Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Jan/64

Contributor - T. Hogerwaard

Title - Our Income: How Much For the Lord? How Much For Ourselves

Topic - Stewardship

INTRODUCTION

The question of giving, of contributing from our means and income to the work of the Church, Missions, Bible Societies, Relief Work and so on, is a very important one. ]If there is little or no connection between our religion and the way we spend our income, our religion does not amount to much. The question "How much to give and why?" is one which seems very difficult to answer. On the one hand there have been always many in Christianity who never understood that money is power and that power can be used either in accordance with God's will or against His will, people who see their income, their financial means as something that rightly belongs to them and to them alone so that they can spend it the way they like.

On the other hand there have always been Christians who were very much impressed by what Christ told the rich young ruler, those who in their heart were convinced that really the only Christian attitude would be to give away everything they had. Indeed, they have to admit that if a good many would do the same we could not have an ordered responsible human society; they know that they are responsible for their children and that money is needed to discharge this responsibility therefore they see that they can' not give all they make to the Lord's work, but yet, they remain uneasy and harbour a feeling of guilt all their lives about this point.

That this group has always been very small does not matter at all; they are the ones who are most sensitive to Christ's Words and demands and that's what counts in the Kingdom. The question "What is the Christian attitude towards money" and the related one "How much does the Lord expect us to give" are difficult indeed, but then we cannot suppose that the Lord has left us in the dark in this extremely important matter; we have the promise that the Spirit will lead us in all truth and righteousness. Whether or not we will find the answer for ourselves depends whether or not we are willing to obey the guidance of the Spirit.

Is tithing the answer?

In this part of the world there are many Christians, belonging to various Churches and denominations, who are of opinion that the answer has been given once and for all. The Lord demanded in His Law that the Jews pay ten percent of their income to the Temple services and other purposes, so why bother about this question any mores Here is your answer, they say. Pay your 10 % and everything is in order.

Well, it cannot be denied that tithing, as this practice of paying 10 % of one's income to the Church is called, has two great advantages. In the first place it brings home the fact that the Lord indeed expects us to make a sacrifice, to contribute a substantial portion of our income to the work of the Church. This is indeed badly needed and useful information for those who think that a token contribution will do in the eyes of God. In all ages the Church and its work have been seriously damaged by what might be called the attitude of "orthodoxy at the bargain counter": Christian words accompanied by unchristian stinginess. To hear the fact stressed that they have to pay 10 % instead of 1 % or less, may teach those Christians who think they can manage to combine the service of God with their lips and the service of Mammon with their actions that this is simply impossible, as Christ clearly told us.

In the second place the method of tithing places the budget of any Church and its Boards on a firm financial footing. When the total income of the members of a certain congregation is $ 150,000.and you can reckon upon 10% of that, then the Consistory knows that they will receive annually $ 15.000.- for the work of the Church and that has indeed great practical advantages.

But the disadvantages of this system are much greater and its faults glaring. To start with: It is grossly and crudely unfair. The following example may illustrate this. There are two brothers, John and William, working in the same factory and making the same salary, that is: $ 3,000.- a year. John is married and has 4 children (public school age); William is a bachelor. With an income of $ 3,000.- annually, a wife and four dependent children to support, John has to pay no taxes to the Canadian Government as the gentlemen in Ottawa are of opinion that he has a hard time already trying to make ends meet even without paying taxes to the Government. With William it is a different matter; as a bachelor with $ 3,000.- income he has to pay $ 360.- taxes annually. Both brothers belong to the same Church. They have been told that it is the Lord's will and command that they pay 10.% of their income for the work of the Church. So John pays $ 300.- and William does the same.

William, after paying $360.- to the Government and $ 300.- to the Church has left $ 2.340.- annually to spend for himself; John after paying his $ 300.- to the Church has $ 2.700.- left for the maintenance of 2 adults and 4 children, amounting to $450.- annually for each person.

Have we to assume that our loving Father in heaven is less discerning than a worldly Government which demands $ 360.- taxes from our bachelor and nothing from the father of four children? Have we really to think that He simply demands $ 300.- from John as well as from William - no matter how totally different their financial obligations are?

To ask these questions is to deny them in the strongest possible way.

The fact is: tithing is too hard on those with small incomes and big families and far too easy for those with few or no children and a good income. This can always be expected when a legalistic attitude is taken.

That is not the only great disadvantage. The propaganda to pay 10% of one's income for the work of the Church as something that the Lord demands settles in the minds of those who do it the pernicious anti-Christian conviction that - after you have paid your taxes to the Government (18% after exemptions) and your 10% (without any exemptions) to the Church - you have given God what is God's and Caesar what is Caesar's, so that now you are perfectly justified to do with the remainder of your income what you like - no matter whether this remainder is $ 2.300.-, $6.300.- or $ 63.000.-. This is fundamentally wrong.

Tithing is not THE SOLUTION but simply ecclesiastical expediency with glaring disadvantages and crude unfairness.

