The Tithe and Our Approach to Giving in 2026

Think about what we were just singing. Is he worthy? We're gonna ask that question when it comes to our finances of course this morning or giving tithing things like that. But I want to ask you is he worthy of your life? The obvious answer is yes. Is he worthy of your life? Now there's some of you here, now I'm not God the Holy Spirit, I don't know hearts. There's some of you here you've never come to saving faith in Christ. You know the Sunday School answers, you know the Bible answers, you may have been really raised in church, and outwardly you may be a very good Christian but you've never come to saving faith.

Listen, he's worthy, whatever you're holding on to is not worthy. I urge you to come to faith. Come to faith. Whatever you're holding on to, I pray God the Holy Spirit shows you the futility of that. And even if you have to confess some of the most grievous sin imaginable that would make you want to run to another state, he's worthy. I've seen that. I've seen men stand in the pulpit and confess to horrific adulterous sin because they came to saving faith and they knew that they had to repent and be born again. He's worthy. He's worthy.

Now in our message this morning I'm not going to ask you to turn to a particular scripture or even two or three. I know last week we looked at two or three together. I'm going to reference quite a few. I'll read a few throughout the message so if you feel impressed you can write those down. Sometimes it's easier just to listen and watch and engage with your mind and heart and get those verses later. I'll be glad to share those with you. But in the past few weeks we have had three messages which represent who we are and who we strive to be. Of course we're always striving to be these things. I know that.

These represent who we are and who we strive to be as a church and as a people. And remember last week I called you, I called us to make these things our ethos. I called us to make these teachings our ethos which means that which is taught in these messages becomes our very nature, our very character. This teaching becomes our guiding beliefs, our guiding principles. That's what that means ethos. Three Sundays ago we studied Matthew 16, 17 to 18 and what Jesus said about his church and what I call a mighty expectation for his church.

And from Christ our Lord we have learned and we are learning that we should have a mighty expectation for our church which is his church. Two Sundays ago we studied Revelation 3, 7 to 13 and what our Lord said in his letter to the church at Philadelphia. I call that message the faithful church. And from that teaching I said that our Lord has set an open door of ministry before us that no power or person can shut. We see that Christ our Lord is calling us to hold fast and to remain faithful to him and his word and to continue to go through that open door of ministry.

And last Sunday, last Lord's Day we looked at quite a few scriptures in the New Testament that all point to what we call around here meaningful church membership. Now I added to that in the title, I'll title that message our divinely ordained commitments to meaningful church membership. We saw that the New Testament clearly and consistently presents the local church as a very real organized body of believers with many different and clearly defined commitments and expectations. And as your pastor I called us to see that our church membership is not some casual affiliation.

I called us to see that our church membership should be a covenantal commitment that flows out of Christ's Lordship over our church which becomes who we are, becomes our guiding beliefs, our guiding principles, our ethos. And from the scripture in John MacArthur's definition on church membership I called us to six divinely ordained commitments. I like that phrase. Divinely ordained commitments.

Being faithful to assemble together, being submissive to biblical instruction, serving through our spiritual gifts, participating in the ordinances, proclaiming the gospel to the lost and even within the four walls of the church, and then last submitting to the godly elder leadership in our church. And I urge this all to renew our commitment to this standard and to faithfully live out these commitments together as we remain faithful to this open door of ministry that the Lord has set before us all while having a mighty expectation for His church.

Now this morning I will share the last message in this short series of messages that are all meant to prepare us for the new year and specifically some ministry that is set before us. In this morning we will look at what God's Word teaches us about giving. We can use the word tithing. We can use words like tithes and offerings giving. And I want us to revisit the standard of giving that I believe God is calling us to and that I believe we should live up to. Now last Sunday night we had a church members meeting.

We enjoyed great food and great fellowship together and then we transitioned into some church business that covered several matters of business. First of all I presented Travis Crotwell to our church. He's gonna help us out with our children's ministry just to help us do what we've been doing better. I shared about a missions opportunity in that we are facilitating, I am facilitating a connection with a friend of mine who was a missionary in Peru, his name's Joe Barnes, with anchored in truth and he potentially, potentially could become an anchored in truth missionary. We want the Lord's will there.

