Christians who don’t tithe are robbing God. To assuage their guilt, prophets of the people arise to provide excuses that justify this theft. But why?
Saying that the tithe remains a binding requirement on Christians offends a lot of Christians. This is because, driven by sin, they are angry to think that they have to give 10% of their income to God through his local church. Why is this offensive to them?
For one, it is common in our day for people to live beyond their means. They live paycheck to paycheck. They have very little money in savings, much less 3 to 6 months in an emergency fund.
The statistics are appalling. Half of all US households making under $50,000 each year live paycheck to paycheck, and as do roughly 74 percent of all employees. Making more money doesn’t seem to be the solution, either. About 33 percent of households that make between $50,000 and $100,000 live paycheck to paycheck, and almost 25 percent of wealthier households making over $150,000 per year do, too.
They use consumer debt to buy things they want now, but which they lack the patience to save up for and pay cash. They could save a lot of money in interest payments if they did this. But they don’t. They want it now. They don’t want to wait.
Many people don’t budget. They don’t have budgets. They have no idea where their money goes each month. If you were to ask them what portion of their annual income goes to basic utility expenses, they couldn’t tell you. They also couldn’t look it up, because they would have no idea where to start.
Articles like this are common. This one begins:
Many think believers in Christ should tithe (defined as giving 10 percent of one’s income), and many use the language of “tithes and offerings” in worship services. Others are equally convinced tithing is not required for believers.
Which view is more faithful to God’s Word?
Anyone who tells a Christian to pay 10% to God on top of his big consumer debt, student loan debt, mortgage debt, auto loan debt, and whatever might be left to fund his puny savings, is going to offend him. This is because it means he is going to have to find it. This means he will have to reduce spending in some other category to which he has grown accustomed. He is going to have to sacrifice convenience in some aspect of his financial life to give God what is rightfully His. But instead of paying God what he owes Him, the over-extended Christian has used God’s portion to increase his lifestyle. To get right with God in the realm of finances, he will have to reduce his lifestyle.
And for what?
NO FAITH IN GOD’S ABILITY TO INFLUENCE HISTORY
Maybe one reason many Christians don’t think they need to pay the tithe is because they don’t believe God is going to do anything about it. They have likely been taught for a long time that God, once Jesus ascended into heaven, has all but abandoned history. They are taught lies such as that the world is bad, history is bad, and the material realm is bad. In contrast, they learn that only the spiritual realm is good. The private, inner spiritual life of our heart is good. These things matter so much, in fact, that believing that Jesus is Lord and Savior becomes all that matters.
Obeying His laws and commandments becomes something worldly. Never mind the words of the Lord Jesus, when He said “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). “Keeping God’s law” becomes a phrase that is derided as pharisaical. Ripping Paul’s words from Romans out of context— “Do not allow sin to rule over you. For you are not under law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14)—they proclaim “We are under grace, not law!”
When people say this, they are really confessing that they believe we can do practically anything we want now as Christians. There is no law. The “law” was an Old Testament thing that no longer matters. Some even go so far with this as to completely reinterpret the Old Testament and say that the Israelites weren’t saved by faith in the Messiah alone, but by works. “They had to keep the law,” they’ll say.
That wasn’t true at all. Paul’s words from Romans 6:14 don’t mean what many Christians think:
Should we attempt to deal with this verse without surveying the verses that preceded it in chapter 6 of Romans? Obviously not. There are many, many Bible teachers who try to do just this. They read into Paul’s words what they would like for him to have said. But Paul was a logical man. He built up his arguments, step by step. What precedes a conclusion by Paul is crucial for understanding one of his conclusions.
Sin does not have dominion over our souls. This is a statement of fact, a description of our very nature as redeemed people. Paul argues this way throughout the passage (6:2, 4, 6-7). But sin can reign over our mortal bodies; it is still a threat to our witness (6:6, 11-13). He says “henceforth we should not serve sin” (6:6b). Got that? Should not. This is an ethical command, not a description of our redeemed nature. It is an “ought,”, not an “is.”
