The Tithe and Our Approach to Giving

I think about a couple of lines we were singing, "I will glory in my Redeemer. "I am satisfied in him alone." And then the goodness of Jesus, as we were singing that song, that last song, I was just reflecting about how good God has been to me. He is good to me, he's good to my family. And I was just pondering over some of those things and worshiping him, the goodness of Jesus. I pray that we are all satisfied in him and in him alone. Now, I did say earlier in our scripture reading that the scripture that we read from earlier, 2 Corinthians 8, verses one to five, I'm not gonna get into those verses in our message.

As a matter of fact, I'm really not gonna read too many scripture, I'm gonna reference quite a few. Now, this is what I would encourage you to do as I'll reference those passages. If they are impressed upon your heart, you write those things down. I call you to be good students of what we study together. We don't need to be just hearers of the word, we need to be doers of the word. And in a message like this, you might need to go study some of what I give you on your own. As a matter of fact, if you need my notes and you need some help, I will be glad to help you.

Now, I said earlier, and I say it again, this morning, we're gonna look at giving and the life of the church. And you know, when the subject of giving comes up, there are quite a few thoughts that can come into our minds. Some automatically think of tithing when the subject of giving comes up in the church. Now, that's not a bad thing. One thought that can come up is the debate around the tithe. Some of you know this, some of you do not. There is a debate in the church. It has gone on throughout church history. There's a debate in the church as to whether the tithe is binding on New Testament Christians or not.

And some automatically think about this debate when this subject comes up. Maybe you were in a church where the debate was rather prominent, or maybe it was an issue or a problem in the church. And there's some other thoughts that can come up immediately for some, and this may be some of you this morning. Some think of the bad teaching that they have heard about money and giving in the church. Some think about pastors and teachers who manipulated people in the church in regards to money and giving. Some think of pastors and church leaders who used and abused the monies of the church.

Now, there is another type of thinking that can come into the minds of some. This may be some of you this morning. You may be saying something like this to yourself, "Oh no, the pastor is going to preach on giving "and make us feel guilty for not giving more." Well, if you have any of those negative thoughts in your mind, I really want you to put them out. Even if you've been through some tragic circumstances where you've seen abuse in the life of the church when it comes to money. I want you to just put that out of your mind, ask the Lord to give you a clean slate so that you can receive teaching from the scripture in your pastor.

Now, question, why am I preaching on this subject? The title of the message is, "The Tithe and Our Approach to Giving." But why am I teaching and preaching on this subject? Look, as a Christian, and especially as a member of Grace Life Church, we need to know what God expects of us in relation to giving. We need to know what our church expects of us and we even need to know what our leaders expect of us. And I believe that there are some of you here. You might not want to hear this, but you're not giving as you should. But I also believe there are some of you here, you are giving as you should. So I want you to see that.

There are some of you here, you are not giving as you should. And there are some of you here, you are giving as you should. Now, before I continue, I want to go ahead and tell you something. I don't know who gives what. I don't touch it. The men who count the money, if they make any comment about the money, they'll tell you, I'll automatically say, "I don't want to know, I don't want to see." So I'm not aiming at anybody, but I want you to know that. I do not know who gives what. But I also want you to see there are some of you, you don't give as you should, but yet there are some of you, you do.

Now get this, if the members of Grace Life Church do not give as they should, think about it, the ministry of the church suffers. And if you do not give as you should, you are missing out on the blessings of God. And unless you are giving as you should, you don't even know what those blessings are. And those in the life of the church who do give as they should, they can raise up their hand and say, "Yep, pastor, you're right, I get blessed." Now let me show you my approach this morning. I want us to look at the tithe as it is seen in the Old Testament scriptures. Now this may surprise some of you, but you need this more than you know.

Then I want us to look at the tithe and giving in the New Testament scriptures, and then we're gonna look at how the tithe relates to us. There's gonna be a lot of lessons, there's gonna be a lot of challenges, and I'm gonna call you to some additional homework. I know we don't like that term, but yes, we have some homework. So number one, I want us to look at the tithe before the law of Moses. This is what I'm calling the tithe before the law of Moses. Now when I said the tithe before the law of Moses, some of you checked out. Don't check out on me. Don't check out on me. But listen, you need this more than you know.

