By: DR. JUN VENCER, President, Global Transformational Ministries and Pastor, Alliance International Church.
The sermon of the Pastor that Sunday was on “Cheerful Giving” based on 2 Corinthians 9:7: “The Lord loves a cheerful giver.,” That Sunday morning, a mother gave her daughter a dollar for her offering and fifty cents for her ice cream. After the service, the mother asked her daughter if she gave the one dollar during the offertory. She said, “No, I gave fifty cents because I learned that ‘the Lord loves a cheerful giver’.”
Should a Christian give his tithe or a tenth of his income? Some argue that Jesus did not command that the Christians tithe. Indeed, Jesus did not explicitly instruct His disciples to tithe. However, Jesus did not prohibit the giving of the tithe. The tithe was holy to the Jews and violation with grave penalty.. Jesus was not accused of not giving His tithe. What Jesus was against was the legalistic giving of the tithe at the neglect of doing justice and mercy (Matt. 23:23).
But why give your tithe and offering? The answer is simple: God commands the giving of the tithe and offerings (Malachi 3:10). But what for? To support the mission of His church for global evangelization. Perhaps a broader framework is necessary. In this world, God instituted Government as His instrument for justice through the enactment and enforcement of human laws to do good and punish evil For this reason, citizens, including Christians, are to be subject to government and pay their taxes and duties (cf. Romans 13:1-7). God also instituted the Church to proclaim justification through faith in Jesus Christ so that people may receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. For this reason, God commanded that they support the Church through their tithes and offerings. Dr. Carl Henry called God, the God of justice and justification. Both God-ordained institutions are critical-collaborators in accomplishing God’s redemptive plan or, to use Rabbi Resnik’s phrase, the completion of creation.” Justice preserves life so that living people can hear the Gospel Dr. Karl Barth considers the Church and the State as grace instruments of the Kingdom of God. The leaders of both Church and State are ministers of God. Christians pay their tithes and citizens pay their taxes.
It is wrong, however, to say that the tithe is God’s and the rest, minus taxes, are ours. There is a biblical principle referred to as pars pro toto, or “the part may stand for the whole” that qualifies the nature of Christian Stewardship. We see this principle in the Old Testament practices of giving the first fruit of the harvest and the first born male child to God. The first fruits and the first male child represent the whole crop and children still unborn for His blessings. Under this principle, the tithe is compressed in the whole income so that the whole is dedicated to the Lord. This means that by tithing we also recognized that God has ownership of the whole income. Consequently, the 90% must be spent in ways that are pleasing to Him to include primary support for family, help for relatives, gifts to charity. We cannot spend them for mammon.
People also debate about the basis of the tithe – gross or net income. I think this misses the point that tithing is a matter of faith and is teaching us to put our trust and confidence in God and in His faithfulness to provide for and prosper His children. Christian giving is designed to bless and not to burden the giver. It is a commandment with promised blessings. Generous giving is of grace and grace alone so that no one can boast.