The following sermon was presented by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on November 6, 1988. The title is, When You Give, and the scripture references are 2 Corinthians 9, verses 6-15, and Matthew 6, verses 2-4, 19-21, and verse 24. 

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. I'm reading several verses from the sixth chapter, beginning at the second verse. When you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men.

Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon. The Gospel of the Lord. John Guernsey told a story to diocesan council a couple of years ago about two hunters who chartered a plane to fly into the Canadian wilderness to hunt moose. And when the pilot returned a week later, they were standing there by the runway with these two enormous moose that they had bagged. And he said, I told you guys I could only take the two of you and one moose out of here.

This is going to be much too heavy. The plane will not even get off the ground. You're going to have to leave one of them behind.

and they protested. They said, last year we took out two in a plane exactly like this one. The other guy let us do it.

So finally he agreed and they loaded the moose and all of their gear and the hunters themselves and the plane started down the runway and it lumbered and long and it was shuddering and shaking all the way and it did get off the ground and it just cleared the trees and smashed into the side of the mountain. There's moose everywhere. Debris, airplane, everywhere.

One of the hunters staggers out in a daze and he says, where are we? The other one looks around and he says, I think we got a couple hundred yards farther than last year. Guernsey said that he had come to the conclusion that most parishes draw up their budgets on the basis of the moose principle.

We'll do the same thing as last year and we'll hope that somehow we'll get a little farther. I'm not sure if that's true, but I do think that far too many individual Christians and families approach the whole business of giving on the basis of doing the same thing as last year and maybe somehow we'll go a little bit farther. If that's how we approach it as individuals, then ultimately that will be how we approach it as a parish.

So I want us to think a little bit about giving this morning, giving to God. I want to separate that issue from the whole matter of giving to Truro because obviously they're related but separate issues. I want us to think first about giving to God himself.

Next week we're going to be hearing from three members of the parish who will be sharing something of their own personal odyssey in the matter of Christian stewardship, their adventure in trusting God for their finances. And then two weeks from today is our stewardship call, and we will be focusing on giving back to Truro and through Toro the work of God's ministry here. Today I want to come right to the point.

In fact, I want to make two points. I know that some of you have already long since wrestled with this first one, but many of us may need to take a closer look. The first point is God expects his people to tithe.

God expects His people to tithe. That runs all the way through Scripture. From the book of Genesis, with Abraham giving one-tenth of all he had to Melchizedek, priest of God the Most High, all the way through to the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, with its challenge to bring in the full tithes and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour down upon you an overflowing blessing.

From one end to the other, the scriptures are absolutely consistent in saying that 10% off the top of our gross income before taxes is to go to the work of the Lord. Let's be very clear about it. That is not a matter of hospitality expenses.

That's not a matter of caring for your elderly parents or for your children, putting them through school or whatever else it might be. It is not a matter of giving to secular charities, however good they may be. It is not a matter of supporting voluntarily or involuntarily the social welfare programs of the government through our taxes.

We may have obligations in any or all of those other areas, but that's not tithing. the tithe goes to God to the tabernacle then to the temple and translating that into New Testament terms to the mission and ministry of the church of Jesus Christ a whole lot of folks will say wait, wait a minute, wait a minute tithing is Old Testament we're talking about the New Testament we don't hear anything in the New Testament about tithing and we're not under the law anyway we're under grace Well, of course we're under grace. Praise God, we're under grace.

But what that means is we understand very clearly that keeping the law is not going to save us. Jesus Christ saves us. Keeping the law will not save us, but it does not mean we're free to set the law aside.

Keeping the law with regard to adultery, theft, murder, slander, blasphemy, idolatry isn't going to save us either. But we're not free to lay any of those laws aside. In fact, Jesus' comment on the subject was, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

Supposing I said to you, now listen, as a Christian, you've got to be faithful to your spouse at least one month out of the year. Cheat on your income tax no more than once every three years. Tell the truth at least once in a while.

No. We're not under the law. Keeping the law is not going to save us, but we're not free to set those laws aside. Read the Sermon on the Mount carefully and you'll see that over and over Jesus says, you have heard it said, and he quotes some aspect of the law, and then he says, but I say to you, and a lot of folks say, look, Jesus is continually setting the law aside.

No, he isn't. Read it again. Every single time he ups the ante. Every single time he raises the standard.

You've heard it said, don't commit adultery, but I say to you, don't even look at someone with lust. You've heard it said, don't murder. I say to you, don't hate.

Every single time. He doesn't set the law aside. He said, do not think that I've come to abolish the law.

I've come that it might be fulfilled. In fact, it is not true to say that we hear nothing in the New Testament about tithing. Jesus had this fascinating comment for the Pharisees.

Woe to you hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others also. You get it?

