What is
the deal with a shadow?--Look at this picture and tell me who cast it.
Last week we looked at excuses the sinful human nature throws in front of us to tempt us to give less to the Lord through our offerings to his church. It boiled down to one word—selfishness. We as Christians can expose that selfishness in our life through God’s Law and shame it into silence that our New Man can step up to the plate and direct what we want to give to the Lord.
Ironically, our last look at “A Dozen Ways to Give Less” takes a look at something people are proud of—pulling their “fair share.” The motivation comes not from the Gospel, not from God’s love for us and the loving response he calls forth from us. The motivating factors in today’s ”ways to give less” are Law motivation and they are very deceptive. Initially, this motivation may actually cause the person to give more to the Lord, to the praise and admiration of all around that person (for he or she will surely let others know what they are giving—to the penny!), but in the long term, offerings motivated by the Law will either drop off or cause a person to begrudge God, to their spiritual harm.
We do this all the time as consumers. If the waiter gives us lousy service at the restaurant, we give him less of (or no) tip. If we feel we are being charged way too much for what we are getting, we change phone companies, clothing stores, makes of automobiles. It is supply and demand. If they want my business, they’ll take care of me and give me what I want at a price I am willing to pay.
Should we bring a consumer attitude into church?
Let’s redo our church, giving it a better business plan that might make it “sell” better to the consumer mentality.
Handsome, young ushers
Shorter sermons or No sermon
If you have to have a sermon, no mention of what terrible sinners we are
A band
Banish the teaching of hell
Convenient worship times
Non-judgmental attitude
People care that I’m there
People don’t care if I skip
People who recognize my contributions
People who praise me when I do right
People who overlook my faults
People who do what I want them to do
Don’t demand too much of the people in worship, either in what they know or how much they participate
Does such a church exist?
We’ve probably just described the “mega-church” (Baptist or non-denominational) down the street!
What part of our spiritual nature has been active in this “consumer survey?”
The sinful human nature.
What part of our spiritual side do we want to be active in our life of stewardship?
Our Christian nature.
Who decides what happens in the church, especially when things aren’t specifically commanded or forbidden in the Bible?
The majority
All the time?
Most of the time.
When might the majority be overridden?
When the elected church leadership thinks a certain path is the way to go or when they are concerned for the “weak.”
What does membership in a church mean?
That we will continue to join together in the worship and work, even if we don’t necessarily agree with everything the church has decided to do.
If anybody belonged to a cruddy, non-responsive and downright wrong-teaching church, it was Jesus!
List some ways his church was bad.
False teaching about how to earn your way to heaven.
Man-made laws
Over-rule the Word of God
Trying to kill him
Hypocrisy among leaders
Oppress the people
Money-oriented (use of Temple for merchants)
What was Jesus, as an Old Testament believer, required to do for this church?
Support it with his tithes and offerings.
Did he?
Yes! Otherwise he could not have been our sinless Savior.
What if your church did change its worship times and you don’t particularly like it?
Keep giving as the Lord has blessed you. Offerings are not a vote for or against some church policy or a reward or punishment for some church leader. To view offerings in this way is to sink to a Law motivation, that you can force your way on others by what you give.
When all else fails—resort to the LAW! That seems to be the upshot of this attitude. This is exactly what the synod is encouraging congregations to consider for what they give to the synod, our national church body, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, located in every one of our churches and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The synod carries on activities that we as an individual congregation absolutely could not do ourselves, like
Start and fund missions
Fund church construction
Start, fund and loan money for construction of mission churches in foreign countries
Train pastors, teachers, home and world missionaries
Provide Christian curriculum for congregations
Supervise doctrine and practice in the congregations
Secure pastors and teachers for congregations and missions
The synod does a lot of other things, but these things are the heart and core of the synod’s work for us and it takes money! Lots of it.
Recently the money hasn’t been coming in, so the synod is asking congregations to give either 10% of their annual income or, if they are at that level or cannot get to that level, to give 10% more than they are currently giving.
