A sermon
preached by The Rev. Scott D. Nowack on November 6, 2011
at the
First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas.
[i]Overcoming
Obstacles:
The Top 5 Reasons Why I Don’t Tithe Yet
II
Chronicles 31:1-10
From an early age, the
word, “tithe” confused me a great deal.
I remember as a small boy wearing my first real tie to church. It wasn’t a clip-on, but rather one I had to
learn to tie by hand just like what my dad wore. I was so proud that I had graduated from the
clip-on ties to the real thing. But one
Sunday morning I was completely surprised by what I heard the pastor say. So I asked my dad with a panicked whisper,
“Dad, why did the pastor say they’re going to collect the ties and offerings?”
What exactly is a
“tithe”? Unless I’ve missed my guess,
there is someone here today who has never heard this word before. Unless I’ve missed my guess, there are many
of us who find ourselves wrestling with God and making excuses for not tithing
as I do. Is there someone here today who
finds themselves stuck in the tension between giving to God, paying bills and
doing what you want to do? To set a
tithe is a big challenge.
The “tithe” still poses a
challenge in my life. Not every pastor
can say that he or she does NOT tithe, but I sure can. I admit that God has not finished converting
my bank account yet. And since this week
we all received the stewardship team’s color brochure and commitment card, I find
myself once again wrestling with God, challenged by God through my own study
and prayer, working through a myriad of excuses and reasons on how much to give.
I whittled down my myriad
of excuses to the top five reasons why I don’t tithe yet.
Number 5: I don’t tithe yet because my church hasn’t talked about tithing very
much and that includes me, the pastor. I
do not talk about tithing from the pulpit.
I never have. I haven’t heard
many other pastors talk about it either over the years. And I find myself asking why not. Why don’t we talk about it? What are we afraid of? Are we assuming everyone already knows what
tithing is? Are we embarrassed to talk
about it because we ourselves are not tithing?
Pastors and church leaders tend to promote the church budget as
paramount, as our first priority. By doing
so, we put the cart in front of the horse.
We end up ignoring the bible’s regular invitation for each of us to
enter into financial communion with the Giver of every perfect gift. Do we form our budget for the coming year and
then give to meet that budget? Or do we
give to God all that we can with an attitude of gratitude for all God has given
us and then form the budget based on what’s been given accordingly? Give first what you feel God is calling you
to give, hopefully it will a tithe of some kind, and the church sets the budget
second. Put the horse before the cart
and oh the places we will go!
Number 4: I am stuck in the mindset that giving ought to be useful. I need to see that my gift is not being
wasted. How often do we hear stories about
non-profit institutions that betray their donors through the misuse of
funds. There are many churches, too,
that have betrayed the trust of their givers through a general lack of
financial transperancy and muted the understanding of the various items that
make up the budget each year. In our
text this morning, the Israelites didn’t worry about whether what they gave
would be useful, helpful or functional.
The people of Israel responded graciously to God, giving a tithe of
their possessions as a gift of love to God.
The first fruits of their crops were piled in heaps before the Lord by
the priests. These piles grew for over
three months. All that food was not
good, a lot of it went bad and had to be thrown away. All those heaps and piles of food and produce
are about as useful as singing a hymn.
The best reason to sing and give is because we are in love with the God
who made us and created us and loves us without end.
Number 3: I regularly forget my entire life is a gift from God. We are told that the Israelites gave grain,
oil, wine, honey, produce and farm animals as worthy gifts to offer to God. They knew that everything they had came from
the gracious hand of God: gracious living through gracious giving.
Pastor and writer Warren
W. Wiersbe puts it this way. “If life is
to have meaning, and if God’s will is to be done, all of us have to accept who
we are and what we are, give it back to God and thank him for the way he made
us. What I am is God’s gift to me; what
I do is my gift to him.”
I can’t begin to count how
many monetary gifts have I received over the years where I kept the whole thing
and didn’t give any part of it to God. I
made excuses that I needed the money because I was broke or the water bill was
due or I wanted to buy the latest Van Halen CD.
How we handle our gifts, the resources we have at our disposal, is a
reflection of our deepest values and commitments. I am challenging myself to give to God a
tithe of what I receive in gifts from others.
