“22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.
27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
”
This might be considered awkward. It might be awkward because anytime a pastor talks about money someone will think that he is somehow benefitting personally. It can be awkward because a pastor talking about money can easily turn into a hat-in-hand financial appeal which is rather unfitting for the preaching of word of God who made and sustains each of us. It can be awkward because both money and morality are delicate topics and tithing covers both.
This is an especially awkward topic if you aren’t tithing. Only 4% of Americans do. The median giving for an American Christian is $200 a year which brings us to the fact that about 5% of American Christians provide 60% of the money that American churches receive.
So this might be awkward. It can be awkward if you think that you are about to listen to a lengthy financial appeal rather than the preaching of God’s word. It can be awkward if you fear that you are about to be scolded. It can be awkward if you are not and you really have no idea of why you should give anyway.
Now I’ve intentionally chosen to walk us into this awkwardness. I’ve done so because it need not be awkward. Moses did not connect tithing with a hat-in-hand appeal for money. He connected it with feasting. He did not connect tithing with scolding. He connected it with sharing. The purpose of this sermon is that you would do the same.
Tithing was designed to be a joyful, open-handed act of trust in God. I hope it has not become something else for you. You might to be confused about this whole matter. The burden of this sermon is to tell you what the God who has given you everything thinks about giving. Tithing is a joyful, open-handed act of trust in God. That is the claim of this sermon: Tithing is a joyful, open-handed act of trust in God.
We will study this in two points. First: tithing and feasting. Second: tithing and sharing. We see tithing and feasting in verses 22-27. We see tithing and sharing in verses 28-29.
First: tithing and feasting. Throughout this series we have been with Israel on the edge of the Promised Land. The people were about to move next door to nations who knew and cared nothing about the Lord. Living faithfully among such peoples required total allegiance to the Lord as it does for us today. We’ve seen what total allegiance looked like in regard to hearing God speak. We’ve seen what it looked like in regard to training children. We’ve seen what it looked like in regard to observing commandments. We’ve seen what it looked like in regard to enjoying abundance without forgetting God. Moses has been preparing the people to live differently from the nations around them by urging total allegiance to God.
Now money is a part of life. Any church that hears sermons on life will hear sermons on money. Moses was preparing the people to live differently from the nations around them in regard to money. Our passage begins with what is most likely familiar to you; verse 22, “Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.”
This is the tithe. A tithe is simply one tenth. Moses instructed the head of the family to make sure that a tenth of the earnings were set aside. Now we will see what was done with this tithe in a moment, but I want to encourage you heads of the home, which will be the father unless he isn’t in the picture, to recognize this call. This is a call to budget. You can’t set aside a tithe if your budget has gotten away from you. You can’t, and most likely won’t, give unless you budget it first. In that day, they tithed with the harvest. We tithe with our budgets.
My guess is that this one tenth is familiar to most of us. What is most likely not familiar is what is to be done with that one tenth. Look at verse 23, “Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.”
The people set aside a tenth of their yearly earnings for a feast. They were to carry their tithe to Jerusalem and enjoy a celebration. In Israel, you gave your tithe in the midst of a banquet. It was to be lavish. You see the lavish nature of this feast in the special instructions given to those who lived far away from Jerusalem. Moses told them to sell the tenth they had put aside and to, in the words of verses 26, “use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish” and then to feast on that in Jerusalem. They were told to eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.
Tithing has to with Minerva’s downtown Sioux Falls. Tithing has to do with Carnaval Brazilian Grille. Tithing has to do with feasting.
Now the grain, livestock, and money that was left over from these individual family feasts would be given toward the temple system. “The family feast at the place of worship would have left large amounts over for the Levites’ dues,” as one scholar put it.
Now we give our offerings weekly rather than annually. I don’t know the best way to replicate this feasting and tithing for your family. It probably wouldn’t be wise to encourage everyone to bust out their favorite dessert during the offering each week, but feasting is proper to connect with tithing. Once a year on a Saturday you might want to take your family out for a no expense spared meal, read this passage aloud, and connect what you are doing in that restaurant with what you will do the next day in worship.
If you have children, such a feast will instruct them. Feasting is an act of instruction. You teach what you value by when you choose to feast. Israelite children would learn to revere the Lord by growing up enjoying annual feast when the tithe was given.
The lesson was that daddy and mommy enjoyed giving to God. The lesson was that daddy and mommy revered God.