This is more than just an Old Testament education. This relates to us in some ways that I'm gonna come back to. But when we look at the tithe before the giving of the law of Moses, we see two places where the tithe is mentioned. Some of you know this. First with Abraham and second with Jacob. But first with Abraham in Genesis 14, verses 18 to 20, we see where Abraham tithed to this mysterious and great king, King Melchizedek. And this is what happened. After Abraham had won that regional war where he rescued his nephew Lot from captivity, well, King Melchizedek met Abraham after the great victory.

And the text says that he refreshed Abraham and his men by bringing them bread and wine. And then he blessed them. And the text says that Abraham gave the king a 10th of all of the spoils from that war. Now who this mysterious king was matters. He was the king over ancient Jerusalem. And his name meant righteous king. And the scriptures tell us he was priest of the most high. That would be the most high God. Simply he and Abraham worshiped the one true God. And Abraham saw him as a great spiritual leader worthy of respect and honor. And what Abraham did matters.

Abraham was not commanded from the scriptures or from God to give a 10th of the spoils from the war. He simply did this because he felt then pressed by God to do so. And then second Jacob. In Genesis 28, 18 to 22, we see where Jacob ties to God. And this is what happened here with Jacob. After Jacob had had this dream of what we call Jacob's ladder to heaven, he set up a stone to mark this place as a special religious site. This was a common practice in their day. This stone served as a monument of remembrance for Jacob and for others.

The text says that after that, Jacob said that he would give a full 10th of all that God had given him back to God. And what Jacob did here, that matters. Jacob, like Abraham, was not commanded from the scriptures or by God to tie a 10th of all he had back to God. Now before we move on, I want us to make sure we see a couple of things here. These men were not commanded to tithe. Before the law of Moses, God's people were not commanded to give a 10th to God. But look at why these men did this. And oh, some of you know why. Abraham tithed out of a love and out of an appreciation to God. We can say it like this.

He did it out of a true heart, a good heart, a heart of worship, but not Jacob. Jacob tithed because he was trying to bargain with God. Now a question for you this morning is this. Why do you give? Why do you give? I don't know why you give and I don't know how much you give but my question is, why do you give? What are your motives? Are you like Abraham or are you somehow like Jacob? Are you trying to bargain with God? Are you trying to even buy God's blessing upon your life? Or are you giving out of a love and out of an appreciation to God and out of a worship for God? See, we must examine our motives.

That's why reading that scripture earlier was good. We saw the motives and the hearts of the Macedonians. Now number two, the tithe between the law of Moses and Jesus. I want us to look at real quickly the tithe between the law of Moses and Jesus. And again, when you hear this, you might be tempted not to pay attention but I want you to listen up. But you need this more than you know. Now there's really a lot we can say here. There's a lot we can cover here but I'm gonna summarize quite a lot. Simply under the Mosaic law, the Jews tithed and they tithed far more than the 10% that we saw in the life of Abraham and Jacob.

They actually tithed 23 to 25% up to 30%. And when you see the different tithes that they were commanded to obey, you're gonna see it. Basically they were commanded to give three different tithes. First there was the tithe for the priests and the Levites. And we see this in Leviticus 27 verses 30 to 34. Simply this is what was taking place there. The priests and the Levites came from the tribe of Levi and under the law they had no means of earning a living like the other tribes. Basically they worked for the nation of Israel and this particular tithe went for their support.

And this tithe was very practical and much needed because the running of the government was under the Levites and the priests. And then second there was the tithe for the religious festivals as listed in Deuteronomy 12 starting in verse six. Simply these tithes were the fund, those commanded religious celebrations and festivals. And this tithe was very practical and it was much needed as well. Those religious feasts and those celebrations were very important for the religious life of the Jews and those particular tithes, they funded those particular things.

And then third there was the tithe for the poor which is seen in Deuteronomy 14 verses 28 and 29. Simply this was a tithe taken for the care of the poor in the land. You could call this a national social security system or a national welfare system. Yes, that's a good way to describe it. And this tithe it took care of the orphans and the widows and the strangers within the nation. And this tithe was given every third year which met that legitimate need in the land. Now notice what we have quickly seen here. So far if you do the math, the Jews have tithed over 23% a year. This was strict mandatory giving under the law of Moses.

