Giving Tithe

What Does God’s Word have to Say about our Giving?

Giving is an expression of Gratitude to God for Heaven’s riches poured into our lives.

I remember the 10 Lepers which Jesus healed in Luke 17:11-19. Only one returned to Him to give Him thanks and express gratitude for His grace. He was a Samaritan. To this one, “Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then He said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Giving is an expression of our Heavenly Father’s loving Lordship. Jn. 3:16 God gave us His only begotten Son that we who believe in Him may, not perish but have eternal life. Ep. 1:3 He has blessed us with every Spiritual Blessing in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus. How can we not reciprocate and return our best to God? 

Giving is an act of Worship.  Remember when Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and actually watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” This was an act of worship, and God honored her for her faith. (Mark 12:41-44, NIV)

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1, NIV)

God loves a cheerful giver – 2 Corinthians 9:7

God instructed Old Testament believers to give a tithe, or a tenth because this ten percent represented the first, most important portion of all they had. The New Testament does not limit a certain percentage for giving, but simply says for each to give “in keeping with his income.” (1 Corinthians 16:2) A man came to his pastor asking if it would be alright if he reduced his giving because his income had grown so much his tithe was now quite large. The Pastor said, “Sure you can give less, let’s pray now that God brings you less income so you may give less tithe.” The value of our offering is not determined by how much we give, but how we give. People look on the outward appearance, but God looks at our heart. 1 Sam. 16:7

Giving is our opportunity to support the work of the Church in the World.

Salvation of souls, supporting ministries and Ministers. Spreading the Gospel around the world. Ministry to the hurting, the needy, the sick, freeing those who are in spiritual bondage, fear, depression, abuse, victims of tragedy. Helping hurting people recover from loss. 

When we give, we position ourselves for a blessing from God.

‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (Acts 20:35, NIV)

God wants us to give because He knows we will be blessed when we give generously to Him and to others.— it brings more blessing to the giver than to the one who receives.

When we give freely to God, we receive freely from God.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38, NIV)

God promises to bless us over and above what we give but also according to the measure that we use to give. But, if we hold back from giving with a stingy heart, we actually hinder God from blessing our lives.

We rob God when we fail to give offerings to Him.

Will a man rob God? Yet you rob Me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings. (Malachi 3:8, NIV. One of the tests of our surrender to Christ is complete when our money is truly available to Him. 

A Sunday School Teacher was finishing her lesson on honesty.  She asked, “Do you know where children go who don’t put their money in the collection plate?” “Yes ma’am,” a boy blurted out, “They go to the movies.”

A Good Starting Point  God wants us to be blessed and to trust Him in giving. Giving is a “Faith Thing.” God, is our provider. God will meet our daily needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. We may experience times of financial hardship when we can’t give as much as we’d like, but the Lord still wants us to trust him in those times and give. Many believers see the tithe as the minimum to give. Let’s make the tithe our starting point for giving. God will meet our daily needs.

Malachi 3:10 says, “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 there will not be room enough to store it.'”