Thank you Peter for asking me to share my tithing witness today.  Revisiting this subject, and God’s promises in it, has been a real joy. I agreed to do this because I do not want you, my brothers and sisters, to miss out on the blessing.

This is how tithing came about for me:

My first pastor taught a motley crew of believers every Thursday night.  We were new and crass and sceptical.  Some of us challenged everything he said.

A 60 yr walk w/God had made Pastor Bud a loving, tolerant and non-judgmental man; and trust me, he needed it with this group. One night he taught on a sermon he called The Pastor’s Unforgivable Sin:  He said that not teaching on tithing was a disservice to any congregation. 

Then he said something that moved me to seriously seek God and decide about this Tithing thing for myself:  He said, “I’m not asking you to come to my church and bring your money there, I am asking you to consider giving where you believe God’s work is being done.”  He wanted us to have access to the blessings contained in the tithe. 

He said the tithe is the only place in the Bible where God says to test him. He led us to:

Malachi 3:6-18 ----------where God Says:

“I the Lord do not change.  So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.  Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them.  Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.  But you ask, “How are we to return?” 

“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.  Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty.  You have said harsh things against me,” says the Lord.  “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’  You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God.  What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty?  But now we call the arrogant blessed.  Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.”

 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the lord listened and heard.  A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honoured his name.  “They will be mine,” says the Lord Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession.  I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves Him, And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

I believe that Jesus was speaking about the tithe in

Matthew 23:23 where he denounces the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites.  He said “You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cumin, (these were vehicles of commerce and wealth), but you have neglected the more

important matters of the law—Justice, Mercy and Faithfulness.  You should have practiced the latter, (Justice Mercy and Faithfulness), without neglecting the former (the tenth). I believe the spices are the tithes referred to in Malachi; and Justice, Mercy and Faithfulness the offerings.

   

Through research, and prayer, I am convinced that God wants me to tithe.  I have tithed from the very day I said I would.  It has not always been easy.  I have often thought, -----particularly during the struggles of the past ten years---- “I need that money……..for whatever,…. groceries, rent, clothing, repairs to the car-- but I told God I would be faithful to give. Like my circumstances, my giving has gone up and down, but it has always been at least a tenth of all that comes into my house. God, in His faithfulness, has ensured there is always enough of everything I need for the day. 

I have been blessed with tiny miracles, huge miracles, and provision from the hearts of his people on my behalf; all these things in response to obedience to His voice. When he called me to tithe, I said “I will”.  How could I not?  Considering the debt I owe to Jesus, in this life and the one to come, everything that I can say, do, or give is the very least I can do. 

The tithe is my acknowledgement that God owns everything, that he has lent some of it to me. I believe it shows my gratitude to, and dependence on, Him.  But really, I am simply giving back to God what is already His.

God doesn’t need my tiny offering.  He could flick off a piece of gravel from the heavenly city and buy California.  I believe what God wants is for me to be obedient to the still small voice that encourages me to be a contributing part of His Kingdom.  Despite my meagre contribution, I reap the incredible reward of being included among the generous and glorious saints who financially insure the Kingdom of God moves forward.

I believe my obedience in giving opens the door for God to fulfill His plans in my life. = Plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. 

Some of those plans have included a restored life=God has indeed restored to me the years the locusts have eaten.  I have received the blessings of family, friends, church, productive labour, good health, joy, an ever present help in a time of need, and eternal security.  I had none of these things w/o Jesus.

In closing, I would like to share the cautionary Bible passage that Bud shared with me:  He said that giving was to be committed, forever, and from a devoted heart; that if I wasn’t sure God was calling me to tithe, to continue in prayer about it until I was sure.  He showed me where in Ecclesiastes 5:5, the Bible says it is better not to vow than to vow and not fulfill it.   

And finally, God has not asked me to do this in my own strength: He will support me and sustain me in it. 

In 2 Cor. 9: 7, 8 & 10,11 the Bible says:

Each one should give, then, as he has decided, not with regret or out of a sense of duty; for God loves the one who gives gladly.  And God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause.

And God, who supplies seed to sow and bread to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest from your generosity.  He will always make you rich enough to be generous at all times, so that many will thank God for your gifts which they receive from us.