How the Tithe Became a Tip
“The tithe isn’t required for New Testament Christians.” This sentiment has become a rally cry for many a church-member. And while an argument can be made for the truth of this statement, it is most often used as an excuse to give little or nothing to the church. The net result, for many Christians the tithe turned into a tip.
To understand how we got here, it helps to know where we came from. In the Old Testament, God established a practice that would systematically remind people that all they have is his, and a portion of one’s income should be designated for generosity right at the very beginning. The word “tithe” simply means one-tenth. But if you add up all the tithes that were required in the Old Testament, it was actually north of 30%. This money (and goods) would go to help the needy, to run the temple, and to run the government, because in those days the temple and the government were essentially the same.
One of the passages often quoted is Malachi 3:10: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”
In the Old Testament, that storehouse was a physical place where the Jews would deliver their offerings of grain or animals. It had specific functions according to God’s Word. It was there to feed the tribe of Levi and the priests (Numbers 18:24-29), who would be equivalent today to pastors and other church staff, missionaries, and evangelists. It was there to feed the Hebrew widows and orphans living within the Hebrew city (Deuteronomy 14:28-29), equivalent to the needy and widows and people from the church who are in nursing homes today. And it was there to feed the Gentile poor living in the Hebrew city, which today would be equivalent to reaching out to homeless shelters and orphanages outside the local church.
While some of the directives given in the Old Testament regarding the tithe are so contextualized and directed at Israel that it becomes difficult to make exact comparisons to the church era, the principles at play are still important. In the New Testament, the tithe is hinted at but not directly commanded. Jesus said to not ignore the tithe while pursuing generosity. But beyond that, as he did with other Old Testament prerogatives, Jesus raised the bar of commitment. He said he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, and then he said things like, “you heard that it was said, don’t murder or don’t commit adultery, but I say to you, if you hate your brother or look at someone lustfully, you’ve already committed these sins in your heart!” What’s he doing? He’s raising the bar. He’s saying the commands were not just for blind obedience, but to transform your heart. In the same way, the New Testament teaching is not that 10% of your stuff is God’s, but that 100% of it is. He reminds us often, that it’s on loan to you, but it’s all His. So at Grace, we encourage percentage giving including the tithe as a starting place, a kind of training wheels to true generosity.
The Modern Shifts of Tithing and Giving
Generosity has become an option instead of an obligation. Everybody is for it, but few people think they have to do it. In the bible, generosity isn’t the extra credit package just for those who want an A+. It’s the basic expectation for those who just want to pass the course. In 1 Timothy 6, Paul says “command them” to be generous. It’s still what God expects of his people.
Giving up front to giving from what’s leftover. The bible is clear that the first one to receive from our paychecks should be God. It all came from Him to begin with, and as a sign of our faith in Him we give off the top. It’s the concept of first fruits, that one of the ways we show worship and respect to God, one of the ways we radically declare our allegiance to God, is to give Him the first out of everything we receive. Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, and with the first fruits of all your produce.”
But it’s much more common to see Christians giving to God from their leftovers. For most, it’s not until I’ve cared for all my needs. I make sure I have my car, my toys, my entertainment, my phone, my Netflix, my triple venti soy caramel macchiato. Then I see what’s leftover, dig around in the bottom of my purse through the old gum wrappers and hair ties, and send whatever is left God’s way. But God doesn’t deserve our leftovers in any area of life. And finally,
Giving intentionally instead of giving sporadically. People often think of generosity as a spontaneous act, not a pre-planned one. You give when something moves you, or a go-fund-me cause appeals to your emotions. A whole cottage industry has been created around fundraising. People have figured out how to push our buttons and motivate us to give. From colleges, to hospitals, to non-profits. Show me the picture, tell me the story, get me liquored up on the golf course or at a banquet. Press my buttons and I’ll give to your cause. And some of those causes are great. But our heart is truly changed and closeness with God is achieved when our generosity becomes a consistent pattern. It must be cultivated and practiced with ongoing discipline. When we allow our emotions to drive our giving, we give to things we’re passionate about. But then we stop giving if the passion fades.
In the midst of all this cause-based, emotionally driven giving, we’ve lost the discipline of generosity. And that discipline is actually the practice that will begin to change and shape our heart and grow our faith over the long term. That’s why the bible promotes tithes and offerings. Tithing is that regular, planned generosity that shapes our heart toward God’s heart. Offerings are those over-and-above moments when a situation captures our emotions, or a need comes that we didn’t see coming.
Let Your Money Lead Your Heart
Jesus said something that sounds almost backwards: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Shouldn’t your heart lead your money? It sounds almost unspiritual to say your money can lead your heart. We’d expect Jesus to say wherever your heart is, your money will follow. But he says exactly the opposite.
Your heart will follow the money trail. If you put some money into fantasy football, guess where your heart is going to be? If you put some money into crypto, guess what you’re checking all the time? If you spend money on collections, or clothes, or furniture, or hobbies, your heart will follow. We care about our money, so we care about the things our money funds.
Jesus’ point is that if you want to get your heart to the right place, put your money in the right place. If you want your heart to be spiritual, put your money in spiritual ventures. Make your money lead your heart into generosity.
