“Kingdom Economics” Week 3: Joyful Tithing

Reflection: Healthy Sacrifice

You Cannot Serve Both God and Money

The promises and pressures our finances bring can be some of the biggest faith-testers in our life. Unfortunately, worrying about them can take up so much of our inner world that it ends up eclipsing our view of God; not seeing Him clearly, we lose our ability to trust His goodness and provision in our lives and feel we have to do it all ourselves; then when we inevitably stumble or fail along the way, we’re pushed even further into the worries, and the cycle continues. 

The good news is, there is freedom available to us! If we want to break out of this worry cycle, then we’ve got to put money into its proper place in our lives. We cannot treat it as the source or the solution to all our problems. This isn’t to say that when you are struggling to make ends meet, you should just pray harder instead of asking for a raise. But that you should not feel like getting that raise is going to make you happy or make your whole life easier. When money is your deepest source of security (or as scripture puts it: “your master”) then your well being is at the mercy of your circumstances. But when God is your deepest source of security and peace, it cannot be taken from you when the economy turns or you lose your job or you’re living paycheck to paycheck. 

The scriptures have provided us with countless practices to help us center ourselves on God as our deepest source. But there are also a few explicitly designed to decrease the power money has over us. One of the best and most widely practiced is called tithing. Tithing is a habit of regularly giving the first 10% of your income back to God as an expression of gratitude and a reminder that all good things come from Him. 

In short, to break free from money and its cycle of worry, God invites us to joyfully embrace the healthy pain of tithing.

• Have you experienced this cycle in your own life? 
• What makes giving away money painful? What makes it a healthy pain? What might make it an unhealthy pain? 
• How might “joyfully” embracing this practice change our experience of tithing? What might happen if we give without joy?

Tithing is an Old Covenant command we embrace as a New Covenant practice

We are free from the regulations of the law. That’s why we no longer sacrifice sheep, goats and cows. Yet, we are still called to joyfully make great sacrifices for God. This is why we still practice the tithe as an expression of worship, gratitude and trust. We know that Jesus calls us to forsake our trust in money and continually increase our trust in God - this is difficult for most of us and requires constant attention. This is another reason why we tithe. Technically, we could achieve all this by tossing 10% into a fire. Yet, God is quite practical, and directs these funds to his work through his family and to the great needs of the most vulnerable. This is why we joyfully embrace this old covenant command as a New Covenant practice.

When you think about the practice of tithing…

• What have you recently learned?
• What is most frightening?
• What is most exciting?
• What have you witnessed in the lives of those who joyfully embrace this practice?

Consider your own practice of tithing…

• What has your experience been?
• If this would be a new practice for you, how do you think it would impact you?
• What's the greatest barrier to your tithing?
• What’s your greatest motivation to joyfully embrace this healthy sacrifice?