February 17, 2013
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
Have you been happy lately? The secret to happiness is tithing. In a paper published in the journal Science, researchers ran experiments that tested the effects of what they call “prosocial spending,” or charitable giving. They found that giving money away makes people happy!
In one experiment, the researchers gave people $5 or $20 bills and assigned them to spend the money by 5 P.M. on either themselves or someone else. Regardless of the amount of money they received, those who gave the money away reported a significant uptick in their happiness compared to when their day started. Those who spent the money on themselves did not.
A second experiment followed a group of employees who received a year-end bonus. Those who engaged in prosocial spending by cashing out a chunk of the bonus on gifts and charitable donations reported being in a better mood than those who did not.
The findings of these studies flip conventional wisdom upside down. All of the advertisements tell us that we’ll be much happier if we spend money on ourselves; and that’s what many people do. But self-centered people tend to be unhappy people in the long run.
So, what is it about giving money away that makes us happier than spending it on ourselves? Sociologists think it has to do with the fact that we humans are social creatures, and giving establishes a social bond in a way that contradicts conventional economic wisdom. When we increase our social bonds with others by giving to them when they are in need, we in turn feel better because we see ourselves as more intimately a part of the social network.
Look at our last year’s giving to the One Great Hour of Sharing offering when we sent over $10,000 for hurricane and wildfire relief efforts. You and I felt good that we can bond with those whom we may not know personally because we are all human beings who may have needs.
People who have close-knit social networks tend to be happier and healthier than others. And here’s the good part. When we spend money nurturing social ties like in the social network we call “church,” it produces much more happiness in us. Material things, on the other hand, offer us only weak and transient ties that eventually wear out and are trashed. Money can’t buy happiness, as the old saying goes, but giving it away just might!
First Sunday in Lent
Now you might be saying to yourself, why are we talking about tithing on the First Sunday in Lent? After all, our Canvass Committee finished its work and gave its final report at the annual meeting. We have already done our stewardship campaign and adopted the church budget. Shouldn’t we be talking about disciplines like repentance, prayer and a whole host of other spiritual things at Lent?
But when we seriously think about this, tithing is a spiritual issue. In our western way of thinking, we tend to create a dualism about material things and spiritual things. And when we see this dualism especially in the church, we think talking about giving money is crass. We say we should only be thinking about spiritual matters. In this worldview, one has little to do with the other.
But there’s a biblical worldview that recognizes that how we handle material things is the basic indicator of how we’re going to handle spiritual things as well. One has everything to do with the other. We can make the case that tithing is one of the most spiritual disciplines we can engage in, right up there with prayer and Bible reading and fasting. For example, it’s quite easy for us to engage in the discipline of praying for others. But it’s quite different and challenging when we back up our prayers with a sacrificial financial gift that requires us to work for what we pray for. The discipline of tithing forces us to put our money where our mouths and hearts are, in a very literal sense.
Subject to be avoided
Now I am beginning to see some of you squirming in your seats. Too often, churches talk about tithing like people talk about going to the dentist. I still have my well-overdue reminder post-card to make a dental appointment on my desk. We often soft-pedal it when we talk about tithing. We say things like, “It really won’t hurt that much—only 10%.” We tend to avoid the topic of tithing like we avoid going to the dentist.
The average American family only gives 3% of its income on average to charitable causes, and only 5% of Americans actually tithe 10% of their income to charity. This percentage seems to hold true whether the economy is up or down.
As we begin this season of Lent, what if we talked about tithing not as an obligation to God, but the blessing that God has built into the discipline of tithing? According to the Science magazine researchers, tithing may indeed be the key to happiness as well as to strong social networks, including the network we call “church.”
First Fruits
When we read our text for this morning, we see that the reason for God to call for the tithe is to develop a strong social network among his people. In Deuteronomy 26, God established tithing as the foundation of the social network that extends all the way back to their ancestor, a “wandering Aramean” (Jacob) and “alien” in a strange land who was dependent on God for everything (v. 5). The community of Jacob’s descendants became a nation that God rescued from slavery and to whom God gave a homeland (vv.6-10).