And I challenged our membership to pray towards the establishment of Deacon's ministry which is right around the corner for us. And then we presented our year-end budget report and then we discussed our proposed 2026 budget. Actually we are two months behind in proposing our budget because some circumstances have come about which led us to completely rework our budget and to take a completely new approach. Because of a great shortfall in our giving starting back in November, we had to make many cuts and we put quite a few ministry events into what we are calling an unfunded section of our budget.

And we are praying that God will meet those financial needs so that we can fund those ministry events. And I will tell you church, I have heard nothing but very good things since our business meeting and our elders would say the very same thing. And we all feel and we all hear of a great sense of unity that's come out of all of these things. I have had men tell me that they are reevaluating their giving. I have had men tell me they're reevaluating their giving and areas of their personal finances that they could change so as to possibly give more.

As a matter of fact one of the men was telling me how this was a family discussion with even their children. I had one man text me and volunteered that he and his wife can take over some cleaning duties in the life of the church. I was very thankful for that. I had one family say that they are more than willing to help fund certain ministry events in the church. And I will speak to that kind of desire in the message this morning. Simply what I'm sharing is this. We are at the dawn of a new day. We are at the dawn of a new opportunity to unite together in the ministries that God has called us to be faithful to.

And I will tell you church as your pastor I am more excited and I'm more expected than ever because I have a mighty expectation for our church and I am watching our Lord work all around us in and us. Now let me show you my approach to the message this morning. I want to cover three things this morning. This is all meant to remind us what giving and tithing looks like and look like in the scriptures. And I say remind us because we study these things from time to time here at Grace Life Church. This is all meant to cause us to evaluate our hearts and our motives related to giving.

This is all for the purpose of making sure that we are giving as we should in this new day. Now first in the message we will look at the tithe as seen in the Old Testament scriptures. This is more important for us than we know. Second we will look at the tithe and giving in the New Testament scriptures. And then we'll get to where most of you want me to get to. Third we will look at how the tithe and giving relates to us today. So let's jump right in. We've got quite a bit of ground to cover. First number one, I want us to look at the tithe before the law of Moses.

Now when we think of the tithe before the law of Moses some can be tempted to think that this is less important but that really really would be a mistake. Actually we need this more than we know because there are things here that have a bearing on how we relate to tithing and giving in our day and time. But when we look at the tithe before the giving of the law of Moses now for those of you who may not know it the law of Moses or the Mosaic law refers to the instructions and commandments that God gave to Israel through Moses after their exodus from Egypt.

The law of Moses formed the core, the very heart of the covenant between God and Israel there in the Old Testament. But we see two places where the tithe is mentioned. First with Abraham and second with Jacob. First with Abraham. In Genesis 14, 18 to 20 we see where Abraham tithed to this mysterious king Melchizedek. This is what happened. After Abraham had won this regional war and rescued his nephew Lot from captivity, Melchizedek came and met with Abraham after his great victory.

He refreshed Abraham and his men by bringing them bread and wine and then he blessed them and the text says that Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of all of the spoils of that regional war. Now who this mysterious king Melchizedek was certainly matters and we know some of whom Melchizedek was from our study in the book of Hebrews although that's been a while. But Melchizedek was the king over ancient Jerusalem and his name meant righteous king and we know that he was priest of the Most High God. Priest of God the Most High.

Simply he and Abraham worshiped the same God, the one true God and Abraham saw him as a great spiritual leader worthy of respect and worthy of honor. And what Abraham did here matters. Abraham was not commanded to give a tenth of the spoils of that war to anyone. He simply did this because he felt impressed by God to do so. And then second Jacob. Genesis 28, 18 to 22 we see where Jacob tithed to God and this is what happened. After Jacob had had this dream of what we may call Jacob's ladder to heaven he set up a stone to mark this place as a special religious site. And this was a common practice in their day.

