Tithing is the talk that everyone hates to hear and that preachers hate to give. Add in a recession and boy do you have a powder keg. So why are we talking about it at Elevate? It isbecause tithing is a BIG part of a person's walk with God. In fact it's a huge part of worshiping God. 

The truth is that we live in a consumer driven world. We aim to collect more and more stuff. There is a stat the reflects this well. 1% of the world's population uses up 50% of it's resources. If you are reading this, there is a very strong chance that you are part of that 1%.  We love money and we love stuff. 

Ecclesiastes says it well. 

Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! (Ecclesiastes 5:10 NLT).

We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us (Ecclesiastes 5:15 NLT).

God knows the sway that money and wealth holds over us. Historically, tithing was something set out by God to help the Israelites remember that the didn't need to acquire wealth to survive. They simply needed to rely on God. He would talk care of them.  It was like God was saying, "I know that you think that you won't have enough even if you have all of your crops. I'm want to show you that I am going to take care of you. Tithe 10% of your crop and watch. I'll still take care of you. "

Jesus also knew that money had a big sway over people. Roughly 40 percent of the parables (16 out of 36) mention money in some form or fashion. Out of all of the things that Jesus could teach about, money is number 1.

Look at the story of the rich young ruler that comes to Jesus and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to follow the commandments. The rich young ruler replies that he's done all that since he was a kid.(he's gotta be lying!) Jesus then tells him to sell everything he had and give the money to the poor. Ouch. The rich young ruler went away sad because he had a lot of stuff!

Check out Malachi 3:10 and see what God says will happen when we are faithful in our giving to Him.

10) Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

We give faithfully to God, He blesses us ridiculously. It doesn't say he'll give us monetary blessings. It just says that he will pour out blessings on us. It's a big step to give up money. But I'm confident that you and our students can do just that. 

We'll walk students through all of this and point them in a direction that calls for them to make the decision of whether or not to tithe. We are going to be asking them how much they think we can tithe this school year. Then we are hoping to have a project for them to give to so that they can see how God can use their tithes to change the world.

Discussion Questions:

1. Ask yourself: "Am I tithing faithfully?" - You are the number 1 example to your kids. If you aren't in the habit of doing it, neither will they. Remember this isn't about the church forcing you to give money. That's not how we roll. It's about do we really trust that God will take care of us.

2. Ask yourself: "Does my child have the ability to tithe money" - Money isn't the only thing you can tithe. Time. Abilities. Services. Any of that can be given to God as a gift. 

3. Ask Yourself: "How can I help my child learn to tithe faithfully.

4. Ask your student: "What do you think that you can tithe to God?

5. Sit down with your student and work out a tithing plan with them.

This should get you started. Any questions? You know where to reach me!