By George Kulp
To refresh your minds, take a look again at what the Lord required of the Jew in olden times. Each head of a family was bound by direct enactment to give a tenth of ALL his yearly increase to the support of the ministering tribe of Levi; besides, he had to pay a second tenth to the support of the feasts; a third tenth was given once in three years for the support of the poor, and in addition were the trespass offerings, long and costly journeys to the temple, and sundry other religious charges, all imposed by Divine sanction, besides free-will offerings. Will you please notice that in the patriarchal dispensation Abraham and Jacob gave a tenth, in the Mosaic dispensation these various tithes to which we have referred amounted to at least a fifth of the income, and is there not, in the very spirit of the Gospel, a proportionate advance? Are we not, by the example of Jesus and the teachings of the New Testament, placed in the highest school of unselfishness? Some may now object that they will not be governed by a cold, mathematical law, but please remember, a principle taught in the Word of God is no less sacred because it may be mathematical. Remember the seventh day to keep it holy is also mathematical, but you admit its binding force. A man shall be the husband of one Wife is also mathematical, but it is extremely necessary in these days of license unbounded.
Turn to the New Testament and note carefully the spirit of giving all the way through it. "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 made rich," was used by the Apostle to the Gentiles as an incentive to giving -- cheerful, liberal giving. Liberality for a rich man was sanctioned by the Lord Jesus, even to the giving of "half his goods," and a poor widow was commended to the extent of giving "all her living." A whole church after Calvary and Pentecost, sold their property and gave away without limit. The church in Macedonia, which was in the depths of poverty, and in a great trial of afflictions, abounded in "riches of liberality," and the record is written for all ages, that they gave beyond their power.
Whenever you look in the New Testament you are met "by an atmosphere of fervid joy and love; the Church is seen distributing, communicating, making sacrifices with which God is well pleased, the example of Apostles forsaking all, individuals selling all, churches bestowing all, the deeply poor giving to the poorer, and above all you see God, as the Giver of every good and perfect gift. This we have reason to believe was well pleasing unto God, and the churches and men and women who thus gave were honored.
On the other side, the withholding from Him not only tends to want, but meets with evidence of Divine displeasure. The first sin after entering Canaan that met with death was the sin of covetousness:-- Achan and the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment.
The first sin after Pentecost that met with death, was the sin of selfishness, as seen in the keeping back, part of the price of the land on the part of Ananias and Sapphira. Were they not intended as warnings to the Church in after ages? God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He is no respecter of persons. We cannot buy discipleship now at any cheaper rates than at Pentecost. We must go by the Word of God:-- "The entrance of thy Word giveth light."
Today people, church-members, are devoting the bulk of their time and energy to self. The Church has wealth, but it is not held at the command of the Christ. Fingers that glisten with diamonds, drop dimes into the contribution box; professors are prodigal with their hymns and prayers and exhortations, but closed-handed with their money. BUT GOD KEEPS COUNT -- the Christ of Calvary sits over against the treasury today, and men should learn that there is a Divine detective system in the universe. He knows when we keep back part of the price, and He will call us to account some day.
Men may call us generous, when in fact we are really withholding. They may call, us self-sacrificing, when in fact the one ruling motive is to please self. They may esteem us devout, when we are cold and formal; but what is all the profession and trickery worth when there is One who keeps record of every motive, every act, and who will one day unveil to an assembled universe all of our lives? Grace is ample in its provisions, but strict in its conditions. The Redeemer will have, the whole of men or He will have none. Remember, God does not want our property except as it expresses our loving loyalty. Benevolence is the law of Christianity. "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Timothy 6:10).
Rev. F. B. Meyer, in his pamphlet on the "Stewardship of Money," says: "One of our commonest experiences is the handling of money, and nothing will sooner show whether our consecration be a reality or a sham; nor will anything seem more quickly to accentuate and enforce the life of consecration, than to spend our money daily beneath the sway of those principles which it is so easy to enunciate and so difficult to practice."
It is a proverb among worldly men that "money talks," and when a man endorses what he says with his money, folks are apt to believe him.
Let us now look at this from another angle. S. Earl Taylor says in his pamphlet on "Scriptural Habits of Giving," "The first recorded act of worship of the human race was accomplished by the offering of the fruit of the ground, and the firstlings of the flock.
