Paul, writing to the Church says, "See that ye abound in this grace also" -- the grace of giving. The Persian proverb says, "Do the little things now; so the big things shall come by and by asking to be done." Scriptural giving is worship, and so every worshipper of God must be one of God's givers. Dr. Howard Crosby says: "The poor man should no more omit giving, on account of his poverty, than the illiterate, his praying because of his bad grammar." The mites God values as much as the millions, if they mean prayerful and devout and worshipful giving.
A little girl approached the Bible, and placed her two little, red-colored, knitted mitts (mittens) upon it. After they counted the offering they returned them to her, and said, "Dear, we do not want these." She began to weep, and said, "Jesus would have taken them," and they said to her, "Why, what do you mean?" and she replied, "When Jesus sat over against the treasury a widow woman gave her two mitts, and Jesus commended her for it, and I believe He would take mine." She had the right spirit and that is the thing of which Jesus approves.
Dr. William Kincaid says, "A friend of mine was receiving some money at the hand of a bank officer the other day, when he noticed, descending from one of the bills, a little scarlet thread. He tried to "pull it out, but found it was woven into the very texture of the note and could not be withdrawn. "Ah," said the banker, "you will find that all government bills are made so now. It is an expedient to prevent counterfeiting." Just so, Christ has woven the scarlet thread of His blood into every dollar that the Christian owns. It cannot be withdrawn; it makes it as His. Offerings unto God are given to express, first of all, genuine devotion and obedience to the will of God. God is not a beggar nor beneficiary in any sense whatever. He is not dependent upon the help of any man for carrying on His work, but He, admits us to a double privilege, first, of giving expression to our best impulses, and second, of taking part with Him in a holy ministry of benevolence.
One time there was a minister who had received a letter frown a mission station in the West telling of the needs of the work, the poverty of the people, and how little he (the missionary) had been receiving for the support of his family, and further stated that unless the people had help, he would be compelled, by their poverty, to leave the field. The minister was very much impressed. The situation burdened his heart. He prayed, and prepared a sermon, the following Sunday went to the pulpit and preached earnestly, then took an offering.
The merchant and the banker were there and people well to do, who could give, but they seemed not to have been impressed, and allowed the plate to go by, giving very scantily of their means. In the rear-most pew sat a little crippled girl who for years had gone without crutches, owing to the poverty of her parents, but after awhile she became, the possessor of a pair of crutches -- to her the most valuable thing of all her possessions. As she sat in the pew and listened to the preacher's fervent appeal, she said to herself, "I wish I could help. I wish I could give something" -- and the Spirit whispered, "Maggie, give your crutches," and she said, "No! I needed them so badly, and I've only had them a short time, and what could I do without them?" But the Spirit again said, "Maggie, give your crutches," and Maggie was obedient.
The collector came her way with the plate. He was a gentleman. He knew Maggie was poor, but he would not hurt her feelings by passing her by unnoticed, and so thrust the plate before her face, and Maggie placed her crutches thereon. The collector was surprised, but he passed up the aisle toward the altar carrying those crutches on his plate very carefully. The banker looked around and saw the crutches on the plate and knew they were Maggie's, and his eyes were filled with mist; the manufacturer suddenly was impelled to use his handkerchief; tears came to the eyes of the people -- they knew what Maggie's offering meant. The banker said, "Bring that plate here," and he wrote out a check and placed it thereon The merchant pulled out his wallet; and placed a roll of bills thereon. Others, followed their example, and when the plate reached the altar the minister's heart was gladdened by a good-sized offering that was impelled by a little, girl who would not withhold her best from God. That is the spirit that God would have in all our giving, the spirit that impelled little Maggie to give her crutches.
Although we risk being charged with recapitulating, let us, for the sake of emphasis, repeat the truths already given in other words, and let us remember the law did not create tithes any more than it created the Sabbath; it only recognized them before the law commanded tithes. Tithing was inwrought into the very nature of things. The Old Testament is very clear and definite in teaching the duty and privilege of tithing. The first instance we have in these records shows it was voluntary. (Gen. 14:20.) Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek. In Genesis 28:22, we find Jacob pledging tithes to God, tithing before the Jewish nation had an existence, or the law was given. We are the children of Abraham, his spiritual seed, enjoying the blessings today of the covenant relations between him and God; in his family God instituted the Church, and as his spiritual seed, as a part of the Church of God, it behooves us to acknowledge God and His claims upon us as stewards of His bounty.
