Dickens's Christmas Carol, doubtless the most popular tale associated with the Christmas season, conveys a Christian message. It tells about an old loan shark by the name of Scrooge, who wants and loves nothing else but money. He spends long days at work, clawing for every penny he can get. Away from work he has no life except to shuffle about an empty house, no conversation except mutterings to himself about all the humbug in the world, and no friend except a dead partner who lives on in his memory. But what is remarkable about Scrooge is that his daily round of grasping and grumping is exactly the life that he has chosen. He made himself the way he is, and even now, given a choice, he would not become anything else. We see from a standpoint of objectivity that he is not happy. How could a lonely man with a venomous tongue and cold heart be happy? We see also that he could escape from self-imposed misery if he joined with others in the joy of Christmas and if he shared his wealth instead of clinging to it. But Scrooge is blind to his folly. It takes three supernatural visitors, the last bringing him to the sight of his own unmourned death, to open his eyes.

The character of Scrooge is just a nineteenth century recreation of the rich man who appears in two parables of Jesus. In one of these, he lives for his own pleasure, reluctantly parting with a few crumbs to feed Lazarus, a leper at his gate (Luke 16:19-31). When Lazarus dies, he goes to a place of comfort and rest, but Dives (the rich man) goes to hell. There he hears that his torments are the just reward for a life of heartless self-indulgence. In the other parable, the rich man builds storehouses for all his wealth in the confidence that he will enjoy it for years to come, but God suddenly takes his life, calling him a fool because he has failed to be rich toward God (Luke 12:16-21).

Practice in Bible Times

Old Testament practice: Old Testament saints offered God a tenth of their increase, known as a tithe. Abraham gave Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, a tenth of the spoils from his victory over the Mesopotamian kings (Gen. 14:20). Jacob, Abraham's grandson, promised to give God a tithe of his possessions if God would grant him protection and blessing (Gen. 28:22). The law of Moses made tithing mandatory for the people of Israel (Lev. 27:30-2; Deut. 14:22-3). Malachi, the last prophet during the Old Testament era, rebuked the nation for neglecting the tithes that God had required (Mal. 3:8-10).

New Testament practice: When we turn to the New Testament, we naturally expect it to reinforce the principle of tithing. After all, God is the same now as He was before Christ came. What it means to be generous toward God has not changed either. Yet nowhere in the New Testament do we find a commandment to tithe. The reason is that the law of tithing is one of those Old Testament laws that the church has retained in principle but not in particulars. In this respect it is like the law of the Sabbath.

Comparison of Tithing and Sabbath Observance

Old Testament law in the New: The law of Moses was divided into three parts: ceremonial, civil, and moral. The ceremonial law prescribed a system of sacrifices that became obsolete when Christ died on the cross. The civil law assumed a form of society that did not survive into the Church Age. Therefore, the church retained neither the ceremonial law nor the civil law and recognized that binding force continues only in the moral law, including the Ten Commandments. Yet there is another category of Mosaic law—a category consisting of laws that the church has retained in modified form. These include both the law of tithing and the law of the Sabbath.

In many debates over questions of Christian practice it is forgotten that the Lord gave sweeping authority to the church (Matt. 16:19; 18:18; John 20:23).

1. In matters that do not touch directly on truth or righteousness, the church can decide for itself what is best: that is, in matters such as church government, administration of the ordinances, and forms of worship. Acting within this realm of authority, the church transferred Sabbath obligations to the first day of the week. Which day in the weekly cycle should be designated as the day of rest and worship is merely a question of words and names, with no moral significance.
   
   Since the early church was controlled by the Spirit of God, we may assume that when it replaced Saturday with Sunday, it was following divine direction. Thus, its alteration of Sabbath observance was not an example of man recklessly trying to change the law of God.
   
   
2. The church also has authority to decide how moral principles should be applied. The early church set certain standards of conduct (Acts 15:20), just as many Christian bodies today set similar standards for the purpose of maintaining good order and testimony. Acting within this realm of authority, the early church dispensed with the law of tithing. It did not cancel the underlying principle that we should be generous toward God. Rather, it dressed the principle in a new set of obligations.

A direct comparison of the law of the Sabbath and the law of tithing shows their similarity.

Principle

• For the day of special observance: We should set aside a regular day for rest and for the work and worship of God. The value of a weekly rest has often been proved. In the early 1800s, brigades of Indians toiled every summer to transport goods across Canada. The brigades who had been evangelized and taught by missionary James Evans refused to work on the Sabbath. At first the officials of the Hudson Bay Company greatly resented Evans's influence and sought to discredit him, but in time it became clear that Christian Indians could travel faster and reach their destination sooner than brigades who worked day after day without a weekly break (1).
• For giving: We should give generously to God and to His ministries.

Particular application in Old Testament times

• For the day of special observance: The special day was the seventh, chosen to commemorate God's work of creation (Ex. 20:11). His purpose was to remind the nation Israel of His greatness. Because they were continually tempted to fall into idolatry, He gave them a weekly lesson on His superiority to all idols. Unlike an idol that is powerless to create anything, He was the Creator of all.
• For giving: The Old Testament standard was the tithe.

Particular application in New Testament times

• For the day of special observance: The church chose to make the first day special. The reason was to commemorate the Resurrection. As a result, believers have a weekly reminder that Christianity is a supernatural religion. The purpose of this reminder is to safeguard Christianity from degenerating into a mere tradition of rites and teachings.
• For giving: The New Testament application of the underlying principle specifies three obligations (1 Cor. 16:2).

1. We should give weekly.
2. Everyone in the church, regardless of age or financial status, should give.
3. Everyone should give according to how much God has prospered him. In other words, the wealthy should give more than the poor.

