A Truly Safe Investment
September 19th, 2008
(By John MacArthur)
J. H. Jowett once said, “The real measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we lost all our money.” He was right. Earthly riches or the lack of them has nothing to do with real wealth. The only treasure that matters is the treasure you lay up in heaven.
Jesus taught, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:19-21). That is a mandate, not a recommendation. Invest in eternity!
What an appropriate message for a culture like ours. People in our society are wealthier than any civilization in the history of man. Sadly, they rapidly squander their blessings on things that cannot last. If our treasure reveals the condition of our hearts (v. 21), this generation is in serious spiritual trouble. Our buying habits show little concern for anything of eternal value.
Americans are spending a significant portion of their incomes on luxury items and recreation—and they are spending it fast. Why wait until you can afford something, if you can charge it and have it instantly? Outstanding consumer debt in this country has skyrocketed, leaving many in financial shambles. They pursue the “good life,” the so-called “American dream.”
But there is no “good life” you can buy no matter how much money you have. The “American dream” is nothing but an illusion and chasing the dream can become destructive. Statistics indicate the more money you have the more likely you are to commit suicide; life expectancy decreases as income increases. Money adds to stress, and that in turn takes years off your life. One study shows that wealth also intensifies moral decline and family disintegration. Marital infidelity and divorce rates rise with income levels. Obviously, money cannot buy happiness.
The apostle Paul was on target when he wrote, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang” (1 Tim. 6:9-10).
While obsession with money incites crime, destroys families, and wrecks lives, the ultimate price for loving temporal things is eternal damnation. Jesus hinted at this when He asked, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Perhaps the saddest observation of all is that the spending habits of people in the church differ little from those of the world. The lifestyles of most professing Christians are not substantially different from anyone else’s. Too many in the church have adopted the world’s indulgent attitude toward money. Almost every form of materialistic extravagance and excess has found its way into the fellowship of believers. It is as if the church has forgotten Jesus’ mandate to invest in eternity.
When money-lovers creep into the pulpit to steal from the treasury, it’s an obvious scandal. But isn’t the money-lover in the pew — the person who refuses to give at all — just as disgraceful?
One study of several denominations revealed a gradual decline in giving over seventeen years, though average income increased sharply in that time period. Material riches are proving to be a spiritual liability. Christians now have more money at their disposal than at any time in human history, but they proportionately invest far less in the kingdom. The same study further revealed that almost half of all charitable giving in the United States comes from households with annual incomes under $30,000. James 2:5 comes to mind: “Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?”
Hosea 13:6 sums up this tragic disparity: “Being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore, they forgot Me.” When we become prosperous, we become proud. Then we forget God. Frankly, for most peple persecution is easier to endure than prosperity. In other words, there is a clear connection between your attitude toward money and your spiritual health. Where you invest your treasure reveals where you have set your trust and affections. That is why the Lord had so much to say about money.
Do you want to take your spiritual temperature? Look at your checkbook. Where are you investing your treasure? That’s where your heart really is.
God does not give you riches to hoard, but to use for His glory. True enjoyment of wealth comes not from possessing it, but from investing it as God intended—in things that count for eternity.
Question:
What do you suggest for the one who has newly come to the faith and who wishes to be obedient in the matter of giving and tithes and the like; but who is still paying the debt from the previous life - single child-support paying parent with a car payment and insurance, a mortgage and a bad roof that has already burst through over one room, just an hour ago had to turn the water off to the house because of a sudden leak, and who has never had any recreational pursuits to speak of because in her life prior to this she was just working two jobs (shiftwork) to pay the child support and keep a roof over her own head and have backup transportation to work? (When you live without faith, or when your faith is killed for a time, you begin to require backups and plan Bs and those get expensive.)
So, when that person wants to give..really truly does want to give and is having a struggle with faith in the matter, when she doesn’t want to be faithless in this awful pull between giving her gas/grocery money to the church and wondering if failure to do that means she’s being disobedient and her faith is too weak? I mean, shouldnt’ we be willing to be like the widow with her two mites? Is it my inability to walk the walk that we’re talking about here?
I prayed about this last night, and this article popped up today. I had looked at the bills and the unexpected car repair expenses from last month and realized that if I even begin to catch up the bills then there isn’t enough left to give the 10% to the church and still bring my son home from the hospital Friday…and then i wonder if the cracked water pipe is a warning or something, reminding me that the cost of being faithless is greater than the cost of a genuine faith.
So the question in such matters is this - where is the point of “good stewardship”? Is it to first pay our obligations without creating more, is it to ensure that there is enough after paying our obligations to have food and gas enough to make it to the next payday…is that good stewardship, or is that failure to trust enough to walk the talk?
BTW - I do give in other ways, I just wonder where the line between “good stewardship” of our resources when dealing with debts incurred in the past and reasonable regular expenses are concerned vs. tests of faith in light of such examples as the widow’s two mites. I’m not sure where to find the expectation in such matters. Thanks.
