Transcript

Today's Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today's episode: Ch. 9-10 NIV

Podcast Introduction

This is Epistles Sunday, and we’ll read 2 Corinthians 9-10. And we’ll have a time of Praise and Prayer Requests. 

Design: Scott Snider | Photo: Paz Arando on Unsplash

Comments on 2 Corinthians 10

Is it ok with you if I am really, really honest with you today? Is it ok with you if I step on some toes today? What if those toes are yours? Is it still ok? Listen, if the shoe fits, it is for your benefit, not mine. I'm just going to say these things because what I have learned has been a tremendous blessing in my life, and I want you to be blessed, too. 

Paul wrote this: 

6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 

I have discovered in my life, thanks to a large extent to the Lovely Lady LeeAnn, that this is true. When I was younger, I had a limit on the cheerful index. As long as the gift or offering didn't exceed $20, I was cheerful. And I convinced myself that tithing was an Old Testament command. Hang in there with me, okay?

Tithing is Old Testament, to be sure. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't still hold a blessing today.

For many, many years after I became a believer, I never felt like I had a compelling reason to tithe, which means to give 10%. When the offering plate came around, the most I would give was, as I said, twenty dollars. 

The Lovely Lady LeeAnn and I grew up in completely different households, with far different values. Hers was a strongly Christian upbringing. Whenever the church doors were open, they were there. Sunday morning. Sunday evening. Wednesday nights. Literally, if there was something going on at church, they were there. And both her parents were very much involved in ministries at church. They didn't just attend, they were integral parts of the functioning of whatever church they were at. And since theirs was a military family, they moved several times during LeeAnn's childhood. But as soon as they relocated in a new place, they immediately plugged in and got busy. So, all this to say, to LeeAnn, tithing was not even a question. A Christian tithed. Period. 

I came from a non-believing family. As a matter of fact, my dad literally did not trust "preachers" any further than he could throw them. He was almost militantly against anything that had to do with church. So when I came home from my friend, Del Brixey's church one day when I was 15 years old, and told my parents that I had become a Christian, by dad spent 10 minutes or so telling me what a fool I was. Yeah. Fun day.

So, with that background, I thought I was doing a good thing to put $20 in the collection plate. And after we married, LeeAnn wanted to tithe, but deferred to me. She would gently let me know that we should give more, but I reminded her that we were "no longer living under the Law".

And then, in the mid to late 2000s, one day while I was praying, God laid on my heart that He wanted me to trust Him in my giving. I felt that God wanted me to begin tithing, at a minimum. In Malachi 10, God says: "Test me in this,and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." And I really felt that God was saying this to me.

Beloved, I can only tell you my experience, okay? But when God laid this on my heart, LeeAnn and I were struggling parents. Our boys were very young. I was working full-time in our business. LeeAnn was a stay at home, homeschooling mom. We often ran out of money before the month ran out. 

But when I told LeeAnn about my prayer, and what God laid on my heart, she was thrilled. 

And so we began to tithe. And I am not going to tell you that from that point on...