Because of God’s provision for the social network that is his people, his people then bring together the first fruits of their produce and labor to celebrate with everyone, including the Levites who had no land to grow produce and the aliens among them, “all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house” (V. 11). The giving of the tithe extended the social network to the most vulnerable people in the land, including the aliens, orphans and widows, who “may eat their fill within your towns” (V. 12).
Not only did the tithe widen and nurture the social network, it also brought blessing and happiness to the giver. “Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground you have given us, as you swore to our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey” (v. 15). This social network known as Israel included God, from whom happiness and blessing flowed when people demonstrated God’s love to others and to the land.
The prophet Malachi expressed this awesome benefit of tithing when he wrote God’s promise: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing” (3:10).
This is not about prosperity gospel but rather this is God responding to the giving of the tithe with blessings that can be shared with the whole social network.
Tithing or Tipping
Let me tell you a parable written here in the first person.
Now it came to pass on a day at noon that I was the guest of a certain man. The lunch was enjoyed at a popular restaurant, and the waiters were very efficient and the food was very good. Now when the end of the meal was at hand, the waiter brought to my host a check. My host examined it, frowned a bit, but made no comment. But as we rose to depart, I observed that he had laid some bills under the edge of the plate; however I do not know how many, but the waiter, stood nearby, smiled happily, so I interpreted that the tip was satisfactory.
Now we are all familiar with this custom and this parable is not about the merits or demerits of tipping. But as I meditated upon the bills that become tips throughout our nation, I began to think of tips and tithes. For the proverbial tip should at least be 15% if the waiter is not to turn against you, and these days it is more like 18-20%.
As I continue to think on these things, it came to me that very few people who go to church treat their God as well as they do their waiter, for they will give to the waiter a tithe but they give to God whatever they think will get them by.
Do we love our waiters more than we love our God; do we rely on our waiter more than our Lord and Savior?
Leviticus 27:30, 32 says: “All tithes from the land, whether the seed from the ground or the fruit from the tree, are the Lord’s; they are holy to the Lord…All tithes of herd and flock, every tenth one that passes under the shepherd’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord.”
The Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 9:6-8) says: “The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”
Ask anyone who is tithing and he will likely tell you how great it has been for him. People who tithe tend to experience God’s blessing in unique ways that continue to be shared. Maybe if you are not tithing yet that you might consider trying to do this during Lent. For the next 7 weeks, try tithing your income and see what happens. You just may have some stories of happiness to share with us.
Tithing doesn’t guarantee us that, someday, Publishers Clearing House is going to show up on our doorstep with an oversized check. Do they still do this?
What it does guarantee, however, is that we can experience great happiness in knowing that we are participating in God’s great social network called the church—a network that is called to expand into every corner of the world. Tithing is not about giving until it hurts, but rather, giving until it feels really good.
The tithe, which is a scriptural mandate, was not instituted for God’s benefit because he already has all the money he needs. God does not need our money. So why does God ask us to give 10%? Tithing was created for our benefit. It is to teach us how to keep God first in our lives and how to be unselfish people. Unselfish people make better husbands, wives, friends, relatives, employees and employers. God is trying to teach us how to thrive and prosper for the rest of our lives.
My guess is that if you cannot live off 90% of your income, then you cannot live off 100% either. It does not require a miracle for you to get through the month. I think that if you sit down and look at your budget, you will see that you can make it while giving at least 10%. If you decide to tithe even for the next 7 weeks of Lent, do it out of love for God, not guilt.
It’s not a coincidence that when Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “God loves a cheerful giver” the root word for “cheerful” is the Greek word “hilario” (from which we get the word “hilarious”). That’s not “give ‘til it hurts” but instead “give ’til you giggle!” Give until you are happy!
Tithing is a spiritual discipline that brings joy because it brings joy to others, making our whole social network smile with possibility. May your giving be hilarious!
Let us pray.
Gracious God, we thank you for the abundance and blessings we receive that have all come from you. Forgive us when we think that material possessions are the most important things in our lives when it is receiving your grace, mercy and love in our relationship with you. Teach us to give a tithe that would reestablish our social network with each other in the church and in turn become faithful to your teachings. May our giving grant us the happiness that we seek. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.