Tithe Stewardship & Church Tithing

There it is, I said it. I think this is the first i’ve ever heard myself go straight out and say it. Stop tithing, and Get out of debt. I don’t want you to give another dime until all of your unsecured credit is paid off. I’m not talking about your house, or your car, or your school loans. I’m talking about all the store and credit card debt. Get out of Debt!

“No one can serve two masters”. Although that statement in context of scripture was not referring to debt, i believe it is applicable as a stewardship principle. It’s hard to serve God with your money while you are still a slave to debt. It’s also hard to serve God with your money while you are a slave to possessions as well. I know there are some legitimate people who are not slaves to possessions, but have some debt lingering over them. In those cases the simple answer is get out of debt and then your can give God your money.

Do not bow to the pressure of the tithing threats. God does not judge a person by what they’ve given; He judges them by what they’ve kept. You need to be a wise steward, and part of that is making the decision to get out of debt, and then give to God. Actually, here’s a thought that just ran through my head. Who said that paying your bills and striving to get out of debt is not giving to God. The misconception is that paying your bills or striving to be debt free is not a spiritual way of giving. Are you somehow dishonoring God if you pay off your debts? Why would God be more honored if you paid the parishioner, but was late on your bills? Where is the honor in that?

God judges us based on our stewardship. I’ve stated this so many times as an example, but it is so relevent: The servant who gave 100% back to the master when he returned, was the one considered a bad steward. A good analogous word for “steward” is “investor”.

At the end, the truth is we will be judged by our investments. Whether we are in debt or not, If we’ve invested in the worldly things, then God will burn up our works like wood, hay, and stubble. If you are struggling financially, and cannot get out of debt no matter what you’ve done, then stop giving it away and start investing in the plan to get out of debt. If you have trouble with debt because of self control, then get some accountability, get some instructions, follow a plan to stop spending; and start investing in a debt-free life. Dave Ramsey and Crown Financial offer good programs to help you get out of debt. Don’t feel guilty about putting your money towards debt instead of in the offering plate. God will honor your decision for being a wise, investing steward.

Remember, God’s blessings are reaped naturally by a cause and effect more then they are reaped miraculously, such as money falling from the sky. You will reap what you sow. So if you sow a debt-free life, you will reap the rewards that come from it. The natural reward of a debt free life is not money falling from the sky. Although i wouldn’t pass that up.

There are only two paths you can take towards Godly stewardship. One leads to debt as your master, and the other path leads to financial freedom as your master. Which path are you going to choose?

Why is it that those who have the truth like to argue; and those who do not have definitive answers for their beliefs, do not like to argue? It annoys me that people say that i just like to argue about tithing. I don’t like to look at it as arguing. I like to see it as spreading the truth. Sure, we could say that there’s no sense in arguing, but you see it all the time in the bible. The truth of the matter is that as long as wrong has the opportunity to infiltrate right, then there should always be arguing.

Whether you like the tension or not that is created because of arguing, you should never be one to go against it. I guess “arguing” is a bad word. I guess you could say that it is more along the lines of “stating your case”. Doesn’t “witness” come with the meaning of standing up for your beliefs?

All I’m trying to say is don’t be upset for my tithing arguments. Don’t look down upon me because i am strongly opposed to mandated giving. Don’t shut your opposition up either.

I can say that my experiences so far in life have shown me how not to be. There has not been much experiences in my life that have shown me how i should be. I guess i could say that is true up through my life in college. Once outside of college i became involved with a bunch of friends that were able to show how to be. One of the things we did often was discuss and debate issues in the bible.

People think that if you are debating that you are questioning God. Arguing can be a part of seeking God. Most of us have the same goal right? We want to do our best and to do what’s right. To simply state that you don’t like to argue, is stating that you think you are always right and do not want to change your ways. If we were all perfect, i could go along with the peaceful non-argumentative discussions, but the problem is that I am not perfect. You are not perfect.

Iron sharpens iron, right? You can’t sharpen iron without beating it and heating it. You are not going to sharpen iron by just polishing it. Iron is strong, just like our stubborn personalities. We have to be beaten. A soft polish will not help us become sharper. Positive thinking and conversations that do not consist sometimes of debating keep us dull.