From what we’ve seen up to this point, how can this course of action on the synod’s part be counter-productive?
We abrogate our responsibility to decide what we want to give to the Lord and how we want to direct those offerings.
“The synod says, so that’s what we’ll do” makes the synod the new law-giver. It also robs the Christian of the freedom we have to decide. Other people might deliberately misunderstand the synod and, if they are giving more than 10%, cut back to 10% because that’s all the synod asks.
Others might strive to give that amount “demanded” because they fear repercussions to their reputations as a church or a clergyman if they don’t toe the line.
Others might strive to give that amount so they can boast over others who do not live up to their standards.
Is there a way the synod’s pleas can be taken properly?
One could see the synod’s plea as a call to repentance. Are we supporting our synod for the work we are asking her to do or are we looking for someone else to support it while we get a free ride? Wake up, smell the coffee and see what you can do!
One could also see a church’s relationship to the synod is somewhat different than a member’s relationship to his local church. The local congregation might think the Lord is calling them to channel more of their offerings into a certain aspect of the ministry, to the detriment of some long-term goals of the Gospel which can only be achieved through the work we jointly carry on through the synod.
You do the juggling. A congregation—ours!—has a $500,000 budget. What do you want to spend that money on in the Lord’s ministry. DON’T unfold the page until we’ve worked through the percentages and amounts to see how our ideas match with the reality of our church.
I'm game! Take me to the Church Budget
Now, what if you were going to get 3% more in offerings next year and all the Building FF&E’s were funded, but your second pastor needed a church-owned parsonage (standard size is 4 bedrooms)?
You could use the $46,000 as a down payment and then extra $15,000 would have to go towards salary increases and increases in utilities and supplies. (If there were a 10% jump in those two items, you’d be looking at $10,000 of that $15,000 gone with little expansion in ministry, which would leave the rest for the synod. But oh, what of the parsonage mortgage?
Budgeting is not so easy, especially for a church! Every budget is a gift from God’s grace, every budget met or exceeded is a miracle from Jesus’ hands.
Hmm. Answer these questions (circle your answers):
Are you Jewish? Yes No
Are you living before the year 33 AD? Yes No
If you answered yes to both of these questions, then God does command you to give 10% of your taxable income to the Levitical priesthood and the support of the Temple in Jerusalem!
(Sorry, I can’t give you any PO Box or nifty dot.com address to direct your offerings to. Some are in the habit of finding a man whose last name is Cohen and giving him a gift when they have their first child, but that is another issue!)
If you answered “No” to either of the questions above, please answer the following.
I worship a god different than the Triune God of the Bible Yes No
Because the only true God, the Triune God, has not commanded you to give 10% of your taxable income to the church!
Here are the pertinent passages:
A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth of the value to it. The entire tithe of the herd and flock--every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd's rod--will be holy to the LORD. He must not pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed. Leviticus 27:30-33
How much does God demand from the people?
One-tenth, the tithe.
What if they have to “borrow against” the tithe? What is the interest owed God?
20%
What if the tenth sheep to go under the shepherd’s staff is the best ram in the flock?
Too bad. He’s the tenth. No substitutions. If a guy does try to substitute a lesser animal, both the original animal AND its substitution goes to the Lord.
Who is supposed to tithe?
All the Old Testament Jews.
Who are they to give the tithe to?
The Levites (Old Testament priests)
The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Levites and say to them: 'When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord’s offering. Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. In this way you also will present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the Lord’s portion to Aaron the priest. You must present as the Lord’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.'
"Say to the Levites: 'When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress. You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the Tent of Meeting. By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.'" Numbers 18:25-32
How much do the priests have to give to the Lord?
One-tenth, the tithe, just like the other people.
What part of their wages go to the Lord?
The best part.
Who do the Levites give their tithe to?
The high priestly family of Aaron.
How serious is this tithe for the priests?
Very—the Lord promises to put them to death if they do not give the tithe.
Unfortunately the Old Testament believers did not observe the tithe. Look at this challenge from the prophet Malachi.
