“God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7), but is this our heart when we bring our tithes and offerings to Him? In this podcast, Scott Brown explores the witness of Scriptures on giving, discussing various examples and principles. He shows that honoring God with our firstfruits is an act of worship that should be joyfully rendered, even as we use our abundance to help others in need. 

So let's talk about giving, tithes and offerings, freewill offerings, all of that. When we talk about that subject, it's really important that we categorize it according to its proper theological doctrinal category, and that is the worship of God. Giving is an act of worship. In 1 Corinthians 16, two, the church gathered on the first day of the week and they brought their tithes and offerings. But that goes way, way back.

It goes back to Genesis chapter 4, where Adam and Eve and their sons are bringing sacrifices to the Lord. One sacrifice was unacceptable and another was. One was really an act of worship, the other was not. You get into the whole flow of the Old Testament and giving is an act of worship. And that's why, you know, in Genesis, the first tie that's mentioned in the Bible is Abraham tithing to Melchizedek.

He takes all the spoils, all the booty that they got from his victory over the five kings that were attacking Sodom. And then of course when you get to the Mosaic period, there are three tithes. There's the Levitical tithe, there's the festival tithe, both of those are 10%, and then there's the poor tithe, you bring those into the storehouse. The poor tithe was 10% every three years. So that's the Old Testament, you have the concept of the tithe.

When you get to the New Testament, we're exhorted to give cheerfully and also lavishly, just like in the Old Testament. Are we obligated to tithe 10% in the New Testament era? I don't think so, but we do have a wonderful pattern, very clear pattern in the Old Testament where you have Abraham is tithing 10%, Jacob is tithing 10% of all that he has as an act of worship, are we required to give the 23.3% tithe? I don't think so, but it should tell us something about the desires of God for us, that we would be cheerful givers, lavish givers. We would focus our giving on the church.

We bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Whatever we have left over, my view is, you know, for people who are poor, people who are in need, and various other kinds of needs, my counsel's always been the same. Give to the church first. Set aside at the top of your first fruits. Don't give the bottom of the barrel, give the top of the barrel at 10%.

There's this great story of Sam Houston. Sam Houston was a rough and tumble bad guy, but he was converted. And who's he converted by? Well, the means of his conversion was the great, great grandfather of Lyndon Baines Johnson. And so there's a letter framed in Lyndon Baines Johnson's office, where it's a letter from Sam Houston.

And when Sam Houston was baptized, he generously offered to pay half the salary of the minister. And somebody asked him, why did you do that? He said, because when I was baptized, my wallet was also baptized. And it was the generosity of God that caused the generosity of Sam Houston. And that's the thing that should drive all of our generosity.

God is generous. God is large-hearted. And His children become increasingly large-hearted as they walk with Him.