To Tithe or Not to Tithe

I get questions from time to time about tithing.  What is it?  Is it for our day?  Here are two responses from three scholars I have much respect for John MacArthur, John Piper, and D.A. Carson.
First, MacArthur
“Tithe does have its proper place still in Judaism in the gospel time. The Jewish people are still a duly constituted people. They were still under the ceremonial instruction of God's law. They were still under the obligation to obey the commandments relative to their national identity and to the funding of the priesthood. That had not been set aside yet until the church was born. And so He says you should do that. You should do that. By the way, the tithe is mentioned six times in the New Testament. Three times in the gospels and each time it is mention in the text condemning the abuse of it by the scribes and the Pharisees. Three times in the book of Hebrews when it simply reaches back and describes its historical reality in the history of Israel. At no time is it ever mentioned in the New Testament as binding on the church. It had to do with taxation of the national government of Israel” (from his sermon “The Condemnation of False Spiritual Leaders, Part 4-Matthew 23:16-33)

John Piper
D.A. Carson

C.H. Spurgeon

“Shall we never be able to drive into men’s minds the truth that predestination and free agency are both facts? Men sin as freely as birds fly in the air, and they are altogether responsible for their sin; and yet ever thing is ordained and foreseen of God. The fore-ordination of God in no degree interferes with the responsibility of man. I have often been asked by persons to reconcile the two truths. My only reply is — They need no reconciliation, for they never fell out. Why should I try to reconcile two friends? Prove to me that the two truths do not agree. In that request I have set you a task as difficult as that which you propose to me. These two facts are parallel lines; I cannot make them unite, but you cannot make them cross each other. Permit me also to add that I have long ago given up the idea of making all my beliefs into a system. I believe, but I cannot explain. I fall before the majesty of revelation, and adore the infinite Lord.

Nuts and Bolts

In case you haven’t heard yet, my denomination has plans for changing its name (maybe).



A recent poll was released of the most stressful jobs in the nation, and for the first time in a while pastors were not on the list, which I think is crazy and I am really stressed out about.

If you are a pastor that is stressed out (it is not a coincidence that Mondays follow Sundays), here is a beneficial article.

When I watch the pint-sized preacher and the justification of his call, more stress comes.  

B.B. Warfield

A God who could or would make a creature whom he could not or would not control, is no God. He would have ceased to be a moral being. It is an immoral act to make a thing that we cannot or will not control. The only justification for making anything is that we both can and will control it. If a man should manufacture a quantity of an unstable high-explosive in the corridors of an orphan asylum, and when the stuff went off should seek to excuse himself by saying that he could not control it, no one would count his excuse valid. What right had he to manufacture it, we should say, unless he could control it? He relieves himself of none of the responsibility for the havoc wrought, by pleading inability to control his creation.

To suppose that God has made a universe-or even a single being-the control of which he renounces, is to accuse him of similar immorality.

Update on Southern

I am in the process of finishing up ten book reviews for a Biblical Foundations course.  Believe or not, those have been challenging.  Also, I am in the midst of writing a major paper on Celebrations throughout Scripture and their spiritual meaning for the people of God.  Some of you have passed along some good resources, and I am thankful.  There is still time to give me your feedback.

Pastor Ponderings

I have many close pastor friends in the KC area I healthy relations with (which caused my motivation for Gospel Crier another story).  We have built some great friendship, and often talk about the plights and trends we see happening in evangelicalism at a large scale, and in our churches to a small scale.
Two issues that we have discussed in recent years, have been, I think appropriately written in recent columns.  One is an article about some of the warnings to homeschool parents written by a homeschool parent and posted by a homeschool parent.  It articulates well some of the thoughts that many pastors have expressed to me.  It is a good article for all parents to seriously consider.

Another issue that many pastors share with me is the Christian celebrities (that in some cases are non-scholars) we see in the church today.  Many of my pastor friends who are Reformed are concerned about brands of Reformed theology that seem more deformed than anything.  One extreme is a Calvinism where people are mad about something all the time.  This is one of the things I tell people, “I am a Calvinist, I’m just not mad about it.”  Yet there is another extreme that is emerging that is well written in this article that was sent me by a beloved pastor friend

Until the End of the World

Here is a clip from U2’s “Until the End of the World” which was appropriate as we closed out Matthew’s gospel a few weeks ago.  I love the last line, “I reached out to the One I tried to destroy, and You, You said You’d wait until the end of the world.”