Reverend Raymond Osborne, Pastor

Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

“A Challenge to Tithe”
Genesis 14:17-20

Well we all knew this sermon was coming didn’t we? There is no way around it. If we are going to talk about worship and its aspects, we HAVE to talk about the offering and about giving. Have you ever noticed how small our Bibles are? I’m not talking about the one that God has given us, I’m talking about what we as Christians do to the Word of God. It’s almost like composing a sermon or any word processing document. We are constantly editing it and changing it to meet our individual needs or the particular moment. I am convinced that if a person has even the most elementary biblical knowledge he or she can take this Book and use it to prove any point we want. Unfortunately many do exactly that.

A pastor was asked to visit an elderly man who was lying just outside of death’s door. He asked the man if there was any particular passage in the Bible that he’d like the pastor to read. The man thought that would be a nice thing but the pastor noticed he had left the office in such a rush he had forgotten his Bible. “May I borrow yours?” asked the pastor. “Yes pastor. It’s over there on the mantle above the fireplace. The pastor walked over and picked up what appeared to be a Bible. “Sir? Many of the pages are torn from this Bible. What happened?” “Well pastor, throughout the years I have tried to be a good Christian and read my Bible, but there were some parts that made me very uncomfortable and so with my nervous condition as it is, I ripped out all the stuff that bothered me and the stuff I like is what’s left.”

We laugh and even smile but have you ever noticed how small our Bibles are? We take what we like and the things that push us out beyond our comfort zones we ignore.

I dare say that if we had our druthers we’d never read the parts that call us into godly, obedient living. The pages that speak to tithing, the giving of our tithes and offerings might very well find themselves lying in our spiritual trashcans. Yet if we are going to be true to God’s Word, and if we are going to live lives of obedience to all God commands us to do, we must include those pages that address the giving of our tithes and offerings not only within our personal Bibles, but we must follow through in what God commands us to do.

Have you ever thought about why we find it so hard to tithe all that God requires us to tithe? Notice I said, “all that God requires us to tithe.” Perhaps we all feel like we are tithing yet we only give a remote percentage of what the Lord demands. Or perhaps we try to rationalize our tithing by thinking, “I give enough to the church. Look at all I do for that place!” Some even try to convince their self that giving to this charity or that one, or this non-profit organization or that one, is the same thing as tithing. Sorry not so. Tithing and offerings are that which we give to God in order that the ministries of the church might continue without worrying about how the church is going to finance the efforts of its ministries. Tithing is an all-inclusive part of our lives. Sometimes we rationalize our failure to give an honest tithe by saying, “I tithes my talents. I tithe my time.” We even have taken the parable of “The buried talents and given it a twisted interpretation that says, “The talents referred to there are things like carpentry, music, mathematical skills, cooking, hospitality,” and the list goes on. That parable is NOT about those things. Like it or not that parable is about money. And what is portrayed there is exactly what you and I do with our money when it comes to giving to God what is rightfully His. We are so afraid of being without it; we bury it and hide it in order that we might enjoy the finer things of life, or support our personal entertainment, or even habits. We feel the crunch and pressures of the outside world caving in on us and we consciously choose to NOT tithe in order that we might have more the coming week. Sometimes it even seems financially impossible for us to tithe.

A strong young man at the construction site was bragging that he could outdo anyone in a feat of strength. He made a special case of making fun of John, one of the older workmen. After several minutes, John had enough.

"Why don't you put your money where your mouth is?" he said. "I will bet a week's wages that I can haul something in a wheelbarrow over to that outbuilding that you won't be able to wheel back."

"You're on, old man," the braggart replied. "It's a bet! Let's see what you got."

Morris reached out and grabbed the wheelbarrow by the handles. Then, nodding to the young man, he said, "All right. Get in."

Tithing is NOT a financial impossibility in our lives, but something that God calls us to do in order that the church, this church might be able to do all that God wants us to do, reach all the people God wants us to reach, and point people to His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

I use to hear a tel-evangelist who asked those watching his show to “plant a seed.” He promised them that if they would send him a financial gift they would receive a blessing. I hated listening to that man! His theology was a green theology; the only thing he was interested in was green in color – money. Yet I’ve thought long and hard about that in recent days. God DOES promise that if we are honest in our tithing and our giving that we will be blessed.

The difference is in HOW we give it! The Bible says, “God loves a cheerful giver.” If we give begrudgingly we will NOT be blessed. If we give only to get, we won’t be blessed. If we only give part of what the Lord requires, we will only be partially blessed.

I want to challenge each of you here this morning to do what God asks you to do. Tithe and tithe honestly. If you haven’t heard anything convicting in this message yet open your ears for here it comes. Not only do you know that you aren’t tithing, but God knows it too as well as others.

Sometimes we learn by the mistakes of others and making public confessions places one in a very vulnerable position. Yet I am convinced that when we hear a public confession we are often moved to a point of action. It helps us realize that we are not sitting all alone in a dark forest. Somewhere in the struggles of the past year my wife and I became very frightened about our finances. I suppose we each decided that because we didn’t know what tomorrow held we needed to bury our finances and hold on to all we had. I guess we became afraid that if we didn’t somehow we would lose what we had. So we unfortunately did like the majority of Methodists and the majority of God’s people. We quit tithing. We were wrong. It would be very wrong, in fact hypocritical for me to stand here and deliver a sermon on tithing and not do it myself.

This past weekend I asked my wife if it would be okay to openly confess this and she agreed. So, we confess to you that we are human and subject to error and disobedience to God’s Word. But we also want you to know that we are determined, not only to do what God commands us to do, but to set an example in our giving for this church to follow. We are committed to giving God and His church an honest tithe. To be blessed? No. To receive in return for our tithes and offerings? No, but simply because that’s what God wants us to do and we want to be obedient to His Word. And we are convinced that in that obedience we will be providing not only an example for a church to follow, but much more important to us, an example for our children to follow. I issue an invitation to each of you this day to join us in biblical obedience. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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