May I Split My Giving Between My Church and Another Ministry?
00:00:00.000 | Here's a question from the inbox.
00:00:06.760 | Pastor John, when it comes to giving 10% of my income to a church, my tithe, can I split
00:00:12.320 | the money and give, say, 5% to my church and 5% to a non-profit Christian ministry?
00:00:19.320 | What would you say about splitting the tithe?
00:00:21.720 | Well, my guess is that some of our listeners, as soon as they hear that question, would
00:00:28.880 | ask, "Do I even share the assumption that Christians have to tithe?"
00:00:35.400 | So let me start there.
00:00:37.840 | No.
00:00:39.800 | The tithe, 10% of your income, is not a "have to" in the New Testament.
00:00:48.080 | The New Testament puts the life of the Christian on a new footing that is different from the
00:00:55.180 | Old Testament law.
00:00:58.160 | Paul said in Romans 7, verse 6, "Now we are released from the law, having died to that
00:01:07.980 | which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, not the old way
00:01:17.360 | of the written code."
00:01:19.740 | So for example, when Paul gives instructions about how we should give, he never instructs
00:01:26.760 | us to lay aside a tithe.
00:01:31.540 | He says things like, "Lay aside as each may prosper," 1 Corinthians 16.2.
00:01:38.680 | And then he says in 2 Corinthians 8.3 that we should give according to our means, as
00:01:48.560 | I can testify, and they gave beyond their means of their own accord.
00:01:55.000 | In 2 Corinthians 9.6 he describes the giving that God delights in, "Whoever sows sparingly
00:02:02.960 | will reap sparingly; whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully.
00:02:07.600 | Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion,
00:02:14.240 | for God loves a cheerful giver."
00:02:18.800 | So the point is not that we be governed by percentages.
00:02:25.560 | They're not mandated.
00:02:27.320 | Rather, we should be governed by lavish, sacrificial generosity that overflows freely and joyfully.
00:02:39.840 | So I've often said to my people over the years that a middle-class American who is only tithing
00:02:48.720 | is probably robbing God.
00:02:52.040 | In other words, we have become so accustomed to our Western prosperity and its ways of
00:03:00.600 | life that we think 5 or 10 percent is generous.
00:03:06.520 | Well, I hope it's clear when I say that tithing is not a "have to," not a New Testament rule.
00:03:17.160 | I'm saying something like this.
00:03:20.800 | Suppose a football coach does not say to his high school team, "Everybody must get up at
00:03:29.560 | five o'clock every morning and run three miles so as to be fit for the maximum effectiveness
00:03:36.520 | of this team."
00:03:38.280 | But instead the coach says, "I want you to love this sport with all your heart, and I
00:03:43.960 | want you to give it all you've got this season.
00:03:46.600 | I want you to pursue maximum excellence and serve this team to make it as great as it
00:03:50.960 | can be."
00:03:51.960 | Now, which of those two ways of talking to the team sets the higher standard?
00:04:03.000 | The second way doesn't have any rules attached to it.
00:04:07.040 | The first one does.
00:04:08.040 | "Up at five every day, three miles."
00:04:10.800 | Sounds pretty rigorous.
00:04:13.040 | I think the second word from the coach is the higher standard.
00:04:18.360 | It touches the heart of the team members.
00:04:21.320 | And if any of them uses the absence of rules to justify half-hearted allegiance to the
00:04:30.340 | team, he's simply not following the heart of this coach.
00:04:35.880 | And so it is with giving in the church.
00:04:39.960 | Now, having said all that, the stage should be set to answer the question, "When we give
00:04:48.560 | of our resources to support the cause of the gospel, does God require that a certain percentage
00:04:55.880 | go to the local church?"
00:04:57.520 | And of course now, in view of all that we've seen, the answer is no.
00:05:02.160 | The question is not decided by rules and percentages.
00:05:06.480 | The question is decided by the largeness of your heart, the biblical centrality of the
00:05:13.640 | local church, and the wonderful value of other ministries.
00:05:18.820 | So yes, I do think the local church has a unique and special place in God's plan, and
00:05:26.720 | therefore a special claim on the giving of its people.
00:05:32.180 | Other kinds of ministries are wonderful, and I want them all to flourish.
00:05:36.280 | I'm involved in some.
00:05:37.800 | But the one institution in the world that is clearly rooted in the New Testament and
00:05:45.160 | in the gospel is the local church.
00:05:48.500 | If that institution fails, all other ministries become ineffective.
00:05:55.840 | Indeed, if the church fails, all other ministries become unbiblical.
00:06:01.880 | The church is the seedbed for ministries.
00:06:05.600 | The church is the place where the participants in those ministries find their nourishment
00:06:11.280 | and the biblical expression of their corporate worship.
00:06:14.960 | So I think it is a good rule of thumb—hear those words—I think it is a good rule of
00:06:22.720 | thumb to start your giving by tithing to the local church, and then giving over and above
00:06:31.880 | elsewhere.
00:06:33.840 | But that's not a rule.
00:06:35.520 | That's not a rule.
00:06:36.520 | It's not a mandate.
00:06:37.640 | You can't say, "Thus saith the Lord."
00:06:40.320 | It's not a requirement.
00:06:42.200 | It simply may be a helpful guideline.
00:06:47.800 | And of course, I know there are wealthy people who can't begin to tithe to their local church,
00:06:53.020 | because their tithe would be bigger than the church's budget.
00:06:56.120 | And so there are obvious exceptions like that.
00:06:59.280 | But I prefer to put all the emphasis on, "Let's be lavish in our generosity.
00:07:06.920 | Let's be sacrificial in our giving.
00:07:10.200 | Let's be loyal to our local church, and let's be far-seeing in our support for many ministries."
00:07:17.920 | I think God will handle the percentages.
00:07:21.360 | Yeah, amen.
00:07:22.360 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:07:24.120 | I am, again, very grateful for the many financial partners that we have behind DesiringGod.org
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00:07:41.440 | Thank you.
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00:07:59.800 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and we'll see you tomorrow.
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