This stone served as a monument of remembrance for Jacob and others and the text says that after these events Jacob said that he would give a full tenth of all that God had given him back to God. And what Jacob did here matters. Just like Abraham, Jacob was not commanded to tithe a tenth of all that 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. It's not there in the scripture. Before the law of Moses, God's people were not commanded anywhere in the Old Testament scriptures to tithe to give a tenth to God.

But we need to look into why both of these men did as they did. Some of you know this. Abraham tithed out of love and appreciation to God. Let me state that again. Abraham tithed as he did out of a love for God and out of an appreciation to God. But Jacob did not. It appears that Jacob tithed because he was trying to bargain with God. Now my question for you and for us is this. Actually there's a series of questions. Why do we give? Do we give out of duty? Do we give out of obligation? Do we give because we somehow think God will bless us? Ah, now we're getting somewhere. Do we give because somehow we're trying to bargain with God?

Why do we give? Why do we give? Why do we give? And look church, we need God the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts and motives and to reveal why we give and even how much we give and why we give. We need God to reveal our hearts and our motivations here especially at a time when we must step up and give and even maybe give more than we've been accustomed to giving. Next, number two, the tithe between the law of Moses and Jesus. And we need this more than we know. Now there is quite a lot that we could cover here. I'm really going to summarize quite a lot.

Some of you are familiar with this kind of teaching and this portion of the Old Testament Scripture so you will know I'm really skimming the surface. Simply under the Mosaic law the Jews tithed and they tithed far more than the 10% that we saw with Abraham and Jacob. They actually tithe really from 23 to 25% even maybe up to 30% when you see how many different tithes they were commanded to obey. Basically they were commanded to give three different tithes under the Old Testament law. First there was a tithe for the priests. We see this in Leviticus 27, Leviticus 27 30 to 34. Basically 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. Actually they worked for the nation of Israel and this tithe went for their support. This tithe was very practical and much needed because the running of the government was under the responsibility of the Levites and the priests. Second, there was the tithe for the religious festivals. Sometimes they're called feasts. That's seen in Deuteronomy 12 6 to 17. Simply these tithes were to fund those commanded religious celebrations, festivals, and feasts.

And this tithe was very very important because those religious feasts and celebrations were central central at the heart of religious life for the Jews. Third, there was the poor for the tithe in the land. We see this in Deuteronomy 14 28 and 29. Now this was obvious. This tithe was taken to care for the poor in the land and it was and it is not a stretch to say that this was a type of national social security, kind of what we would see as a social security or welfare system or plan. Deuteronomy 14 says that this tithe was for the care of orphans, widows, strangers within the nation.

It was given every third year which met a legitimate need in the land with the people. Now notice what I have quickly shown us, what we've quickly seen, and there are a lot more details that we could get into here. So far the Jews tithed over 23% a year. This was strict mandatory giving under the law of Moses but this was not for any other people but the Jews now. These things were only for the nation of Israel but notice there was more. They gave more money for the poor as seen in Leviticus 19.

They were to obey the Sabbath rest for the land and release debts according to Exodus 23 and there was the temple tax they were to pay according to Exodus 30 verse 13. So scholars tell us that the Jews easily tithe 23 to 25 maybe even up to 30% but there's even more. Above all the commanded tithes at certain times the Jews gave what is called free will offerings. We can say it like this as they felt led of God. There was the free will offering concerning the tabernacle in Exodus 35 20 to 29 and Exodus 36 4 to 7.

There was the free will offering in Leviticus 22 17 to 31 and to make sure we understand this these free will offerings were above the sum 23% up to 30% mandatory tithes that are clearly seen in the Old Testament scriptures. So church take note of what tithing and giving look like for the Jews under the Mosaic law and within the nation of Israel. We can easily see that they gave far more than 10%. They gave 23 to 25% even up to 30% and they gave even more as God led them. And something else to realize the nation of Israel was a theocracy not a democracy. If you struggle to understand what that means go look it up.

