What's the point in the tithe as a business owner? Why should I care?

In today's episode, we break down the historic context of the tithe and what I believe we are called to give as Christians. We talk about the importance of generosity and why it matters that we give in small areas if we want to be generous and obey God in big areas.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

How much should I give to church as a business owner? What glorifies God when it comes to generosity and money? And is there a law in the New Testament where Jesus commands us to give a certain amount of money to his kingdom? Welcome to the Entrepreneur's Wife podcast. I am your host, Carly Raines. This is a podcast where we talk about finding purpose as the helper to our small business owner in this feminist obsessed world. We take biblical values and we look at how to be the woman of God that God has called us to be in our homes, in our family, in ourselves, in our business, as a wife, as a mom, kind of all rounded. And today we're going to talk about the concept of generosity. And I really want to hit on the tithe. This is something that is kind of probably every topic when it comes to Christianity can be a debate. But this is something that I've heard just thrown around, you know, there was an Old Testament law about the tithe, but the New Testament doesn't really talk about it. Where is God's thoughts and Jesus', you know, affirmations and commands when it comes to the tithe? And today I'm gonna kind of give you my personal insight of how I see the tithe through scripture, um, what I believe God has called us to do um with the tithe, and how we as business owners and entrepreneur wives can actually bless God's kingdom and bless people beyond just 10%. So we're gonna get into it today. I want to first start off by explaining what the tithe is. So the concept the tithe was a thing that God created really actually. Um if you look at the law, even before God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and the Levitical Law, Abraham actually gave God 10%. And so you see this, and that again, that was before they had actual written laws that God gave the Israelites. This was before that, and um Abraham set out to give 10% first to the Lord. You can even go back and look at Abel and Cain, and even though it doesn't say explicitly how much Abel gave, it does say that Abel gave of the first fruits and that he gave of the best portions, the fatty portions. And so I think that also is going is an important part when we're tying into this conversation of when we're talking about giving of money and giving of the tithe. Now, in the law in scripture, tithe has to do with 10%. I'm just I'm kind of gonna give this in an elementary explanation. But tithe is really 10%. You're giving of 10%. Now, some people are like, is that 10% net or is that 10% gross? Because if you're an employee, you get taxes taken out of your paycheck. Um, back then, I don't know if they had taxes taken out um or if they were given the money and then they paid taxes that way. Regardless of it's net or gross, I've always been told it's your gross, but there's nothing in scripture that says it has to be your gross. I I would encourage and challenge you that honestly, the more that you give, like God is not going to abuse that giving. And so if you choose to do your gross and you get choose to do 10% of your gross, God is going to see your heart and he's going to see your intentions and he is going to bless that. Um, I I want to caution you uh to not be stingy, and so if you choose your net, not based on ignorance, but if you choose your net because you're like, well, then I don't have to give as much, I would really, really like pray and ask yourself what your heart motive is um with that, because you could be tempted and leaning towards having a stingy, closed hand mentality when it comes to giving of your money. And the dangerous part about that, as we're gonna get into in this conversation, is that anything that you are stingy about, whether it's money, whether it's people, relationships, things, positions, um, anything that you try to hold on to, it is a wall, it's it's a stumbling block to growing in your relationship with Christ. And it's a stumbling block to going deeper in consecration and to really moving maturity spiritually with your walk with God. And so that's I think why I've always been told to do the gross because it prevents having a stingy mindset when you're giving, because you're giving of the highest one. Um, so the tithe is 10%, and so if you you bring home a hundred dollars, this is just a very small um portion. If you bring home a hundred dollars, then ten percent of that is going to be ten dollars, and so you would give ten dollars to your local church. Now it is not hang on, guys, my baby's crying, hang on. Okay, sorry, she needed to burp. So it is not your job to really evaluate how your church spends the money, and I'm gonna preference that because I think sometimes when we talk about giving of money, we and this has good intentions, but we want to know how that money is spent, what it's being spent on, and that is that is good to be aware of that. Um if the Lord puts on your heart to further investigate, that's one thing, but I want to caution us because we are not responsible for how that money is being distributed in our church. That is an account to the church leadership, the church pastors, and the church staff, and they will give an account for how they steward the finances that are given