3 Purposes For Tithing Today

If you’ve been around the church for a while, I’m sure you’ve experienced a sermon or two about tithing. 

While most pastors are very genuine and intentional about helping their congregation understand the biblical calling to generosity, there are still many ministries out there who abuse and manipulate this lesson in order to swindle more money out of you. I find that this kind of manipulation is common within churches who preach the prosperity gospel. 

Because of the lies, manipulation, and misunderstanding around tithing it seems as though many church goers have used these as an excuse not to give to their home church – saying that they don’t trust the church to use the funds wisely. However, you shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. 

There is still a lot of good that can come from regular tithing and in fact, we really do have a biblical calling to generosity. 

When tithing was originally established as a law it was to be able to provide for the Levites who worked in the temple as well as for those who had trouble providing for themselves like the widows, and poor. 

We don’t have the same kind of temple and law system like they had back then thanks to Jesus coming to fulfill the law – so there technically is no need to tithe today. However, this does not give us a free pass to neglect Jesus’ call to be generous people. 

So if Jesus fulfilled this law and we technically no longer need to tithe what is the purpose of tithing today and is it still relevant? 

Here are three purposes I believe tithing serves for today… 

1. To support those who proclaim the gospel

God may not need your money, but the church does, and God wants to use you to help pay the bills, and to build His Kingdom.  

Do you not now that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
1 Corinthians 9:13-14

2. Tithing tests your heart. 

God wants to know where your heart is at and tithing is a very tangible and practical way to show that God comes first in your finances. 

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21

3. Tithing frees your hands up to accept God’s abundance

The beautiful thing about generosity though is that it is truly the key to unlocking and experiencing the abundance that God desires for you! Because when you give money it frees your hands up to receive something better. 

Next Steps: 

• Check out these Bible verses about giving
• Read these surprising statistics about tithing 

Your Friend, Katie