Barbara,
First let me commend you on wanting to give to God, even when things are tough. I know that for many of us, we were taught that the Christian is required to tithe. I grew up hearing this, but even as a young person, although I had no problem with giving money to the church/God, I didn’t find the biblical arguments for the imposition of tithing upon the Church to be very convincing. I found no biblical record that tithing was given or understood as a command from God prior to the Old Covenant (which was made with ancient Israel, not the Church), and I could find no scriptural support in the New Testament to indicate that it had been carried over into the New Covenant. I found that under the New Covenant, giving was governed by “according as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity (i.e. by requirement)”, and “as he may prosper” (i.e. according to your means). Here are a few articles that address this issue.
http://www.gty.org/Resources/issues/608 An article from ‘Grace to You’ on tithing.
http://solochristo.com/_SC/SoloChristo.htm An article by Jon Zens on tithing.
http://solochristo.com/_SC/SoloChristo.htm An article comparing OT tithing to NT giving.
It is unbiblical to not meet the needs of your family. In fact to do so is to deny the faith, 1 Tim. 5:8. God knows your ability (financial circumstances) and sees the attitude of your heart. Do you give cheerfully, with gratitude? God doesn’t sit there and say “Oh, you’re 3% short. You owe me!”
The story of the Widow and her mites is not there to tell us that we must give everything or we really don’t have faith, or that we are to give to the church even if it will mean that we can’t pay bills (legitimate, necessary bills). By the way, what she gave was not part of the tithe, and wasn’t even required by the Law. Giving into the Temple treasury didn’t start until around the time of Nehemiah, if I remember correctly. Jesus pointed this (the Widow’s gift) out to His disciples to show them that God knows our circumstances and our heart. What looked ‘good’, ‘big’, ‘faithful’ (the rich giving out of their riches) wasn’t necessarily so, and what looked ’small’, insignificant’, even ‘unfaithful’ wasn’t necessarily so. God knows and sees. I just don’t want you to continue with the perceived burden that the Bible requires the Christian to give 10%. If you want to give 10% that is fine, it is between you and God, if you do so in faith and out of love, but it is not a legal requirement my sister.
Barbara,
First know that the Lord is lovingly providing for you while in your very wearisome circumstances. Meditate on Isaiah 40 to grasp his great love and providence for you. I only say this to comfort and encourage, lest you feel criticized for being “faithless” - that’s not at all my intent.
With regard to your question about what good stewardship looks like for someone in dire financial straits, I hope you will seek and find wise counsel among the leadership in your local church body, since that is the primary way the Lord has given to provide training in this area for us. I will tell you that, having been in similar circumstances, the counsel I’ve received centered more around what my heart attitude is, and what stewardship means in terms of all our resources. I think you understand these concepts. The tithe is a guideline - the Lord requires us to give back a portion of his blessings in a sacrificial way out of love and gratitude in the context of worship. Your giving in other ways tells me you are considering time and talents as part of your stewardship. The commenter above wisely expounds on what Scripture teaches.
Down the road, as you’ve lived through the struggle of providing for your family and sought to steward God’s blessings well, I pray God will use your testimony and counsel to help others in similar circumstances.
Michael and Barbara,
First of all let me thank you for the insight that you both presented. I had the same struggle with Barbara, I receive my lesson on tithing at the most desperate time in my life from somebody who faithfully tithed because he strongly believe that mandate of Malachi 3:10. He told me that the reason why I’m having financial difficulty is because I don’t tithe. The problem at that time is that I only have 50 pesos in my pocket (that is 1.80 US dollars in todays exchange rate, I’m from the Philippines by the way) and I still have to buy the bare essentials for the table. I’m not trying to exaggerate things here, what I’m telling are facts. Now I told that brother of my situation and ask him how can I possibly tithe. Then he reached out for his wallet and took out a 1000 peso bill (that is 21.53 US dollar in todays exchanged rate) and gave it to me. He told me to separate 10 percent of it for my tithe and I can spend the rest of it for my family’s needs. I was so moved by that experience that from then on I tried to tithe faithfully from my earnings with varying degrees of success. But each time I fail I feel bad about myself. Now I realize also that this feeling is not in accord with the grace of God, like what Michael had said, God does not sit there and say “hey your 3% short”. In this matter just as in anything Christian, I have to rest in the safety net of grace. Nowadays, I still try to give 10% of my income but each time I fail I try not to feel bad and just rest in God’s grace. I just hope I’m doing the right thing, I’ll appreciate any insight from the Pulpit readers.
Dean
First of all, Janice and Michael, thank you. Secondly, let me preface the rest of what I’m going to say with the fact that the first 40 years of my life have been lived pretty much under the solid reign of Murphy’s Law and I guess ole’ Murphy likes to poke his nose around for old times’ sake, occasionally bringing along his favorite offspring, “No good deed goes unpunished”…a lifetime of that may be forgiven and changed overnight, but there’s still a lifetime of sanctification yet to go and there’s been a lot of humbling of me through this. A lot of breaking going on here with it. Let me also say that you could tell me I’m being completely faithless and I wouldn’t take it as a criticism at all - I’m taking the same question to God and I’m awaiting His answer.