They were commanded to do this. But this was not for any other people. This was for the Jews. This was strictly for the nation of Israel, the Jews, God's chosen people. But notice there's more and I'll be quick here. There was more given for the poor as seen in Leviticus 19. There was the Sabbath rest for the land and a release of debts. We see that in Exodus 23. There's even more. There was the temple tax, it was seen in Exodus 30 verse 13. And so scholars tell us that the Jews easily, easily tithed 23 to 25% up to 30%. But there was even more. There was the free will offering.

Above all the commanded tithes, the Jews gave offerings, we could say it like this, from their hearts as they felt God led them. There was the free will offering concerning the tabernacle in Exodus 35, 20 to 29 in chapter 36 verses four to seven. There was the free will offering in Leviticus 22 verses 17 to 31. So make sure you understand this. These free will offerings were above this 23, 25, up to 30% of the required mandatory tithes. So in summary, notice what we have here. It's important for us to see what tithing and giving look like for the Jews under the Mosaic law and within the nation of Israel. They gave far more than 10%, far more.

I mean, you could just say it like this, they gave 25 to 30% because some of the giving was according to how God led them. And something else we need to realize. We need to really understand. The nation of Israel was a theocracy. It wasn't a democracy. It means that a lot of what they tithed really was more like taxes, yes. Much of what they gave in tithed went to run the government. But much of what they gave would be seen as ministry in their day and that is a fair way to relate to those things and understand those things. But notice what we see here. Yes, this is educational.

This might, may even be corrective because you might have had some faulty understanding of what tithing and giving look like in the Old Testament. But look, I want you to hold on to what we see here because we're gonna see that giving in the New Testament looks a whole lot different than what we see in the Old Testament. And I'm gonna come back to this. That's why I have taken the time. But then number three, I want us to look at the tithe and Jesus. I want us to look at the tithe and Jesus. And studying tithing and giving in the Old Testament, yes, it was educational. Now we can learn some lessons there. We can be challenged there.

Our hearts and our motives can be tested there. Also how we give as compared to those Old Testament Jews can make us think. Now a question. I ask these questions sometimes 'cause I want you to engage spiritually with your mind and with your heart. If a good Jew gave well above 20% under the law, what should we do as New Testament believers who are not under the law? That should be very thought provoking. I'm gonna come back to that. Now in dealing with the tithe and Jesus, I wanna address the tithe and Jesus by asking two questions. First question, what is required in the New Testament? Now there are two passages I wanna read for us.

Matthew 27 versus, excuse me, Matthew 17 versus 24 to 27 and then Matthew 22 versus 15 to 22. I wanna read those. You don't have to turn there. You can follow along with me. Notice what we see in Matthew 17, 24 to 27. When they came to Capernaum, the tax collectors, the collectors of the two drachma tax went up to Peter and said, "Does your teacher not pay the tax?" Teacher meaning Jesus.

And he said, "Yes." And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first saying, "What do you think Simon, from whom do kings of the earth "take toll or tax from their sons or from others?" And when he said, "From others," Jesus said to him, "then the sons are free." Now notice what happens. However, not to give offense to them, he says to Peter, "Go to the sea, cast a hook, "and take the first fish that comes up. "And when you open its mouth, "you will find a shekel," that's a coin. "Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself." Now what was he doing? He was paying a tax for himself and for Peter. Matthew 22, verse 15 to 22.

Then the Pharisees went and they plotted how to entangle him. And Jesus said, "This is Jesus in his words." They were always doing that, we know that. And they sent their disciples to him along with the Herodian saying, "Teacher, Jesus, "we know that you are a true, that you are a true "and teach the way of God truthfully. "And you do not care about anyone's opinion, "for you are not swayed by appearances. "Tell us then what you think. "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? "Show me the coin for the tax." And they brought him a denarius.

And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription "is on this or on the coin?" And they said, "Caesar's." And then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar "the things that are Caesar's and to God "the things that are God's." And when they heard it, they marveled, they couldn't trap him, and they left him and they went away. But notice what we see here. Jesus paid his taxes. Yes, he paid the taxes of the day, even to the Romans. And Jesus clearly said, "You give to Caesar what is Caesar's." Now let me pause here. There are Christians that think they just don't need to pay taxes because of how wicked our government is.

