Tithing on Stimulus?

Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist.

My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist.

Today we're going to be in 1st Corinthians chapter 16 and this is going to round out the end of the book for us and complete our study of 1st Corinthians together.

We are going to be looking today at the first portion of the chapter where the Apostle Paul encourages the church to bring their offerings on the first day of the week.

A couple things to notice from this passage.

One is that he mentioned specifically the first day of the week.

This reminds us that the early church were already at this point meeting on the first day of the week.

Some people argue that the early Christians continued to meet on the Sabbath which would have been the seventh day or Saturday, but we know based on scriptural testimony and historic testimony that the early church met on the first day of the week and that is why we continue today to celebrate not the Sabbath, the seventh day, but we continue to celebrate the Lord's Day which is the first day of the week.

The day Jesus rose from the dead became a commemoration of the institution of the new covenant and the reason why he mentions bringing the offerings is because it seems as if there was a treasury, there was a place to come, and there was a place to set aside those offerings.

That was why he mentions the first day is because it's not as if they're putting them in their closet in their home, but they are setting them aside in the church and that there would have been a management of the money in the church.

Now when it comes to the subject of the church and money, this can be a very difficult and sometimes very controversial subject.

People feel like because of the ungodly television exposure that some false teachers have had, that that has simply caused...

that simply means that all preachers and all ministries are just money-hungry and always seeking to mislead people simply for personal gain.

It reminds me of R.C.

Sproul who told the story of being a young boy going to a baseball game and he saw a man in a minister's collar and he asked his uncle who was with him, what does that mean? And the uncle said, watch your wallet.

And while that's kind of humorous, it still says something about how people view the church and view money.

And so one of the things I just wanted to encourage you today is to remember this, is that we are called in the Scripture to be faithful with what the Lord has given to us and be faithful stewards in managing what God has given to us.

A steward is not an owner.

A steward is a manager of something that belongs to someone else.

The Bible says God owns a cattle on a thousand hills.

The Bible says God owns everything, even my own body, and therefore anything that I have the ability to to control, such as my own pocketbook, my own wallet, I'm ultimately only in control because God has given me the ability to manage that, and therefore I ought to be a faithful manager.

And I want to bring up something that that is really on my mind and on my heart, because I actually watched this argument go online.

It wasn't any of our church members or anything, this was an online discussion group, I didn't know any of the people involved, but I watched the argument and the question was raised, should Christians, or excuse me rather, must Christians tithe on their stimulus check? Must Christians tithe on their stimulus check? Boy, that is a very powerful and loaded question, and the responses ranged from thoughtful to ignorant to downright ugly.

And what I noticed was that there were some who were making great arguments about why you should demand that you tithe on every dime that you get, and then there were others who were making what I would consider to be some loophole arguments.

One said that he didn't earn this money, it was a gift, and therefore he did not have the requirement to tithe that he would have if he had earned the money.

I'd never heard an argument like that, and I felt like it was kind of, again, sort of a silly loophole type of an argument.

But ultimately I think all of the argument was missing the point.

The New Covenant does not demand a tithe to go to the church, but rather the New Covenant is based on the idea that every person should give what the Lord has placed upon his heart, not begrudgingly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.

I would never say that you have a compulsion to give, because under the New Covenant there is no compulsory giving, and the Old Covenant there was.

The Old Covenant had the compulsory tithe that was given for maintaining the nation of Israel, but within the New Covenant all giving is voluntary.

So if someone were to ask me, Pastor Keith, must I tithe on my stimulus? I would say, I'm not going to tell you you have to do anything.

What has the Lord laid upon your heart, and can you in faith hold back what you know the church needs? And if you have an abundance, can you hold back in faith what you know the church requires to continue? The church does need support.

The church does require support, and as members of the body of Christ we have covenanted together that we are going to come together and support the needs of the church, to support the needs of those who work in ministry, to support the missionaries, to support the functional needs of ministries that we give to, and yes, even sometimes to support the needs of the building that we meet in.

All of these are things that the church does need, and support that the church does need, and so I would tell you to pray, seek the Lord, ask the Lord how he would move on your heart to give, and if the has blessed you, remember that you are called to be a faithful steward of all that the Lord has given to you.

I hope that today has been an encouragement to you.

I hope this lesson has been useful and helpful, and again I want to remind you that we have these videos every day, and I thank you for watching along with us.

Today is our final day in 1st Corinthians.

Tomorrow we start 2nd Corinthians together, and I look forward to beginning that study with you all.

May God bless you.

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My name is Keith, and I've been your Calvinist.