I know what some of you are thinking, “I stay sharpened by praying, reading my bible, and fellowshipping at my church.” I would say to you, “WAKE UP!” There is a literal battle going on between good and evil - between right and wrong. And here we go just, fra la la, thinking that the absence of conflict means that everything is good. You are SO wrong. The absence of conflict means that you are not in the fight you dummy!

Church history over and over has repeated this mistake. We don’t like to debate and we don’t like conflict so we’ll just divide and separate ourselves and begin a whole other denomination. Instead of creating arguments and debate that is healthy for growth, we’ve decided that what we believe is right and separated ourselves from all those who are so very wrong. We’ve gotten out of the fight, and became complacent. Every single denomination is a testament to the fact that what we think is right, and what everyone else thinks is wrong. We think we have it all figured out. We will just call ourselves Baptist’s, Methodists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, that way everyone knows what we’re about. Our identity portrays our core denominational beliefs and allows everyone to separate out the wheat and the chaff.

Ok, back from the denominational rabbit trail. In my experiences arguing the tithing debate, there have been countless times where people have bowed out of this discussion because they do not want to debate. I call them feather Christians. They fight with a feather instead of a sword. I post many comments on blogs that are very thoughtful and even open minded but my comments are not approved just for the fact that they disagree and don’t like arguing. I guess that’s what prompted this post. I posted on a blog on some financial website and my comments were never approved. Instead that blogger just posted his own comment stating his criteria for allowing comments. Suffice it to say he has had very little comments. Another note about that blogger is that the very few comments that are left are mostly comments praising the blogger. A pride issue? I don’t know. . . maybe?

I can say for myself that i don’t have any ethical or moral guilt about arguing. Arguing and debating fuels me spiritually, and mentally. It forces me to search the scriptures, and find out the truth. It helps me pursue God. Even though i have put so many hours into tithing studies, i have corrected and tweaked so many of my writings due to ability to debate. I would venture to say that debating fuels a lot of men. Us men want a fight. We want a challenge. I’m sorry ladies but that’s how we’re fueled. That’s why we watch sports or play video games(for those of you who do not watch sports). I am addicted to both LOL!

Is there a right and wrong time to debate? Sure there is. Do i start debating every time i hear the word “tithing”? No. But i am always ready for a good challenge? How about you?

By the way if you want a list of tithing arguments that i have debated with scripture please visit the link here
http://churchtithesandofferings.com/topargumentsfortithing.html

Came across a news article titled, “Pastor Pitches Tithing as a Budget Solution” in my daily browsing across the internet. You can read the article here from TwinCities.com. Ok, the gist of the article talks about how tithing has been declining, but there’s one statement in there that strikes me.

“. . . many people now see government, not private religious organizations, as the primary vehicle for serving the destitute.”

How embarrassing for God. The rotten, stinkin, filthy government is now his representative. The Church has passed on the torch. If i was God, I’d be shaking my head in shame. I’d be embarrassed. No wonder giving is down in the Church. Until we’ve learned what we are called here to do, then why should God trust his Church with more money?

Giving, feeding, and serving the poor was the hallmark of Christ’s ministry while on earth. On top of that, one of his last accomplishments before leaving the earth was destroying the temple, but we’ve defied his actions and re-resurrected the temple and neglected the poor.

The problem we have is in the title of this article. We think we need solutions for “our” budgets. We think that the lifeblood of our church is our budget, our buildings or our programs. When these things are deficient we think that our mission is being compromised because of lack of funding.

I wish i could go back to the early church and see how simplistic giving was. Taking care of needs was the number one goal of giving. Now we literally have book stores, coffee shops, amusement parks, malls, theaters, and fitness rooms that have jumped on the band wagon of “needs”. And it will not stop there. The future holds more and more possibilities that will rob the poor.

