Giving your heart
Last Sunday I heard a great sermon on tithing – challenging stuff! Apparently the Biblical model is that our tithe should be given to the church and what we give to aid organisations, people in need etc should be over & above that. (Uh-oh I need to re-budget!) It’s not a law but a principle. In the Old Testament the Israelites tithed to the Levites, then in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about how when we give to the needy to do it so that your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand is doing (Matt 6:3). The main implication of that passage is that your giving shouldn’t be for show. But the sermon last week emphasized how giving should be almost carefree in nature. I guess that’s grace and worship when you give from the heart.

Giving with the right motives can be so hard but it is definitely more blessed to give than to receive and I think that principle can apply to a lot of things, not just money. In giving we also have to be prepared to receive which can be difficult if we give to ease our conscience, although giving just so that you receive or are blessed can’t be right. I guess at the end of the day what’s important is that we seek to honour God and we appreciate all that we have in him, all that he has sacrificed for us – then we learn what it is to share. If Jesus was a wee kid in primary school, he would be the best ever at sharing the sweets in his lunchbox! He shared all of life with his disciples whether they were living like kings when staying with wealthy friends or whether they were wondering where the next meal would come from.

The main thing that struck me was the impact giving our whole tithe to the church would have – how much more resources the church would have! How much more the church would be able to do – staff, resources to serve the community, to meet the needs of the needy and therefore there would be more opportunities for faithful witness leading to the growth of God’s Kingdom and a changed community!

A good friend of mine believes that it would be great if members of the church with specific skills (e.g. health professionals, solicitors, accountants, educators etc) could offer their advice/skills to the local community – say open the church once a month and offer these services to local people. Wouldn’t that be more about what the church is called to be? A light in dark places, bringing hope, meeting practical needs, being there for others.

Surely then if we tithed properly to the church that would release the church to be active in this kind of service to the local community. Then perhaps there wouldn’t be the same need for parachurch organisations because the church would be meeting the needs of the community. Or because the church would have more resources it would be able to tithe to parachurch organisations etc. I guess with it comes greater responsibility – the more resources you have the more temptation there is to spend it unwisely. It’s challenging stuff and my view of giving has changed.