Are Christians required to tithe?

Yesterday, we saw Paul introduces the members of the church at Corinth, and us as well, to a timeless and true principle when it comes to generosity by way of a farming metaphor: “he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully”. And it is in this metaphor that we see Paul reveal for us a timeless principle when it comes to generosity. And that timeless principle is that the level of our generosity is reflected by the results. Paul then explains to the members of the church at Corinth that, in light of this principle, that each one must do just as he purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

We then looked at how many Christians use this verse used as a justification why they are not required to tithe. So, are Christians still required to tithe? My response to this question for those of us that would consider ourselves “new covenant Christians”(which we all are if you have a personal relationship with Jesus by the way)and justify that as a reason as to why you are not bound by the “10 percent rule”, here is a question to ponder: In light of all that God has generously done to rescue you from your selfishness and sin, what percentage do you think would reflect the heartfelt joy that you feel in response to His generosity?

Is the heartfelt joy that you feel as a result of what Jesus has done for you the same as the joy you feel when your waitress brings your meal to you at the restaurant? Because most people give that waitress 10%; I mean that is the cultural standard isn’t it? So, why are we so put off at the idea of giving God at least a tip when he comes to responding to His activity in our lives but we give almost no thought to giving a waitress a tip? You see, the level of our generosity is reflected by the results.

Now, you might find yourself pushing back against and objecting to everything you are reading here. For example, you may be thinking “well this is easy for you to say, Dave. How am I supposed to give like that and still be able to meet my needs and the needs of my family? You don’t understand my situation.” If I have described you, I just want to let you know that I am not surprised that you are pushing back against this. And I am not surprised that you may have objections to what I am saying. I am not surprised because I once sat in that same chair, so to speak, and pushed backed and had many of the same thoughts and objections that you are having.

And what is so great is that the objections and push back that I once had to this; the objections and push back that you may be having to this are not new: they have existed for thousands of years. And in the rest of this section of this letter, we see the Apostle Paul respond to the push back and objections that we can find ourselves having when it comes to the fact that the level of our generosity is reflected in the results. So let’s look at the first objection, which is found in 2 Corinthians 9:8-10:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, "HE SCATTERED ABROAD, HE GAVE TO THE POOR, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ENDURES FOREVER." Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;

In these verses, we see Paul respond to the push back and objection that “If I invest generously like you are calling me to, then I will not have enough to take care of my needs and the needs of my family”. The Apostle, anticipating this push back, replies by stating that God is able to make all grace abound to you. When Paul uses the phrase “all grace abound to you” here, he is referring to the exceptional effect that God’s generosity and activity can have in our lives. Paul then explains that God’s gracious activity in the lives of those who reflect God’s generosity by being generous results in them always having all sufficiency in everything. In other words, God is able to respond to our generosity by graciously providing for us in a way that all of our needs are adequately met.

But notice why God graciously and generously provides for us in a way that all of our needs are adequately met: “so that you may have an abundance for every good deed”. You see, God’s gracious generosity is not for our prosperity, as those in the prosperity gospel movement maintain. And God is not generous so that we can meet all of our wants and desires. Here we see Paul reveal for us the reality that God’s gracious generosity that provides to adequately meet our needs is divinely designed to enable us to reflect His generosity by meeting the needs of others. Paul’s point here is that as we reflect God’s generosity by generously investing our treasure in His kingdom mission to minister to others, God will graciously and generously provide so that we will always have what is adequate in all things. And as we always have what is adequate in all things, we are able to continue to reflect God’s generosity by being generous.

Paul then reinforces this reality in verse 9 by quoting from another letter in our Bibles, called the book of Psalms. In Psalm 112:9, we see the Psalmist explain that the person who is in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus Christ will reveal that reality through their generosity. Paul then applies this Old Testament verse to the situation at the church at Corinth, and for us here today, by explaining that God will continue to graciously and generously provide for us the resources to invest in His Kingdom mission to minister and meet the needs of others as we continue to reflect His generosity. When Paul states that God will supply and multiply your seed, this phrase literally means to defray the expense of something, in this case the cost of being generous, by providing more.

You see, the more generous we are in investing in God’s kingdom mission, the more generous He will be in providing us resources to further invest in God’s kingdom mission. The harvest of righteousness here refers to followers of Jesus fulfilling the divine expectation that we have to reflect Christ’s generosity in our generosity. And in the same way today, our heartfelt and joyous response of generosity reveals the reality of our relationship with Christ as we reflect Christ through our generosity. This is the case because the depth of our relationship with Christ and the level of our generosity is reflected in the results.

As Paul concludes this section of this letter, he reveals for us some timeless results that occur when our generosity rises to the level of Jesus generosity and is reflected in the results. We will look at those results tomorrow.

What is your opinion when it comes to the subject of tithing? Should we still tithe? What would be a good reflection of our response to the generosity of Jesus?