I am writing this post here to let you know that the pen will be on pause for the next two to three weeks. I have a home based business, and i’ve become very busy, which is good. so i need to take this time to focus on providing for my family. I have a bunch of blog articles written up that i haven’t had time to post. I also have 200 page manuscript on tithing & New Testament giving that i would like to see published into a book. I am about 1/4 of the way through editing it, and haven’t had much time to advance that. I have a small portion of it on the home page of this website. http://churchtithesandofferings.com/

On top of all, that i have all my plans and ideas in place to completely revamp this whole website. I just havn’t had time to initiate them. I am excited about all these things, but as you can see time is not there for me to do them.

I love this topic and i have been writing for this blog since 2006. I am going to continue to write and bring quality articles shortly in the future. I need to take a break. I will admit some of it is a sabbatical for my sanity. I don’t think one can devout himself to something for so long without any breaks. But this is what i’ve done since 2006, so i think its time for me to take a break. I will come back with more excitement as a result, and maybe i can find the energy to implement some of the things in my plans.

Thank you for your support and participation in this blog. I will be back before you know it.

-Jared Bartholomew

I read the book, “Tithing in the Age of Grace” by Joel Parker. Most of the book was filled with the scriptures that dealt with tithing, but did not include as much application as much as other tithing books i have read. In one of the sections a scripture passage covers 10 pages of the 117 page book. It is also written in large print with the border taking up much of the room. Suffice it to say, for those of you who enjoy reading shorter books, this is the one for you. I read through it pretty quickly.

I’ll get right into this review with a quote from the book,

“He [Abraham] tells the king of Sodom ‘I will not take anything that is yours‘ demonstrating that what he gave to Melchizedek didn’t actually belong to him.”

Most people use Abraham’s example as proof text for tithing, but Abraham did not gather any increase from the spoils of war, because he gave it all away. He also acknowledged that it was the king of Sodom’s stuff anyway. Abraham said, i will not take anything that is YOURS.

“Now look closely at Malachi 3:5b. Who does it say ‘the Lord will come near for judgment’? It says ‘Those who exploit wage earners, and widows, and the fatherless, and those who turn away an alien (or stranger)’. Did you see what I saw? Who is noticeably missing from Malachi 3:5 that is otherwise included in Deuteronomy 14:29 and Deuteronomy 26:12,13?
That’s right! The Levites are missing. They are not in the list of people being exploited.

What was actually happening in Malachi 3 is that the Levites/religious leaders were exploiting the poor. These leaders were in charge of distributing the food that came in from tithing. Does this sound familiar to the operations we see today in the Church? Is there no wonder why Barna’s tithing study points out that many people are diverting more of their funds to charitable organizations rather than the church?

Maybe the lack of funds for the church today is a passive way of us telling our leaders that they are not doing their job. Their job isn’t to make me comfortable, or to have great coffee for me, or to build internal church programs that only help the ones inside, or to have an exercise room for me, or to have a great sound system for me, or to have a great preacher and worship team to help my experience. Outside of taking care of our ministers needs, it seems that everything we’ve done inside the church is extremely self serving. Why should I be convicted about serving the desires of my family, and in the mean time be justified over giving back to myself at Church? Instead we staple God’s tag onto the internal dreams of our church, and in the same sentence rip out the “American dream” out of the hearts of families. Is there a difference between the church’s dream and my own? There is none, besides the fact that we’ve sanctified the one dream and made the other unholy.

Anyway, there was more in this book than what I’ve quoted above. Most of the other stuff i have already been mentioned. I would give Tithing in the Age of Grace 3 out of 5 stars. It’s not that it’s got the wrong view or bad content, it just that there’s really not much new content in there. I really don’t enjoy a book loaded with arguments that are speculative, and there was a lot of that. For instance Parker points out that Jesus never asked for money even though he had plenty of chances. Yeah, Parker is right, and no I’m not against speculation, but with a book that had very little deep discussion on the issue, speculation is not a weapon he should be using.

Has anyone read Tithing in Age of Grace? If so what are your thoughts? If not, what’s your input about this discussion?

Came across a good tithing illustration today in search of blog posts on tithing. It has a really good illustration about the validity of tithing. It’s called The trial of pastor Jones. It seemed too long for me to read at first, but i’m glad i read it, and i enjoyed it throughout. It’s a dialogue of a pastor on trial for demanding tithes from the church.