It wasn't any more wicked than the Romans. Now this sermon isn't mainly to deal with taxes. This tax season. Jesus paid his taxes. Christians pay taxes. They should. Go to Romans chapter 13. But Jesus paid his taxes. He clearly said, "You give to Caesar what is Caesar's." And Jesus clearly said, "You give to God what is God's." Now what do we see here in these verses? Jesus was calling his followers to pay taxes. Give to Caesar money and taxes that are owed. And he was calling his followers to give to God what is God's. And that would be their heart, their life, their service, and their monies.

And for us, I want us to see that he calls us to do the very same thing today. We should give to God what is God's. And we should give to Caesar what is Caesar's. Now this leads us to the second question. Because I've just asked you what is required in the New Testament. But second, how did Jesus tithe? Well I've already answered that, but I'm gonna elaborate on that. Jesus tithed according to the Old Covenant. The New Covenant had not yet come onto the scene. So Jesus was under and bound to the Old Covenant and the Law of Moses. And we know that he fulfilled all that was in the Old Covenant and he obeyed all of the Law of Moses perfectly.

So Jesus tithed according to the Old Covenant and the Law of Moses. Now pause. You mean to tell me he tithed according to all that we studied? Briefly? Yes. Yes. Jesus tithed all of those tithes that we briefly looked at. And notice this fact. Jesus expected the religious leaders to do the same as he did and according to the Scriptures. Again, the Old Covenant. I'm gonna read another verse here. Matthew 23, 23 and 24. You know Matthew 23 is the chapter of the Great Woes. He's actually scalding the religious leaders in their hypocrisy.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, "for you tithe, and mint, and deal, and coming, "and have neglected the weightier provision of the law, "that is justice and mercy and faithfulness. "But these are the things you should have done "without neglecting the others." He says, "You blind guides, you strain out at a gnat, "and you swallow a camel." Now notice what we see here. The religious leaders tithed. They tithed everything. They did not miss one thing. Really what that meant was the smallest of herbs in their gardens they tithed. Not just their paychecks.

But the religious leaders neglected what Jesus called the weightier, the more important matters. Jesus said they should have tithed and more. They should not have neglected the weightier matters that are seen in the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Now what are we seeing here? They tithed, but Jesus rejected their tithe. Yes, he rejected it. Why? Because their hearts were impure. They lacked obedience to the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Simply, their tithes did no good whatsoever because they were only obeying the rules.

These religious leaders were giving according to the letter of the law and more, all while ignoring the heart of the law. So God rejected their tithes and he rejected them. Now there's a lot of big lessons here. How does God feel about your tithing? How does God feel about your giving? Are you neglecting the weightier matters of the law? Do you give all the while not being loving? Do you love lost sinners? Do you love the brethren? Do you love the church? See folks, if you do not love sinners, love the brothers and sisters, and love the church, but yet you give, Jesus looks at you just like he did those religious leaders.

Do you neglect mercy, and justice, and faithfulness? You see, there are people in the life of the church that can be far more hypocritical than maybe you know. And then number four, I want us to look at the tithe and us. This is what I'm calling the tithe and us. Now here's where we finally get to the question. Are we commanded to tithe from the scripture? You've been probably wanting me to get to that all along. Pastor, how come you can't just cut all that other out and get right to the question? Well, there's a lot we need to learn along the way. But are we required to tithe from the scriptures?

Now I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, there is at least one person here this morning you're gonna be challenged. Something you've been taught along the way is gonna be challenged. Maybe something your parents taught you will be challenged. Be patient, listen close, and I believe I'm gonna make a biblical position here that some of you may be, you may be surprised about. But before I answer the question, I wanna point out a few facts. I wanna point out a few facts. Now this comes from quite a bit of study throughout the years.

Really if I listed all of the resources I got this from, some of it's me, some of it's from other people, I just have accumulated this throughout the years. Now I call this five facts that show us how we as new covenant Christians should relate to the tithe. Five facts that show us how we as new covenant Christians should relate to the tithe. First, we are not under the old covenant. The commandments as seen in the old covenant are not for us today in the new covenant. You need to see that. The commandments as seen in the old covenant are not for us today in the new covenant.