to them. And so, yes, of course, I believe that we should pray for our church staff and our pastors and our leaders and how they're going to distribute that money and always pray that it's with a pure heart and generosity and it's for the advancement of the gospel, and there's no selfishness in that, and there's no, you know, uh falseness in how they're going to steward the money. I I do believe you should pray. And if the Lord puts on your heart to, you know, ask questions and to be transparent, great. But I also want to caution you don't be a control freak when you're giving of your money about how your church is spending it. Okay, a part of trusting in the Lord is letting go and releasing that money um to whatever organization, and then they give an account for how they're going to steward that money. So it's not your job, is basically what I'm saying. So you give $10, okay, and that $10, you you're giving it with an open hand, and you're saying, I am giving this to you to spend however you think the Lord wants you to spend that money, and I'm releasing it. And just like Abel, if you know the story of Abel and Cain, guys, both Abel and Cain actually gave. Okay, so it wasn't like we're comparing a one Christian who gives and one Christian who doesn't give. Actually, both were giving. But Abel was giving of the first fruits, and he was giving of the fatty best portions of his sacrifice of his of at that time, he was giving of actual produce and livestock, whereas we give of dollars and money. Um, Cain was giving kind of it doesn't go specifically, but kind of what was left over. It wasn't the best fatty portions. Um, and Cain gets jealous of the blessing that God gives Abel. And a big thing I want to say too is it's kind of twofold. Okay, so God's looking number one at your heart and your heart's intention. That's always considered in, you know, when we talk about what's acceptable and pleasing in God's eyes and what's not. He's always looking at your heart's intention, but he's also looking at the physical outward actions that you're doing. Because you can have great intentions and accidentally do something evil and sin. We do it all the time, right? Eve had great intentions with the fruit, but when she took of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it was disobeying the Lord, even though in her eyes and in her heart she had good intentions for it, right? So going back, he's gonna look at your heart's intention for why you're giving, what's the motivation, what's your why? And God is also gonna look at the physical actions of what you're giving. Are you giving of the best portions? Are you giving of the fatty portions? Are you fully releasing it to the Lord and to your church as worship? Um, or are you kind of stingy and kind of a control freak about it and wanting to know where every penny is spent? Are you giving of the leftover portions and not the first portions? These are all things to consider when talking about the tithe. Now, something that you have to understand in the Bible history is that a big reason of why the tithe, God implemented the tithe, was to take care of the Levite lineage. So if you know the generational story, Jacob, who was Abraham's grandson, Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, Jacob gets renamed to Israel, which is where we get Israel, the country. From Jacob, he had 12 sons, and those 12 sons end up being the 12 tribes of Israel. It's really cool, guys. I highly encourage you to just read the Old Testament, it is so cool and has so many cool stories in it. So you have these 12 sons, and one of the sons is called, he was called Levite, and he makes up the Levites, the tribe of the Levites. Now, the Levites specifically were to be priests. This is where Aaron and his lineage come from. If you know Moses, um, Aaron and his sons are a part of that, and so the Levites are the ones who are gonna be the priests of all the tribes, okay. God is very specific that all the other tribes work, all the other tribes make a profit, but the Levites are dedicated to the Lord. So the Levites are like the pastors and the church staff, okay? They work for the Lord, they work for the temple, they do all the sacrifices, that's what their tribe is for. So how are they going to survive and and eat and make make money, if you will, and um live if they're not working like the rest of the tribes? This is where part of the reason of giving comes in because God understands, hey, you have to pay bills, hey, you have you have like priorities and you have things in your life, and so God tells the rest of the tribes, hey, you're gonna give whatever it is, and part of their sacrifices, um, when they would sacrifice an animal, part of their sacrifices actually went to the Levites, and and you can go into all of that if you want all the details, but I'm not going to. But the Levites, the way that they were taken care of was from the other tribes giving to the temple for them. And a part of giving to the temple was to actually take care of the people who were doing the sacrifices for the sins and the atonement of the rest of the tribes. And so if you look at this from that perspective and just put it in today's world, we have an obligation as entrepreneurs' wives in the marketplace working secular jobs to take care of people who God has called into the ministry. Like, I part of me is like, if we don't give as Christians to our local church, how in the heck will the church have lights? How will the pastor be able to do his job? Like, how is that