Become a Tithe-Loving Church, Pt.5

Bring this tithe to the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored, and eat it there in his presence. This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds. The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to fear the LORD your God. (Deu 14:23 NLT)

A thought I have been dealing with is this: Am I as the senior communicator of this faith community not elevating the tithe in the way Scripture does? I don’t believe I have been. That will change. I don’t want to be disobedient by lowering or minimizing even indirectly the standard of tithing. Tithing is one of God’s standards and it is no wonder why the mission and the vision are so closely tied to it.

TITHING IS ABOUT OBEDIENCE, WORSHIP, & MISSION

Tithing first and foremost is about OBEDIENCE.
We are commanded in Scripture to tithe. I love it when people say that tithing was only for the OT Law, that is such an indicator that they have no idea what they are talking about. Jesus not only said that we should tithe, but that it was a minimum requirement for being a God-follower (ouch)! Not only that, but the tithe started way before the Law of Moses was ever introduced (boom-sha-ka-la-kah)!

Tithing is about WORSHIP.
By bringing my 10% to God I am putting Him first. I am revering God more than money and anything else tangible or intangible in this world. If you want to continue to grow in your worship of God, in your love of Jesus, then tithing is the prescription.

Tithing is about MISSION.
God doesn’t want us to rely on bake sales, bingo nights, or car washes to fuel the proclamation of His Son, but He wants us to rely on Him and His word. His word says that we should tithe, and from this tithe we operate the expenses of the church – the expenses of the mission. If we don’t tithe, we can’t push the mission of Jesus forward, the church shuts down, and the gospel doesn’t get preached, and people don’t get saved, and our loved ones who die without Christ go to hell. I don’t want that, and you don’t want that, so let’s pull together and really show Jesus that He is worthy of our best and that He is worthy of our total obedience.