Test the Lord and See… | Sunday, March 20, 2022

You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year... and you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place where He chooses to make His name abide... that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. (Deuteronomy 14:22–23)

As children of God, our Father has a say in how we see our money—and walking in step with Him on this goes well with us.

Perilous Times and How We Then Live

Paul, in his final letter, wrote in 2 Timothy 3:1 that in the last days perilous times would come. As we look at the world, we can see clearly that we live in such times. The last two years brought the chaos of COVID, and now at the beginning of 2022 we see war in Ukraine and Russia, tensions in Asia between China and Taiwan, and economic pressure here in the United States with rising interest rates, high inflation, and high gas prices. There is a lot that is chaotic and challenging, which causes people—whether followers of God or not—to be concerned, stressed, and anxious.

Paul lists the marks of these perilous times: people being lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unforgiving, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Looking at those things, we are certainly living in times like that. The passages we have been studying together in Deuteronomy are appropriate reminders of how we ought to live as the people of God in a broken and fallen world.

I Am Not My Own

Last time I made the point that my standing as a child of God means I ought to live differently than I did before I was adopted into the family of God. As a child of God I am no longer the lord or master of what I do to my body or what I put into my body. These are challenging, counter-cultural truths. Our culture esteems individual autonomy above almost every other value.

Don't get me wrong—I am as much a product of Western, 21st-century culture as you are. I like my liberties, and over the last couple of years I have often resisted things happening in our culture because of the feeling of not having the same liberties we had even 36 months ago. But when I became a child of God and Christ became my Lord, some things invariably needed to change. My body is no longer my own.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)

That "therefore" is important. I have been purchased with a price; my body is not my own; therefore I ought to glorify God in my body and spirit, which are God's. This goes against the entire ethos and narrative of American and Western culture, the epicenter of which is often right here in Southern California. When Jesus is my Lord, He gets a say in what I do to my body, with my body, and what I put into my body.

After that message, I had a number of good conversations—about alcohol, sugar, marijuana, pornography, gambling, and even working in industries connected to those things. These are the issues surrounding a question I have thrown out before, which is also the title of a book by the Christian apologist Francis Schaeffer: How Should We Then Live? As Christians, we need to ask that question frequently, especially as our culture diverges further from a Bible- and Christianity-informed worldview. Western culture once had a deeply ingrained Judeo-Christian worldview, but that is less and less the case. Like the exiles of Israel living in pagan Babylon, called to live as the people of God in that place, we must ask: how shall we then live?

God Has a Say in How I See My Money

Today we continue with some counter-cultural and challenging ideas, picking up in Deuteronomy 14:22 with the subject of tithing. For some of you, hearing that word brings a shock of terror—"here we go, the pastor is going to talk about money." I understand that response, because there is a perception that pastors and churches only ever talk about money. I have seen the appeals on so-called "Christian TV" and YouTube—and I use "Christian" loosely there—that make it sound like a plea for help, as if God were poor and the ministry dying.

So before we get into this, three things. First, God is not poor; God does not need my money. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills... If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness. (Psalm 50:9–10, 12)

Second, the Bible speaks a great deal about money, wealth, and possessions—far more than we do here at Cross Connection. God does this not because He is absorbed with money, but because He knows I can be. My focus can shift, and money can quickly become the master and mastering passion of my life. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21). This leads to point number one: as a child of God, my Father has a say in how I see my money and how I prioritize my spending.

If you are a child of God, adopted into His family, then God is your Father, and He has something to say about what you do with your wealth. That is a difficult truth for many in America in 2022, but it is also good for you.

Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. (Proverbs 3:9–10)

It is not only true that God has something to say about our wealth; it is also true that if you follow His way it will go well with you.

Third, we don't bring up these topics constantly here, but when we do, and if what we say challenges or grates at you, consider one of two things—or both. First, ask whether God is trying to teach you something on this subject. Second, come and talk with me or with Pastor Mark, our executive pastor. I would love to talk with you. And I will say this, not to upset you: in my experience, those who get really upset when biblically faithful pastors teach what the Scriptures say about money are generally the very ones to whom God is wanting to speak about their relationship to their wealth.

