Show 1 REV 5 F EV CRANES I 1 SUNDAY S IT U N D A y I 1 SERMON DELIVERED APRIL 21 AT THE FIRST M 14 E CHURCH text brov 39 10 honor ahe lord with thy substance so shall thy barns be filled i II 11 1 f I 1 come to you this morning with a subject not altogether a popular one though it bo be filled with truth andin terest namely what we owe ana and how to pay it my message has a part in tho ole gospel or in gods good news to bis big people it Is true that the choicest part of divine revelation rests in the stor story y of 0 redemption through christ ichrist that tha re R are saved by grace ce through faith in him hini but we are also reminded of pending duties on our part which are important to our christian development and growth it if not to our continued salvation for instance we are admonished to keep the first coinman commandment dment and many others with it both directly put and indirectly implied such as dealing fair with our neighbors observing the sabbath and honoring the lord with our sill substance stance the law of the tithe or proportionate paying toward tho the evangelization of the world rests upon the same basis as that governing the sabbath among the spiritual senses is that of dependence and consequent obligation to god people of all race races and conditions recognize it it Is natural for the heathen as well as the christion to regard his object of worship with solicitous intent and with a will as far as lie be knows to discharge his duty toward bis his god tho sun worshipper wor shipper looks to that luminary with reverent desire to confess its strength and power and sacrifice to tho the sun the very best ho be has and continues to give from time to time the choicest of 04 his possessions not only that ho he desires continued favor but that he loves the sun for what it Is to him so did abel and cain bring of their first fruits and lay them on the altar of ot god but alas cain evidently held only the spirit of dependence and lacked the spirit of love this spiritual sense has always been manifest and has caused ua us like dabid of old to inquire what shall hall I 1 render unto the lord for all his gifts to me it would seem reasonable that it if god would put into our souls a distinct sense of appreciation and duty that he be would also give us a measure or standard to govern our deeds of reciprocity pro city and he has in tho the very be ginning when it was shown man that big his physical as well as his moral nature required rest and recuperation from battling with opposing forces an inflexible rule was given of god that one day in seven should bo be set aside for that rest and worship and the principle has never been abrogated we also find that as far back as the records go it was the custom it if not the rule that a certain and definite portion of the possessions of gods people was to be set aside for the exclusive use us ot of god himself in the revelation of his nature and attributes to his creatures and in connection it has bas been shown that god has a always recognized such reciprocity and showered his blessings upon those that honored him since it Is unquestionably the duty of the preacher to proclaim the whole gospel of our lord setting forth responsibilities as well as privileges it becomes me this hour bour to declare that the law of the tithe is as binding upon us today day as that of the sabbath or e even v e n that of love and that every man woman and child believing in god as tho the giver of their holdings should bring to his storehouse one tenth of their increase and lay it on the altar for his service it baa has been claimed that the tithe or the tenth of increase was a mere more ritualistic provision beginning and ending with the mosaic economy to concur in this Is to suppose that god carea cares fiot ot for the masses but only for those who lived from closes to christ and it if we admit the premises promises we may also declare that mans responsibility to man and god ceased with the ush cring in of tho the new now dispensation and that tho the decalogue with all it contains Is useless to us now there are many proofs that the law of the tithe did not have its rise nor yet end in the mosaic economy much confusion and misunderstanding of the subject arises from the fact that there were in the time of or moses both tithe and tithes moses had nothing to do with instituting the former though he did the latter ono of tho the local or temporary taxes was levied tor for the purpose of providing for the festival services held from time ume to time such as were similar to our thanksgiving and fourth of july an othor which was levied every third year went to support the poor while the regular tithe was appropriated for the support of the visible church in its work of revealing god to his leq people the law of the regular tithe anto ante daten the mosaic dispensation a long long time we road read in the word that some four hundred yea years rs before hoies was barn abraham returning from his battle with the kings tarried long enough to pay tithe of all his big increase to Malchi zedek priest of salem and to receive a blessing from that man of god later on and yet many years defiore moses the grandson of abraham jacob fleeing from the wrath of his brother esau and with a consciousness of guilt and remorse from a penitent heart prom promised Led that it if the tile lord