They were a theocracy they were not a democracy. We live under a democracy. This means that a lot of what they tithe was more like what we would see as taxes. Much of what they gave in tithes actually went to run the government but much of what they gave was for what we would see as ministry for the religious needs within Judaism and the nation of Israel. Now notice how this applies to us. First this is a reminder for many of us because we have studied these things. Second this is educational for some of you because there are some of you you've never even heard this teaching before sadly. And then third this may be corrective.

You may have have some wrong thinking concerning the Jews and how they gave under the law you just might be incorrect there. But then last we need to make sure we hold on to how God's people gave in the Old Testament because giving looks much different for God's people in the New Testament. And I do believe that the Old Testament Jews who are under the law now do serve as an example for us. Then next the tithe in Jesus. Now in studying tithing and giving in the Old Testament it is educational of course I said we can learn lessons there in the Old Testament we can even examine our motives they can be tested and revealed we've covered that.

And also how we give and how much we give as compared to those Jews in the Old Testament that can really make us think. But a question ponder this with me just hold on to it in your heart. If a good Jew gave well above 20% well above under the law what should we do as New Testament believers who are not under the law but under grace? Think about that. Now I want to address the tithe in Jesus by asking three questions. And these questions are very important because most in the church today go to Jesus and what he taught and said to form their convictions and standards for giving in the church today. Let me state that again.

The questions that I'm going to ask are very important because most in the church today go to Jesus and Jesus teaching and what he taught and said to form their convictions and standards for giving in the church today. So let's get into the questions. First what was required in the New Testament in the Gospels? There are two passages I want to read for us. One I read earlier Matthew 17 24 to 27. Matthew 17 24 to 27. I'll read the verses for you. You can turn there if you like. One day that would have been Jesus and his disciples came to Capernaum.

The collectors of the two drachma tax went up to Peter and said, "Does your teacher," that would be Jesus, "not pay the tax?" 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, "And when he said from others Jesus said to him, 'Then the sons are free.' However not to give a fence to them go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up and when you open his mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself." Speaking of paying a tax.

Let's go back and read our verses or listen to our verses from our scripture reading. Matthew 22 15 starting in verse 15. "Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle Jesus in his words and they sent their disciples to him along with the Herodian saying, 'Teacher we know that you are true and teach the way of God faithfully and you do not care about anyone's opinion for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us then what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?' But Jesus aware of their malice said, 'Why don't you 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 this?' They said, 'Caesar's.' Then he said to them, 'Therefore render or give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's and when they heard it they marveled and they left him and went away." Now out of these portions of scripture I want to make three quick observations. First Jesus paid his taxes. That might surprise some of you. Jesus paid his taxes. Second Jesus clearly said, 'Give to Caesar what is Caesar's? Give to Caesar what is Caesar's?

Third Jesus clearly said on top of all of that, 'Give to God what was and is God's.' And right here we need to ask what do we see here in these scriptures? This may surprise you but Jesus was clearly calling his followers to pay taxes. He told them to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar which would have been money taxes. It is obvious that paying taxes to Caesar was the subject at hand or one of them. And he was clearly calling his followers to give to God. To give to God what is God's? That would be their love, their heart, their life, their service, their all.

It is obvious that giving ones all to God was the bigger, the most important issue at hand here. And look church, the same applies today. We should give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Pay your taxes church. If you don't like your taxes, get into office and vote some change. We live in a democracy. They didn't live in a democracy. Jesus couldn't vote Caesar out. Pay your taxes. I'll carry that a little further. If you have a job, obey your boss. If you're supposed to give eight hours, give eight hours. You're being paid for that. Your eight hours doesn't belong to you. Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Give to God what belongs to God.

Give to your boss what belongs to your boss. Teenagers, children, give to your parents what belongs to your parents. It's authority folks. But on top of that, the most important thing, give to God what belongs to God. Now this leads to the second question. How did Jesus tithe? Jesus tithed according to the Old Covenant. During the earthly life and ministry of Jesus, the New Covenant had not yet been inaugurated. So Jesus was under and bound to the Old Covenant and the Law of Moses. I can say that because we know that he fulfilled all, 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. So yes, Jesus tithed all those tithes that we briefly covered earlier. He covered them all. Now do you see why going over how the Jews were commanded and called to give is so important. You see, Jesus obeyed all those things. And notice this fact, Jesus expected the religious leaders to do the same as he did. Matthew 23, 23 to 24. Notice what he says to the religious leaders. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe men, deal and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provision of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness.