What Is the Tithe?

We have seen this word before. In Deuteronomy 12:5–6, Moses commands the people to bring their burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, and offerings to the place the Lord chooses. So what is the tithe? Simply, the word means a tenth part, or ten percent.

And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord. (Leviticus 27:30)

Israel was an agrarian society of farmers and herdsmen, and their livelihood came from their fields, vineyards, groves, and flocks. A tenth part of everything they brought in annually belonged to the Lord, dedicated and consecrated to Him. That word "holy" means dedicated—it does not belong to me.

At that point you might say, "Wait a minute, I worked for it; it's my money." Not so fast. Look at Deuteronomy 8:

Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God... lest—when you have eaten and are full... you say in your heart, "My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth." And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth. (Deuteronomy 8:11, 17–18)

It is God who has given you the ability, the talent, and the power to earn wealth. So here is a tough principle to wrap our minds around: as a member of God's family, I should recognize that the tithe is not my money but His. The very first ten percent is the Lord's.

Why Should I Tithe?

I know what it is—but why give it over to the Lord? Isn't this just an old covenant thing for Israel? While the tithe certainly was part of the old covenant in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, it is important to recognize that the tithe preceded the law. It began in Genesis 14, where Abraham met the mysterious Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God. Melchizedek brought bread and wine, had fellowship with Abraham, and blessed him—and it is always the greater who blesses the lesser. There are differing opinions among Christians about who Melchizedek was; I have mine, but this isn't a study on him. The key point is that in Genesis 14:20, Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe, a tenth of all—long before the law.

Not only did the tithe precede the law, it carries over into the new covenant. Jesus said:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. (Matthew 23:23)

The scribes and Pharisees made a huge show of their righteousness, tithing even on their smallest spices, yet neglected mercy, justice, and faithfulness. Jesus chastises their hypocrisy but tells them to keep the weightier matters and the tithe. So Jesus recommends that we continue to tithe. Paul echoes the same generosity in Acts 20:35: "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

So why should I tithe? Because Scripture, Old Testament and New, teaches that the first tenth of all my increase is not mine—it is the Lord's. As a blessed child of God, I ought to give the first fruits of my labor back to the Lord. Has God blessed you? He has saved, forgiven, redeemed, and adopted me; He provides and protects; He has given me the very ability to earn wealth. Therefore I give the first fruits back to Him, because it all belongs to Him already.

Tithing as Joyful Worship

You shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. (Deuteronomy 14:23)

Notice that Moses connects the tithe to eating before the Lord. As we'll see in Deuteronomy 16, Israel observed annual feasts together—seven feasts at three times of the year, all around the harvest. They brought up the tithe at these joyful celebrations. The tithe should not be a downer or something done begrudgingly; it is a joyful response of worship when the harvest comes in.

I'm not a farmer, and you probably aren't either. But when my harvest comes in—I get paid twice a month—it is like bringing in a harvest, and the first ten percent goes back to the Lord as a joyful response of worship for all that has come in, because God has given me the ability to earn it. I keep 90 percent and give 10 percent back with joy.

There is nothing like seeing this elsewhere in the world. Twice I had the privilege of traveling to Mozambique with Cross Connection Outreach, driving hours over bumpy roads, standing in the back of a truck, to churches out in the bush. Those services lasted two and a half to three hours, making our 75-minute services look like child's play. They sang, worshiped, and danced exuberantly, and when the offering came in, it was a beautiful celebration. People came up to the front and laid their gifts on the altar—sometimes money, but also live chickens and produce from their fields. That is the kind of joy God wants us to have when we give.

