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Chapter 13
MANAGING MONEY
Money: An External Indicator Of An Internal Relationship
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, Jesus draws an interesting parallel between the way you handle your money and the way you respond to spiritual things. In fact, the way you handle your money often reflects your basic values. God’s Word provides you with standards for managing money. You should apply them to your business if you want to realize His best for you. As you seek counsel, everyone will try to convince you that they have a better idea. If you try to follow them all you may find yourself going in circles. Instead, you should determine to go to the source of all truth, God, and let His Word do the convincing.
”If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” (JAMES 1:5-8).
God requires certain minimums of Christians. In your business enterprises, if you live by the minimums that God’s Word establishes, the result will be a good balance.
God Owns Everything
As Paul wrote to Timothy in I Timothy 6:7, ”For you brought nothing into the world, and you can take nothing out of it.” Once you accept the fact that God owns everything, it’s important to manage it according to His rules. It’s how you manage money that seems to determine how capable you are to manage greater things. For instance, unless you are willing to surrender your rights over money, you are not apt to surrender other rights. You should ask yourself if it is not worth sacrificing some short-term indulgences in order to secure long-term peace in your business.
Think Ahead And Avoid Problems
In Luke 14:28 the Lord said, ”Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see If he has enough money to complete it?” Planning can be put off, until a business is in trouble. Then, “crisis” planning becomes necessary. You should write down goals and objectives, including budgets. Then every year, plan to get away to a quiet place for at least a day, to update the budget and evaluate the goals. Review those of the previous year to determine whether you are still on track. If this approach is made a priority, it will prove to be the best investment of time ever made. Obviously, your minimum goal should be to avoid financial bondage through debt. But this does not mean eliminating all borrowing. It is borrowing to buy consumables, such as gifts, vacations, even cars, that will quickly put you in bondage.
Keep Good Records
You should heed the prophet, who said, ”Be sure you know the condition of your herds . . .” (PROVERBS 27:23). In other words, you must have enough control over your businesses to make wise decisions on a daily basis. In Proverbs 24:3 you read, ”By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” It is impossible to have your finances under control without understanding the basics of good bookkeeping. You must know how to make sound financial evaluations and how to incorporate new items into your budget. Most important, you must know how much you are actually spending.
One crucial aspect of business planning involves acquiring capital equipment. Even for the ancient Israelite owning capital equipment was important.
”Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest” (PROVERBS 14:4). Wise capital investment entails accurate inventory of the state of operating equipment. “Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever” (PROVERBS 27:23-24).
Get Educated
“A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps” (PROVERBS 14:15). A person gets into trouble because they merely lack knowledge. For instance, in business some people borrow money without understanding actual interest rates. Their primary concern at the time is, ”How much are the monthly payments?” (this is debt service). Others who have no established budget borrow more than they can repay and literally do not know where their money goes each month or how much credit their income can support. Get the proper training and avoid financial problems, before they occur.
Tithing
Is ten percent all you are to give? Why just ten percent? Why not five percent, or even 15 percent? This discussion on stewardship and tithing is written to call attention to God’s scriptural principle of giving back a portion of what God has given us.
A Simple Matter Of Priorities
”But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well ” (MATTHEW 6:33).
“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ’These people say, ’The time has not yet come for the LORD’S house to be built.’ ” Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: ’Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’ Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: ’Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’ This is what the LORD Almighty says: ’Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,’ says the LORD. ’You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the LORD Almighty. ’Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your t hands.’ Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of ]ehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the rules and voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God sent him. And the people feared the LORD” (HAGGAI 1:2-12).
”Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and who— ever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to take all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (11 CORINTHIANS 926-8). ”Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies our confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (11 CORINTHIANS 9:10-15).
Ten Points On Tithing
1. God Commands It
God commands you to give one tenth of your income back to Him. The rule of tithing, obeyed by Abraham and Jacob, commanded by Moses, urged by the prophets, and commended by Jesus, continues in the Church; nothing has repealed it. Tithing is not one of the weightier matters of the law like justice, mercy and the love of God. Nevertheless, the neglect of it is sin.
