God has been so generous to us. How could we dare to rob Him by our own selfishness? In this sermon from the book of Acts, R.C. Sproul addresses the sobering account of Ananias and Sapphira and considers what this passage teaches us about deception and Christian giving. He shows how Scripture calls us to honest and cheerful generosity as a grateful response to God’s lavish grace.

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.

Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?”

She said, “Yes, for so much.”

Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

He who has ears to hear the Word of God, let them hear it. Let us pray.

Our Father and our God, as we contemplate these tragic events that marred the beginning of the New Testament church, we pray that as they have been written for our instruction, we may give great heed to them. For we ask it in the name of Christ. Amen.

Cheerful Givers

If you have spent any time in church, surely at one time or another you have heard the preacher quote 2 Corinthians 9:7: “God loves a cheerful giver.” We have heard that text so often that it becomes one of those phrases we let slip across our lips without giving it much thought.

But let us take a moment and consider what the Scriptures tell us about the disposition of God toward those He has redeemed when they bring their tithes and offerings to Him, not begrudgingly, not dragging their feet, not murmuring, groaning, or complaining about the burden of God’s taxation upon them, but with a sense of joy. They bring their gift to the altar with pleasure. It is their delight to give that gift to God. Scripture says that when God looks at one of those He has redeemed and sees that attitude, that spirit of giving, He is delighted. But there is the also antithesis of that attitude. What does that teach us about God’s disposition toward the reluctant giver, or the one who does not give at all, or the one who lies as he brings his gift to the altar?

The text this morning tells us about a situation in the first-century church when, as we saw in Acts 2, the early Christians held things in common, but not by requirement. Their hearts were knit together of one accord and the gifts they brought for the common use of the people were all done in a voluntary spirit. They were not required to do it.

Systematic Robbery of God

We see an amazing contrast in this text between Barnabas on the one hand and Ananias and Sapphira on the other. Barnabas went out and sold his property, took every last penny of the proceeds from that property—far more than God required—and out of a spirit of generosity and encouragement, laid that gift at the feet of the Apostles. He is named “the son of encouragement.”

In contrast to Barnabas is a couple, Ananias and Sapphira, who came together in a conspiracy. They decided to sell a piece of their property and acted as if the total proceeds from this sale were going to be given to the Christian church for the work of Christ, but this was all a pretense. They gave a portion, acting as if they were giving it all, and kept the rest for themselves. They had the audacity to lie not only to the Apostles and the church but, as Peter points out, to the Holy Spirit. With their transgression, God took their lives instantly.

What would happen if God instantly took the life of every professing Christian who did not tithe? The last poll I saw said that of those who claim to be born again, only 4 percent tithe their income to God. In Malachi, God says when people withhold from Him the full tithe, they are robbing Him, they are stealing from Him. If the polls are accurate, that means 96 percent of professing Christians systematically, regularly, and with hardness of heart steal from God.

Can you imagine any regenerate person wilfully, with malice aforethought, setting out to rob God? I cannot. The only thing I can figure out is that either people who profess to be Christians are not Christians at all, they are just playing at church, or more commonly, people do not realize what their duty is as Christians to help finance the work of the kingdom of God.

The greatest barrier we have in spreading the gospel across the world and for missionary activities is the lack of finances. It is that simple. It is because there are so few Christians who are cheerful in bringing their tithes into the storehouse.

Myths about Tithing

The ideas regarding stewardship, tithing, and giving are fraught with a host of misunderstandings, confusion, questions, and myths that I do not have time to treat in detail. In all honesty, I am more eager for this sermon to be over than you are. This is where I would like to bring in a guest speaker and have him speak on it. But I would be shirking my responsibility if I did that, so I want to briefly address three common myths about tithing.

First Myth: Old Testament Only

The first myth is that tithing was strictly an Old Testament practice that was abandoned in the New Testament and is no longer binding on the believing Christian of the new covenant. It is true that there is no explicit commandment in the New Testament that requires the tithe as it was set down by the law of God to the people of Israel in the Old Testament. On the other hand, there is nothing in the New Testament that suggests the principle of the tithe that God required of Israel was ever abrogated.

Jesus frequently talked about those who remain faithful to the principle of the tithe, even down to the woman who brought her mite. She was seriously impoverished, but nevertheless, that was the greatness of the tithe principle. Not everybody was required to give the same amount of money, but everyone was required to give the same percentage. If you were more prosperous than your brother or sister, you were giving more money to the work of the kingdom but not a greater percentage of your income. If there ever was a flat tax that was perfectly just, it was the one imposed by God that was the same for everybody.

This is what we get distorted. I have read about billionaires who are worth ten billion dollars. I wonder how much ten billion dollars invested yields in a year. If it is a 10 percent return, it is one billion dollars. What would the tithe be on one billion dollars? One hundred million. So, if the man who has ten billion dollars increases his income by one billion, his tithe would be one hundred million. But then this same man donates one million dollars to a college or his church, and we name the college after him, even though he is only a 1 percent tither, even though he has systematically robbed God. He has robbed God of how much? Ninety-nine million? It is a good thing a person like that was not around in the first century; God would not have been pleased with his gift. But we exalt people like that because we do not know what percentage anybody is giving at any one time. While we do not know that, God does.

