5 T's of Biblical Stewardship

Stewardship Series: TITHING

“A Joyful Plan That Cannot Fail”

Preaching Portion: Selected Scriptures

Subject: Tithing

Theme: Biblical Giving

INTRO: Becoming a joyful Biblical giver requires a PLAN! The old adage is true; “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.”

• Consider our current national attitude:
• By a margin of 3 to 1 Americans believe that spiritual development is absolutely important.
• By the same 3 to 1 margin Americans will pursue their own spiritual system and reject established denominational systems.
• Eli Lilly Endowment in a research report entitled; “Pastors: The Reluctant Stewards” discovered that 90% of pastors had never been taught stewardship principles in seminary.
• One national study discovered that 85% of pastors did not feel prepared through their seminary or denomination.
• 80% of pastors surveyed indicated their church has no active vision to advance biblical stewardship teaching in their churches.
• 90% of the denominations in the National Association of Evangelicals they had no minimal effective programs or resources to assist pastors.
• In a recent survey of Christian College libraries found that the books available on biblical stewardship were written between 1889 and 1945. There has been no real advancement made in Christian writing on this subject in the last fifty years.
• The “Empty Tomb Inc.” has completed a thirty-year study on the decline of Christian giving. Their discovery has shown that 2 of 10 Christians actively give 10% or more of their income to the Lord’s work in America.
• Being a joyful Biblical giver in the face of a negative American economy is the goal. You need a plan of action. Not a shot-gun blast approach, rather a rifle shot approach. A plan that will not fail.

PROP: Every Christian can become a biblical giver.

T.S: Every Christian can become a biblical giver by gleaning insights on the biblical pattern that God instituted through various scriptures.

1)    A Required Plan: The Ancient Hebrews – Selected Scriptures

a)     Tithing Before The Law – Genesis 14:17-20

i)      Tithing (returning one-tenth of one’s income to God) was the normal practice in the Old Testament. While it was prescribed in the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 27:30-33; Numbers 18:26), it started long before God chiseled his commandments into stone at Sinai.

ii)    Abraham had just defeated the King that sacked Sodom and Gomorrah and captured Abraham’s nephew Lot. Abraham gave a tenth of all which was recognized by King Melchizedek.

iii)   Abraham’s grandson, Jacob also offered tithes to the Lord in Genesis 28:20-22. The morning after God had revealed himself in a dream to Jacob at Bethel, the patriarch set up a sacred stone to commemorate the event.

b)    Tithing Under The Law – Numbers 18:24

i)      “For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said concerning them, ‘They shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.’”

ii)    The Levites had no inheritance of land among the Israelites. There job was to care for the tabernacle. Their sustenance came from the tithe. The Levites in turn gave a tenth to support the High Priest.

iii)   They honored God by giving back a portion that God had given to them. Tithing was a law with heart and purpose.

c)     Tithing was not the only provision for giving under the Mosaic Law. They were encouraged to give on special occasions, such as building the tabernacle and freewill offerings as their heart moved them.

d)    God Took Tithing Serious

i)      “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.” Malachi 3:8

ii)    Christians in Malachi’s day had stopped obeying this part of the Law, of which tithing was part. In dismissing that part of the Law, they were not only robbing God materially, they were robbing Him of his rightful place within the community.

2)    A Similar Plan: The First-Century Church – Selected Scriptures

a)     Christ renounced the pharisaic method of tithing – which had become heartless, legalistic obligation. He never rescinded tithing as a legitimate method of consistent giving. The New Testament clearly supports planned systematic giving.

b)    Systematic Giving – 1 Corinthians 16:1-4

i)      Paul is not prescribing a percentage of gross income here. But he is supporting the deliberate, consistent setting aside of funds for the work of the ministry.

c)     Spontaneous Giving – The early church gave from time to time special offerings to help other churches that were struggling.