Paul makes that clear in Romans 6, 14 to 15, in Romans 7, five to six, in Galatians 6, 15, all the way down to chapter four verse seven, and in second Corinthians three verses four to 18. I'm gonna read a couple of the verses for you. In Romans 6, 14 to 15, Paul says, for sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law, but under grace. What then are we to sin because we are not under the law, but under grace by no means. So what is Paul saying there? We are not under the law, but that's not a license to sin. No, no, no.

And then in Romans six verses five to six, Paul says for while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death, but now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive so that we serve in a new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code. What is he saying? We are not under the law, we're not bound by the law. Is that a license to sin? No. Now we are certainly bound to the moral law of the Old Testament, yes, but we obey the 10 commandments under grace and through love. Some of you need to see that. We are not legalists.

We do not obey the 10 commandments because of the rules. No, we obey the 10 under grace and through love, and we should relate to that standard, which by the way none of us can live. Christ perfectly lived it, and we should relate to that standard by striving to obey what? The greatest commandment and the next greatest, which is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, you see? But we are not under the Old Covenant. Therefore, all of those tithes in the Old Covenant have no authority over us. Now we can't learn a lot and we can be challenged, and we should be.

Second, all of those tithes were brought to the priests and the Levites in the Old Covenant, but under the New Covenant, there are no priests and Levites. In 1 Peter chapter two, verse nine, it says that we do not need priests in Levites. We, in fact, are priests, meaning we can go before God. We do not need Old Covenant priests to go to God for us. 1 Peter 2.9 says, "But you are a chosen race, "a royal priesthood, a holy nation." Now who's he talking to? He's talking to the church. He's talking to the church, Jew and Gentile. He says you are a holy, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.

That's the church, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. So we're a royal priesthood. We don't need, thankfully, priests and Levites. And then third, the tithes of the Old Covenant were only tied to the land in the nation of Israel. The Old Covenant tithes were tied to the nation, that particular land, so those requirements cannot be applied to New Covenant believers. We don't live in Israel. We're not gonna move to Israel, unless you're gonna go be a missionary.

With the coming of Christ and the New Covenant, Israel and the Jewish nation was not the centerpiece of God's work on earth any longer. The church was and is, you see? In Galatians 4, 25 to 26, those verses tell us that Jerusalem is no longer the centerpiece of God's purposes, but Christians are a part of the heavenly Jerusalem as we look forward to that city that is to come. And then fourth, we've covered this. When Jesus affirmed the tithe and the tithes in the gospels, that was before the coming of the New Covenant. He was under the Old Covenant, all throughout his earthly ministry.

And in the gospels where he taught tithing, he was calling the Jewish leaders and the Jewish people to obey those Old Covenant regulations. They were still in place. And then fifth, this is where it might shock somebody. Nowhere is tithing mentioned when commands are given for believers in churches to give in the New Testament. You see? Nowhere is tithing mentioned when commands are given for believers in churches to give in the New Testament. Now, some of you have your antennas up. You're saying, "What? "What? "Look with me, follow me." Simply in the New Testament, there are no commands given. They're just not there. They're just not there.

I'm gonna zoom through quite a few. In Acts chapter two, verses 43 to 47. In Acts four, 32 to 37. In Acts 11, 27 to 30. In Galatians 2, 10. In 1 Corinthians 16, one to four. In 2 Corinthians 8, one. Down to chapter nine, verse 15. Believers are clearly called to give to the poor. But there's no command to give a poor tithe. Like we see in the Old Covenant. So finally, the question. From the scriptures, are we as Christians, New Covenant Christians, are we required and commanded to give the tithe? The answer is no. You may say, "Wait a minute, pastor. "Jesus commanded those he related to in the Gospels "to tithe.

"I was taught that that applies to us. "Remember, Jesus was under the Old Covenant, "and he was ministering to Jews "who were under the Old Covenant as well. "So yes, he did command them to tithe, "but we do not see that after the dawn of the New Covenant, "that the same applies. "Simply after the dawn of the New Covenant "and after the birth of the church in Acts two, "things radically changed." Now, this is educational. It's informational. It's much needed. And I'm finally getting to something else. Something that you really need to see. I wanna show you our approach to giving here at Grace Life Church.