would protect him from barm and bring him again to bis his fathers house ho he would acknowledge god gol and tenth of his possessions possession whim to him tho next men tion of at the tithe Teru moth Is found la in leviticus being used by the lord la in a matter of fact way and all the tithe of the land whether ot of the seed of the tho land or of the fruit of the tree Is to t the he lords lards it Is holy unto the lord A parallel concerning the sabbath la Is found in exodus 16 1623 93 tomorrow Is I 1 the rest of the holy sabbata sabbath unto the jord lord the langu age la in both cases Is in the present tense showing that both statements jeter refer j eter to a previously existing and recognized law much s written in the peat rest of tho law and prophets to show that the two tw odivine divine instruments con coming the sabbath and tithe entered largely into the prosperity or adders r ity of or gods people in the days piece pr eced ing the advent of christ the work woric of our lord among men I 1 did not lessen in the least their obligation to the moral law he lie did set got men free from a long list of ritual and ceremonial duties but not from moral duties he ile criticised criticized the charl sees for their unreasonable teachings os concerning ning the keeping of the sabbath but he honored the law of the sabbath he likewise rebuked them for depending on their observance of the law of tithing but he be honored the law of tithing matthew 2323 woe unto you scribes and pharisee Pharis ees S hypocrites for ye pay tithe of mint and anis and cummin and have omit ted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and i faith these ought ye to have h done and not to leave the other undone there Is nothing in fix the new testa ment from which we can infer that either the law of rest for the body or proportionate payment of our sub stance to god have been abrogated on the contrary there is much to convince us that they are both to stand in the present economy and that a christian had as well withhold his duty concerning the lords day as to keep back his proportionate payment towards the lords cause cause A study of pauls letter to the corinthians especially the first in the ninth chapter will convince oue that as the Lerl tes received tithe for their ministry of holy things even so the lord has ordained that the gospel shall bo be supported by the same means and this Is not to conflict with the parallel law of freewill free will offering og ering as practiced by the jews in the tile old dispensation pensa tion and also by the christians as indicated in 1 I cor where paul writes concerning a special collection being taken f far r the poor at jerusalem it must be understood that the tithe is a legal obligation which we owe to god and nd that no man can say that he has given ven until ho he has first discharged his hk moral indebtedness to his lord the question Is often raised that the rich should give more than the poor and that la to true but giving and paying are two different things the same obligation which should prompt a rich maezto man to pay his debts surely rests upon a poor man and our contention Is that the tithe IB Is a 0 debt which we wo all owe and with tho the proportionate plan god hag dealt justly with us s all whether we be poor or rich god has never imposed an obligation but that he has with it given promise of recognition and reward in this text as well as many other passages of scripture where the law of the tithe Is emphasized he be declares that nothing will be lost by our obedience to his commands and history as we well 11 as experience bears out all that he haa has said I 1 coul could d bring you this morning hundreds of written testimonials timo nials from individuals who have taken up this specific duty which show that both temporally and spiritually they nave have prospered as never mever before beford I 1 could also bang witnessing evidence from many church officials that when a considerable number of the membership have faithfully practiced the tithing system that the financial problems of that particular church have been solved As a matter of fact many people and consequently many churches are constantly abbing god and then wonder why they do not prosper government statistics show that the average income of every man woman and child of the united states Is fifty five cents per day the great methodist episcopal church which hag has so many auxiliary interests and probably gives as much per capita as moat most evangelical bodies counts in her congregations tour four millions ot people at fifty five cents per day each would mean twenty collars dollars tithe per year from every member and adherent aggregating eighty millions of dollars per annum tor for the lords work statistics leeL show that at the best wo we give but thirty millions and w we arc confronted with ith the charge of robbing god of fifty millions of dollars each conference year wo we might carry this schedule to the application of our own local congregation and show where we are miserably at fault but I 1 retrain refrain and leave you the question are you one who Is robbing god it if so permit me to urge for your own good as well as the glory of almighty god that you at once begin a systematic partnership with the sourie source of all good who this day brings the acm promise iso contained in the text |