Free to Serve

"Do I really need to tithe to the church?"

A few years ago Suzanne Staline of the Wall Street Journal wrote an article called, “The Backlash Against Tithing.” She noted for the Journal’s readers what Christian pastors have presumed for quite some time: giving to the church is on the decline. As these pastors seek to reverse the trend and encourage tithing to the local church, many members object. Some oppose their dollars being spent on “coffee bars and widescreen TVs.” Some take issue with the implication (or outright teaching of some) that giving convinces God to bless them materially—the so-called prosperity gospel. Still others simply aren’t convinced that tithing is biblical.

A question I’m regularly asked about giving is slightly different: “Does all our tithe have to go to our church or can I give part of it to a Christian ministry?” I love the heart behind the question. Those who ask it want to be good stewards of their wealth, they care about the local church, and they have a serious desire to bless outside ministries. Those are all great things. 

Let me give my answer to this question and then share how I got there: There is a Christian responsibility to give generously to the local church and a Christian freedom to give generously outside the local church. To flesh out this answer, I need to say a word about the tithe and a word about the local church. 

Giving to the Local Church

A few weeks ago, I preached on Malachi 3:6-12. This is where God rebukes Israel for failing to bring their "tithes and contributions" to the Temple. As I mentioned at the start of the sermon, for some reason the topic of financial giving to the church is a touchy one. Some people think churches talk to much about it. Others think we don't talk enough.

In any event, here is a study guide to help someone work not only through the passage itself, but what I consider an appropriate, New Testament application of that Old Testament passage.

Download MVBC Sermon Study Guide (Mal 3.6-12)

Christians are wealthy and poor, both at the same time

"How much can we safely keep?" This is a question asked by Randy Alcorn in his book, Managing God's Money: A Biblical Guide. His words are challenging, but encouraging, too. 

There are some things that no Christian should do--such as hoard money, live in opulence, or fail to give generously. But there are other things that some Christians can freely do that others may sense God's leading not to do, such as own land, a home, a car, or a business; go on certain vacations; or set aside significant retirement funds.

How much money and how many possessions can we safely keep? Enough to care for our basic needs and some wants, but not so much that large amounts of money are kept from higher Kingdom causes. Not so much that we become proud and independent of the Lord. Not so much that it distracts us from our purpose or leaves us with the illusion that we are owners rather than managers of what God owns.

Those who happen to be rich--simply as a result of circumstances, hard work, or wisdom--have done nothing wrong. They need not feel guilty--unless they withhold their riches (which are really God's) from Kingdom causes, including helping the needy, or their lifestyles are self-centered and excessive.

I would add that the sin of greed rears its ugly head in the lives of the poor just as much as it does in the lives of the rich. Those without can idolize what they don't have just as easily as the rich can idolize what they do have. The issue is your heart. Consider the words of Paul in Philippians 4:10-13:

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

I take this to mean that by the grace of God Paul I can live in poverty--should the Lord withold. And, by the grace of God, I can live in wealth--should the Lord so provide. The question is not ultimately the size of my bank account--big or small--but the stewardship of everything that God, in his sovereign wisdom, has entrusted to me.

Of course, every Christians should also know that, biblically speaking, we are wealthy and poor all at the same time. Is this a contradiction? Not at all.

We are wealthy (spiritually-speaking) because we have the Gospel--and the Gospel is a treasure (Matt. 13:44). Those who have the Gospel, who know what it is like to have their deepest need met in Christ, those who know what it is like for Christ to bear for them the wrath of God they they deserve--will always be spiritually rich. The believer has, after all, what no one can take away.

We are poor (spiritually-speaking) because we have the Gospel--and the Gospel teaches that there is nothing within us to commend ourselves to God. Thus, Jesus' amazing words, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:3). The true believer, he and she who is poor in spirit, has experienced what it is like to stand before the Lord with only her sin to offer. We are nothing more than sinners in need of grace. We will always be, in this sense, poor in spirit.

So every Christian is wealthy and poor, both at the same time.

 

 

 

Hammett On Work I

A few weeks ago I got the chance to hear a short lecture on a biblical theology of work from professor John Hammett of Southeastern Seminary. He broke an approach to work into four parts: 1) Work as created and intended by God. 2) Work as distorted by the Fall. 3) Work as transformed by redemption in Christ. 4) Work and the consummation (referring to the new heavens and the new earth).

Here is a summary of his first point: work as created and intended by God.

    A. Work is something given to us before the fall (Gen. 1:28). Since it was given by God and existed in a world that God called good, work is essentially good.

    B. Work is more than what we are paid to do. So a mother taking care of her kids is working in the biblical sense. A retired person still has work to do. 

    C. Work includes the "cultural mandate." This is the directive given by God to fill and subdue the earth. That includes making the most of the world we live in. It means investing ourselves in science, art, agriculture, etc. All of this is "culture" and God gave us a "mandate" to work with it and, in a fallen world, to improve it.

    D. Work specifically includes creation care, both harnessing the resources of creation (Gen. 1:28) and caring for creation (Gen. 2:15). So part of being a steward is wisely using versus abusing the world we live in. I recently saw an interesting movie called Temple Grandin about an autistic woman who used her gift to design a more human system to prepare cows to be slaughtered. This seems to be a good example of creation care.

Sandy Springs and Wealth

Mount Vernon Baptist Church is located on Mount Vernon Highway just a couple miles from the heart of Sandy Springs. Sandy Springs is north of Atlanta and, up until 2005, Sandy Springs was Atlanta! 

A study that came out last month indicated that Sandy Springs is the ninth most affluent city in the country. I noticed there were some big houses around here. That explains it!

