Read 1 John 3:16-20
In Australia in the present day it’s rather inconceivable that we would be called to lay down our lives for each other. It’s possible in places like Nigeria and Congo where a bomb could well be thrown into the worship service and laying down our lives for each other could be asked of us. It’s possible in China or the Middle East where a gunman could easily burst into our church and start shooting and we could be faced with a split second
So how does this command/exhortation in v16 apply to us in comfortable and easy-living Australia? Verse 17 answers the question for us.
1 John 3:17 (NIV84)
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
Our love for each other in this land of blessing and plenty can be shown and evidenced by our provisions for each other. But even that has issues because many churches are filled with middle class people who don’t struggle and have issues of need.
How then can the love of God be shown among us? Let me suggest that one way of sharing the love of Christ is to be giving sacrificially each Lord’s day to the work of God in your local congregation. At present, almost every church I’ve spoken to is struggling financially and is only just meeting its obligations, let alone helping the poor and needy. Yet these same churches are filled with people who by and large think the church should be helping the poor and needy, especially the poor and needy believers in that church! But here’s the slap in the face! A church can only help the poor and needy if it has the finances to do so. And it only has the finances to do so if the congregation give sacrificially and consistently. Finances in the church rarely multiply like the loaves and fishes unless the church people give sacrificially!
You and I are in such a privileged position in Australia. We are in a land of plenty, a land of blessing. We have the opportunity to give sacrificially to the Lord and to support His work through the local church by tithing and offering to the Lord.
Let me challenge each one of us to rethink our spending habits and to put as a minimum a tithe to Lord before anything else gets taken out of our income. I challenge each one of us to calculate our weekly/monthly income from all sources and to set aside, as the bare minimum, 10% which goes to the Lord.
Imagine a church where everyone tithed. Imagine a church that could meet its financial obligations and still have excess to meet the needs of the poor and hard done by. Imagine a church that could support its needy members and that could reach out to the poor and the homeless. I promise you that such a church would grow and thrive and get a reputation in the local community that is unsurpassed. People will talk about that church, your church, that is serious about it’s commitment to the Lord.
Will you commit a minimum tithe to the Lord each week? Will you set aside a tithe as a fragrant offering to the Lord? Will you take up the challenge?
Here’s how it works. You can fill in the table.
Weekly or monthly income
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3 _____________
Total income: _____________
10% of the above =
This is your weekly or monthly tithe.
Now ask the Lord in accord with 2 Cor 9:7, whether this is adequate or not and increase as the Lord leads.
Your total weekly or monthly tithe = _________________
Prayer:
Use the day’s reading notes and Bible passage to pray meaningfully:
Adoration:
Confession:
Thanks:
Supplication:
· Pray that your congregation would be a congregation that tithes regularly and consistently
1. Why should we tithe as a minimum?
2. Martin says to you that he doesn’t give to his local church because he doesn’t agree with the way they spend the money and that he doesn’t like the missionaries they support. How do you respond?
3. Marty says to you that he tithes after he’s paid the mortgage, the car loan, school fees and regular expenses. How do you respond?
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