I was going through my bookshelf the other day and reorganizing some things and i noticed this book. I knew i had read it but found out i haven’t written a review yet about it. It’s been a while so hopefully my memory isn’t too blank. I purchased the book because the title intrigued me, “Tithing and Still Broke”. Niral Russell Burnett is the author and basically spins the idea of the book off of people’s doubts about tithing’s financial return. Of course most of us are familiar with the Malachi 3 statement, “I will open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing so that you will not have room enough to receive it.”

Before i read this book, i remember using this exact phrase as a pundit to get my point across. Many people were tithing, but they were still broke. Supposedly, if that’s the case, God is either punishing you for that one Sunday you missed five years ago, or your faith is not strong enough, or your heart is not right. Although you have been faithfully giving the tithe, one of these three issues is what is keeping you from God blessing you right?

I write a lot of comments on other blogs that talk about tithing. I try to add my 2 cents, but the one type of blogs that i do not add comments on are the personal testimonies. I’m sure many of you have heard testimonies that portray a couple that gives their $127.67 tithe check to the church and then God doubles or even gives them 10x the amount to the exact penny. Some things to note on those people. One, that only happens once. Two, for some reason it doesn’t happen to everyone. Three, it never happened to me.

I have no doubts that God purposefully blessed them with that exact amount, but i have no doubts that it wasn’t because they obeyed the tithe. Why? Because those situations happen to those people who give freewill offerings as well. I forget to mention above, but the reason why i do not comment on the testimony blogs is because the ability to convince them that their blessing didn’t come from an old testament law is similar to convincing you that you are not real. That tithing testimony is so real to them, that scripture will not convince them otherwise.

You see, God blesses the faith and the sacrifice. He does not bless us on our performance. Let me ask this? What do you think God would bless more - A person who makes a decision to pay a bill of $200 to get out of debt, or a person who gives $200 to his church? What is the greater spiritual need? Who determines that the building fund is a greater need than someone paying off debt? I don’t know? You tell me. I’m sure the question follows, “Well why can’t we do both- Pay off some of the debt and give some to the church”? I’m not saying he can’t. My point is that God does not judge man on how much he gives, he judges man on how good of a steward he is.

Giving can be part of stewardship, but for illustration sake let’s refer to the master who left 3 of his stewards some talents. Two out of Three had taken the talents and invested it, and had more in the end. The third one actually gave 100% of his talents back to his master, but was still considered a bad steward.

I appreciate Niral Burnett’s challenge to bring more faith and sacrifice into tithing, but tithing + faith is not the only equation to God’s blessing. Yes, i do think finances can be a blessing for those of you who think money is a curse. I don’t know about you but i appreciate material things. They are not a curse until they become an idol. An idol is not exactly something you bow down to. It can be a material possession that God’s Spirit asks you to give up but you hold onto.

First, I think people are tithing and still broke because they lack the financial discipline to say “no” to their idols. Second, i think people are tithing and still broke because they put themselves under the requirement of a law that had been fulfilled. I think people are tithing and still broke simply because they can’t afford to tithe.

I haven’t done so officially yet, but i was just thinking the other day about writing a testimony about how i came to my conclusion about tithing. I guess what prompted this was when i had mentioned to someone that i used to tithe. They asked me what reasons did i switch my views on tithing and if it had anything to do with the abuse of money in the church. Typically people ask questions like that because they wanted to see if my tithing stand was born out of ill conceit. Most people think that if your opposition sprouted from rebellion then they think that your argument is not legitimate. I’m sure there are many people out there today that believe in Spirit-led giving because they questioned abuse in the church. I’m sure some of them are still rebellious and bitter about it. But let’s not throw out the truths that we find even though they are found in the doubting moments of the church.

My tithing testimony doesn’t include a rebellious foundation. I grew up in a church that was very good with money. We had no debt, and we had great outreach. We didn’t have the bells and whistles, like coffee shops and stage lighting like most seeker sensitive churches, but we still had more than what we needed. I remember the church going into debt only once because the school needed classrooms. It was a facility that cost only 1 million dollars and was well worth the cost for the students of a complete high school and church to constantly use.