2. Expresses Gratitude
Like preaching, Bible meditation, prayer, the sacraments, and Sabbath-keeping, tithing is a means of grace. It expresses your gratitude to Christ, who became poor for your sake. It is a practical testimony that all you have comes from God and belongs to Him. When you regret or resent giving, tithing exposes and rebukes your covetousness and lack of faith in your Father in heaven who cares even for the sparrows and the lilies of the field.
3. Should Be Given Sacrificially
You should tithe on the Lord’s Day after receiving your income and trust God to provide for your needs. You should not wait until you are certain of a ”balance,” lest you imitate the rich people of Jesus’ day who gave out of their surplus, rather than the widow whom Jesus praised. All believers should tithe; rich believers should do more than tithe.
4. It Is Used To Advance God’s Work
Neither God nor His Church needs your tithes. The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord, and He can make the rocks and stones praise Him. Nevertheless, God has made you His fellow worker in the Kingdom, and He uses your tithes and your witness to advance His work.
5. Should Be Given To Your Church
Just as the Jerusalem believers laid their gifts at the feet of the apostles, so you should give your tithes to your church. God has empowered the deacons, and together with the elders and the whole congregation, to use your tithes for the maintenance of God’s worship, the relief of the needy, and the spread of the Gospel.
6. It Expresses Unity In Christ
Tithing to the Church brings believers closer to one another. Paul’s collection for poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem helped to unite the Gentile churches with each other and with their Jewish brothers. Tithing to the heart and church both express your unity in Christ with other believers and builds your awareness of it.
7. Churches Can Tithe
Levites, who were assigned to be caretakers of the tabernacle, gave a tithe to the priests. The churches themselves should imitate this by tithing their incomes to higher church courts.
8. Tithing Churches Set An Example
Deacons, elders, pastor: Your church’s giving to the higher courts should set an example of tithing for your members. Your church should tithe its in- come when you receive it and not when you discover whether you have a surplus. This practice will exercise the faith of your whole church. All churches, poor as well as rich, should tithe. Wealthier churches should do more than tithe.
9. It Is Not Primarily A Fund-Raising Technique
Pastors and elders: You should teach your people to tithe primarily because it is God’s command and will be a means of grace to them, not because it is a good means of fund raising for the Church. ”Fund raising” is appropriate for special needs, but as a regular approach to giving it implicitly denies the spiritual duty of tithing, and implicitly denies the truth that Christ and His Church do not need a believer’s money.
10. Comes With a Promise
Faithful tithing has a promise attached to it.
”Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may befood 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 you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,’ says the LORD Almighty. ’Then all the nations will call you blessed for yours will be a delightful land,’ says the LORD Almighty” (MALACHI 3:10-12).
”Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (II CORINTHIANS 9:10-11).
Tithing Is Biblical
Abraham commenced it. He brought tithes to Melchizedek who served in a dual role as King of Salem and Priest of the Most High God (GENESIS 14:18-20; HEBREWS 7:4). Yet, tithing may well have predated even Abraham.
“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, ’Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand. ‘Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything” (GENESIS 14:18-20). ”Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! ” (HEBREWS 7:4).
Jacob continued it. Awed by the presence of God at Bethel, Jacob says “This will be God’s house, and of all that Thou dost give me I will surely give a tenth to Thee.” (GENESIS 28:22).
Moses confirmed it. It was not a new law. Leviticus 26 restates the second and fourth commandments and the book concludes in chapter 27 with the law of the tithe. Its proximity to the moral law suggests its binding force wherever the moral law of the Ten Commandments is recognized.
Malachi commanded it. God promises to those who tithe that He will pour out more blessing than they can receive. Here is an appeal to spiritually hungry hearts to tithe.
”’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 ifI will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it’” (MALACHI 3:10).
Jesus commended it. He encouraged it, and though He says tithing is not enough, He means what He says: If you tithe, this at least ”you ought to have done.“
”Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds cf garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone” (LUKE 11:42).
Paul provided for it. Just as the Levites of the Old Testament, who cared for the Tabernacle, Paul lived by the tithe.
