I know that we are no longer under the law which means we no longer have to tithe. However, the fact that everything we have comes from God and belongs to Him hasn't changed. Our attitudes towards money and possessions are addressed over and over again in the New Testament. The 10% considered as the first fruits of all your labors established by the tithe in the Old Testament, has provided some
sense of a standard to measure what is considered as that acceptable measure.
I feel that it is a useful guide to go by and I certainly feel that a church needs to have some committment from its' parishioners for yearly income so that a church can make a budget. I feel it is ludicrous for individuals in a church to expect their pastor and family to take a job based on the whim of the parisioner's desire to give. I'd like to see some of you take a job where your pay each week is based upon how generous the corporate executives feel and whether or not they thought you had too many luxury items or they were more concerned with the plight of people elsewhere that week and wanted to give to them instead of you. Evangelism elsewhere is important. But our first responsibility is to those who are feeding us, then to those that our church sends out to evangelize and then to minister to those within our own church. These functions are all outlined in the Scripture. If we don't support our church, our church can't do what it is supposed to do and what God has ordained for it to do. If you are a member of a church and are not supporting that church so it can do what it needs to do, I would encourage you to take that to the Lord in prayer just to make sure that He isn't desiring you to change that at this time. Growth is a process and I have found that my awareness of what He is calling me to do requires constant willingness to be open to change especially in light of Bibllical truth.
When we give, we truly need to understand and believe that God is our Jehovah Jirah. He is our provider. We don't lose a thing by giving a percentage of "our" income. He will truly take care of us. God rewards our faith in Him. Step out and believe in Him. God is not a liar, he tells the truth because He is Truth. He is a rewarder of those who have faith and believe in Him. The history of the Bible speaks over and over of the people that God rewarded because of their faith: Noah, Abraham, Abel, Enoch, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Rahab, Ruth, Samson, David, etc. As an individual I will attest to the fact that God is faithful.
I am on a fixed income and He has performed miracles that you wouldn't even probably believe if I told you. He takes care of me all the time. It is so rewarding to know that your life rests in His hands. That you are not at the whim of your boss, or the economy or some other factor but truly in the hands of God. What a stress reliever. What assurance it adds to your faith. My pastor recently said something that makes a lot of
sense. If any one of you wants to try to step out in faith and trust God on this, just praying for faith won't do it. If you want faith you need to read about men/women of faith. Start reading about Noah, Abraham and Moses. That will encourage you.
One last word, please read 2Cor 9: 6-13. It really addresses God's view on giving. It ties everything together. The needs of the church, the attitude of the heart, faith in Him and His action towards us in return.
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Let him who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches. Gal. 6:6
I also feel like I have a calling to help sponsor missionary students that go and build homes/huts in foreign countries, and spread the word as well! God works in so many ways ...