gonna function? It's not, and so understanding, hey, not only am I giving to the Lord to make Bibles and to send missionaries and all these things, but I'm also giving to the Lord to take care of the church staff and the pastors that are have been called to the ministry who aren't working regular jobs. Like a part of my obligation as a Christian is to take care, if you will, financially for the people who God has called into being a pastor or the fivefold ministry, which is a pastor, an evangelist, a prophet, um, an apostle, and a teacher. So people who are full-time ministry, we have an obligation to take care of. And I feel like that is so neglected and not talked about in today's church world. So a part of you giving your tithe, your 10%, is hey, I'm actually giving to to help you make a salary and to help you pay your bills for your house and have food on your table. Because how else are they gonna do that? Um, so that's one thing. Um, another thing with the tithe is you you're giving. I I want to argue and say that a big part about giving to the tithe is is really allowing God to have full control over your finances, especially if you're giving the first 10%, the gross, the fatty portions, like able. You are putting yourself in a position where you're surrendering control over money and you're saying, Lord, like this is your money and do with it however you please. And it's something that I want to challenge and encourage you with is that if you don't give at all, whether it's five percent, one percent, ten percent, twenty percent, if you're if you're not giving, especially with the right heart, it it I hang on guys, sorry. Oh okay, if you're not giving, I it's probably gonna be very hard if the Lord asks you to do something to obey financially whatever he's asking you to do. Um because it starts small, everything in life starts small. So if we can't listen to God when he asks us to give one dollar, we're probably not gonna listen to God when he asks us to give a hundred dollars. And this is the compounding, we talk about compound interest. And if you're an entrepreneur's wife and you understand personal finance, you understand what this is. Over time, the one dollar turns into two dollars, two dollars turns into four dollars, it compounds. It's the same way in our faith, it compounds. So when we listen to these small nudges and we do these small disciplines, if you will, it's gonna make it easier that when God asks us to do something big, we're gonna obey. And the example that I'm gonna give is when Briston and I decided to get married. I grew up with grandparents who went to church, and I would hear their stories of life, what life was like when they didn't tithe versus what life was like when they did tithe. And they just talked about God's faithfulness and his hand over their life when they tithed. And that he always provided that they never were in lack, that they always had what they needed when they started to consistently tithe. So it really instilled in me, hey, this is important. Um, you should do this, not just so that you have God's blessing over your life, but also because I I believe as a Christian, this should be something that we should do with a right heart. And so from there, when Bristol and I decided to get married, we decided, hey, we're going to consistently tithe. Um, it started out very small because when you're young, your salary and your pay is very small. And I'm gonna be honest, y'all, it was easier to give to tithe with that small salary. So I also don't want you to sit here and say, okay, well, when I start making this amount of money, then I'm gonna start giving. That's not how it works at all. It actually does an opposite effect because we started with a very small salary, then we moved to Texas, the business started growing, and we started paying ourselves a little bit more. And y'all, I'm not gonna lie, as someone who enjoys giving, especially financially, I that is something that I highly enjoy generosity. When we started paying ourselves more, and I had to go into our little church app and change how much we tithe, it was not just hunky dory easy. Like, there was the temptation to stick to what we were giving previously because it was like, okay, now now I gotta now gotta give more. Like, more is gonna come out of my paycheck. And I so I want you to realize that please do not have the mindset of, well, once I make this amount of money, then then I'll start giving, then I'll start tithing, then I'll start. No, you need to start now. You need to start now because I promise you, when you start making more, the temptation to not give isn't just gonna magically go away, it's actually gonna be harder. Um, and so, and then another thing I want to say is that recently we had some missionaries go over to Pakistan and do a mission trip. And Briston loves evangelism, he's he's so passionate about that. So he prayed and he was like, Okay, God, how much should we give for this cause? This is outside of our tithe. Okay, so this is outside of the 10%. And this is also something I believe that we should be so sensitive to the Holy Spirit about. You have the tithe where every month or every time you get paid, you're giving to the church. That I I believe that that is an obligation for Christians to do to your home church. But then I also believe that there are times where God wants you to give more, and he wants you to give to certain causes and certain missions and certain um activities that are happening that are advancing his kingdom. And so this