But these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, you strain out a net and swallow a camel." Now take a look at what we see here. Three short observations. First, the religious leaders tithed. He said they tithed. But second, the religious leaders neglected the weightier, the more important matters. And third, Jesus said they should have tithed and more. They should not have neglected weightier matters as seen in the law like justice, mercy, and faithfulness. So what are we seeing here? The religious leaders tithed, but Jesus rejected their tithes. Why?

It was because of the conditions of and the motivations of their hearts that Jesus rejected their tithes. It was because of their lack of obedience to the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Simply, their tithes did no good whatsoever because they were just obeying the rules for a whole host of selfish and sinful reasons. These religious leaders were giving according to the letter of the law while ignoring the heart of the law. Do you see that? They were giving according to the letter of the law while ignoring the heart of the law, so God rejected their tithes. Now right here we have a big, big lesson. Question.

How does God feel about your tithe you're giving today? How does God feel about our tithe and giving if you, if we neglect the more weightier matters? How does he feel? Do you neglect love for God? Do you neglect love for the church? Do you neglect love for brothers and sisters? Do you neglect love for the lost? Do I neglect love for God? Do I neglect my love for the church? And do I neglect my love for the brothers and sisters? Do I neglect my love for the lost? Jesus said in Matthew 22, 37 to 40, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." This is the great and first commandment.

And the second is like it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments depend or hang or hinge all of the law of the prophets. And look church, if we are not seeking to love God and our neighbor this way, our Lord may be rejecting our tithes and our offerings. He could be. He certainly and possibly may be. And then last number four, I want us to see the tithe in us. Here's where we finally get to the question and the debate. This stirs up lots of questions and debate for some. Are we commanded to tithe from the scripture? Are we required to tithe from the scriptures?

And every time I preach this message or a form of it, it challenges what some have been taught before. Now I was taught erroneously. I was taught erroneously. But before I answer the question, I want to point out a few facts. I want to give us five facts that show us how we as New Covenant Christians, because we're under the New Covenant, should relate to the tithe. And church, this information is very important and this can keep us away from a world of error not even related to tithing and giving. 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.

And Paul makes that clear in several places. I will mention some scripture you can go study, then I will read one. Paul makes this clear in Romans 6, 14 to 15. He makes this clear in Romans 7, 5 to 6. Paul makes this clear in Galatians 3, 15, really on over into chapter 4 verse 7. And Paul makes this clear in 2 Corinthians 3, 4 to 18. If you need those verses, ask me after the message. But listen to Romans 6, 14 to 15. "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace." What then? Oh, we just sinned because we are not under the law but under grace by no means.

Now, we are certainly bound to what can be called the moral law of the Old Covenant, but we obey the Ten Commandments, the moral law, under grace through love. You see? We obey the Ten Commandments under grace and through love. How do we obey the Ten Commandments? How do we even relate to them? We should relate to the standard of the Ten Commandments by striving to obey the greatest commandment and the second greatest commandment, you see? Which is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, amount, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. But we are not under the Old Covenant.

Therefore, all those tithes in the Old Covenant have no authority on us. Of course, we can learn from that teaching and those examples. Let me give you an example here. I've used this before and this has helped me. It's helped you. I've heard some of you say it. "How do I relate to the commandment, 'Do not commit adultery?'" I have a wife.

"How do I relate to that commandment?" "Do I relate to that commandment because if I do commit adultery, I'll come home and I'll be beat black and blue?" "Do I obey that commandment out of duty?" "Do I look at adultery and I just close my eyes and say 'Duty, duty, duty, duty.' Oh, I'm not going to commit adultery because of duty." "No, I don't commit adultery out of love. First of all, I love God. The second of all, I love my wife. And then after that, I love my children. And then after that, I love you because if I commit adultery, it has an effect on you." You see the order? I'm not under law. I'm under grace.

