A Tenth for God

Scripture:       

Genesis, chapters 27-28; Psalm 4; Luke, chapter 11

Genesis 28:10-22 (NLT):

Jacob’s Vision

Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.

At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions – to the west and to the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day, I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”

Jacob’s Response

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”

The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it had previously been called Luz.

Then Jacob made this vow: “If God indeed will be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

Luke 11:42 (NLT):

“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”

Observations:

Let’s be honest: Jacob is not a very appealing character at this point in the story. He took advantage of his brother’s hunger to get his birthright (see Genesis 25:27-34). After that, he deceived Isaac and stole the blessing that Isaac intended to give to Esau (27:1-40). Of course, Esau isn’t very appealing either; he traded his birthright for a bowl of stew, claiming he was “dying of starvation” (25:32). Their mother doesn’t come off too well; she concocted the plan for Jacob to steal the blessing.  All in all, not a very good situation!

Yet God was at work in spite of all this. God’s plan from the beginning had been that Jacob, the younger son, would carry on the line of Abraham (25:23). That does not mean that God approved of Rebekah’s scheming or Jacob’s deception. God does not need his people to use improper means to achieve his purposes. The key concept is that God sometimes works in spite of us rather than through us.

The Vision

Be that as it may, the passage I’ve chosen for today finds Jacob fleeing from his brother.  He is heading back to Paddan-Aram, the homeland which Abraham had left all those years before.  He is going to find a wife from among his relatives.  As he travels, he comes to a place that he believes is a good place to camp for the night.  As he sleeps, he has a vision of a stairway to heaven – and at the top of the stairway stood the Lord.

In this vision, God extends to Jacob the covenant which he had made with Abraham and Isaac.  The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth!…And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go.  WOW!

Jacob’s Response

We know all this, of course; we know the story of the patriarchs, and Jacob’s family, and how this all unfolds. But my focus for today is on Jacob’s response. First, he acknowledges that he has met with God: Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it! Then, when he wakes up, he responds to the vision and God’s promises to him. “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshipping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

That reference to tithe caught my attention. But when I read Luke 11, and saw Jesus’ statement to the Pharisees, that brought it home even more. Tithing is not “just” something that God commanded through Moses; it is a natural response to God’s blessings. When Abraham recovered Lot and all of the plunder which had been taken from Sodom, he gave a tenth to Melchizedek, “priest of God Most High” (Genesis 14). Now, Jacob promises to give God a tenth of everything God gives him.  This is long before Moses and the Law.  Finally, Jesus confirms that tithing is not simply an “Old Testament thing” when he tells the Pharisees: You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”

Application:

It always surprises me how many ways people find to try to rationalize their refusal to honor God with their material goods:

•             “That’s an Old Testament concept.”
•             “I can’t afford it.”
•             “Churches are greedy; I don’t trust them with my money.”
•             “Tithing is a legalistic concept; I’m about grace, not law.”

That list doesn’t exhaust the justifications, but it is representative.  And to be honest, I’m not sure whyGod has laid this on my heart today. But he has, so I’ll do my best to explain what I think he’s saying.

The fact that tithing is mentioned in the Old Testament does not mean that it is only an Old Testament concept. Sin is an Old Testament concept. Atonement is an Old Testament concept. Righteousness is an Old Testament concept. Those concepts are not abandoned in the New Testament; they are brought to fulfillment. And, as I noted above, Jesus specifically talks about tithing, and says, You should, tithe, yes.

It All Belongs to God

Second, let’s look at the second and third statements.  “I can’t afford it” and “I don’t trust churches with my money” share a common thread: the idea that those resources belong to you. The Bible teaches us that everything comes from God, and belongs to God. Malachi 3 reminds us that the tithe belongs to God.  That means that the tithe is not ours, but God’s; and Malachi 3 says that when we keep it for ourselves we are robbing God.

God directs us (Malachi 3 again) to “bring the tithe into the storehouse.”  Now, in the early days of the covenant, the Israelites brought the tithe to the place of worship, offered sacrifices, gave a portion to the priests, and ate their meal there.  However, by the time of Malachi, the system had changed. People weren’t just bringing crops or animals; they also brought money. God says to bring that tithe “into the storehouse” – that’s his command. If we don’t trust the church that we attend with our money, why would we trust it with our spiritual care?

Finally, the “legalism” argument: Jacob committed to give a tithe of everything he gives me – not because of a law, but because of his gratitude to God.  He recognized that everything he would have would come from God.  His commitment to give God a tenth was a natural reaction of a grateful heart.  He didn’t try to direct what God would do with God’s money: I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.  When we understand how good God has been to us, our hearts overflow with gratitude and generosity!

Prayer:

Father, I thank you for all of the blessings that you have given me. I don’t deserve any of them; they are all a gift from you. In light of your goodness to me, to give you a tenth is the least I can do!

I confess that I don’t know why you laid this on my heart today, but I pray that you will help me to live generously. Giving is not a competition with others, nor is it a reason to feel self-righteous. Give me a generous spirit that goes well beyond what your word directs. Help me to be generous not only toward you, but also toward others – with my resources as well as my time.  Amen.