What is a pastor in Sandy Springs supposed to do with this kind of news? Here are my thoughts:

(1) Keep preaching the gospel. It is a sin to discriminate the rich as surely as it is a sin to discriminate against the poor. We all need the gospel. Sin is an equal opportunity employer. The primary mission of the church is to preach and pray. That is what we do and what, by God's grace, we will continue to do.

(2) Remember that the church is more than Sandy Springs. I certainly want us to target Sandy Springs with the gospel. I want us to be a source of light and hope to the community in which we live. Nonetheless, Mount Vernon is part of the greater Atlanta community. This means we draw people from beyond Sandy Springs. We need to remember that. Sandy Springs is our home and we are grateful for it, but not everyone who comes to church is from this affluent city.

(3) Know that not everyone in Sandy Springs is affluent. There is large immigrant community here. Most of the residents of Sandy Springs are simply middle-class Americans going about their daily business. We have many wealthy residents but we have many who are not. Most of our church is not wealthy. The average rarely the norm.

(4) Know what our idols are. Most everyone struggles with love of money. Simply driving past beautiful homes can stir ungodly thoughts up in our hearts. Out Mount Vernon, we should be aware of this and fight against it.

(5) Keep studying the Bible. A few weeks after this report came out, our Wednesday night Bible study group found itself in James 5:1-6 where James has some harsh words for those who are living in luxury and self-indulgence. God's timing is perfect. We are presently reflecting on our own hearts and how we can look for signs that we, too, love money in ways that don't please God.

Statistics or not, we live in a wealthy country and we will, one day, be held to account for how we used every cent the Lord has allowed us to possess. This is a sobering thought and a call for wisdom so that we can serve and give generously.

Money Matters

At MVBC we started the month of December by laying out several financial goals for us a church:

    1. Continued stewardship of existing resources.

    2. Sacrificial giving from every MVBC member.

    3. Meet or exceed our December giving goal.

    4. Giving that meets our weekly budget.

    5. Foundations debt paid off.

Goal number three is only one of many goals, but is very important because a big chunk of our tithes and offerings are received in December. What a joy to be able to announce that we have exceeded this goal! I thank God for the generosity of this local body of Christ. Please join me in praying that we would continue to give generously and cheerfully.

It can be difficult to talk about money in the church. We tend to separate the sacred (Scripture, church, praying) from the secular (sports, money, work, leisure). Scripture doesn't do that, though. Passage after passage yells out that our heart and and our wallets are connected. This is why Jesus commended that widow, isn't it? When the rich gave so much, the widow was commended for giving everything: "They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on." 

Yes, we need to be prudent, we must be prudent. We should be like the ants, those "creatures of little strength who store up their food in the summer" (Prov. 30:25). But there should also be generosity, radical generosity, that stretches us so that it is obvious to our own conscience and to the world around us that we are dependent upon the Lord. 

I've seen this kind of radical generosity at MVBC and I pray it continues. There is a very helpful book that explores more deeply the connection between money and the heart, dollars and our destiny: Money, Possession, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn. Randy is rightly convinced that we cannot follow Jesus with addressing our "stuff":

To understand the truth about money and possessions, to understand life at all, we simply must understand the true nature of earth and heaven. We must clearly behold these two kingdoms with their two kings, two citizenries, and two treasuries. If we don't see this we are destined, at best, to a superficial or even token religious experience. If we do see, the door is unlocked to the exhilirating realm of Christian discipleship, where 'following Christ' is not a comforting but meaningless buzzword, but an electrifying, life-changing reality" (26).

This is what we are working for at Mount Vernon. The "electrifying, life-changing reality" of following Christ. By God's grace, we are on the way!

Reformation in Giving III

"Why give to the local church?" Some may decide that they are going to give 20% of their income to "ministry." Maybe they support a friend who works for Navigators. Then there's that missionary family that visited years ago that they now support monthly. Then there's the local pregnancy center that is doing great work and needs an annual gift. Then there's the high school student going on her first missions trip. Isn't that a worthy investment in the Kingdom? So, when all is said and done, an individual may give 15 percent of his income to these worthy causes and the final 5 percent to the work of the church. How should we think about the responsibility to give in light of the options we have?

Reformation in Giving II

When my wife and I were first married, we sat down to work on a budget and the issue of tithing to the church came up. We both had jobs, but even our combined salary wasn't anything impressive. When I sat there looking at our finances, I wasn't asking, "Now how much can we give away?" Instead, I was asking, "How much do we have to give." Both of us agreed that a tithe was an appropriate amount to give to our local church. But we weren't sure if that should be a tithe of our gross (pre-tax) income or our net (after-tax) income.

Of course, my goal was to keep all I could. So, seeing no specific scriptural commandment on the issue I suggested we tithe on the net. My wife's inclination was to give all we could, so she suggested we tithe on our gross income. Not wanting to seem morally or spiritually inferior I quickly agreed that was a good idea. 

Reformation in Giving I

There have been many conversations about finances at Mount Vernon as we seek to meet our budget. Times are tough. My desire through it all is to focus our attention on the need for sacrificial giving from every member. We will not all give the same amount, but if each gives sacrificially, regardless of the economic climate, our budget will be full to overflowing. 

This kind of change can't happen overnight. Let's say a family has been living off of 98% of its income for twenty years. How, all of a sudden, is that family going to give 8% more to the church--at least overnight? In our personal budgets, it is amazing how quickly expenses that were once considered discretionary now seem fixed. That's why the church needs a reformation in her attitude toward giving. We want to be a congregation full of Christians who give generously, cheerfully, and sacrificially. 

This raises some important questions. First, what does Scripture say about how much of my income I should give away to "the Lord's work"? Second, what does Scripture say about how much of what I give away should be given to the local church? These are important questions.

Let's begin with how much of my money I should give away to "the Lord's work."