‘As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over. “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.’ Luke 11:37-42(NLT)
‘“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.’ Matthew 6:19-24(NLT)
‘Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.’ Proverbs 3:9-10(NLT)
WHY?
There are lots of reasons behind tithing to support the mission of Christ, but maybe the strongest case for it is because Jesus told us to! There is a passage in Luke 11 we’ll read soon that shows Jesus talking with a Pharisee (religious person). Jesus tells him that the Pharisees love to boast about their tithing in front of everyone, but they avoid other parts of following God like love and justice.
Instead of telling them to completely ignore tithing and only focus on the things they were missing, He says they ought to have continued to tithe and ALSO not neglect things like justice and love. He’s letting them know that the only thing they were actually doing right was being faithful with their finances (although they were doing it with the wrong motives and the wrong heart, hence his instruction for them).
Jesus makes it clear that it wasn’t just something that the Israelites did in the Old Testament, but it was something we ought to carry into the church.
Maybe the greatest reasoning for His decision to carry it over for us as Christians is because when we give, we get the opportunity to support the mission of Jesus. We get to participate in seeing people’s lives changed because we can open the doors and turn the lights on. Maybe the question shouldn’t be ‘why tithe,’ but ‘why not?’ If you’re truly following Jesus, why wouldn’t you want to give and support people meeting Jesus just like you were provided the opportunity to?
Why do we tithe? Because Jesus told us to!
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