Generosity

How to define generosity: The last obligation shows that God measures our giving in relation to our ability to give. As Jesus watched worshipers at the Temple cast money into the treasury, He observed a poor widow give two mites, equivalent to only one farthing (the smallest Roman copper coin, equal to about a sixteenth of a soldier's daily pay). He told His disciples that from God's point of view, she gave more than all the rest, because what she gave was a greater portion of what she had (Mark 12:41-4). This incident is extremely important because, like the Sermon on the Mount, it raises Old Testament conceptions of righteousness to a new level. An Old Testament saint fulfilled all his legal obligations to God and to the poor if he gave less than twenty percent. At that level of giving he saw no reason in God's Word to think himself ungenerous. But the only person whom Jesus commended for generosity was a poor widow who "did cast in all that she had, even all her living." Clearly, God wants us to know that we have no grounds for boasting in our generosity if we give Him less than everything.

Must we conclude that we should give our whole paycheck to God? No. What we should conclude is that however much we give, we could give more—that we are less generous than we could be. God does not want anyone to think that he is a great and wonderful giver.

A practical rule of thumb: As we have already noted, the New Testament refuses to say how much we should give. Why? We find the answer implied in Paul's exhortation that we should give cheerfully (2 Cor. 9:7). God declines to set a rigid requirement that would stifle the right motives in giving. Giving would be mechanical and heartless if we were all forced to pay a definite amount. It would be like paying a tax. We would enjoy giving as much as we enjoy handing our money over to the government. God expects His children, filled with the Spirit, to give because they want to, not because they have to. And He gives them the freedom to decide how much, so that they can be willingly and cheerfully generous.

Nevertheless, the practice of tithing was not created by the law of Moses. It goes back much further, at least to Abraham. We may thus surmise that it sets a timeless standard for minimum giving. Most Christians feel that they should give God no less than a tithe.

Moreover, it is a common view among Christians that a believer's whole tithe should go to his local church. The practice of giving one tenth to the local church is called storehouse tithing (a reference to Mal. 3:10). Advocates of storehouse tithing teach that any giving to parachurch ministries, charities, or the poor should come from the remaining nine tenths. Examination of Old Testament law lends support to this teaching. The obligation that fell on an Israelite somewhat exceeded the basic tithe. He was enjoined, for example, to leave field margins and a second gleaning of grapes for the poor (Lev. 19:9; Deut. 24:19-21).

Rewards

Many texts promise that God will confer great blessing upon a faithful and generous giver. The blessing takes many forms.

1. Deliverance from trouble (Psa. 41:1).
2. Material bounty (Prov. 3:9-10; 11:25; Luke 6:38). These texts make it clear that if you share your wealth with others, God will give you more than you have given. You cannot outgive God.
3. Spiritual prosperity (Isa. 58:10-2). In particular, God promises to illumine and guide the man who reaches out to needy souls. Just as he has helped others, so God will help him.

Many believers can testify that these promises are true. I have heard many state that God raised them to a higher standard of living when they began to tithe faithfully. God did not necessarily make them wealthy, simply more comfortable with more financial security.

My own parents double-tithed for many years. Did God bless them? At the time they saw little benefit. Quite the contrary, they were repeatedly audited by the IRS, which demanded proof that their deductions for giving were legitimate. But today the benefit of their practice is quite obvious. Toward the end of my mother's working career, the Lord gave her a good job that provided for more than twenty-five years of comfortable retirement. He also gave her someone (her son) to take care of her.

Guidelines

By following a few simple rules, you can assure that your giving will please God.

1. Start tithing with your first paycheck. No one who is old enough to earn money is too young to be generous. Indeed, one of the main purposes in giving children opportunities to work should be to teach them the principle of tithing.
2. Tithe from your gross income. All the money withheld from your paycheck is no less yours because you never see it. Withholdings are really payments for benefits you receive in return—benefits that include retirement income and medical care, not to mention fire and police protection and all the other government services supported by taxes.
3. Tithe from the top. The first check you write on the new balance after depositing your earnings should go to the church. Pay your tithe before you pay your bills, lest your bills take all your money and you fail to give God anything.
4. Pay your tithe immediately. Do not let a tithe obligation accumulate over a period of weeks or months. According to 1 Corinthians 16:2, mentioned earlier, you should pay your tithe on the next Sunday after receiving your earnings. Delay tempts you not to pay your tithe. If for some reason you cannot pay your tithe immediately, any interest you may earn from investing the money belongs to the church.
5. Let your giving be as secret as possible. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches that giving motivated by a desire for the praise of men is unacceptable to God (Matt. 6:3-4). If you win such praise, it is the only reward you will receive. To gain the rewards that God promises for generosity, you must keep your giving out of the limelight. Indeed, even your left hand should not know what your right hand is doing.
        Jesus' advice anticipated the very first problem that arose in the church. Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, two believers in Jerusalem, sold a possession and publicly donated some of the proceeds to the church, but to magnify their own standing, they pretended that they had not withheld a portion for themselves. God struck them dead for lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11).
        Obviously, you can rarely keep your giving secret from everyone. For example, certain officers of the church will process your tithe money and see where it comes from. But you can avoid publicity, and you can guard your heart from an improper desire for human recognition.
6. Do not view tithing as a way of getting rich. God promises lavish material blessings for generosity. But desire for the selfish benefits in tithing is as much an improper motive as desire for human praise. To seek riches is contrary to Scripture (Prov. 23:4-5; 1 Tim. 6:6-11).
7. Give cheerfully, from a grateful heart. The right motive in giving is love for God. By giving generously to Him we show that we appreciate all that He has done for us. Our gratitude should well up into a joy and cheerfulness founded on the understanding that giving is a privilege (Acts 20:35).

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Footnotes