But I'm bound to the moral law because I love God. And when I relate to the commandment, "Don't commit adultery," it's out of love. I love God first. I love my wife second. And I am scared she will beat me black and blue. And I hope you would too. I think you get it. Second, the Ties and the Old Covenant were given to the priests and Levites. But under the New Covenant, there are no priests and Levites, you see? In 1 Peter 2.9, it says that we do not need priests and Levites. We in fact are priests, meaning we can go before God, not needing an Old Covenant priest to go before God before us.

1 Peter 2.9 says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into marvelous light." Simply we can go before God. There are no priests and Levites today. Third, the Ties and the Old Covenant, they were only tied to the land and the nation of Israel. The Old Covenant Ties were tied to the nation, the land of Israel, so those requirements cannot be applied to New Covenant believers.

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, the church is. Galatians 4, 25 to 26, tell us that Jerusalem is no longer the centerpiece of God's purposes. But Christians are a part of the heavenly Jerusalem and we look forward to that city that is to come. Fourth, we've covered this. Jesus affirmed the tithe and the Gospels, yes. But that was before the inauguration of the New Covenant. And this is where somebody make a mistake. Jesus was under the Old Covenant and throughout his earthly ministry he was under the Old Covenant.

And we see this in the Gospels where he was calling the Jewish religious leaders to obey the Old Covenant tithing regulations. Fifth, nowhere is tithing mentioned when commands are given for believers in churches to give in the New Testament. Let me restate that. Nowhere is tithing mentioned when commandments are given for believers in churches to give in the New Testament. Simply there are no commands given for believers in churches to tithe found in the New. There are not examples of New Testament believers tithing either.

In verses like Acts 2, 43 to 47, Acts 4, 32 to 37, Acts 11, 27 to 30, Galatians 2, 10, 1 Corinthians 16, 1 to 4, 2 Corinthians 8, 1 all the way to chapter 9 verse 15. Believers are clearly called to give. At times they're clearly called to give to the poor and to all kinds of needs but there is no command to tithe. So finally the question from the Scriptures are we as Christians under the New Covenant commanded or required to tithe. Well the answer is no. You must say wait a minute pastor Jesus commanded those he ministered to and taught in the Gospels to tithe. That's where some make a mistake. Remember Jesus was under the Old Covenant.

He was ministering to Jews who were under the Old Covenant as well. So yes he commanded them to tithe but we do not see that after the New Covenant was instituted. Simply after the dawn of the New Covenant and the birth of the church in Acts 2, many many many things changed. Now before I move on before I move on I'm gonna make two or three comments that will help some of you. If someone sees a little different is this life or death critical? No. Do we divide over this? No. I have pastor friends who believe that the tithe is binding. They believe when Jesus teaches on tithing they believe that applies to the new.

I think they're a little air in error. Do we divide over that? Do we fight over that? No. If the Lord rearranged my circumstances in life and I was a member of a healthy church and that pastor believed that it was binding I wouldn't argue and fight over that. I would just give like I still give. Now at this point I'm going to show you our approach to giving here at Grace Life. This is very very important very important. This is a review for most of you. Now perk up because I've been misquoted here before. Listen close please because I've been misrepresented here before. Please listen. I've been misunderstood here before.

As your spiritual leaders, me as your pastor and the elders, we call you as members of Grace Life Church to begin your giving by giving a tithe of 10%. Let me restate that. As your spiritual leaders, me as your pastor and the elders, we call you as members of Grace Life Church to begin your giving by giving a tithe of 10%. I am not saying that I can give you a command from the New Testament. I know that. But as your pastor and elders we believe we should begin our giving by giving 10% to the church for the work of the church.

I was talking with a fellow anchored in truth pastor about this the last couple of weeks and he said brother I believe it just like you do. He said I believe a tenth, a tithe of tenth is a good place to start but it's a terrible place to stay. Look under the Old Covenant those faithful Jews brought their tithes to the priests and Levites who were their spiritual leaders in that day and they brought those tithes to their spiritual leaders to be used according to the law and as a pastor and as the elders we call members of Grace Life Church to do the same.

