Top stories: God robbed!

According to a survey done by the Barna Research group, only about eight percent of born again Christians tithe. If that’s true, and other studies reveal the same thing, then less than 10 percent of Christians are financing the impact that the church is having on the world today.

The tithe, which literally means a tenth, is an amount of money that God required His people to bring to Him. It wasn’t, or isn’t, a gift or an offering. It is an amount that God said belonged to Him. Listen to what the scriptures say about it in Leviticus 27:30, “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s. It is holy to the LORD.”

God’s people were commanded to take 10 percent of any increase and set it apart as something that was holy and belonged to God. Why don’t more than 90 percent of Christians do this? It has to be one of two reasons. Either they don’t know or haven’t been taught, or they choose to reject it.

In almost 20 years of ministry I can’t tell you how many people have asked our church for financial help. It’s kind of a common thing with people when they get to a place where they need help to call a church. They are the people who care. That’s why they are there, to be a ministry of healing to the world.

We, the church, are the ones who are called to mobilize God’s people into a force that changes the whole world. People expect us to be what the Bible says we are to be and do what God tells us to do. We are called to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world and to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.

There should be no other organization that cares more and does more than the church of Jesus Christ, however, how effective can we be when less than ten percent of the people who make up the church give what God expects them to give?

Why the tithe? In the Old Testament God required His people to bring 10 percent of their income into the storehouse so that there would be enough provision to carry out His purposes. All of the people of God could work except one tribe, the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Levi was to dedicate themselves to the work of God and was not allowed to get involved with business.

Since Levi had no income and the work of God needed to be done, God established the tithe. The tithe belonged to Levi, the priesthood of God, to do the work of God. Some might ask if the tithe is still in effect today since the Old Covenant has been replaced with the New Covenant. All you have to do is ask if the work of God has been done away with. No! It’s bigger than ever. The church’s job today is not to minister to one nation, but the nations of the world.

So what happens when Christians don’t tithe? Let’s break it down to your local church. What happens when the people of a local church don’t tithe?

The answer is always in the Word of God. Malachi 3:8 says, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘ In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.”

When you don’t tithe you rob God of the love and compassion that He wants demonstrated in the earth. You rob your children, your teens, your friends, your community and yourself. You limit the expression of Christ through the local church. People aren’t reached and therefore eternally lost.

Maybe you have never thought about it in that light. Your money is a powerful force. If you don’t believe money is powerful, then don’t pay your electric company what they say belongs to them. What happens? No power!

Finally, what happens when all of God’s people tithe and give offerings? Just think if every church in Fayette County alone could do 10 times what they are doing now. Thousands would be saved. Financially hurting people could be helped. There would be ministries all over the county for children and teens. Marriages would be helped and hurting people could be healed. Churches could help schools and faith based ministry would increase. World hunger, crime, drug use and many other things could be impacted by the church. If you don’t tithe to your church, you need to start right away. God has asked you to and is expecting you to do your part.

You might say “I can’t afford to tithe. All of my money is already used up.”

Listen to Malachi again in verse 10: “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”

It sounds to me like you can’t afford NOT to tithe. The issue here is never whether you have enough money, but enough faith that God will do what He said. Trust Him, obey Him and watch Him perform His word for you!