October 23, 2008
Votes
A few years ago I heard a church leader say, “Your tithe is not a vote.” I’ve also heard the opposite view from an 85 year-old life-long believer who said, “In the church we can vote with our feet as well as our wallet.” At one time or another we’ve probably all had cause to think about withholding a tithe. When I see the church being poor stewards of the offerings that have been collected, I feel my tithe taking on the characteristics of a vote. I’ve discovered that if I give my tithe, for a time, to a benevolent organization other than the church, then my tithe no longer becomes a vote.
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Gail;
-----I will not even validate the premise of tithing by addressing the debate about using it as a vote. The Old Testament taught tithing as the means to support the Temple and the priesthood, who were Scripturally the governing structure of God’s nation of Israel. Jesus spoke to the people around Him of tithing because His ministry occurred while Israel was still subject to the Law of the Old Covenant. But after He had broken us free from the penalty of the Law, through His Spirit He demonstrated to Peter the acceptability of the Gentiles by challenging the dietary traditions of the Law, and at Antioch He delivered to the leaders of the early church the message that no burden was to be placed upon the Gentiles beyond abstaining from impurity, idols, things strangled, and from eating blood. Henceforth, throughout the letters of the New Testament, tithing is absent. In its place we are taught to give generously, as our hearts lead us, according to our means.
-----Confessing this truth spreads terror on two levels. Amongst the church leaders, if my heart is not in their programs (the New Testament also teaches that our hearts do not necessarily have to be in our brother’s convictions), then the charity of my heart will not be with their programs either. Their power to be the controlling shapers of the church organization is shaved off and scraped away, as it should have been simply with I Corinthians 13:5 and I Peter 5:2-3. The church then becomes less an instituted organization, and more a fellowship of beloved saints. On the other level, if you think about the servant hood of the believer, the sacrificial nature of the love he is taught, the death to the flesh and life to the Spirit into which he is called, it becomes clear that, according to the reality of I John 3:17 and Matthew 25:35-40, the gift of giving at Romans 12:8 begins with possessing abundantly more than one needs for living. This scares many folks, because the tithe can be a cozy little shelter for the rest of what they have, in other words, after ten percent the charity spigot is shut off..
-----So I simply believe in giving according to the understanding of your heart and the means it has at hand. If the church leaders want your money to serve their religious ambitions they’ve sculpted into church programs and organizations, then I guess they need to make sure what they’ve demanded is relevant to everyone else and to the scripture. They shouldn’t get your money as it is voted, they should just get contributions toward doing what everyone recognizes to be good works.
Love,
Steve Corey
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