If we turn to Leviticus 27:30-32, we will see the law of the tithes, "All the tithe of the land, whether the seed of the land, or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's, it is holy unto the Lord. And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord." The purpose of this law can be found in Numbers 18:20-21. It will not answer to say this has been abrogated because it is part of the old Mosaic or Levitical law, for as the Sabbath with the tithe existed before the law, so both exist after the law has been done away.
J. P. Hobson, a noted lawyer says, "If the tithe therefore was the law before Moses, the fact that it was incorporated into the Levitical law, and that this law has expired, would not abrogate the tithe, but the expiring law would leave it as obligatory as it was before the latter was promulgated at Sinai." If Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, who was a type of Christ, shall we, the spiritual children of Abraham, refuse our tithes to the Christ Himself? Shall we give more to the shadow than we do to the substance? If we give less than the tithe to Christ, is Abraham, in our case, the father of the faithful or the unfaithful? As to the New Testament teaching, can we positively say that Jesus did not command and reaffirm the tithe law in Matthew 23:23, where He says, "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith, these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone"? Should we not be very slow to disregard what Jesus Christ here commands? Turn to Hebrews 7, and read it carefully. Does it not teach tithing very plainly? Note, the argument is that the father of the Jewish nation paid tithes to Melchizedek, and we are to pay tithes to Christ, the High Priest of our confession, made after the power of an endless life. They paid tithes to men now dead, the Christian Church is to pay tithes to one eternal, living Jesus Christ. Read the New Testament carefully and prayerfully, and note these precepts -- "Freely give;" "Ye know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich;" "God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye always, having all sufficiency, in all things, may abound unto every good work;" "Give, and it. shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, heaped up, and running over shall men give into your bosom;" "He that soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully;" "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him;" "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven;" "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitation;" "Therefore as ye abound in everything, in faith, in utterance, and knowledge, and in, all diligence, and. in your love to us, see that ye abound, in this grace also" -- the grace of giving; "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, nor of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver." Saints are charged "to be ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come," and "To do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."
These precepts and commands certainly mean much to the Church of God. Can they mean less than the tenth, in the light of the Word of God, in view of Calvary and Pentecost, and a whole Bible, and the blessing following? Should we give less than the man under the law? The law of the New Testament is love, but does love give less than law demanded before God commended His love toward us in giving His Son to die for us? If anyone should say there is no specific command in the New Testament for tithing, neither is there for keeping the first day of the week as the Sabbath, yet we keep it. The Sabbath teaching in the New Testament is not clearer than the tithe teaching, yet both are clear enough. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." The spirit of the New Testament teaching follows the example of God who gave Himself for the Church. We should pay especial heed to the teaching of the Word. Bishop Janes once said, "The day will come when the Church of Christ will support the cause of Christ." And why not? If the Church today was living up to its privilege along the line of giving, if it was equaling the Jew under the old dispensation, the treasury of the Lord would be full, missionaries would be supported, foreign fields would have the Gospel, the world would soon be evangelized, they would have the Gospel for a witness, then would Jesus soon come, and a nation be born in a day, while the knowledge of the glory of the Lord would cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
If the Church would give as God would have her and as He has taught in His Word, we would not see the spiritual poverty of the Church announced in colored chalks on bulletin boards in front of the meeting-house: chicken-pie socials, rummage sales, box socials. Neither would we have campmeetings with their Sunday gate fees, but God would be honored, the windows of Heaven opened, and the uncontainable blessings would be ours. Then would the Church give as much for the work abroad, as it does for its own local work, and I have a very firm conviction the Church will never fulfill God's thought for His covenant people until this is the case. We have so-called Christian churches in this land giving more money for music, for paid choirs, for unconverted men and women to sing for them, than they give for missions. The Church giving a tithe, and praising God with free-will offerings, would be a spiritual Church indeed -- the mourners'-bench would be needed for inquiring penitents, and the shouts of new-born souls would make Heaven rejoice again and again.
