Tithing Your Time

The term "TITHE" is always used in the Bible as the first 10% of income/increase (whether money, animals, agricultural goods....etc  check out the OT) that is returned back to God.   But is it possible that the same concept could (or should) be used in terms of our time?   Listen in and check it out!

“UPBEAT – ACCOUSTIC”

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Transcript

Something To Gnaw On:  EPISODE 7, Tithing Your Time                 

Hey everyone, I’m Nate Vainio, and this is Something to Gnaw On, a podcast intended to give you something to mentally (and spiritually) chew on throughout your day… A bible study in bite size form, if you will…  The goal being for the listeners to know and experience God and His word FIRSTHAND

This is episode is “TITHING YOUR TIME”

I find statistics interesting.  It’s interesting how people can twist data to shape our frame of mind.  I doubt its always a conspiracy theory at work, but nonetheless the presentation does shape our outlook.

Recently I read through a study on church attendance.  Feel free to look up “church attendance” statistics and you’ll see the same things as I did…. Whether its Pew research, Barna, Lifeway, etc, they all have the same tendency to link the highest measurable level of church attendance, the highest mark of healthy Christianity, as one “in person service” per week.   They will usually have several categories and they look like this:   DON’T ATTEND AT ALL, ATTEND ON HOLIDAYS ONLY, ATTEND ONCE PER MONTH, ATTEND WEEKLY.

And this “ATTEND WEEKLY” seems to be the highest level they would report on.  And, honestly, it rubbed me wrong! If that is a 2-hour timeframe, including worship – sermon – and fellowship time, that is less than 1% of a week.

On a personal level, I don’t find one service per week enough, and I wonder how people could survive on less than that.   I know I have the capacity to read the bible on my own, and download high quality sermons and teaching, but that’s not the point.  Those are good things for sure, but its not the whole picture.

When I was in College, I had to write a lot of papers.  I don’t remember most of them, but this last week a thought from one of those papers (25 years ago,,,,UGH!!) came to mind.   

It had to do with the principle of tithing.   Not tithing from your treasure, but from your talent and your time.  The dynamic of tithing your time hit me hard this week while considering these statistics.  The reality of it is that, if we go down this rabbit hole, we are talking about 7 days per week (times) 24 hours per day = 168 hours.  The tithe, therefore, the 10%, would be 16.8 hours of time devoted to church and our relationship with God.   These studies seem to esteem 1% of a week as the top tier….. it’s a far cry from 16.8.

Now, in the Old Testament the Sabbath was a day to be set apart.  The focus of which is not “US”, but on God.   Rest.  Worship.  Sacrifice.  Temple or Synagogue activity.  NO WORK.  It would also be good here to mention that when you read through books like Exodus, you will find that in addition to the Sabbath, there were other sacrifices and offerings throughout the week…. The temple didn’t shut down for the better part of the week….  (chew on that for a bit!!)  Anyhow, it’s not like the Sabbath is a “tithe”……. Or is it?  Setting apart 1 day, 1 24 hour period  per week is 14%.... a bit more than a tithe.   But what do you do on the Sabbath that you do on every other day (aside from eating)… YOU SLEEP.    Everybody sleeps.   

Those who study such things report that the average person sleeps 7 hours (plus/minus) per night.  Subtract that 7 hours from a 24 hour Sabbath and you have 17 hours, or a few minutes more than a tithe of time, 16.8 hours.

So what am I advocating here.  I am not advocating a strict return to Sabbath of the Old Testament.   But definitely a return to the spirit of the sabbath…. A tithing of our time, a giving of our time back to the Lord.   A giving back in a terms of time at church, a time of service within the church, time to soak up good bible teaching, time of corporate worship, a time of personal bible reading and study, a time of fellowship, and a time of rest.  I am not convinced that this all needs to happen on one single day per week, but wouldn’t that upset the statistical framework of Pew Barna Lifeway, and others out there that do the same statistical tracking.?

Could it be that 17 hours per week in all the activities I mentioned could create stronger and healthier people, stronger and healthier families, stronger and healthier churches, stronger and healthier communities,…. And could it be a prerequisite to revival (or Awakening)?    While I am at it, stomping on the statistical world…..I wonder if there is a statistic of frustration for those who long for ‘revival’, but fail to put in the tithe of time.  I mean, seriously, could we really handle revival with the amount of time we devote at present?    Now there’s something to gnaw on!!

There is really a two-pronged problem here.  There is no doubt that there is a spiritual battle behind this.  At the same time the human heart is stubborn, selfish and prideful.  Lets take a quick look at the spiritual side.

History is a record of the Devil’s playbook.   And to quote Solomon from Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun”.  In the book of Daniel, chapter 8, he records a vision he has regarding the end times.  In the vision he highlights one the Devil’s MO’s, maybe you have heard that term on police drama’s or detective shows with regard to criminal activity… it means Modus Operandi which is “a particular way or method of doing something, especially that is characteristic or well-established”…. Or MODE OF OPERATION.  In short it is predictable.   There are things the Devil does that are simply predictable, still dangerous, but predictable…. and we see this prophesied in Daniel 8.  (a quick side note:   read this in several translations, the Amplified, ESV NLT NIV ETC, and The Message to get a solid picture of the spiritual battle going on….. it is EPIC!!.)   

