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Money Changes Everything

There are churches that have parking problems and others that don’t. Some churches have kids running around making a lot of noise, and some churches tend to be very quiet. Some churches usually have more expenses than money, and then there are other’s who don’t need to spend much money because not much is going on.

Some churches are growing so fast you don’t always know everybody’s name; in other churches everyone has known everybody’s name for years. There are churches that enthusiastically and generously support missions, and then there are others who keep it all at home. Some churches are filled with those who tithe; some other churches are filled with tippers. Some churches evangelize, some fossilize. Some churches are always planning for the future, and some live in the past. Some churches seek out new ministries and new methods, while others don’t want to. And some people pray for their church, others never quite get around to it.

In the last few years we have experienced growth in almost breathtaking numbers. Just last month there were 113 more people in attendance at Real Life and Williams Street than just one year ago. A lot of this growth is people who are new to church and have never heard about all the things that authentic Christ followers do.

Our purpose today is to let you in on one of the best kept secrets of the church. In fact, there are even people here today who have been in church for years but have selectively forgotten what God had to say about this subject. We are going to talk about tithing. This is a biblical principle that effects our lives way beyond what most people think. Today I am going to have help by video from some of the people you go to church with.

Three years ago Casey and Autumn Williams who had recently joined the core group at our Real Life church, started talking about tithing. Casey tells the story of that first check and how God taught him a lesson on why it is important.

Video: Casey and Autumn

I have talked with Casey and he will tell you today that you don’t miss what you give back to God when you give to him first.

I heard a story of a missionary in Africa who received a knock on the door of his hut one afternoon. Answering, the missionary found a native boy holding a large fish in his hands. The boy said, "Reverend, you taught us what tithing is, so here. I've brought you my tithe." As the missionary gratefully took the fish, he questioned the boy. "If this is your tithe, where are the other nine fish?" At this, the boy beamed and said, "Oh, they're still back in the river. I'm going back to catch them now."

Malachi 3:8-10

“8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
"But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”


Have you noticed how many factories today have a big white banner prominently displaying how many days they have gone without any injuries? The reason for this is because any injury makes everyone pay a price. When you count the cost of treating the injury, replacing the worker, loss of productivity, higher workman’s comp rates, and higher health liability insurance rates you can see why getting employees to follow the safety rules is so important. Too bad we don’t count the number of people keeping God’s rules in the church. When God’s people keep the rules then everyone benefits just as when only one breaks the rules, everyone inevitably pays a price.

Tithing is one of God’s rules. Tithing is not a test to see how much money the church can raise, tithing is a test of faith to help us grow in our relationship with Christ. The reason I am talking about tithing is because it is a crucial element of your relationship with God. Tithing is between you and God, it’s not about the church or me.

1. What is tithing?

Tithing is giving 10% of the of my wealth to the Lord. Anytime you receive more wealth as in paychecks, sales of cashed out items, etc… you are increasing your wealth and God is asking for 10% of what that figure is.

Martin Luther said that a Christian must be converted three times:

The first time for his mind.
The second time for his heart.
The third time for his wallet, and of the three the most difficult conversion is of the wallet.

Someone once said that a Christian is someone who is content to live on leftovers. When it comes to tithing isn’t that basically true? We give to God the first of what comes in and then we gladly live on what’s left over.

2. What’s the origin of tithing?

The idea of 10% probably had its origin with simple math. Since people have always had 10 fingers, figuring out how to compute one out of ten would be fairly easy.

The earliest biblical reference is 4600 years ago when Abram got through a war fairly unscathed and rescued his relative Lot. The Bible mentions that Abram then went to Melchizedek, a king and a priest of God, and gave him a tenth of everything he owned (Genesis 14:20).

Another early place we see the tithe is in Numbers 18:21 where Moses gives the people a law of God telling them to bring all their tithes to the priests.

In the New Testament Jesus assumed the old law was the rock bottom expectation of the Christian. According to Jesus, his followers should not only give according to the law but also a whole lot more. We practice stewardship by living in this world as people who are truly just passing through.

Tithing has been practiced by Christ followers for thousands of years. Bob Z. is a member of our church leadership board and I want him to describe what tithing is to him and why it is important.

Video: Bob Zaborski

3. What’s good about tithing?

There are many good things about tithing but I will focus on four of them.

A. Tithing is evidence of a growing faith. Tithing and faith are intricately connected. It takes faith to tithe, especially to get started. When we tithe we are stating that we are practicing faith, that God will do what he says he will do regardless of how likely I am to see it happening.

B. Tithing reminds me of God’s ownership. In the great San Francisco earthquake a century ago, one of the complicating factors was that the ensuing fires destroyed nearly every document. As a result people who had rented their houses told judges that they had owned them instead and that the deeds had been burned in the fires. Only the landlords who had rent receipts were able to retain ownership of their properties. When we tithe we are giving a type of receipt to God that we acknowledge that he is the owner of all things.

C. Tithing proves God can trust me with more. One of the biblical reasons God gives us wealth is for us to share it with others. A 90% commission isn’t bad for any job, is it? But that is exactly what God does in giving us money when it is his intention that we should pass it on to his saving work in the world. Wouldn’t it be sad to get to heaven and discover that one of the reasons you did not have more wealth on earth was because God couldn’t rely on you to pass a tenth of it on to others?

D. Tithing keeps me focused on others. Every once in a while I meet someone so greedy and selfish (do you know someone like that?) that I tell them that they have to tithe. The reason is because they have lived their lives hogging so much that if they have any hope of a reward in heaven it will only be because they tithed, and certainly nothing else. Tithing is a weekly proof that others matter.

