I Corinthians 15:58-16:4 (TEV) So then, my dear friends, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless. Now, concerning what you wrote about the money to be raised to help God's people in Judea. You must do what I told the churches in Galatia to do. Every Sunday each of you must put aside some money, in proportion to what you have earned, and save it up, so that there will be no need to collect money when I come. After I come, I shall give letters of introduction to those you have approved, and send them to take your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems worthwhile for me to go, then they can go along with me.
Each of you, each week set aside a percentage of what you earn so that you may give. Is there any possible way we could misunderstand what Paul is saying? Over the centuries we have been able to misunderstand Paul, or simply to ignore him. The church started out doing pretty well, but then under Constantine’s rule giving to the church became oblations, a way of ensuring eternal life. By the seventh century kings were sending to the Pope in Rome a tribute, a gift of money that would ensure the state would be protected from evil. And it was not a big step from tribute money to taxes and to various kinds of fines and punishments for those who did not pay, nor was it a big step from oblations and taxes to the sale of indulgences that bought a person’s soul from purgatory and sent them to heaven. A trigger of the Reformation was Martin Luther’s objection to the church’s stewardship of money, in particular the sale of indulgences.
Every Sunday each of you must put aside some money. Have we finally gotten it right? Are we finally doing what Paul asked the church in Corinth to do? Practical, prosaic, plain, and powerful. Nothing big is asked of us. Instead we are asked to weave threads into strands of plain generosity. Putting aside a percentage of what we earn weaves a strand of generosity that compels trust in the reliability of God and the goodness of God. To say we believe is one thing. To put money on it strengthens the strand.
Putting aside a percentage of our income weaves a strand of generosity. We weave a strand of generosity that resists the messages of our culture that says whatever we have is not enough. It weaves a strand of generosity that gets us off the treadmill of consumption. We weave a strand of generosity that makes a difference in the world and that awakens a slumbering soul to God and gives help, hope, healing, and love. We weave a strand of generosity that makes a difference to you and me.
Ten percent as a tithe is a reasonable goal, but what about beginners who are shy of the tithe? Think of giving even just what you make in one hour. It is a beginning. It is a percent and it is a first fruit. Practical, prosaic, plain, and powerful.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope October 29, 2000
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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