What the Bible Says About
Tithing
and Christian Giving part 3
Peter Ditzel
Christian Giving
Some people think that Christian giving is the New Covenant equivalent of Old Testament tithing, but this is not correct. Why? Because tithing and giving are not related. As we saw in the first part of this article, the ancient Jews had to tithe by law. Tithing was not giving; it was paying, much as we pay our taxes. The Israelites no more thought of tithing as giving a gift than we think of income tax as giving a gift. It is something we have to pay by law. As we have seen, Christians are not obliged to tithe. Christians are under the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant, and the law of the tithe is not part of the New Covenant. There were, however, gifts in the Old Testament. For example, we read of freewill offerings (see Leviticus 22). But even with these, the law tightly prescribed when and how they were to be given. In this part of this article, we are going to look at how Christians are to give, especially at what should motivate us. First, let's look at what should not motivate us.
The Three Common But Wrong Motivators
I think I am not in any
danger of exaggeration when I say that most churches and other
ministries try to get people to donate using wrong, unChristian
motivators. I am not saying that these churches and ministries know that
these motivators are unChristian, but they are unChristian nonetheless.
This problem is so serious that it has literally warped many Christians'
thinking on the subject of giving. That's right, we are crooked in our
thinking on this subject. Only the truth from the Bible can untwist us.
So, with the hope that exposing error and revealing the truth will
straighten us out on this subject, let's take a quick look at three
errors and then see what real Christian giving is.
1) Tithing: This has been covered in depth in the first part of this
article. When Christians believe that they must truly tithe, they are
acting on the wrong motivation. As already explained, tithing has
nothing to do with Christian giving. Tithing is something even the
carnal Israelites who were not born again could do when they watched
their p's and q's. On the other hand, real Christian giving is something
only born again Christians can do. If someone has been telling you to
tithe, don't believe it. If you have been telling people to tithe, stop.
2) Give to Get: No doubt you have heard it before: Donate and be
blessed. You will be blessed for your giving. You cannot out give God,
so the more you give, the more you will get. When you give, you will
receive showers of blessings. As with many errors, there is, as we will
see, an element of truth in this. Unfortunately, the way in which this
is presented is usually a complete distortion of the biblical teaching.
Many people are looking for what is often termed "a financial miracle,"
so they turn to the religious version of the get rich quick scheme.
Notice what popular televangelist Benny Hinn has said: "How do you get a
financial miracle? By giving! That activates our faith! That gets our
faith loose!... Every time I put my tithe in...or an offering, I say,
'Thank you for my harvest.' Audibly, I say it. Audibly. 'Thank you for
my harvest'" (TBN's April 1990 Praise-A-Thon, as quoted in
The Confusing
World of Benny Hinn, G. Richard Fisher and M. Kurt Goedelman [Saint
Louis: Personal Freedom Outreach, 1995] 147). Is this Christian? Does it
reflect the freedom we have in Christ, or does it bind us? Does it
motivate us to give unselfishly, or does it incite greed?
Hinn is typical of those who espouse this doctrine: "Make a pledge, make
a gift. Because that's the only way you're going to get your miracle....
As you give, the miracle will begin. All right, so get to the phones and
get busy" (TBN's April 1990 Praise-A-Thon, as quoted in Confusing 146).
In this case, the motive for giving is not love; it is not God-centered.
It is selfish.
There are myriad others who are of essentially the same school as Hinn.
They tell us that it is harvest time for our miracle, but we must first
sow the seed for that miracle by donating to their ministry. They tell
us that if we place Christ first (by giving to their ministry), we
should be prepared to inherit a fortune. But it is they who are
inheriting an earthly fortune while they distort our thinking about
Christian giving. As Jude says, "These are spots in your feasts of
charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear"
(Jude 12).
Other ministries stress nonfinancial miracles in return for giving. They
might suggest miraculous healing, or even little health benefits such as
losing our headaches or backaches disappearing. Some tell us to look for
other types of miracles. I know of one ministry that goes so far as to
suggest that, after tithing, we may find that irritating co-workers are
transferred or problems in our home's plumbing will go away! Where are
such things found in the Bible? Nowhere!
These false teachings might be amusing if they were not so tragic.
Millions are taken in by them. I am intimately acquainted with an
elderly couple in their 80s. They have been completely sucked in by the
promises of miracles in return for money. There is no talking them out
of this way of thinking. Saying anything to the contrary would only
incite an argument. They give so they can get a miracle today. It
doesn't come, so they give more and expect a miracle tomorrow. But it,
too, doesn't come. Although they have been deceived into thinking that
what they believe is from the Bible, in reality they have turned from
the Scriptures to false teachers who promise them miracles in return for
their money. Please don't misunderstand me. The tragedy is not that
these people are sacrificing to give. It is that they are sacrificing
for the wrong reason.
I must add here that there are some highly respected Christian writers
and radio personalities who promote the idea that giving to God is an
investment that will yield a good financial return. They make people
think that financial troubles stem from failing to tithe or not giving
enough. They say that the first step to financial success is tithing or
generous giving. But as Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton, authors of a
book about religious addiction, explain, "God is not a financial
investment opportunity. He isn't a 'good bet' to place your money on.
What kind of faith would guarantee a return on money invested? That
would not be faith; that would be a bank account" (Toxic Faith, Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton [Nashville: Oliver-Nelson, 1991] 62).
As an example of real faith and giving, Arterburn and Felton tell of a
Christian physician in Bangalore, India. After his children were raised,
he went back to school and obtained a degree in psychiatry so he could
help the many mentally ill people in his area. While others in his field
drove expensive sports cars, he drove a broken down vehicle and lived in
a small house that had no hot running water. On Sundays, he held church
services in a lean-to shack made of scrap boards and raw lumber. The
authors write, "The faithful walked, limped, and dragged themselves to
that mat-covered room to worship.... It was poverty at its most extreme.
The people listened to the sermon, sang, prayed, and had communion. Then
they did an astonishing thing. They gave their money. Having almost
nothing, they gave very little, but the percentage of their earnings
that went to God was extraordinarily high." (Toxic Faith, 61). These
people were not giving because of some Old Testament law or because they
thought they would get a financial return or because they needed to
repay God for His grace by giving. They were giving because they wanted
to, because they saw their church as the light in a dark world. These
people, and Christians like them, give because they love God, because
they put their money where their hearts are.
Here we see a physician and his congregation who were giving their all
to God. Yet they lived in poverty most of us can only try to imagine.
Why? Because they were not giving enough? Of course not! The answer lies
in God's sovereignty and His blessing His people with what He knows they
need, not depending on their works. And, as the authors explain, these
people "seem to prove that when all you have left is God, you get as
much of God as you possibly can. The comforts of wealth often rob people
of dependency on God" (Toxic Faith, 62). Accounts such as this ought to
make the purveyors of the "give to get" and "God as a financial
investment" gospels pull their books off the market, cancel their
programs, and hide their faces in shame.
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