God's Plan for Giving

Well, my subject this morning is one that I think most pastors dread having to speak about, but it is part of the whole counsel of God, and since pastors are charged with declaring the whole counsel of God, we've got to cover the comfortable parts and uncomfortable parts as well.

In fact, all my years of pastoral ministry, this will actually be the first time I have spoken, presented a Sunday message on this subject. I have talked about it before in various circumstances, but this first time that I have broached the subject in a Sunday morning message.

And before you get all worried, in case you haven't looked into the bulletin to see what I'm talking about this morning, I'm talking about giving.
And the reason that I am bothering to speak on the subject now is because over the past couple of months, I have been asked questions from the congregation about certain things about giving.
And I thought, okay, well, the people who are asking questions, I need to be providing answers.

So that's what this is this morning. It's a message on giving, but not just giving specifically, but God's plan for giving.

What does God want us to do in terms of giving? When most folks think of giving in relation to the church, the first thing that comes to mind is the, thank you, somebody said it, tithe, the tithe, yes, that's what people think of, the tithe.

So where do we get that idea? You can say, well, pastor, it's in the Bible. It's one of the commandments, right? People shaking their heads up and down. Okay, you know, it's interesting because last Wednesday night we just covered the Big Ten, and in common language, very quickly, they are, you'll have no other gods before me. Don't make any idols in place of me. Don't misuse my name. Make sure that you have a day of rest, Sabbath rest, honor your father and mother. Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't give false testimony, and don't covet your neighbor's anything. You know, his car or truck or wife or whatever else, okay?

So which one of those commandments concerns tithing? I suppose if you really wanted to stretch a point, you could associate it with number eight, stealing, because there is an issue of robbing God, and we'll talk about that a little bit, but surely there must be something else other than that.

Well, let me let you off the hook. It is a commandment, but it's not one of the Ten Commandments. Allow me to explain.