Begin your giving by bringing a tenth of your income to the church to the leaders that God has raised up for the work of the church and then notice then your leaders bring those tithes, those offerings, those recommendations back to you, the members of Grace Life Church and you make the final decision on budget matters. Remember we're elder led and congregationally governed. You may say pastor you're stretching things. No not really. Remember now this is not law. I'm not giving you law. I'm not giving you legalism. This is leadership. This is leadership. Not law, not legalism, leadership. Let me say something that's not in my notes.

If you're struggling here I'd rather you give two, three percent out of love and not duty. Now don't stay there. I'd rather you give a smaller amount out of love. I don't want you to give anything out of duty. Oh but look if God works in your heart here I believe you'll never stay at two or three percent. If you do I think it's reflective of some deeper spiritual matters. In the book of Acts in those New Testament churches we've been studying this on Wednesday nights. We see how those early believers brought their offerings to the church leaders. Sometimes they brought those offerings to the Apostles.

Sometimes they brought them to the elders and we see the very same thing with the Apostle Paul as the church continued to grow and develop and mature on through the New Testament. And look Grace Life, look at all that the tithe goes to fun here in our church and these ministries that you and your children, you and our children benefit from. I've been praying over line by line item by item over these things. I was looking at it this morning it's probably got some coffee stain on it. But look at what we have here before us. Rent for this facility. These are things pertaining to our building that we're responsible for.

This pertains to small group ministry which is so vital in the life of our church. So much of this pertains to children's ministry. We want to pour into your little boys and girls. We want to love them, teach them the gospel and the Word of God. Ultimately we want God to save them and our children's ministry to form them. We have nursery ministry, paid workers, nursery needs. We have a nursery for two reasons. We want to love on those little boys and girls, those babies. We want to love on them and we want moms to be able to come in church uninterrupted and be taught the Word.

And then at the appropriate time they're learning how to come in church. We have special events like a revival and renewal meeting, vacation Bible school, student camp. Sometimes student camp gets thrown under the bus. I think it's very important. Let's think about one of the men of our church who went for the first time to student camp the chaperone this past summer and he came back he said it was kind of like revival for me too. I said yes that's that's what it is. Part of our budget is anchored in truth missions. Let me share something with you. I have mentors within anchored in truth. I get advice from them all the time.

Sometimes they're pastor friends who were in similar circumstances and sometimes they're pastor friends who are a little above me. I was talking to one of the administrative ministers within anchored in truth and when I was explaining that we were looking at budget cuts one of the first things he said was you cut your missions giving before you cut your church ministries. Your church ministry comes first. You hear the heart? He didn't say give me give me give me. Look at our proposed budget line by line section by section. Look and see all that our tithes and offerings go to fund.

You tell me if these things are not legitimate biblical ministry and ministry that we spiritually benefit from and this is what I have found throughout my years of ministry. I'm gonna come off a little negative here. I know I look 26 but I'm 56. I've been doing this a while. Most of the time from my home church when I first got saved all the way through my years of vocational ministry those who complain the most turn out to be those who give the least. Some of the loudest voices against giving turn out to be some of those who didn't even give at all. I don't look at who gives. I couldn't tell you who gives. I don't want to know who gives.

If I happen to be in the room while the counters are counting the money and they start talking I just close my ears and start talking and get up and leave. But I have seen it. I've seen it. Through my years of ministry most of the time those who complain those who complain seem to be the ones who give least of all. I can't imagine coming to church enjoying the air conditioning and heating eating the food that tithe money pays for studying the small-grip material that tithe money bought your children enjoying VBS that tithe money bought and you not contributing and then complaining. If that's you I'm not listening to you.