The purpose of the feast, as verse 23 makes clear is that, “you may learn to revere the Lord your God always.” That combination of feasting and giving taught reverence for God. We do something similar with the Thanksgiving holiday. We teach gratitude to God by the combination of feasting and a public giving of thanks to God in worship. Moses instituted this tithing celebration to teach reverence for God in the same way.
This feast of tithing taught reverence because the family ate and drank in the presence of the Lord, in the words of verse 23. The Lord acted as host for each family’s tithe feast. This is remarkable if you remember the sermon imvolving the nature of covenants in the Ancient Near East, you remember that the elders of Israel finalized the covenant by feasting in God’s presence as the vassals of ancient covenants ate in the presence of the king. Each family was to do something similar when they brought their annual tithe. They were to eat and drink in the presence of God. God took this tithe celebration seriously. He takes feasting seriously. He takes joy seriously.
This feast was to be filled with joy; “you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice,” said Moses. God instituted the tithe to be a joyful act. Now feasting on, “whatever I like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything I wish” in the words of verse 26 sounds like a legitimate joyful experience to me.
The feasting reminded Israel that they gave out of the abundance that God had given to them. They feasted on the abundance and then gave out of the abundance. The tithe is designed to teach you that God gives abundantly. Tithing was designed to teach the Israelites that, “their prosperity did not depend on irrigation or advanced agricultural techniques, but on the… provision of their God,” as Old Testament scholar Peter Craigie put it. Giving your offering is an acknowledgement that your prosperity does not depend on your shrewdness but on God. You can remember that without feasting but feasting reveals the joy appropriate to such abundance. Such feasting was an act of faith that Israel lived not by bread alone but by every promise that came from the mouth of God.
Now I considered urging a corporate feast to celebrate tithing as part of this sermon. I considered urging a church-wide no expense spared feast at some point in the year to reveal the joy of tithing, but in Deuteronomy it was a family feast; “you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.” So, after setting aside your tithe, consider taking your family on a no-expense spared feast, and then give. Don’t worry about feeling like you are being irresponsible with God’s money. God told the Israelites to do this with His money. Tithing and feasting go together. That is our first point. Tithing and sharing go together. That is our second point: tithing and sharing.
Every three years, the Israelites were to tithe differently. Normally, they were to bring the tithe and feast to Jerusalem. Every third year, however, they were to give their tithe for local needs. Verse 28, “At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied.”
The Levites had no land to farm. They were set aside for priestly responsibilities. It seems most likely that the regular tithe brought to Jerusalem would be used not only for temple maintenance but also for the housing and training of priests all over Israel, but this tri-annual tithe was given so the Levites would certainly be supported.
The same principle is applied to pastors and missionaries in the church. The Levites were set aside for ministry; pastors and missionaries are set aside for ministry. Part of being set aside is being set aside from other tasks. Pastors and missionaries are aside from other tasks because their tasks necessitate their full time. You employers know that if a job is worth doing it requires time to do it; if priestly ministry was worth doing it required time; if pastoral ministry is worth doing it requires time to do it.
The financial giving of the people of God should support this work; “bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own)… may come and eat and be satisfied” or as Paul explained to the Corinthians, “the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”
Ministers are rightly supported by the tithes of the people. Now some have taken advantage of the people’s support and like the sons Eli, who 1 Samuel says, “were scoundrels and had no regard for the Lord” such men will face the judgment of God for it is His tithe that they have stolen. Such individuals are, however, only a tiny fraction, especially in our tradition.
Consider it from a merely pragmatic level. Within our denomination, ministers have at least three years of postgraduate study on top of four years of undergraduate study, which equates to at least seven years of educational debt. They have roughly the same level of schooling as physicians; of course, they don’t make as much as physicians and they don’t expect to, but the fact remains that the majority of these pastors are quite competent in a number of fields and could excel in a number of professions in which they could earn far more than they do in the ministry; however, they, like the Levites, have been called by God to this task, and just like the Levites, they properly deserve the financial support of the people.
I and my family are generously supported by this congregation in line with the principles that Moses laid out in this passage, and I am not sheepish about this arrangement. I believe that this financial support comes from money tithed to God; I receive my pay from God who has commanded God’s people to support this work.
Moses made clear that the tithe was to be set aside for ministry. Value ministry. Your offerings support the ministries of this congregation. Your offering isn’t a lobbying fee that gives you influence. It is an act of obedience to God who calls people into ministry for your good, your good in this moment and for eternity.
This tithe was also to be set aside for those in need, “the aliens, the fatherless and the widow,” as verse 29 put it.