"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
"But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-the whole nation of you-because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 3:8-11
What was the people’s sin?
They had not given God one-tenth of everything
What had the results of their sin been?
The Lord had withheld bountiful harvests.
Were the people only at fault? Look at this other charge of Malachi.
"You priests show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you?” Malachi 1.6-8
How had the priests been sinning?
They had offered the worst, not the best, to the Lord.
Here’s the end result of this priestly disobedience, some 430 years later.
"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. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Matthew 23:23-24
The priests of Jesus’ day had kept the tithe, hadn’t they? Explain.
Yes—they even tithed their herbs!
No—they had made the tithe a matter of work righteousness and they wanted to account for everything so that they could boast before God.
Yet they showed their hearts were unbelieving because they forgot about mercy and faithfulness. No tithe is acceptable without faith.
When were these people living?
Before Jesus died on the cross.
Was that Old Testament times or New Testament times?
Old Testament times.
Did Jesus keep the tithe?
Yes, because he kept all the laws God required of his Old Testament believers perfectly.
Explain from the following passage why don’t we have to keep those Old Testament Laws.
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Colossians 2.16-17
All the things Paul mentions are part of the Old Testament Laws for God’s Jewish people. We are not Old Testament Jews.
Why should no one judge us by these laws?
They don’t apply to us any longer.
What is
the deal with a shadow?--Look at this picture and tell me who cast it.
Paul says the Old Testament laws were a shadow of Jesus. What did they show about Jesus?
Jesus is worthy of our worship. He gives us rest for our souls. Because of his great love for us we want to give him something back in return.
When Jesus came, did we need the shadows any more?
No
Does this passage mention the tithe explicitly?
No
Then how do you know the tithe is abolished also?
It is assumed as part of these laws which stand for the whole Old Testament law.
Isn’t there something firmer?
Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. Galatians 3.25
Do we need the Old Testament law once “faith has come” (i.e. Jesus has completed our salvation)?
No. we are no longer under the supervision of the Law.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. If you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. Galatians 5.1-3
So, if I insist on any part of the Old Testament Law as necessary for salvation, I have to insist on keeping all of it! I better know what is OK and what is forbidden, because the stakes are so high! (cross out the forbidden stuff)
Pork NOPE!
Wearing fur ok
Nylon-cotton blends NOPE!
Alcohol ok
Sunday worship NOPE!
Saturday part-time job NOPE!
Driving the car ok, but not on Saturday
Run five miles every day ok, but not on Saturday!
Giving 10% of everything I get to the Lord ok
Sell mom and dad’s house after they pass NOPE!
Having friends over to eat ok, but not Gentiles!
Drinking coffee ok
Cheeseburgers NOPE!
Eating raised bread ok, except a week before Passover
Venison ok
But what if I can’t keep all these Old Testament laws?
I will end up in hell. The soul that sins, it shall die.
How then could any of the Old Testament Jews be saved?
They trusted in the Savior to come, the one we know as Jesus. They were saved just like we are, by faith alone.
There IS something that specifically says I don’t have to tithe—Explain how this passage specifically says I don’t have to tithe
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9.6
What he has decided, not what the tithe has decided for him.
Not under compulsion—the law is compulsion; it compels us to keep it or else. We are free from compulsion (law) in our Christian giving.
Should—this is a morally-binding word. We should be free to give what we as Christians want. Anyone who takes that freedom away from us is sinning.
But I heard a Lutheran preacher speak eloquently about the tithe.
He’s wrong.
A lot of churches teach the tithe.
They’re wrong. Some of the same churches that teach the tithe teach you can choose to become a believer, deny infant baptism and also deny the real presence of Jesus body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.
So, I’m really free to give what I want to give, in proportion to how God has blessed me. And I’ll do this out of love for the love Jesus has shown me by his suffering and death on the cross and nobody can tell me otherwise! And that’s all there is to it!!
Yes.
But how is the church going to raise that $500,000?
By telling every one of our members the very things we’ve been talking about here.