Now, I wanna say this before I get into this. There are churches that might approach this a little different. Did you know sometimes you have to understand that God gives churches and the leaders subjective wisdom. It might look a little different for another church, and that's okay. We don't divide over these things. But I wanna show you our approach to giving here at Grace Life. This is very important. But as your spiritual leaders, as your pastor, and as the elders, we call you as members of Grace Life Church to begin your giving by giving a tithe of 10%. We cover this every time we go through our church membership class.

It's all in our church membership class materials. Now, I'm not saying that I could give you a command from the New Testament scripture. I know that. But as your pastor and as the leaders, we believe that we should begin our giving by giving a 10, 10% to the church for the work of the church. Now, here's why this previous information was much needed. Look, under the Old Covenant, those faithful Jews, they brought their tithes to who? The spiritual leaders, the priests and the Levites, those spiritual leaders that God had given them. And they used those monies as the scriptures prescribed along with the wisdom of God with those roles.

And as pastors and elders today, we call the members of the church to do the same, much the same. Begin by bringing your tithe of your income, a 10th, to the church, to the leaders that God has raised up for the work of the church. You may say, "Pastor, you're kind of stretching things "no, not really." At the beginning of the New Testament church, those early believers brought their offerings to who? The church leaders, the apostles. And also throughout the New Testament, we see the very same thing. Paul would call the churches to give and to bring those gifts and those offerings to what?

To the church and to those ministers to use in those ministry needs. Notice what the weekly, monthly tithes go for. They fund our weekly, monthly, yearly ministries for your benefit. We rent a facility. How do we pay for that? Sometimes we gotta change light bulbs. How do we pay for that? We have to have toilet paper and paper towels, plates to eat on, forks to use. How do we pay for that? We have small groups and small group ministry. How do we pay for that? We have ministry to children. Look, have you figured it out yet? I believe in ministry to children. I mean, our children's ministry is growing. How do we pay for those things?

We have a nursery ministry. I'm thankful. I believe in a nursery ministry. Moms are dealing with children all day, every day, all throughout the week, and they need to be able to bring their child into the nursery, and that baby needs to be taken care of so you can sit here and hear the word of God taught. One of my favorite things to see in the life of the church is when you mothers are sitting around here talking after church, and one of the nursery workers has to bring one of your children to you. You know why that blesses me? Because you're getting the fellowship you need. And you know, we need more paid nursery workers. Why?

Because we're a small church. There's not quite enough of us to go around. Now, how are we gonna pay for that? We have special events. The revival meeting that we had, there were things we had to buy, food, things like that. How do we pay for those things? Vacation Bible School, student camp, paid staff, outreach events. How are those things funded? The weekly, monthly tithes that you bring. Now, notice something. And this is why it was good for us to glance at the tithes in the Old Covenant. Their tithes went for tangible needs. Yes, some of them were more like taxes, but some of those tithes were for tangible ministries.

They could put their hands on them. And the tithe we call you to give goes for real, much needed, tangible ministry that you enjoy. Now, I wanna close with five quick lessons, pitfalls, and mistakes. Now, I want you to pay attention. Follow me. Number one, the tithe needs to be brought to the church for everyday needs of the church. I've already said it, but I'm gonna say it again, and I'm gonna come with number two real quick. The tithe, it needs to be brought to the church for the everyday, weekly, monthly needs of the church. Offerings are for needs above the tithe. Your tithe should not have been given to Jason Johns this week.

What you gave to Jason Johns, it should have been an offering above your tithe. Did you notice I would say you begin with the tithe? Your tithe should not go for a missions offering. Your tithe should not go to help a struggling brother in a church or even a special need in the church. Again, how are the daily, monthly, yearly needs of the church going to be met if we do not faithfully give the tithe? And you know, you have to understand that God gives leaders in the church who know how to deal with these things wisely. Number three, your tithes should not go to an outside Christian organization no matter how great it is.

