A United Methodist Pastor's Theological Reflections

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory (nikos) through our Lord Jesus Christ." - I Corinthians 15:57


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Sunday Scripture Commentary (October 20)


Sermon (October 20) – Give Till It Feels Good

Deuteronomy 14:22-29

The Book of Deuteronomy is one of the first five books of the Bible, known as the "Pentateuch." It emphasizes teaching and learning for all generations. In our scripture reading today, it teaches about tithing, the spiritual discipline of giving 10% of one's income to the work of the Lord.

Why do we tithe our money to the work of the Lord? See verse 29. We support the work of God’s people, the leaders, as well as those who are most vulnerable like widows and orphans.

Notice in v. 29 that the Lord blesses those who offer their tithe in this way.

Luke 21:1-4

In our reading from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus offers a lesson about extravagant financial giving by pointing out a poor widow who offered all that she had which was two small coins.

In Jesus’ day, people would place their gifts in the Temple treasury which was located just outside the Temple. It would have been a very busy place with people coming and going. Jesus notices this poor widow’s offering even though most everyone else would have been focusing on the big givers.

Notice the irony of the poor widow who is offering all that she compared to the hardness of heart of the religious leaders who were not noticing this widow which the tithe was meant to help support (see our Deuteronomy passage above.)

Tithing Thoughts

1. Tithing is the biblical standard for giving money to the church. It reminds us that what we have does not belong to us but to God. We are simply returning a portion of what God already owns.

2. Tithing is a proportional approach to giving to the church. We won’t necessarily offer the same gift but we can offer the same sacrifice (10% of our income.)

3. In the highest giving denomination (The Wesleyan denomination?) people give an average of 6% of their income to the work of the church. In our denomination the average % giving is 2% or less. There is joy when we offer to God our “first fruits” to the work of Christ and the church.

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