Below is a post I shared with our Church in Oregon, before we moved to Texas. I have wanted to share on this topic again, but first needed to make this post pubic for anyone else to read.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am so excited to be up here, in front of our church to share something that God has really grown and expanded in mine and my husbands hearts. Pastor Jared asked me to share about generosity. But in order to get to that topic, I really must start by addressing obedience. Because, from my experience, you can not develop a generous spirit, without first developing an obedient one.
A little background- I was raised with a great example of generosity. My parents are possibly the most generous people I have ever met. Because this is the way I was raised, I have always had a heart that desired to be generous. But as much as I wanted to be generous there always seemed to be too many road blocks in the way of actually BEING generous.
I believe there is a myth in churches, that we should always give out of a happy heart. Although this sounds romantic, and does hold truth. The joy in giving doesn’t arrive until after the act of obedience in giving. Obedience to the Word of God.
The problem with expressing the joy of giving over the act of obedience in giving, is that it can give some believers a “pass” to not give all together. Let me explain it this way, I once read a comment on a faith based IG account where the commenter said, “I want to get into reading my bible, but every time I sit down to read, I just feel like I am doing it out of obligation. And then because I don’t feel like my heart is in the right place, I just don’t think its right for me to read my bible…”
Hopefully you can see where I am going with this and how misleading this type of thinking is. My response to this commenter was, “Act in obedience first, and then your heart will change.” The same is true about tithing. The more you tithe, the more your heart WANTS to tithe!
This myth about giving is the place that my husband and I spent many years of our marriage in. Our thoughts were, “We really want to give more, we want to tithe our first tenth, we want to be above and beyond generous, but we just never took the first step in obedience. Obedience to the Word of God.
Then, a couple years ago, God did an amazing thing and started revealing His truth to my husband and I in regard to our finances, and specifically our tithe. You see, there has been a giant financial weight on our life and marriage since the beginning. Stemming from massive student loan debt, chasing dreams of professional baseball, lots of Job transitions, having baby, after baby, after baby, after baby, after baby, and yes, once more... another baby (haha. I announced I was pregnant with Asher to our whole church this way), starting businesses, a general entrepreneurial spirit, and so many other factors. And although God has been so very evident in our finances, we have felt the burden of never being able to “get ahead”.
Then, around the time of my 5th pregnancy, my eyes were opened to understand and believe in “tithers rights” as discussed in Malachi 3. It says:
“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.
“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts;.”
When my eyes were opened, I realized how we had been doing everything backwards! It became evident to me that we had been giving (tithing) out of our lack rather than our supply. It may seem legalistic to some, but the bible is pretty clear that the tithe is the FIRST tenth percent of all your income. And a true tithe is what is honored by God and opens “the store gates of heaven”.
After several months of discussing the changes we needed to make to our monthly budget in order to always tithe FIRST out of every paycheck, we finally made the change. Let me be clear it was not something we did because we “really wanted to be cheerful givers”. It was something we did out of obedience.
When studying up on tithers rights, God gave me the following analogy. When I first tried to verbalize it to my husband he looked at me with a big question mark floating above his forehead, so hopefully I can convey it more clearly today.
God gave me the analogy of ‘tithing vs giving’ being like owning a home vs renting a home. Now without getting into thoughts about the housing market, please know this analogy is on a very elementary level.
We can agree that there are many similarities in both owning and renting homes. In both situations you typically have a monthly housing payment. In both instances you have the blessing of a roof over your head and a level of comfort and security for your family. In both instances you can use your home as you wish - invite guest over, have a party, keep it clean, keep it messy-- it is your home as long as you pay for it, right?
Similarly, I think we can all agree that as a homeowner there are certain rights that you have to your property that you do not have when you rent. You are able to make home improvements when you own a home, your monthly payment on your home goes toward one day owning it out free and clear… you may have more pride in your home, your neighborhood, and your community than you do when you rent.
Now, just as with owning a home vs renting a home. There are similarities between giving (what and when you can) vs.tithing your first 10%. God WILL bless your giving no matter how you do it. This has been very evident in our life. We can easily look back at our thinnest financial years, perplexed, and ask, “how on earth did we survive? How did we eat? How did we live?” And the answer is pretty glaringly obvious. The hand of God was so clearly over our life and family and He always provided for our needs. And yet, when we became true tithers, we became acutely aware of our authority over our finances.
This authority naturally and easily spilled over into our authority over all other aspects of our lives. I have been able to pray with confidence, when faced with a pressing financial need while declaring our tithers rights. I have been able to have confidence in the health and vitality of my children and their rapid healing when needed, while declaring our tithers rights as well.
I should also say really quick that “tithers rights” have to be activated and practiced to have any power. You may be a full fledged tither who has never considered praying with authority from the standpoint of your tithes. Maybe this sounds ridiculous to you. But let me be clear that God cares about how and what you give! Matthew 6:19-21 says,
“19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”
Tithing is like buying property in the Kingdom. And what do we know about this Kingdom power? Moths and vermin can’t destroy it, theives can’t steal from us what is stored in Heaven. And lucky us, we can access our ownership in the Kingdom now through the authority we have in Christ.
How is that ? Well Ephesians 2:5-6 tells us:
even when we were dead in trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Yes, when Christ rose, we rose with him, We are NOW, seated with Him at the right hand of the Father! Then in Collosians 3:1 we are told what to do with this authority. It says;
‘Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
I kind of love how everything in the Kingdom is backwards, or counter intuitive to the way that we like to think. To be honored you must first humble yourself. to be made new you must first abandon self. and to be generous you must first be obedient with your tithe.
Jesus explains to us a very similar concept in John 7:37-39,
“On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)"
Jesus is the Spring of Life. We receive His life giving water and it quenches us of all of our thirst. But it is not meant to end there. We are not only meant to consume this life giving water. We are called to become a river. This is through receiving and being filled with the Holy Spirit. After which, rivers of living water can pour out of our hearts onto others!
In other words, you can not receive the help and direction of the holy spirit without first coming to Jesus in the waters of baptism, leaving your old self behind and being made a new creature. It takes denial of ones self, or flesh in full surrender to be made new. That is exactly how Jesus needs you in order for His spirit to then come upon you. That's why we say, “I want more of you and less of me God!” You must get rid of yourself in order to make room for the Spirit to fill! No room-- no spirit!
This concept is so true with the act of giving as well.
First we open the grip on our finances and relinquish control to the Father in our tithe. Then, as the Spirit leads, we are overcome with joy to be a river, and a generous giver. Gifts of encouragement, time, resources, a hot meal, an invitation inside one’s home, are all ways the river flows out of our hearts. So, when prompted to give, our spirits are enlivened to be generous.
I know for some, what I shared tonight may sound like a “recipe” to the things of God. Do this and then get that. I hope that I have conveyed my deepest belief that God can work in infinite ways, ways in which we can not define or put into a box. But I also know that this whole journey of faith is based on trusting God. Developing a real relationship with our Creator through many journeys that encourage our need to trust Him in his Greatness! Tithing is, and always can be another way that we can build up our faith, trusting God is who He says He is. And in knowing Him more intimately we become rich and blessed and endowed with His voice, His Spirit, and His power. I wish there was a simpler way to just give with reckless abandon. But we must first abandon our self. And to abandon self we have to start by being obedient to the voice of God.
No matter where you stand in your history of giving, I believe that the Lord wants to impart something new on you today. I believe he wants to open up a highway to blessings that will spill over onto others.
Comments