Giving



Do you see yourself in one of these people? Are you the girl who finds reasons not to give based on how well the church seems to be doing? Are you the guy who congratulates himself over and over on how much he gives and what a humble tool he is?
Are you the girl who is motivated by guilt to give based on past failures? Are you the guy who wants to give out of gratefulness to God?

Our cultural gives us definite messages on giving:

Give if it benefits you
Give if there is anything left over
Give out of a sense of duty

The Scriptures give us a decidedly different picture of giving. But before we get to that, I want to mention some results from our survey last week.


Our survey revealed some interesting insights. Most of you understood tithing to mean “a planned and consistent commitment.” That’s good. Although a few of you also added “depending on my finances” or “depending on the need of the church”, which is contradictory. But maybe you were just being honest there.

Many of you have heard good and consistent teaching on tithing and giving. But many of you indicated that you had not heard much teaching on this. So it’s important for all of us that we know what the Word of God has to say on this matter.


The word and practice of “tithing” comes from the Old Testament, involving two persons of legendary status, Abraham, father of nations, and the mysterious priest named Melchizedek. Melchizedek is called priest of the Most High God.

“See how great he is! Abraham the patriarch gave him a tithe of the spoils.” Hebrews 7.4

Abraham, we are told, was a wealthy man. He regarded as a noble and prince among different nations. A tenth of his wealth was quite a gift. Tithing starts with Abraham and Melchizedek but is seen in connection with the fact that God has made us stewards of the Creation. Everything we have belongs to God.

David reflected this belief and also the practice of a tithe when he seeks to honor God by buying a threshing floor to build an altar to God. The man from whom he is buying offers to give it to King David for free. But listen to David’s response:

“No, I will buy it of you for a price; I will not offer to God that which has cost me nothing.” 2 Samuel 24.24


Tithing becomes a consistent practice among God’s people. In a largely agricultural society it was understood that people of faith tithed what the land produced. You tithed all the resources God gave you. Tithing practices became so detailed among the Pharisees that Jesus criticized their practices because they used them to ignore justice and love for God.

Sometimes people want to claim that tithing was only an Old Testament thing. But Jesus tells the Pharisees you ought to tithe and do these other things.

One the comments on our surveys was, “God doesn’t want more money.” Well, that’s true in a fashion. God doesn’t need our money. But when I hear that comment I think sometimes it’s used as an excuse to let us off the hook for lack of faithfulness. I’m not saying that’s what this person is doing. But I am saying that God clearly instructs his people to give and give with purpose, sacrifice, and consistency.

In the New Testament Church tithing was clearly practiced, but it was seen as a minimal step of faithfulness to God. How can I say that?

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need.” Acts 2.44-45

The followers of Jesus were bringing it all to God. Did God need it? No, but the church did. Because the church was ministering and making disciples.


It was understood that not everybody would give the same amounts, but everyone would give faithfully. And faithfulness is understood as planned and consistent offering to God.

St. Paul writes to the church at Corinth, “For if the readiness (to give) is there, it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he has not.” Chapter 8.12

He continues, ‘Arrange in advance for this gift you have promised, so that it may be ready not as an exaction but as a willing gift. . . Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work.” 9.5-8

Did you catch that last part? God is able to provide us, so that we may provide an abundance for every good work.”

We are doing some great work at Hicks. We are living into a vision of

Making Disciples, Creating Community

When we see new babies and new adults baptized in Christ, we know that vision is moving here. When we see new people step into worship, fellowship, and service, we know that community is being created.

We offer help in thousands of dollars to families in our own fellowship who are in need. We help many more people in need in our community. We fund multiple ministries locally and globally. We tithe our budget every year so that we are always giving at least ten percent to needy ministries. We have a budget of over $260,000.

We are doing a lot. But we are lagging in faithfulness in our giving. Over sixty percent of us gave less than $1,000 last year to the church. Now, less than a thousand may still represent a faithful tithe for some; but not for many of us. We can look at the numbers any way you want and it tells the same story. Most of us are not approaching a tithe.

Many of you requested more awareness and information about our church needs and finances. We’re going to do that for you. But I want remind you that our first and best step is always to look at our giving from the biblical tithe perspective and only secondarily according to the budget and needs and so on.

There was a minority view expressed in the survey that we talk about money too much. Those who expressed that also tended to underestimate the amount of weekly giving we needed to fulfill the ministry of the church. (It’s at least $5,000 per week) If we talk about money too much, then apparently the right information is not getting through. Jesus talked about money a lot more than we do. That should tell us something about faithfulness.

“There is no such thing as being right with God and being wrong with money.” Ben Patterson

God wants us to know that giving will free us. Giving will make our lives a blessing. I’ve never talked to a person who tithes without hearing how God seems to always provide for their needs, even when its scary to give.


God shows up when we are scared, if we want him to. Let’s pray.