Pastor Pat Edwards 5/28/2006
Grace Baptist Church in Bountiful, Utah

When you love someone do you ask the following kinds of questions? What’s the smallest, cheapest engagement ring you’ll be satisfied with? If I hug you once a week is that enough?

Would it be alright if we only did things you enjoy once a month? When the portions aren’t the same size can I always have the biggest piece?

If we spend Christmas together do I have to spend other holidays with you?

How many of us try to do the least we can in a friendship or with a person we love? It sounds silly doesn’t it? Let’s carry it a little further. How about on the job? "Boss, what’s the least I have to do to keep my job? How many times can I miss work and not get in trouble? In sports: "Coach, how many practices do I have to attend to make the team? At school: "If I read half the assigned books is that enough to pass? All those questions sound silly when asked out loud. That’s what I originally wrote but then I thought maybe our culture has changed so much that they don’t sound silly anymore. I know at some points in life we really do ask these kinds of questions even if it’s only in our heads. Our selfish natures cause us to ask, "What about me? How can I make sure I get taken care of? That I get what I want?" What I want and when and where and how can take precedence over everyone else. But most of us, especially those with some kind of moral code, try to control those selfish impulses and consider others as well as ourselves. Obviously it doesn’t take as much effort to do that with someone we really care about. By definition love means being concerned about the happiness and well being of the one we love. So I am more likely to set aside my interests for another if I really care about them.

And that brings us to the second thoughts I’m having about giving or stewardship or whatever word you use to describe the financial part of your life with God. As I’ve said in the previous sermons of this series we shouldn’t expect to be all wise the moment we come to faith in Jesus and begin our life walk with him. Maturity is a process that comes with experience, reflection, prayer and practice. We should expect that thoughts, emotions and behaviors will change as we grow as followers of Jesus. As has often been said, living things change or die." And my thinking about what we give back to the Lord financially has changed over time. Here are some of the ways my thinking has changed. Matthew 23:23 has a teaching of Jesus that often gets overlooked - at least it did by me. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. At the last supper Jesus told the disciples he was establishing a new covenant that takes the place of the old covenant. If we listen carefully to Jesus we know the new covenant is written on our hearts and not on tablets of stone. He gives us a new spiritual heart to replace the heart of sinful flesh, the one I was talking about earlier that’s always clamoring, "What about me?" The new heart no longer needs a written code because it automatically desires to fulfill all that the written code intended. We know that because Jesus tells us he didn’t come to abolish the old code but to perfectly fulfill it. And that’s what we see in the verse I just read to you.

When Jesus pronounces woe on the scribes and pharisees it’s because they’re only concerned with doing the very least they have to, with only fulfilling the letter of the law and not the spirit in which God gave it. So these religious leaders gave their tenth but not for the purposes of justice, mercy and faithfulness. They were doing only the minimum they thought they needed to get by. And Jesus calls them on it. But notice he doesn’t say if they practice justice, mercy and faithfulness they can now forget about the tithe since it’s part of the old covenant. Instead he says they should practice justice, mercy and faithfulness and still tithe.

So in the past I’ve said under the new covenant tithing is not required but as I read this verse and rethink about other comments Jesus made about giving I’ve decided I’m wrong. I think the principle of the tithe that is part of the old covenant is a guideline that carries over into the new covenant and we do ourselves great harm - physical and spiritual - when we ignore it. In fact the early church described in Acts appears to be more of a 100 percent church than a 10 percent church. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.2.44-47

At the beginning of this sermon I asked a series of questions and the one thing they had in common was they were all the wrong questions. They were the kinds of questions that never should be asked. Many of them never are asked - at least out loud - but probably most of them get asked as some point because of the sinfulness that is always demanding, "What about me?"

Recently a man new to pastoral ministry called me to ask about my views and teaching on financial stewardship. He wanted to know what I thought about the tithe and should Christians tithe off the gross or the net? And there were other questions that he and his congregation wondered about. I told him as lovingly as I could that he was asking the wrong questions; he was approaching stewardship from the wrong motivation. The questions he was asking all focused on limiting how much we give. They’re like the first question I asked in my introduction, "What’s the smallest, cheapest engagement ring you’ll be satisfied with?" Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, came to earth and gave his life for us, for you and me. He suffered more than any human ever has or ever will in taking the punishment of sin upon himself. Am I really going to sit down with Jesus and say something to this effect, "Well, you know I really appreciate what you did for me and I’d like to show my gratitude but I can’t really afford to go overboard on this, so what’s the least that would satisfy you, that would convince you I really do appreciate what you’ve done?" Do we respond to the love of the almighty God with calculating concern or our own lavish love? When we take time to decide what we will return to the Lord are we asking the right or wrong questions? And what do the questions reveal about our motivations? And what do those motivations reveal about our relationship with Jesus? Are we committing our lives and fortunes for the king or reluctantly going along with a wait-and-see attitude ready to jump either way if things go bad?

And that brings me to another aspect of giving that I’ve changed my mind about. Now remember when I say I’ve changed my mind what I’m really saying is I think I didn’t fully understand all the implications of scripture so I’ve had to change as I’ve come to a fuller understanding of God’s will. I think I’ve been wrong in the advice I’ve given people in debt. Generally I’ve told Christians with serious debt that they probably need to get overdue bills dealt with before tithing as a testimony to the community and those they are indebted to. But further reflection has convinced me that the Lord always has to come first - period. I have to trust that as I honor him and obey the principle of tithing he’s going to bless me. But it goes further than that. When we put the Lord first he helps us get things in order; he establishes priorities and helps us discipline ourselves so that we start handling money the way the Lord always intended. Frankly those people who are going to get out of debt and then tithe rarely ever get out of debt and tithe whereas those who begin by tithing find God honors that and guides them to freedom from debt.

Hallmark says you send its cards "When you care enough to give the very best!" We all need to go home and sometime this week ask ourselves if their slogan could describe our relationship with Jesus. When it comes to giving am I asking the wrong question? Am I asking, "What about me?" If we are, don’t worry we already have the solution available - it’s repentance and forgiveness and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus loves you completely and he longs for such love in return. If you’ll let that love grow all this other stuff really does become a side issue, but they are wonderful little ways of expressing our love for him.