Here at The River, we know that giving 10% of what God blesses us with back to Him via the temple (church) is found clearly in the Old Testament, but how does that apply to New Covenant believers?
With many other commands in the old testament, Jesus raises the bar for us. The law says not to murder, Jesus says not to even hate. The law says not to commit adultery, Jesus says not to even look at someone with lust. And the list goes on. Jesus praised the widow in Luke 21 who gave all the money she had to live on to God in her temple offering. -Talk about faith!- But then he confronts the Pharisees in Matt 23:23 about tithing even down to their herbs, but neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness. So it's our heart that counts, not an exact 10% tithe. In Matthew 19:21 Jesus tells a rich young man that if he wants to be perfect to sell everything he owns and give it to the poor and then he'll have treasure in heaven and can come follow Him. Jesus want our hearts and trust not to be in our money, resources, or possessions, He wants our hearts to be satisfied and secure in Him alone.
In 2 Corinthians 9 Paul is encouraging the church of Corinth to follow through with a promised large donation to other struggling believers and he says these words about giving in chapter 9 verse 6, "The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously. Each person should do as he has decided in his heart- not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work."
So how we try to approach giving is this: giving 10% of our money, time, talents, etc to God is a great start, but the greatest reward comes from when we give until it hurts... When we skip eating out so we can also afford to help feed the hungry. When we cancel that subscription so we can also help a widow in her need. We are all working on trusting God more and more and growing in this. With that said, we want everyone to do as Paul says and give as much as we can with a spirit of thankfulness. We all need to be watchful not to store up our treasure on earth, because wherever our treasure is, that's where our heart will be. (Matt 6:19-21) To be clear, WE ARE NOT asking you to give all your money to our church! Give where the Holy Spirit leads you to, but GIVE! We should all be sowing into people in need and ministries that are growing the Kingdom of Jesus as much as we can while maintaining a cheerful heart and either here or in heaven, we will receive a reward that we can't contain. That's the kind of treasure we want!
God bless!
*All online donations are subject to a fee from PayPal of 3.49% of whatever is donated (if you donate $100, $3.49 will be collected by PayPal for their services) and the website charges 49 cent per donation. There is an option to cover the fee so it doesn't come out of your donated amount, if you desire to do so. Also, in-person giving avoids the fee altogether!
$
