Giving Money Away

The following are excerpts from Randy Alcorn’s book, Money, Possessions & Eternity.

If Christ is not Lord over our money and possessions, then he is not our Lord. (5)

Can we put Christ before all, deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow him (Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27), with no apparent effect on what we do with our money and possessions? (9)

The more America has gained wealth, the less the Church has addressed the subject of giving. Perhaps that’s why the percentage of income Christians give away has been declining for thirty years. In fact, dollar for dollar, the average American gave more during the Great Depression than today. (174)

The meaning of the word tithe is “a tenth part.” Today the term tithing is often erroneously used of all giving. People talk about “tithing” fifty dollars, when they make two thousand dollars a month (a tithe of which is two hundred dollars, not fifty). You can donate 2 percent or 4 percent or 6 percent of your income, but you cannot tithe it . . . (174)

Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops. Proverbs 3:9

Tithe denoted the amount of the offering, firstfruits the nature of the offering. . . The first 10 percent of God’s provision was returned to the Lord. God was regarded as the provider of the harvest. The firstfruits reminded people of God’s ownership. They saw God as the source of all life and blessing. Parents hoped their children, by witnessing this regular, systematic giving of wealth to the Lord, would grow up understanding their infinite debt to God, and their need to continuously honor him by their worshipful giving. (175)

The nature of firstfruits requires that it be taken “off the top.” It’s both the best and the first. As soon as it’s harvested or received, it’s to be given to the Lord. It’s not to be stored up, hidden, hoarded, or distributed in any other way. Those who kept the best and gave God the leftovers brought God’s judgment on Israel. Giving back to the Lord what was rightfully his was a thermometer of faith. When Israel slid spiritually, they ceased to give as they should. When they ceased to give as they should, they slid spiritually. (176)

No one ever had to say, “I feel led to tithe,” or ask, “Would you like me to give the firstfruits, Lord?” The answer had already been given in Scripture. Voluntary giving started after the firstfruits. The tithe was never a ceiling for giving, only a floor. It was a beginning point. . . The tithe was a demonstration of obedience. Voluntary offerings were a demonstration of love, joy, and worship. (178)

Tithing’s stated purpose is “that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always” (Deuteronomy 14:23). Tithing is intended to train people to put God first in their lives. Because the giving of the 10 percent represents the other 90 percent, tithing symbolizes the giving of one’s whole life to God.

Tithing gives perspective. It reminds us that all we are and all we have is from God. Tithing is not a tip thrown mindlessly down on a table after a meal, but a meaningful expression of dependence upon God and gratitude to him. (179)

The tithe is God’s historical method to get people on the path of giving. In that sense, it can serve as a gateway to the joy of true “grace giving” today, just as it gave rise to the spontaneous, joyous, freewill giving we see in various Old Testament passages. It’s unhealthy to view tithing as a place to stop with our giving, but it can still be a good place to start. Remember, even under the first covenant, tithing was never a maximum standard – it was merely a starting point. (183)

With his emphasis on sacrificial giving Jesus never once suggested that the “floor” set by the tithe is now invalid, but simply that the ceiling of Christian giving is far above it. When Jesus told the disciples to go the second mile, he assumed they had already gone the first. (184)

Why not tithe?

There are many common arguments against tithing, including the following:

“Tithing is legalism.”

Any legitimate practice can be done with a legalistic attitude. In such cases, the fault lies with the attitude of our heart, not with the practice itself. . . Legalism can be a convenient label to cover our unwillingness to obey God.

“I must pay off my debts rather than tithe.”

Why am I in debt in the first place? Is God responsible for my unwise or greedy decisions that may have put me there? And even if I’ve come into debt legitimately, isn’t my first debt to God? Isn’t the tithe a debt to God since he says that it belongs to him and not to me? If we obey God and make good our financial debt to him, he’ll help us as we seek to pay off our debts to others. But I must not rob God to pay men.

“If I’m going to tithe eventually, I’ll need to move toward it slowly.”

I’m often asked, “If I haven’t been giving at all, won’t God understand if I move toward it gradually, starting at 3 percent or 5 percent?” What if I told you I’ve had this habit of robbing convenience stores, knocking off about a dozen a year. But then I say to you “This year I’m only going to rob a half-dozen!” Is that better? Well, yes. But what would you advise me to do? The solution to robbing God is not to start robbing him less, it’s to stop robbing him at all.

“I just can’t afford to tithe.”

If tithing is God’s will and he promises to provide for those who trust and obey him, won’t he allow me to get by on 90 percent rather than 100 percent? In fact, aren’t I a lot safer living on less inside God’s will than living on more outside of it?

If my tithe seems to be a lot of money, I should praise God! It proves how abundantly he has provided. When people tell me, “I can’t afford to tithe,” I often ask, “If your income were reduced by 10 percent, would you die?” They always admit they wouldn’t. Somehow, they would manage to get by. That’s proof that they really can tithe. The truth is simply that they don’t want to. (188-189)