I bring that up because throughout the years, I have seen Christians fall into that pitfall. Years ago, I knew a man, seemed to be very spiritual, but you know, he was good about taking and giving his tithe where he thought it should go. And you know, he would take his tithe and he would give it to this very prominent missionary. He would give that tithe to some prominent missionary organization. And it seemed spiritual on the front end, but you know what was behind the backside of that? He did not trust the leaders of the church. He did not submit to the leaders of the church and their authority over him. And you know what else?

He was quick to criticize how every nickel and dime was spent in the life of the church. And you know what? He was a mooch. He was a leech. He didn't tithe and trust the leaders. So when he went into the fellowship hall and ate, he ate food that he didn't tithe to buy. He received small group material that his tithes didn't go to pay for. And he seemed real spiritual. You know what the lesson is there? If your tithe goes to an outside organization, you might be a mooch in a leech. Number four, what is the tithe? 10%, 10% of what? Now here's the debate. Do you tithe off the net or are you tithe off the gross? I see some smiles.

Do you tithe off the net or you tithe off the gross? This is really easy. It's really easy. If you give to God what is God's, it's easy. If you seek to tithe out of a heart and a desire to give to God the first fruits of your labor, well, you will give a tithe of 10% of your gross income. Look, you give or you pay the first of what is the most important in your life. See? You give and you pay the first of that which is most important in your life. Look, if your heart is at the deer camp, you're gonna pay your deer camp dues first.

You might say, "Honey, we can do without lights for a little while, but I gotta pay those deer camp dues." If your heart is at the fish camp, you're gonna pay that power bill at the fish camp. You see, if your heart is at the golf club or the swimming club or the tennis club, you're gonna say, "Sweetheart, I'll eat bread and bologna, but I wanna be able to go play golf." You'll give them first, right? If your heart's for that vacation, you're gonna save up nickel and dimes. You're gonna say, "Well, kids, we can't go to Dairy Queen. Why? We gotta save up for that beach trip." See how it gets to the heart? And what am I trying to show you?

If you give to God what is God's, you will give first, the first fruits, and you'll give it right off of the gross. Fifth, or number five, when do you tithe? Do you save it up and make sure all the bills are paid far? Do you save it up to the end of the year and make sure everything's slick in your own life and then you give it? No, as soon as that check comes in the mail. Soon as you get paid, "Pastor, I don't get paid but once a month." Well, you tithe after that. It's pretty simple. Now I wanna close by saying, I live everything I've been preaching. Every single bit of it and then some. My family, we tithe.

We tithe and we give like I'm calling you to tithe. I give a tithe of 10% and more around our house. We believe in rounding it up. When I wanna go buy something, I round it down. But I tithe more than 10%. I give offerings above that 10%. Some offerings that the leaders of the church know and some that do not even know. Now I wanna say something else that might sound a little audacious. We have a group of men who are over the finances. Me and Brother Keith are a part of that as elders, but Tommy Alderman is one, Chris Travis is one, and Jared Walters is one.

And you can walk up to those men after the service and ask a yes or no question, does my pastor obey and live everything that he taught? They will say yes. They look at the checks. They know how much I get paid. They're not dummies. They can add it up. And our other leaders do as well. Now let me speak about leaders in the future. This is the standard years ago. I remember in my home church, Brother Dennis, dealing with deacons, deacon ordination. He stood up in the pulpit and he said some things I'm telling you made half the church mad. He said church, we got a problem. Now what he said was dripping with sarcasm.

He said we got a deacon that needs a love offering. We got a deacon that needs some help because according to the tithing records, he only makes $6,500 a year. My problem with that is he should have taken care of that before he was ordained. This is the standard folks. Now here's my challenge to you. You go study the New Testament scriptures. Study them. Do a word search, study it all. Remember now in the gospels it's different. They were under the old covenant. It changes at the dawn of the new. Study the scripture and you go listen to that four part series I taught. We're gonna republish it.

The title of the series is The Christian's Approach to Money. I started off with how we view money all the way through the tithe and I got to the end and I dealt with seven lessons from the Macedonians. And you know what, I think if you study and you pray, I think number one, you'll say pastor's right. I think number two, you'll rush to do what your leaders are calling you to do. And then number three, you'll be blessed. Now what's the title of the message? The tithe, an hour approach to giving. Let me pray and then we'll close.