He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:6–7)

That word "cheerful" is the Greek hilaros, connected to our English word "hilarious." You should not give begrudgingly or out of pressure; give cheerfully, with a hilarious heart. If your husband came home on your anniversary and handed you flowers and a gift with a deadpan face, saying, "I'm giving this because I'm obligated to," would you want it? Of course not. Our Father in heaven desires that our gift be a joyful offering. And bringing it helps us "learn to fear the Lord always," giving us a right reverence for God—because how you use your money reveals your priorities and values, which often need to be reordered when we first begin to walk with the Lord.

How Do We Tithe Today?

In Deuteronomy 14:24–28, Moses gives the practical details for how Israel brought in the tithe and celebrated at the three annual feasts—the times, the amounts, and the details. In fact, there appear to be three different tithes in the Old Testament that together total more than ten percent, but we won't go into that today. We don't live in that agrarian society under the Levitical law. So how do New Testament Christians apply the principle of the tithe?

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. (1 Corinthians 16:1–2)

This passage gives us the perfectly clear who, what, when, where, why, and how of giving. Where is it practiced? In all the churches—Paul told the Galatians to do it, and the Corinthians too. When? On the first day of the week, every time the church gathers, just as we do on Sunday. Who is to give? "Let each one of you"—all of us, not a special select group. What are we to do? "Lay something aside, storing up"—each of us should plan an amount to dedicate to the Lord. How? "As he may prosper"—in proportion to how God has blessed you, you give from your abundance. I've had people say, "I don't have any money, I can't give." If you truly have nothing, you can't; but if you have an abundance, the first tenth of it should be stored up to give. Why? "That there be no collections when I come"—so there is no lack, so everything is provided.

God Blesses Those Who Honor Him

Notice how Moses closes. He opened in verse 22 with "You shall truly tithe," and he ends in verse 29:

...that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do. (Deuteronomy 14:29)

This point is critically important: our Father blesses those who truly honor Him with their increase and their abundance. This is a difficult point to make, not because it is challenging to me, but because while it is absolutely biblically true, it has been used in an incorrect way to take advantage of God's people in the name of God. Some Christian TV personalities have exploited this truth, and they will answer to God for it. But their misuse does not lessen the truth itself.

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6:38)

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try 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 such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:10)

Hear me: I am not saying this to twist your arm, but I do think that if you are a child of God, you should give more. You should give because, at the very least, the tithe is the Lord's and does not belong to you; because God has commanded it; because it is more blessed to give than to receive; because it shifts your values and priorities into alignment with God's; and because God loves a cheerful giver and will bless you as you give to His kingdom.

I have learned this truth experientially. Throughout my adult life I have always given at least the tithe, and my wife Andrea and I have given above and beyond it. We got paid this past week, and the first ten percent went to the Lord. I have witnessed firsthand how the Lord has blessed my family—we have an amazingly blessed life, far more than I could ever have imagined, and I am one hundred percent convinced it is because our values and priorities are rightly aligned to honor God with our first fruits. This is not because I am paid some huge salary; it has everything to do with handling our finances in a way that honors the Lord—something we'll talk about more next week, when we look at how we handle our wealth, not just the tithe.

Remember Proverbs 3: "Honor the Lord with your possessions... so your barns will be filled with plenty." As far as I can tell, Malachi 3 is the only place in Scripture where God explicitly says "test Me and see"—and you might want to take Him up on that offer, because the tithe is the Lord's. For me, that ten percent goes to the local church I am a part of, and I would encourage you, if you are part of Cross Connection, to give it here.

We have to be very careful with money. The Scriptures say the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and those who pursue it find themselves pierced through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6). Jesus said you cannot serve two masters—you will serve either God or mammon. Where your treasure is, your heart will be also. So it is very important to get our values and priorities correct, because it changes the way we live as children of God in this world.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I pray that You would speak to us through Your Word concerning these issues, and that You would use Your Word to transform us in a way that brings You praise, honor, and glory. Our lives, our bodies, our money—it's not ours, it's Yours. So help us to glorify You with all of these things. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.