You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment – the absolute basics! – you carelessly take it or leave it. Matthew 23:23
God loves it when the giver delights in the giving. II Corinthians 9:7
We are well into our Lenten journey and we have learned much. Among other things we have learned that Lent is not about “giving things up” but rather about the “joy of our salvation.” And the learning is a joyful experience. So often our faith, especially the most challenging aspects, is seen as anything but joyful. Perhaps the scholars and right thinkers of our faith have led us to be burdened with this notion of “giving things up” in order to somehow get ahead with God.
I know that I was shocked to learn from Deuteronomy 14 that the tithe was intended to fund a big party! Many of the congregations that I know about, that are burdened with debt and limited finances are also heavily engaged with building buildings and paying salaries and funding programs. Seldom (never?) do we hear of the celebration that God intends for those who love him.
I know I was shocked to learn that the only times tithing is spoken of in the New Testament – a grand total of 2! (bet you thought from the sermons you’ve heard that it was practically every other word from the mouths of Jesus and Paul and the rest) - it is mentioned in a negative sense. The passage I quoted from Matthew 23 is one of these. (Why don’t you go search for the other?)
The tithe is almost seen as a limitation in the New Testament. Our celebration is never confined to just 10% of our time, our finances, or our thoughts. Why hold the party back with such a limitation? Rather we find ourselves joyful when all of who we are and all of what we have is used for the party. When I’m buying shoes, it is for the party. When I purchase food, it is for the party. When I give to the Church and to its mission, it is for the party. To use myself otherwise is to diminish the joy.
One of my good friends from West Texas taught me about joy. He got a check once a month. Many people would call that check a retirement benefit. He and his wife see that money as a ticket to greater joy. They can’t help but pass it on and, know what? They seldom are seen without a smile and seldom heard without a kind word.
That’s the kind of witness we seek – smiles and kind words. They come about through bold living of the Gospel. And when we are “on” at First C.P., those smiles are blinding and the kindness is overwhelming. Lent ain’t such a challenge after all because God is good – all the time - and He hosts the most incredible party – it’s going on all the time!
Shalom y’all,
Pastor Pat