Luke 16:10-11 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
Here’s the perfect answer for those who insist that they aren’t obligated to tithe. God didn’t institute tithing because He needed the money! It’s very much like the situation in the US government today: people who cheat on their own taxes shouldn’t be trusted with other people’s tax money! However, what Jesus is talking about is far more important than that, and that’s the whole point. We have great difficulty getting it through our heads that this world’s riches are just a drop in the bucket compared with all that God has prepared for those who love Him, who have really placed Him first in their hearts and lives. No amount of money can buy assurance of eternal life, for just one example. Some people put out great sums to have their bodies, or the bodies of their loved ones, cryogenically frozen in the hope they can some day be revived when human science has advanced to that point. What a sad, pathetic thing! Any true Christian is going to get a new body in the resurrection, without any of the enormous questions and difficulties involved in cryogenics. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg (to stay on the frozen theme). Paul, who experienced a foretaste of heaven, (2 Corinthians 12) repeatedly used expressions like “more than all we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20) when it came to the sort of thing Jesus is referring to here as “true riches.” Jesus’ point is extremely clear, that material wealth is no more than a training tool for true riches, and some people flunk out before they get started! I am reminded yet again of Nate Saint’s famous quote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” Nate gave his life in martyrdom, but he’s certainly enjoying incredible riches in heaven right now.
We in this church are in the middle of training in this right now, but when I think about it, all of life is training in this area. God calls for faithfulness, and I need to respond to that call. Material things are indeed good indicators of focus. If my focus is truly on God and His kingdom, material things will never be an issue. (Matthew 6:33) The trouble is, I get distracted! Yesterday God beautifully provided a new video camera for recording the messages in our services here, but I’m so uptight about using it correctly that I’ve lost sleep already! I need to trust that if God can provide the camera, He can also provide the wisdom and knowledge to use it properly. There are seemingly far larger issues confronting the church at this point as well, but in each one I need to be faithful with what is at hand, trusting God to supply whatever else we need. Jesus wasn’t talking about being faithful with what we don’t have yet, He was talking about what we already have. I need to lead the church in consistent faithfulness, so that we will be prepared for all that God wants to pour out on and through us.
Father, it seems like I’m so slow to really learn this lesson! Thank You for Your patience and persistence. Help me indeed be faithful with what is at hand, not because that thing is important in itself, but because You are more than worthy of total faithfulness in all things. May I be an example to the flock of stewardship in all areas, so that together we may be found faithful in Your eyes, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!
Virtual Vitamins 
In the Old Testament, the storehouse was the temple. The tablets upon which the 10 commandments were written were made of stone, The temple was made of stone, and the peoples hearts were stone. In the New Testament, Jesus is the cornerstone of the new temple; a temple not made of human hands, but instead one made of flesh. In the old testament, God demanded 10%, the tithe, which is all some give of themselves and just maybe they may give God 10% and feel that they’ve lived up to their obligations. However, in the new testament, God does not require 10%, He requires it all as Paul states in 1 Corinthians . “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body”. (1Co 6:19, 20) If I belong to Him, then all that I have is His. This is exemplified also of the early church in(Act 4:32) All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
I agree that we belong to God totally, but I also know that finances are a sticking point for many people. They use, “All I have belongs to God” as an excuse not to support the local church. No local church is perfect, because no Christian is perfect. If we fail to support the local church because of its imperfections, then we are setting ourselves up as judges, and we are explicitly told not to do that. When we perceive problems we are to pray about them and offer ourselves to God as instruments for their resolution, but backing off in finances is not the answer. Giving a tithe of our income certainly doesn’t excuse us from keeping our whole lives in submission to God, but it is an excellent start to maintaining the awareness that all we have comes from God.