Woe to you…hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected…justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others Matthew 23:23
Good grief, Jesus might well argue, is an oxymoron in this context. When He peppered His concern over hypocrites with the word “woe,” bad grief was implied. It grieved God badly, He conveyed, that the leaders of His chosen people neglected the monumental issues of justice, mercy and faith. Instead, they prided themselves in keeping to the minutia of their religious pet priorities. The text confirms that Jesus approved of their cummin-counting ways, using some kind of measuring device, not sweaty fingers. In fact, the aromatic seed was lawful currency to pay the tithe in ancient Israel. Our Lord said not to neglect it.
Some American Christians obsess to keep the words “In God We Trust” on the dollar coin. Woe, they say to the government, if you rob us of our treasured motto. According to national polls, all too few are tithing Christians. The pollster’s motto is, “Numbers don’t lie.” Dare we call God a liar? “Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say ‘How…?’ In your tithes and offerings…Bring the full tithes into the storehouse…and thereby put me to the test…if I will not pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” (Part 2 of 2)
Comment: FAITH equals TRUST in God. This is the persuasive truth brought home to us consistently in our pastor’s sermons drawn from the unquestionable authority of “Holy Writ.” Every one of us has an opinion on tithing, either because we do it, or shrug off its law aspect in favor of NT grace. No matter how much or how little we have, money does speak into the matter. Some “unholy wit” insists that it always says “good-by.” Still, we part with it gladly for what we consider a good buy. Should buying into the kingdom of God, via the church, be considered an iffy investment? In theory no, in practice a possible nail-biter. In early 1972 I was a happily married woman with three bright kids, and thanks to their hardworking dad, loved living in our beautiful new home in the suburbs. I was a lifelong faithful churchgoer and lover of Scripture, and therefore doubly disturbed when a strong, strange God-hunger began to gnaw at me and would not go away. The Holy Spirit had not been talked about, until a seasoned old saint stepped into the pulpit on an interim basis and introduced the Third Person of our triune God. My hunger for Him led to a mighty infilling with the Holy Spirit that transformed my life. My immense love for Him had me walk on air, and as CFO of our office machine business, embrace tithing. A new CPA – a native Swiss also – came into the picture and talked us into incorporating, even though we barely managed to pay for the fee. Then we plunged into repeated cash flow trials and when April 15 came around, the new tax expert had vanished. Before the worst happened, I had penned “To God be the glory!” on an adding machine tape and kept it in the open to keep my hope focused. The Holy Spirit fueled my trust and my faith grew resilient no matter what. My love of God and His for our church keep prompting me to respond to our budgetary needs with real joy. Matthew 23
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