Tithing by C. Vernon Fox

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 19, 1916

Tithing

By C. Vernon Fox

Christian people declare the Bible to be their only rule of faith and practice, yet in the matter of Christian finance many have ignored its plain teachings, and have tried every substitute that man has devised. As a result, every department of Christian activity is suffering for lack of funds.

The Old Testament contains the best system of church support ever devised. God has revealed no other financial plan than the payment of the tithe as an expression of our debt to him, and freewill offerings expressing our love and gratitude.

God’s laws are universal. They apply to all times and all places. They are equally binding upon the Gentile and the Jew, the Roman and the American, the African and the Chinese. These laws do not create duties, they define them. They are the very essence of justice, kindness, and good will toward men. The more we study them, and the better we understand them, the more fully do we realize that they are enacted for our best good and highest development, physically, morally, and spiritually.

The great God, our Father, who created us, who loves us, and who understands what is best for us, asks for one seventh of our time and one tenth of our income. . . .

It is a well-recognized principle of law that when a law has once been in force, and the conditions which called it forth still exist, the law is binding till it is repealed. The law of tithing has never been repealed, and was never in greater demand than at the present time.

The law of the tithe, like the law of the Sabbath, was not instituted for the benefit of others, but for ourselves. God does not require the tithe just to keep the treasury full, but to win us from selfishness and covetousness, which were the bane of the church in both the Old and the New Testament times.

In the ten commandments covetousness is ranked with theft, murder, and adultery. Paul classes this sin among the vilest of sins. In writing to Timothy, Paul warns him against the sin of covetousness, saying, “The love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have . . . pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Judas, being covetous, betrayed our Lord for thirty pieces of silver, then went out and hanged himself. The supreme purpose of the tithe is to develop character and test our loyalty to God. The payment of the tithe when

there is no compulsion and no pressure brought to bear, when it is a matter of a clear conscience between yourself and God, will develop in you those sterling qualities that will make you worth while in the kingdom.

The Bible designates two sources of revenue, tithes and freewill offerings. The tithe is the Lord’s, whether we keep it or pay it to him.

The tithe is our just debt to God, and should be paid promptly and cheerfully, like any other debt. God has no need of our money, for all is his; but he requires his share just to remind us that we are in partnership with him. Just as the tribute money paid to Cæsar was a recognition of his authority, so the tithe is the recognition of God’s interest in every dollar we receive.

God has furnished us all the capital, has given us health, strength, and opportunity to use it, has allowed us ninety per cent of all the profits for ourselves; but in our selfishness we have overlooked the fact that he has reserved one tenth for the express purpose of financing his kingdom on earth.

We all acknowledge that God has placed on this globe a kingdom called the kingdom of heaven. Is it conceivable that he has brought such an organization into existence and has never thought about financing it, but has thrown it out into the world a waif to be sustained or neglected as men see fit?

If God does not require the tithe to be paid into his treasury, then it follows that the kingdom on earth has no financial foundation at all; it is just left to our impulse and feeling in the matter. Where the tithe system is ignored, a few devoted members give liberally, but the majority do little if anything to carry on the work.

The church is poor, the Sabbath school is without sufficient supplies, the missionary societies are hampered; all the benevolences of the church languish, because God’s people either spend the tithe on themselves or scatter it over a wide list of charities.

The tithe is not for any and every good cause, but is sacred to the great purpose of the extension of the kingdom at home and abroad.

The church, the bride of Christ, should be the dispenser of religion and a ready source of help to the needy. Instead she is a beggar. Her frantic efforts to raise money are distressing. Her credit is poor; her revenue uncertain; her debts are multiplied. Until her membership return to God’s financial system, she must always be a beggar appealing for alms.

God is not honored by the money given at church fairs, bazaars, and suppers. He is honored only by the voluntary offerings of his people. The world does not read the Bible, it reads Christians, and judges Christianity by its followers. Concerts, oyster suppers, and all such “catch-penny methods” are belittling to the church, dishonoring to God, and contemptible in the eyes of the world. The church wrongs the world by courting it for gain.

The usual deserters of wife and children are the nonsupporters of their families. It is easy for a man to desert his family when he is not supporting them; he feels little responsibility; he knows he will not be missed. The Christian who gives little or nothing to the cause of Christ finds it easy to evade his responsibility, and also finds that any excuse will do for nonattendance at church and Sabbath school.

The best evidence of the divine origin of the church is that it is able to stand such methods of support, and that it still survives.

Imagine the President of the United States and the Committee of Ways and Means sending out little jugs and barrels with slots in them, mite boxes, buttons with their pictures on them, to catch pennies to meet the fiscal needs of the government of United States.

Imagine the different States and counties holding fairs, festivals, apron sales, concerts, and ice cream socials, with women asked to cook and sew, that each community might get enough money to pay its regular expenses. Such methods would disgrace any State or county, they are belittling and shameful. Yet this is the way many Christians are trying to finance the kingdom of God on earth.

The kingdom of God is more glorious than all earthly kingdoms; its purposes and appointments are all harmonious and dignified; its scope is world-wide. It has a greater work than any nation ever had to do, with tasks more delicate than any civil government ever considered, with conquests to make more extensive than any earthly king ever dreamed of.

The tithe system is the only one spoken of in the Bible. It is worthy of God, of Christ, and the nature of the kingdom. Its history is dignified. It is found in the law, the prophets, and the gospel. It has God, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Reformers and prophets of the Old Testament, and Jesus and the apostles of the New Testament as its indorsers. In the words of Bishop McCabe, “Other systems may succeed, God’s cannot fail.”

Tithing establishes equality among God’s people. The smallest weekly offerings of the poor are just as highly valued in God’s sight as the large gifts by the rich. No excuse can free a man from his obligation.

Tithing leaves no ground for excuse. It has the fullest regard for the man of limited income, and simply asks that he tithe as he receives.

He who gives when he has little will give more when he has much, for the principle and the habit have been established.

The rich often find it a severer test of their loyalty to tithe out of a large income than the poor do out of a small income.

Tithing compels system in finance, and saves its cost by cultivating thrift and economy. Another effect is that a man conducts his business in a different spirit; and with a loftier motive his companionship with God becomes more real.

No one should wait for his neighbor to act, but each one, realizing his personal responsibility to God, should begin at once to tithe his income. The faithful among the Jews tithed everything, even the garden seeds, mint, anise, and cummin.

Tithe your sales, tithe your wages, tithe the milk, eggs, and butter, the sheep and cattle; tithe your income from every legitimate source.

If the tithe is the Lord’s, what shall we do with it? Why, pay it to him as soon as possible, and get our unworthy hands off of it. The spent dollar is the one that is hard to give to God. . . .

“How much owest thou my Lord?” If you have been honest with every one but your Creator; if you have failed to pay your tithes; if you have money and property that rightly belong to the kingdom, ask God to guide you in making the restitution. Ask him to give you the love and the courage without further delay to use “in the service of the King.” God will respect you for an honest Christian, and you can respect yourself.

Many Christians lack the training and the ability to make good preachers or missionaries, but they may share in this great work by supporting the workers, and also have a share in the harvest that is to be.

After all, the highest compensation from tithing is spiritual; when you have paid your tithe, your mind is free from all doubt on the subject, and your heart is free to engage in other forms of Christian service.

All of God’s promises are conditional. When you are living right before God in other matters, and are paying your tithe cheerfully and regularly, you know you are doing your duty, meeting the conditions, and can rely on the promise.

“Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High: and call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Ps. 50: 14.—C. Vernon Fox, M. D., in leaflet by Methodist Book Concern.