When did Noah build the ark? Before it rained. When should a preacher preach about giving/tithing/offerings? My personal hate-to-be-pressured response is never. TV preachers appear to take the opposite of always. If we preached about money as frequently as the Bible refers to money, I am in debt. God says a lot about His gifts and our offerings. It’s not an option for the godly to disregard the subject.

Based on our many years of annual church budgeting, TEC is not only ahead of our anticipated income, we are ahead of what most churches hope for. We don’t live high on the hog, but we’ve also never had to beg. I’ve never preached an entire sermon on the subject (until now), and still the Giving Corner is as positive as any other part of the bulletin. Thank You, Lord.

As one of the pastors who is paid to be good (compared to others who joke that they are good for nothing, ha), I can’t remember ever praying for the flock to give. I have prayed for specific fundraisers, whether for an outreach opportunity or related to other institutions, but not for the church’s annual budget, except in thankfulness. That’s probably wrong. Yet based on our own expectations, you all exceed those regularly. Well done.

It’s possible that we are not actually meeting the Lord’s standards, but this is where we will trust the Spirit to lead, not where we will start examining your bank statements.

This will be the final message in Our Worship reminders this cycle; we’ll be back in Ezra next Lord’s Day. We have a Family Meeting tonight, planned with providence in mind, when we’ll see again our loves represented in income and expenses.

Honor the Lord

The wise get their wisdom from the Lord, and the wise also get their wealth from the Lord. They know the source, so they wisely thank God and decide how to direct their dollars with the Great Giver in mind.

Honor the LORD with your wealth
and with the firstfruits of all your produce;
then your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will be bursting with wine.
(Proverbs 3:9–10 ESV)

This text is not directly about giving to a church, or even about giving at all. More than a command, it’s a condition: if you honor the Lord with what He’s given you, then He will give you more. If the crop is blessed, and you bless with it, then there’s more blessing where that came from. These verses are the first specific application of the general principles in Proverbs 3:5-8 - lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, be not wise in your eyes. That includes what you do with your money.

It’s true that one way God required the Israelites to honor Him was by tithing. Tithing might be benefited from the Tithing Proper and tithing principle categories just as Sabbath Proper and sabbath principle.

Tithing proper meant giving ten percent of one’s annual income (usually agricultural) for sustaining the Levites. The other tribes’ tithes were the only inheritance for the Levites, and the rest of the tribes depended on them for service since only the Levites were allowed to come near the tent of meeting (Numbers 18:21-24).

There was a second tithe (Deuteronomy 14:22-27) that belonged with an annual celebration, and men were to travel to an appointed place and then consume their tithe “that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always” (Deuteronomy 14:23). Every third year, in addition to the traveling tithe, they were to share with the Levite and sojourner and fatherless and widow in their own town (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).

All tithes considered, the required giving in the OT averaged over 23% of annual income.

The prophet Malachi rebuked the Jews for “robbing God” when they kept back their tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:8-10).

There is no command to tithe repeated from Jesus or from an apostle. There is not even a direct command to give to a church. There are expectations, there are offers of good that come from giving, but no imperatives.

The wisdom principle stands. Just as we stop from our normal work to honor the Lord who makes the world turn, so we start our budgets with a recognition of where all of it came from. This is the financial first fruits. Honor the Lord with your wealth.

The Generous Get

Because God made and runs the world, those who love (by grasping) their wealth in this world will lose it, and those who “lose” (by giving) their wealth will gain it, in this world and the next.

The liberal soul shall be made fat:
and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25 KJV)

[G]ive, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38 ESV)

It’s not a financial formula that fits in an Excel sheet, but there is a spiritual formula behind it: we become like who or what we behold. When we behold God, and are transformed into His image, from one degree of glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18), among other things, that necessarily—inescapably, theologically, practically, and other ways adverbially—means that our glory will level up from one degree of generosity to another. The elect have been chosen for learning how to spend like God, and of course, we’re only spending what is God’s. A steward of this Master can’t be faithful if he’s stingy. Won’t he think about how to get the biggest bang for his bitcoin to bless others? He will if he’s godly.

Abel’s Acceptance

The first set of offerings in Scripture set the tone. God received Abel’s offering and rejected his brother’s (Genesis 4:3-6). The first murder on the planet was provoked by a wrong understanding of God and giving.

