Romans 12:8: The Gift of Giving: Part Two

Outline

• Tithing
• Giving

Introduction

There are those who have the gift to give, but all Christians have the responsibility to give and be faithful with their finances. Your salary is not your hard earned cash which gives you licence to blow it according to your fancy. Your sweat and suffering in work is not something that gives you right of possession it is merely a negative effect of the fall on work and is part and parcel of our portion this side of eternity. No, everything you have is from God, your job, your ability to earn, your paycheck, and it is entrusted to you for His purposes. God seeks for you to provide for your family, to support the needy, to give to spreading of the word and other things that fulfil His will. Under the OT in Israel, the Land was the Lord’s and the blessing of God was the root of all owning. Tithing was a law given to the people of God in the OT where they gave a portion of their money and harvests to the Lord. There are many Christians who speak in terms of a Christian’s responsibility to tithe. Must a Christian tithe? Is it a law that Christians should give 10% of their income to the church?

Today we continue looking at the biblical teaching on giving. We want to do two things. Firstly, we want to see exactly what the bible teaches on tithing, and then look at NT principles for giving.