Tithing is about sharing with those in need. Deuteronomy scholar Daniel Block is right, “the disposition of the church toward the marginalized continues to be a primary barometer of authentic spirituality.” Jesus agreed. He identified himself with those in need and said that to serve them is to serve himself and to neglect them is to neglect himself.
The tithe is a way of showing tangible care for those in need. In Israel that took the form of bringing agricultural resources for those in need to enjoy. In our context that takes the form of giving to Atlas, Hope Haven, Justice for All, the Luke Society, World Renew, and the Banquet with which we will serve next week. It also takes the form of our own church’s diaconal ministries, our classical diaconal ministries, and our denominational ministries to help those in need and only God knows when any of us will find ourselves in need.
Moses told God’s people to give so that those in need could, “come and eat and be satisfied.” That meant giving the best in that day; that means giving the best today; give what would satisfy you. The prophets regularly warned the people against giving their worst crops and animals as part of their tithe. Perhaps we need to be warned against giving our worst as we give. Donating food that you would never eat is no invitation to, “come and eat and be satisfied.” Donating clothes that you would never wear is no invitation to, “come and be dressed and be satisfied.” Malachi said, “When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” Don’t give junk. Throw junk away. Give what you would want to be given. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
When you are giving to those in need remember that you are giving to Jesus. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Don’t give Jesus what no one else would want. If you were to give something to Jesus, you would give him what would satisfy him. Do that for the aliens, the fatherless and the widows, in the words of verse 29.
Please notice that is not a hint that those who are giving are better than those who are receiving in this passage. What is clear is that those who have are to give and that those who need are to receive. Perhaps you are currently receiving from this church or from another ministry. You are no less valuable than a member who is giving. If you are giving, you are no more valuable than a member who is receiving. If you are giving generously because God has given generously to you, you are no more valuable than any other member. To think in such terms is to put yourself before other people and that is not the call of this passage. The call of this passage is to put yourself before God and to give Him His due because He has, after all, given you everything. God will do with it what He will and what He wills is to use it for ministry and for those in need.
Now there is a result to this giving. You see it in verse 29, “so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.” Now texts like these have been horribly abused by health and wealth preachers. They say that in return for what you give, you will get back more from God. If you give $300 to their ministry, you will get back $3,000 from the Lord. Such lies will be used as evidence against such false teachers on the final day.
Moses was speaking about something quite different. Israel stood on the edge of the Promised Land. They were not entering as owners; they were entering as tenants. It was God’s land and the tithe was simply an acknowledgement of that fact. Now if Israel stopped acting as tenants, and they would show such presumption by refusing to tithe, the Lord would take back His land, which He did. Rather than giving generously as they had received, they refused to give and wound up with nothing. Giving is just a sign that you recognize that God has given you everything.
Now there are arguments about whether or not we need to tithe in the New Covenant, but, by and large, the question “do I need to tithe?” is the wrong question. “At issue is not the institution [of the tithe] but the heart and mind of God, which are to be reflected in the hearts and minds of His people,” as Daniel Block put it.
To the man with a heart and mind like God, generous giving will make sense because it made sense to God.
He is not asking you to do anything that He hasn’t done. “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” Jesus has given generously to you. It only makes sense to give generously to him; he will use it for ministry and for those in need. It is hard to find fault with that.
God finds joy in giving. He expects His people to find joy in giving. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” If we can’t find joy in giving to the ministry of the gospel and to those in need, we certainly aren’t giving like God. If you can’t give cheerfully, please inspect your heart.
Perhaps the world as has already taught you to love money. Perhaps your own flesh has taught you to love money. Well, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Feasting, rejoicing, and reverence sounds better than that. Tithing might sound strange to this culture, but this culture is awash in money and it is filled with miserable people, piereced with all kinds of griefs. They would be a lot happier if they feasted, tithed, and shared. A man will only do that, however, if he values feasting, ministry, and sharing more than they value whatever else that some money could buy. A man will only make that value assessment if he values what God has given to him. Her in Deuteronomy what God has given is the Lord. They feasted, gave the rest in tithe, and shared because they were enjoying God’s land. We have been given something better than God’s land; we have been given God’s Son. Given the choice between losing land and losing a child, I can dare say we would all value the child far above any land.
God has given us His Son and we give, in a very real way, to the Son. We give to the ministry. Jesus died to begin and when we give to brothers in need we give to him.
Such giving can only be reverent. Such giving is properly joyful. Such giving is cause for celebration. Amen.