And I challenge all of us to do the same. Christmas is just around the corner. Will you give thanks to God for the gifts you
receive at Christmas? I am planning on
it. I hope you’ll join me.
And this leads to reason number 2: Giving is not a first priority or a regular
discipline in my life. Yes, it’s
true. Unlike the Israelites who gave
their first fruits to God, I give my money first to my creditors and save some
of the leftovers for God. In the age of
on-line bill pay, debit cards and on-line giving, how do we insure we give to
God first? I was talking with a
colleague in ministry about this who does tithe and he said, “When the first
check I write each week goes to the commitment to the church, I affirm that I
belong to God before anybody else gets a piece of me.”
And the Number 1 reason why I don’t tithe yet
is: I don’t trust God enough. If I tithe
my first fruits, will I be headed for financial self-destruction? Can I trust God that I won’t be ruined,
bankrupt and fed to the poor? Why don’t
I trust God enough? The principle that
God shows generosity to the generous is found throughout Scripture. Malachi challenged his community in chapter
three, verse ten, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may
be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see
if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an
overflowing blessing.” (Mal. 3:10) Jesus
urged his followers to give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken
together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give
will be the measure you get back.”(Luke 6:38 and 2 Cor. 9:6) The Apostle Paul tells us that we are given
the blessings we receive so that we might be able to give even more. (2 Cor.
9:8) Everything we have, everything in
the whole world and the entire universe is the Lord’s, so in truth we are only
giving back to God what belongs to God.
In our scripture today, the people give generously, they find themselves
generously blessed, so that they may in turn give all the more.[1] So why is it so hard to tithe to God?
What are your reasons for
not tithing yet? My hope is that every
single one of us who does not tithe would commit to doing so, working your way
up to ten percent for starters. What did
you give this year? Challenge yourself
to raise it a percentage point each year.
Or figure out what talent you can bring to the table to be used by God
to his glory. Are you a teacher? Teach Church School or train others to teach
church school. Are you a health
professional? Volunteer as the parish
nurse for the church sponsoring blood pressure screenings and other health and
fitness-related events. Are you an
accountant or a financial advisor? Are
you a builder, a coach, an electrician, a manager, a homemaker: what time and
talents can you tithe to Christ’s church?
I’m going to close with the life-story of the
late John Templeton: Presbyterian elder, member of the board of trustees of
Princeton Theological Seminary, investment guru and creator of the Templeton
Prize for Progress in Religion. What many do not know about him is how he
gained his billions. John Templeton began as a man of very modest means. When
he and his wife were first married, they made a decision that would forever
change the course of their lives: They would live on 50 percent of their
income, and the rest they would invest. This was very difficult for them, in
those early days. It was a spartan existence. Templeton liked to tell how they
ate their first meals together sitting on wooden fruit crates. It turned out that John Templeton was an
absolute wizard at picking stocks. Yet, and this is the point so often missed
in a debt-driven economy, he would have had no money with which to buy the
stocks he picked, had it not been for the decision he and his wife made to live
on 50 percent of their income: a quintuple tithe for purposes of investment. He used those same skills to build up the
endowment for Princeton Theological Seminary.
Thanks to John Templeton, the endowment fund at PTS is large enough that
the school runs on the interest generated by their endowment, including
providing financial aid to 90% of the students seeking a M.Div. degree. His “tithing” of his finances and talents
have helped thousands of pastors, teachers, chaplains and counselors from
Princeton Seminary to fulfill God’s calling on their lives, including my
own.
May we not be afraid to
talk about tithing here at First Presbyterian; may we forget the idea that
giving ought to be useful; may we remember our entire life is a gift from God
where giving is the first priority of our lives; and may we trust God enough so
that every dollar we dedicate to God is a statement of allegiance and an
essential response to the God who has given us everything.
[1]
Interpretation: A Biblical Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, First and
Second Chronicles by Steven S. Tuell. (Louisville:
John Knox Press, 2001. P.224.
[i] The main theme of this sermon was informed, motivated and encouraged by the writing and ministry of the
Rev. William G. Carter, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania,
published in Stewardship Magazine for Congregational Leaders, September 2006. I am greatly indebted to Rev. Carter for helping me give voice to my own struggles with being a good steward of the many gifts and blessings I have received.
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