God knows how much He has prospered each of us. He knows the sacrifice of the widow with her mite. The same requirement is given to all of us, and that requirement has never ever been removed. If anything, the New Testament labors the point that the benefits we receive from God’s hand in the new covenant are far greater and far richer than anything the people of Israel ever dreamed of. So then, what about the obligations? If He gives us more, are we now to give Him less?

I worked in a church a number of years ago when the denomination came up with a program to tell the congregation that the theme for the year was, “Take a step toward tithing.” I said, “I can’t preach that, because that assumes it is okay to be below the level of being a tither.”

Let us assume that you are already tithing 10 percent. We are supposed to be giving tithes and offerings. That should not be out of the ordinary. Even Jesus said of Pharisees, “They tithe their mint, their cumin.” They were scrupulous about their tithing. He said, “Those are the lesser things, but you Pharisees omit the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy.” That does not mean that since Jesus said this is a lesser matter, therefore we can ignore it. No, it is a little thing that every one of us should be pleased to do.

Second Myth: Local Church Only

Let us go to the second myth. I hear regularly from some ministers that your entire tithe must go to your local church and cannot go toward supporting seminaries, Christian colleges, evangelistic programs, particular missions, and so on. These pastors say it all must go to the local church because the local church is the storehouse.

In the Old Testament, all the gifts were brought to the storehouse, the central receiving location, the temple. It was then distributed to the Levites, who would use it for the work of the temple. All the produce and livestock were brought to one central place because there was only one central church, one central sanctuary: the temple. From that, the idea arose that in the New Testament, all our tithes are supposed to come to the new central place, which is the local church.

As a theocratic state, Israel only had one church, the temple. The Levites were set aside to be in charge of both the education of the people and the worship they offered to God. As a result, they were to be supported by the tithes of other tribes. However, following this pattern today would mean sending all our tithes and gifts to a denominational headquarters to be distributed, or even asking the government to create a new bureau to handle all Christian tithes and distribute the money. Not only would that not be preferable for most churches and Christians, but we recognize that not all the ministry of the kingdom of God today is done within the walls of the church.

There is not any biblical evidence that the local church is to receive all your tithe or that the local church is the storehouse. That identification is never made in the Scriptures. Do not think you have to give all your tithe to Saint Andrew’s if you are a member of Saint Andrew’s. You are free to give it wherever else the work of Christ is happening.

Personally, I think that the lion’s share of a person’s tithe should go to their local church. But people say, “Give all your gifts to the local church, and the local church will support our missionaries, educators, seminaries, and colleges.” I have been on the boards of colleges and seminaries, and there is not a seminary or Christian college in America that could stay open another month if they depended 100 percent on the gifts from churches alone. They rely on people like you and me who, in addition to giving to churches, also give to support other missions.

Third Myth: Unaffordable

The third myth is the one I hear more often than the others, and it is the saddest to hear. I hear it from people who say, “I can’t afford to tithe.”

The poorest person among us is living at a higher standard of living than 99 percent of the people who have walked the face of the earth over the course of history. Let me explain what people really mean when they make that statement. They are really saying, “I cannot afford to do all the things that I’m doing now and spend all the money I’m spending now while giving 10 percent of my income to the Lord.”

God loves a cheerful giver, and I do not like to talk about this because I don’t want anybody to give to the work of God and Christ begrudgingly. God also loves the person who says: “I didn’t realize this weight of responsibility that is on me. I haven’t put this in my budget. I’ve never really thought about it or been convicted of it by God the Holy Spirit. But now that I stop and think about it, it’s clear that if I’m going to honor God with my life and possessions, I should be glad to do whatever it takes to change my lifestyle to bring my giving up to where it ought to be.”

Remember, the tithe is the low point. It is not the high hurdle. It is not the ideal. It is the starting point of Christian charity and giving.

Tithe Gratefully

I have never met a tither in my life who said to me: “R.C., the worst mistake I’ve ever made was the day I decided to tithe. I’ve given to the church, building programs, mission projects, evangelistic services, and so on, and the other day I sat down and added it up. Over the last thirty years, I gave enough money away to the church and the work of Christ that, had I kept it, I could have a home in Paris.” I have never heard someone who tithes say anything like that. I have never met a tither who has missed a penny that he or she has given with a grateful heart to the work of Christ.

The hard part of tithing is being a Christian, not doing it, and then starting to do it, because now you have to make adjustments. But if you must make adjustments, do it, and do it cheerfully. Remember that God is gracious and patient with us, and He promises to bless us when we cheerfully bring our offerings to Him for the advancement of the kingdom.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.