Daniel describes a spiritual battle where demonic forces take on heaven, angels are “thrown to the earth and stomped….”  They dared to challenge God himself, “The Prince of the Celestial Army” and then they do a few things that we need to be aware of (verses 11-13).  Their attack should show you what is most dangerous to them!!

1.       Daily worship/sacrifice is thrown out of the temple

2.       The temple is desecrated (Sometimes we think of desecrate as a violent vandalism, but it can also mean to treat with disrespect, or without the intended level of sacred respect).

3.       As a consequence of their sin, God’s people are thrown out also

4.       Truth is cast aside

5.       THIS IS THE DEVIL’S M/O

Although this is a prophetic message of the end times, this is a picture of the Spiritual battle we are in right now.   Daily worship is minimal, if nonexistent for some.  Many churches are closed more throughout the week than they are open. And as a consequence, only 20-some% of people are in church a minimum of one day per week.   And what’s the result?     Truth is being replaced by a society with “Your” Truth, and “My” Truth.   And THE TRUTH is cast aside, and trampled upon.  And the consequences thereof are devastating.  There is a definite spiritual battle going on, and it begins in our day with getting people out of Church!!! 

At the same time, we bare a responsibility on a personal level for these things.  This is the second of the two-pronged problem.  Let’s take a look at one passage in Jeremiah about God’s frustration with the Jews and their disregard/disrespect for the Sabbath.  (Quick Side Note:  In addition to this passage in Jeremiah, if you are interested in further study, the totality of Jeremiah’s ministry happens during the last four chapters of 2 Kings, which will give a broad picture of who he was speaking to.)

With all that in mind, during the time leading up to the exile, the Jews were living in straight out rebellion.   Jeremiah 16:12 highlights their attitude pretty well, this is Gods accusation of the Jews “…And you have done worse (things) than your fathers.  Just look, everyone of you walks in the stubbornness of his own evil heart, so that you do not listen (obediently) to Me.”   This is eerily similar to the phrase in the book of Judges.  I say that to say this attitude is nothing new.

That’s what brings us to Jeremiah 17:22-23  where God continues the tongue lashing from “…Be careful if you care about your lives, not to desecrate the Sabbath by turning it into just another workday, lugging stuff here and there.  Don’t use the sabbath to do business as usual.  Keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.  They never did it, as you know.  They paid no attention to what I said and went about their own business refusing to be guided or instructed by me.”

The phrases “turning it into another work day……. Business as usual…went about their own business…refusing to be guided or instructed by me” should hit us all right between the eyes.

This same rebuke is levied 3 times in this chapter against the Jew’s.   What a scathing rebuke!!!  And yet they didn’t get the message!!!  And a few short chapters later they end up dead or in Babylonian Exile.

I am not surprised by our cultures effort to encroach on our time with God.  Less time = greater spiritual weakness.   Think about it:   Many sporting activities are now on Sunday’s.  Our youth traveling sport events,  A round of Golf.  Shopping.  Fishing. Hunting.   Look at your activities and Fill in the blank________.  Work schedules and Business activities like open houses, auctions, not to mention household chores are done on Sunday’s.    What else is encroaching on your Sunday Church time with God and your church family?  What encroaches on your time throughout the week making Sunday look like a viable option to do other things than going to church?  

So, by now, someone has to be asking the question “where is this in the New Testament?”  It’s all over the Book of Acts!!! 

1.       Acts 2:46-47 Not only had the 120 been in the upper room for days on end, they continued, and ministry was happening daily as people were being added DAILY. 

2.       Acts 6:1 A complaint arises with regard to the DAILY distribution of food, they were eating together DAILY

3.       Acts 16:4-5 Paul and Timothy travelled town to town strengthening the church and many were added to the church “DAILY” 

4.       Acts 17:17  In Athens Paul taught “Day after Day” in the synagogue and the streets with anybody who would listen.

5.       Acts 19:9 Paul preached Daily for two years in Ephesus in the Hall of Tyrannus

a.       Repentance Followed…. They burnt over $1Million in scorcery books

b.       Revival Followed

c.       Riots Followed

                                                               i.      I firmly believe that a good indicator of revival or awakening will be in the form of business’s clamoring about Christianity when their addicted followers repent, and no longer spend their time or money on their product, or when people quit their jobs because they refuse to work for morally bankrupt  entities

                                                             ii.      HERE ENDETH MY RANT……..

At this point we’ve moved from Tithing our time to making an offering of it.    We use the term tithe as the first 10%, and anything after that is an “OFFERING”.  So, no matter where we are at, I am willing to bet that we could all give a bit more time (whether you want to call it a tithe of time or an offering of time)…..but  after all, aren’t we the ones who would benefit most?  What happens to us when God is enjoying time with us, as much as we are enjoying with Him?  Are we ever worse off for having spent more time with God?

So, look at your schedule.   Are you tithing your time?  What do you need to cut out, move, reschedule, adjust?  Do you need a new job schedule?   In as much as it is in your control, what are you willing to sacrifice to pursue more time with God and your church family?  

ITS TIME TO TITHE YOUR TIME!!

Let me close in prayer:

I am Nate Vainio and This is Something to Gnaw On.