Beyond Organized Religion

This will be the final part to my current series on tithe doctrine. I want to share some personal experience in regards to the subject and end with some final thoughts. I hope you find it helpful for your own walk of faith.

There was a day that I was a scrupulous tither in every regard. In fact, in my thirty-one years as a believer, I spent the first twelve completely “sold” on tithing as a New Covenant mandate for believers, based on embracing what was preached from the pulpit.

I was more than a scrupulous tither. I was about as legalistic about it as one could be. After all, it was “God’s money” and I wasn’t about to “rob Him.” I was going to ensure my financial blessing by meeting the requirement. If my weekly paycheck was for $1,115.25, then I would write my tithe check for $111.53 (10% of gross, of course). I was the one shouting “Amen” to the preacher’s message about the need to tithe so as to not be a God robber and to be blessed financially. I was the one questioning why others weren’t giving what God required; after all, if I was doing it, certainly they should, too. I was the one who was blind and indifferent to the plight of the poor, while I continued my quest to “please God” through my tithe obedience. And as much as it shames me to admit it, there were a few times over those years that I actually borrowed money off my credit card to “be obedient to what God commanded.” Yep….went into debt so “the devourer would be rebuked for my sake.”  

But this wasn’t enough; I also needed to give offerings. I was told that offerings could be given to the church or other ministries outside the church, but the tithe “belonged in the storehouse” which was, of course, my local church. After giving 10% of gross, I barely had anything left to give as an offering. In fact, most of the time, I had nothing left to give. Nonetheless, I would periodically scrape up $20 or so to scatter some offerings elsewhere, fulfilling my Christian duty….

But as time went by, God started to deal with me. It all started when He laid it on my heart to give about $350 to the International Fellowship of Christians & Jews, the money to be used to rescue an elderly person out of Russia and fly them back to their homeland. I followed my heart and sent my highly cherished tithe money to this ministry. I had some serious difficulty doing it, but I couldn’t ignore what was being spoken to my heart. Then there was another time when I was having lunch with a Christian brother who just had knee surgery, was out of work, had no insurance, had no car, and was broke. REALLY broke. As I was driving him back to his house, I was prompted in my spirit to give him $100. Immediately, there was resistance. I would have to give again from what I set aside for my tithe. I then thought, “Well, I can pay my tithe and still scrape up $20 for my friend,” at which point I became disgusted with my mindset. I knew what God was telling me to do. I turned around, took the $$$ out of the ATM and gave it to my friend. Praise God for His heart towards the poor.

My friends, the reason I’m so passionate about this particular subject is because I’ve experienced first-hand both performance based, self-centered, legalistic giving, and also grace-based, Spirit-led giving, and I can tell you, unequivocally, I will never go back to those early days again. Oh….how I wish I could have all that money back that I blindly put in the offering plate at church all those years. It would be nice to have a second chance to scatter those seeds from a sensitive heart.. But I was deaf to God’s voice concerning the matter as I embraced the voice from the pulpit.

After everything I’ve written thus far on the subject, I think “Spirit-led giving” can be summed up in this: Hear from God, and do what He says…….. If He says to give a financial gift to your brother in Christ, then do what He says. If He says to give to a financially struggling unbeliever as a testimony of His love, then do what He says. If He says to take care of next week’s rent for the single Mom who lives across the street, then do what He says. If He says to gather all your extra money over the next two months to give to a missionary, then do what He says. If He says to give 5%, 10% or 15% to your church, then do what He says. And if He says to give nothing for a season and to direct your money to paying your debts…then do what He says. The amount we give is not the issue. Hearing from God and doing what He says is the issue. God’s not keeping score and neither should we.

I know a man who was making 100k yearly and attending church regularly. By his own admission, he wasn’t giving anywhere near 10% to his local church. In this scenario, the typical reaction from church leadership would be quite negative.  By most church standards,  a minimum of 10k yearly should be given to the church when making that amount of income. Yet this is the same man who recently adopted a child and spent 40k to do it…….

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their distress…. “(James 1:27)

Who could point the judgmental finger in such a scenario? Only the contemporary Pharisee. But even in the above scenario, we have to be careful, because again, the issue is not how much one gives, but the issue is hearing from God, and doing what He says. To one man God may say to give more; to another man God may say to give less. So be it. God doesn’t operate by rote; he deals with each one uniquely. Which is one reason why typical tithe doctrine is so shameful. We narrow our giving down to a rote formula for everyone to follow, and in so doing snuff out the life and creativity of the Spirit in this area of our lives. If believers worldwide were to break free of a “system of giving” and truly discovered their freedom in Christ to give as the Spirit leads, could you imagine the impact on the poor and needy? Could you imagine the incredible testimony for Christ that could come through  Spirit-led giving?

On the flip-side, there would also be an impact on the institutional church. It’s my personal opinion that if believers discovered that they were not required to tithe to their local church, but had the freedom to scatter their seed to other ministries and people, 80% of the church as we know it would come crashing down. This raises a most serious question: “What foundation are our churches built upon? Jesus Christ, or money?” While many a pastor would proclaim, “If you aren’t tithing, you’re not trusting God….,” it would be far more accurate to say that those who insist on putting people under an obligatory financial yoke as a safety net for themselves, rather than allowing God’s people the freedom to give as the Spirit leads, are actually the ones having the most difficulty trusting God.

“Ministry” should not cost nearly as much as we’ve made it to cost through our own methods of “building more buildings” or “having more events.” Lets get back to a more relational focus. It takes little or no money for me to share the gospel with my neighbor. And when we do give of our resources, may we truly be good stewards, distributing to the needs of others, supporting the poor, and scattering our seed upon ground that will yield a fruitful harvest for Christ.