Full disclosure: I was raised to always "tithe"? When I first was given a weekly allowance of $1, it was given to me in the form of dimes, and I was taught the joy of giving the first dime to the Lord when we gathered for worship Sunday morning. It was never taught as some kind of magic formula, religious obligation, or business contract with God. It was worship and obedience, plain and simple.
I know that the subject of "tithing" can be fairly controversial. The reason may involve the complicated interaction between greedy preachers and stingy parishioners. It's simply true that the American church seems to be rife with manipulative flimflam men in the guise of shepherds. It's also true that American Christians give an average of 2.8% of their income to all charitable causes and organizations.
Now I'm not a mathematician, but 2.8% seems to fall short of the meaning of tithe/tenth. Last time I checked, a tenth was 10%. Worshiping God with the first tenth of anything and everything as an expression of loving obedience, as a sacred portion, was a part of the faith-life of Abram before the Law and continued into the New Testament. Now, some of you are thinking, "But that's the Old Testament," as if the Old Testament is not a part of the Bible. In fact, the New Testament church did not have a New Testament. For them, "all scripture" was the Old Testament. New Testament teaching was built on the foundation of the revelation of God in the Old Testament. Not to mention the fact that when Jesus referred to the giving of tithes, he reminded his followers of the need to practice justice, mercy and faithfulness "without neglecting the" practice of tithing (Matthew 23:23).
So what is my point? The prophet Malachi, speaking for the Lord, made a very clear statement about this covenantal expression of loving obedience and worship. The Lord began by rebuking his people for "robbing" him. Somehow the people were quite satisfied to claim allegiance to God and receive the benefits of that arrangement without responding as covenant partners. They were great takers but very poor givers, "serving" God for what they could get from God. God simply stated that they had robbed him "in tithes and offerings" (Malachi 3:8). It's interesting that the Lord didn't then take the time to elaborate on the people's grasping, stingy response to God, but rather moved on quickly to an elaborate promise. "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this, says the Lord, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows" (verse 10). The Lord invites his people to test his faithfulness by deciding to respond to him with a very basic level of covenant love and obedience.
Now, most American Christians are well familiar with this passage of scripture. Recently I have been reflecting on the words, "the whole tithe." A new generation of American pastors tend to communicate a compromise. It goes something like this: "If you're not giving the Lord a tithe of what he has given you, start where you can. Give 1%, then 2%, then 3%, and so forth, and see if the Lord won't bless you for your obedience and generosity." There's just one problem: 1% is not "the whole tithe." The whole tithe is 10%. I understand why a pastor would make a statement like that. (1) as a shepherd he/she wants to be sensitive and compassionate, not loading the people down with a guilty burden; (2) he is very aware of the manipulative practices of some "shepherds" who enrich themselves by fleecing the sheep; and (3) something is better than nothing (the light bill needs to be paid this week). However, the promise of God, the invitation from God to test his faithfulness, is predicated on "the whole tithe." Anything less than the whole tithe is still robbery. So for a pastor to encourage those under her care and supervision to "give whatever you can," to "start somewhere and grow from there," will only result in frustration on the part of folks who never really get a place of covenant obedience, who never really know the full blessing of the Lord.
My mother has always taught me that "the blessing begins after the tithe." Those words of wisdom are simply true to the words of scripture. And they have been true in my life. What has your experience been?
