This topic, “How to increase our tithes and offerings,” strikes the believer in the tithing system and in regular offerings as somewhat peculiar. Let us take tithing first.
One would suppose that the way to increase a Christian’s tithe would be to increase his income. The word “tithe” means a tenth. A tenth means neither a fifth nor a twentieth; the fraction can not be changed, for it is a fixed part of the whole.
Now, should I ask any one, “How can I increase a tenth of one thousand,” he would say, “Impossible, one tenth of one thousand is one hundred, and can not be changed.” So, the tithe of one’s income is one tenth of that income. It is not a fifteenth, nor any other fractional part; it is simply one tenth. Less than one tenth is not a tithe, and more than one tenth is more than a tithe.
Therefore, to answer the query as propounded, one would say, The one way to increase one’s tithe is to increase one’s income, and if we are to increase the denominational tithe, if every man is honest and sincere, we must increase the denominational income. Thus, there can be but one possible answer, did every one pay a tithe of his income into the treasury of the Lord; but, as we look about us, we must confess that there certainly are a great many who are not paying a full tithe into the treasury.
Our present number of Sabbath-keepers, as reported in our last statistical report, was 81,721, while our annual tithe for the year 1904 was $691,819.33, making the average per capita tithe paid by our Sabbath-keepers, $8.47.
Now, if $8.47 is a tithe of the income of our people, then it is patent that our people have lived per capita during the year on an income of $84.70. Does it appeal to you as a fact that Seventh-day Adventists can live, paying their rent, clothing themselves, paying for all the necessities of life, for fuel, and all other necessary bills that occur continually, on an income of $84.70 for one year? Of course, you must deduct from this, $8.47 tithe, leaving $76.23, with which to pay for all the necessities of life. This can not possibly be a true state of affairs. Seventh-day Adventists do not come from the poorest class of the communities in which they reside. They do not represent the wealthy class nor those who are rich. They come from the middle class—the laborer, the mechanic, the farmer, the professional man in teaching, in medicine, and in other lines.
Now, it would seem almost impossible for us to conclude that our people can exist in the way they do, maintain their homes, meet all the bills for the necessities of life, etc., on an income not to exceed seventy-five dollars or seventy-six dollars per annum. This being true, somebody is robbing God. Some one is keeping back a part, as did Ananias and Sapphira, while pretending to pay a full tithe. This can be nothing but real deception on the part of those who are thus handling what the Lord claims to be his own.
But I am not to discuss the tithing question—only, “How can we increase our tithe?” Many of our leading men believe that not more than one third of our people endeavor to pay a full tithe; about one third pay more or less, but not a tithe; while the rest pay comparatively little, if anything, for the maintenance of the work.
If this be true, what a condition it reveals! Just how much this tithe could be increased might be a question. For my part, however, I firmly believe that if every Seventh-day Adventist would pay a full tithe into the treasury, there would be not less than an average of twenty dollars per capita. This would10mean an annual tithe of $1,634,420. Yet should this tithe be paid into the weekly treasury, it would be over two and one-half times the present amount received.
But the question for us to discuss to-day, is, How can we best increase this tithe?
1. I would say, Endeavor to bring a true, genuine Christian experience into every life. Tithe paying, when disconnected from the Lord, is a difficult task for many. When one’s heart is full of feelings of gratitude for the blessings received, and for the tender mercies bestowed upon him by his Heavenly Father, tithing is not a difficult task, but a pleasure. A cold, lifeless church will almost invariably be a church that pays but little tithe, while it is the spiritual, warm-hearted people who freely render to the Lord what he claims as his own.
2. I would say, agitate from a Bible standpoint the tithing question, and also the plan of systematic giving for the support of our foreign mission work. Most of the people who profess to believe the third angel’s message, profess to believe in tithe paying, and in making offerings to the Lord. I would say, agitate from a Bible standpoint. What is there in all this world more convincing than a “Thus saith the Lord”? If people profess to believe the Bible, they can not wilfully ignore the words of the Lord to them, without feeling conscious of the sin of robbing God, and heart-stricken that they are neglecting this opportunity in bringing their tithe into the Lord’s treasury.
Nor can I believe that many men and many women forget to pay their tithe. Their hearts are constantly smitten by the consciousness of guilt, yet they have not the courage and resolution to take hold and pay the tithes and offerings while the money is in their hands. Many of our people are poor, and many of them are in debt, and when a few dollars come into their hands, there are a thousand places where they can place the same, and supply their own material wants, or pay some obligation that is pressing them beyond measure. Such souls oftentimes undergo severe temptation, and use their tithe when they are conscious that they should have paid it promptly into the treasury.
If we are reminded from Sabbath to Sabbath in regard to this duty of divine ownership, and are taught that “the tithe is holy unto the Lord,” we shall be much less liable to use the tithe than if nothing is said regarding it month after month. Both the Sabbath and the tithe are based upon divine ownership. Both are rendered to the same Master by the same servant.
Should you see your brother in the faith working upon the Sabbath, you would go to him, and say, “My brother, this is sin. This course will prove your eternal ruin,” and you would persuade him to desist from working, and respect the Sabbath day. Will you do this to a brother regarding the Sabbath day, and yet close your eyes to the fact that weekly he is robbing God of the tithe which God says is “holy unto the Lord”?
Shall we silently, without reproof, without mention of the fact, see our brethren taking that which is holy, and which will rob them of spiritual blessings, and using it for their own personal needs? Surely, no conscientious Christian will desire to rob his God.
One would suppose that the only need any true, sincere heart would have to cause him to cease to do so wicked a crime as “robbing God,” would be to come to the knowledge that he is committing a heinous sin. To come to the knowledge of this fact it seems would be sufficient to remedy the evil. Were this true, only sins of ignorance would be recorded against the children of God. But there have always been Achans in the host of Israel, and there ever will be. Even amid the Pentecostal revival of the Holy Spirit, men have dared to “lie to the Holy Ghost.” Judas dared walk from the inner chamber’s last supper to the shadow of Gethsemane’s sorrow, and sell his Master and friend for a paltry sum, and it is equally true to-day that many dare pretend to be doing that to which their whole life is a living denial. How shall we reform? I answer, “Cry aloud, spare not, . . . show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sin.” Let us agitate, agitate, agitate, and keep the matter of the tithe constantly before our people. No honest man will ever weary of hearing of his duty to his God.
3. Tithing is a sacred duty. Many a soul has intended well, has resolved to pay a faithful tithe, has resolved to be diligent and prompt in this matter, and yet has lacked method in the paying of tithe. A demand comes upon them before the tithe has been transferred into the treasury, and lo! they use the tithe which they had resolved they would not use.
To remedy this evil, the General Conference at its late session recommended that envelopes be provided wherein each might place his tithe and offerings during the week, this envelope to be brought to the Sabbath meeting, and passed in to the church treasurer.
On these envelopes will be the words: “Tithe,” “Mission Offerings,” “Church Expenses,” “Home Literature,” “Donations for the Poor,” etc. These envelopes will be gathered up each Sabbath, and during the following week the treasurer will make entries in his books in harmony with the instructions on each envelope, bringing monthly receipts for the amount each member has given, and passing the same to the respective contributors.
Already the General Conference has ordered one million envelopes to be distributed throughout this country for the use of our churches the coming year. We desire to get this plan operating everywhere at the earliest possible moment.