mission trip was one of them, and Briston prayed about an amount, and it was a very large amount compared to what we're used to giving, and he even said, you know, I had a hard time writing that check. We had the money, but the temptation to not give that money was there, but he did it, and and I want to say, guys, I don't know if he would have done that had we not have already been consistently tithing. So I I want to say that generosity and giving and just the tithe, I think is so important in building a character and a heart posture of generosity. It is the framework, it's the foundation to building a life, building a character, building a heart posture to be generous for God's kingdom. I don't think we cannot tithe and expect to be generous for God's kingdom. I don't think that's how that works. And so I want to encourage you as entrepreneurs' wives to look at your life, especially look at your finances, and you know, ask yourself, are we giving the 10%? That's just the base minimum. Are we giving this 10%? Um if not, you know, why? Like look at what's going on in your heart. Why am I not? Look at your look at your budget. Is there something that's taking up space that's not needed? Maybe it's a subscription, maybe it's how much you eat out. Is there something that you could sacrifice and surrender so that you could give 10%? Because I've heard, you know, oh well, we just don't have the budget right now to give 10%. Well, look at your budget. Like, look at what how you're spending your money and see, like, are there things that we can change, lifestyle habits that we can change so that way we can give of the 10%? And you know, if you were in your pastor's shoes, if you were on church staff, if you were in their position, you would want your fellow body members, your fellow Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ, you would want them to see you and say, Okay, hey, I see that you're doing God's work, I see that you're doing God's calling, and I want to tap into that. Like I want to give into that. Something that's beautiful is that everything that you give into, the tithe, missions, whatever it is, even though you might not be the one physically doing the work, because you so Financially, you're still a part of the impact that's created. And so, you know, when we talk about rewards in heaven, I truly believe God's gonna look at your giving and he's gonna say, Hey, like when you gave to this, you were you were a part of that impact, you were part of that influence to bring this many people to Christ, or to help this many people out, or you know, whatever it is. Okay, sorry guys, we had to change burp and change a diaper, but anyways, so my point in saying all this is that I think that it's important as Christians to always have an open hand, especially financially. Um, I think that giving of money is probably one of the it's not one of the hardest, but I I do think that it comes with its temptations to not invite God into your finances and to really separate your relationship with God with how you steward your finances. And I want to debunk that belief. Um, God wants to be a part of your finances. He talks a lot about finances, and finances honestly, if you look at how you spend your money, you're gonna see what's important in your life, what you prioritize, what you value. Um, finances actually say a lot about your character and who you are as a person and as a Christian. And so I just am really passionate about the tithe, supporting our church staff, supporting our leaders and our pastors and people who have gone in full-time ministry because they have made that sacrifice. And I think it's important to give back to them for that and take care of them for that. And at the same time, I also think that it is important to understand that we cannot be outrageously generous if we don't start with the small steps, and I truly believe that the smallest step that you can start with is giving of the 10% and giving of the tithe. And something that has been really cool over the years is I have seen God's faithfulness in doing that. I've seen him always provide for us, always give us opportunities and options. And so I just I want to, you know, point you to Malachi, which talks about, hey, like I'm gonna, God's talking to his people, and he says, if you bring in the full tithe, I am going to open the windows of heaven, and I'm gonna pour out a blessing on you, and I am I'm going to provide, and I'm gonna be faithful, and I'm I'm going to do above and beyond what you ever expected. And so I just I want to encourage you to really sit down, look at um you and your husband's you know finances and really say, like, am I giving of a right heart? Am I giving what God has asked me to give? Where's my heart posture when it comes to giving of money? Um, what are areas in my life that I can give up and sacrifice so that I can give more to God's kingdom? And I encourage you to look at your finances and see, you know, what you value and what maybe, you know, is is being prioritized that you didn't realize this. Um, and you know, asking God on the daily, like, how how do you want me to spend this money? How do you want me to steward this? Are there organizations, charities, ministries that you want me to give into? Um, but just start with the small steps, start with the tithe. Um, and do like Abel did give of the first fruits the best portions and give with a right heart. And I promise God will bless you. Thank you for listening to this episode, and I will see y'all on the next one.