Am I required by God To Tithe?


“Some people are always greedy for more, but the godly love to give.”  Prov 21:26

I recall my boy’s first bikes—that is their first two wheel bikes.  I put training wheels on them to assist in training them to ride.  Once they were accustomed to the larger bikes and sitting on them, I took the training wheels off.
Weekly giving of any sort is the training wheels for tithing.
Tithing is the training wheels for generosity.
Generosity is the goal—tithing is not.



  1. Understanding what tithing does
  2. Understanding what tithing does not do


What tithing does:
  1. Tithing is a training ground for the following things:
    1. Tithing teaches you to give on a weekly basis (or whenever your income comes in).  Tithing trains you to begin to realize that God owns everything you have.  You are not an owner, you are a steward.
    2. Tithing trains you to become what God wants you to be—generous!
  2. Tithing trains you to think in terms of sowing seed.  
  3. Tithing trains you to look for opportunities to give and bless others.
  4. The goal of tithing is to train you to leave tithing as an elementary level of spirituality (see below) and move into the realm of generosity!



What tithing is not:

  1. Tithing will not ensure you have no more financial problems.  Tithing does not fix dumb financial decisions.  Tithing doesn’t give you more money, job security or a better car.
  2. Tithing is not a covenantal blessing that will lift the curse as in the Old Testament covenant.  Jesus’ sacrificial death lifts the curse!
  3. Tithing will not solve all your problems.  Tithing does not release God to wave a financial magic wand over your bank account.  



There is an obscure little passage in Matthew’s gospel
Matthew 23:23 (NKJV) 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Here, in the midst of a series of rebukes by Jesus, Jesus says three things about tithing:
1.   Jesus condemned tithing that was degraded into an act of religiosity. For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin
2.   Jesus upheld the principal of tithing.  These you ought to have done
3.   Jesus believed tithing was an elementary act of spirituality.  …and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.


Goal—-Generosity!
Training wheels—tithing 

Tithing trains me to be a giver.

I need to be a giver, because that is the essence of the gospel!

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