So anyways back to my testimony, i got my first job at 16 at an ice cream shop. My very first paycheck i tithed on. I tithed from then all the way through the end of college. I didn’t question it. My parents had tithed all their lives and so i would as well. I really didn’t even know what verses that tithing was commanded from, but i tithed anyways. I am glad that i gave all that money, and there are no regrets there. The only thing i regret to tell you about my tithing testimony is that i was living by a law and i didn’t know why. It was automatic.

There’s been some controversy today about ATM tithing and automated debits for your offering. People are afraid that since the money is not physically placed in an offering plate that we will be out of tune with the heart of giving. But with how tithing is automated today, what difference does it make if you blindly press a button on the internet, or you just blindly sign a check? If there is no spiritual interaction involved it doesn’t matter if you have automatic withdrawals or you place cold hard cash in a gold offering plate as it passes by.

Let me tell you that one of the hardest things for me was to tithe my income when i was paying my way through college. Most people have it harder than i did, but i paid for my own gas, insurance, vehicle, entertainment, tuition, and books. My parents gave me a place to stay and eat for free, but they didn’t give me anything extra. Over one summer i had three jobs and was working about 70 hours a week. Regardless of how hard i worked i still had to take out some loans. Luckily it was only about 1 years worth of school debt

I mentioned that my parents had tithed all their lives, but let me just reassure you that God didn’t throw money out of the sky at our family. We probably just barely made it. I could honestly tell you that my parents probably had more credit cards than i actually get in offers in a year. They were extremely in debt! And managed to steal my credit and get me in debt as well, but that’s beside the point. The point i want to bring up is actually a question. Let’s say that my parents gave only 4% to the church, but were excellent in their finances and paid all their bills on time? How would God judge them? Of course they did the opposite, but what do you think God judges more severely - not tithing or getting in debt? Hmmm, good question, but that’s not how God judges our stewardship. You see God doesn’t have a checklist of requirements that we need to meet before we’ve become acceptable to him. Remember the steward that was left in charge of 2 talents while his master was gone? He buried the talents and when his master returned, he gave 100% of the talents back. A good steward is an investor, not a giver, not a bill payer, not a returner.

This is essentially what i did with my money. I was a giver, not an investor. An investor is Spirit-led, but a giver follows directions from a dead law.

So as i was saying about my tithing testimony in college. At the end of college i became involved in a fellowship that challenged and fed me. We did lots of ministry together. One day a friend confronted us about tithing. He said that tithing is not required of New Testament Christians. I immediately argued with him. Of course i didn’t agree. I couldn’t have been wrong all these years. After all, tithing is commanded in the bible, right? After that i began to search the scriptures to prove him wrong. The more and more i studied, the more and more, i couldn’t prove him wrong. It was the craziest thing! I kept going over and over scriptures. I kept questioning my reasoning. There’s just no way that this much of the church has been wrong for so long about tithing. Then it hit me. What was the number one thing that Jesus talked about in the bible? It wasn’t heaven, hell, hatred, the tongue, lying, or satan. It was money.

Outside of the Holy Spirit and the Word, money is the most powerful and influential substance known to mankind. If there is anything that the church can be wrong about, it’s gotta be about money.

So i’ve been heavily studying and discussing tithing since 2005. I started a tithing website, started this blog, and started a tithing group in order to get the word out. Hopefully one day, i will write a book.

I cannot tell you the amount of growing and learning that God has given me over the past years. I wish i could just take a portion of my heart, soul, and mind and let you see the truths that God has spoken to me about Spirit-led giving. My passion on this subject is what keeps me writing about it so much. If this truth was not so alive in me i wouldn’t be able to write as much as i do. Right now, i believe there are over 180 blog articles that have been written here since 2006. Each day there are about 245 unique visitors, 3280 hits, and 175 google searches. That is another thing that keeps me motivated about this site. I know people are searching for the truth.

I am convinced to my grave that Spirit-led giving is what God intended for his Children under the New Covenant. Would i remain open to a new evidence that tithing is required for us, well, sure! I have listened to hundreds of sermons, and read dozens of books on tithing, so i’m not sure that much of anything new is out there to reveal, but an open mind is there, believe it or not. I hope my tithing testimony encourages some. Please share your testimony as well. It will encourage me and others.