizedek, and then we see Jacob offering a tithe in Genesis 28, and then it is codified in law by the time Leviticus 27 comes around, and it is called holy unto the Lord: “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s: it is holy unto the LORD.” Of course, all that we have is the Lord’s, but the tithe is called holy unto Him. It is like we have zero hold on it. We do not own it at all. God owns all of it. The main purpose of the tithe was to support the priestly family. That is where the tithes and the offerings predominantly went in the Old Testament. So roughly speaking, if you have twelve other tribes, each of them giving about 10 percent, that would more than provide for another one of the tribes, the Levitical priests. They did not always follow that, and yet when there were revivals in the land, such as under Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 30 and 31, and then under Nehemiah, the revivals meant that the people started tithing again. That is where Malachi comes in and calls it robbing God when they were not tithing. So in his preaching there was the call to repentance from sin and the call to give back to the Lord His holy portion.
The Tithe in the New Testament
In the New Testament, Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees about tithing. They were tithing so meticulously, yet ignoring the weightier matters of the law, and Jesus said, well, tithing is good, but judgment, mercy, and faith are better. So I believe with Pink that Jesus was a tither, and that carried over into the churches, I believe: in the care of preachers in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, in the care of the church in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, and in the care of missions in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, with funds going beyond the local church. I believe the expectation is that God’s people ought to give. We ought to give sacrificially and proportionately, and the tithe means a tenth, which is a proportionate amount. I am thinking, if the Old Testament proportion was at least 10 percent to care for the Levites, then it seems like such a small step to take for the care of those ministering in spiritual things today. Finally, the last mention he highlights of the tithe is in Hebrews chapter 7. This book of Hebrews is all about Jesus Christ being better, better at everything, better than the old covenant. So Pink makes a connection here between the tithe and Jesus Christ, which connects our bringing the tithe to the Lord through Jesus Christ.
Pink’s Practical Points
In the final section of the book, Pink makes several practical points similar to what we started with, and his headings are as follows. Tithing as a constant recognition of the Creator’s rights: it is all His to control, so a tenth is nothing. Then he says, tithing as an antidote against covetousness. Nothing says “I am not covetous” like tithing says it. When we are unwilling to tithe, that says something more about us than anything else. Then he says, tithing as the solution of every financial problem. By that Pink means that for every ten Christian families, they ought to be able to support one full-time Christian worker among them. If they are all giving 10 percent, it would cover his salary at the average of the people he is ministering to. He says, what a shame to have missionaries who are supported so heavily by American dollars. Either they are living too high above the people, or the people are not giving scripturally. Last, he says, tithing as a test of our faith. I know we make it sound simple, like, “Ten percent, oh, that is no big deal,” but man, that is a test of faith, especially for new believers. Yet I believe it is a wonderful opportunity just to see God work. In the closing chapter, Pink talks about proving God, watching Him work, seeing the windows of heaven open through tithing, and he advises three things: make it a habit, track your giving, and make it a matter of definite prayer. I have been tithing since I was a kid. Every dollar I got, a dime of that went to God, and God has taken incredible care of me, all through college, all through marriage, and now that we have kids, I am just so appreciative of the lessons I learned as a child. I love what author Randy Alcorn said in closing. He said, “I view tithing as a child’s first steps, not the best she will ever do, but simply a good beginning, one which her parents celebrate. Tithing is like the training wheels on the bicycle of giving.” The point of putting on training wheels is actually to get you up and going, to learn how to ride a bike. “I think for many Christians, tithing can be a good thing in that it gets them going on a path of giving in a disciplined way that has some objectivity to it and that is measurable.” So I appreciate this book. I encourage you to pick one up and read through it for further information and further details on that. Until the next video, God bless you, and grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. God bless you. Well, thank you for watching this video. This whole channel is dedicated to videos kind of like this, so if that is not for you, that is fine, but if you did enjoy it and you would like more of this kind of content, would you help us out by clicking the like button and subscribing to our channel? We look forward to seeing you in the next video.
