08/12/21 TITHING AS A GUIDE AND INDICATOR

08/12/21 TITHING AS A GUIDE AND INDICATOR

It's the place that Christian giving starts. We are not under law, but grace. If the Law called for 10% giving to God, then 10% is the starting point.

 

2 CORINTHIANS is a good foundation for Christian giving. It starts with giving ourselves.

 

God wants us to give of ourselves to His work. Not Just treasure, but time, talent. I don't expect anyone to hurt themselves or their families through giving. Even the Bible provides for people to use discretion in their financial support of ministry.

 

Sadly, some folks do not see their responsibility to give of themselves to the local church, in worship, study, fellowship and service.

 

Years ago I started telling new believers that tithing is a good way to give to God's worship and work. One out of ten. But I applied the principle to more than just money. There are 168 hours in a week. One out of every ten hours would be a minimum of 16 hours, or if a person wanted to round it up, it would be 17 hours.

 

It was not a legalistic schedule. It was a self evaluation tool. Most people, especially those who have not been involved in a local church, tend to think that two or three hours of body life time is almost like joining a monastery, similar to the idea of giving a dollar a week is like opening a philanthropic charity.

 

The amount of time was not a ploy to get more for the organizational church. It was for the purpose of getting new believers to see the joy and productivity in giving treasure, time and talent to the work of God. Getting people to see the importance of self sacrifice led them into normal Christian living and brought them blessings beyond words.

 

Through many of those years, our church had a very vigorous program and schedule. This does not mean that everyone actually gave 16 hours a week to worship and ministry. Each gave according to their own convictions. It was not a rule, it was not imposed, it was presented as a personal challenge.

 

As I said, our local church program was vigorous. We met often (and some services would be considered long by most Christians). We also had various Bible studies and youth ministries, and music ministries. You can see that the time would mount up.

 

For instance, this gives an idea of personal activity time.

Sunday School... 1 hour.

Morning Worship... 1.5 hours (give or take).

Evening Worship... 2 hours (give or take).

Mid Week Service... 1.5 hours (give or take).

This is already a minimum of 6 hours, just for normal scheduled meetings.

 

Other Opportunities

Home Bible Study... 2 hours (give or take).

Music Practice... 1.5 hours (give or take).

 

Outreach and Service Ministries:

Youth, Marrieds, Ministry Study and Training, Sports, Foreign Missions, Leadership Meetings, Friendship Evangelism, Ministry Classes, Church Day School, Jail Ministry, Nursing Home Ministry... As you can imagine these opportunities could add several more hours.

 

Helps Ministries:

Cleaning Facilities, Upkeep of Properties, Transportation, Helping Shut Ins, Printing Program... this could involve several more hours for some people.

 

I am sure I have left out some other very important services and ministries.

 

Everyone had their own lives to live and their own responsibilities. I never expected anyone to sacrifice family. But the fact is, most people give very little to the work of God because they use home and personal responsibilities as an excuse to avoid corporate kingdom work.

 

It might be worth taking the time to view your own commitment of treasure, time and talent to body life activity of your local church.

What does your church need?

What can you provide?

What are you waiting for?