Of course, justice and mercy and faith are more important than tithing, but don't neglect tithing. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others also. There are three phrases in the Sermon on the Mount that leap out at me because they imply so much about Jesus' expectations of his followers.

He says, when you give, when you pray, when you fast, not if, but when you do these things, when you do these things. He expects you're going to be doing these things. From a biblical point of view, we don't even begin to give until after the tithe has been paid.

That's why it is always tithes and offerings. Pay the tithe. That is expected off the top 10%.

And then you begin to give. And Jesus says, when you give, which implies he not only expects that we're going to be tithing, but he expects that we're going to give beyond it generously, regularly, sacrificially, selflessly. And he illustrates it with comments like this.

If anyone would take your coat, let him have your cloak as well. Give to him who begs from you. Do not refuse him who would borrow from you.

Above and beyond the tithe. Be givers when you give. In fact, Scripture says that if we're not tithing, we're not only not giving, We're actually robbing God.

And you say, how are we robbing you? In your tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Malachi chapter 3. God promises a blessing to those who tithe and a curse to those who don't. That is very strong teaching, isn't it? But I didn't make it up.

And if that's what the word of God has to say on the subject, then it's incumbent on me to declare that to you along with the rest of the whole counsel of God. And it's incumbent upon us to bring our lives into obedience and into faithfulness in this area just as much as any other. Giving to God ought to be out of a motive of overflowing thanksgiving.

For his love, his mercy, the gift of new life, the forgiveness of sins, his innumerable blessings that he showers upon us. C.T. Studd, an English missionary who went out to China and then India and finally to Africa, had as his life's motto, if Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice I can make for him will ever be too great.

Giving ought to be out of that kind of a motive of overflowing thanksgiving rather than obligation. But make no mistake about it. There is an obligation.

There is an obligation. I remember very clearly the day I first came to grips with this myself. I was already ordained.

I had been ducking it for years. And in addition to every possible excuse any one of you has ever dreamed up, I hid behind the fact that in the Old Testament the priests didn't tithe. They lived off of everybody else's tithe, and so obviously I'm exempt, right?

And I took a plane to Maine. I was speaking at a conference, and Allegheny Airlines lost my luggage. And there I was, sitting in a motel room with no luggage, and back at home, a stack of bills about this high, and Oral Roberts came on television and began preaching about the tithe.

And I was cut to the heart. And I came back home after that weekend and I said to Karen, you know all those bills that we haven't been able to pay, we're going to start tithing off the top and pay them with the 90% that's left. Do you know we were out of debt within six months?

And I still marvel at it. But that's the kind of experience that God challenges us to take, to try in a scientific method. Put me to the test, says the Lord.

Bring in the full tithes and see what happens. Next week, three folks are going to be sharing how they have taken God's challenge into their own lives and what has happened. Many, many others here this morning.

could bear similar witness. If you have doubts about the faithfulness of God, put me to the test, he says, and see. Lots of folks, when they come to grips with that word finally, and then they look at their level of giving and all the other financial commitments that they have, they say, there's no way I can get there in one step. Well, okay, then figure out how to get there in two steps or three. Work out a plan to get there.

You may be surprised. that you're able to get there faster than you thought. But let's bring our lives into obedience.

I'm interested that there's a Christian stewardship workshop coming up. I didn't time it. I didn't plan it.

But it's very well timed. If you haven't been to one of those previously, perhaps you need to think about going on November 19th. It'll be enormously helpful to you.

God has things to say about our money and about how we use it. that's the first thing God expects us to tithe he promises blessings to us if we'll dare to believe him and he challenges us to put him to the test and see the second point is really the flip side of that and some of you have heard me say this before but I want to say it again if he doesn't Have you. He really doesn't want your money.

He really doesn't want your money. Don't think you're doing God a favor. Don't think of it as a matter of supporting a worthy cause or giving a token donation because it's the expected thing or tipping after the meal.

Giving to God is a matter of our commitment to Him. It's an expression of our love and our thanksgiving. If you'll permit me to say it, it's almost a sacrament.

An outward and visible sign of our life and our labor, of our career, of the way we spend our time, the way we earn our money, the way we accept from God's hand the blessings that he gives to us. It's an expression of our values. So I challenge you to let it be that, an outward and visible sign of our commitment to this Lord who has loved us and whom we have just sung is king of creation and king of my life.

Giving to God is literally a matter of putting your money where your mouth is. And Jesus said, why do you call me Lord if you don't do the things that I tell you to? Let's bow our heads together.

Father, we confess that when it comes to the matter of money and possessions, we have a lot of unbelief. Somehow we find it very hard to trust you, to believe your word. So we ask you, Lord, to forgive us for rationalization, for procrastination, for excuses, and lack of faith.

Burn your word into our minds and hearts. Give us the courage and the adventure to put you to the test, to dare to believe you and watch you act. Help us, Lord, to trust you with our finances even as we trust you for our salvation.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.