The Tithe Challenge

Malachi 3:8-10: “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—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 there will not be room enough to store it.

Over the past two weeks, we have been looking at the biblical foundation for giving. We acknowledge first that Psalm 24:1: The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Remember that God has given us dominion over it all — the command in Genesis was for humanity to work the land and rule over it. Last week we looked at John Wesley’s rules On the Use of Money: gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.

Today we will look more closely at the third rule: give all you can. In Leviticus 27:30, God commands: “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.” We all know the term tithe — we hear it used all the time in church. The tithe is the first tenth of everything, and it is given to God. God commanded the tithe. It wasn’t optional. 

But, when we get to the time of Malachi, we find a situation in which the people of God were disobeying God. The prophet Malachi outlines the offenses that the people of God have committed against God. They dishonor him with blemished sacrifices. The priests have caused God’s people to stumble. The people have worshiped foreign gods. They have tolerated evil and have even called evil “good.” And finally, in Malachi 3:8-10, we get to this charge. You have robbed God by withholding tithes and offerings. 

Everything belongs to God, and God tells us, “You can have 90% of everything, just give the first 10% to me.” So when we withhold the tithe, we are, in essence, stealing from God. Can you imagine, you have K100. You give it to your child and ask him to buy you a cold drink. Then you say, “And you can keep the change.” What would you think if your child leaves the house and doesn’t come back. He doesn’t get you the drink, and he doesn’t give you any money. 

Would you ever give your child that kind of money again? 

God is saying, “I gave you that money, I gave you those talents, abilities, and opportunities. All I ask is that you give me a tenth.”

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 there will not be room enough to store it.

Instead of coming at this from a negative standpoint, instead of threatening punishment, God does the opposite. He tells his people again, “Bring the whole tithe into my storehouse. Test me in this. See if I don’t throw open the floodgates of heaven and give you so much blessing that you won’t even believe it!” 

Think about it this way: when we withhold our tithes, we actually end up blocking God’s generosity! Think about it: God wants to open the floodgates of heaven. Yet, here we are, holding on to what little we have!

What are we doing? What we are doing here is telling God that we can do it better all on our own without him. But even more, we are telling God we don’t trust him.  During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had something to say about this: (Matthew 6:25-33) “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

The bottom line is this: God is bountifully generous. When we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, asking God to “give us this day our daily bread” we are asking God to provide for us. Do we really believe God will provide for us? And what kind of provision do we expect? Do we expect that God will give us the bare minimum? 

In our passage from Malachi, God is saying, “Test me in this.” God generally looks negatively at his people testing him. When Moses snaps at the people of Israel, “Why do you put the Lord your God to the test?” This is not a kindly, happy comment. It’s an angry interrogation. We are generally told not to test God, but here is one time where he actually tells us flat out to test him. 

Some people might say, “eh, that’s the Old Testament. New Testament references to the tithe are often about Jesus telling people that they are being hypocrites, making sure to give full tithes, but withholding help and support to needy family members.” Well, here’s the thing. In the Old Testament, God requires 10%. In the New Testament, God requires it all. So, which would you rather be held to?

“Test me in this,” God says. So, what should we do? I suggest that we should actually test God. How do we test God in this? By bringing the full tithe into the storehouse. Some of us have gotten complacent. We are satisfied with giving God pocket change. Is God worth pocket change? Remember that God has given us everything we own; he is just asking for 10% and telling us we can keep the other 90%.

Let’s test God by tithing. Now, as a test, there has to be some time limit and some means of evaluation, so I propose this: let us test God for three months, or 90 days, so our test will run April, May, and July. What we are to do is give God the tithe. The first 10% of everything goes to God. You do your part, and see if God does His part. He promises to pour open the floodgates of heaven and bless those who tithe. So you can evaluate it this way: has God blessed you? Have you missed the tithe money you’ve given?

If after those three months, you answer those questions “No” — God hasn’t blessed you; you miss the tithe money — then you have permission to stop tithing. But if God has indeed blessed you, continue tithing, and look for ways that you can even increase your giving.