"The first act of Noah as he came forth from the ark was to build an altar unto the Lord and to offer burnt offerings. He had but seven cattle and seven sheep to begin the world with, and yet he hesitated not to sacrifice one of each as soon as he set foot upon the ground. The first act of Abraham as he went out by faith not knowing whither he went, was to erect an altar and to offer thereon sacrifice to God. Wherever he went he introduced a form of worship that made constant draft upon his personal property. His special ratifications of God's covenant were made by sacrifices. His grateful homage to God in view of his victories over his enemies had expression in his rendering a tenth of the spoils to the priesthood of God. His training to acts of self-sacrifice must have been the school in which he reached that sublime act of sacrificing his only son.
"The first act of Jacob as he awoke from his wonderful vision at Bethel was to record this vow: 'If God will be with me, and will keep me in the way that I will go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that Thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.'"
Rev. C. S. Robinson, commenting in a sermon on this passage of Scripture, says: "The principle of systematic benevolence may be stated in one compact sentence:-- A Christian ought never to wait for fervent appeals or ardent addresses to sympathy. The duty of giving is to be discharged only with a diligent comparison of means with ends. System in giving is the secret of all success. God seeks where He has given. Prosperity comes from God and the tithe is a recognition of Him as the Giver. Money is only the measure of manhood when consecrated to Christ. It is ourselves we give to Him, ourselves He demands."
Bishop Selwyn often quoted that familiar motto of John Wesley's: "Save all you can, and give all you save," and he did not think that charity began until after a tithe had been paid to God. "Whatever your income," he wrote to his son, "remember that, only nine-tenths of it are at your disposal."
Oberlin, a poor French minister, was reading in his Bible one day where God told the Jews that He expected them to give a tithe of all their property to Him, and he said to himself, "Well, I am sure that I as a Christian have three times as many blessings as the Jews had. If it was right for a Jew to give one-tenth of his property to God, surely I ought as a Christian to give at least three times as much as that,'' and he did it. The Jews called giving, "The hedge of riches." If it was so in a dispensation that was only the shadow of good things to come, what may giving be under this dispensation of the Holy Ghost? -- not a hedge, but surely a bulwark.
The first marked expression of the revival which took place after the period of decline in the reign of David was the alacrity with which both king and people brought in treasure for the building of the temple, while the king exultantly shouted, "Of all that we have given Thee, it cometh from Thine hands. All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee."
One of the first manifest signs of a spiritual decline was seen in the oppression of the poor and the suffering of the lame and the blind, until the Lord could say through His prophets: "Ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Ye are cursed with a curse."
Some objectors here say, "All your references are to the Old Testament." Many of them are, but we are believers in the whole, Bible, and when Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures." He meant the very books from which we have been quoting. However, now let us turn to the New Testament, and the very first act of worship recorded there is an offering of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
The Sermon on the Mount, containing the Rules of the Kingdom, emphasizes no other one thing more than the one duty of giving. Matthew 6:1-3 places giving at the head of Christian duties. In Matthew 6:19-21, giving is placed at the beginning, of a dissertation on Christian life and motives.
The first act of converted Zacchaeus was the cheerful giving of a large part of his carefully hoarded wealth. When Jesus met the rich young ruler who came to Him inquiring, "Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?," the first of the requirements that Jesus made was, "Go sell that which thou hast and GIVE to the poor."
The Pentecostal era began, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, by one of the most wonderful examples of Christian, beneficence the world had, or has, ever seen, for the believers sold their possessions and goods and parted them as, every man had need. How different this from the average modern congregation!
Once, in a lively prayer-meeting, the, preacher in charge of it prayed, "O Lord, help us all to trust Thee with our whole souls," and a hundred voices shouted, "Amen! Amen!" and some responded, "Lord, grant it!" Encouraged by such sympathy, he went on to pray, "O Lord, help us all to trust Thee with our bodies," and then they all cried, "Amen and Amen!" as heartily as before. Now the exalted sense of consecration rose to its height, and he prayed again, "Oh, help us to trust Thee with our money!" and it is actually reported, in private circles that not a man had one single word to say, not an "Amen!"
Surely we have need of Pentecost, and all that it means as revealed in the practices of the infant Church. Are not many in danger of hearing Him say in that day, "Ye GAVE Me no meat, Ye GAVE Me no drink"? Will anyone question that the New Testament carries out the spirit of the Old in a larger and more effective manner? The Sabbath, of the Old Testament becomes the Lord's Day in the New; the Passover, the sprinkling of the blood of the Lamb, becomes the Lord's Supper, and the tithe passes over into the New Testament in the fuller form of Christian stewardship.
GOD NEVER HAS RENOUNCED HIS OWNERSHIP: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." "The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord." "Behold all souls are' Mine." Has this ever been revoked? Will anyone please name chapter and verse where God ever recalled these statements?