Now I want to close with five quick lessons. These are mistakes to avoid now. I'm gonna be as fast as I can here. I know we're running low on time. First lesson the tithe needs to be brought to the church for everyday ministry needs. The tithe needs to be brought to the church for everyday ministry needs. I've done folks say well pastor I'll save it all up and give it at the end of the year. Well what about everything that went on six months before? Number two offerings are for needs above the tithe. Your tithe should not be given to a visiting pastor. Your tithe should not be given when we take up a love offering.

Your tithe should not be giving for something else. We should give above the tithe when we have a love offering for a fall revival and renewal preacher coming in. That should be above your tithe. Your tithe should not go to a missions offering or to help a struggling brother in the church or a special need in the church. Again how are the daily, monthly, yearly ministry needs of the church going to be met if the members of the church just don't faithfully tithe, just don't start with the tithe. Number three your tithe should not go to an outside Christian organization no matter how great.

Years ago I knew a man in the life of the church who's very vocal, very opinionated. If we took children to the park and paid for a popsicle he complained and then years later he confessed that he gave most of his tithe money to a famous missionary and I thought where do you get off complaining that we buy popsicles for the kids at the park? Simply he didn't trust the leaders of the church that God had put over him and he was quick to criticize how the money of the church is being spent I could keep going on. Number four what is the tithe? 10%. 10% of what? Your gross or your net income.

Last time I said this one of the men sitting right over here just chuckled right in the middle of the sermon because he knew what I was getting at. There's a debate here. Look this is easy if you give to God what is God's and if you seek to tithe out of a heart and a desire to give to God the first fruits of your labor you will tithe 10% of your gross income. Look you give you pay the first of that which is most important. I've said this kind of stuff before if you love to play golf you're gonna make sure your country club dues are paid first. If you love to play tennis you're gonna make sure your tennis club dues are paid first.

If you love the deer hunt you're gonna make sure your deer camp dues are paid first. See we pay the things that we love first. Number five when do you tithe? And this is an important question I touched on this. As soon as you get paid or receive income you do not wait to pay your water bill do you? You don't wait to pay your electricity bill. You don't wait to pay your country club membership your tennis club membership and so on. You don't wait to pay your taxes. Well maybe you find an extension I don't know. Now I want to close by saying two things. I've said this before. First I live what I'm preaching.

We my wife and I tithe and we give like I'm calling you to tithe and to give. We tithe 10% and more. We give offerings above that. Sometimes the elders of the church know when I give offerings above it and sometimes they don't know. We always have. We always have. Ask the elders. They'll tell you I'm not lying. Second I will answer the question many of you have been asking. How are we going to fund these important ministries that are unfunded? VBS is unfunded at this time. Youth Camp was unfunded. Our yearly revival and renewal services that's unfunded. Our trunk or treat is unfunded. Here's how we're going to fund it. Just give.

Church just give. Pray over your giving. Give more. I'm asking you to give more but not out of duty. Give more only if God moves upon you to do so. I would never ever call you to give out a guilt or duty. Always out of love. I never call you to give out of law. I never call you to give out of legalism. It is always out of love. Give your tithe and increase your tithe if God calls you. Give offerings to things like the Future Fund if you still feel led and then when we do have a love offering that comes along you give above the tithe there. Pray over those things and look when the money's come in trust me. When the money's come in trust me.

Trust our elders. It's not just me. Trust us to prioritize those things in the unfunded section of the budget. Let me give you an example of what I'm aiming at. Vacation Bible School comes before trunk or treat. Your children come before those outside the door of the church. Trust us. Trust us. And honestly if we just give to events that we like and all it gets hectic and it creates budgeting problems the next go round. Now let me share my heart real quick in closing. I'm not down. Oh I have been. My wife will tell you there have been some days I've been really down. Some of the difficulties we've gone through I've been really down.

I was talking with an anchored in truth pastor this week who's going through some similar circumstances and I counseled him and talked with him shared with him and he's like brother you've just lifted my spirits and I said well the only reason I'm able to lift your spirits is because I've been down and the Lord lifted my spirits. But I'm excited. We're in a new day and a new time and a new era. God's building his church. I just want to get in on it. So let me wrap up with the title of the message. The tithe and our approach to giving in 2026. Real simple.