Stewardship is based on God’s ownership by right of creation and redemption and that God seeks man’s willing acknowledgement of His right. The words steward and stewardship do not occur often in the scriptures, but some of the passages in which they are found help us understand their meaning. Let us look at a few scriptures the Apostle Paul gives us and one in 1Peter 4:10, then we will tackle the elephant in the room about tithing and offerings.
Paul exhorted the Corinthians: Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful (1 Corinthians 4:1-2; the NIV uses “those entrusted”).
Peter likewise commanded: As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10).
Paul again wrote of his stewardship: For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship (1 Corinthians 9:17).
A steward is someone who manages someone else’s household. A steward is the management or administration of someone else’s household affairs. A steward is a trustee or agent for the benefit of the owner. These terms are indeed appropriate for the Christian, who is administering property and matters not his or hers own. All the property belongs to God and all the household affairs are His. The steward has been appointed by the owner and is accountable to Him for his or her stewardship.
When the subject of stewardship is mentioned, some people think the whole of it is comprehended in tithing. If everyone would tithe, they think, this would take care of the matter. There is nothing wrong with tithing in itself, but the scripture shows that Christian stewardship is a much broader subject than tithing and that there is a much higher standard of giving than the tithe.
In Old Testament times men acknowledged God’s ownership of their lives and property by the payment of a tithe-that is, a tenth-to Him. This system, of course, could be wrongly understood. One who did not realize the significance of it could mistakenly assume that the remaining nine-tenths was his own to do what he pleased.
The payment of the tithe, however, was an acknowledgement that a person is responsible to God for all the possessions God has given him. In a very real sense God has entrusted him with all these things, that is, He has appointed him a steward. When God gave the law to Israel through Moses the tithe was included as an integral part of the legal system. The people of Israel were given explicit instructions concerning the tithe (see Leviticus 27:30-32). The tithe was not an offering in the strict sense of the term, but an obligation placed on everyone under the law. In other words he had to pay the tithe or become a lawbreaker.
Now to the good part about the text that hits all of us between the eyes. Malachi brought to the people of his day God’s solemn accusation that they had robbed Him. You may even memorize the first verse: Will a man rob God? (Read Malachi 3:8-10). Many seek to apply these passages directly to the Christians today, but there is no commandment in the New Testament which says that the Christian must tithe. But before you get happy and leave it, there are, of course, principles of stewardship that can be gleaned from these Old Testament teaching. The matter of giving for the believer in Christ in this present dispensation of grace is not based on legal obligation. The different periods of testing are know as dispensations. Each dispensation is a particular stewardship, having to do with a man or woman’s management of God’s affairs on this earth.
Finally, let us bring up a couple of things you may still be concerned about but this subject will need more discussion. Is it wrong, then, to tithe? Assurely not, in itself, but on the other hand the New Testament does not command Christians to tithe. If a believer decides in his or her own heart out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ that he or she will give a tenth of their earnings to the Lord, they are at liberty to do so and will be blessed in it. But he or she must not do it as if tithing were a legal obligation, and they must not do it with the idea that the other nine-tenths are their own to do with what they please without consulting the Lord.
If the tithe is not binding on Christians, does this mean they are to be careless or random givers? Not if they are to please God. Obligatory tithing, especially if one tries to lay the obligation on another, is a form of legalism. But random, careless, occasional giving is a form of someone as a Christian in name because the value of being a Christian is much more than this behavior. Therefore, this person may be a believer but is not in either of these positions. What then is to be the standard for a Christian under grace? Ponder the following scriptures (2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9), I hope this helps and let us keep the discussion open.
Happy reading!