Yesterday, we introduced the fourth principle, which is proportionate giving.
In New Testament Christianity we do not have this mutual relationship between the governmental sphere and the religious sphere that we have in the Old Testament. Rather, we see this emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart. This is not to say that this internal work was absent in the Old Testament. It surely was present, and Abraham is the great example of it. But in the New Testament we do not find the same kind of legal guidelines laid down in the Old Testament for the people of God. So while we are not told in the New Testament that Christians are to give one tenth of all their income to the Lord’s work, nevertheless, I like to say whenever I comment along these lines that when you speak of New Testament morality and the ethics of the heart, the standard is higher.
The Lord seemed to express that when he was talking about the law in Matthew 5. Several times Jesus quotes an Old Testament law with an introduction such as, “You have heard that it was said…” Then Jesus goes on to interpret that Old Testament law, expanding it to show that it had to do with the heart and was therefore to be applied in broader ways than was strictly written. It dealt with subjects beyond what people thought. So the commandment not to murder also included hate. And the commandment forbidding adultery also spoke against lust.
Thus, if the Old Testament principle was a tenth, we are certainly not bound to just a tenth. We can give fifteen percent of our income, or twenty percent of our income, or more. I wonder also that when it talks about a certain sum of money in keeping with his income, if it could be suggesting that those who have more should give proportionately more. Someone who has a small amount of money and is trying to get by on that might give what they view as the minimum of 10 percent. It might be a struggle for them, but they give that to the Lord because they believe that giving at least a tenth honors Him and they are trusting Him to meet their needs. On the other hand, somebody who makes a great deal of money can easily afford to give much more than 10 percent and still have his needs met. The more we have, the more we ought to be able to give. I know that in many cases this is precisely the way Christian people operate.
In the next portion of this chapter, beginning with verse 5, Paul speaks of himself and his fellow workers. As an apostle he speaks with a special authority, and when he wrote something that was intended to be preserved in the pages of the New Testament, it was written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Timothy was a younger man about whom Paul speaks very favorably and whom Paul was training to help lead the church after he was gone. We learn about Timothy from Paul’s letter to the Philippians and in his letters to Timothy himself. Yet Timothy was also a man who probably was somewhat insecure in his position of leadership. He might even have had what we tend to call an inferiority complex.
Paul was the great apostle, the dynamic leader. Timothy was quieter, and seems to have been regarded less by some because he was not like Paul. So when Paul is writing to these churches, he tells them to receive Timothy, to be kind to him, and to accept him. And when Paul writes to Timothy, he tells him not to feel inferior because of his youth, but to set an example to the believers in all the various Christian graces.
