What We Say and What We Do

According to all the studies, there is a major difference between the way Baptists talk about financial stewardship and the way we practice it. Baptists teach tithing as the beginning point of financial accountability to God. But, in real life, studies indicate that only eight percent of Baptists give at least a tithe of their income through the local church.

Tithing is not a requirment for salvation, to be sure. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of grace. One is saved by faith in Jesus, not by works such as tithing. Whenever one tries to make tithing a legalistic requirement, the good work itself becomes an impediment to the gospel of grace made known in Jesus.

Still, returning at least one-tenth of one’s income to God is a Christian discipline of which our Lord obviously approved.

Under the Mosaic law, Jews gave a tenth of their crops and animals as a sacrifice to God. Followers of pagan religions offered similar sacrifices to their idols. How much more should Christians be willing to offer to God in response to the saving grace He has poured out on us through His only begotten Son?

Much of Jesus’ teachings dealt with the relationship of persons to their money. In Luke 12, Jesus told of a farmer whose concern was himself and his bountiful crops. The farmer had no time for his spirtitual life.

At the end of the story, Jesus asked, “What does it profit to gain the whole world and still lose your own soul?”

Jesus’ command was to “lay up treasures in heaven” where they cannot be corrupted or stolen.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pointed out that one has to choose a first loyalty in life — God or mammon. He urged His listeners, “Seek first the kingdom of God.”

Many of us must not be listening. A recent Barna study found that only eight percent of born-again Christians gave a tithe or more to their local churches last year. Twice as many — 16 percent — gave no money to their local churches in 1999.

Another telling finding was that the more one earned, the less likely one was to tithe through the church. Of born-again Christians making $60-$75,000, two percent tithe, Barna said. For those making $75-100,000, the percentage dropped to one percent.

It is not that Christians do not give. The people most likely to share wealth with others, Barna found, were evangelicals (93 percent). In fact, evangelical Christians gave more money than any other subgroup study, an average of $2,476. But the effort still falls far short of the biblical standard for proper tithing.

A second study called “God, Mammon and Evangelicals” found that evangelical Christians in the United States gave 7.2 percent of their income to the churches. But the authors cautioned that their findings might be high since the data came from personal interviews and self-reporting data was usually high.

Evidently, evangelical Christians sometimes have a problem with exaggeration, too.

Giving is supposed to be a worship experience. It is a time of thanksgiving to God. Giving is a time of fellowship with the saints. It is a way of identifying with God’s people and the work being done in the local church and around the world.

Giving is supposed to be regular, generous and cheerful. Giving is done out of recognition of God’s matchless grace.

Giving is a way of avoiding the seductive pull of materialism so rampant in today’s society. Giving is a way of growing in Christian character.

Giving a tithe is not a substitute for personal faith, nor is it a substitute for a life characterized by justice and mercy. But one thing is sure. A Christian never grows to be a free and joyful giver until that one begins with the tithe returned to God through the local church.

Only then can one begin to grow in the grace of giving and close the gap between what we say and what we do.