So whether the literal tithe is a New Testament concept or not, God’s idea of percentage giving is brilliant. When you decide to give the first percentage of your income to God and his church, it leads your heart toward the right stuff. It forces you to adjust YOUR kingdom and YOUR lifestyle accordingly. It keeps you from ever giving Him leftovers. It keeps you from ever getting to the end of the month and saying, “Well, let me see how much I have so I can decide how much I’ll give.” It ensures that you don’t allow every resource that comes your way to be gobbled up by ‘you first’ in greed and materialistic tendencies.
Percentage giving allows you to decide up front to be generous. It doesn’t leave your giving in the hands of my feelings or emotions in the moment. Which can be incredibly unreliable. Generosity starts with a decision, just like every other important thing. You are choosing your priorities up front.
Take two guys and a dentist. Sounds like the start of a bad joke. One of them, every time he goes to the dentist, he schedules his next trip and gets it in the books. The other guy waits until he’s in the mood to see his dentist. Which guy do you suppose will enter his retirement years with all his teeth? The guy who built it into his schedule. If you want results, you put a system in place. The same goes with giving.
Over in 2 Corinthians, Paul adds a little more detail when he says, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” There is an intentionality to giving, deciding ahead of time, and it allows us to give cheerfully because we are assuring that our priorities are right. It helps you give from the top, not the bottom. If you’re a Christian and you’re keeping more than 90% of God’s money for yourself, you have to really rethink that arrangement. God created us so that our hearts would imitate his, and he is a generous God.
But fair warning: If you make generosity a priority, you will probably never keep up with the Joneses. You know how we compare. You compare your house, your car, your vacations. This is human nature. If you try to keep up with the Joneses, you’ll never be generous. Do you know why? I know a little secret about your peers and colleagues and neighbors that you’re trying to keep up with. They’re in debt. They’re spending money they don’t have. Most of them are living well beyond their means.
In order to keep up with them, you’ll have to do that too. But if we follow Jesus, we need to make the decision to live well below our means so that we can be generous. It’s one of the clearest statements we can make about where our allegiance lies. Proverbs says only the fool devours all he has. But if you’re going to live a generous life, the Joneses are going to win. They’ll have the better lawn, the better car, the cooler gadgets. Here’s my advice: just declare them the winners. Give them the trophy. Hang the ribbon above their front door. If you choose the discipline of generosity, they’ll beat you every time at the acquisition game. But you’ll get a couple of cool things instead. You’ll sleep at night. When you get to heaven, you’ll have a treasure that lasts a whole lot longer than a couple of decades.
Some Practical Questions
As a pastor of more than 30 years I’ve gotten lots of questions about money along the way. Here are a few:
Should all my giving go to my church, or can I give to other organizations?
I personally believe we should funnel the majority of our charitable giving to our main place of worship. I would not be comfortable if there was a person who called Grace their church home, attended here, was spiritually fed here, was involved in the mission here, and yet had all or the majority of their giving going to other organizations.
The local church is God’s main strategy for the redemption of the planet until he comes back. He said, to reach the world I will build my church. Our resources accomplish more together. But that doesn’t mean we can’t support other ministries or causes. At the same time we should be selective in the kinds of other charities we give to. They should be God-honoring and furthering the Kingdom of God.
Kim and I have taken the stance that at least our first 15% goes to the church, and then other ministries we support come over and above that. There are other leaders who give 7-8% to Grace and the rest to other ministries or organizations. It’s a personal obedience issue. You need to get with God and be sure you are being totally obedient in this area.
Should I base my percentage giving on my gross or net income?
Proverbs 3:9-10 says that God has asked for our first fruits, which is the first and best of all that we receive. I believe that means we should base our percentage on our total income before taxes. If we give to the government a percentage based on the gross, it feels weird not to do the same with God!
Can I designate my giving within the church?
One of the lessons in giving for the believer is the beautiful lesson of giving up control of our finances. One of the things that makes generosity to God through the church so beautiful is that we relinquish control of the exact way that money will be applied to ministry. It is the lesson of the open hand that we all need to learn.
When someone who is very passionate about a certain specific thing only designates money to be used in that arena, it ties the hands of church leaders who understand the whole picture and who recognize it could best benefit the church if it were applied to a more pressing ministry need. So we won’t be letting people name buildings, or pews, or ping pong tables at Grace. All giving goes into the general fund (except sponsorship for mission trips, etc.)
A Challenge
Some of you aren’t giving intentionally in any way. You are giving sporadically or haphazardly at best. And you’re just a decision away from going on an adventure with God. I know tons of stories of people who just went cold turkey into giving 10% of their income away, and it was no turning back. It’s a soul-expanding, heart-pounding adventure of generosity that we’re all supposed to be on.
There are some of you who for a variety of reasons can’t start with 10% today. But I want to challenge you to start somewhere. Choose a percentage that’s somewhere a little north of where you are now and decide to prioritize this and do it. If you’re in a rut or a crisis or loaded up with debt, get some help. But do something to get in the generosity game.
And frankly, there are some of you for whom a percentage like 10% doesn’t even represent an act of faith at all anymore. It’s not even a challenge. You should be asking: is my giving at my current percentage helping lead my heart to generosity? If not, it’s time to ratchet it up. Let your money take your heart for a little joy ride.
The ultimate goal is instead of asking, “How much of my money should I give,” ask, “How much of God’s money do I need to live on?” And then give everything else away. This is the New Testament teaching.
