Tithe V.s. Sacrificial Giving

This past Sunday I spoke to you about sacrificial giving. I also asked each family to pray about giving toward a building we hope to buy in town.

The language of sacrificial giving sounds odd to some. Lots of folks expect a pastor to talk about tithes and offerings every Sunday. At King’s Fellowship we have chosen not to frame giving around the tithe, and our reason is theological.

Under the law of Moses, Israel tithed crops and livestock, not money

Leviticus defines the tithe as a tenth “of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees.” It also includes a tenth of the herd and flock (Leviticus 27:30-32; Deuteronomy 14:22-23). Malachi tells Israel to bring the tithe to the storehouse “that there may be food in my house” (Malachi 3:10). When Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, they are tithing mint, dill, and cumin (Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42).

Money shows up only once, in Deuteronomy 14:24-26. An Israelite who lived far from the sanctuary could sell his tithe and carry the money there. Then he could buy food and drink to eat before the Lord with his household. Even then, the tithe ended up as a meal.

The tithe belonged to the Levitical system of worship

When Israel entered the land, the tribe of Levi received no territory of its own (Numbers 18:20-24; Deuteronomy 18:1-2). God gave the Levites towns and pastureland, but no fields to farm (Numbers 35:1-8; Joshua 21). Instead, God gave them the tithes of Israel “in return for their service” at the tabernacle (Numbers 18:21). The Levites then gave a tenth of what they received to the priests (Numbers 18:26-28).

Every third year, the tithe also fed the poor in each town. It went to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow (Deuteronomy 14:28-29). Bringing the tithe was Israel’s way of confessing that the land belonged to the Lord (Leviticus 25:23; 27:30). It also confessed that the rain and the harvest came from him (Malachi 3:10-11).

So the tithe belonged to one land, one priesthood, and one sanctuary. Hebrews teaches that the Levitical priesthood has given way to the priesthood of Christ (Hebrews 7:11). When the priesthood changes, Hebrews says, “there is necessarily a change in the law as well” (Hebrews 7:12).

No apostle ever tells a church to tithe

In the New Testament letters, the word tithe appears only in Hebrews 7. There the author uses Abraham’s tithe to show that Christ’s priesthood is greater than Levi’s (Hebrews 7:1-10). He is making a point about Jesus, not giving instructions for Christian giving.

The silence is loudest in 1 Corinthians 9. There Paul argues at length that those who preach the gospel have the right to earn their living from it. He appeals to the soldier, the farmer, and the shepherd (1 Corinthians 9:7). Then he quotes the law against muzzling an ox (Deuteronomy 25:4). He also points to the priests who eat from the altar (1 Corinthians 9:13). Finally, he cites a command of the Lord himself (1 Corinthians 9:14). Paul teaches the same thing in other letters too (Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 5:17-18). If the tithe were still binding on believers, this is exactly where Paul would cite it. He never does.

Then Paul tells the Corinthians he has chosen not to use that right (1 Corinthians 9:12). In fact, he calls this refusal his boast (1 Corinthians 9:15-18). He preached to them free of charge and let other churches support him (2 Corinthians 11:7-9). In Thessalonica he worked night and day so he would not be a burden (1 Thessalonians 2:9). He did this even though he had a right to their support (2 Thessalonians 3:8-9). If the tithe were a standing law that guaranteed the minister’s pay, how could Paul refuse it? And how could he call that refusal his boast?

The apostles teach giving that is free and cheerful

Paul says each one should give “as he has decided in his heart” (2 Corinthians 9:7). No one should give “reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” In the same section Paul says he is not issuing a command (2 Corinthians 8:8). A gift is acceptable “according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have” (2 Corinthians 8:12).

If the law of the tithe were still in effect, your giving would be compulsory. You would owe a fixed tenth, and falling short would mean robbing God (Malachi 3:8-9). But Malachi spoke those words to Israel under the Mosaic covenant. Paul grounds Christian giving in something else entirely: “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

If God doesn’t require the tithe, why should a Christian give at all?

First, we give because God has already given to us. Before any of us brought God anything, Jesus gave himself. He was in the form of God, yet he emptied himself and took on flesh (Philippians 2:6-7). Then he died on a cross for people who had nothing to offer him (Philippians 2:8; Romans 5:8).

Christian giving is a response to that gift. So our giving is thanksgiving. Paul ends his whole appeal on that note: “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

We give for the joy of seeing Christ magnified in people’s lives

Second, we give for the joy of seeing Christ magnified in people’s lives. When the Corinthians gave to the poor in Jerusalem, Paul said their gift would do more than meet a need. It would overflow “in many thanksgivings to God” (2 Corinthians 9:12). The people who received it would glorify God because of the Corinthians’ generosity (2 Corinthians 9:13).

A building is only walls and a roof. What we care about is the people who will hear the gospel inside those walls. We also care about the thanks that will go up to God because of it. The joy of giving is getting to watch that happen and knowing you had a hand in it.

The Spirit produces greater giving than a rule can

Third, giving led by the Spirit goes further than giving driven by obligation. Obligation gets people to the minimum and stops there. When Israel built the tabernacle, God asked for gifts from “whoever is of a generous heart” (Exodus 35:5). The people kept bringing gifts every morning. Finally the craftsmen told Moses they had more than enough. So Moses had to send word through the camp telling people to stop (Exodus 36:3-7).

After Pentecost, believers sold their possessions to meet one another’s needs (Acts 2:44-45). Some sold land and houses and laid the money at the apostles’ feet (Acts 4:31-35). No one required it of them. That is what the Spirit does in people Christ has set free from the law.

Our need and our joy

So here it is plainly: we have a serious need. The buildings we are looking at cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I don’t want that number to land on anyone as a burden. No one should feel shame over what they have or haven’t given in the past. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). That covers your giving record too.

Instead, let the size of the need turn our hearts back to thanksgiving for what God has already done in Christ. And let’s remember why we give at all. Our giving comes straight out of the joy of seeing Christ magnified in people’s lives.

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1001 Tipton Terrace, Ada, OK, United States, Oklahoma