This matt er must be approached from a totally different angle, namely from that of a Christian sense of responsibility as a whole

You are the Lord's and so is everything you have or acquire.

To be a Christian means that Christ has bought us with His own life from the powers of darkness and evil, so that a Christian is one who belongs to Christ with everything he is, he has, he can, he knows, in the strictest sense of the word. Therefore a Christian is never free to do what pleases him. Everyday of his life his prayer has to be: "Lord what will Thou that I shall do?"

Can we find the answer what this means when applied to our incomes Yes, indeed we can.

We are called to lead the Christian life. For our work we receive money and now the question arises: "How are we as Christians to spend our money in accordance with God's will?" In case a man is married and has some children to look after, the Lord expects him in the first place to care for his wife and children. Renting a house or buying one, food, clothing and the like are legitimate expenses, also a car in the circumstances in which we find ourselves here. Some money must also be reserved for vacation and other means to restore our working and learning power. Saving for emergencies (via life-insurance or otherwise) is also discharging our responsibilities. If he thus spends his money in a responsible way no Christian needs to have pangs of conscience that he has to spend money o hose things and thus is not able to contribute that same money to missions and the like.

Now, where does our contribution to the Church come in? Very few people in this time and age (in this part of the world anyway) have such a small income that it hardly suffices for the basic necessities of life. There is always a smaller or bigger margin, depending on our income on the one hand and our obligations on the other. From this amount the Lords expects us to give generously to the institutions He wants to see function in this world and to the needy ones who lack the basis necessities of life. For instance it is right to say: "Well, considering my income and the obligations I have for my family, I have no money left for luxuries and I can give only so much for the Church". It is wrong to say: "Indeed, I have money enough for other necessities, but I want to have other things before I give generously to the Church: we want to make a trip to Holland to see our folks, we want an expensive new television set, we want a brand new car, we want first this and then that and a good many other things besides and therefore we cannot give generously to the Church or to Missions". Hard and fast rules cannot be given, because the circumstances in which people find themselves are so different. But what we need badly is the development of a Christian style of living, a Christian attitude towards money, towards luxuries, for far too often there is hardly any difference between the way we lead our lives and the way the "worldlings" do it. Our style of life is not the style of those "who have died and whose life is hidden with Christ in God".

Even if a Christian's income is such that he could afford all sorts of luxuries he is simply not allowed to lead his life this way. He does not need those things, but other people need food, need Bibles, need missionaries. The money he does not need can and must be spent to provide them with what they need. If a Christian spends his money for his own pleasures it is as clear as broad daylight that his comfort, his desire of enjoying himself means more to him than obedience to the Lord, means more to him than service to the needy neighbour.

And so it may well happen that if a man with a small income and several children to support contributes 5% or less of his income to the work of the Church that this is perfectly right in the eyes of the Lord and that another man with a higher income and less obligations will have to pay 20 , 30% or more of his income in order to do what the Lord expects him to do. It is wrong beyond any doubt when young people in our congregations with a good income afford themselves expensive brand new cars while at the same time contributing only a scandalously small percentage of their income to the Lord's work. In that case their Christian religion is not genuine, it is only an insurance policy (at a ridiculously low premium) to be covered for eternal life.

Salvation is freely given, but the price of Christian obedience is high - in money and otherwise.

There is another thing to consider here. Many years ago I read about a Christian surgeon in the U.S.A. making $ 25.000.- a year. His work did not satisfy him at all: it was too impersonal. He examined the patients who came into the hospital for an operation, operated on them, saw them several times before they were dismissed from the hospital and never had any contact with them again. His desire was: to live for his work, not from the proceeds of his work only. One day he read that the editorship of a small Christian paper was vacant and, as he was good at writing too, he applied and was accepted. His salary amounted now to $ 5.000.and he worked with joy and satisfaction everyday. In order to be able to serve the Lord he gave up $ 20.000.- a year; 80% of his previous income. Do we really think that the Lord would expect him to pay 10% of his income to the Church after he had given up 80% of it for Christ's sake?

I know men in the United Church of Canada who left highly paid jobs in business or industry to become ministers at considerable financial sacrifice and that is one of the best things a Christian can hear about. That - more than anything else - can convince outsiders that what we testify as having received in Christ is real; worthwhile to make sacrifices for! It is the best and most effective way of evangelism imaginable, but of course, a bit on the expensive side for the taste of the average Christian.

Everything we wrote boils down to this. Is our life determined by our relation to Christ, do we want to obey Him in everything, also in the way we spend our money?

When he wrote to the Corinthians about collections, the apostle Paul did not mention tithing at all, he appealed to something totally different.

He wrote: "For you know the generosity of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich".

This, more than anything else, can help us to find a Christian attitude towards the material things of life. Too often our Christian conversation and the sort of hymns we sing bring to mind Maurice's words: "So much about ourselves, so little about God" and about the way we spend our money it can often be said: ','SO much for ourselves, so little for God".

The great question is: Is God's invisible Kingdom real unto us, or only the things of this world? Remember the Lord's parable about the rich man and Lazarus.

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