IT IS of interest to note the use of a tithing box back in 1843, during the formative days of the Advent Movement, when Sarah A. Hayes, a girl of seven, decided that she wanted to be a tithe payer. Her father made for her a mahogany tithing box and from that year until her death at the age of 84, she put her tithes into that box. Another incident from her life is interesting. Left alone at a comparatively early age, she had no one to care for her. Hearing of a stranger, a Cuban woman, alone and sick nearby, she ministered to the dying woman, who committed her baby son to her care. She accepted the responsibility, and had the joy of seeing him grow into an earnest Christian worker. And all the while she continuously used her tithing box, which after her death was placed in the museum of the Women's Foreign Mission Society.
Stewardship comes under the scrutiny of the judgment, which is the burden of the first angel's message. A man is judged by the world according to his money. And this is true by the standards of heaven as well, but on a radically different principle. The world asks, What does a man have? God asks, How does he use what he has? The world judges by the amount a man gives; God looks at the proportion a man keeps. Hence the motives are the subject of the scrutiny of the judgment.
The call for today in the second and third angels' messages is to come out from the Babylonish doctrines and practices and return to the full acknowledgment of the creatorship of God and our special accountability for the specified seventh of our time and the specified tenth of our income—and of His lordship over all our time and possessions. It is built upon utter loyalty. It calls for service. It is ever to be remembered that the rendering of the tithe does not exhaust the principle of stewardship. It is but the beginning, the starting point. The tithe is but the minimum approved of God. The gospel rule is "as God hath prospered" you (1 Cor. 16:2). Many will yet give 50 per cent, 75 per cent, or 90 per cent to God. Gratitude, consecration, and loyalty will not stop after returning one tenth to God.
In China a native Christian was illustrating the tithing plan with rice kernels. He counted out nine, then stood looking at the remaining one. At last he said, "Shame, shame! Is it right that I should have nine grains and give God only one when He has done so much for me?"
Gifts and offerings do not begin until this first obligation has been discharged. It must not be supposed that the Jews stopped with the first tithe. That was an acknowledgment of God's sovereignty; but that didn't fulfill their obligations. They gave a second tithe, and a third. In fact, we are given this information in the Spirit of Prophecy writings:
A Transfer System for Carrying Forward God's Work
The contributions required of the Hebrews for religious and charitable purposes amounted to fully one-fourth of their income. So heavy a tax upon the resources of the people might be expected to reduce them to poverty; but, on the contrary, the faithful observance of these regulations was one of the conditions of their prosperity. ... In the days of Israel the tithe and free-will offerings were needed to maintain the ordinances of divine service. Should the people of God give less in this age?— Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 527, 528.
The Levitical dispensation was distinguished in a remarkable manner by the sanctification of property. When we speak of the tithe as the standard of the Jewish contributions to religious purposes, we do not speak understandingly. ... At stated periods, in order to preserve the integrity of the law, the people were interviewed as to whether they had faithfully performed their vows or not. A conscientious few made returns to God of about one third of all their income for the benefit of religious interests and for the poor. These exactions were not from a particular class of the people, but from all, the requirement being proportioned according to the amount possessed. Besides all these systematic and regular donations there were special objects calling for freewill offerings. . . . These draughts were made by God upon the people for their own good, as well as to sustain His service.— Testimonies, vol. 4, pp. 467, 468.
God as the owner of all things has plans involving all His resources for the finishing of His work among men. The very establishment of the church implies that ample provision was made for its maintenance. The founding of the church calls for enormous sums to carry to completion His divine plan. To continue and to expand will require increasing amounts. Unquestionably the remnant followers will be led to give increasingly large amounts from the nine tenths for the consummation of our task, as God shall lead.
We can take nothing with us when we die. "Shrouds have no pockets, and caskets no money tills." But God has established a transfer system. Many are already greatly exceeding the minimum principle of the tenth, and are giving God a quarter, a third, and some even a half of their income. The height of latter-day spiritual blessing and achievement will be marked by the reign of the Pentecostal sacrifice and consecration.
These gifts will be loving—to carry the love of Christ to the whole world. They will be intelligent—our concern and prayers will go with them. They will be personal —given to Christ, since He asked us to do it for Him. They will be willing—none other is acceptable. They will be joyous— since they publish good tidings of great joy to all people.
Dedicate Our All to God
Stewardship is thus a call to complete consecration. Can we who are called to consummate the Great Commission do better than that noble pioneer of modern missions David Livingstone, who said:
I will place no value upon anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of Christ. If anything I have will advance the interests of that kingdom, it shall be given away or kept only as by giving or keeping it I may promote the glory of Him to whom I owe all my hopes in time and in eternity.
His last birthday was one spent far away from home and friends, in the wild jungle amid those degraded Africans that lay so near to his heart. In his diary he penned these touching words: "My Jesus, my King, my life, my all, I again dedicate my whole self to Thee." Let us make his reaffirmation ours today.
