Do I Tithe to My Church or to God?
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:05.000 | Podcast listener Molly writes in to ask this, "Pastor John, when I put money in
00:00:09.920 | the offertory plate at church, am I giving money to my church or am I giving
00:00:14.440 | money to God?" It's obvious in one sense that a gift is going to the church.
00:00:21.200 | That's the name on the check. And so it's not bad. I don't think it's unbiblical or
00:00:30.960 | wrong to think that way. I am writing a check to the church. I am giving a gift
00:00:36.760 | to the ministry of the church. I want the gospel to advance through the church. I
00:00:42.840 | want the staff to be paid in the church. I want the children be cared for in the
00:00:47.200 | church. I want heat on a winter morning in Minnesota in the church. It is to the
00:00:53.480 | church in that sense. And the Old Testament spoke of gifts to maintain the
00:00:57.560 | tabernacle, and the New Testament is clear that giving to provide for those
00:01:03.840 | who lead the church is what God wants us to do. The workman is worthy of his wage.
00:01:09.560 | Don't muzzle an ox when he's treading out the grain, and the grain is the gift
00:01:14.960 | of the people who care for that preacher ox, so it's not a bad thing. To think on
00:01:20.080 | the horizontal level here of money flowing to people and to ministry and to
00:01:26.200 | Christian institutions like the church, I think that's a right and biblical way to
00:01:34.400 | think. And these gifts are also gifts to God in the very same act, if your heart
00:01:43.960 | is right. The Bible speaks many times and speaks approvingly of God's people
00:01:51.640 | giving God gifts. For example, Numbers 1521, "Some of the first of your dough you
00:01:58.360 | shall give"—that's d-o-u-g-h. That just occurred to me, we have that modern word
00:02:04.800 | "dough" as part of your meal offering—"some of you shall give to the Lord as a
00:02:11.080 | contribution throughout your generation." So the Bible talks about "give God gifts."
00:02:18.440 | And in the New Testament, interesting, Paul says to the Philippians in chapter
00:02:23.040 | 4 verse 18, "I have received full payment," so it's the Philippians that sent him
00:02:29.000 | money, "I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received
00:02:34.240 | from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice
00:02:40.440 | acceptable and pleasing to God." So Paul saw the gifts that were sent through the
00:02:48.960 | hands of Epaphroditus to Paul to sustain his ministry as sacrifices and gifts and
00:02:56.720 | offerings to God himself. But—and this may be the most important thing I say—
00:03:03.400 | one of the most important teachings in the Bible, I think, is that in one sense
00:03:11.840 | we can't give God anything. And that may be why the question was asked, I'm not
00:03:17.720 | sure. We can't give God anything that is not already His, and therefore our giving
00:03:24.880 | to Him never enriches Him. It never improves Him. It never puts Him in our
00:03:34.560 | debt. In fact, God is so completely self-sufficient that even our act of
00:03:42.080 | giving—not just the gift, but the act of giving—is God's gift to us, not vice
00:03:49.640 | versa. And here are the key passages of warning. The Bible is really
00:03:54.680 | concerned that we not get this wrong. Acts 17, 25, "God is not served by human
00:03:59.560 | hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all men life and
00:04:05.560 | breath and everything." Same thing in Psalm 50. God was really upset with the
00:04:12.640 | people's attitude in their sacrifices, because evidently they had the notion
00:04:18.280 | they were providing for God's needs. So he says in Psalm 50, verse 9, "I will not
00:04:24.040 | accept a bull from your house or goats from your fold, for the every beast of
00:04:28.920 | the forest is mine. The cattle on a thousand hills are mine. If I were hungry
00:04:34.000 | I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine." And then he tells
00:04:39.680 | them how to do it. "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform
00:04:46.640 | your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will
00:04:52.080 | deliver you, and you will glorify me." So here's the glorious point from that text.
00:04:58.440 | God will never, never be put in a position of a beneficiary of our
00:05:04.640 | generosity. He's not a beneficiary of our generosity. He does not need our giving
00:05:10.880 | because he owns everything already. He aims always to be the benefactor, not the
00:05:19.360 | beneficiary, because the benefactor gets the glory. So he says, "Call upon me in the
00:05:25.720 | day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will glorify me." If anybody's
00:05:30.880 | dependent in this situation, it is not me, it's you, and I want to work for you, you
00:05:35.800 | don't work for me. I give to you, you don't give to me. So here's the
00:05:39.960 | fundamental truth from Romans 11 35. "Who has given a gift to him that he should
00:05:45.240 | be repaid? Answer, nobody. For from him and through him and to him are all things,
00:05:51.760 | and here's the result, to him be glory forever and ever." King David, in a great
00:05:59.800 | passage in 1 Chronicles, took a collection for the house of God that
00:06:04.440 | Solomon his son was going to build, and the most revealing thing about
00:06:11.880 | God's sovereignty in this matter is that God already owns everything, and your
00:06:18.520 | very act of giving is a gift of God. So here's what he says, "Who am I," he's
00:06:26.640 | praying now to God, "Who am I, and what is my people that we should be able thus to
00:06:33.000 | offer willingly?" In other words, our offering willingly is a gift we don't
00:06:37.560 | deserve. You have given that to us. "For all things come from you, and of your own
00:06:43.080 | have we given you. O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for
00:06:50.280 | building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own."
00:06:58.960 | Every gift we're giving right now, you are giving to us to give to you. "I have
00:07:05.040 | seen your people offering freely and joyously to you," and here's the
00:07:10.040 | rock-solid foundational ultimate statement about God's sovereignty in
00:07:14.720 | giving, "O Lord," this is 1 Chronicles 29 18, "O Lord, keep forever such purposes
00:07:24.480 | and thoughts in the hearts of your people and direct their hearts toward
00:07:31.280 | you." In other words, not only are all of our gifts a gift from God, but even our
00:07:38.240 | purposes and our thoughts and our intentions to give a work of God. So my
00:07:44.600 | answer is, yes, you're giving to your church, yes, you are giving to God, and oh
00:07:51.360 | that we might always know that our gifts are a gift from God and our giving to
00:07:58.240 | God is a gift from God so that only God gets the glory.
00:08:04.360 | Excellent, and a fascinating connection. Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for
00:08:08.720 | the question, Molly. On this note of giving, see episode number 182 where I
00:08:13.760 | asked Pastor John, "Is tithing commanded for Christians?" It's a pretty
00:08:18.440 | foundational question to begin with, that's episode number 182. Tomorrow we
00:08:22.720 | return and a podcast listener wants to know what it means to take every thought
00:08:26.720 | captive to Christ. That's tomorrow. I'm your host Tony Ranke, thanks for
00:08:30.800 | listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
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