”Don’t you realize that God told those working in his temple to take for their own needs some of the food brought there as gifts to him? And those who work at the altar of God get a share of the food that is brought by those offering it to the Lord. In the same way the Lord has given orders that those who preach the Gospel should be supported by those who accept it” (I CORINTHIANS 9:13-14).
The link with this e Old Testament in this New Testament reference is quite discernible. Consider, too, that tithing is systematic and proportionate giving for all. Thus it fits perfectly Paul’s injunction to the church: ”Upon the first day of the week, let everyone of you lay by him in store as God has prospered you …” (I CORINTHIANS 16:2). Paul elevates for the church the theme of giving by placing this injunction immediately after his discourse on the resurrection of Christians when Christ comes again.
Tithing Is Equitable
The person who has little gives little and the person who has more gives more. What could be more fair? A remarkable illustration of this fairness is described in Leviticus 27:32-33. Imagine the Hebrew shepherd standing at the door of the sheepfold, counting his sheep. As the tenth comes out, he draws it aside as his tithe. Every tenth animal was the Lord’s. Yet, the exciting fact is that God accepted the tenth animal regardless of its condition, “whether it was good or bad,” whether crippled or blemished. What a beautiful description of the manner in which God identifies Himself with His people in their economic situation! This is the high equity of the tithe.
“The entire tithe of the herd and flock — every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod — will be holy to the LORD. He must not pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed” (Leviticus 27:32-33).
Tithing Assures Regular Giving
”Upon the first day of the week” suggests that the tithe draws regularly from the total income. This is contrary to the person who pledged a sum be given whenever he attended church. The tither keeps a written record of his full income, offering to God a tenth of that. Only such is regular giving.
However, tithing may also be additional irregular giving. Whenever you receive a special gift or unexpected bonus, the tithing Christian delights to give the additional tithe. Suppose a relative died and left you a large sum of money. Can God expect a tithe of that? The answer is affirmative and a lot of Christians need to even the score on inheritances they have received in years past, as well as determine with dedicated hearts that they will do it in the future.
To profess to tithe and then fail to tithe special receipts brings one under the condemnation of Annanias and Sapphira (Acts 5) who were cut off in the prime of life. Though such immediate punishment will not be ours in these days, cheating God is awesome business. It cuts one off from God’s blessing. ”’How have we robbed thee?’ In tithes and offerings!” (MALACHI 3:8).
Tithing Honors God
Your tithing or not tithing may be a telling insight into your spiritual life and basic attitudes toward God — the loving Father, the redeeming Son, and the energizing Holy Spirit. After all, it is this God who initiates all the activities which prevail between Him and His people. You love Him because He is first a forgiving and an ever-giving God toward you. And the superabundance of His giving in grace and in providence, for soul and body, suggests more than miserly, hit-or-miss giving to Him. Yes, ”honor the Lord with your substance!” (PROVERBS 3:9).
Some choose not to tithe that which they are taxed by the government. Yet, Israel had very heavy taxes, sometimes up to 50 percent, but the tithe was al- ways distinct. Paying taxes could be no substitute for paying the tithe to the Lord. Honoring the state is not honoring God in the rich context of worship and service as with the tithe.
Now the entire issue comes into focus. To honor means, primarily, to love. There is legalism in the law of marriage, but a good marriage is governed first by love. Similarly, the relationship of children to their parents, ”obey your parents” (EPHESIANS 6:1) is the New Testament confirmation of the Fifth Commandment. Yet, that law is embedded in love and the relationship breaks down tragically without love. So tithing is law but it issues from and is accomplished through love. Can New Testament believers want to do less than Old Testament believers? Has God’s grace in Christ provided you forgiveness of sin and a new life in Him?
Tithing Blesses You
It is not as though you are bargaining with God, ”I’ll tithe but I expect larger income, greater prosperity.” That is selfish talk! Let God distribute His gifts. They are His to give. Yet, none who tithes complains that it is an arduous thing. God blesses souls in their giving, and that is enough. The question, ”How much should I give?” is settled once-and-for-all. Here at last is the satisfied Christian.
Is not that what everyone wants to be, restless for more of God yet satisfied with His dispensations, His providence, His provisions, and satisfied in giving to God that which pleases Him?
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Chapter 12: Managing Money
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