The emphasis is hard to miss. Abel brought the firstborn of the fat of the flock (Genesis 4:4). It seems to have more to do with the firstborn and fat than with the animal rather than vegetable. Abel’s offering was a priority and a sacrifice. He brought what was worth something to him. (Though Cain killed him, the Lord did bless Abel by being the first human brought into His heavenly presence.) Whatever leftovers Cain brought, corroborated by his immediate anger and resentment, shows that what was in his heart was wrong more than what was in his basket.

So Paul’s point about how God loves a cheerful giver has quite a history. So does the costly part.

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:6–8 ESV)

There is much in that passage, and Philip preached through it last year in: The Abundance of Alls. Sow out of get-to not got-to. Sow extra, not holding back, and in faith, not worried that God won’t see or care for. Can God only fill your hand once?

It’s not a competition between wisdom and faith, it is faith with wisdom knowing that carefully putting one seed in the ground isn’t going to grow an orchard. That would be foolish, actually, not faith.

Coins in the Coffer

Or, making ends meet. Or, the rubber meets the road. Or, a lightening round of particulars.

We take an offering every first day.

Paul told the Corinthians to do so.

Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. (1 Corinthians 16:1–2 ESV)

In context this collection was for a particular purpose, not a “general budget,” but is a good example.

We present our offerings to God as part of our Consecration.

There is flexibility in acceptable collecting practices. I love two parts of our preferred liturgical practice. One, we do not pass plates, or velvet bags. We put out a bucket and people fill it as they come in. There’s an intentional non-grabby vibe. Two, it’s part of the liturgy to present one collection to the Lord in thanks. Just as we try to emphasize corporate actions throughout the service, so the offering practice works toward the same.

Some don’t know how to give. Really, that is preferable rather than getting pressured on the spot.

We have entered the modern world by making digital giving possible. It really became a question/request during 2020 livestream only Sundays. There are great parts about it in practical terms, and that doesn’t make you any less part of the assembly. There’s also benefit in the “friction” of preparing an envelope/check and carrying it with you on the Lord’s Day.

We expect the elders to have responsibility for and authority to distribute.

We see this example in the book of Acts with people giving and the apostles distributing; “laid it at the apostles’ feet” (Acts 4:35, 37; 6:2). There’s also good reason to avoid lying and pretense about giving (Matthew 6:2-4; Acts 5:1-11). We do also have a designated fund for the deacons who likewise decide and distribute in places of need.

We don’t think that the only acceptable giving is to the church.

Are pastors allowed to say that? They have to if they don’t want to say things that God hasn’t said. As part of the assembly’s first day, first-thought dependence, it is GOOD. And, might the Lord lead you to sow a cheerful and bountiful seed that isn’t in the TEC corner of His field? Sure He might, for a portion, for a season.

Conclusion

ALSO! You cannot be saved by any amount of giving. Who cares how much you give apart from Christ?! Christ gave Himself for sinners, so take hold of Him before all else.

For Christ’s disciples, who are growing up in spiritual maturity and desire to grow in their giving, if you don’t know where to start, try giving first ten percent of your income to the assembly’s offering, and try to give weekly, or on a regular schedule, for sake of making it a priority to honor the Lord. So also, parents, teach your kids, when they earn money, show them to set aside the first ten percent for the Lord.

Remember that upon return from captivity in Babylon, after a good start, the people became complacent in the name of their own security. Haggai prophesied against them that they had sown much but harvested little, earned wages that fell through holes in their money bags (Haggai 1:6). It was because they were busy building their own houses and made excuses for not rebuilding the Lord’s house.

We do not have the exact temple building duty. We do not have Tithing proper requirements. But the sowing principle does apply. Will we honor ourselves with our wealth? Will we find our accounts strangely short? If you give, “it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over” (Luke 8:36).

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Charge

We’re so scientific. We select our seed, sow it, wait a while, and only surprised when it doesn’t work. But are we spiritual? Do we sow sin and expect sanctified kids? Do we sow love and expect an empty harvest? Friends, God calls you to sow to the Spirit and He will bring life.

Benediction:

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:7–9 ESV)