Or perhaps I have it.
I agree that God isn’t a legalist and he’s not going to jump on being 3% short unless we falsely represent what we’re giving. So, neither should we be legalists about the percentage to the letter, but in looking to work around such things, are we not saying something about our heart and about our priorities? That’s what’s been convicting me. I’ve been convicted (or “accused” and I’m new enough in the faith that I don’t know which is which but I do know that God will use either situation for His glory) with this and it seems to bring out a greater question of what my faith is in. Tithing - or not - isn’t going to change that, but getting slammed against that wall at the point where the rubber meets the road is, I think, a definite step in the humbling/sanctification process…and another reminder that, while He works in my heart to continue to conform me to the image of His Son, and as I pray for the great gift of that faith and stretch a bit to cooperate with this process, there is all the more reason to be grateful for His mercies and His grace, all the more reason to be grateful to be covered in the blood of His Son, all the more reason to be nose-deep in the realization that I am utterly undeserving.
All the more reason to praise His name.
It is so refreshing to see John MacArthur’s views in agreement with mine agaisnt tithing but for sacrificial freewill giving principles blessed by the Holy Spirit. Very very few theologians stand up and speak the truth on this topic. Bless John MacArthur and praise God.
Author of Should the Church Teach Tithing? A Theologian’s Conclusions about a Taboo Doctrine
Barbara,
I’m not sure what you mean by “looking to work around such things…saying about our heart and our priorities”. If you mean that some who are saying that the Christian isn’t required to tithe, or that God isn’t legalistic about the 10%, are really just looking at ways to excuse their desire to not give, or at least not give as much; then I would agree that this probably is the case in some instances; however, it is my desire to hold to what Scripture teaches. If Scripture does require the Christian to tithe, then for us to try and argue around giving exactly 10%, then we are not being biblical. If Scripture does not require the Church to tithe, then for anyone to place this requirement upon Christians is to not be biblical. Sola Scriptura! Scripture is our rule of faith.
If the Christian is required to tithe (remember a tithe by definition is 10%, and there was more than one tithe required in the Law), then God will be looking at the amount you give to see if you are being obedient. Tithing was definitely required in the Law. Remember, the Lord said to the Pharisees that they were right in giving 10% of their mint, dill, and cumin (spices grown in their home gardens), Matt. 23:23. Israel was commanded to tithe (give 10%) from the seed of the land (live stock) and from the fruit of the tree (agriculture), Lev. 27:30. Although money could be involved when redeeming a tithe, the tithe was normally given in produce or animal (not in cash as a percentage of their wages). Even if one wanted to argue that since we no longer live in a predominately agrarian society, the tithe would now come from our salaries (although there is nothing in Scripture to teach this) then to give 8% is to break the Law. I realize that we have forgiveness and grace, but I ask: is your relationship with God obtained by keeping the Law? Is your relationship with God maintained by keeping the Law? Are you are sanctified (conformed into the image of Christ) by keeping the Law? Are you under the Law, or under the law of Christ? Is there a difference? What is the difference?
If you have not determined from Scripture that the Church is required to tithe, then to question someone, even yourself as to whether they are being faithful, or faithless, based on whether they tithe or not, is to beg the question. You are assuming that one is required to tithe. Search the Scriptures.
What a great message — and yet it seems that the previous comments to this article were focused only on the theological concept of whether or not to tithe (a question of much discussion throughout the years), though that is not what this article is about. The main point of this article is the all too materialistic worldly attitude of so many Americans, especially those in the church, who ought to know better but instead are just as interested in the world’s treasures. My spouse and I see it at our own church too — though a conservative, strong Calvinist, Sovereign Grace preaching church with many homeschool families — yet by and large the families are irresponsible with their worldly wealth… families that make $100K and more (this is in the Bible Belt, a much lower cost of living than California) that have out of control debt and saving very little if any for their future retirement, much less thinking about or able to give to the Lord’s work. Yet they’re convinced they have to have all this stuff — large houses (and move frequently from one house to another), SUVs and car loans, multiple cell phones, cable/satellite TV, and whatever else can be bought in America. They exhibit the very problem that has brought about the current economic situation in the country, irresponsibility and living beyond their means. My husband’s efforts to help these families, suggesting ways to get out of debt and to start saving and investing, are generally ignored because being responsible “isn’t fun” — and the only thing they really want to hear from him is how to make a lot of money quickly, without any risk. Granted that the pastor never preaches the maturity and responsibility side of Christianity, but only heavy emphasis on the soteriology, yet I question if such families would “get it” if they were to hear this aspect of Christian living — which is one reason I so enjoy MacArthur’s teaching on these issues. But even the comments here, though addressing a valid theological question, indicate that most people just miss the point fo the problem with American culture and in American churches… unless perhaps all the previous posters are attending churches completely different from mine, and don’t see these problems with overly materialistic families there.