Today, I want to take a break from humor to answer the question, “How much do you tithe to your place of worship?” The best answer I’ve ever heard came from a sermon my husband, Pastor Doug Fannon, preached several years ago. Here is the gist of that message:
How Much Should I Tithe?
Most people simply don’t understand tithing. To many Christians, it seems like some sort of country club dues. Another bill in the long list of monthly expenses.
I hear questions like: “How Much Are You Supposed to Tithe?” “Do I tithe on my gross income or net income?” “Does God really expect me to tithe if I’m struggling with my personal finances?” “I tithe my time to the church. Isn’t that enough?” Others will ask, “Is tithing still even required? Wasn’t it an Old Testament law? Didn’t Christ abolish the law with His death and resurrection?”
These questions all have the same recurring theme—what’s the least I can give and still receive God’s blessings? When you debate these questions, you totally miss the point.
When I started tithing almost 40 years ago, my tithe check would be something like $73.22. I would round that amount up to the nearest nickel if I felt particularly generous. “There’s my 10%, God. Hopefully, that’ll cover the upkeep in Heaven until my next paycheck. Now bless me.” I just didn’t get it either. God didn’t need my money.
Allow me to share a story which I call The Parable of the French Fry:
The Parable of the French Fry
Several years ago, my son and I stopped at Burger King to pick up some dinner for him on the way home from football. I bought him two of his basic food groups, chicken nuggets and French fries. After going through the drive-through and obtaining the bag of food, I then did what any good Dad does—I reached into the bag to grab a couple of fries. My son’s lightning-quick reaction was to slap my hand and say, “Don’t touch my French fries.”
I think my son was just a little bit selfish and stingy. I knew who bought the French fries and who truly owned the fries. I also knew that my son belongs to me. I could get angry and never buy him any more French fries to teach him a lesson, or I could “cover him in more French fries than he could ever hope to eat.” Both were within my power to do. I thought, “Why is my child so selfish? I have given him a whole bag of French fries; I just wanted a couple of fries.”
Isn’t that the way we tend to be with all our things and all our money and all our possessions? God owns it all, but we begrudgingly give up a French fry or two just so He will continue to bless us.
God Owns it All
The American way is to say, “I pulled myself up by my bootstraps,” and “I worked hard for all I have.” Do we realize it is God who gives us the opportunity and ability to work? It is God who ultimately owns all that we have and all that we are.
Psalm 24:1 (NKJV): The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.
God owns it all. He created it all, and He has given us abilities and opportunities to use all He has given. The ancient Israelites, around the time of David, had a similar issue. God was calling them on their worship.
Psalm 50:7–8 (NKJV): “Hear, O My people and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices. Or your burnt offerings, Which are continually before Me.
God was not critical of the sacrifices that were being offered. The people were doing exactly as they were told to do.
Psalm 50:9 (NKJV): I will not take a bull from your house, Nor goats out of your folds.
God had no intention of forcibly taking anything from them. The people were bringing just what the Law required. They were checking off squares on their checklist. Bringing in and making the sacrifices was becoming routine – business as usual. But that was not what God was after.
Psalm 50:12–13 (NKJV): “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats?
God Doesn’t Need Us To Feed Him
Unlike the pagan beliefs about the pagan gods of that day requiring and depending on the people to feed them, God does not need us to feed Him. Our God’s well-being is not dependent on whether or not we supply Him with material goods. God’s wealth is not hinged on our donations to the church. God is not beholding to you or me when we give. Often, the attitude in giving is that we’re doing God a favor so He will be grateful to us. Nothing could be further from the truth. God owes us nothing. He already owns it all.
Psalm 50:14–15 (NKJV): Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
God wants our hearts. God wants our thanksgiving. God instituted sacrifices not because God needed them but because of our desperate need for Him. The problem is we do not always see our need for God. We are so lost in sin and in our creature comforts that our perceived need for God is wiped from our minds.
God wants our fellowship. When we come to God with our thanksgiving, it should be spontaneous. It should be genuine thanksgiving, not business as usual. Not just showing up at church, warming a pew, checking off a square, and saying, “I hope God is satisfied with the time I took for Him this morning.” We should wake up in the morning singing His praises.
Hebrews 13:15–16 (NKJV): Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.
So Why Tithe?
Then, why do we give? Why the tithe? Because God commands it.
Malachi 3:8 (NKJV): “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
We tithe because it belongs to God. In his sermon, “Partners with God,” Billy Graham says: “One of the greatest sins in America today is the fact that we are robbing God of that which rightfully belongs to Him. When we don’t tithe, we shirk a just debt. Actually, we are not giving when we give God one-tenth, for it belongs to Him already. This is a debt we owe. Not until we have given a tenth do we actually begin making an offering to the Lord!”
We rob God because we do not trust God. When we come to God through faith in Jesus Christ, and we call him Lord and Savior, we trust Him to keep our very soul and spirit for all eternity. Then why do we not trust God with our wallets? What is the proof that God is first in our lives? What is the evidence that we trust Jesus completely? Yes, God wants to bless you and me, but only if we completely trust Him. In fact, our finances is the one thing God tells us to test him in:
Malachi 3:10 (NKJV): 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.
When the words of that verse sunk in and I comprehended the fact that God owns it all, and I am merely a steward managing His goods, I decided to quit tithing. Please do not misunderstand me. My wife and I do tithe 10% of our gross income, but the tithe is only a starting point, not the ending point. Our offerings and charitable contributions come after the tithe.
The question I ask now is not, “How much do I give?” But instead, “How much should I keep?”
God Doesn’t Need Our Money
If you are giving out of obligation, you need to re-evaluate why you are giving. You know the verse from Paul’s writings:
2 Corinthians 9:7 (NKJV): So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
God does not need our money. If it is God’s will for something to be done, it will be done with us and with our resources or without us and our resources. We have an opportunity to be part of what God is doing in our community and around the world. By God’s grace, we can meet the opportunity He has given us. If we don’t, God will raise up another group to do His will. Either way, His will will be done.
The Question Isn’t How Much Do I Give? It’s How Much Do I Hold Back?
The 24 elders in Revelation are seen giving their heavenly treasures, their crowns, to the Lord. Their song of praise says how all glory, honor, and power belong to the Lord. Why? Because He created all things, including us. And by His will, we are here and existing. When we consider all God has done for us, how He loved us so much that He gave us Jesus to take our penalty of death from our sins, upon Himself on the cross, how can we not fall before Him, offering up to Him all that we have and all that we are.
Paul tells us in Romans 12:1 (NKJV): I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
It is our “reasonable” service to give all. The question is not whether to tithe or how much I should give. The question is, how much should I hold back from Him? There is a saying, “You can’t out-give God.” Since becoming obedient in trusting God with my finances in accordance with Malachi 3:10, I have never been in want, and have experienced blessing after blessing.
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might ransomed be,
And raised up from the dead;
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou giv’n for Me?
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