Today’s passage is Luke 11:37-44. A Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner and notices Jesus did not ritually wash. Jesus criticizes him for obeying rules but not keeping the spirit of them, washing but remaining unclean inside, tithing without love of God, loving status, and being like unmarked graves.
Why call the Pharisee an “unmarked grave” rather than a “whitewashed tomb”?
What is tithing?
When I first came to Wooridle and was encouraged to tithe, I balked.
Because I didn’t have much money, I thought I needed all of it and even more.
Giving ten percent to the church did not seem like a good idea.
How did I know what they would do with it?
Where was my money going to go?
Because I didn’t want to tithe, I didn’t trust the church officers with my money.
Even when I put it in an envelope, I still saw it as MY money. I
didn’t let go of it. I was selfish and greedy. I loved money more than I loved God.
Years before I had read a famous book called “Think and Grow Rich”.
It said to always pay myself first.
Whatever money I got, I was to pay myself 10% in a bank account that I wouldn’t touch except for making special investments.
Here was a tithing I understood.
It appealed to my greed.
It advocated trusting money to make me secure and happy.
All I had to do was pay myself first with 10%.
When I began tithing at Wooridle, I was not happy.
It was hard to let go of that money.
Even after I had given it to the church, I kept thinking about what I could’ve done with it, what I could’ve bought or what bill I could’ve paid.
I kept doing it because my wife would always ask me if I had tithed, and I knew it was the right thing to do.
I just didn’t like it.
What had God ever done for me?
I asked myself, focusing on my worldly situation.
I completely disconnected the worldly and the spiritual.
What had God done for me?
Given me life, my mind and body, my easy circumstances compared to most of the world, my new wife, a job and … my salvation!
My attitude to tithing changed when I began to see just how much God had given me, which was everything.
I had learned to give thanks for my suffering but I had failed to give thanks for tithing.
I saw that all of my wage was God’s and all he was asking was the first 10% in trust.
Now the happiest day of the month for me is pay day because that’s when I get to give my tithe.
I marvel at the complete change in attitude in me.
That’s a miracle.
Giving my tithe transfers the burden of right spending to the church.
The church officers have to answer to God not me about the proper use of the money they receive.
My changed attitude freed me from the clutch of my money.
My tithing is not paying God for my salvation.
It’s showing myself that my true wealth is in heaven where no one can steal it.
Tithing shows me that I worship God not Money.
It shows me my dependence on God, not the world. It shows me I trust God to care for me.
Application: to continue to tithe with joy and to give to others with thanksgiving..
Lord, let me always seek to love you first and myself last. Let money flow through my hands and mind and spirit like water. Let nothing block the current of your Spirit in me.