4. What’s a bad idea?

A. My dad had a problem with me as a kid. If I needed six dollars to pay a fee or something he would usually be glad to help me out. If he didn’t have six ones or a five and a one but he did have a ten he would usually give me the ten and ask me to bring him back the change. But I remember how the time I brought back three dollars created a real problem. His issue wasn’t the amount but the deal we had made. He said that if I needed that extra dollar he would have been glad to give it to me after I had returned the change to him as agreed. When God gives us an amount of money he expects a tenth of it to come back to him, regardless.

B. In John 12 there is a story of Mary, not Jesus’ mother, but a Mary who went and bought the most expensive perfume she could buy. She poured it on Jesus feet but Judas protested saying the money should not have been spent on perfume at all but should have been put in the disciples money bag and used to feed the poor. Of course the only reason Judas threw in the bit about the poor was because that was his best chance of getting people to put money in the bag that he regularly embezzled from. So what Judas was really saying was, “Don’t take that money away from me… I want that money.”

Let’s exchange the biblical word for “money bag” to “offering plate.” When we don’t give our tithes to the Lord aren’t we saying “I don’t want this money to go to the Lord, I want this money?”

C. Malachi 3:8 warns us about stealing from God. How do we rob God? We rob God in when we don’t return his money to him. Now that you know, would you willing rob from God?

Some of you may find this troubling because you have no idea how you are going to pull it off but we are offering classes that you can sign up for on how to get you financial house in order. You can sign up in the upper foyer. (John Rossignol)

Jerry and Edith Stritzke have attended this church for five years and they have been incredibly faithful to give back a portion of what God has given them and their family.

Video: Jerry and Edith Stritzke

5. Why should I tithe?

A. In Luke 16:11 Jesus makes an amazing statement: “If you cannot be trusted with worldly wealth, how can God trust you with true riches?” Jesus makes it plain that there is a connection between how we spend our money on earth and how we will spend eternity. That puts a whole different spin on spending.

B. Personally I would rather have 9 out of every 10 bucks with God’s blessing than 10 out of every 10 without God’s blessing. You know that without God’s blessing you would lose more than a buck anyways. Besides, tithing keeps me one step ahead of the selfish and greed that can lurk in the darkness of my heart.

C. There are only two times that the phrase “floodgates of heaven” are used in the Bible. The first time was before it had ever rained and Noah had build a boat in preparation for a flood. The Bible says that God then opened the “floodgates of heaven” and the deluge that resulted in a global flood helps us define what “floodgates of heaven” means. The second time is in Malachi 3:10 in reference to blessings being poured out on tithers.

Sometimes we may be tempted to feel like God has exactly opened the “floodgates of heaven” on us after a lifetime of tithing but that might be a very narrow and blind view of life. Certainly in comparison with 95% of the world I live in great wealth. Who knows what my life would be like without God’s blessing, I shudder at the thought. Maybe you need to ask God to reveal how the “floodgates” have changed your life or maybe you need to start tithing if you want to experience the “floodgates of heaven.” Let’s take this time to consider the brutal truth about ourselves before the Lord and allow Him to reveal your next step; but before he reveals anything, let’s let him know that we will obey what ever he asks of us.

Will and Valerie Smith are a young couple in this church. Will works at Owens Corning and Valerie works part time in our church office. They are also involved in teaching your kids downstairs. While they have been faithful in tithing lets listen to them talk about the joy of giving more than a tithe.

Video: Will and Valerie

We are living in the most plentiful land in the world. I know that some of you in this room have spent yourselves into such a financial corner that you can’t imagine where ten percent would come from. The fact is that you know that when you are honest you realize that you have overdone it and you don’t know a way out. I am telling you that getting first things first is a way out. This is no magic formula or a promise of things you don’t need but it is a promise that God will take care of you in a way that you will never miss your tithe.

"Who Owns Your French Fries". It is the story of a man who buys his little boy some french fries. Then the father does what all fathers do, he reaches over and takes one french fry to taste it. The little boy slaps his father’s hand and says, "Don’t touch my french fries." The father thinks that his son is selfish. The father knows that he bought the french fries and they belong to him. The father knows that his son belongs to him. The father could get angry and never buy his son another french fry again to teach his son a lesson, or the father could "bury" his son in french fries. The father thinks, "Why is my son selfish, I have given him a whole package of french fries; I just want one french fry." God has given us money, when He asks for a tithe, people figuratively slap His hand and say, "Keep Your hands off my money." God owns everything we have. He wants us: 1. To manage what we have for His glory. God expects us to manage our time, talent, temple, testimony and treasures. To give back a portion of what he has given us.

I am challenging you today to worship the Lord at a new level. I am asking that some of you begin to take this seriously. You don’t wait until you can afford it. There will always be something that you want or think you need.

Today we are asking you to put God’s word to the test. I am asking for some of you husbands and wives to talk this over and do the right thing. You will be amazed at how God will take care of you when your priorities are right. At the front here are some offering plates and today we have given you a little fake ten dollar bill. Some of you may want to respond during this song and symbolically give it back to day by coming and dropping it in one of these plates during our closing song. You may even be so serious about it that you want to sign it.

You may practice tithing but you want to do something symbolic to say to God that you are going to either do this or keep doing it because you believe in His word.

The late Larry Burkett, a financial expert said, “If every Church member in America would increase their giving to an average of 10% (current estimates are that American Christians give less than 3%), there would be an extra $69 billion for overseas missions and an additional $150 billion in income for American churches.” You see, the funding is already here, it’s called a “tithe.” The biblical word for giving 10%.

Outline and sermon based on a sermon by Greg Gates



2007/09/16