To Tithe or Not To Tithe: That is the Question

The Rev. Dr. Whitworth Ferguson III
Manassas Presbyterian Church
Manassas, Virginia
October 11, 2009


“The choicest of the first fruits of your ground
you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.”
Exodus 23:19

“The best of the first fruits of your ground
you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.”
Exodus 34:26

“All tithes from the land,
whether the seed from the ground
or the fruit from the tree, are the Lord’s;
they are holy to the Lord.”
Leviticus 27:30

“Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your seed
that is brought in yearly from the field.”
Deuteronomy 14:22

Do you see a pattern here?
A pattern that the children of God are called
to set aside a portion of what they had
and bring it to the Lord?
This is the biblical tithe,
the biblical ten percent.
And not just any ten percent,
but the first and best:
set aside and given to the Lord.

Actually “given” is the wrong word.
The first fruits, the tithe, the ten percent:
it was not a gift,
not something that was given to the Lord.
No, the tithe was a response,
it was a way to return to the Lord
a portion of what the Lord had given each person
in the first place.

The tithe was a reminder
that everything came from the Lord;
everything belonged to the Lord.

The tithe is a reminder
that everything comes from the Lord,
that everything belongs to the Lord.

And God was firm, adamant,
about the importance of bringing the tithe.
God was not interested in excuses or rationales:
“It wasn’t a good year;
I needed a new ox and plow;
I had to set money aside for retirement;
I’ll try to tithe next year.”

Listen to God’s angry voice speaking through the prophet Malachi:
“Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me!
But you say, ‘how are we robbing you?’
In your tithes and your offerings!
You are cursed with a curse,
for you are robbing me –
the whole nation of you!
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse…”
Malachi 3:8

Bring the full tithe;
the full tithe.

So there we are: all we need to know.
We are to bring our first fruits, our tithe,
bring them to God, here in God’s house.
Bring them in response to God’s blessings,
bring them not as a gift to God,
but as a way for us to return a portion
of what we have been given by God.

But oh how hard this is for us!
Studies have shown that Presbyterians give an average
of two percent to the church,
a long way from ten percent!

We’re not done learning from the Bible;
we’ve only read through the Old Testament.
Let’s check the New Testament
to see what can find there,
to see if there ia different instruction,
that we don't have to tithe.

Jesus doesn’t speak of a tithe,
he doesn’t teach it.
Perhaps because he thought it was a lesson
that did not need teaching,
that it was so clear, he didn’t need to say anything.
You recall he lifts up the poor woman,
the widow who puts her coins in the box,
all she had,
so much more than a tithe.
She is the model for our giving:
more than generous;
giving should be selfless.

We have to turn to Paul to find anything specific about giving.
We might expect Paul to speak of tithing;
after all, he built his arguments on Scripture,
which for him was the Old Testament.
Paul certainly knew his Exodus,
his Leviticus,
even his Malachi.
Surely he must have something to say about tithing.

Let’s have a look.
In his Second Letter to the Corinthians we read:
“For, as I can testify,
the people in the churches in Macedonia
voluntarily gave according to their means…”
2 Cor. 8:3

“Gave according to their means”?
What does that mean?
Was Paul saying that they gave their tithe?

Let’s read further:
“…if the eagerness is there,
the gift is acceptable according to what one has –
not according to what one does not have.”
2 Cor. 8:12

“If the eagerness is there”
Is this the new test for giving?
And what did Paul mean when he said,
“the gift is acceptable according to what one has –
not according to what one does not have.”

So far we have not heard a word about tithing.
Let’s read further;
Here’s what he says next:
“The point is this: the one who sows sparingly
will also reap sparingly,
and the one who sows bountifully
will also reap bountifully.
Each of you must give as you have made up your mind,
not reluctantly or under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver.”
2 Cor. 9:6

“To tithe or not to tithe” --
we thought that was the question.
But Paul doesn’t seem to say a word about tithing.

What Paul teaches us is this:
“each of you must give
as you have made up your mind.”

That’s it right there:
give as you see fit.
It is what the Stewardship Committee tries so hard to make so clear;
Take your pledge card,
pray,
listen for God’s guidance,
and then make your pledge of support
for the work God calls us to do
here at Manassas Presbyterian Church.
“Each of you must give
as you have made up your mind.”

Just as important,
God loves a cheerful giver;
So give eagerly.
Give joyfully.
Give not because you have to;
but because you want to,
because you are eager to respond to
the blessings God has given you.

Give gratefully.
That’s the premise of tithing,
it is an acknowledgement that it really isn’t your money,
my money, our money,
that God is the source of all you and I have,
that we are no different than the children of Israel:
we are merely returning a portion of what God has given to us.

Filling out a pledge card should be such a joyful task:
Are you grateful for blessings in your life?
Are you grateful for this church and all we do here?
It is so easy to be critical,
to say, “I don’t like this or that”
about our church.
But what’s the point of that?
We all know we are not perfect;
You can look everywhere and you will never find
the perfect church.

We are the body of Christ,
every one of us an imperfect child of God.
We do some things well,
and we do other things not so well.
But God has called us all here
to work together,
to work gracefully with one another,
to work cooperatively with one another,
each of us a vital part of this body.
We look after each other,
we pray for each other,
we nurture each other,
teach each other,
learn from each other.

Pat and I pledge separately –
she’s the member of the church; I am not.
I don’t tell Pat what to pledge;
I don’t even know what she pledges.
That’s between her and God.

I always look forward to filling out my pledge card.
I find it deeply spiritual time,
an opportunity for me to reflect on
how God has blessed me.
It is such a simple way for me to respond
as I return to God a portion of what
God has given to me.
And each Sunday I prepare myself for worship
by putting my envelope in the plate
when I walk in, even before I put water in the font.

When you receive your pledge card,
you will find a little trifold brochure
that provides a narrative overview of
how our budget is spent.
We were talking yesterday at the Session meeting
about how it seems that the numbers
don’t match line items on the budget.
What the Stewardship and Finance teams have tried to do
is provide a simple way to look
at the main components of our ministries.
As they have done this, they have allocated costs
to each of the ministry components:
building costs, salary costs and so on.

So, when you see, for example, the dollar figure for Mission,
that number is more than the money we send out each year;
the number represents costs allocated to the Mission ministry,
including Ann’s time, my time, building costs,
and so on.

Don’t get caught up in the precision of the numbers;
if you want to know exact amounts,
look at last year’s annual report,
or just speak with Charlie Harris.
One elder used a good term for the numbers
and the graphs you’ll find on the folder:
they reflect our “energy”,
where we discern God is calling us to serve,
where we are called to do Christ’s work.

When the telephone call comes
from the person before you on the trail route,
invite the person over right away;
Remember: he or she is your neighbor,
your brother or sister in Christ.
They aren’t going to talk with you about your pledge;
that’s up to you and God.
But do invite the person in, even just briefly;
welcome the person with genuine Christian hospitality
share a joy with the person,
and then do the same thing
when you take the trail bag to
the next person on the route.

Tithe if you can: it is a worthy goal for yourself
and your own spiritual journey,
I can confirm that from my own experience.
But more important
remember Paul’s call to pledge joyfully, eagerly and gratefully,
for as he reminds us,
“God is able to provide [us] with every blessing in abundance,
so that by always having enough of everything,
[we] may share abundantly in every good work.”
2 Cor. 9:8

To God be the glory and honor.
AMEN