How can Paul say that we are not under the law, if he wants us to honor the law in our daily walk with God? Because he wants us to know that we are not under the condemnation of the law. We are not under the curse which confronts covenant-breakers. We are not to fear the law of God, for it no longer sentences us to the second death, as it did before Christ redeemed us. Instead, we are under grace, to do good works (Ephesians 2:8-10).
…
It is not that the law is a dead letter to us. Rather, we are a dead letter to the law. We have died ethically as covenant-breakers, so that we may live ethically as covenant-keepers. The law no longer condemns us as regenerate men, who have the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to them. But our justification (God’s judicial decree of “not guilty”) is not the same as our progressive sanctification, as we run the race, fight the good fight, and press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God (Philippians 3:14). We receive justification at the time of our salvation, but this does not excuse us from working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12b) – not in fear of losing our justification, but in fear of not attaining all that God would have us to achieve…
Dr. Gary North, 75 Bible Questions
Many theologians rise to the task of defending a Christian’s outrage at the idea that he owes God a tithe by attempting to show why the tithe is no longer a requirement. Consequently, some pastors may not preach on the binding requirement of the tithe in the New Testament era because their church members don’t want to hear it.
If they don’t want to hear it, there is a good chance the offended members will leave and find another church that doesn’t preach on the tithe. Should some members get offended and leave, this can result in a loss of income to the church (albeit probably a very small amount since they aren’t tithing). If the church is deep in debt itself, then losing even the smallest bit of income can have a major effect. Forget about the ministries–this could also mean smaller salaries for pastors and other church employees.
This is why Paul did not take money from the churches he visited (1 Corinthians 9:12-15). He had a job as a tentmaker (Acts 18:3). That was his source of income. He didn’t want to rely on church income because he didn’t want to water down God’s word. “For we are not like so many people who sell the word of God for profit. Instead, with purity of motives, we speak in Christ, as we are sent from God, in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 2:17).
Nor did he omit the word of God for profit.
CONCLUSION
Unfortunately, many church members live paycheck to paycheck with little savings and a lot of debt, and so do many churches who serve them. And because the consequences of preaching biblical truths may be financially severe, the church is tempted to curtail its message. It may stop preaching the books, passages, and verses on tithing that people might find offensive. Since humans are born into sin and we struggle with it our whole lives, there is a lot in God’s pure and holy Word that is offensive to our ears.
Any church that falls into this temptation is withholding the life-giving manna that their members need to change their lives, die to self, and live to Christ.
It is this reason why theologians write articles like the one I linked to in this article. The theologians are trying to give cover to the pastors so that the pastors can point to what they say are “good arguments” proving that the tithe is no longer mandatory.
The deacons in God’s church must know better. They must learn better. Jesus Christ is not a beggar. He is high priest and King, Lord of all creation. He does not beg. His church has charitable work to accomplish. It needs money to accomplish this work. No magical fairies will appear and just “do God’s work.” God appointed humankind as the means to do His work. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good deeds that God planned long ago for us, so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
Ten percent of our income belongs to God. It is not up for negotiation. We are His stewards. He provides us the resources we need to fulfill our calling in His kingdom, and in turn He commands that we return the 10 percent that is His. This is an act of faithfulness. It is a test.
Because deacons set the example, they must tithe, too.
Jesus said “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24). He also said that where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also. Our spending, our budgets, reveal the master we serve. A Christian who 1) doesn’t tithe, 2) is deep in debt, and 3) has no savings is revealing much about who his master is.
I have published a series of articles refuting and answering common arguments brought to bear against the mandatory tithe. Hopefully this will help prepare you to carry out your duty as a deacon, an ordained officer in God’s church. You have greater responsibility than do the church members who are not ordained. You must get ready. These articles are intended to help you inoculate yourself from common objections. This is so that you can, first, be convinced in your own mind of the truth of the mandatory tithe and, second, inoculate church members who may raise the same objections.
There are many blessings available for those who tithe to the Lord. Many Christians, like a relentlessly disobedient child who more often draws his father’s ire than his pleasure, only know a life plagued by curses sent in response to stealing from God. As a deacon, you can help move them from being under God’s constant fatherly displeasure to under His loving pleasure.