8th November 2026

Tithing – 08/11/26

Readings:  Genesis 14:8-20 & 2 Timothy 3:10-17

If you were here last week, you may remember my saying that we’d talk about tithing today.  I was going to say that it’s not a particularly comfortable subject, and not that easy to preach about, but actually that’s not necessarily true, as I hope you’ll see, and it’s a church leader’s responsibility to teach the WHOLE of scripture, not just the cozy bits. 

I should say, right at the start, that it’s something that Charlotte and I have been taught and enjoyed doing for many years, so this isn’t just theoretical.  Let me ask you, therefore, to keep an open mind, don’t prejudge, just hear to what I have to say and then you can come to your own conclusions.

Why? Because, strange as it might seem, the aim of the exercise is that YOU will be blessed.

The first thing we have to bear in mind is the authority of the Bible.

David said in Psalm 12 “The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times.” And then most famously, and as we just heard Paul say to his friend and disciple Timothy “All scripture is God-breathed”. 

He was, of course, talking about the Old Testament because the New Testament was still being written at the time.

I know that there are parts of it that seem far-fetched, unrealistic, mythical, difficult to believe, …, but in the minds of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, and the other authors of the New Testament, ALL of it was, I quote, “God-breathed, and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness that’s what we’re doing this morning, why, so that the servant of God, that’s you and me, may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 

That doesn’t mean that every verse meant to be taken literally, some of them are figurative, but it DOES mean that we have to take them seriously, and that we disregard or discount them at our peril.

So, on the subject in hand, it may surprise you that both Old and New Testaments mention tithing, by which they mean giving a tenth of one’s net income or produce back to God.

There are three sorts of tithing.

The book of Numbers tells us what God told the Israelites, through Moses, about their responsibility to provide for their priests and their ministries, and Paul wrote eloquently to the Corinthians about it.

Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? he asks. Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk?  Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law of Moses say the same thing?  For it is written “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?  Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever ploughs and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.  If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?  If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? (1 Corinthians 9:7-12a)

The second one was for the tithe givers themselves, and their families, to enable them to participate in the various feasts. (Deuteronomy 14:24-26)

The third one was to be given to the poor, the widows, the orphans, and those in need. (Deuteronomy 14:28-29)

Fortunately for us, in Mirepoix, we don’t have a priest to support, but one day we might. However, we do have a ‘high priest’, Jesus, who was, according to David in Psalm 110, and to the author of the book of Hebrews, “a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek”, and we just heard, a few moments ago, how Abraham tithed the spoils of his great defeat to Melchizedek, who was both a king and a high priest.

Other key verses include Leviticus 27:30, which states that a tithe of everything is ‘holy to the Lord’, and Deuteronomy 14:22-23, which emphasises tithing as a way to learn reverence for God.

It was clearly still practised in New Testament times because Matthew quotes Jesus saying to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees “Woe to you, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” So not instead of, but as well as.

It seems to me that the point that Jesus was making, was not so much about a percentage, but that we should be serious, methodical and substantial in our giving in order to support three important things: -

·  the worship of God and the expenses involved

·  foreigners, orphans, widows, those in need, and

·  the ministry and the mission of the local church.

And we should do this, not out of obligation, but out of our love of and gratitude to God.

But I’m not saying that makes it easy.  At our age most of us are living on some kind of budget, as we eek out our pensions and try not to spend our savings on anything that isn’t strictly necessary.

Tithing is an act of faith, and of respect, and it comes with an amazing promise. In a conversation between God and the Israelites reported to us by Malachi, God said.  “I the Lord do not change. ….. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.  I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, …,” says the Lord Almighty. (Malachi 3:6-12)

“Test me in this”, God says.  That’s not something he says very often.

Remember this, Paul told the Corinthians, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:6-7)

God loves a cheerful giver, and he blesses a cheerful giver, that has been our experience.  We bless others and we ourselves are blessed in the process. 

But it doesn’t happen the other way round. It’s no good waiting for a windfall before you tithe, tithe first and see what God will do, for you, and for the people you are giving to.

The earth is the Lord’s, said David, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.

And Jesus promises “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

I don’t know whether you’ve heard any or all of that before, or not. Either way, I do encourage you to give it some serious thought.